Life is a journey filled with ups and downs; not every step leads us to what we have planned. Sometimes, even when we start out with the best intentions and with people we trust, someone may derail our plans. This was the case for bassist Phil Soussan and his collaboration with Vince Neil and his band for the ‘Exposed’ album. In his last interview with Chuck Shute, Soussan recalled those days.
Phil Soussan was the name who laid down some of the tracks that were featured on ‘Exposed.’ However, the story of Phil’s involvement was not as straightforward as it may seem. He had initially put the entire project together with Vince and started composing songs, including some that he had written for Ozzy Osbourne, his former bandmate. Still, when Steve Stevens, the guitarist, entered the scene, he brought a different approach to the project.
Steve Stevens had plans to write all the songs, play bass on the album, and control the creative process, but Phil had other ideas. He believed the project should be created with the equal participation of all the members. The disagreements between Phil and Steve soon increased, and the collaboration became challenging.
In a recent interview with Chuck Shute, he remembered his days with Vince Neil and explained why he left the band. He didn’t name someone, but we all know the story already. According to the musician, who said he thought it was a good idea to join the band since he was already friends with Vince Neil, things started to turn bitter after their bandmate Bruce Bird died of a brain aneurysm. But the fact is, after some ‘shenanigans’ got into the band, staying there became more challenging, and he left.
When he was asked about his collaboration with Vince Neil, he replied,
“Yeah. I put the whole band together for Vince. I mean, it was a, you know, his manager at the time, Bruce Bird and Jack Blades, called me up on the phone, and they said, ‘Hey,’ Bruce managed Night Ranger, and he managed Dan Yankees, and he said, ‘I’ve got Vince here, and we need you to put a band together. He’s your pal. You guys have been friends for a long time, and why don’t you come and do this with Vince?’
So I met up with them that same day and decided to help put a band together, and we started writing, and I did everything about that, and then it went very sour. It went sour.
Bruce, unfortunately, passed away one Halloween, he had an aneurysm. Bruce was a wonderful guy, and he was the guy really holding them together, and a certain person in that band decided to start playing a bunch of shenanigans, and it just turned into a big mess. And at certain point, I just I was like, okay, I got to get out of it. This is not… this is not what I signed up for.”
When Phil backed out of the project, he thought that would be the end of it. However, one day, his business manager informed him that Stevens had not only put his name on some of Phil’s songs but had also erased him from the credits. Despite having all the demos, lyrics, and pre-dated tapes recorded before Steve was in the band, his name appeared on a bunch of songs on the album’s credits, much to Phil’s disappointment. Although he was unable to change the credits, Soussan still has fond memories of his time with Vince and the guys in the band.
