Loverboy

Wed
18
Jun

LOVERBOY TO RELEASE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS, ON JULY 15

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014
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LOVERBOY TO RELEASE "UNFINISHED BUSINESS",
THE FIRST NEW ALBUM OF ALL-ORIGINAL STUDIO RECORDINGS IN SEVEN YEARS, ON JULY 15

 

 The album, whose title was selected in a fan vote on Facebook, will come out through Redeye Distribution

 

LOS ANGELES, June 17, 2014--"Unfinished Business" is an apt title for the much anticipated collection of recordings from the iconic multi-platinum rock band Loverboy - 10 songs patiently waiting, some for decades, to be completed. The recordings range from "Come Undone," written by Paul Dean while living in Toronto 40 years ago, long before he met vocalist Mike Reno and joined forces to form the soon-to-be legendary group, to the Chuck Berry-influenced "Doin' It the Hard Way," featuring Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve on bass. The song was penned by Dean during a brief stint replacing Randy Bachman in Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

 

Completing the recording took Dean to Raleigh NC, the current city of choice of drummer Matt Frenette, where they recorded the last 3 tracks in a friend's home studio. "We practically lived at Little Mountain Studios for 6 months (referring to the "Lovin Every Minute" album sessions), but it's a new world. I do everything on my laptop now. Way better!" enthuses Dean.

 

"These are tracks we'd recorded over the years, and we just decided to complete them and release the album to show our appreciation to the fans who have supported us all this time," says Dean. It will be released worldwide July 15 by Redeye Distribution on all major digital and brick-and-mortar retailers, while the first single "Counting The Nights" is available today. (Click here) 

 

Pre-order "Unfinished Business" on iTunes (U.S./Canada) or Amazon (U.S./Canada).

 

The title came from Dean's idea to involve the band's fans in choosing the name of the album in a popular vote on Facebook, where the choices were first winnowed down to 10, decided by the most "likes." The band then chose "Unfinished Business."

 

"No question, that was the one. We put the song titles up and explained that this album was 40 years in the making," says Dean. "It was a fun thing. Some of the titles they came up with were hilarious, but perhaps a little inappropriate for Wal-Mart."

 

Paul's initial idea - to give away the album for free - was nixed, but he's still encouraging fans to stream it on Spofity, Rdio, Beats Music or Deezer. "I have no problem with them doing that," he laughs.

 

Making the new album was inspired by the band's positive experience recording three new songs, two of them with their original engineer Bob Rock producing, at Bryan Adams' Warehouse Studios in Vancouver, for 2012's "Rock 'n' Roll Revival." "It was, as usual, a great experience. Bob's a master."

 

The new album features such instant Loverboy classics as "War Bride," a song Dean remembers playing only once live back in 1979 before the band had signed their first record deal with Columbia, and "You Play the Star" from the same period, which incorporates some of the classical influences keyboardist Doug Johnson demonstrated on his recent solo release, "Notes to Self". These two songs also feature the late Scott Smith on bass. "What an amazing player. It was really cool hearing him again. Scott had a great groove. And sound!!"

 

The release comes in the midst of a period of intense activity for the band, who are coming off being featured in highly visible ad campaigns for both Taco Bell and Radio Shack. Both national brands are using Loverboy's image and music to promote their products to the '80s generation, which grew up on the group, and others who are just being introduced to their anthems.

 

Radio Shack's Super Bowl commercial,  with the tag line, "The '80s called... they want their store back," saw some of that decade's most popular groups take over the retailer, set to a soundtrack of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend," which can be seen here.CNN praised the Super Bowl ad, calling it "pure commercial genius... a spot-on piece of creativity."

 

Then there's the widely-seen Taco Bell spot promoting their breakfast waffle taco, which features a prominent mention of a consumer "taking down his Loverboy poster" as part of an unabashed pitch to those who grew up in the '80s and are now smack in the middle of the desired advertising demo.

 

Loverboy is just as relevant today as they were three decades ago, delighting audiences around the world since forming back in 1979 when vocalist Mike Reno was introduced to guitar hot shot Paul Dean, both veterans of several bands on the Canadian scene, at Calgary's Refinery Night Club. Loverboy has four multi-platinum albums, including the four-million-selling Get Lucky, and a trio of double-platinum releases in their self-titled 1980 debut, 1983's Keep It Up and 1985's Lovin' Every Minute of It. Their string of hits includes, in addition to the arena-rock anthem "Working for the Weekend," such staples as "Lovin' Every Minute of It," "This Could Be the Night," "Hot Girls in Love," "Turn Me Loose," "When It's Over," "The Kid is Hot Tonite," "Heaven in Your Eyes" and "Queen of the Broken Hearts."

