Billy Morrison: Most Guitarists Want the Spotlight and the Glory

An extended version of your last year's album was recently released. How do you see it in hindsight?

I’m hugely satisfied with the original album. It was a big success, it generated a bunch of singles and videos. We had a number one of the album and we got another top 10 hit right now. And a deluxe edition? You don’t usually get to do deluxe edition of an unsuccessful album. Your record label doesn’t say: "That was terrible, so let’s do another version of it." Just by being allowed to do a deluxe edition of my record means I’m really happy. I got to have a little bit of fun. I did a remix on there, I got a couple of my friends to do remixes, we’ve got "Gods Of Rock’n’roll" on there and the track called "Phenomenon" with Cypress Hill. I was sitting on that track for a long while. There wasn’t space for it on the original album so now I got to put that track out which is huge for me. 

You mentioned the song "Gods Of Rock’n’roll". For that new version, you even added a 61-piece orchestra. 

Yeah, that story is very simple. Basically, when we first did that song, Ozzy said we should have an orchestra and a choir. I didn’t have the resources, it was ten years ago. Now I have the resources and I wanted to make the song what Ozzy always thought it should be. I wanted to do that for him. So we did and it came out great. 

You used the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, which is known mainly in the film industry. 

They do a lot of work in the rock’n’roll business. It’s a financial thing. It is very expensive to use a Los Angeles orchestra and most bands that put orchestras on tracks go to Europe. Because they are amazing musicians and they do it all the time so they know how to do it. 

There are a lot of guests and your friends from the industry on the album. Each track is different, there are typical rock tracks, a touch of punk, but also hip hop. 

There is also a piano ballad on the album. The whole point is that I didn’t sit down to make a record. I was just making music during Covid. Anyone who sat down to make an album would not deliberately put five or six genres of music on one album. The reason that I did this is because I wasn’t aware that I was going to put them all together on the record. I was just making music that I like. And I listen to punk, I listen to heavy metal, hard rock, ballads, hip hop all the time. It is what Billy Morrison sounds like.

Can you describe the recording process? I know there were vocals and guitars but what about the drums? Were you and the drummer in the same room and did you show him your idea or did you leave it all up to him?

I was in the room when Erik Eldenius from Billy Idol’s band did some tracking for me. I pride myself on my drum programming skills. What I sent the drummers to record is pretty much what I want them hear to play. I understand drums and I understand fills, grooves and beats. You just can’t make a drum program sound like a real drummer. 

Songs can be composed like this: You can go back to your ideas, play with them and improve them over time. But then there are songs where the first spontaneous idea is the best one and you don't want to touch the song. It´s done. What happens more often to you? 

I’ll give you two examples. "Drowning", which is a lead single of the album, was a song that started completely differently. I basically came to that song a year later and all I kept was the tempo, the drums and the key of the song. I came back to that song and I realized that what I liked was the groove. I just rewrote everything.

There is also a song that I wrote a year ago that I was convinced was gonna make it onto the next album. And only yesterday I just deleted it. I realized that this is a terrible song and deleted it. There are also songs like "Chasin’The Shadow" which is the Linda Perry ballad on the album that came out all in one day. I knew how it sounded in my head, I made it sound like that in the studio and she sang my lyrics, my melody. That was a song that just was never gonna change. It is how it is. 

You like playing with other people and you enjoy being a support for other musicians. You don't need to show off,  you're more of a hidden man who helps performers sound better, you serve the songs... Not every musician can do that. 

That’s why the streets are full of unemployed lead guitar players. Because everyone wants the spotlight and the glory. I wanna learn. I mean, learn by playing with other musicians and watching and listening. I don’t know if I’m hidden, I’m just not Slash, Steve Stevens or Dave Navarro and I’m really happy like that.

I wanna play with those guys and I wanna learn from them and watch what they do and pick up a technique, tone and the rest of it. I’m professionally quite happy to be Billy Idol’s rhythm guitar player. I love it, that’s great, I’ll do my own solo album when it’s time for it. These days, if being in the music business is your job and you can pay your bills you should be extremely grateful and not be searching for more. 

You're basically a sideman. In that context, I think of Earl Slick, who was David Bowie's sideman for years. 

I’ll take that! If you are comparing me to Earl Slick, good. (chuckles) But yeah, exactly. Here’s the deal, Steve Stevens is the Earl Slick, Steve Stevens is the Keith Richards to the Mick Jagger. I’m just there to provide whatever Steve needs me to provide. And I’m lucky that Steve thinks I’m a decent guitar player. I’m allowed to stretch, I get a couple of solos. Steve is not precious but the legacy is Steve Stevens and Billy Idol. 

How do you discuss your parts? Is it rather natural or does he give you recommendations on what to play and how to play it?

Ninety-nine per cent of the time Steve lets me figure out whatever I want to play. He will only say something if he’s hearing something completely different. He never sits down and goes: "I need you to play this." He very rarely changes anything I play. He is a wonderful musical director because he doesn’t direct. He wants the musicians to be musicians and play what they feel and what they hear. I love that. 

Playing with Steve must be very inspiring. Did you take anything from his guitar style?

I wouldn’t presume to even be able to take anything from his guitar style although I listen and learn every night. I have learned a bunch of techniques from Steve, I’ve also learned a lot of tone. I would like to think that I have a very good guitar tone. That’s me standing on the stage with Steve Stevens or Jerry Cantrell, or Slash, or Steve Jones, all these guys who have got amazing guitar tones, and learning why. It’s in the fingers. Anyone can learn to put their fingers on the right frets but how the right hand plays it and how the left hand translates that note – that’s where your tone is. That I learned from Steve Stevens.

