On this episode of Westwood One's Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, new interviews with Foreigner's Mick Jones, Mike Tramp and songwriter Jim Vallance. Alan Niven co-hosts.
Our first interview is a quick ten minute hit n' run chat with Foreigner's Mick Jones. We discuss the upcoming Jukebox Heroes musical, Lou Gramm's 'retirement', the future of Foreigner including more reunion shows this summer and going on without Mick, supporting the Shiner's Hospital, the upcoming Rainbow '78 DVD, the Cold As Ice Canadian Tour and more.
In out second interview, we chat with former White Lion vocalist Mike Tramp. He discusses being in regular contact with guitarist Vito Bratta, KISS & Paul Stanley, vocal issues, his new album Stray From The Flock, leaving America, his debut with Mabel, being a 15 year old 'rock star' and parental support, the end of White Lion is final, opening for KISS, the PRIDE album, rock n' roll is 'the big swindle' and much more.
(Starts at 1hr08 approx) We end the episode with song writer extraordinaire, Jim Vallance. We discuss his approach to songwriting, working with the greats (Bryan Adams, Scorpions, KISS, Ozzy, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and so many more, the Broadway musical (Pretty Woman) that he scored with Bryan Adams, being a 'song doctor', meeting Bryan Adams, how does streaming affect the business of being a songwriter, Bryan Adams' Reckless album, playing drums on different songs, getting Lou Gramm to do background vocals, receiving the Order Of Canada award, his mantra, and much more.
Even in the highly adrenaline-fuelled music business, it’s rare to find a bundle of energy on a par with Suzi Quatro. The American rock vocalist has successfully worked as a musician for more than fifty years, delivering with unbridled energy her greatest hits such as ‘Can The Can’, ‘48 Crash’, ‘Devil Gate Drive’, ‘If You Can`t Give Me Love’, ‘She`s In Love With You’ or ‘Stumblin In‘ which made her an icon in the 1970s, and wowing her fans again and again with her new material. So it comes as no surprise that she’s not thinking of retiring. “I’ll retire when I go onstage, shake my ass, and there is silence,” she says, fully aware of the fact that that moment is still a long way off.
Suzi Quatro presents eleven new songs (plus two bonus tracks) on No Control. The majority of the material consists of collaborations with her son from her first marriage, Richard Tuckey. Suzi explains: “This was our first attempt at writing and recording something together. The creative progress began with ‘Don’t Do Me Wrong’. And, through this unusually beautiful English summer of 2018, we sat outside, acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, iPad recording app, and lots of paper, throwing ideas back and forth.” With amazing results, as the new album proves - to Suzi herself not only on a musical but, also on a personal level.
For example on ‘No Soul/No Control’, the first single to be released which features the message “Don`t let go of yourself for anyone”. Suzi: “This is my personal mantra. All you have in this world is you.” Remembering the conception of the number, she says: “We were busy as hell, buried in the songs. Richard had a new idea and showed me. It was very unusual and I liked it. A very basic guitar and drum track was put down for me to work on the melody and lyric. I went into the living area of the studio and about 15 minutes later, it was done. It flew out of its own accord, as the best songs do.”
The same applies to numbers such as ‘Macho Man’ (Suzi: “It’s a no-brainer that this is an opening live song. You cannot help headbanging to it, it just grabs you”), ‘I Can Teach You To Fly’ (“a definite throwback to the sixties”), ‘Easy Pickings’ (“I’ve been playing this riff on acoustic guitar forever, at least the last ten years. Then all of a sudden, it became a song”) and ‘Love Isn’t Fair’ (“Got this idea sitting in our Hamburg home. I wanted to create a Blondie-meets-Mavericks song, and I think I accomplished that”).
The perhaps most unusual track on the album is called ‘Strings’ and has developed into a true little masterpiece during the studio recordings. Suzi: “This is all about the strings that tie our lives together. Great riff. I drove everyone mad singing nonstop in this weird voice ‘Strings’. I couldn’t get it out of my head, and - hallelujah - it came out in the e recording exactly as I’d imagined.”
You can tell how proud Suzi Quatro is of No Control. Pride and delight at a career, which has lasted for five decades and has maintained the creativity of the American rock icon to the present day. Says Quatro: “I’ve never stopped releasing through the years. Back To The Drive in 2006, In The Spotlight in 2011, Quatro, Scott & Powell in 2016. These albums were thought about and planned out in great detail. I am proud of all three releases, very proud. But my new album No Control is its own animal.”
The new album "No Control" will be released through SPV/Steamhammer on March 29th 2019 as CD DigiPak, 2LP Gatefold, download and stream.
The LA Based outfit, A New Revenge, featuring an all star line up of classic rock players, will release their debut album, Enemies & Lovers on March 29th, 2019 via Golden Robot Records.
Supergroup is a term that has been diluted over time. Throwing a bunch of people from other bands into a new project doesn’t automatically make them Super, but their bio’s will tell you otherwise. It’s time to seek revenge and reclaim that word!
A New Revenge is the very definition of a supergroup. One who’s members have more than earned their legendary statuses but also remain humble enough to let the music do the talking and not actually rely on the term.
