When We Were the Boys: Coming of Age on Rod Stewart's Out of Order Tour

by Stevie Salas, Robert Yehling (With)

This book is a backstage pass to the ups, downs, and all-out craziness of arena rock—deep discussions with Rod Stewart, jamming with legends like Mick Jagger and Justin Timberlake, gaining groupies, and striking out solo. Stevie Salas was one of many boys coming of age in the 1980s—when the American dream was rock superstardom. As lead guitarist for a San Diego band, Salas played backyard parties and school dances and even scored the music for the cult classic Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. When he auditioned for Rod Stewart—where he was the youngest band member by a decade—Salas’s life truly hit a turning point.

Salas pulls no punches to describe the initial skepticism and hazing he faced as the youngest member of Stewart’s band, the night he stood up for himself on the tour plane, and the emotional late-night talk with Rod Stewart that restored the frontman’s faith in his young, untested guitar player and his new group that was struggling to find its groove. Yet they became a band of brothers and formed a camaraderie they share to this day. When We Were the Boys revolves around the year Salas began as an inexperienced musical prodigy and finished as a seasoned rock ’n’ roll veteran—more mature as a man and musician.

287 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2014

About the author

Stevie Salas has worked with artists from Rod Stewart to Mick Jagger to Justin Timberlake. He served as the musical director for American Idol, is executive producer and co-host of Arbor Live!, and executive producer and narrator of RUMBLE: Indians Who Rocked the World, a documentary on Native Americans in pop and rock music. As an artist with an Apache heritage, Salas has also received the Native American Lifetime Achievement Award. His solo albums have sold several million copies. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I had some issues with the structure and how he added in stuff from before the Rod Stewart tour in a few spots. But I read it in basically two sittings.

[Richard Cosgrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like catching up with an old friend, as I'd first become aware of Stevie Salas way back in the late 80s when he released his Colorcode album, a record that I still play regularly to this day.

However, after that initial release he fell off my radar and I didn't give him much thought until this book popped up, and I'm glad that it did.

I've read a lot of rock autobiographies over the years, some great, some not so great, but When We Were The Boys is a little different in that while he mentions other events from time to time, the focus is on the short time that he spent touring with Rod Stewart in the late 80s.

Now this might not seem like the most exciting of tours, but it provides the perfect backdrop for Salas's coming of age tale, from snotty nosed, punk kid who lands a dream job, to a more mature man who comes to appreciate what he has, and is humble about it (well, reasonably, the man is a rock star, after all, and never apologises for having behaved like one, nor should he).

Not only is Salas's journey interesting, though, the book also gives a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes on a major rock tour, and will have alternately wanting to experience it and being glad that you've never had to. There are some awesome highs (of many varieties) but equally there are lows, and When We Were The Boys doesn't shy away from either.

If you're a rock fan, and even if you've never been into (or even heard of) Stevie Salas, then this is a cracking read and well worth a look.

[G.L. Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a fun read. It seems like it was written with a smile as well. There's nothing earth-shattering in it, just a glimpse at a time when things were pretty crazy and a good time was had by most. The embedded media is a kick too.

Fair warning: there's a LOT of women-as-toys here. It's part of that whole hard-partying rock & roll 80s lifestyle but if that sort of thing bothers you, don't read the book.

[Karim Kanji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had the pleasure of chatting with Stevie not too long ago after watching his movie, Rumble.

Then I picked up his book. If you are a fan of music and rock and roll you need to pick up this book.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Stevie Salas earned his fame by becoming one of the youngest guitar players to travel on a big name rock and roll concert tour, Rod Stewart’s “Out of Order.”

I'm a 80s generation Rod Steward fan, but before reading this book, I didn't actually know who Stevie Salas was. The Rod Steward element is what made me pick the book up, but upon starting it, I immediately liked Stevie. He comes across as a very likeable guy whose intentions seem inherently good. With his sweet, enthusiastic personality, he is the kind of guy anyone could easily imagine themselves hanging out with.

The book tells of Stevie’s problematic childhood, to his early love for music and playing guitar. It progresses to meeting some big names in the music business to securing his position with the Rod Stewart’s touring band, and his days of ‘living like a rock star,’ touching briefly on his own individual success within the industry. Along the way, he includes personal, heartfelt moments that make it easy for the reader to connect with him.

We get to see the inner workings of the band, how Stevie learned to work with them, striving to prefect his craft until the band sounded unified, but we also got to see how hard they partied, too — often so hard, they were unable to perform in concert to their full ability, offering fans substandard performances because they were hungover and tired. As a concertgoer, that was disappointing to hear.

I respected that Stevie kept his story relatively PG-13 and didn’t get into sordid details of his countless sexual romps. It was an eye-opener at how frequent, and basically expected, it was for hordes of beautiful girls to get naked and party with the band. Stevie alludes to routinely waking up with one or more naked girls in his bed. Knowing sexual promiscuity is a big part of the celebrity life-style; I was, at first, fascinated to hear about the episodes. But as the meaningless sex continued without any significance, accounts of his further sex-capades grew tiresome. (Maybe some sordid details would have made it more interesting...)

Along with the partying, sex and vague mention of drugs, there were also pranks performed by Stevie and a few of his fellow band mates. While amusing, they were often ridiculously juvenile. The destruction of hotel rooms along with some other stunts clearly demonstrated just how entitled the members of the band thought they were.

“When We Were The Boys” was a fun, quick read. Salas doesn’t use big words and seems fond of the adjective supercool. He’s guilty of name-dropping, but with the impressive amount of A-listers he’s met and partied with, I can’t say I blame him! Fans of the 80s rock era will enjoy this insight to the life of a rock and roll star.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.

[Glenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was posted on Stevie Salas' facebook page: "Not a bad idea for a Christmas present ....THAT IS AS LONG AS YOUR NOT...under age, hard core religious, a hardcore feminist ( there are alot of wild stories about wild girls...but trust me, there were no victims ). Its just a true rock n roll dreams come true story....but a wild one!"
Needless to say, I beg to differ.

If ambiguous references to sexual exploits, vague drug references, and constant commentary on his famous" friends" in order to make himself relevant constitutes a great rock n roll story, then apparently I missed the bus with Stevie's supposed autobiography. I know all too well the bands from the '80's and '90's that he supposedly was a big part of, but even after googling him I still have no idea who he is. I give him kudos for touring with Rod Stewart, that's about it.

I received this book as a librarything giveaway, original review posted November 9, 2014

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When We Were the Boys is an interesting and very readable memoir by Stevie Salas about his time touring with Rod Stewart as his lead guitarist. Stevie was quite young when he auditioned for Stewart and this is a coming of age tale in that never never land of touring with a rock'n'roll band. The stories of crazy parties and backstage and hotel room hijinx are tempered by the fact that Stevie must be a pretty nice guy. I read the book fairly quickly, enjoying the backstage, behind-the-scenes stories. I would recommend it to rock'n'roll fans, especially Rod Stewart fans. There are references to sex and drugs Great insight into what it is like to be a rock star at a young age.

[John Mcpheat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book ... up to a point. I love to hear the minutiae of a musician's life - exactly what it takes to make it, the levels of privilege backstage and even, though I shouldn't admit it, the extent of debauchery. But, and this is probably a reflection on touring as much as it is on the author, I thought the book became repetitious. Another town, another show, another huge night out. And another retelling of a scandalous Rod Stewart rumour (I assure you it's not true, Stevie Salas says every time he mentions it. So why keep mentioning it?) So by the end I found it just a little annoying.

[Jennifer Villalpando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read.