An Interview With Stan Lynch Of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

From 1976 through 1994, Stan Lynch proved to be the backbone of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, laying down drums on classic albums like 1976’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes, 1982’s Long After Dark, 1985’s Southern Accents, and 1991’s Into the Great Wide Open.

Though it might have seemed easy to some, Lynch reminds us that a life in music is a battle of attrition. “I earned it every step of the way,” he tells ClassicRockHistory.com. “It was like an obstacle course that I had to master—and each step was even more frightening.”

He adds: “To get where I am today, I could never have imagined that when I was basically a teenager driving to California.”

After leaving the Heartbreakers in 1994, Lynch pivoted to the other side of the glass, digging his heels in as a producer, leading to a second act. Lynch’s production credits feature everyone from The Eagles to Don Henley to Sister Hazel.

What’s more, Lynch became a successful songwriter, penning cuts for Eddie Money, Tora Tora, Ringo Starr, and more. And with his latest group, Speaker Wars, he’s combining all his talents. “The process is very there’s a lot of joy in the room. It’s not work,” he says.

Laughing, he adds: “It’s too late in my life to even go to work. I don’t even know what that even means anymore. I’ve gotten away with murder for so many years just doing what I want. It’s a lot of fun. We just go from there.”

Lynch understands that regardless of pedigree, it’s hard to make it in the musician biz in 2025. He’s hopeful but cautious about Speaker Wars’ prospects. “I have to manage expectations,” he admits. “I’m not unrealistic. I know how hard this is going to be.”

“I’m forever grateful for the audience’s listening and tuning in,” he says. “I hope they go listen; that would be great. We’d love to get out there. We love to work. We love this, and we’d love to play for you.”

How did Speaker Wars come to be?

The actual genesis of the project is that I met a cool guy, John Christopher Davis, when we were in Nashville. We were both on different rosters, you know, with different publishing companies. We were put together on a blind date, and we hit it off.

Over time, I thought I was writing for John to make his record. And he kept bugging me, like my little brother, like going, “Hey, man, let’s just get a band.” And I was thinking, “Yeah, maybe…” Then, finally, he just kind of wore me down. [laughs]

He proceeded to show me he had a really a bunch of great guys in Texas that he’d been working with, too. So, it was really easy and natural and organic for me to step into their band with this material and make noise.

What kinds of sounds were you going for?

Well, oddly enough, I don’t think we were going for anything specific, which is kind of fun. With John, he’s one of those who totally writes from the heart and writes from the hip. So, he doesn’t care. We have that in common. We just write to turn each other on, and we take it from there.

Tom Petty often praised what you brought to the band as a drummer. What do you feel is your greatest quality as a player?

Oh, boy… my greatest quality is that I hope I bring joy, love, and passion to what I do. And that there ain’t a lot of quit in me. There’s a lot of “want to” in me. My greatest quality ain’t technical; it’s more that I want to share in the experience. I want to sell a song. I want the singer to feel good about what I’m playing, and I play around the vocal; that’s the quality I bring.

Do you have a favorite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album?

I’d probably choose either Damn the Torpedoes or the first record [Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers], just because it’s so pure and fast; it’s so ambitious. You know… coming out of nowhere and thinking that we’re going to kick the world’s ass, you know, I’m proud of that. Pound for pound, song for song, that record is pretty hard to beat. I think any band would be proud to have a record with that much meat on the bone, you know?

Could you have ever imagined that you’d be here talking about that record all these years later?

Oh, hell no. [laughs] If the man I am today were to meet the kid who made that first record on the street and tell that kid what’s going to happen to him, I think he would pass out, faint, or puke. [laughs] He wouldn’t know what to think or even how to process that.

The fortunate thing for me is that the arc of a career takes a long time, so you adjust to your next station in life. I was not an overnight sensation. I didn’t wake up one day, and they were backing in a Brinks truck of money and a Ferrari. [laughs].

The fact that you’ve done it twice, as a musician and a producer, makes it all the more impressive.

A first act is hard enough. It really is. I’m not going to lie; it requires a lot of luck and timing. I’ve kidded that it takes a village to have a career, but you need a lot of people who are invested in you—and like you.

I was really lucky to have a great rock ‘n’ roll band, and I loved those guys. They were my brothers. We had great producers, a great crew, great managers, and great lawyers! [laughs] Everybody in my life… you know, it’s not a one-man band. You don’t get to where you are alone.

Is that way with Speakers Wars, too?

To be a professional, anything requires someone to be a gatekeeper, and you have to have faith in all the people around you and that they have faith in and want to carry the baton to make it all work. That’s what’s happening with Speaker Wars.

There’s a lot of people involved. The guys in the band are great. The manager is great—everybody is on board and brings a lot of joy and energy. So, that’s really what’s required to keep things moving, you know, to keep the circus going. There needs to be a lot of people who really want to be there.

As a producer, you’ve worked on some big albums, like The Eagles Hell Freezes Over. What was that like?

That stands out because that’s a real transitional moment for me. That’s the moment when I’m literally changing careers. I’m no longer the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; I’m now a standalone producer. I’m really proud of that step—but taking that step was like stepping on the Moon for me. I was thrilled to be a part of that.

Overarching, what’s your biggest pride point as a drummer and producer?

That I got to do it and that it worked. When you focus on the fact that it’s endured and that there are songs that are pushing 50 years old, I mean… it’s hard for me to get my head around that. I’ll be at a restaurant, and they’ll be playing “American Girl” and “Breakdown,” I’ll think, “I was just a kid when we made those records…”

I’m proud that they’re still here. They still sound good. I’m proud of my entire tenure with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; I thought it was a gas. I was thrilled to help start that band, and I was thrilled with every second that I got to it.

And as a producer, and a songwriter, I’m really proud of the work that I got to do—and still do—with Don Henley. He was a real mentor and is a mentor. He sets a really high bar. So, if you can get to work with someone of that caliber, of course, you’re very proud when you get an “Atta boy.” When that happens, it’s a great day.

Do you have any regrets?

Well, yeah, probably, you know? But really, the truth is that regrets are kind of pussies. So, if it’s a regret, then you just kind of learn from it. You don’t do that again. You don’t do it twice. So, that would be how it is with most mistakes that I’ve made; I really only did them once.

So, they’re not really mistakes; they’re just part of your continuing education. I guess I’ve converted regret into growth. But yeah… I look back occasionally and go, “What would I change?” Maybe I wouldn’t have been quite so obnoxious, or so self-serving, or so needy, you know?

But like I said, that would require this guy telling that 19-year-old, “Don’t worry so much. It’s all going to work out. You can be cool.” But when you’re young and dumb, you think that every day you’re going to die, and you live and die on that wave. So, there’s a certain desperate quality—but if you don’t have that, I don’t know how you made it. It’s a catch-22.

What does the future of Speaker Wars look like?

That’s a good question. In today’s world and business, who knows? There’s lots in the tank, and we have lots of songs. We subscribe to the theory that the best song we’re ever going to write is tomorrow morning. We’re always on the hunt to write and be creative.

We would love for this album to be well-received and go play live because that’s what I actually miss. What I miss from the old band is a connection to the audience because that’s the ultimate experience when you’re a musician. That’s where a great rock ‘n’ roll band lives, and I look forward to that.

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