You're from England, and you remember that punk boom in the 70s/80s. You went to gigs and were part of the punk scene. Did you get a chance to meet Billy when he was in Generation X?

No, but I did see him twice. We lived in the same area of south London and there was a record store that all the punks used to go to. Sid Vicious, Siouxsie and Billy Idol. I was really young, I’m ten years younger. And I was like a young kid who wanted to be a part of it. I do remember hanging out outside and seeing Billy a couple of times walking to that record shop.

You always play some songs from Generation X with Billy.  How do you choose them? Is it always Billy's choice, or do you or Steve come up with a recommendation?

Ultimately it’s all Billy’s choice but Billy knows that I was a huge Generation X fan and I know the material very well so for the last few years it’s been me who chose the songs. We did "Love Like Fire" on my suggestion or "Running With The Boss Sound". Right now we are doing "Night Of The Cadillacs". That came from me. That was me sitting on a plane with Billy and I suggested it and Steve was like: "Oh yeah, I love that song!" and Billy went: "Great, let’s do it." Gradually we’re going through all these obscure Generation X songs. 

And which is your favourite one to play? 

I think it’s always the one we are currently doing. Right now I love doing "Night Of The Cadillacs". I get the solo, we extended the solo section so it’s long enough for me to stretch out. I also used to love doing "Running With The Boss Sound". That was an amazing song but it’s a tough one to play live. The arrangement is kind of different. "Night Of The Cadillacs" is a perfect punk song and it fits perfectly in the set.

Your drug addiction, which you only kicked after 15 years, is well known and it's no secret. What role did moving to Los Angeles play in your journey to sobriety? Di you kick your addiction there?

No, I’d spent a few years in Los Angeles before I cleaned up. I was a drug addict on the streets of Los Angeles for a few years. Then I came back to England and kicked for good. That was 29 and a half years ago. Then once I was clean I made the decision to come back to Los Angeles and start a music career. 

Wasn't L.A., the city of sins,  the most dangerous city you could have chosen?

I don’t think it’s dangerous to go anywhere if you really have made a change in your life. You can’t give up drugs or alcohol and never come into contact with them again. It’s just unrealistic. It’s about that moment of clarity. I had a moment of clarity when I decided I didn’t wanna live like this anymore. By the way, I know where to get crack or heroin in every major city in the world so Los Angeles has nothing to do with it. You get it all here, get it in London or get it in Czechoslovakia. It’s not about: "Don’t go where the drugs are," because the drugs are everywhere. It’s about a change of perception, a change of lifestyle. 

As a guitarist, you mostly played Gibson Les Pauls. But Knaggs also made one signature model for you. It's basically your version of the Les Paul Junior.

I’m a huge New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders fan and there are a lot of times when I play with Billy Idol and Steve is playing a single cutaway, mahogany body Knaggs. It’s the Les Paul sound, it’s got humbuckers, even Steve makes it sound his own, he’s got that area covered. It’s kind of pointless putting on another Les Paul-style guitar with humbuckers because it cancels out the point of having two guitars.

And being a huge Johnny Thunders fan, I love the Les Paul Junior shape, the double cutaway. It’s really iconic for glam rock and punk days. I wanted a thicker body, those Juniors are often real thin and they don’t weigh anything. I spoke to Knaggs, they wanted to do Billy Morrison guitar, and I wanted a thicker body, Junior’s shape. These days they do noiseless P90 pickups. That’s the trick with those guitars, it’s all about the P90s. But P90s in Juniors are so noisy that you can’t use them. So they built me this prototype which was absolutely perfect. They are noiseless, you can literally take your hands off the guitar and there is no noise at all! But when you play, it sounds exactly like that Johnny Thunders tone. Now me and Steve sound like two guitar players in the band, not one, like two with the same sound. 

What kind of acoustic guitars do you prefer? Do you have a favourite?

I use Godin exclusively. They make absolutely amazing acoustics. With Idol all the acoustics are actually electro acoustic. If I was to use a full on acoustic guitar it would be Gibson J-45 probably, maybe J-200. With Idol we need them to be plugged in and Godin play like electric guitars, they are so beautiful to play and they sound really like the greatest acoustic guitar in the world. They are really great and I have a bunch of those. 

You used to play bass in The Cult. You really had no experience with the instrument before?

Not before and not since. It makes me laugh, I played the bass in The Cult for two years, I’ve been a guitar player for Billy Idol for fifteen. I have my own career as a guitar player and yet people always wanna talk about being in The Cult as a bass player. I enjoy playing bass on my own records, I’m probably pretty good at it but I’m not a bass player, I joined The Cult as a bass player cause they needed one. Why wouldn’t you join The Cult, it’s an amazing band. I got two years of fun.

Some people thinks that bass is easier than guitar. 

Ha! I think that bass is one of the most physical instruments. Playing bass professionally is wear and tear on the body. You get big muscles in your arms and your fingers get really hard. You’ve gotta have a good sense of rhythm. It’s not easy!

I think you used Precisions and Thunderbirds…

OK, I have no idea. You know more than I do! (laughs) I had a couple of bass guitars and I played them, that was it.

You’re not only into music but also paintings and art in general. How do you schedule your time? Do you have certain days when you do paintings and days when you create music?

Kind of. It’s not like every Wednesday I paint because sometimes on Wednesdays I rehearse. I live my life on a computer calendar. It’s all colour blocks of time. This morning has an orange block that says: Interview. After that, I have to go to the recording studio downtown. Tomorrow it says painting. My life is busy and all of that gets scheduled way in advance.