Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X had a chat with Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, who talked about session work and how difficult it has become to make a living as a session musician.
Here is what he said:
“Well, the studio thing is drying up because the budgets are slashed; in 2006, even 2003, to 2012, they were – you could make a really good living just doing sessions.
“And then with Pro Tools coming in and killing everybody – I’d always get a call like, ‘Hey man, we were gonna use you, last week, but it just wasn’t in the budget.’
“And I’m like, ‘Well, what was your budget?’ Why didn’t you call and say, ‘We got $500, can you come in?’ instead of saying, ‘Hey, coffee guy, you play a little guitar, right? Why don’t you come in and we’ll Pro-Tool it to death so it doesn’t have any life?’ You know what I mean? That was kind of frustrating too.
“Everybody’s felt it – musicians, producers… Producers that used to make $150,000 on a record, now they’re like, ‘Hey man, we got 30 grand, but the band’s coming from Pittsburgh and they need a place to stay, so we need to put that in those 30 grand.’
“And they’re like, ‘You called the wrong guy.’ But then all the calls are like that.
“I feel like I’m ready for anything, I’ve always been doing The Drills, been doing it since 2003, it was just always underground, at one point it was beneath what I had to do with another band I had going on with my ex-wife.
“And then when that ended, I put more time into it, and then Bon Jovi happened, so it’s kind of like a backseat. ‘Hey, I’m gonna put this record out.’ ‘No, you’re not. We’re going on tour.'”