When we interviewed '80s guitar legend Marty McFly two years ago, a technical error meant that the recording of one of the most interesting parts of the interview was lost. Fortunately, we have now been able to recover it.
The subeditor responsible has been fired.
PV: You played support on Wyld Stallyns' epoch-making Most Excellent tour. Why do you think the tour was so successful?
MMcF: Well, I'd have to put that down to Stallyns' drum-heavy, guitar-driven sound, not to mention the incredible attention to logistical detail displayed by their road crew. That Napoleon guy - what a professional.
PV: ...
MMcF: Nah, just messing with you - I know what you mean. I never expected to see peace in the Middle East in my lifetime, and to have been a part of it, even a small part - I still can't believe it, years later.
PV: How do you think that two Californian rockers succeeded where so many trained negotiators and professional politicians had failed?
MMcF: I honestly don't know. But you've gotta realise that Bill and Ted's laid-back West Coast vibe isn't all there is to them - underneath the surface, they're two of the most driven people I've met. On the tour, they were everywhere, all the time - I don't know when they managed to sleep. They hid it pretty well, but occasionally you'd catch this look of burning intensity, like they were on a literal mission from God, or they'd been told that only they could save the world.
PV: It's not every rock tour that includes a hectic schedule of meetings with regional and world leaders.
MMcF: Yeah. At first I thought I'd signed on for an ordinary tour, but then about a week into the tour Niccolo, their Italian manager, said "Hey guys, the Prime Minister says he'd like to meet you," and then the political stuff just kept building and building. After a while, it was like we were a travelling political campaign that happened to play gigs every night. But I'll tell you something else, though - the Stallyns approached every gig with total dedication, no matter who they'd met that day or who they were meeting the day after.
PV: Apart from the big headline events and meetings - we've all seen the historic photos of the Preston-Logan Accord being signed on stage at the final gig of the tour -
MMcF: Hell of an encore.
PV: You can say that again! But aside from the headline events, was there a lot of backstage negotiation associated with the tour?
MMcF: I was kinda out of the loop on a lot of that stuff, but yeah, Niccolo was always out meeting someone or other. Sneaky guy - I don't think he ever asked me to do something that I didn't end up doing one way or another. Definitely someone you want on your side, though. And there was a lot of apparently-casual stuff, too. The sheer universal appeal of Stallyns' music opened a lot of doors - when everyone wants to meet you just to get your autograph, you can talk music for a while and then slip in a question about 1967 borders or the Marsh Arabs. Or at least you can if you're Bill and Ted. If, say, Bono had tried it then everyone would have been very polite and then shown him the door as quickly as possible, but somehow those two got people to open up.
PV: Did you ever sit in on any of these meetings?
MMcF: One or two, yeah. Bill and Ted were just incredible. They'd show up looking like they'd just fallen out of bed, call people "Mr President, dude" in their California surfer drawl, lull all the politicos into a false sense of security, and then stun everybody with their incredible grasp of historical and political details. It was like they'd physically been present at every significant battle or negotiation in the region's history, and knew all the key historical players personally. I consider myself a history buff, as you know, but Bill and Ted were on a whole other level.
PV: What was it like touring with the Stallyns on a more personal level?
MMcF: Well, most of the guys in Weather Experiment have been touring with me since the late '80s, and we're pretty close. We've been through a lot together, which definitely helped when we found ourselves at the centre of a major historical event. But we're friends and colleagues. Wyld Stallyns feel like a family. Not just the two couples - and Bill and Ted always, always call their wives "the princesses" - but the whole band: the dancers, Station the keyboardist, the Swedish bassist, the lot.
PV: Does Station ever take that suit off?
MMcF: Not that I ever saw. Man, he must have been hot out in the desert.
PV: And is Death as creepy as everyone says?
MMcF: Pretty much. Great guy, but there's just something about him... [shudders]. Plays a mean game of Twister, though.
