From hell-raisers to family men, The Eagles have mellowed over the years and are grateful to have survived the drugs that fuelled the sex and rock ‘n’ roll of their early years.
Last week the US band attended the British premiere of their documentary, History of the Eagles Part One, and see their prolific use of drugs in the 1970s as a snapshot of those times.
It was during those years that The Eagles produced a string of hits, such as Hotel California and Lyin’ Eyes, with their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 album still ranked as one of the best-selling albums with sales topping 29 million.
Drummer and singer Don Henley, 65, one of the band’s founders, said they behaved liked “kids” then, enjoying all the trappings that came with fame until tensions between band members led to line-up changes and their break-up in 1980.
“For one reason or another, be it good genetics or willpower or good fortune, we’re all fine and we intend to stay that way,” Henley told a news conference.
Singer Glenn Frey, who founded the band with Henley in 1971, said that retracing their lives for the two-part documentary had made him accept their past.
Screened as part of London’s Sundance film and music festival, History of the Eagles Part One chronicles the band’s creation and rise to fame until 1980, while the second film looks at their years apart, their reunion in 1994 and later career.
That included relatively-recent, back-to-back Grammy Awards – one in 2007 for best country performance and one in 2008 for best pop instrumental performance.
“You have to look at yourself and look at your past, accept who you are, what you did, be thankful that no one got hurt, say you’re sorry for the wrong things you did and get on with it,” said Frey.
“We are pretty comfortable with who we are up here now,” he added, looking more like a businessman than a rock star, with short hair and dressed in a shirt, tie and blazer.
Guitarist Joe Walsh, who joined the band in 1975 and was known for trashing hotel rooms, said he was uncomfortable seeing footage of himself in such a mess, but it was important for the documentary to be honest about those years.
“There was a point when we would do pretty much anything we wanted and so we did,” said Walsh, 65, a guitar great who kept up the rock star image with long blond hair, black T-shirt and chunky necklace. He said he ran into serious trouble after the band split, with little left in his life and dependent on alcohol and drugs.
He did not clean up his act until Henley and Frey came to him in 1993 talking about a band reunion, but insisted he was sober.
“That is the reason I had been waiting for all those years, so it was pretty much a no-brainer,” he said.
Back together for almost 20 years, the band is still amazed people want to hear them play.
In July they set off on a world tour starting in the United States that hits Europe in 2014.
The fights and tensions are under control. “We are a lot more mature, more accepting of each other. Things changed for us in this band once people started having kids,” said Frey.
The fourth member of the band, bassist Timothy B. Schmit, 65, who joined in 1977, said people might view the drug use and promiscuous behaviour in the 1970s with disapproval. “But we had a lot of fun,” he said.