I saw them in 1980 when I was 16 and it certainly remains the most outrageous and energetic show I have ever seen. They deserve more credit and recognition.
The Tubes--most real band in R&R history! We saw them open for Bowie in 1980. They played in front of 65,000 screaming lunatics on Saturday night, then, the whole band, shows up at our softball tournament on Sunday (dancers and all) to play a couple games and have a couple beers, before hopping the jet for the next show! Unreal, they just wanted to say "thanks for coming to the show!"
Hearing Fee talk about the realities of the record business back in the day makes me wish the band was set in contemporary times when they could use the newer music distribution model to appeal directly to their audience. They were so creative and talented and funny and wonderful. Their music was brilliant, really. I'm always going to have a soft spot for The Tubes and especially for Fee Waybill - an incredibly talented, kind, self-effacing guy. And that dude could sing, too!
In my opinion, the greatest rock n roll band of all time. First time I saw them was at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ. The night of the show there was a major snowstorm, and there couldn't have been more than 200 people in the building. The Plimsouls were supposed to open, but didn't show. Fee walked out, looked at the audience & said "You people are going to tell your friends you saw the best Goddamn rock show tonight". He was right, the played for hours, & we were all exhausted from the power of the show. No band for me has ever come close.
ABSOLUTELY my friend. 100% the most underrated Rock & Roll band in all of history, and one of the most awesome live rock shows ever. (Saw them over 20 times).
Great telling, of a great story. I saw them in LA about 35 years ago and my mind is still blown! They are SO amazing - I sorry they never received their just rewards. So ahead of their time.
Agreed, saw them in a complete downpour at an outdoor ampitheatre (not the "BIG" venue) in Toronto about '82 or 3, and they delivered an amazing performance and thanked us for being there considering the weather.
Love the honesty in this interview, and thank you for doing it, and for Fee, for being so honest and straight...answered a lot of questions I had about the band. They were HUGE in 1975 in San Francisco and their crazy theatrical shows were the stuff of legend. They were WAY ahead of their time, and clearly not managed very well. They should have been a lot bigger than they were. Long live The tubes!
I saw them at Winterland at one of their Sounds of the City shows. Full stage show, including Lunchface and Rock and Roll Hospital. Listening to them now, I can appreciate their musicianship more. They also played a short set at the 1973 Led Zeppelin concert at Kezar.
@@charleswilliams8368 Very cool they opened for Zep at Kezar! Saw many shows at Winterland. I only saw the Tibes once, but it was a beauty--New Year's Eve in late 70s or early 80s at Bimbo's 365.
This guy is one of the real interesting fellows in rock 'n roll. The Tubes were a fabulous band and Fee was their unquestioned leader. A great artist yet very practical, not an easy balance.
Heard them here and there when I was growing up in the 80's and although I loved She's a Beauty I just couldn't get into them. Tonight I am watching a lot of live stuff from them on here and man I can not believe how good they are and how great they sound live. Took me a long while but I am very interested in these guys. I am surely gonna look for a lot more and soak it up.
their live performance was one of a kind, sort of super tight jazzy band with raunchy theatrics, I just don't think their albums lived up to that until Inside Outside.
I grew up in Phoenix, Az... "The Beans" & "The Red, White & Blues Band" were 2 of the top bands there back in the late 60's ..leaving town separately for fame & fortune to the bay area, then merging into "The TUBES" in '71. I once jammed on stage (blues harp) with the Red White & Blues Band at Legend City & loved The Beans , who even once played at my high school. About the time they were merging into The Tubes in the Bay area, I got my own band rolling called "Sage" ( Guitar,bass & drums + my lead vocal) & were a popular band for a few years in the early 70's (Played a lot at The Odyssey.) SO, you can easily see why I'm all down with Fee....& great to see they're still performing...and even Bill Spooner ( Original Beans / Tubes lead guitar ) is playing clubs ion the Bay Area as well.
One of my all time favorite bands and I saw them live in the 70's at the Capital Theater in Passaic NJ! Not only are they great musicians but they put on a show that you will remember for the rest of your life! I'm now 78 years old and I was so lucky to have seen them Live!
What a terrific, frank interview with Waybill. I went to SF Art Institute in '71 when Cotten and Prairie Prince were there. The band was just coming together then (called the Beans) They played at some school functions. Anyone who didn't see their first national tour (75?) missed one of the greatest Rock 'n Roll roadshows ever put together. Fee still gives 100% at every show.......They had something good going with David Foster. Too bad Bill Spooner and some of the others couldn't see their way to continue that alliance.
