And the press begins...

[bombaysaffires]

I agree that the last thing they will want to talk about is LB and how/why he left. They will want to sell the upcoming tour and the excitement over new members, and how they are all so excited about the tour.

I would expect the interviewer however to for example, ask Mike about Tom's passing, working with Tom for so long, and how he feels moving on to work with a new group. And you can't ask him about working in a new band without acknowledging that the only reason he's able to join this new band is because one of the old members left.

The question will be how it's handled. Their PR people know they have to say SOMETHING to acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room, and they will, with some very terse, well-rehearsed line, and then move on. And the PR flacks will have interrupted the reporter if he asks anything else (which of course may be edited out of the final piece). I'm guessing they will have John Blackstone interview them if it was done on site at the rehearsals. He's their go-to west coast guy for anything, and he's done interviews with Mick in LA and Maui for them (I can't recall if he did anything with BuckVie but wouldn't;'t surprise me). I would think a live interview (them in studio or them via remote) would be too risky, coz you know Gayle will for sure ask about LB.