Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, perhaps better known as Bill & Ted these days once again, recently sat down with Apple Music's Zane Lowe for an interview. The duo discussed everything Bill & Ted, including if the movies' soundtracks reflect their actual musical tastes. The soundtrack for Bill & Ted Face the Music included contributions by Lamb of God, Animals as Leaders, and Mastodon.
"Yeah, often times the music, for me, was like… Van Halen was kind of like the source for Bill and Ted," said Keanu Reeves. "And often times the music, other than people who were on camera, the music and maybe Steve Vai. The music came after, when Alex and I were finished.
"On either film. In fact, sometimes they were talking about bands that didn't ever end up in the soundtrack," added Alex Winter. "Now there's a spirit to the movies, a certain kind of rock and roll spirit, and the soundtracks tend to kind of imbue that spirit with the times, with whatever is kind of happening at that time. So to Keanu's point with Bill and Ted One, the references for us are Megadeth, Van Halen, sort of other kind of pretty heavy, hard rock bands.
"The soundtracks have never tended to really represent much of that kind of music. They tend to be a little poppier. I knew about Extreme. I actually directed a music video for Extreme, after Bill and Ted One. To answer your question fairly, Keanu and I are very different than the characters. And we're not two guys from the Valley. We're not from the West Coast at all. And I think there's some crossover in our musical interests with some of the things that Bill and Ted like, but we're very different than them. So our own musical taste is quite different than Bill and Ted's musical taste."
But, there is some overlap. Alex Winter was a registered member of the KISS Army! While Reeves is a fan of KISS, he revealed, he never actually made it out to a show. From the interview:
Keanu Reeves: I never made it to a Kiss concert, which I regret.
Alex Winter: Kiss was the first big concert I ever saw. I was a Kiss fanatic when I was a kid. I was a member of the Kiss Army. I still have- The page… yes. It's very sweet. I found my old family photo albums recently, and very dog eared, and three pages of my photo album, there's like my mom, my dad, my brother, my cat, three pages of that photo album are all my Kiss Army memorabilia, like in my photo album, lovingly taped in and placed. I saw Kiss at the St. Louis Checkerdome in 1977.
It was an era when concerts were so loud that literally… and, we got to go on our own. I didn't have to go with my parents. My and my buddies on our own. Kiss was so loud that none of us could hear for like two full days after the show. It was just like a ringing sound.
That was the vibe, and they had the hydraulics and fire and all of that. I told Gene Simmons that story when we met him. Actually, I got to meet him even before we did Bill and Ted. They came backstage when I was doing Peter Pan on Broadway, and I was completely starstruck. I remember telling him how big an impact they had on me as a little kid. I think he thought that was funny.
Keanu Reeves: Wait. What did you get in the Kiss Army?
Alex Winter: In the Kiss Army, you got a patch, like a Kiss Army arm patch, cloth arm patch, you got like special stickers. I had like two pages of my photo album are like collector's stickers of all the different… you got like a special version of the Destroyer cover. Dude, it was off the chain. At like 12 years old, that was it. That was like my whole universe. I think if I look at the terms and conditions, I think that I am eligible for recon. I think they can call me back at any time. Yeah, and I would have to go.
Check out the full interview on Apple Music radio.
Alex Winter also comprised a playlist of his favorite tunes for Apple Music, including some metal jams. Take a look:
