Brian Ray has spent the last two decades as Paul McCartney’s right-hand man, dividing his duties between guitar and bass depending on what the Beatle plays for each song. However, to land the gig back in 2002, he had to go through a rather public audition in front of millions of spectators.
Irish stadium rockers U2 were booked for the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show at the 73,000-capacity Louisiana Superdome, but McCartney – who would take the spot in Florida three years later – was tasked with the pregame festivities. It was Ray’s first show with the band and one hell of a trial by fire.
“It was kind of crazy,” Ray says in the new issue of Guitar World. “I had done an album with Shakira [2001’s Laundry Service] and was asked to go on tour with her. I told her people what I needed for a salary, which they agreed to, but then I said I required Business Class travel because there would be a lot of long flights.
“This became a problem, and they got somebody else. I was kind of kicking myself over that because I would have had years of work.”
Fortunately, greener pastures were up ahead. He continues, “A little later, my friend Abe Laboriel Jr. came to my birthday party. We had worked together in France doing Johnny Hallyday and Mylene Farmer, but now Abe was playing with Paul McCartney.
“I asked him if they were playing any shows, and he said they were thinking of doing a song at the Super Bowl before the National Anthem. So I asked, 'Who's going to play guitar when Paul plays bass, and who's going to play bass when Paul plays guitar?' Abe said, ‘Actually, we're looking for a guitar player who plays a little bass.’
“I said, ‘I'd love a shot at that.’ Abe put my name forward, and sure enough I got a call from David Kahne, who had produced a lot of Paul's stuff. I went to meet David and hung out with him. I played some guitar and bass, and he said, ‘I've got a good feeling about this. I'll put your name forward.’”
The caveat, however, was that getting the gig was not a surefire thing. Kahne told him there were four other guys in the running, and that the final decision was ultimately out of his hands.
“I thanked him and split,” Ray remembers. “The next day I got a call: ‘Can you be on a plane tomorrow to go to New Orleans to play one song with Paul McCartney?’”
With that call, his luck – and indeed his life – changed. “Playing Freedom at the Super Bowl was my audition,” he adds. No pressure at all.
The fact that, over two decades later, Ray is now part of the furniture in McCartney’s band says everything about how his very public audition went. What happened next showed the softer, more paternal side of the Liverpudlian legend.
“Later that night, everybody went back to the hotel bar. Paul was telling stories for a couple of hours,” Ray recalls. “But after a while he said, ‘Thank you, guys. It's time for bed.’ He hugged a bunch of people and started out, but before he left he came up to me and said, ‘Goodnight, Brian. Welcome aboard. Stick with Rusty [Anderson, guitarist] – he'll show you the ropes.’”
Ray says he “raced home and prepared for five weeks straight” ahead of the upcoming tour. But it wasn’t his guitar playing he was concerned about. For the first time in his life, what he could do on a bass felt paramount.
“I [only] played bass on demos, so getting ready to play in Paul's band was challenging. Thankfully, Paul's basslines, while they're iconic and memorable and musical, they're not really technically challenging. They're just so good. Because they're so listenable, they're easy to understand. Let's face it – they're in our bloodstreams. Even if you're not a bass player, you know these parts. They're in your head.”
Brian Ray’s full interview features in the new issue of Guitar World. The magazine, which features Angus Young on the cover, also celebrates 45 years of Back In Black, and much more. Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.
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