We’ve come back for rehearsal before where we’ll walk in, go “One, two, three, four” and within a few measures, we look at each other and go “Wow!” Well, there could be a nod of the head or a lean of the shoulder that suggests “I might be going this way…” But yeah, we’ve played together so long we basically read each others’ minds. How does the intuition created by years together manifest in the music? I love playing a good song no matter how many times I’ve played it, because I always find inspiration in it. And fortunately, we have a lot of good songs that have held up.
We don’t hang out that much between tours, but when we play, there’s a chemistry that happens we all get a big smile on our faces. I can tell you honestly, we love what we do and we’re so grateful that we get to do it. There’s still an energy that stems from genuine enthusiasm? They can feel that, and they give it back. They might be in it just for the money or whatever, but if you really love the people you’re playing with and love what you’re doing, that’s communicated to the audience. It is still fun, and I’m really proud of that because you see a lot of bands – our age, maybe even younger – that go out and you can tell they don’t have that same relationship. How do you keep it fresh for yourself – and in turn for the audience? Can it still be fun?
The Heartbreakers have been rolling so long some might fear the tour will be a by-the-numbers affair. The band nicknamed this modified early-’70s Tele “Red Dog.” This ’64 was the first Strat owned by Campbell and has been played on many albums and tours. We spoke to Campbell as the band was set to begin rehearsals for its 40th-anniversary tour. “And the reissues do sound pretty good… until we plug in the old ones.” “We use old amps and old guitars… but hey, we’re old people,” he laughed. They sprang to get it working and used it to record that first album, with “Breakdown,” “American Girl” and “I Need to Know.” Today, vintage tweed Deluxes remain his preferred taste onstage and in the studio. By the time the band moved to L.A., found new members, and became the Heartbreakers, Campbell was using mostly a Fender Broadcaster he plugged into a tweed Deluxe they found tucked away in a club, dusty and non-functional. Along with a Gibson Firebird and a blackface Fender Twin, it helped establish Campbell’s first definable tones. The finger-saving Goya remained until he upgraded to a used Strat acquired with a $200 loan from a friend of the band. “The strings were so high and I thought that’s just the way guitars were. “I tried so hard to play that thing,” he laughed.
Petty immediately knew he wanted both guys to join, and while the Goya didn’t exactly play with silky smooth action, it was a step up from the Harmony archtop his mom had scored at pawn shop for $15. Campbell emerged and started strumming on the Goya sent from Japan by his father.
After a re-release in early ’78, it did likewise in the U.S.ĭriven but clean, prominent and perfect, Campbell’s note choices have always been the cumin in the band’s meat-and-veggies base – its sound and emotion exemplified by the solos on “Refugee” from the band’s breakout 1979 disc Damn The Torpedoes, “Woman in Love” from Hard Promises, loaned to Stevie Nicks for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” and twisted slightly for songs he has written with artists ranging from Lone Justice (“Ways to Be Wicked”) to Don Henley (“Boys of Summer”).Ĭampbell met Petty when the latter auditioned drummer Randall Marsh for the band that would become Mudcrutch when Petty arrived, they beckoned Marsh’s roommate from the next room to provide rhythm. In Britain, however, punk and “new wave” acts were dominating charts and headlines looking to toss the Heartbreakers’ songs on the heap, management booked a tour to coincide with an appearance on “Top of the Pops.” The approach worked, and the band’s first single, “Breakdown,” reached the U.K. Punctuated by two-string octave bends rooted in Chuck Berry double-stops, they trace a melody like Max Verstappen hunting Lewis Hamilton at Circuit de Monaco.Īs the Heartbreakers’ debut album arrived in late 1976, the band’s simple, authentic sound at first struggled to find an audience in the U.S., where producer-driven disco was king. Boiled down, the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is defined by a handful of essential elements: their leader’s character-filled voice, songs about life and its toils, swirling B-3 organ, and – much as anything – Mike Campbell’s solos. Campbell digs into a ’67 Rickenbacker 360.
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