Pat Fontaine is best known for his awesome bass
licks and being the founding member of XYZ. XYZ is an 80's
hard rock band known for their hits "What Keeps Me Loving You"
and "Inside Out". XYZ have reunited and are still active
today. I had the pleasure of meeting the guys many times when
they first started touring. Pat was always a favorite of mine!
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing him.
1. How did you come up with the name
of your band?
XYZ was a trio at first....I was the
singer/bass player...and of course 2 guys on guitars and
drums...My middle name starts with a Y...So I thought 3
people, 3 letters...It was also very easy to remember for the
few drunken kids that became our first fans...By the time I
met Terry (lead vocals) it was too late , we were touring
thru-out Europe and it was too confusing to change the name
of the band...We stayed with it...(Laughs)
2. Who are some of your favorite
musicians?
I love Pink-Floyd, David Bowie and Motorhead...but
I also listen to country music and quite a bit of pop...I was
never a snob or a hard core dedicated listener at all...I
appreciate pretty much everything...When in NYC I spend hours
in the subway tunnels, tracking down the cool artists of the
moment...Here in LA, I hang at the corner to listen to street
performers with beat up instruments and plastic buckets...I am
game for anything...
3. What's your guilty musical
pleasure?
I tend to regress to punk music once in a
while, cos with punk, it's all about attitude !...And rock n
roll has inherited a little bit of that from punk-music...I am
not a improv guy at all though, in fact I do not recall ever
playing a cover song, but for a Dokken tune, when Don came on
stage with us back in the day...I need to be rehearsed and
prepared, and I can't really jump into it...I need structure
and strong direction...So guilty pleasures seem pretty limited
by that...I was dragged into a jazz club in Brooklyn a while
back, and I was completely lost...(Laughs)
4. Who did you idolize as a child?
I had a huge poster of Roger Daltrey and the
Who in my room...They were the coolest I thought ...I met him
years later and it was quite a thrill!
5. Stranded on a deserted island, what
3 cds would you have with you?
I would refrain from that frustration I
think, and opt to live in complete silence...The surf will be
my music...Maybe I'd bang on a few coconuts for entertainment
once in a while...(Laughs)...Bring it on I say !
6. The difference between today's
music and the music of the 80's?
On a business level it is quite different,
but on an artistic one, same old thing...In fact, we toured
Europe last year, and from city to city, it was strange to
meet all them teen-agers dressed like WE dressed back in 1985
in Hollywood...Bandanas, leopard-print, and pointy boots...
Some things never change I guess, or rather they come back in
due time...Are we all "Desperately Seeking Susan" I wonder ?
(Laughs)
7. Favorite place to perform?
I always drift back to our first stadium
show in Detroit's Cobo Hall on new year's eve....It was a huge
moment for me...The sea of lighters in the air, and the roar
of the crowd, the roadies ushering us on stage in complete
darkness with a narrow beam of a flash light pointed at our
next step...Someone put a bass around my shoulders, and here I
was, in my own teen-age dream come true....HUGE ! NOW, having
said that, there is something really cool about a small club
packed with with drunken crazy goof-balls!...You can see their
eyes ....
8. What makes a good song?
Simplicity...with conviction and truth...but
exceptions abound...The rules are : there are no rules!
9. What are your hobbies?
In the summer I love off-roading with my
Jeep in the California desert, on my way to Vegas, to meet a
pretty girl...(Laughs)...In the winter I am big on
snowboarding...What ever brings me peace silence and solitude,
to give me a break from the chaos of Hollywood!
10. Favorite food to eat on the road?
I try to do the paleo thing...eat like a
caveman...No white flour, no white rice, no white
sugar....Food becomes quite a big deal when you are on the
road...A greasy pizza can ruin your day, and a cheese burger
will take you down like an anchor...I want to stay quick on my
feet with enough brain power to focus on the next town and the
town after that...
I pack energy bars and raw almonds at all time...I eat like a
monkey, I behave like a monkey, I am a monkey!
11. The first concert you ever went
to?
Pink Floyd early 80's...Wow!...I was in a
trance...and never recuperated...
12. Who's the best person you've met
on the road?
I have met hundreds of fascinating people on
the road, but for some reason, I remember playing a Indian
reservation in NM... We had to drive the bus onto miles and
miles of dirt roads, and once arrived and after the show, we
sat down with some local kids and got a taste of a life we did
not know at all...It was brilliant really to enter this
sub-world of wide spaces and pristine sky...Wild horses and
cheap beer...
We ate corn and beans out of paper plates until the sun came
up and I often think of this teenage kid, a bit on the heavy
side, with the longest black hair I'd ever seen, asking me all
kinds of questions about my Hollywood life, when in actuality
I was way more interested in HIS life...I wanted to know how
they took care of all them horses, and all he wanted to know
was what kind of playboy-bunnies I was dating back
home...(Laughs)
13. Any current projects?
Yup...Toying around in the studio, sitting
down with acoustic guitars and noodling a tad...New songs, old
songs...We are messing around with the concept of making a new
record...No time frame though cos I am a bit busy producing a
few up-and-coming Hollywood bands.....When we get back from
the MOR (Monsters Of Rock) cruise, we will pick up a little
more speed I assume...La Dolce Vita, I say!
(Mark Diglio, me & Pat Fontaine)
VISIT PAT
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