06/17/2026
June 25, 1988
Kerrang magazine
"Life Without Booze"
Stevie Ray Vaughan knew it was time to stop drinking when doctors told him the inside of his stomach was beginning to resemble the surface of the moon. It's been 19 months now since the guitarist- on tour this week in the UK - touched a drop of the demon alcohol. For Steve 'Krusher' Joule, it's been a mere 19 seconds...
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5th, 1986 at the Polis in
Hammersmith was the last time Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played in this country. And at that time, as I recall, the rumours flying about were of a particularly ugly nature. Drugs, booze, hospitals, Noozies, guitars, rockin' mercilessly... you know the sort of thing.
It seemed Stevie was illing bad, so bad that he was coming straight from the hospital, playing and then splitting right back to that hospital bed. Even at the Palais bar only minutes before the band trod the boards someone was saying that he'd never make it and our money would be refunded on the way out. Bullshi**ers, don't you just shi* 'em?
Certainly not looking in the best of health, but then green has never really been one of my favourite colours. SRV led his band through a set using no brakes on the corners and no mercy on the strings.
"Someone capable of saying as much with a single sustained note as the sped brigade often do in a five minute solo, "wrote Paul "Sink The Pink' Henderson in his review of the show (issue 131), Words so true that I bought him a large Pink Lady five nights in a row.
So here we are some 20 months later, and SRV's about to play in London town again. A good enough reason for getting on the old Transatlantic Facts Line and finding out a few…FACTS!
Something that Stevie told me early on was that he hadn't touched a drop of liquor in 19 months. I tell you, I nearly dropped my bottle of Crown Royal la Canadian Devil Juice SRV had recommended to me some years ago and my axe hand went weak at the wrist. Hadn't had a drop of liquor in 19 monthe l asked?
"That's right, one day me and Tommy (Shannon, Double
Trouble bass man) just looked at ach other and went: "Wait a minute, we've gone too far!' And Tommy hasn't had a drink in those 19 months either. There's also two crew members who are doing the same thing. We do it one day at a time and that's the most important thing to us right now, just staying sober, because that way we're able to do what we do and do it well."
Suddenly I was feeling kind of strange about all those beers and Crown Royal chasers I'd been drinking all afternoon.
At the time of our little chat SRV was out on the road in the US touring with Robert Plant, and I wondered how it had been going.
"Real well, we've been having a lot of fun, though we have to play a limited set. But we're looking forward to touring Europe where we can get back to our full set, which is about two hours and 45 minutes, and those moments where we'll be coming up around the bend towards the end of a song and l'll get an idea and it’s like - "OK.let's try this!' And sometimes we'll play 45 minutes without stopping." What about the band, Stevie? How abouta few... facts?
"Well there's our drummer Chris Whipper Layton- the 'Whipper's short for whippersnapper. I've been with that guy about 12,13 years. I first met him in Joe Sublett's (saxophone player on. 'Soul To Soul, SRV's last album) kitchen we played together in a few bands before Tommy joined us.
"I met Tommy in 1969. I was 14 years old, playing this after hours club, and Tommy walked in. It was in fact the night he had left the Johnny Winter band. He and some other musicians were on their way to California to form another group, and Tommy and l became good friends. Within two years we were playing together.
And then there's Reese (Wynans, keyboards). He'd been with Delbert McClinton for years, I'd been a fan of his playing and we'd jammed a few times. We'd both show up at the same club and we'd both end up jumping on stage together. And all of a sudden I'd hear this piano or organ that was just right, no questions, it was just right and I'd turn round and there would be Reese waving and smiling at me.
"It's funny, 'cause I had home phone numbers on Reese and he had home phone numbers on me and we kept missing each other. But finally Joe Sublett (that man again) walks into the studio with him and we talked, we plaved and we were both really excited So we asked him to join the band but he had some family deals to sort out, because at the time he had made it clear he was quitting Delbert McClinton's band to stay home. So he went back home and talked it out with his wife, came back, sorted the situation out and said to me, 'Do you still want me in the band?' I said, 'Let's go!'"
Earlier this year there had been a strong rumour that
SRV was going to play with Mick Jagger's band in Japan. So what happened?
Yeah, that's right, I was approached for that project - but unfortunately our schedules clashed and there was no way l could do those gigs. Joe Satriani ended up doing those shows."
And talking of shows, how about these European gigs? Are they promoting a new album?
No, we're just coming over to play, then we go back to America where we'll spend about a month putting the finishing touches to songs for the next album. And hopefully when that's recorded we'll be back over here playing, some more shows to promote it."
And finally, just how hard was that '86 Palais gig?
"The only reason it was really hard for me to play was that the lights were so low. They were so close to us that when they turned on the front truss it would literally burn us. It was making me feel as if was going to be physically sick, and that was something l couldn't afford to do cause my stomach was all torn up. A doctor had told me they were expecting ulcers, and they didn't find any ... they actually found that my stomach looked like a 65 year old man's stomach, with hundreds of small cuts in the lining. It had been from me putting things in my drinks... specific things, er, drugs, you know ... and I didn't realise that everything would recrystalise in my stomach. And you know that's not a good thing!
So, boozers, let that be a lesson to you!
📸 February, 1987
Boston, Massachusetts
by David Gahr..