Weather Experiment's new single, "1.21: a high-speed tribute to John Cage", is released on Warp Records on August 17th. Wyld Stallyns' next movie is currently in development.
The subeditor responsible has been fired.
PV: You played support on Wyld Stallyns' epoch-making Most Excellent tour. Why do you think the tour was so successful?
MMcF: Well, I'd have to put that down to Stallyns' drum-heavy, guitar-driven sound, not to mention the incredible attention to logistical detail displayed by their road crew. That Napoleon guy - what a professional.
PV: ...
MMcF: Nah, just messing with you - I know what you mean. I never expected to see peace in the Middle East in my lifetime, and to have been a part of it, even a small part - I still can't believe it, years later.
PV: How do you think that two Californian rockers succeeded where so many trained negotiators and professional politicians had failed?
MMcF: I honestly don't know. But you've gotta realise that Bill and Ted's laid-back West Coast vibe isn't all there is to them - underneath the surface, they're two of the most driven people I've met. On the tour, they were everywhere, all the time - I don't know when they managed to sleep. They hid it pretty well, but occasionally you'd catch this look of burning intensity, like they were on a literal mission from God, or they'd been told that only they could save the world.
PV: It's not every rock tour that includes a hectic schedule of meetings with regional and world leaders.
MMcF: Yeah. At first I thought I'd signed on for an ordinary tour, but then about a week into the tour Niccolo, their Italian manager, said "Hey guys, the Prime Minister says he'd like to meet you," and then the political stuff just kept building and building. After a while, it was like we were a travelling political campaign that happened to play gigs every night. But I'll tell you something else, though - the Stallyns approached every gig with total dedication, no matter who they'd met that day or who they were meeting the day after.
PV: Apart from the big headline events and meetings - we've all seen the historic photos of the Preston-Logan Accord being signed on stage at the final gig of the tour -
MMcF: Hell of an encore.
PV: You can say that again! But aside from the headline events, was there a lot of backstage negotiation associated with the tour?
MMcF: I was kinda out of the loop on a lot of that stuff, but yeah, Niccolo was always out meeting someone or other. Sneaky guy - I don't think he ever asked me to do something that I didn't end up doing one way or another. Definitely someone you want on your side, though. And there was a lot of apparently-casual stuff, too. The sheer universal appeal of Stallyns' music opened a lot of doors - when everyone wants to meet you just to get your autograph, you can talk music for a while and then slip in a question about 1967 borders or the Marsh Arabs. Or at least you can if you're Bill and Ted. If, say, Bono had tried it then everyone would have been very polite and then shown him the door as quickly as possible, but somehow those two got people to open up.
PV: Did you ever sit in on any of these meetings?
MMcF: One or two, yeah. Bill and Ted were just incredible. They'd show up looking like they'd just fallen out of bed, call people "Mr President, dude" in their California surfer drawl, lull all the politicos into a false sense of security, and then stun everybody with their incredible grasp of historical and political details. It was like they'd physically been present at every significant battle or negotiation in the region's history, and knew all the key historical players personally. I consider myself a history buff, as you know, but Bill and Ted were on a whole other level.
PV: What was it like touring with the Stallyns on a more personal level?
MMcF: Well, most of the guys in Weather Experiment have been touring with me since the late '80s, and we're pretty close. We've been through a lot together, which definitely helped when we found ourselves at the centre of a major historical event. But we're friends and colleagues. Wyld Stallyns feel like a family. Not just the two couples - and Bill and Ted always, always call their wives "the princesses" - but the whole band: the dancers, Station the keyboardist, the Swedish bassist, the lot.
PV: Does Station ever take that suit off?
MMcF: Not that I ever saw. Man, he must have been hot out in the desert.
PV: And is Death as creepy as everyone says?
MMcF: Pretty much. Great guy, but there's just something about him... [shudders]. Plays a mean game of Twister, though.
Weather Experiment's new single, "1.21: a high-speed tribute to John Cage", is released on Warp Records on August 17th. Wyld Stallyns' next movie is currently in development.