LIVING THE DREAM

JOE LYNN TURNER Interview by Phil Ashcroft

Joe Lynn Turner, apart from being one of the best and most recognisable voices in rock, is one of a growing number of old-school singers who've realised that if you want to survive into this century you've got to put in the work. So with the original intention of quizzing him about his excellent second collaboration with Glenn Hughes, I couldn't resist the opportunity to delve into his solo career and all those other little projects that keep the wolves from his door. An enthusiastic, articulate, and surprisingly candid Joe was a joy to talk to, and believe me when I say that a certain part of this interview was heavily edited by myself…..

Are you just enjoying your last couple of days chilling out before the start of the Alan Parsons Project tour?

I actually fly out tomorrow morning and I'm really looking forward to it, I'm packing as we speak.

How did that come up?

Well…… they had Kip Winger singing for them and he had to go do some solo thing or another. They called me up and said "What are you doing this month?", and I said it looked like I'd be at home writing songs. So they said "How would you like to go on the road with Alan Parsons?", and I love Alan Parsons. He's done so many great things and had so many smash hit songs, and all that stuff. They said "Can he call you?" and I said "Sure". So he called me up and asked me, and it sounded like a challenge and something different, so I'm really excited about doing it.

You're having a pretty busy year haven't you?

It's unbelievable! Y'know, I'm glad for it because I had years of just sitting on my hands.

Let's first talk about the JLT album. It's a very back-to-your-roots blues-rock album, is that how you naturally write, or was it because it's what the fans have been hankering for?

I needed to get back to my roots like you said, I think I'd kinda gone left and right a few times. Somebody told me I was swimming in circles, maybe that's true. This time I just wanted it to be fun and have this energy and vibe that was undeniably me, and the only way to do that was to do a blues-rock record. That's me! I grew up with that sound, I love that sound so all the metal stuff can go out the window as far as I'm concerned. Hard rock-blues is where it's at, it's melodic and yet powerful, and yes it was a conscious effort.

And lyrically you're back to everyday stuff rather than the social comment of 'Slam'.

Yes, you're absolutely right! I just turned around and said…sex, drugs, and rock and roll, what happened to that? When it used to be fun, instead of all this death metal and suicide crap, and prissy pop bands. I just wanted to go back to having fun so the lyrics are basically sex, drugs, and rock and roll. 'Excess' is the drugs part about a friend who literally died from heroin, 'Jump-Start' is all about love and so is 'In Cold Blood', and back to vampiric themes in 'Blood Fire' and so on. I had a blast making this record.

So was the change of direction a direct result of the success of the 1^st Hughes Turner Project CD?

I think we were invigorated. I think Glenn and I were both on a high when we came off HTP. I think Glenn's put out one of his best solo records since forever with 'Songs In The Key Of Rock', it's a fucking great record. So, I didn't want to make a record like that, and we were writing HTP 2 at the time, so the best way I could stay out of the mix was to be hard rock-blues. I really feel that's my most comfortable genre.

I think it's your best album since 'Rescue You'.

Why thank you! That's encouraging to hear because I knew I had strayed, I went around the bend and just wanted to get back. Hearing this from everyone just reinforces my feeling that I picked the right way to go.

It was good to hear Al Pitrelli play like that again after so long.

That's another thing. Making a record with all my friends like this is such a great vibration and I think that comes through on the record. I wanted to play a little guitar on the record too but all these great guitar players kept coming to the studio, like Joe Bonnamassa, Chris Caffrey and Al Pitrelli, that I had no room for myself. It was like a party in the studio every day, not a party out of hand, but people who like each other and want to hang out together. People would turn up with a guitar and say "Can I play on it?" and I'd say "Yeah, get in there". It was such a good feeling and I think it shows in the record, I think we captured it.

The production is great, the drum sound in particular is fantastic.

It's phenomenal. I don't know if you've turned it up loud, but man, it blows my tits off! I have to give Gary Tole full credit. I guess he'd just finished Bon Jovi's 'Bounce' and he was in South Jersey, he gave me a call and said "Listen, I have a month off then I have to go to Japan with Nile Rogers." So I said "Would you do a record with me?" and he said "I'd love to." I said "I can't pay you what Bon Jovi pays you," and he said "It's not about the money man. I love the music, I love you, let's do this!" We had 27 days to do it, we had a giant snowstorm in New York and lost 4 days so we just jammed it. He's amazing on the pro-tools and all that, he got phenomenal drum sounds.

Does it upset you that you don't get to play solo dates?

I can if I want to do what Glenn does. I mean he goes out and makes absolutely no dosh at all. He's coming to England, then he has Spain and Italy, and he just about breaks even because he has band members, flights, and hotels, and all that stuff. If I wanted to I could leave the house and just throw myself on the rocks and I could do it, but I figured with Glenn already out there doing his thing my best bet was to wait for HTP to come around. Otherwise it's like buying the same ticket twice. It's like making a record, I didn't want to make one in the same category as Glenn because I don't think fans should have to buy the same record twice. I know I wouldn't. And besides, with doing projects like the Alan Parsons thing and I've just been out in Rumania with Nikolo Kotzev's Brazen Abbott, I'm pretty busy.

I was going to ask you about Brazen Abbott..

Ahhh, it was fucking great. We played to two or three thousand every night in really nice theatres. I'm busy and I'm out there, but I'm not necessarily doing it solo.

With the big delays between Japanese, European, and US releases, do you not forget where you're up to in interviews, like what album you're supposed to be promoting?

(Laughs) That's very true! America these days is like a year or two behind. It's funny, and don't get me wrong, I am thankful that they're coming out here. People can go into your Tower Records and get this for a nominal price instead of an import price, and I don't care if it comes out 5 years later, but it is a little confusing to say the least. I end up saying the same things again a year later, it's very strange.

