Frits Spits: Timothy B. Schmit, raised in Sacramento, one of the men who were, in the 70s, standing at the basis of the so-called West Coast Music or California Country Rock - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and of course The Eagles. Timothy B. Schmit, who joined them in 1977, the only one who didn't cut his hair off. Schmit became known in 1970 when he joined Poco.

Today, he is n the Netherlands and this evening he will be present at the Eagles DVD premiere Farewell I Live From Melbourne in Vredenburg, Utrecht. Three listeners of Radio 2 were able to win a Meet And Greet With Timothy. They had to think of an original question for Timothy.

Welcome Timothy B. Schmit.

TBS: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

FS: Do you still have any pictures or photographs from the time you played with Poco?

TBS: Oh, yes, of course.

FS: Yes?

TBS: I have plenty of stuff, yeah.

FS: Plenty of stuff?

TBS: Yeah, I save everything.

FS: If you compared those pictures from former days with the DVD from the Eagles tour, the Farewell Tour, what difference do you observe between the two Timothys?

TBS: Um, I think I was a little rounder then, a little more baby fat.

FS: You didn't change much, did you?

TBS: Oh, I hope not. I try to take care of myself so I can have a long, healthy life.

FS: Take care of yourself, what does that mean?

TBS: You know I don't, um, I live during the day now. (laughing) I drink very rarely.

FS: Smoke?

TBS: No, I don't.

FS: Is appearing onstage as inspiring as when you started?

TBS: I've always enjoyed it. I'd have to say yes...Everybody who does this is somewhat of a - I don't know if you know this term - a ham? Meaning...

FS: No.

TBS: I suppose anybody who is in the entertainment business wants to be noticed somehow, right?

FS: Okay, okay, yes.

TBS: It's only gotten better, I think, being with the Eagles.

FS: Eagles stopped in 1981 - Came together again in 1994. In between you made solo albums, I know. Have you missed playing with the Eagles during that time?

TBS: Oh, yes, but I kept very busy. I did three solo albums during that time. I actually stayed very active in music. I sang on various records. I went on the road with Jimmy Buffett, Warren Zevon and Toto. I did a lot of things.

FS: What did it mean to play together again in 1994?

TBS: Oh, it meant a lot of things. It pretty much changed my life, because we were only going to go on the road for maybe two or three months but it blossomed into something much bigger than we thought.

FS: Yeah. How do you explain that?

TBS: I don't know. It amazes us all the success we are having. We're pretty much selling out everything. I truly believe it's bigger than ever now.

FS: Magic?

TBS: Seems to be.

FS: Yeah. How is the atmosphere in the band? Are you friends or is it, lets say, a professional organization?

TBS: We certainly are friendly but we don't hang out and socialize like we used to because we're all older and we all have families. Some of the guys in the band have very young children now and some of us live in different cities. We pretty much come together to work, so it's pretty much more of a professional thing these days. However, like I said, we are friendly.

FS: What kind of family do you have?

TBS: I have a great family! I have a wonderful family.

FS: Tell us about your family. The "Family Schmit."

TBS: Yeah. The Family Schmit. I have three children. One, she's in her 30s now and she's a signed songwriter for Warner Chappell Music in Los Angeles. My college-age daughter is studying Fine Arts - a very avid music lover. And my son, who is 14 who is traveling with me here in Europe, is in a band, - and I don't know if you've ever heard of, for instance, the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, a famous club...

FS: Yes.

TBS: He's already played there twice.

FS: Twice, and he's 14 years of age?

TBS: And he's 14 years old. He's already done some recording, and I'm trying to show him as much music here in Europe on my days off as possible.

FS: And he's with you now?

TBS: Yeah, he...

FS: Do you still write songs?

TBS: Oh yes. I write all the time. I write probably more than ever.

FS: Do you write songs for the Eagles?

TBS: Yes, well,...with the Eagles, you pick out the songs you think might be a good Eagles song and you throw it in there to see if it takes...to see if we want to do it.

FS: I Can't Tell You Why, you wrote that for the Eagles.

TBS: I wrote that with Don & Glenn.

FS: Do you have an explanation of the songs, they never bore you? You've played Hotel California since 1977. It's never boring?

TBS: No, I think our audiences keep it lively and new because it's really wonderful...we can start any Eagles song and the expressiosn on peoples' faces is like "oh my god, they're playing that song!"

FS: And that makes happy?

TBS: Makes happy.

FS: There will be new tour?

TBS: There's a tour. We're taking a break from the Farewell numbers and we're going to do a tour of California starting in August and probably go through November, on and off.

FS: Will the Eagles come back to Europe?

TBS: There's nothing planned right now but I know we've been talking about it. I'm not sure how long a break we'll take for the holidays, and after that I don't know. I quite honestly don't know what the plans are next year. I hope that we come here.

FS: As you know, you will meet fans of the Eagles tonight in Vredenberg, in Utrecht. We reward the fans with the most original questions. I have the names of the fans and the questions of course. Tomas is the same age as your son, and he asks you if you will autograph his guitar.

TBS: Oh, that's an easy question to answer! Of course I will.

FS: ??? says, on your website, you tell us you like to be with your family and friends. Why are you touring for such a long time if it is so?

TBS: We don't tour constantly. Even in the United States we take a lot of breaks . We tour at the most three weeks at a time - two shows, one day off, two shows one day off - three weeks, tops, and then we take a 10 day-2 week break

FS: And then you go back to your family...

TBS: Yeah, and then we do it again, yeah.

FS: Conversation with Mariejke (and Timothy compliments her on her English)

Mariejke: If you could have the whole world's attention for five minutes, what song would you play?

TBS: Oh, that's a good question. It's very, very hard. How 'bout...Here, There, And Everywhere by the Beatles.

(Plays Here There And Everywhere)

FS: What does this song tell about what you like in music?

TBS: (Chuckles) I like melody. I like beautiful voices. I could have picked out any Beatles song, pretty much, and said the same kind of thing. I'm a big Beatles fan. I'm a fan of all kinds of music. I took my son to see System Of A Down last night. (laughing)

FS: (Laughing) Okay. Well, have a good stay at Vredenberg this evening. Thank you for coming.

To hear the interview, click here