Featuring one of the finest voices in metal of all time, Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (who’s voice is all over albums from Judas Priest, Iced Earth and Yngwie Malmsteen), one of the most versatile and name checked guitarists in rock Keri Kelli (Slash’s Snake Pit, Alice Cooper, Vince Neil Band and a hundred more) the most iconic bass player in heavy metal history, Rudy Sarzo (who’s work with Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Whitesnake and many more has earned him an almost revered status in heavy music) and long time Scorpions drummer James Kottak (also from Montrose, Warrant, Kingdom Come & more)
Keri Kelli, the bands guitarist says of A New Revenge coming together; "Beginning the songwriting process we said 'Let's get together and come up with three or four original songs.' Without any pressure, just creating as we went. Finally we got to the eleven songs we were all happy with. 'Here’s To Us’ was the first song we wrote for this record. It came very fast and was pretty simple to write. Its basically an ode to hard rock fans the planet over”
To further, Kelli comments on the album Enemies & Lovers “It's been a long time coming but it's completely finished mixed, mastered and all ready to go. We all really, really excited to finally unleash this on the hard rock community.”
A New Revenge is greater than the sum of its’ parts, although its parts are pretty damn mind blowing!
The foursome is an explosive combination with every band member’s skillset and battle tested charisma breaking through the bleak wasteland of current day modern heavy metal.
Razor sharp riffs, thunderous drums and those soaring vocals that come charging in from on high to lay waste to the landscape. A New Revenge are forged from the very heart of heavy metal.
Confirmed track listing for Enemies & Lovers:
The Distance Between
The Way
Never Let You Go
Glorious
The Eyes
Fallen
Only The Pretty Ones
Enemies & Lovers
Here’s To Us
Scars
The first music released from Enemies & Lovers comes via The Way.
The video features the band with their good friend Phil Soussan stepping up for Rudy Sarzo who had to bow out at the last minute due to an unforseen scheduling conflict on shoot day.
The video for this track was released on Friday and has already been seen over 33 000 times!
Enemies & Lovers will be released on Friday, March 29th, 2019.
Cult melodic rock/AOR heroes Fortune are back with a new studio album, “II”!
The seeds of Fortune were planted by brothers Richard and Mick Fortune, who came from a family of professional musicians. Their mother was a singer and their father a singer and bassist. Richard started playing the guitar when he was 16 and went on to play guitar and tour with the likes of Buddy Miles, Booker T & The MGs, and Spirit, while Mick started out as an accordion, keyboard, and trombone player before switching to drums. The brothers formed Fortune in the '70s and cut a self-titled album, "Fortune" for Warner Brothers in 1978, but by 1982 had totally revamped the group. A key acquisition for the new version of the band being the recruitment of Roger Scott Craig. A classically trained pianist from the age of 8, the Irish born keyboard player was previously known for a successful stint with the Scouse pop group Liverpool Express in the '70s. The lineup was rounded out by Larry 'L.A.' Greene, also of Top Gun soundtrack fame, on vocals and Detroit area session player and Elton John bassist Bob Birch.
Fortune eventually released their second self-titled album in 1985 (not to be confused with the 1978 album) to a warm reception, especially in Japan and Europe. It is still highly regarded today by fans of the genre as being a crucial AOR/melodic rock release of the time period. For many fans, it is indeed considered one of the best, if not THE best AOR album of all-time. While this is of course very much open to debate, the reality is that Fortune’s album is one of those lost gems from yesteryear that has aged like fine wine while the years have passed.
Camel/MCA Records (the same label that had, at the time, launched Night Ranger and Giuffria to stardom) was the label home for the '85 album, but unexpectedly declared bankruptcy for undisclosed reasons not long after the release and refused to give up the masters of the album, making an album re-release impossible until fairly recently. The band remained silent for years and while Larry Greene and Roger Scott Craig started working together with the band Harlan Cage (who released several albums in the second half of the 90’s and early 00’s), the Fortune brothers started the band back up again as a trio in 2006, until a proper band reunion happened in 2016 when the band performed at the Rockingham Music Festival that same year and then - thanks to the acclaim that followed that performance - in 2017 as well. These appearances ultimately led to discussions with Frontiers about a new studio album, "II". Fortune hasn't lost a step and their new studio album promises to be one of the AOR highlights of 2019!
The band will also perform live at Frontiers Rock Festival on April 28th in Milan, IT. For more information, visit www.frontiersrockfestival.com
TOTO TO RELEASE 40TH ANNIVERSARY DVD/BLU-RAY/AUDIO SET 40 TOURS AROUND THE SUN
MARCH 22nd Release Date
On March 22nd, Eagle Rock will release TOTO’s 40 Tours Around The Sun. The set will be available in multiple formats – DVD, Blu-Ray, DVD & 2CD’s, Blu-Ray & 2CD’s, 3LP Vinyl, 2 CD’s and digitally as well. The set will be available worldwide outside of North America. The North American release date will be announced in the near future. Fans can pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/TOTO40Tours
This live performance was filmed in front of a sold-out crowd exceeding 18,000 fans on March 17, 2018 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. TOTO performed a wide range of songs, including hit singles, rarely performed live deep cuts, and two recently recorded tracks which appeared on their new Greatest Hits album (40 Trips Around The Sun).
Also included is the “40 Tours Featurette,” a brand new interview with band members: Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Joseph Williams.
TOTO will be busy in 2019. The band just returned from a standing room only run of Australia and New Zealand, and head to Japan (including a sold out show at Budokan in Tokyo) and Indonesia in February. This spring in to the Summer, they’ll stage a long tour of Europe, combining top billing festival appearances and headline dates, after which they’ll bring their “An Evening With” show to North America this Fall. The 40 Trips Around The Sun tour is the band’s most extensive run in years with many more announcements to come.
I’m honoured to have once again been given the privilege of writing the liner notes. It’s an amazing set too!
