A Musical Brotherhood: Story Of The ‘Immediate Family’ Chronicled In New Documentary – Interview

Some things in life are just destined to be together. This is certainly the case for four legendary session musicians who are currently enjoying five decades of friendship and collaboration.

Bassist Leland Sklar, guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Danny Kortchmar, and drummer Russ Kunkel were in furious demand in the 1970s, which saw the booming era of the singer-songwriter. From Carole King and James Taylor to Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Phil Collins, their talents were utilized for countless records and live tours, making them some of the most desired players in the industry to this day. After working together so closely on so many projects, they, along with guitarist Steve Postell, dubbed themselves The Immediate Family and even released music of their own, including the forthcoming double LP Skin in the Game.

Now, The Immediate Family’s story is being told in a way that its members never imagined possible. Denny Tedesco, the brains behind the 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew, which chronicles the first wave of studio musicians in the 1960s, directed the newly-released Immediate Family. Tedesco’s latest documentary, available on VOD, tracks the rise and bond of the group through the ’70s and onward over the course of a 102-minute runtime. It features interviews with The Immediate Family, as well as Collins, Keith Richards and numerous other acclaimed artists that called on the musicians to help make their records and tours sound top-notch.

PopHorror recently chatted with Tedesco, Sklar, Wachtel and Kunkel about the creation of Immediate Family, early memories of their time together, upcoming music and more.

PopHorror: Denny, I’d love to start with you. What inspired you to make this documentary?

Denny Tedesco: Well, coming off my last documentary The Wrecking Crew, this story of the session musicians of the ’60s, I was always shell-shocked after 19 years of making that. But when this project came about and they said, “What do you think of this idea?,” I went, “Ooh, I know all these names,” because it was my music. I grew up in the ’70s. I always kid because I look at these guys and I go, “Russ Kunkel, he’s the drummer, that doesn’t sound real. Waddy Wachtel, that doesn’t sound like a real name. Leland Sklar. Well alright, he must be foreign.” So all these names were embedded in my head all those years, and so it was like, “Ah yeah, now’s my chance to meet these guys.” So that was it.

PopHorror: To the band members…was it instant on your end that you wanted to be part of the documentary and have your story told in this way?

Russ Kunkel: I was going to say Denny, you might want to explain the Lisa Roy connection because Lisa, our dear, dear friend, our publicist, who’s actually the sixth member of the band for all intents and purposes… but you can tell the story.

Denny Tedesco: Lisa was the one that came with this idea. And that made total sense because again, these names, I always grew up with, and she was the publicist of the band. Lisa was the friend of everybody, she was the music community’s friend. And unfortunately, she passed away last year, but if it wasn’t for Lisa, there would be no movie.

Russ Kunkel: There would be no Immediate Family, pretty much.

Leland Sklar: She was remarkable. But to also go back to your question, from my standpoint with this movie, I was such a huge fan of The Wrecking Crew, I think it is just an absolutely brilliant film and Denny was kind enough, a lot of the screenings they did, I went to the screenings and got involved in some of the Q&As that they would do for that film, because we were transitory, going from The Wrecking Crew era into our era. I worked with his [Denny’s] dad constantly, I did so many records with Hell Plane and [guitarist] Tommy Tedesco and all these people. So I was such a fan already of what Denny did that when this came along, my trust was immediately there because I knew what he could do with it.

The hard part is to wrap your head around the fact that you’ve done something that is worthy of making a documentary. My world ends right at my skin, so I have my own interpretation of what my own inadequacies and neuroses and all that are. But to see it all brought into a film, it’s a trip. I never thought that I’d experience something like this in my life.

Waddy Wachtel: I don’t think I was ever really focused on the idea that someday, somebody documents my life and finds out that my friends and I have been doing this for 50 years together. It just came completely out of nowhere, and we’re so flattered and honored that Denny would take the time and the love to put into this project, and want to do this and show our insane lives to the world. It’s an amazing reality for us. It still blows my mind that this is even happening.

Denny Tedesco: I think the greatest thing was showing it to these guys. The most nerve wracking is always showing it to these guys the first time because you don’t know if they’re gonna be upset or love it or whatever. And Jackson [Browne] was in the room with them, and I remember there were some tears in their eyes. And then Jackson said, “Wow, I’ve known these guys over 50 years and there’s things I didn’t know about them.” So that’s the greatest for me, the joy of a filmmaker, is seeing that reaction.

PopHorror: What was it like reminiscing on all these years?

Waddy Wachtel: There’s hundreds of stories. The movie could’ve gone on for six hours. I think Denny’s original cut was something like four hours, there was so much information gathered around the amount of songs we’ve gotten to play on and work with these people, so there’s a lot of stories that couldn’t be told. The sequel will have those, I think.

Leland Sklar: The Immediate Divorced Family will be the next one.

Denny Tedesco: I just wanna know, if you guys get divorced, who gets me?

Waddy Wachtel: We’re working on that!

Leland Sklar: Whoever loses!

Russ Kunkel: No, the sequel will be The Immediate Family Feud.

Waddy Wachtel: *laughs* Excellent, excellent.

PopHorror: Perfect title! Now, I saw that there’s also interviews with some of the big musicians that you’ve worked with over the years, like Phil Collins. What was it like to have all of them involved in this too?

