In our new series Unknown Legends, we speak to artists who have worked alongside some of music's most iconic names. Here, David Sancious reflects on his journey from the original E Street Band to tours with Sting, Peter Gabriel, and more
Sancious called us from the beach near his new home on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to talk about his amazing career and new solo LPMy wife and I moved here permanently in January.] It was unbelievably good timing, I’m telling you. My wife and I sold our house in Woodstock back in October. We moved and got here the last day in January.We’ve had a pretty low death rate for the state. All of the small islands are considered counties. This is actually the county of Kauai.
I’m sure you’ve told this story a lot, but tell me your first memory of ever seeing Bruce Springsteen. He came out of nowhere. I was not familiar with him as a musician at all. I heard he played with this band called Norman Seldin, a local thing. But I hadn’t heard him or seen him live. It was quite a night to go from not knowing him at all to suddenly …
Exactly. You could get to a lot of nice textures and things using both instruments carefully, absolutely.What can you see in your head the most clearly? It’s been so mythologized, but I’m sure at the time it was a grind to travel from show to show, often in pretty sub-optimal conditions for little pay.
You had just recorded the song “Born to Run.” Did you have a feeling that song was special when you made it? I was really, really upset at the time. The music they didn’t want was, at that time, really representative of a real achievement for me musically. So I went home for a while and thought about it and I sat down and wrote all the songs that wound up onI’ve Always Wanted to Do This.
Yeah. Yes were not what I would consider “rock & roll heroes” to me. They were a little further down the line, but that whole fusion music era where bands like Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, that whole type of music … I really was a huge Yes fan. I listened to that music a lot.
We didn’t end up doing the project because my touring schedule with Tone didn’t allow us to do the recording session in Canada at the time that his producer [Bob Ezrin] wanted it to happen. We didn’t wind up doing that, but we stayed friends over the years. Every time that Peter would come to America, he’d get in touch and invite me to the show. That went on for a while.came out [in 1986], I got a call saying that Peter was going to change the band.
I sat in a couple of shows with Bruce on that tour. And it was great to be around everyone every day. You’re traveling together, you’re having lunch together. You’re watching each other’s shows. When we weren’t onstage, we were checking out the other bands. It was like music camp in a way.That was another major moment. It wasn’t my first time in Africa since I’d already gone with Peter. But it was special to be in Africa and to be with those people there.
They came by the studio and picked me up. He was doing a video shoot for “All This Time.” They take me to some cool restaurant in London and they say to me, “We’re going to go on tour as soon as this video and stuff are done. Would you want to come on tour with us?” I said, “How long?” They said, “About a year.” I said, “Yeah.” That was the start of about four years of touring with him.That was a hoot, man. That was a hoot. That was another time where everyone got along famously.
There was this classic Hollywood after-party afterwards and it was fantastic. Somewhere during this party, Sting pulls me aside and was like, “We’re about to go on the road for a long run. Are you done with Seal? Can you come?” I said, “Aw, man, I’m already booked to do a year with him.” I spoke to a secretary and she said she’d pass on the message. Maybe three days later, I get a phone call from Eric himself. He’s saying, “I just got your message …” It turns out the person that he’d used on the previous tour didn’t want to leave town, didn’t want to do it. He had a TV show, or something. He said, “We’d love to have you if you want to do it.” I said, “Yeah.” That was that. It was starting in about four months.It was just awesome.
I’ve talked to him a few times and I’m always surprised at how funny he is. He cracks me up every time. It was. It was emotionally very good. Bruce kept looking at me. I was doing a solo and was like, “I can wrap it up now …” But he kept turning to me and giving me signals to keep playing and keep going. He did that two times.It had to be. Absolutely. It had to be the first time since beforeThe Sting/Peter Gabriel tour was right after that. Talk about a tour custom-made for you.
A couple of my things were overdubs, but we did some tracks too with drums, guitar, and piano, like “Drive Fast .” That was cut live.I said to him, “I don’t know what your plans are when you finish this, but if you plan to take this music out on the road, I’d love to do it with you.” He said, “Yeah, absolutely.” And here we are.
In an alternate life, if you stayed in the E Street Band all these years, you wouldn’t have had all these experiences. You wouldn’t have toured with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, Sting, Peter Gabriel … You would have been tied to one thing.
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