Fee is funny as shit! The whole band for that matter. Especially when they do Business live haga. Man, I wished I could have seen them around 1981-1983 timeframe when they were NOT family-friendly haha... and in their prime
My brother turned me on to The Tubes first album in California back in the 70s. Classic awesomeness. Fee tells the truth of what was and what could have been. Gentleman, rocker and fortunately found a further career in real estate.
142 views and no comments, and it's an interview with the singer from one of the best bands ever? What gives? Cool interview, thank you so much! Tubes 4everrr! :D
I met Fee once. After his good natured energy I was most amazed when I shook his hand. I have good sized man hands but his hands are enormous! Great guy.
What a great band. Fee has a great underated voice. Great lyrics and a true cult band. I agree with others , these guys should have been HUGE . I saw them several times in Pasadena and lately at the coachhouse. what great shows . too bad most people dont undrerstand them?
I saw the tubes in Seattle back in 76. My buddy knew nothing about them and the tickets were $7.50. He thought that was expensive and said" This better be worth it" and a guy in front of us turned around and said " oh It is" . My buddy love the show!
The Tubes rock so steady. They are playing not far from me this month I think. I get the feeling that Fee does not understand just how important the tubes are. Oh gosh do they do great on stage!
The completion backwards principle album will go with me to the next life.. 1981 was my graduation yr from high school, my friend introduced me to attack of the fifty foot woman song and was hooked since... no money's need to add up to their legacy. They're immortalized forever in my book. Amnesia,Mr hate are classic!
Late 1970's I volunteered to usher at Bimbo's San Francisco when The Tubes were playing. I saw their show 2-3-4 times. It was a lot of fun and entertainment. "What do you want from Life?"
Love Bomb is still one of my favorite records. So sad to hear Fee talk this way. The Tues went down hill when Bill Spooner left the band. And Todd is GOD...
I adore Love Bomb too, just not "commercial" I guess..Piece By Piece, Come as you are (gorgeous song) , One Good reason...lots of great tunes on that..Fee was really bitter about this .. But it's one of my favorite Tubes albums..
Fee's just being honest. I can't imagine putting in all they did and never really "making it". Don't get me wrong, they're my all-time favorite band, but I'm sure that their trajectory would have been very different if the follow-up to Completion Backward and Outside Inside built on those two albums' success. Personally, my favorite album was Remote Control!
On fm indy small radio stations which sprang up in the 1970s you heard lots of the Tubes and no censorship . those were really the good old days....sigh
First saw the Tubes at Dallas County Convention Center Theater, small venue. Encore =1 they did a tune called Doctors Hospital with Re Debris wheeled out on a gurney covered by a thin white sheet and her ample curves protruding proudly. When Fee fired up the chainsaw, a Dallas cop standing stageside saw the blue two-cycle smoke head up toward the stage lights, he nearly swallowed his cigar. It was worth the price of admission!
So bummed that things did not work out so well for these guys. I worked in radio at the time that "She's a Beauty" came out and apparently went near the top of the Billboard charts. I did get to see them live at the Pantages Theater in L.A around 1978-79. in, "Outrageous at The Pantages". It was an incredible show with all the theater you'd expect-including "Kway Lude". And in about 2004 or 5 got to meet Fe in person at a casino just outside Sacramento (Cashe Creek) as they performed a scaled down show there. When I heard "She's a Beauty" I was happy they were back on the airwaves. I asked Fe if he remembered the show at The Pantages and he said, "absolutely".
The Tubes had a certain kind of musical genius going on. Humorous lyrics and crazy good musicianship. The two lead guitarists sang better than many lead singers and way above average radio play pickers. A totally unique band. And as much as I like Fee, it's a good thing performing Tubes songs (as of this interview) is a hobby for him. The voice is pretty much not there anymore, but he's nearly my age and I get that.
"She's a beauty" is a fantastic rock song. Love it love it love it, it never gets old. Fee is right, a few more songs from the brain trust that wrote it and they were on that level that never requires a real job again. Touring perhaps yes, but a job, no.
Saw The Plimsouls, The Tubes, and Cheap Trick at Balboa Bark in the San Fernando Valley in 1995. Great show! Kato Kaetlin showed up for the final encore of the day. As Cheap Trick was doing Lennon's Cold Turkey. Only in L.A. saw Robert Shapiro at the Stones/Buddy show at the Rosebowl same year. Once again only in L.A. The Epicenter of the Universe. .
