Music Radar Interview - Part 2

Richie Sambora on songwriting, soloing and Bon Jovi's success
"Good songs, man. That's why we're still around"

Joe Bosso, Mon 12 Apr 2010, 6:30 pm BST


A couple of weeks ago, Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora sat down with MusicRadar to answer questions submitted by our readers.

The affable guitarist, singer and songwriter was fresh from a sound check at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Connecticut where Bon Jovi were going to rock an intimate crowd (for them) of 5000 screaming, crazed fans.

We're now pleased to present part 2 of our interview with Richie Sambora, during which the uber-successful musician - at last count, Bon Jovi have sold over 120 million albums worldwide - discusses his approach to songwriting, guitar solos, instrument design and the band's latest album, The Circle.

Oh, yes, Richie also weighs in on that most important question of all: The Beatles or The Stones?

You and Jon were inducted recently into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Some pretty heavy are in there.

"It was a real honor, because it's basically voted on by your peers. The first time I went was five years ago - I went as a guest of my publisher. So I go to the dinner, and the next thing I knew I was on stage with Paul McCartney, James Brown when he was still alive, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Carole King, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond…and myself!"

Now you're name-dropping.

"It's true. Man, I standing there and I'm going, 'Wow, this is incredible!' They all got inducted that year, so it was pretty heavy. So I'm up there and I'm gonna jam, right? And Paul goes, 'Kansas City - you start it!' I was like, 'Me?!' I'm like junior. But it was cool, so I started it and we had a great time. And then I became friends with those people.

"Since then, I've inducted Les Paul into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. And then we got inducted. It was a real honor. I loved it."

Let's talk about songwriting. If you can put it into words, what have you learned over the years? Can you learn something over time?

"Absolutely. Sure. You just gotta keep at it. Songwriting is something that's very daunting until you have your first successful song, I think. And you can measure success by a couple of different things: Finishing a song first lyrically and looking at it yourself and saying, 'OK, now I have some cohesive lyrics.'

"And then the other part of success is obviously making a record and having it be accepted by people, having it touch people and actually mean something to people. Livin' On A Prayer, Wanted Dead Or Alive, It's My Life - I'm lucky to have written a bunch of those."

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Here is the podcast: