Jack Blades is undoubtedly best known to most people as the front man bassist/vocalist for Night Ranger, but he’s had a long and varied career outside of that band. In the late Seventies Blades was the bassist in a funk rock band called Rubicon, started by former Sly and the Family Stone sax player Jerry Martini. The band released two albums and one mildly successful single, and performed to 250,000 people at Cal Jam 2 before breaking up in 1979. Blades went on to a short-lived group called Stereo, which then morphed into Ranger. That band became Night Ranger, releasing its eponymous debut album in 1982. There followed a string of hits singles like “When You Close Your Eyes”, “Sister Christian”, “Four In The Morning”, and “Sentimental Street”, multi-Platinum albums and headlining tours before Night Ranger broke up in 1989.
Blades returned to multi-Platinum status with Damn Yankees, a “supergroup” consisting of himself, Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw from Styx, and drummer Michael Cartellone. That lasted for two albums and yielded the mega-crossover hit “High Enough”, which may rival “Sister Christian” as the song included on the largest number of Monster Ballad collections. Blades then recorded a side project with Shaw (entitled, appropriately enough, Shaw Blades) before rejoining Night Ranger, which he has pursued since 1996. He has also recorded with TMG, released a solo album, and performed with Ringo Starr on VH1’s Storytellers.
In addition to that Blades has been an in-demand songwriter and producer. He has written for artists as diverse as Cher, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey and Aerosmith, and produced Ted Nugent, Great White, and many more.
I interviewed Jack Blades on Friday, October 15, 2009 by phone from his ranch in Northern California. I had met Jack once before, in the very early days of my writing career, when I was reviewing a Damn Yankees show in Atlanta for a local publication there. I remember him as being very engaging, and that’s exactly how he came across in interviewing him. One interesting side note to this discussion: during the actual interview Jack was his usual high-energy, very talkative self, but what I found most interesting about him is that before I began recording and we were just talking, he was much more soft-spoken than I had anticipated. Not at all standoffish, just not nearly as animated as he is in an interview.
I came away with the feeling that there’s a lot more to Jack Blades than meets the eye, and that perhaps his public persona has been crafted in such a way as to allow him to go out and sell his work while still preserving a quieter side that might not be as suited to public consumption. It’s not hard to see why Blades has been so successful in so many different settings; he has so much natural, unaffected enthusiasm for his various endeavors that it’s infectious. I’m sure that helps him to motivate people to want to work with him in moving things forward; in fact, I barely know the guy, and if he called me up right now and asked me to drop everything I’m doing to come help him with a new project of his, I bet he could talk me into doing exactly that.
This is Part One of a two-part interview. In this segment we discuss the upcoming Night Ranger/REO/Styx tour; the set list for that tour; what songs he and Tommy Shaw have been working on for another Shaw Blades record, Influence II; Jeff Watson working with Dennis DeYoung; Jack’s forthcoming second solo record; his philosophy of songwriting and trying to grow musically while balancing that against fan expectations; producing Vince Neil’s upcoming solo album; and why being an artist, singer and musician is an advantage to him as a producer.
Special thanks to Carol Kaye for arranging this interview.
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor married his fiancée Mariqueen Maandig in a ceremony on Saturday, October 17th, E! News reports. Producer Danny Lohner first broke the news of the wedding, writing on his Twitter, “Goths the world over will mourn this day — off to a wedding.” Later in the day, Lohner posted a blurry photo of Reznor and Maandig slow-dancing as husband and wife. Trent over at Pink Is the New Blog was also at the reception, and posted photos of Mr. and Mrs. Reznor at the ceremony, including a couple shots of Reznor in his spiffy suit and silver tie and a bunch of candid shots from the reception itself.
According to E!, the wedding was photographed by Robert Evans, who handled Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt’s wedding, but no official confirmation has been made. Reznor has yet to post about his wedding on his official Website, and as Rolling Stone previously reported he deleted his Twitter this summer. The pair announced their engagement in May 2009. Congrats to the Reznors.
This news is brought to you by VH1 Radio’s Dave Basner
Next month, late Queen singer Freddie Mercury will be honored by the town he lived in for ten years in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Feltham, England will pay tribute to the rocker by unveiling a Hollywood-style star at the town’s center. According to the Hounslow Chronicle, Freddie’s former bandmate, guitarist Brian May, will be on hand at the ceremony.
This news is brought to you by VH1 Radio’s Dave Basner
Nearly 30-thousand people went to see Journey when they played in the Philippines earlier this year, but it seems there were plenty of other fans out there that wished they could be there. For those folks, the band released the concert on DVD and 800-thousand Journey fans went out to buy that disc. Live in Manila not only debuted at number one on the music DVD chart, but it actually had the second best DVD debut sales week of the year. Learn more about the disc and the band at JourneyMusic.com.