After Fee:s solo album (done with Foster producing with session musicians) flopped capital records had no interest in Fee or The Tubes.Amazing how much Fee throws his bandmates under the bus
IMO Remote Control was just about as great as it can get. We generally hated North American stuff back then with the exception of Hendrix, Todd, and Zappa, but that particular album got played until the grooves wore out. Fee, as with most Americans is clearly obsessed with making loads of money, but one could never accuse The Tubes of being hypocritical in this regard, just a really great band with a live show to die for.
Once saw an interview where he stated would not perform the song "Dancin" from Xanadu I feel like by performing that song successfully it would have made them more main stream and advanced their career a lot further. After the movie I never heard about them again on that level. Never be ashamed of where you've been it makes you who . you are!
Saw them at the Bottom Line, Beacon Theater and the Calderone Concert Hall on LI in the 70s. Peak Tubes, yeah they were their best then. Check out any video about David Foster and you can bet The Tubes would be completely "different".
Yeah, like Leppard, REO, and Journey; I agree with him. But they also would have done music like 80s Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, and Hair Metal. Diversity and more importantly, versatility, were their drive.
Fee Waybill is a stellar performer; he helped shape my performance standards. Having said that, he has shown himself to be an ass, if you ask him for advice in the Music Business. He also makes it clear that he will NOT hire anyone, even if the rest of the band says otherwise. Take it from a man who idolized the Tubes from childhood- we're here, but he isn't there.
Thought Backword Completion Principal would be the beginning of continued commercial success. The song Talk To You Later demonstrated just how hard they could rock out! They left FM Radio and it's listeners wanting bigger and better things.
I absolutely admire Fee's common sense and honesty. If only more people in the music scene were like him. For a listen to a unique interview with them from 1976, please visit my Soundcloud page (as per my name here).
saw 'em at the pne garden. i swear that they came back in less than a year before arriving 90minute's late to thunderbird gig @UBC. i thought that i was trippin' on LSD whilst watching these show's. one of the tour's was captured on 'what do you want from live' yes. it was like 'mondo video' not reo speedwagon at all.
Fee Waybill is one of the most talented and entertaining front man you'll ever see in Rock. It's a shame that industry interference railroaded their success.
Great absolutely outstanding band that gave us something new .mad 4 sure humour definitely but don't 4get that these lads were superb and top class musician's that had a real following in Britain ! Yet the fans were enraged when they were stopped from p4ming in Newcastle England we were looking 4ward 2 seeing a great and solid entertaining show ? There was hell on but fee waybill sure does explain and nail a lot of reasons why the tubes were somehow robbed of being superstars ? Even now I'm old -ish 😜😂I've mentioned the tubes and the puzzled look on the mushes of so called music lovers encourages me 2 elaborate on their shows !!! When my young lads were early teens they laughed b'cos I did on occasion when drunk do my tubes routine that had them pissing themselves ? But hey man that's the beauty of being caught by the tubes ? They were brilliant and by the sound of it nowts changed ! Thanx fee waybill it was all worth it!bliddy well not fair that in Britain (Newcastle) the stingy authorities shit themselves by cancellation of such a fantastic band that were no where near bad enough 2 be treat that way ! We were the losers !
I played The Completion Backwards Principle at a "steel beach" picnic on a navy destroyer and was met with boos when I first put it in. Afterwards, every guy on the ship wanted to know who it was and where to get a copy.
If David foster could get 4 hit singles , why didn't they happen on fee's solo album that he did with foster and lukather?when I listen to a tubes album I like to hear fee sing half the songs with Spooner singing others with Roger Steen singing lead on a song.The albums that foster DIDNT produce showed what a unique and distinctive sound they made.Band harmonies were great(welnick ,waybill,Steen and Spooner ) merged vocals that disappeared on outside inside and weren't there for some of outside inside.Also half the songs on outside inside sound like hired musicians trying to create a 1980s "lite FM" sound.I will give credit to lukather and foster for helping write 2 great songs but at the end of the day when I bought a TUBES album I don't want to listen to songs like fantastic delusion or no not again or even monkey time.It seems to me that capital records wanted to keep going to the lukather foster waybill songs to sell product."writing to formula " usually worked short term in the music industry in the 70 and 80s but usually never sustained success(poor solo album by fee written with foster and lukather)In hindsight if the band had better management they might have found a compromise(have foster produce 1 song )and let a unique band be creative on the rest of the album.What seems to be list concerning this band and many others is that their fans got locked into them following their live shows and weren't interested in hearing albums that clearly didn't have them performing on some instruments and vocals.