 

"I guess one day we'll have to stop calling the new album 'Unfinished Business'," jokes Dean. "It sounds pretty much complete to me. And it only took us 40 years!"

 

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Mon
16
Jun

LOVERBOY'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS OUT JULY 15

Artist: 
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Categories: 
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The new LOVERBOY album "Unfinished Business" is out July 15 and a formal press release is due any day now.

Track listing:

Fire Me Up

Counting the Nights

Ain't Such A Bad Thing

Come Undone

Slave

What Makes You So Special

War Bride

Doin' It The Hardway

You Play The Star

Crack Of The Whip

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Tue
06
May

LOVERBOY KEYBOARDIST DOUG JOHNSON'S NOTES TO SELF

Artist: 
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
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Indie release available on iTunes, CDBaby and his own website is an homage to Beethoven, Bartok, Chopin and Ravel featuring pieces he composed and arranged himself.

Los Angeles, April 30, 2014-The distance from "Working for the Weekend" to classical composers like Beethoven, Bartok, Chopin and Ravel might seem like a long way, but Loverboy keyboardist Doug Johnson has proven there is a connection on his new CD, Notes to Self. Recorded in Vancouver with classical musicians from the Vancouver Opera Symphony, the CBC Radio Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the album is available digitally on iTunes and CDBaby as well as in physical form on his own website (www.dougjohnsonmusic.com/CD.html) via PayPal.
"If you listen, the keyboard parts for many of Loverboy's songs were very much informed by my classical training," says Johnson, who started taking piano lessons at four years old, then received his Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (A.R.C.T) degree when he was 18, with a silver medal. "This has been a lifelong passion for me."
Recorded in Vancouver on a nine-foot Steinway concert grand piano with a variety of classical musicians-most prominently violinist Mark Ferris, who helped with the arrangements, and flautist Lorna McGhee-Notes to Self was inspired by "my physical and emotional connections to the places and people in my life."
The album ranges from solo pieces like the playful "Sucrose," a number that reflects the deleterious effects of a birthday cake-induced sugar rush on his visiting granddaughters to a quintet featuring violin, viola, cello, flute and his own keyboards on the opening four-part "The Crescent Suite," a grand vision of four seasons as seen from running on the beach near his Surrey home in West Canada.

"It goes from the fall, when the storms start coming in ('Con Brio') through all four seasons, ending with the summer ('Maestoso'), when all the tourists arrive and life is more laid-back," says Johnson, who also captures the brooding, overcast nature of the area's weather in "Waltz of the Grey Days," a duet with piano and cello.
"Zoe" and "Emily" are dedicated to his nieces, the former "beautiful, capricious and brave," the latter "a methodical, persistent problem-solver," both painting vivid pictures by capturing those personalities in sound. "Two Versions of a Visit" is another piano/cello duet that reflects the very different personalities of his two grandsons. "Warsaw" is his tribute to Chopin, whom Johnson considers "the best composer of piano music who ever lived... I've always had a special place in my heart for him."
Johnson, an outspoken believer in music education, hopes that Notes to Self will simply make people feel good. "I'm hoping it will energize them, and allow them to reflect," he says. "Music is inspired by the things around us and our experiences, our interactions with others," adds Johnson. "I wanted to let people in on that process, how this album came about."

And while he has already performed some of this music recently in a live setting, Johnson isn't about to ignore his "day" job, playing with Loverboy, who for three decades have entertained several generations of fans with hits like "Working for the Weekend," "Lovin' Every Minute of It," "This Could Be the Night," "Hot Girls in Love," "Heaven In Your Eyes," "Turn Me Loose," "When It's Over," "The Kid is Hot Tonite" and "Queen of the Broken Hearts."
"Playing with Loverboy is just a great deal of fun," he says. "We're like brothers. We get to stand up before thousands of fans, and when you look out into the crowd, you see them smiling, laughing, dancing and having a great time. Our songs seem to have stood the test of time. They're not only relatable to our old fans, but their kids."
Catch Loverboy on tour this summer: www.loverboyband.com/tours.html.
 

 

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