Loverboy: Take a Walk on the Wildside
(Rock Scene Magazine, 1988)
After ten years, Loverboy can still rock out with the best of ‘em!
They have been one of the most successful rock & roll bands around the world. They have sold over 15 million albums world-wide and earned four multi-platinum record awards in the process. Loverboy has certainly earned their stripes.
In 1988, the band will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of their debut. In 1978, the band debuted with a self-titled LP that produced the hits, “Turn Me Loose” and “The Kid Is Hot Tonite.” Since then, the band has released Get Lucky, Keep It Up, Lovin’ Every Minute Of It; recorded “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” which was featured on the commemorative album Music For the XXIII Olympiad; and had songs featured on the soundtracks for the films Metropolis and Top Gun.
Now, in 1988, the band has decided to take a walk on the Wildside. That’s the name of Loverboy’s latest release. The album has rocketed up the charts and already produced a hit single in “Notorious,” which was co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.
After having recorded together for ten years, guitarist Paul Dean admits that the going has been rough, but that the band has survived and morale is high–as are expectations toward this album.
“It’s been tough. We’ve had our tough times. There’s the question of whether this album is going to be good or not. It’s doing very well right now, but you’ve heard of the world of fast food? Well we’re in the world of fast music. I’m not talking beats-per-minute, either. I’m talking about longevity. One day it’s up and next day it’s history. The last tour was a little tense at times. We started to get on each other’s backs. We had a little falling out toward the end of the tour. It ticks you off. But we talked about things after the tour and settled things down a bit. Mike and I got together and had a heart-to-heart. We asked each other whether we wanted to continue on and thought, shit yeah. Right now, we’re real tight and we’re having a good time.”
“Tight” is also a word that describes the band’s new album; another one is “fun.” “It was a little like doing the first album over again, except that there have been those ten years in between,” says vocalist Mike Reno.
Wildside was put together with the idea that the focal point was going to be Mike Reno’s voice. Lovin’ Every Minute of It was a guitar album, Keep It Up was a keyboard album, and according to Dean, it was time to do a vocal album.
“I kinda had my blowout on the last album. It was built around the guitar riffs and the solos. If the guitar part was great, then that was enough. The previous album, Doug had the big writing streak and Mike and I were going through our dry spells. So it became more of a keyboard album. With this album, I just decided that, I’ve had my time of glory, so I’ll lay back and support Mike. I’m gonna make sure that every song is for him, that he likes the lyrics and understands and feels and projects what he’s singing. He’s not gonna take a back seat.”
Dean adds that this is almost like a Mike Reno solo album. He says that if he were producing a Mike Reno solo effort it would sound exactly like Wildside. Dean feels that this album represents Reno to the fullest. But, adds Paul, this one’s also going to represent him.
“It’s also gonna represent me, because I was there for most of the songwriting....For this album, I was gonna be a songwriter and not a guitar player. First and foremost, I was going to be a songwriter. As I wasn’t involved in the production, first I was a songwriter, then a guitarist, then a background vocalist.”
Although this album is a vocal album, both men feel that the lyrics are what make this album unique.
“I think it was really in the lyrics. It was coming from the heart. We also rewrote a couple of tunes. ‘Wildside was originally about the dangers of drugs and getting on the wildside and not being able to get back. But we changed that. He didn’t want to sing about that. So we changed it to something to the effect of you, the audience, coming over to the wildside. Live a little dangerously, rather than taking the safe approach to life. You can’t get much better. That’s his attitude.”
Adds Reno, “When we were putting all the songs together, Paul and I did the preproduction before we hit the studio; we made sure that the lyrics were strong and that the content was good. So when I went in there to sing them, it was fun. I had more fun with this album than I did with the first album. It took us six weeks to do the first album and it took us six weeks to go through this album. There are a lot of similarities between the first and the fifth. It was real fun doing this. There was no pressure. I sang a song a day.”
So what about that voice of yours, Mr. Reno? Did you do anything differently on the last album?
“I kinda let myself get a little bit raspy so that when I did the record I sounded a bit more tough. My voice tends to get weak sometimes. I was trying for a bit more of a raspy sound. I’d do things like have a cigarette or a shot of scotch. Before you knew it, I was hitting the sweet spot on the microphone.”
“He sang very high on some cuts. He’d also go and smoke a couple of cigarettes and have some straight bourbon to get some raspiness in his voice. He concentrated on that. He was going for that edge. He could be pretty sweet and soft. But he didn’t want that. He wanted to go for it,” agrees Paul.
