Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell has been busy this year touring with his own band The Dirty Knobs, whose second album, External Combustion, was released in March.
Since Tom Petty‘s unexpected death at age 67 in October 2017, Campbell hasn’t played with most of his Heartbreakers band mates, but would he consider eventually doing a reunion project or tour with the guys? In a recent interview with ABC Audio, the 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer admitted that he had mixed feelings about that.
“I go back and forth. I’m not really feeling it right now,” Campbell said. “I’m still grieving, and I still feel uncomfortable with the idea of getting all the guys in a room…and starting a song and Tom’s not there. I don’t know if I want to feel that grief at this moment.”
Mike also noted that he was busy with The Dirty Knobs now and he “wouldn’t want to distract from [that].”
Campbell added that he wouldn’t absolutely say “no” to some kind of reunion, “but right now it doesn’t look like it.”
He continued, “I don’t want to mess with the past…I’m really proud of our legacy, and I don’t want to cheapen it by going out with some…homogenized version of what it was. And without Tom, I don’t care who’s singing, it wouldn’t be the same.”
Campbell also pointed out that The Dirty Knobs have been honoring Petty by playing several of Tom’s songs at their concerts this year.
“[T]hat’s where I get that out of my system,” he maintained.
The Dirty Knobs’ upcoming 2022 tour schedule includes a bunch of headlining shows, some festivals, four gigs opening for Gov’t Mule in early October, and seven concerts in October and November supporting The Who.
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