Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
Stephen J. Cohen/Getty ImagesSteely Dan frontman Donald Fagen has given his first interview since the September death of his musical partner Walter Becker: a conversation with Rolling Stone‘s Music Now podcast, hosted by journalist Brian Hiatt.
During the chat, Fagen discusses a variety of topics, including his feelings about continuing to use the Steely Dan name and the lawsuit he launched against Becker’s estate over control of the band.
Fagen explains that, although the shows he’s played after Becker’s death were still billed as Steely Dan concerts, he’d rather not using the moniker moving forward.
“I would actually prefer to call it Donald Fagen and the Steely Dan Band or something like that,” he says, adding that promoters have insisted he call the group Steely Dan for commercial reasons. Fagen notes, “That’s an ongoing debate. To me, Steely Dan was just me and Walter, really.”
Meanwhile, Donald maintains that the lawsuit he brought against Walter’s estate is an attempt to “defend” the original contract he and his partner drafted, which he says the estate is trying to invalidate.
Fagen says that the contract, which they created when Steely Dan started out, basically stated that “if someone resigns or is fired or dies, they sell their rock & roll stock back to the company.”
He further notes, “[I]t ended up being that Walter and I were the remaining partners…50/50 partners, and the idea was that if somebody dies, the other guy would essentially run the band and take control of the band.”
Also in the interview, Fagen reveals that he’d hoped to make another Steely Dan album with Becker, but says Walter showed little interest in doing one after experiencing “some health problems” starting around 2011-2012. Becker died of esophageal cancer in September.
The full podcast can be heard at iTunes or Spotify.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.