The production on this album is another part that makes the whole that much better. On Lovin’ Every Minute of It, Paul Dean says that he never left the studio. He was right there throughout with producer, Tom Allom (Judas Priest). On Wildside, things were different.
“On the last album, I was there for every minute detail right down to the overdubs. This album, I was there for preproduction and obviously, for my guitar parts. I came in for a couple of days. I stayed away from the board and just stuck in the background. That was a decision that we made through management. I was busting my ass too much. I just stepped back a little, stepped down and was a member of the band. I was totally involved in preproduction. When it came down to the technical end, putting it down on tape, I gave myself a break and went home. It was hard for me to do because I was so involved. The first couple of nights I couldn’t take it.”
For Wildside, the band enlisted the services of Bruce Fairbairn (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), who had produced all the previous Loverboy albums with the exception of Lovin’ Every Minute Of It. Paul feels that along with him busting his butt too much, money was a big factor in going back to Bruce.
“To be honest with you, I think the fact that it cost so much money made us think that maybe we should just go in and get the hell out of there. I agreed with that. I have nothing but respect for Bruce Fairbairn; we just let him handle it.. He did a great job and it didn’t cost that much money. I think I probably could have done just as well, but he did a super job.”
“It took us six weeks to record this album; the previous album took us four to five months to do. This one was real painless and a lot of fun. It was like, show up, play your part, have fun and hit the streets.”
The obvious question remaining is, why did you come back to Bruce? Wasn’t Lovin’ Every Minute Of It a successful album for Loverboy? Were you not satisfied with the production? Give us the lowdown, Paul.
“I think the question is, why did we leave him in the first place, not why did we come back. Coming back was a real natural thing. When we decided to do a guitar album, we though we should get a guitar specialist. That’s why we brought Tom Allom in. With this one, being that we didn’t want to do a guitar album, we decided to get back to our roots. Bruce and Bob really wanted to work with us. They came to us and said that we should do this album together. I played the demos for Bruce and he fell into it.”
Actually, we were in my living room listening to the demos. I was playing him the demos that Mike and I had done. That was also the day that Bon Jovi had gone to number one. That, in the back of our minds, may have had something to do with our decision. It was a natural job."
Wildside marks the first time that Loverboy has written almost all their songs with people from outside the band. For this album, the band co-wrote songs with Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Brian MacLeod(ex-Chilliwack, Headpins), several unknowns (including Taylor Rhodes, Todd Cerney) and two guys named Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, who co-wrote "Notorious," the band's first single. Paul says that the first time he spoke with Jon, he hardly knew who he was.
"I was on the road somewhere and I got this call that someone named Jon Bon Jovi was trying to get ahold of me. I had heard the name and that he had a couple of albums out. So I spoke to him and he asked me if we were working with Bruce Fairbairn--asked me what he was like and if I recommended him. I told him to go for it, gave him some good points and some bad points. So, that was my first contact with Jon."
Later, producer Bruce Fairbairn suggested that they get together with Jon and Richie. Acting on Bruce's suggestion, Paul phoned Jon and made the suggestion to him. Jon was all gung-ho on the idea.
"We got together and wrote about four songs. The crux of that was writing the chorus to 'Notorious.' We actually had the song complete, but I took it home and rewrote the song around the chorus. Richie had the 'Senorita, savoir faire' part; Jon had the chorus and I had the line 'every mother's nightmare, every schoolboy's dream.' That line I had gotten off a t-shirt worn by some sweet young thang. She was walking around backstage with this line written on her t-shirt. I always make a list of shit like that. So I went out to Jersey with this list, and we combined our "best of" and came up with 'Notorious'."
Two other writers that Paul and Mike collaborated with were Taylor Rhodes and Todd Cerney. "I thought the style these two had was exactly what I wanted. When we heard them, we decided that we wanted to do them. I phoned them and asked if they would come up to Vancouver. They did, and we came up with 'Walking on Fire,' which they had already started. I had the tune 'Can't Get Much Better', which was started by another guy in Montreal. 'Hometown Hero' I had started with Bryan Adams, and we- Todd, Taylor and myself- added a couple of parts to it."
After ten years of recording together, Loverboy have taken a giant step to the wildside. They hope that their success will continue for ten more years and beyond. Frankly most of their fans are hoping the same thing. But, as Paul explains, in this business, things aren't always rosy.
"If the album does real well, I'm sure that everyone will be real happy. If it starts falling, well, who knows? I think the reason we've stayed together for so long is that things have worked real well. There are bands out there who give their best and then fall by the wayside. We've always kept at it because we believe in Loverboy."