Why can't I find Fee's solo albums on iTunes? WTF! You're damned right, GalacticCowboy, one of the BEST bands ever - certainly the best live show I ever saw. Great musicians / great entertainers. So sad it ended that way and that he's so bitter. Show biz, yeah!
Fee Waybill and the Tubes were nonconformist to the music scene and that made them great. Some songs were open to interpretation by design. I have them on my playlist (still).
ITA. Their influence, esp. on the nascent Burner culture, is astoundingly unacknowledged. Fee is like a super hot chick that doesn't realize the whole room wants her. And yes, they KILL onstage!
I disagree. I LOVE being in cult bands. (You don't need to sell a lot of records to make $3000 a night as a musician.) No INTELLIGENT person wants to be a big star. The bureaucracy... the plasticity of the industry... the greed... EX: PINK FLOYD says that the band DIED when they became superstars after Dark Side. The EAGLES say SUCCESS is what ruined them. This is the rule.
Question? Despite having to do 'extra effort' to scale the outfit and presentation for this venue, and do a 'clean show........... Did the Singer Charge a ............. Fee?
I don't believe him. He gripes about not being "big" then says he doesn't want to tour all the time like Journey. I always liked the Tubes or Tubes whatever the proper name is. I thought they had some solid tunes in that whole Foster period with outside inside and completion backward principle.
Pioneering genius. So underrated. I saw them in 1976 for the first time and thy blew my mind. Best stage show ever at that time.
+ALittleAintEnough I'm so jealous...
Nice✌
I saw them in 1980 when I was 16 and it certainly remains the most outrageous and energetic show I have ever seen. They deserve more credit and recognition.
This breaks my heart, they deserve all the money and success in the world for true talent.
The Tubes--most real band in R&R history! We saw them open for Bowie in 1980. They played in front of 65,000 screaming lunatics on Saturday night, then, the whole band, shows up at our softball tournament on Sunday (dancers and all) to play a couple games and have a couple beers, before hopping the jet for the next show! Unreal, they just wanted to say "thanks for coming to the show!"
lucky :) I would have loved to see that!!
Freaking geniuses, these guys. Smart, savvy, musically astute, and know how to deliver the goods live. You can't ask for more than that. Tubes rock!
Hearing Fee talk about the realities of the record business back in the day makes me wish the band was set in contemporary times when they could use the newer music distribution model to appeal directly to their audience. They were so creative and talented and funny and wonderful. Their music was brilliant, really. I'm always going to have a soft spot for The Tubes and especially for Fee Waybill - an incredibly talented, kind, self-effacing guy. And that dude could sing, too!
It's a pity that the majority of the band members deliberately shunned being popular. Mike Cotten actually states that in an interview.
In my opinion, the greatest rock n roll band of all time. First time I saw them was at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ. The night of the show there was a major snowstorm, and there couldn't have been more than 200 people in the building. The Plimsouls were supposed to open, but didn't show. Fee walked out, looked at the audience & said "You people are going to tell your friends you saw the best Goddamn rock show tonight". He was right, the played for hours, & we were all exhausted from the power of the show. No band for me has ever come close.
ABSOLUTELY my friend. 100% the most underrated Rock & Roll band in all of history, and one of the most awesome live rock shows ever. (Saw them over 20 times).
Great telling, of a great story. I saw them in LA about 35 years ago and my mind is still blown! They are SO amazing - I sorry they never received their just rewards. So ahead of their time.
I envy you
Agreed, saw them in a complete downpour at an outdoor ampitheatre (not the "BIG" venue) in Toronto about '82 or 3, and they delivered an amazing performance and thanked us for being there considering the weather.
Love this guy- what a fantastic interview- honest and open - long live Fee and the Tubes- cannot wait to see you in the UK this August 2015 :)
Holygasoline saw them in the Netherlands tonight, pity he can't hit the notes, but fenominal show !
Love the honesty in this interview, and thank you for doing it, and for Fee, for being so honest and straight...answered a lot of questions I had about the band. They were HUGE in 1975 in San Francisco and their crazy theatrical shows were the stuff of legend. They were WAY ahead of their time, and clearly not managed very well. They should have been a lot bigger than they were. Long live The tubes!
I saw them at Winterland at one of their Sounds of the City shows. Full stage show, including Lunchface and Rock and Roll Hospital. Listening to them now, I can appreciate their musicianship more.
They also played a short set at the 1973 Led Zeppelin concert at Kezar.
@@charleswilliams8368 Very cool they opened for Zep at Kezar! Saw many shows at Winterland. I only saw the Tibes once, but it was a beauty--New Year's Eve in late 70s or early 80s at Bimbo's 365.
This guy is one of the real interesting fellows in rock 'n roll. The Tubes were a fabulous band and Fee was their unquestioned leader. A great artist yet very practical, not an easy balance.
one of a kind rock band who expanded the boundaries of rock and showmanship saw them live in the 80s superb!
Heard them here and there when I was growing up in the 80's and although I loved She's a Beauty I just couldn't get into them. Tonight I am watching a lot of live stuff from them on here and man I can not believe how good they are and how great they sound live. Took me a long while but I am very interested in these guys. I am surely gonna look for a lot more and soak it up.
their live performance was one of a kind, sort of super tight jazzy band with raunchy theatrics, I just don't think their albums lived up to that until Inside Outside.
Honest and straight forward man. Refreshing.
i was at this. it was called Taste of Kalamazoo. got to meet Fee. in fact i worked the merch booth!
Love, Love, Love, The Tubes. Played my college in 1980 with
The BusBoys - best concert ever!!!
David A damn the busboys too where the hell are the busboys?
David A I saw the Tubes and Busboys at my college too! Cal Poly Pomona back in the early '80's. Fantastic show!
I grew up in Phoenix, Az... "The Beans" & "The Red, White & Blues Band" were 2 of the top bands there back in the late 60's ..leaving town separately for fame & fortune to the bay area, then merging into "The TUBES" in '71. I once jammed on stage (blues harp) with the Red White & Blues Band at Legend City & loved The Beans , who even once played at my high school. About the time they were merging into The Tubes in the Bay area, I got my own band rolling called "Sage" ( Guitar,bass & drums + my lead vocal) & were a popular band for a few years in the early 70's (Played a lot at The Odyssey.) SO, you can easily see why I'm all down with Fee....& great to see they're still performing...and even Bill Spooner ( Original Beans / Tubes lead guitar ) is playing clubs ion the Bay Area as well.
One of my all time favorite bands and I saw them live in the 70's at the Capital Theater in Passaic NJ! Not only are they great musicians but they put on a show that you will remember for the rest of your life! I'm now 78 years old and I was so lucky to have seen them Live!
Fun!
What a terrific, frank interview with Waybill. I went to SF Art Institute in '71 when Cotten and Prairie Prince were there. The band was just coming together then (called the Beans) They played at some school functions. Anyone who didn't see their first national tour (75?) missed one of the greatest Rock 'n Roll roadshows ever put together. Fee still gives 100% at every show.......They had something good going with David Foster. Too bad Bill Spooner and some of the others couldn't see their way to continue that alliance.
Fee is funny as shit! The whole band for that matter. Especially when they do Business live haga. Man, I wished I could have seen them around 1981-1983 timeframe when they were NOT family-friendly haha... and in their prime
One of true geniuses of rock n' roll!!
The Ayatollahs of Rock and Rolla!!!
LOVE The Tubes! Glad I saw them back in the Completion backward principle days in the 80's!
My brother turned me on to The Tubes first album in California back in the 70s. Classic awesomeness. Fee tells the truth of what was and what could have been. Gentleman, rocker and fortunately found a further career in real estate.
142 views and no comments, and it's an interview with the singer from one of the best bands ever? What gives? Cool interview, thank you so much! Tubes 4everrr! :D
I met Fee once. After his good natured energy I was most amazed when I shook his hand. I have good sized man hands but his hands are enormous! Great guy.
What a great band. Fee has a great underated voice. Great lyrics and a true cult band. I agree with others , these guys should have been HUGE . I saw them several times in Pasadena and lately at the coachhouse. what great shows . too bad most people dont undrerstand them?
I saw the tubes in Seattle back in 76. My buddy knew nothing about them and the tickets were $7.50. He thought that was expensive and said" This better be worth it" and a guy in front of us turned around and said " oh It is" . My buddy love the show!
