Dare to dream: A conversation with Mike Campbell
Mike Campbell will play Asheville Aug.10.
Donated photo
Iconic guitar riffs eternally burned into the walls of our memory. Songs that have remained the soundtrack to our lives for over a half-century. The sonic grace and stage swagger, the legend and lore of one of rock-n-roll’s greatest six-string aces — Mike Campbell.
Lead guitarist for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Campbell was the melodic balance to Petty’s lyrical genius. It was the seamless nuance of Campbell’s virtuosic fingering up and down the fretboard which provided the launching pad Petty and his bandmates could erupt from.
Now 75, Campbell is as active as ever, these days fronting his own rock outfit, The Dirty Knobs. In the years since Petty passed away (2017), Campbell has glanced into the rearview mirror at the road to the “here and now.” Even though he doesn’t dwell on the past, Campbell sat down and wrote the story of his life and the band that molded it.
What resulted is the New York Times Bestseller “Heartbreaker.” An in-depth and poignant read, it’s an engrossing tale of a rag-tag bunch of Florida rockers grinding it out in the 1970s, this utterly mesmerizing group trying to spark fire in the soul of the listener, only to head to Los Angeles and become one of America’s greatest rock acts.
Catching up with The Smoky Mountain News while on tour, Campbell spoke at-length about his experience writing the memoir, what it means to be a team player in a band, and why those Petty songs resonate as much now as they did when they first hit the airwaves decades ago.
Smoky Mountain News: What’s been the big takeaway now that the book’s been out? When you start digging up all this stuff, it must bring a lot of emotion to the surface or a change of perspective?
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Mike Campbell: You know, as a rule, I don’t like to look back. I’m not into nostalgia, ‘cause I feel like it’s already been come and gone. I like just to look forward and focus on what I’m going to do next, but I was kind of impressed and surprised that it has been a pretty amazing life. The people I’ve met and the roads I’ve taken, it’s kind of a charmed life. So, I wanted to tell that story.
SMN: At the same time, it always felt that you were game to see what was around the corner. Not necessarily a “nothing left to lose” kind of thing, but you were always down to just keep seeing what was next.
MC: I still am. That’s where I’m at right now. I mean, time is weird. I was in the Heartbreakers for nearly 50 years, and I miss my best friend a lot. And I’ve been grieving through that. But, it is over now, you know? It’s in the past. I was in high school once, and that’s gone. I was in a band once, that’s over. So, as I grow older, my perspective of time has kind of changed. Things come and go. But, you’re right, there’s something else around the corner. I’m just moving forward and waiting for the next surprise.
SMN: When you wake up and look out at what your life is at this juncture, what do you see these days?
MC: Well, I live my life. I do. I write all the time. That hasn’t changed. I have an addiction to writing songs. I love to play with my band. I have a new band now that’s really good. And I’m grateful for them like a family, like the Heartbreakers were a family. I’m physically in good shape. I never thought I would be at this age. But, I can still kind of run and jump and I’m not in pain. I can’t run as fast. [Laughs]. But, I can still do what I want to do, and I can still play the guitar. I like being at home as well. I have my wife, and I have several dogs that we love. We have a nice house, and I have my studio there. So, between the studio and then traveling and playing with the band, my life is pretty full.
SMN: One of the things I liked in the book was when you were deciding to join the [pre-Heartbreakers] band Mudcrutch. And Tom [Petty] said to you, “You play like you know what to do.” I was really struck by that statement, when you’re growing up and trying to figure out what the hell your life’s going look like, but the writing is on the wall the whole time.
MC: Yeah. Well, my life is my own personal life. I can’t speak for anybody else, but, when I started playing the guitar, that was it. Something turned on and switched inside of me like, “This is what you’re going to do.” I worked hard at it, and I got pretty good, pretty fast. I haven’t improved much since then. [Laughs]. But, once I got to a level of ability that I basically had established what I could do with it. So, I was pretty confident with the guitar. I was never that confident with the lyrics or singing back in the day, but I always felt the guitar was something that I felt pretty confident about.
SMN: And you came across as somebody who’s a real team player. You always seemed to serve the song, rather than overtake the song. Even in the band dynamics, it seemed that you were willing to be with the team, rather than put ego in front of it. Where does that come from?
