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I found some old interview with richie from Kerrang! issue 711, aug. 8th 1998...in case you haven't read it before; here it is...

Aragorn

"Have you ever shagged a man?!

Words: Jason Arnopp, Photos: Ross Halfin

After 15 years as a professional musician Richie Sambora probably
thought he'd answered every possibel question. Untill Kerrang! reader
Matt Irving decided to find out if he's ever had a homosexual
experience...
For once in his life, Richie Sambora is close to speechless. Being
interviewed by 10 Kerrang! readers in a London hotel conference room
probably didn't seem overly testing. After all they're fans not evil
journos.
Everything has been going fine for the first half hour - nothing too
taxing.n Nothing, that is until it comes to the turn of 20-year-old
Matt Irving from Middlesbrough.
"So, Richie" he begins, casually. "Have you ever shagged a bloke? Or
had any gay experiences?
There is a momentary yawning silence. Someone mumbles "oh, my God". We
hear gnats collide in mid-air.
The Bon Jovi guitarist couldn't possibly have expected this when he
first bounded over to our table in shades, adopting a comedy German
accent and yelling, "Bring on ze questions! You vill answer all ze
questions correctly, or ve vill shoot you!"
But good old Richie - a regular nice bloke - he can take anything we
chuck at him. From homosexuality, to drugs, to the future of Bon Jovi.
Let's rewind 3 minutes...
JULIA: "What's the weirdest request you've ever had from a fan?"
RICHIE:(tugging bottom lip down)'Sign my lip, man!' "I've had that. I
just had a pretty strange request in Australia - a guy who wanted me
to sign his ankle and then have it tattooed on. I told him he'd hate
himself five years from now, when a girl goes, 'Who the f**k is Richie
Sambora?' int the throes of passion!"
DENISE: "You've been married for four years, and now you've got a
daughter. Do you find it difficult balancing a successful career and a
successful marriage?"
RICHIE: "Not yet - knock on wood (bangs table, then his head). It's
going pretty well. You just have to prioritise and make time.
"Luckily for me, not being in the band at the moment is very
comfortable because I get to be the boss. I get to move in my own
time, which is important to me right now. When you go back to the band
then you have to move with four other fellas."
KERRANG!: Is it easier because Heather is a professional?"
RICHIE: "Sure, and I come from the school of thinking it's better to
have your woman working. If you're working and the woman's sitting at
home going (drums fingers on table with bored facial expression), and
thinking about how you're messing up, that's gonna cause a bit of a
stir."
NICOLAS: "The millennium is approaching. Any plans for New Year's Eve,
1999?"
RICHIE:"Not yet! Jon's been talking about doing some shows, or
something like that. I'm sure some Bon Jovi extravaganza will occur.
There'll be an eclipse of the sun and we'll be standing on it,
playing! Or there'll be some other retarded idea, like us travelling
around the world so fast that people can't even hear us!"
KERRANG!: "Do you really want to be playing a gig on the last night of
the millennium?"
RICHIE: "Not particularly! But it's our job, as muscians. Even when I
was a kid playing in bands, we had to gig on New Year's Eve. All my
friends would be out partying and I had to go to work."
MATT: "What's the most embarrassing song you've been involved with?"
RICHIE: "Ummm...'Chocke the Load' by The Bloody Stools. It was a bunch
of engineers we knew who put this punk band together as a goof. A few
of us made some cameos on their stuff, including Jon, Sebastian (Bach)
and Snake (Sabo) from Skid Row were on it, too. 'Choke the Load' isn't
something I'll be telling my daughter about, but it was a cool song."
ALBIE: "If there was a movie based on the career of Bon Jovi, which
actor would you like to portray you - apart from Jon?!"
RICHIE: (laughing) "Yeah, Jon would be me and I'd be him... not! Touch
question. Maybe we could clone Brad Pitt and Al Pacino together to
play me!"
CLAIRE: "On your first solo album, 'Stranger In This Town', you put
instructions on the inner sleeve: 'Light a candle and listen'. What
would be the best instructions for enjoying one of your shows?"
RICHIE: "Light a candle up your ass and listen!"
CLAIRE: "Who do you relate to most - the people down the front getting
crushed or the ones at the bar?"
RICHIE: "Probably the ones getting crushed! I feel bad for 'em.
They're like this..." (Richie places his hands on either side of face
and squashes inwards.)
DONNA: "What did you mean by the lyric 'if God was a woman/We'd all
burn in hell' on the new album's 'If God Was a Woman'?"
RICHIE: "It was just a flippant, fun thing. But when I got into it, it
became more serious than I expected. It would really topple a lot of
society's traditions. Everything, especially religion, would be upside
down."
