In a recent interview with Classic Rock Revisited to push his new solo album, Cosmic Troubador, bassist Billy Sheehan discussed his brief involvement with Canadian rock legends MAX WEBSTER, featuring Kim Mitchell. The following is a brief excerpt:

CRR: You were in a well-known band called Max Webster for a very short time, how did that happen?

Sheehan: "A very short time yes, that’s amazing [laughing]. I played a run with Talas up in Toronto, we played a little club called Larry’s Hideaway and I remember Kim (Mitchell) came in and saw us that night. I started talking with him and ended up speaking to him a few other times when the situation with Talas was on the outs, for that one year that we weren’t together. Kim called me and I went up to Toronto and started working on the Mutiny Up My Sleeve record; I think that was the one. I loved the stuff and Kim is still a very good friend. I remember I wasn’t real familiar with what Max Webster did so he sent me down their records and I loved all the stuff. I did all the pre-production prior to the record but then at the last minute just before we were going to go in somebody changed their mind and they ended up getting another bass player. It didn’t work out but I did do all the pre-production on that record. Kim and I spoke a few times after that about doing things, that’s why Talas ended up doing 'Battle Scar', which became one of our mainstays live."

CRR: That is an amazing song.

Sheehan: "Yeah, I remember when they did that and Kim told me the story how they brought Rush in to do it. Apparently both bands loved the song and they both wanted to do it, if I remember it right, the deal was who ever ended up in the studio first got to put it on their record. I may be wrong; Kim would know the story better than I. They ended up just setting up both bands and doing it as a duet and it ended up on the Max Webster album. I thought it was a great song so we started to do it in Talas, same thing when I did a tour with UFO. When I came back we dropped a few UFO songs into our set just to tell people that I did know these songs and I did play them [laughing].

To read the entire interview, which also includes an inside look at working with guitarist Steve Vai, go to this location.