Saw the Tubes in Boston back in the 70's and was totally blown away by their performance with all the costume changes and stage props.
The Tubes rock so steady. They are playing not far from me this month I think. I get the feeling that Fee does not understand just how important the tubes are. Oh gosh do they do great on stage!
Great interview, candid, always loved their music... had tickets to see them twice and never saw them (once a no show in Montreal) :-(
Thanks for the interview.......very interesting.
Lucky me-I got to see the What Do You Want From Live Tour back in the 70s. Phenomenal show,fantastic music. I have been a fan since...
yep. that was so fucking awesome! and Prairie Prince is a drum god...
The completion backwards principle album will go with me to the next life.. 1981 was my graduation yr from high school, my friend introduced me to attack of the fifty foot woman song and was hooked since... no money's need to add up to their legacy. They're immortalized forever in my book. Amnesia,Mr hate are classic!
Cal State Fullerton....motorcycle right down the middle in a small place up to the stage.....outrageous!! To this day I still talk about it!!
I wish that Social Media existed back then; it would have been so good for The Tubes.
Good to see you again Fee Waybill!
What a biz.Thanks Fee for a concert experience that I will never forget.Quaylude!!!!
Late 1970's I volunteered to usher at Bimbo's San Francisco when The Tubes were playing. I saw their show 2-3-4 times. It was a lot of fun and entertainment. "What do you want from Life?"
The Tubes best album far and away was "Remote Control". Every song was a keeper. The production was flawless. I wore that album out.
Fantastic band, very much underrated.
WOW. YOU GUYS WENT OUT ALL THE WAY ON THE INTERVIEW SET! SPENT MILLIONS, OBVIOUSLY!
Love Bomb is still one of my favorite records. So sad to hear Fee talk this way. The Tues went down hill when Bill Spooner left the band. And Todd is GOD...
I love that album too , "For a Song" is my favorite track.
I adore Love Bomb too, just not "commercial" I guess..Piece By Piece, Come as you are (gorgeous song) , One Good reason...lots of great tunes on that..Fee was really bitter about this .. But it's one of my favorite Tubes albums..
Fee's just being honest. I can't imagine putting in all they did and never really "making it". Don't get me wrong, they're my all-time favorite band, but I'm sure that their trajectory would have been very different if the follow-up to Completion Backward and Outside Inside built on those two albums' success. Personally, my favorite album was Remote Control!
It’s a shame the never got the recognition they so much deserved, only 2 hit songs, been listening to their music for many years, a very tight band!
On fm indy small radio stations which sprang up in the 1970s you heard lots of the Tubes and no censorship . those were really the good old days....sigh
For a kid from the MidSouth in the early 80s, they were so weird and so amazing.
First saw the Tubes at Dallas County Convention Center Theater, small venue. Encore =1 they did a tune called Doctors Hospital with Re Debris wheeled out on a gurney covered by a thin white sheet and her ample curves protruding proudly. When Fee fired up the chainsaw, a Dallas cop standing stageside saw the blue two-cycle smoke head up toward the stage lights, he nearly swallowed his cigar. It was worth the price of admission!
So bummed that things did not work out so well for these guys. I worked in radio at the time that "She's a Beauty" came out and apparently went near the top of the Billboard charts. I did get to see them live at the Pantages Theater in L.A around 1978-79. in, "Outrageous at The Pantages". It was an incredible show with all the theater you'd expect-including "Kway Lude". And in about 2004 or 5 got to meet Fe in person at a casino just outside Sacramento (Cashe Creek) as they performed a scaled down show there. When I heard "She's a Beauty" I was happy they were back on the airwaves. I asked Fe if he remembered the show at The Pantages and he said, "absolutely".
Nothing worth while is ever easy. You guys still rock !
Saw them in Tuscon in what, 1979/80.... Just fantastic! Love it!
Fee Waybill has a good head on his shoulders. Smart Guy.
The Tubes had a certain kind of musical genius going on. Humorous lyrics and crazy good musicianship. The two lead guitarists sang better than many lead singers and way above average radio play pickers. A totally unique band. And as much as I like Fee, it's a good thing performing Tubes songs (as of this interview) is a hobby for him. The voice is pretty much not there anymore, but he's nearly my age and I get that.
"She's a beauty" is a fantastic rock song. Love it love it love it, it never gets old. Fee is right, a few more songs from the brain trust that wrote it and they were on that level that never requires a real job again. Touring perhaps yes, but a job, no.