This news is brought to you by VH1 Radio’s Dave Basner
Today, Tom Petty turns 59. In his nearly six decades, he’s said some things that may make him seem as though he is bothered by various issues, but that is not the case. The singer told us he always tries to be an optimist.
“The things I’ve said, I’ve tried to say them with some humor and I’m not bitter about anything. I’m really not. I’m hopeful. I want to be hopeful because I don’t think being bitter or angry is going to accomplish anything.”
Petty is also hopeful that his fans will head out and buy his Live Anthology. The multi-disc, career-spanning collection hits shelves on November 22nd. Learn more at TomPetty.com
This news is brought to you by VH1 Radio’s Dave Basner
Twenty-nine years ago today, a plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Mississippi, killing singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines as well as four others. So how will the band mark the sad anniversary? Ronnie’s brother, current singer Johnny Van Zant, filled us in.
“That’ll be a day of just us remembering and trying not to remember, if I should say. I mean, that was a hard time for Skynyrd and the families of Skynyrd but hey, they’re gone on to better places, those who are not here with us but they’re here in spirit with us and we believe that from the bottom of our hearts.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd are currently out on tour. They play in Estero, Florida on Thursday. Get all the band’s dates at LynyrdSkynyrd.com.
Def Leppard have mysteriously cancelled the third leg of their North American tour, which was due to start on October 22.
No reason – apart from “unforeseen personal matters” – has been given for this decision.
Leppard were due to begin the last stint of their shows with a performance in Reno, Nevada, but they have now pulled the remaining 23 concerts across the U.S. and Canada.
The band have issued the following statement:
“We know how truly blessed we are to have such committed fans.That’s why we’ve agonized over this decision. Even if just a single concert, we don’t take cancelling shows lightly, but unfortunately life’s commitments need to be the priority.”
Bon Jovi have done a unique deal with the NBC TV network in America. As a result they are now the station’s official ‘Artist In Residence’.
What this means is that the band will perform on the high-profile Today show on four Wednesdays in November. In addition, Jon Bon Jovi will be the guest on the show Inside The Actor’s Studio and new album The Circle will be featured heavily throughout the NBC network.
In the UK, Bon Jovi have been signed up for Celebrity Come Dine With Me. All five members, even the bass player nobody recognises, will participate. Episode one is tentatively titled Tico Torres Makes Toast.
Guns N’ Roses have at long last announced their first tour dates since releasing Chinese Democracy the best part of a year ago.
Axl Rose and co will be performing a series of shows in Canada which will begin in January. The band are scheduled to begin rehearsing in Los Angeles shortly.
The tour dates are:
January 13 – Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre
January 16 – Calgary, AB – Pengrowth Saddledome
January 17 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
January 19 – Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union Centre
January 20 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
January 24 – Hamilton, ON – Copps Coliseum
January 25 – London, ON – John Labatt Centre
January 27 – Montreal, PQ – Bell Centre
January 28 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
January 31 – Ottawa, ON – Scotiabank Place
February 1 – Quebec City, PQ – Colisee Pepsi
February 3 – Moncton, NB – Moncton Coliseum
February 4 – Halifax, NS – Metro Centre
It looks like GN’R’s world tour will begin in Asia on December 11, with tour updates and announcements planned throughout 2010.
Deep Purple are planning to record a new album early next year. But the band are in no rush.
Guitarist Steve Morse told Classic Rock:
“We are in the sort of position where we don’t have any pressure on us. We’re not a pop act, so nobody these days expects us to sell a lot of records. So, as long as we come up with a good album to satisfy our core fans, then that’s all that matters.”
Morse has been trying to fit in work with his own Steve Morse Band between Purple commitments, which has proven to be a very difficult task.
“It feels like I’ve been on the road non-stop since I joined Purple 16 years ago! And If Ian Gillan had his way, we would have toured without a break. So trying to find the gaps to do my own own thing is very tough.
The Steve Morse Band have just released new album Out Standing In Their Field on the Eagle label. Once again, as has been the case for the past two decades, Morse has worked with bassist Dave LaRue and drummer Van Romaine on the project, But it hasn’t been easy.
“It took us about two years to get this together. We managed to find some time to rehearse together, and then each of us recorded in our own studios separately. Then we had to send the album off to Australia to be mastered, and we didn’t actually hear anything until we got shrinkwrapped copies of the CD!”
The Steve Morse Band have been doing shows in America, but have found the demands of Deep Purple very restrictive.
“A lot of the shows we do are so last-minute that we can only play at clubs with whom either ourselves or our booking agent have a close relationship. That rules out doing anything in the UK or Europe, because they demand a lot more notice. It means this whole thing is very much a labour of love.”
Photo via Pink Is the New Blog