Denny Tedesco: People say, “How did you get them?” It was the easiest thing I’ve ever had to do because there was no gatekeepers this time. You try to get these interviews that could take years sometimes with some of these artists. And these guys made a call, “Would you do this for us?,” and they instantly said, “Yes.” If anything, it was so fast that it was too fast because there was no prep time. But it shows how much… because they’re like brothers and sisters to these guys. They all grew up together in a sense. For 50 years, 30 years, whatever they’ve been together, they just are brothers and sisters on the road, in the studio. And that says everything about these guys because the artists love them and they realize how important these musicians are to their careers. So that was the joyous part of it.

Waddy Wachtel: Life on the road is so different than coming into a studio everyday, playing for a great artist here, getting to play for another great artist later that same day even. But when you’re on the road, you are living with these people. So it’s a 24-hours-a-day existence, and everything that happens is a shared reality. It’s not at all like coming to work, checking in, splitting and going home. You are home with these people for a month at a time, six weeks at a time. Back then, the touring schedules were extensive, too. You would stay out for a long time. So like Denny just said, we’re brothers and sisters with these amazing people we’ve gotten to work with.

PopHorror: What was the first time that you all met and played together?

Waddy Wachtel: I met Leland first on a session for Bobby Womack, the great R&B singer. And then a couple weeks later, Russell and I were driving the same ’57 Chevy, except he still has his, actually. But we literally stopped in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard and we’re looking at each other, and he’s going, “Are you Waddy?” And I’m like, “Yeah, are you Russ?” And people are honking horns at us and I’m like, “I gotta go, but we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of each other.”

Then next thing I knew, I got a call from [record producer] Lou Adler’s office, they needed me to show up for a session, and on that session was Leland, Russell, and that’s when I first met Dan Kortchmar after months of looking at album covers going, “Who is this guy? Why’s he getting all this work?” And we show up, and that’s the first time The Immediate Family played together.

Leland Sklar: That was Carole King’s Thoroughbred album?

Waddy Wachtel: It was actually before Carole, it was a Tim Curry record. Danny and I instantly, after months of hating this guy because he gets all this work, the second we saw each other, we were like brothers and have been since that moment. We started with a reggae tune, we were all crazy about reggae. We all knew exactly what to do and every session that we’ve done together since then has been the same way.

PopHorror: What is it about this group that just works so well, and has worked so well, since you guys started?

Russ Kunkel: Just the amount of time that we put in living together on the road, playing together live and in the studio. The more time you spend doing that with a group of people, just the more familiar you are with how we react to each other. Danny and Waddy and Steve being, you know, we’re a three-guitar band, and sometimes that can be a problem. But they just know what not to play in their space. And Leland and I just do whatever we want.

Leland Sklar: We just sit back there and go, “Really? Really!? Okay.” *laughs* I think there’s a tremendous love, admiration, respect that everybody has for each other. This is like a family you’d have liked to put together rather than necessarily the one you were born into. We’ve been really fortunate that we’ve had really positive experiences all these years. There’s been very few flies in the ointment kind of things. Every time we get an opportunity to play together, hang, travel together, do things, it can have its ups and downs, but for the most part, it’s been a really joyous relationship and something where I’ve never for one second gone, “Oh, I’ve gotta see those guys?” It’s like, “Oh, I get to see those guys!” It’s really fabulous.

PopHorror: And I understand that you guys are releasing your own new album Skin in the Game. Can anyone speak to that?

Waddy Wachtel: The record comes out February 16 and we’re very excited about it.

Denny Tedesco: It’s an actual LP coming out, a double LP.

Russ Kunkel: We just saw the package finished yesterday, it’s pretty cool.

Waddy Wachtel: We’re really excited about it. Fourteen songs.

Russ Kunkel: You know the middle of the LP, Denny, where the paper is? It’s just a picture of you. *laughs*

Denny Tedesco: Oh, that’s so good.

Leland Sklar: This is why we are who we are. As Russ was saying that, I was just getting ready to say, and we’ve got you in the middle of the record, Denny!

Denny Tedesco: I just wanna know where the hole lands.

Waddy Wachtel: You’ll have to buy one to find that out.

PopHorror: Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians who want to do what you’re doing someday?

Leland Sklar: Don’t do it! *laughs*

Waddy Wachtel: It’s a much different world than it was when we were able to come together. I wouldn’t discourage anybody from playing an instrument, but get ready for the word “no” a lot. Get used to hearing the word “no” and don’t let it affect you. Keep on living your dream, keep going for it because it’s a jungle out there, Jane.

Leland Sklar: I think also, find other musicians of a like mind to play with because I see so many things where people are sitting and practicing and they’re doing videos, and it’s just them. Get friends, put a band together regardless of what’s gonna happen. But play music together. That’s where it’s gonna evolve and that’s where the joy is gonna come from, is the camaraderie of developing together. And go out and do whatever. If you put a little band together, you can go play for somebody’s birthday party or a wedding or anything. Do it. I still do that.

We got called a while back by a friend who said a friend of his was turning 60 and was gonna have a birthday party. And he said, “We’re putting a band together for this.” Well, I pull up and there’s [keyboardist] Mike Finnigan who I think had just come off of Bonnie Raitt’s tour, Vinnie Colaiuta was playing drums who had just come off of Sting’s tour, I had just finished Phil Collins. And nobody knew who we were, and we were in the basement of this guy’s house playing for about 30 people and having a great time just playing Top 40. Find friends and go play music, and whatever comes beyond that, great.

Denny Tedesco: Do you guys do Bar Mitzvahs?

Leland Sklar: I’ll do a bris if you want me to.

Thanks for speaking with us, Denny, Leland, Waddy and Russ! Immediate Family is available now to rent and own on Amazon Prime Video, VUDU, and other digital platforms.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.