The enigma that is Bobby Bandiera.

Did Bobby play any leads in the studio? I think CaptainJovi once said he heard his style on one of the late session additions to HAND. Was it Wildflower?

Either way, people were raving about the guitar solos on Burning Bridges, and now Shanks is supposedly a shitty player. (He's not, but he also can't write truly great solos like a "true" lead player can - his are technical showpieces, not catchy and concise compositions IMO. Fingerprints is a good example)

There are a lot of added guitars from Bobby in the 2004 Box Set, including some solos.

Shanks makes it better than Bobby, but he's still only an Ok in my book. Richie was better than that.

About Fingerprints... we don't know to what extent he authored that guitar solo, if there was a previous demo of this song, maybe Shanks is just making a carbon copy of a Richie solo. It is not the first time that something similar has happened, like the final version of What Do You Got, which was finally replaced by Phil X's guitar, but the guitar solo, for example, is a carbon copy of the original, only it's shorter... But these are just guesses.


The thing is that Bobby, who was once criticized by Jon because he had gained a few pounds, now looks healthier, is on his game and doesn't have any complexes or insecurity on stage, and that's all that matters in music. Good for Bobby.

Fingerprints doesn't sound like a Richie solo to me, structure-wise. The layered interlude alone is not something I associate with his lead playing, and the solo part itself, like the one from Blood In The Water, sounds like somebody trying to be David Gilmour, not Richie.

Also, honestly, Phil-X's leads likewise don't 100% fit the Bon Jovi formula. He is an incredible player, but he's not a natural blues player.

1) Based on his playing style, Fingerprints sounds like Shanks. It wouldn't make zero sense to recreate Richie's solo note-for-note just for the sake of having it on the record. No one would have a reference point to compare it to?

2) I'm hesitant to take the Bobby/Jon weight gain argument as scripture. At best it's a anecdote someone shared but without confirmation it's tough to know for sure.


I'm back and forth what Bobby added to the box set songs. I think he added rhythm parts to both songs he originally played on AND the non Jon solo recordings BUT I can't think of a single solo he did for the Richie songs, I'd have to go back and listen though.

Yeah Bobby did the solo on Wildflower, I think someone asked him after I realized it and he confirmed it but I forget who did it.

You make a very good point about how well BB was received and how disliked his guitar playing is. I think it's because that album had actual guitar parts and not echo-y, shimmery repeated arpeggio'd notes. BB had everyone much looser with less holding back.

I might be remembering wrong but didn't Bobby do an interview where he said Jon told him he needed to get in shape?

Yeah, this! I think Phil is a great guy and a great guitar player, but there is zero blues in his playing, which I really feel is essential to the Bon Jovi sound.

Not sure if Bobby himself said it as well, but there was a longer podcast with him on Youtube IIRC where he wasn't too keen on talking about Jon at some point.
The story is 100% true because it was not told from someone who knows someone in the BJ camp but one person who currently is on stage in the line up (obviously neither Jon nor Richie) and was quite jetlagged when he met a member of Bounce on a music fair and they got into a long talk. He realized quite fast afterwards that he had better not said it but the words were out there and heard and confirmed by a few.

I don't think it's a necessity to replace Richie with one player that copies his style but the influence Richie brought to the songs is lost. Phil X can play a faster and more aggressive approach and Shanks can...comfort Jon...I guess.
Never get my head around why they didn't try to get it working with the Phil X / Matt O'Ree combo. These two clearly had fun and there was a nice energy on stage in 2015 despite Jon's horrendous vocals. Their combination could've make it work.

Thanks for clarifying!

I guess you are thinking of this podcast:
He doesn't talk at all about him leaving BJ but tells a little bit about Jon's struggle with the guys to get him in.