Bassist Ricky Phillips talks about doing the Coverdale/Page project
Snippets from an interview, Phillips is now the bassist for Styx
by Ruben Mosqueda on July 27, 2011
Ricky Phillips is known for his role as songwriter and bassist in bands such as Bad English, The Babys, and the Coverdale/Page project with singer David Coverdale and guitarist Jimmy Page. Phillips has performed and recorded with the likes of Joe Cocker, Roger Daltrey, Mick Jagger, Sammy Hagar, Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Julian Lennon, Ted Nugent, Eddie Money, Steve Stevens, Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner, and Steve Lukather.
He joined Styx in 2003 and hasn't looked back.
You took part in the writing and recording of one of the most underrated rock albums of the past 20 years, Coverdale/Page. At the time of its release in 1993, the industry considered it a commercial failure, but it sold 500,000 copies. How did you get involved with that project?
Bad English had opened for Whitesnake and I got to know David Coverdale very well. Toward the end of Bad English I recieved a call from David asking if I wanted to be involved in a project with him and Jimmy Page. He didn't know at that time if it was going to be a band or simply he and Jimmy, with a band around them. David invited me up to his place in Lake Tahoe to work on songs with David and Jimmy Page. I'd fly in and we'd work on songs and then fly back home. We really hit it off and continued this process for about 4-5 months. I wrote all the bass parts and the majority of the keyboard parts for the album. We started recording the album at Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver, B.C., but then the recording was moved to Florida. People were getting sick so it was moved. They selected Florida because Jimmy was buying a house there at the time. A year passed before the album was completed after that. During that time Jimmy had started to replace guitar tracks, which were different than the ones we recorded initially in Vancouver. Since things didn't match up with my bass tracks and they couldn't put me up in Florida for a year so they brought in Jorge Casas (Miami Sound Machine) to cut those tracks. If you read the credits it doesn't read correctly--nevertheless it was a very cool experience and it was so much fun putting that together.
It was a great time that I can look back at now with fond memories. Denny Carmassi (Montrose, Heart) was the drummer on that album. He's such a great guy, and working with David and Jimmy was wonderful. I hung out with Jimmy the most. Growing up I was a huge fan of The Yardbirds, we'd go out to clubs at night and I would drive him crazy with questions about The Yardbirds and of course, Led Zeppelin.
Coverdale/Page didn't tour much as a result of the lack of sales of the album. You explained what happened during the recording of the album but why were you not part of the touring line-up? You were featured in the video clip for "Pride & Joy."
Jimmy called me up one day and said, "Hey we are getting ready to make a video, are you available?" I went ahead and did the "Pride & Joy" video clip with them and I can't for the life of me remember what I had going on at that time, but I wasn't able to do the tour. At that time I was doing a lot of studio work and all I recall is that I wasn't around. I can't recall if I played on the final version that made the album. They headed out to Japan and played a couple of weeks worth of shows, I believe, and a few others and that was it. I remember Jimmy pulling me aside during the video shoot for "Pride & Joy" and he said, "Hey I just got together with Robert (Plant) and we're going to work together again." He was very excited. It was then that I knew it was over.
http://oregonmusicne...lue-collar-man/
Ricky Phillips interview July 20th, 2011. He talks a little about the Coverdale/Page project at 10:56 into the interview.