MC: I think it comes from the stuff I listened to that I was inspired by in the 60s. I’m one of those guys. It was a great time for music. There was the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the [Rolling] Stones, Chuck Berry, the Animals, all those great bands. And all those bands had something in common that influenced me, and that was they were about the songs. Of course, I like Michael Bloomfield, I like Jimi Hendrix. I liked that for what it is. And I can do that kind of playing if I put my mind to it. But, my instinct is to listen to the song — like Keith Richards or George Harrison might — find guitar parts that complement the song without showing off too much. And that’s just what I like to do. That’s what gets me off.
SMN: You had mentioned your band as your family. It seems like that’s where you felt most loved and most at home, especially early on. Was it that you felt accepted and seen by these people, maybe for the first time in your life?
MC: Well, yeah. You’re getting into some deep stuff. But, perhaps since my parents divorced and my family fell apart, once I got my band family, I guess I felt a strong desire to not let it fall apart, you know? And to fight to keep it together, because that was something that I missed possibly in my deep psychology. I don’t know, but that’s the way I’ve always been. I never had an ambition to be a solo artist. I like being in a gang, you know? I like having my buddies around to share the moment with me.
SMN: As we’re talking, I’m currently driving across the country from Montana to North Carolina. And, like clockwork, the Heartbreakers is what I’m listening to. There’s something so seamless about listening to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers when you’re driving across America, the windows rolled down. It’s a pretty iconic scene for a lot of people. Why does it fit so well?
MC: Well, that’s a good question. And thank you for that compliment. I like to hear that. I don’t listen to my records ever anymore, but I like to hear’em when I’m driving. If a song comes on, my foot pushes on the gas pedal a little bit. Tom’s writing and my writing and the Heartbreakers, when I look back on it, it was very optimistic and hopeful, and about redemption. And there’s a lot of love in that band. You can feel the energy between the players and the characters in the songs. There’s a lot of resonance with a lot of people that can relate to the struggle of trying to get to a better life than you’re in or getting through a hardship. But, there’s a hope at the end. There’s a happy ending, hopefully. And I think our music, when I hear it, sounds very optimistic and hopeful. It’s about love and peace. It’s about positive energy.
SMN: I say this as a compliment, but it’s almost like a bait and switch, where the melody and the rhythm would make you dance and pull you in. And once you had their attention, the lyrics would make you think.
MC: Well, that’s the magic of music, isn’t it? That’s why I do it. Music is medicine for the soul, really. And if you get the right combination of melody and rhythm and lyrics, it’s a very visceral experience of life — that life can be good, you know?
SMN: When you think about the culmination of all those things you’ve been able to experience in life — onstage and off, the people, the places, the shows and the moments — what has the culmination of that taught you about what it means to be a human being?
MC: Well, gratitude. I feel very grateful [for] my path. Your path is an interesting subject. You go through your life and you come to a crossroads or an option or an opportunity happens, and you go left or right, and that’s your path that you choose. It can bring you down the rest of your life, you know? When I met Tom, that was a path that was chosen [and] all these things happened. And when I met my wife, that set me on a path with her. And music is magical that way. At this point, I’m just the happiest guy up there [onstage]. I’m so happy I get to play guitar and make a living and people like my music. People come up to me and say that it brought them joy. Or like you said, when you were driving, it made you feel happy. That’s the greatest reward. Tom once said to me, “The best goal of a musician is to inspire.” If you inspire, you’ve done your job. So, my job is to try and inspire, and that’s what I still do. I go out on the stage with my band or when I’m making a record, I try to put that force, that mysterious, frenetic energy that comes from lord knows where and put it into the music, and hopefully it will communicate with somebody. My main phrase that comes back to me a lot nowadays, I look around, I might be onstage at a gig and having a great time, and the band’s playing good, or I might be in the studio and we just cut a great track, and I just always look around and go, “How did I get here?”
SMN: That’s definitely one of the things I pulled away from reading the book — gratitude. You’ve had gratitude toward anything that was coming your way. And you seem to be very aware of “the now,” you were always present.
MC: Oh, I try. It’s a very simple axiom, “If you’re grateful, you’re happy.” And if you’re not, you’re probably not. If you try to be grateful and learn how to appreciate things and not take everything for granted, that’s what kind of keeps you happy, ‘cause you’re grateful. There you are, you won the game. When I was raising my kids, I used to have this thing up on my refrigerator — “Gratitude without attitude.”
Want to go?
The legendary former guitarist for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs will perform alongside Blackberry Smoke on Sunday, Aug. 10, at Asheville Yards.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Shannon McNally will open the show at 5:30 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m. All ages. Rain or shine. Clear bags only.
Tickets start at $64 per person with seating upgrades available. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit ashevilleyards.com.