Wow, I loved Love Bomb!!!! Sad to hear Fee say that.
A fantastic album, sorry Fee.
The tubes were so damn good. Piece By Piece should've been a massive hit
I love how Fee is on close terms with Steve Lukather. The Tubes and Toto were two major bands who never got the recognition they deserve.
Great band and a awesome Singer LOVE TuBeS!!!!!!!!!!!
Saw The Plimsouls, The Tubes, and Cheap Trick at Balboa Bark in the San Fernando Valley in 1995. Great show! Kato Kaetlin showed up for the final encore of the day. As Cheap Trick was doing Lennon's Cold Turkey. Only in L.A. saw Robert Shapiro at the Stones/Buddy show at the Rosebowl same year. Once again only in L.A. The Epicenter of the Universe.
.
Electric Blaze I roadied that Stones show.
Odd that one of my favorite albums was Love Bomb. I think it's a great album, but I don't think they were ever marketed correctly.
I think you're right
After Fee:s solo album (done with Foster producing with session musicians) flopped capital records had no interest in Fee or The Tubes.Amazing how much Fee throws his bandmates under the bus
The moment the interviewer said “here’s Todd Rundgren now”, you could see Fee’s face. 😲. He was so ready to smack the guy
Tubes are the shit I just got back into the music after 25 years
IMO Remote Control was just about as great as it can get. We generally hated North American stuff back then with the exception of Hendrix, Todd, and Zappa, but that particular album got played until the grooves wore out. Fee, as with most Americans is clearly obsessed with making loads of money, but one could never accuse The Tubes of being hypocritical in this regard, just a really great band with a live show to die for.
Once saw an interview where he stated would not perform the song "Dancin" from Xanadu I feel like by performing that song successfully it would have made them more main stream and advanced their career a lot further. After the movie I never heard about them again on that level. Never be ashamed of where you've been it makes you who . you are!
They had rehearsed it and felt it sounded good. They just never actually found a spot in the show to perform it. So they never did.
William Carter Did not know that thank you
7:57 this is why they are the best band in the world.
Saw them at the Bottom Line, Beacon Theater and the Calderone Concert Hall on LI in the 70s. Peak Tubes, yeah they were their best then. Check out any video about David Foster and you can bet The Tubes would be completely "different".
Yeah, like Leppard, REO, and Journey; I agree with him. But they also would have done music like 80s Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, and Hair Metal. Diversity and more importantly, versatility, were their drive.
"No bondage, nuttin' too weird"🤣
Fee Waybill is a stellar performer; he helped shape my performance standards. Having said that, he has shown himself to be an ass, if you ask him for advice in the Music Business. He also makes it clear that he will NOT hire anyone, even if the rest of the band says otherwise. Take it from a man who idolized the Tubes from childhood- we're here, but he isn't there.
Wayne: you should clean up and get off dope.
Sputnik FUCKING Spooner! Absolute legend.
Thought Backword Completion Principal would be the beginning of continued commercial success. The song Talk To You Later demonstrated just how hard they could rock out! They left FM Radio and it's listeners wanting bigger and better things.
Ha! Love Bomb is BRILLIANT!
I absolutely admire Fee's common sense and honesty. If only more people in the music scene were like him.
For a listen to a unique interview with them from 1976, please visit my Soundcloud page (as per my name here).
Smart, talented dude.
Remote Control and Love Bomb were the best Tubes albums of all time...
I like "Completion Backward..." Talk to ya later...
saw 'em at the pne garden. i swear that they came back in less than a year before arriving 90minute's late to thunderbird gig @UBC.
i thought that i was trippin' on LSD whilst watching these show's. one of the tour's was captured on 'what do you want from live'
yes. it was like 'mondo video' not reo speedwagon at all.
I dare anyone to explain the tubes.
They are from San Francisco. There is your explanation.
Fee Waybill is one of the most talented and entertaining front man you'll ever see in Rock. It's a shame that industry interference railroaded their success.
I like the tubes they are an awesome band
Great absolutely outstanding band that gave us something new .mad 4 sure humour definitely but don't 4get that these lads were superb and top class musician's that had a real following in Britain ! Yet the fans were enraged when they were stopped from p4ming in Newcastle England we were looking 4ward 2 seeing a great and solid entertaining show ? There was hell on but fee waybill sure does explain and nail a lot of reasons why the tubes were somehow robbed of being superstars ? Even now I'm old -ish 😜😂I've mentioned the tubes and the puzzled look on the mushes of so called music lovers encourages me 2 elaborate on their shows !!! When my young lads were early teens they laughed b'cos I did on occasion when drunk do my tubes routine that had them pissing themselves ? But hey man that's the beauty of being caught by the tubes ? They were brilliant and by the sound of it nowts changed ! Thanx fee waybill it was all worth it!bliddy well not fair that in Britain (Newcastle) the stingy authorities shit themselves by cancellation of such a fantastic band that were no where near bad enough 2 be treat that way ! We were the losers !
I played The Completion Backwards Principle at a "steel beach" picnic on a navy destroyer and was met with boos when I first put it in. Afterwards, every guy on the ship wanted to know who it was and where to get a copy.
If David foster could get 4 hit singles , why didn't they happen on fee's solo album that he did with foster and lukather?when I listen to a tubes album I like to hear fee sing half the songs with Spooner singing others with Roger Steen singing lead on a song.The albums that foster DIDNT produce showed what a unique and distinctive sound they made.Band harmonies were great(welnick ,waybill,Steen and Spooner ) merged vocals that disappeared on outside inside and weren't there for some of outside inside.Also half the songs on outside inside sound like hired musicians trying to create a 1980s "lite FM" sound.I will give credit to lukather and foster for helping write 2 great songs but at the end of the day when I bought a TUBES album I don't want to listen to songs like fantastic delusion or no not again or even monkey time.It seems to me that capital records wanted to keep going to the lukather foster waybill songs to sell product."writing to formula " usually worked short term in the music industry in the 70 and 80s but usually never sustained success(poor solo album by fee written with foster and lukather)In hindsight if the band had better management they might have found a compromise(have foster produce 1 song )and let a unique band be creative on the rest of the album.What seems to be list concerning this band and many others is that their fans got locked into them following their live shows and weren't interested in hearing albums that clearly didn't have them performing on some instruments and vocals.
Fee Waybill is a Legend..next??
Why can't I find Fee's solo albums on iTunes? WTF! You're damned right, GalacticCowboy, one of the BEST bands ever - certainly the best live show I ever saw. Great musicians / great entertainers. So sad it ended that way and that he's so bitter. Show biz, yeah!
I love the Tubes!!! GREAT BAND, and Fee Waybill is HOT!!!! ;)
Hello from Grand Rapids.
Fee Waybill and the Tubes were nonconformist to the music scene and that made them great. Some songs were open to interpretation by design. I have them on my playlist (still).
ITA. Their influence, esp. on the nascent Burner culture, is astoundingly unacknowledged. Fee is like a super hot chick that doesn't realize the whole room wants her. And yes, they KILL onstage!
Watch the White Punks on Dope clip from the Grey Whistle show. He and Aluce Cooper from same HS. Check those water fountains eh?😆
I disagree. I LOVE being in cult bands.
(You don't need to sell a lot of records to make $3000 a night as a musician.)
No INTELLIGENT person wants to be a big star. The bureaucracy... the plasticity of the industry... the greed...
EX: PINK FLOYD says that the band DIED when they became superstars after Dark Side.
The EAGLES say SUCCESS is what ruined them.
This is the rule.
Even $300 a night as a musician is good.
More money = MORE HEADACHES.
Yea but at least those guys wiped their tears with millions of dollar bills and laughed all the way to the bank!
Where's the single?
Love it
Question? Despite having to do 'extra effort' to scale the outfit and presentation for this venue, and do a 'clean show........... Did the Singer Charge a ............. Fee?
Yay prairie prince
When was this interview done?
Ok I see looks like 2009 July 25 gotcha.
Great interview! One of the greatest bands ever. However, I agree that Love Bomb wasn't good. Please play more San Jose shows
kur ir palicis Fee Way Tubes ?
I don't believe him. He gripes about not being "big" then says he doesn't want to tour all the time like Journey. I always liked the Tubes or Tubes whatever the proper name is. I thought they had some solid tunes in that whole Foster period with outside inside and completion backward principle.
what a fuckin biz!!! Tubes ROCKKKK
The King Of San Francisco.
The Tubes World Tour
WPOD , I was a Audio roadie for the Tubes ,in the 80's. Fee was a band gear guy before he became the singer in the band
Fee is one cool mo fo.