DONNA: "Would it scare you, if you thought God was female?"
RICHIE: "No, I get along great with women!"
KERRANG!: "What's your earliest childhood memory?"
RICHIE: "The day John F. Kennedy got shot in '63. I remember, because
my mother got really upset and it was the first time I ever noticed
her having bad feelings. I was, like four. Then, a year later, it was
The Beatles playing 'The Ed Sullivan Show'."
DAVINIA: "If you were stranded on a desert island, wich three things
would you like to have with you?"
RICHIE: "My wife, my kid and some food. But you mean items? A guitar,
a stereo and some CD's."
DENISE: "Will you ever follow Jon's example and do some modelling or
acting?"
RICHIE: "No, I don't think so. It certainly doesn't seem attractive to
me, at this point. But hey, if someone asked me to act in 'The Stevie
Ray Vaughan Story', I'd have to think about it! I think I'd probably
be pretty talented at it, because of my gregarious nature! I get
scripts constantly, but I turn them down."
MATT: "So, Richie. Have you ever shagged a bloke? Or had any
homosexual experiences?"
RICHIE: "...No, Can't say I did! That's a strange question. I don't
wanna piss anybody off, though, because I have a lot of homosexual
friends. I certainly have no discrimination - it just ain't my thing."
CLAIRE: "Is there a really embarrassing song that you find yourself
knowing all the words to when you're drunk?"
RICHIE: "It's probably more TV show theme tunes with me. (Breaks into
song) 'Let me tell you a little story about a man named Jim'! I'm a
total product of the TV generation in America."
JULIA: "Where will you be in 10 years?"
RICHIE: " Well, it certainly won't be another six or seven years
before my next solo album! Not to say that working in Bon Jovi is not
good, but it's very familiar. It seems to me that there's less of a
learning process with guys you've been with for 16 years, unless
everybody jumps in on the learning pot together.
"I'm a conversational person as you can tell, so I like working
with people. This record will definetly have its own life - that's the
funny thing about songs, some of them come back to life. Look what's
happened with Jimmy Page and Puff Daddy."
KERRANG! "Would you re-record 'Living On A Prayer' with Puff Daddy
going 'Yeaaaaah' over the top?"
RICHIE: "Who knows? I'd be flattered to hear it. And if it became a
big rap hit I'd go, 'Yeah I wrote that! I'm down!'."
JULIA: "Do you think in 10 years' time you'll still be in Bon Jovi or
going solo?"
RICHIE: "Who can say? I'm not planning anything - I'm the kind of guy
who rolls with the punches. Jon and I will probably get together and
write another record, then see what happens. The one thing I can tell
you is that I'll always be involved with music - unless God zaps me
and I go brain dead!"
KERRANG!: "As you and Jon have been doing your own projects for so
long, are you worried that you might not be so close when it comes to
writing songs again?"
RICHIE: "Y'know, it's gonna be what it is. I look at it on a more
optimistic level - it might take a little while to get this new
evolution of who he is and who I am in one room together. We'll have
to meet mentally, because songwriting is really a meeting of the
minds. But I'm a good team player - I'm not a very selfish individual
when it comes to that. I don't foresee any problems."
DONNA: "You've been involved with nine albums now. Wich was the most
fun?"
RICHIE: "They've all been pretty fun. The first two Bon Jovi records
were a bit of a struggle - we didn't reach our potential as a band or
as songwriters. Then everything after 'Slippery When Wet' was a cool
breeze. 'Keep The Faith' was a little bit crazy, because we'd been
apart for two years. I mean really apart - we weren't speaking.
Everybody was like (makes angry dog noise)! But that's a whole
different story."
DENISE: "Do you ever wish you weren't famous?"
RICHIE: "No! (He leans his head back and cacles diabolically) What
part of 'no' didn't you understand?!"
KERRANG!: "Can you still shop in the supermarket?"
RICHIE: "Absolutely. Someone's always got a camera, but that's okay.
Actually, we live in a town where it's quite secluded. It's not like
I, or my wife, are spending much time in Hollywood. And in New Jersey
people just say 'Hey Rich, how y'doin'?."
DAVE: "Is any one guitar particurlarly special to you?"
RICHIE: "Unfortunately, I have about 40 favourites! I have a fantastic
1958 Stratocaster that I really love, and a'59 Les Paul. I can't pick
one."
KERRANG!: "What's the most bizarre experience you've had on drugs?"
RICHIE: "That's pretty wild. There were a few hallucinations. Maybe
the worst happened in history class at school. One of the old American
presidents came to visit me! I had to leave..."
