Steve Miller continues to rant about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame following his comments backstage and on stage during his induction into the institution at an April 8 ceremony at New York’s Barclays Center.
The guitarist made some headlines with a rambling speech backstage before the press that slammed organizers for the way artists are treated, covering everything from the legalities in licensing music to the cost of tickets.
“The whole experience should be completely redesigned and become much more artist-friendly,” says Miller in a new interview with Rolling Stone. “Starting from who you can invite, what you can do, how long you can play, what you can say. The whole thing is sort of an amateur production and doing this is harder than doing a 20-city tour.”
“This whole industry sucks and this little get-together you guys have here is like a private boys' club and it's a bunch of jacka**es and jerks and gangsters and crooks who've stolen everything from an artist. Telling the artist to come out here and tap dance.”
“I came out here for my fans,” continued Miller. “I came out for the people who take it seriously. And if the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame wants to be taken seriously, they need to put their books out in the public. They need to become transparent. They need to stop lying. They need to stop all the b.s. and they need to clean it up and they need to expand it. They need to include a lot more people. And the most important thing is the board of this organization really needs to enlarge their gene pool. I think you understand.”
Caught in the crossfire of Miller’s evening were The Black Keys, longtime fans who were left shaken by the experience of dealing with one of their heroes in a tense setting after they inducted him into the Hall.
"He said, 'The whole process was unpleasant,'" guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach tells Rolling Stone. "And for [drummer] Pat [Carney] and I, honestly, the most unpleasant part was being around him."
“Pat and I were both definitely disappointed, to say the least. But you never really know what to expect when you meet quote unquote "superstars. But we were there for the same reasons. Because we love music and because I felt like we had a connection just because I come from a place where I love blues music and so does he. And at least we had that connection, but that ended up not mattering in the end.”
“We were so disappointed,” Auerbach added, “that as soon as we got offstage, we left while he was playing. We left immediately. We walked right outside and left the building. I went back home and picked up my guitar.”
The Steve Miller Band will launch a summer tour of North America on June 17 in Northfield, OH.
See also:
VIDEO: Steve Miller inducted into 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Steve Miller Band announces North American tour
Steve Miller thrilled with 2016 Rock Hall induction
Deep Purple, Cheap Trick among 2016 Rock Hall Of Fame inductees
Search The Steve Miller Band at hennemusic