I chatted with Vicki Peterson of The Bangles & John Cowsill of the Cowsills about life on the road and making deeply personal music.
Vicki, when did you know you wanted to be a musician?
I picked up playing guitar very very early. I would say six years old ::laughs:: I also wanted to be a nurse, a nun, and a vet. But songwriter and singer and musician was in there at an early age.
John, when did you know?
I can give you the link if you want to read about it. ::laughs:: I’m kidding! It picked me, I didn’t pick it. I was singing when I was four. I just kinda rolled into the gig. I remember loving The Beatles when they were on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” I loved the drums; we had a drum set in the house actually. My brothers asked for it and my dad brought it home one day. I have many memories of us sitting around the drum set as a family.
So you’ve both traveled all over the world in your career. Is there one city or country that stands out?
Vicki: I had fun touring in Europe with The Bangles and Continental Drifters. I LOVED Germany. I can remember places in that region where English is NOT their first language, but they’re singing to the songs and really soaking in the lyrics. It was so impressive.
John: I loved playing Atlantic City in the late 60’s. I was a kid and I watched “Yellow Submarine” from behind the screen. I remember being in Annapolis and seeing all the white caps going up in the air. It was some sort of special event.
It sounds like you both are still having fun? I mean, that IS the point right?
Vicki: Yes, absolutely.
John: The gig is the gig but once everything surrounding that isn’t fun? I’m out. Vicki is a hoot to travel with. We laugh a lot. I make her eyes raise now and then because I can get a tad hot but she brings me down.
Keep him in check!
Vicki: That’s right, someone’s gotta do it!
John: We were driving through Illinois yesterday..
Vicki: There’s no “S” in Illinois.
John: I ALWAYS put an S in it; don’t tell me what to do! ::laughs:: We saw a billboard for a Superman and Lois Lane statue in Metropolis, Illinois, so we stopped. We took pictures with the Superman status and got some t-shirts in the gift shop. The Lois Lane status is actually of Noel Neill, who played her in the TV series with George Reeves. It was SO much fun.
I had NO IDEA that existed!
John: Yeah man!
Vicki: Neither did we.
John: Every field and every house looked like where Johnathan and Martha Kent lived. We had a great time. I remember when the Christopher Reeve films came out and I thought they were the best special effects in the world. Now we watch it, and they’re kinda funny, but the films themselves are still enjoyable.
This hilariously segues into the next question..
If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?
John: I want to be the reverse genie so I can come out of the lamp and make the wishes. I want to have full control over my lamp. I would make the wish that we would all get along. There would be a lot of love, kindness, and forgiveness. I would want to be the genie that could produce that.
Vicki: Nick, do we have you still?
Yes, I’m here!
John: He’s taking shorthand with a number two pencil. He had to erase a few letters.
Yeah, IllinoiSSS ::all laugh::
Vicki: I think mine would be along the lines of John’s answer. I would love to be able to meet people and project a sense of compassion and empathy.
John, earlier this year you released “Long After The Fire”, which features covers of songs by your late brothers. What motivated you to release it now?
John: It took that long to get it made ::all laugh:: Vicki and I always talk about ideas that we have and this was probably a decade in the making. It wasn’t until I reconnected with a friend, Paul Allen, that the project really took off. He ended up producing this album. I was playing with The Beach Boys at the time and he saw we were going to be in Memphis and he called me up. He wanted to start that “Dead brothers project” I had been talking about for a while. The first song we did was “Is Anybody Here?” It’s such a very Roy Orbison-esque song that my brother Bill and his writing partner Jeffrey Hatcher wrote and recorded with The Blue Shadows. Such a beautiful song. It wasn’t until about two years after that that we finished the album.
Vicki, were there any moments during this whole process where either of you got emotional?
::sweet laugh:: Oh boy. Yeah. John had a hard time recording a few of the vocals. We had to stop and start again after a few minutes. It was hard for him to get through. It was very sweet and genuine. It kind of shines through the music we ended up making. You can feel it. Some of these songs were written over thirty years ago. But yet, we felt their presence while we were working.
I read that you recorded this in your house? How damn cool is that?
Vicki ::laughs:: It was convenient on certain levels. But I had chosen that moment to move to New York but the studio was in California. John was on the road for the first year of that journey, so we would have to fly back and forth.
Are you guys excited to bring your first tour together to Jammin Java in Virginia?
Vicki: I’ve never played Vienna so I’m excited.
John: I’ve played in Vienna before, but at Wolf Trap.
Vienna has a lot of awesome named venues it seems like..
Vicki: Apparently!
Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill headline Jammin’ Java in Vienna, VA on 11/5! Buy tix