Was 'On The Wild Side' an easy album to record?
It was easy because Bruce Fairbairn did most of the work. I co-produced the first three albums a lot more than I did this time, so it was kind of nice for me. Bruce took the ball and I had a nice, relaxed time.
Why didn't you do as much this time?
Because I felt real confident in Bruce. We were talking about pre-production--getting the album organized and the roles in the studio--when the phone call came that Bon Jovi had just hit number one. I figured, "he's got to be doing something right. I'll just lay back and take it a little easy and not work myself to death!"
What's he like to work with?
He's very organized, he keeps notes like crazy. Every time a part's done, you get a little gold star. Let's say there's ten categories of drums, bass, guitar, special effects, etcetera, and ten songs, you get a hundred little boxes to fill out and check. And he just goes through it part by part. Starting with the drums, then the bass, then the guitar, and then the keyboards. . .He's very efficient.
How is it different from the last one?
This album is designed to be a vehicle for Mike's voice more than the last couple, closer to the first two. And on the last album, we had every guy and his dog in singing in back up. The only thing we had on this one was a harmonica player by the name of Daryl Mansfield, a guy I heard at the NAMM convention in January. He was so great, I asked him to come up and do some overdubs.
Where did the songs come from? Did the band do a lot of writing?
Two friends from Nashville, Taylor Rhodes and Todd Cerney, contributed a lot. They had sent us a tune through our publishing company called "Love Will Rise Again" which is on the album and could be a single. I thought it was a great song, and I wanted to meet them, so I called and invited them up. We spent about two weeks I guess altogether, and it really clicked. We wrote most of the album between the three of us. Todd's listed on five songs, Taylor's on four, I'm in seven, Mike's on four or five, and Doug's got one.
The ballad, "Don't Keep Me In The Dark" came from Austin Roberts and James Dunne, from Nashville. It's the same situation. The tape arrived in the mail, I listened to it and said 'this is great!' So we got together.
I didn't end up doing as much as usual. I was involved in 7 of the ten tunes, but usually I write 60% of an album, but on this one, I've gotten down to around 25%.
What are some of the songs like?
"Break It To Me Gently" is another tune that will probably be a single. It's a tune that Mike and I wrote, it's very fast, and it's rockin'. It evolved from a tune called 'Fever Pitch' that didn't make it on the last album. I just took the chorus from that tune.
There's a song called "Wildside", by a local guy, Lindsay West. I think I found that one when a girl handed me a tape after a show. There were ten or fifteen songs on it, and I heard "Wild Side" and I thought 'Yeah, there's something there.' It worked out real well. Doug played sax on it, and I got to play fuzztone guitar. That's kinda cool. It's an uptempo dance tune.
Doug's tune, "Read My Lips", I think is the slowest tune on the album. It's a rocker, but it's real slow. It's kind of got a little bit of Aerosmith to it. A bit of "Walk this Way" but a bit slower. It's co-written with his roadie--his keyboard tech, Neil Shilkin. I think Mike added a few words.
"Notorious" really jumps. It's an uptempo rocker in the Stones theme, and our first single. It's pretty cool actually, it's got some good lyrics to it. We were playing in the south. It was hot and this girl was wearing really short shorts and high heels and this ragged black t-shirt that had printed on it "Every mother's nightmare and every schoolboy's dream" It stuck in my mind, so the song is just about this girl. Todd and Mike wrote some verses about her. There are five writers on that, there's me, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Mike Reno, Todd Cerney. We got the song started when I flew down to New Jersey and wrote for about three days with Bon Jovi.
"That's Where My Money Goes" was written by Alfie Zappacosta, who's also managed by Lou Blair. He came to see us in Toronto. After the show, he gave me a lift back to the hotel and played that song for me. I liked it and played it for Mike, and he thought it would be great for his style and his voice. And it is.
"Hometown Hero" is uptempo, like "Working For The Weekend" in that it's real positive. It's about James Dean. He wanted to become a Hometown Hero, and the only way to do it was to be totally crazy. You go out in a blaze of glory, a flash of light. Bryan Adams helped me write the verse and the melody. He came over one night and I said I've got this progression, could you sing a melody over it. So I played the progression and he sang the verse. He's in there for a few points.
What kind of pre-studio preparation did you do?
After the writing sprees, we took it from our own song demo recordings--either a 4 track or a 24 track--to the band to learn it. Then we went to 86 Street, a club in Vancouver, and played them live, got it tight there, and got the feel of the audience back again. Then went into the studio right after that. It was kind of like we used to do in a club, except before when we were on our first and second album we used to spend months in the clubs. This time we only spent three nights, but it was a good idea. The 86 Street gig proved that these new tunes are going to hit hard live.
Did you play all the new songs at the club benefit?
Yeah, we played all eleven of the new ones, and all our old ones, too, and I would have liked to kept playing. I like playing clubs, I like playing period, but the thing about clubs is you can really hear yourself, and you can really get close to the fans. It's fun to play your own music on your own amp, as opposed to just sitting in a club and jamming. I've jammed at a few clubs. At the CFOX thing there were fourteen guitar players.
Anything else you want to say to our club?
Just that I hope all of you like the album as much as I do, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone on the road!