Bon Jovi Bassist

very interesting goose.

i've always liked alec... he seems like a nice guy.

So, he's off the Coke now??

Shame it turned out the way it did, but at least not making Hugh an official member of the band is staying sorta loyal to Alec. Think I heard Jon say that if the band makes the rock 'n' roll hall of fame then Alec's name will go down as the bassist. That's good.

I had been wondering the same thing.

I remember when I was in school I though Alec was the man, and still is. He kind of gave them a bit of a rock n' roll image. Yeah he was the oldest guy in the band about 2 years older than Tico. think he was born in 1952. I believe when they got signed or when Jon go signed as it was Polygram wanted Jon to kick alec out of the band, more than likely due to his age but I heard from a good source Alec dabbled with more than coke. but Jon kept loyal, in fairness Alec wasn't a bad bass player as he was a respected sesson musician back in his day with Tico. I believe he was clean and maybe the old habits came back, we all know he loved a beer or two. Didn't Alec join them on stage lately somewhere?
Does anyone know why Alec was wearing an eye patch during the KTF tour, I remeber seeing an interview and in all the pictures Alce was wearing an eye patch.
To Alec Jon such a true legend!!!!

Alec joind the band onstage for Wanted at Giants Stadium in 2001. If there was anything more recent than that I am unaware of it.

Kathleen

In Malcom Dome's biography Faith and Glory, the chapter 'Going Solo' details events in the hiatus between touring Jersey and doing Faith. In the chapter Dome writes, "Alec John Such unfortunately spent his time, according to Jon, recovering from a bad motorcycle accident."

The use of the word 'according' somehow makes me wonder if Dome doubted this was true!?

Couldn't find any mention of the accident in either Mick Wall's biography or Neil Jefferies. However going off on a tangent a little - I know someone mentioned about Such carrying a gun earlier in this thread, and I did find a story in Jefferies book about Such and Doc Mcghee playing around with real Handguns in a dressing room whilst Jon was being interviewed by Kerrang magazine!

"Whilst in Akron, Kerrang! journalist Alison Joy was disturbed to see bassist Alec John Such and manager McGhee clowning around in the dressing room with handguns: real hand guns. Jon seemed barely phased but played along by taking the precaution of ducking as his interviewer froze in fear. If nothing else , this extroadinary, if harmless incident served as an indication of the fantasy world in which McGhee and the band were living. Being protected by professional security men was one thing, carrying your own firearms was another." (Jefferies 1996;page 112).

Going back now to why Such left - the band eventually admitted on a VH1 documentary a few years ago that they actually sacked him saying that they were fed up of trying to cover up for his mistakes particularly on stage where it could be diffucult to cover up. Sambora said something like - 'at 1st we felt sorry for him but then we just got more and more annoyed'.

Originally of course the band always maintained it was Such's decision and Tico (Alec's best friend in the band) even pretended he might come back on tour with them after recording These Days saying it was up to Alec. This however now all appears to have been an unnecessary bunch of PR lies. Also back soon after Such left I remember Richie Sambora saying he had a pretty bad drug addiction when asked why Such had left therefore infering that the drugs were at least perhaps partly responsible for his departure. Mayb there is some truth in this, perhaps the drug addiction was responsible or partly responsible for the bad playing. But then again it seems he was never that good. I remember reading somewhere Alec saying he took bass lessons in between the Jersey tour and KTF and that he thought this had improved his playing significantly!

I also remember 1 magazine back in 94 jokily asking the question whether Such had ever really played on a Bon Jovi album at all - this is because Hugh McDonald is listed in the credits - usually as providing additional bass - on all the BJ albums made when Such was in the band. I have always wondered why Hugh was needed to work on the early albums if Such was up to the job. Or is there doubling up on bass somewhere on each of those albums?

Personally I have always felt Hugh should be made an official member. I have read an interview around 96 in which Hugh said he would love to be made an offcial member but that it was up to Jon. Jon I think in response acknowledged Hugh would like it but as on a number of other occasions then proceded to bang on about loyalty to Alec being the issue. I particularly wish i'd kept that article so I could quote it back to all those people who come on this board talking crap like 'Hugh doesn't want to be an official member' etc.

Finally I'd like to point out that it shouldn't matter that Hugh works with other artists on their albums. This is not a reason not to make him a member. Richie and Jon have worked on other artists albums other the years - Cher, Aldo Nova, and Desmond Child's solo album spring to mind.

Just found the mention of the motorcyle accident in Mick Wall's biography. On the peroid between the New Jersey tour and recording KTF, Wall says .......'while bassist Alec John Such much of spent his time recovering from a bad motorcyle accident.' I know that doesn't make grammatical sense - its not my typing error though but one made in the actually book! Obviously wasn't well proof read!

Also seem to remember the incident mentioned on an short MTV documentary that came out late 92/early 93. I have it on tape somewhere but can't be bothered to check what was said. I know if it was mentioned it was without going into any detail

Just found some more stuff from Wall's book on Alec leaving. Quite a long passage which includes Jon admitting to nearly firing Alec due to an alcohol problem, quotes from a disgruntled Alec in Raw magazine complaining about Jon saying he sucks all the time, and quotes from the Tico interview which I mentioned earlier (about him possibly coming back to tour These Days). Might copy it out tomorrow if I get chance but it quite long. For anyone with the 1st edition of the the book - its on page 82.