Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit doesn’t think the group will ever record another studio set. The Eagles are currently on tour performing their legendary 1976 Hotel California album in its entirety along with other classic hits.
While chatting with Classic Rock magazine, Schmit was asked about the Eagles recording a followup to 2007’s chart-topping and Grammy-winning, Long Road Out Of Eden, and said, “I sincerely doubt it. We toured behind our last album and put in five to seven of those songs (in the show). But we don’t do them anymore because there wasn’t a big reaction. When people come to see the Eagles they want to hear ‘Best Of My Love,’ ‘One Of These Nights,’ all these things. So we give it to them.”
Schmit, who’s always been revered for possessing one of the best sets of pipes in the business, was enlisted back in the day to sing backing vocals on such Steely Dan masterpieces as Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, and Aja. He shed light on their recording technique: “Working with them is a real feather in my cap. One time I was in the studio singing a high part, and Donald (Fagen) was listening in the control room. I did it a bunch of times, then finally I really nailed it. But he gets on the talk-back and says: ‘That was really good. Can we do one more?’ Those guys were super-perfectionist, which I loved.”
Despite still being “the new guy” in the organization, 2023 will mark Timothy B. Schmit’s 45th anniversary of taking over bass duties from founding member Randy Meisner. We asked Schmit to recall his first gig as an Eagle: “We did a lot of rehearsing and I did go on in ’78. The summer of ’78 I went to Canada (which) was my first gig. I went onstage, unbeknownst to. . . the audience didn’t know. I mean, the majority didn’t know. People that weren’t fanatics didn’t know that they weren’t going to see Randy — they saw me. It was a little bit strange, but I was so prepared. I knew my situation. There wasn’t any big announcement, I just went onstage. What’s not to like about being asked to join one of the biggest band in the world? And so when I finally got onstage, it was quite an accomplishment for me.”