LOUISA: "You said on 'The Big Breakfast' this morning that Bon Jovi
were the biggest band in the world at one point. Do you think they'll
be that again?"
RICHIE: "Who knows? We're a band that has put together some of the
best live shows ever, in more ways than one. When we're onstage, we're
just as good as the Stones or U2. That's something we've perfected
over a lot of years. So if people remember that, and they're not
fickle, and we make a good record...But frankly, I don't think a band
in our position would make a bad one."
With that, the effervescent Mr. Sambora cheerfully poses for photo,
sings a load of stuff - even Matt's - and then heads off to soundcheck
at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Possibly wondering whether the Internet
is now full of Richard Gere-style rumours about him...Probably not.
Phew!!!!! that was the questions and answers in full!! As you can tell
by all this NOTHING seems to but our Richie speechless...LOL!!
As for pictures there's like a roll of film with Richie on the top of
the interview and on the side of one page there's a pic with all the
interviewers (Kerrang! readers) with Richie. He wears a black t-shirt
with a v-neck and shades...LOL
the Kerrang! readers are:
Davinia Ellingham, age 21 from Luton, fave Richie-related tune: 'Dry
County'- That's the one that I want played at my funeral. Does that
sound strange?"
Denise Engel, age 19 from Luton, fave Richie-related tune: 'Living On
A Prayer' Classic! It was around that time when I started getting into
Bon Jovi.!
Nicoloa Shaw, age 16 from Harrow, fave Richie-related tune: "There's
loads of them to choose from, but I'll say 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'
because it's the best anthem they've ever written. It's such a fun
song."
Matt Irving, age 2 from Middlesbrough, fave Richie-related tune: 'I'll
Be There For You' The melody's cool and all the riffs are amazing."
Albie Austin, age 25 from East London, fave Richie-related tune:
'Wanted Dead Or Alive' because it sums Bon Jovi up in concert. That's
when they're at their best."
Dave Green, age 28 from Leyland, Lancs, fave Richie-related tune:
'Harlem Rain', from his new album.It's really spooky."
Claire Ashley, age 28 from Southampton, fave Richie-related tune:
'Blood On Blood' Jon dedicated it to me at Wembley a few years ago."
Julia Eaton, age 26 from Dorset, fave Richie-related tune: 'These
Days'."
Donna Butler, age 30 from London, fave Richie-related tune: "It's
really hard to choose, but I'll have to say 'Keep The Faith'."
Louisa Shaw, age 21 from Harrow, fave Richie-related tune: 'Wanted
Dead Or Alive'. When they do it live, it's fantastic. And the guitar
solo's amazing."
On the last page of the interview there's more pics..one is with 3 of
the girls sitting with Richie at a table with a caption that says: "
THE ANECDOTE about the flange effect goes down a storm...."
the one below that pic shows one of the guys with Richie and the pics'
caption says: "SIR, YOU appear to be blissfully unaware that the sun
doesn't shine indoors..." ROFL...well an appropiate one as Richie wore
shades on all pics!!
On the same page is a small "article" where Richie comments on Jon's
movies, here it comes:
THE SCREEN TRADE
Richie Sambora reviews Jon Bon Jovi's films. And why not?...
'Monligth And Valentino' (pic of a scene from that film...the nice ass
one!)
Jon's role: A hunky housepainter who puts a spark back into a
housewife's existence. Much as he does with his music.
RICHIE'S REVIEW: "I didn't see all of that movie, only parts of it.
Jon's role was pretty low-key from what I understand. It was like Jon
on a mellow day."
'The Leading Man' (pic of a scene from the film..the scene where Jon's
holding a gun on the theatre's stage)
Jon's role: In a remarkably post-modern twist, Jon plays an actor,
Robin Grange, who turns out to be the bad guy.
RICHIE'S REVIEW: "I thought Jon was quite good in it. As a matter of
fact, we went to see the movie in London together. It was pretty good.
It's hard for me, though, because it's like Jon! I have the same thing
with my wife - I see her, and she's still my wife. It's hard to break
that wall of familiarity."
'Little City' (no pic) Jon's role: Promiscuous bloke, who eventually
learns about true lurve.
RICHIE'S REVIEW: "Haven't seen that one."
'Homegrown' (no pic) Jon's role: A mere bit-part in this black comedy
about dope dealers.
RICHIE'S REVIEW: "Uhh...haven't seen that one either."
'Long Time Nothing New' (no pic) Jon's role: Michael, half of a couple
whose bond is threatened by old high school nemesis Charlie.
RICHIE'S REVIEW: "Nope."