You've also done the Brazen Abbott, and also the Karl Cochran album, when is that coming out?

The Brazen Abbott is already out, 'Guilty As Sin' the new album is called, I have the title-cut and I think it's the best work Nikolo and I have done together. Jorn Lande is on it, and so is Goran Edman, and these guys are really great singers. That's already out, and I haven't spoken to Karl Cochran in a couple of months but think that should be out soon. I'm not really sure, I can't keep up with it (laughs), usually I read about it and that's how I know.

Going onto the HTP 2 album, is it true that you tried to get Ritchie Blackmore to play on it?

Yeah, we wanted Ritchie to play on it because we felt he was perfect for it. He could pick any track he liked, but you can't really get through to Ritchie anymore. His girlfriend and her mother are completely in control of his life so they're pushing everything away that isn't Blackmore's Night. Carol, Candice's mother won't even let him sign Deep Purple and Rainbow CD's. I love Ritchie and I owe him a lot, I still have the ultimate respect and admiration for him and we're not on bad terms or anything like that, but every woman he's been involved with while I've known him, he just lets them take over. I knew Candice when she came on the scene in 1990 during the 'Slaves and Masters' record, she came up to me and said "What kind of music does Ritchie like? I want to know what his heart and soul is all about." So I said "Medieval Renaissance music, there's a quartet in Germany that he follows around like a groupie. We go to every castle and every beerfest that they're playing and they're great, this is his love." The next thing I know she's got his ear, and boom! She nailed him. I'm glad Ritchie's happy, he's done enough in his life to deserve to be happy, but I don't think he deserves to be isolated and that's what's happened.

So all these rabid Deep Purple fans who are pissed off that he's not playing rock anymore have something else to blame you for?

I guess they have (laughs). Y'know I've taken enough crap, I just chew it up and spit it out. Maybe it is all my fault, but Christ, an innocent thing like that, I was just being friendly. Y'know something else? Carole gets a Japanese translator when I do Burrn! magazine to see if I'm slagging her off. I have Ritchie's personal number, but when I call up the number it's Candice's voice on his answering machine.

So to go back to the original question, you wanted him to play on the album but he probably didn't get the message?

I'm sure of it.

There are a few departures on this CD from the Purple/Rainbow sound of the first album, was it intentional to make a completely different sounding album?

Yeah, I think we have one foot in the old album, we still have 'Going My Way' and 'Shine On' and tracks like that. It was Glenn and I's absolute definitive thing that we needed direction, we needed to do something different rather than regurgitate Purple and Rainbow. We felt that we needed to pay homage to it but at the same time be ourselves or no-one was going to take us seriously. We feel we've achieved that. After I listened to the record my mouth dropped open, I feel there's something special here. Whether you like it or not you can't deny that it has quality and integrity.

I agree, I think it even improves on the first album.

Thank you! It's an album you can listen to from top to bottom and not get bored.

I think that it's maybe not as immediate as the debut and needs time to grow on you.

Yeah it's a grower for sure. When Glenn and J.J. (Marsh) were coming up with these tracks my ass fell off. I was like "Wow! This is different." There were different kinds of lyrics and melody lines but it really took shape.

With the way you alternate and then share vocal lines I think you're doing something a little bit different from what two-singer bands have been doing recently. What do you think?

I totally agree. It's really brilliant of you to pick that up because I've been waiting for someone in interviews to say that (laughs). You're right on it, I can listen to your opinion of this because you got exactly what we went to great pains to try to do. We tried to do the tandem vocals like the Beatles used to do, we had a bit of it on the first album but this time we have four or five strong double vocal lines and trade-offs. Sometimes it's hard to figure out which one's me and which one's Glenn, sometimes when we're both going for that upper register it sounds like one person.

Were some of the songs unused from the first album?

'Going My Way' was a demo from the first HTP but had a similar guitar riff to 'You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll', that's why we didn't use it. It was too similar but it was a great track, so Glenn said "See if you can do something with it." I was falling asleep one night with the song in my head when I suddenly bolted out of the bed and started to write a very autobiographical lyric about how my life used to be shit but now I have an inner peace and I'm just a renewed person. Everything was just going my way and that's how it came out.

Who chooses the musicians that you work with, is it a joint effort?

It is in the fact that we have a geographical location where the album was recorded, in this case the west-coast. Glenn is of course the master of ceremonies on the west-coast, whereas if we did the record here (New Jersey) we'd have my list of usual suspects. Glenn knows everybody and can really move some mountains, which is how we ended up with Shane Gallaas on drums and Ed Roth on keyboards. They're all fantastic players, and when it comes to guests like Steve Vai and Chad Smith it's all part of Glenn's extended family. He calls me up and says "What do you think about this guy, or that guy" and I say "Sure, go after them if we can get them." And now Chad Smith, who played Madison Square Garden last night with the Chilli Peppers, phoned Glenn from Japan where he'd just bought the HTP 2 album. He loved it so much that he wants to do the tour with us, can you fucking believe that? No kidding! So we're working that out right now, we're trying to figure out how we can make the ends meet.

No offence to Ed Roth, but Vince DiCola was a big part of the first album, why wasn't he used this time?

Yes, he was a big part of the first HTP but I think it was a much more guitar-oriented sound we were going for this time. Ed goes more for colouring the songs where Vince was more of a Jon Lord presence so to speak, on songs like 'On The Ledge' Vince was brilliant, but because this album was a departure there was more emphasis on heavy bass, guitar, and drums. It's mostly colour this time around, and while there are mellotrons and such, there aren't any keyboard solos this time.

Is it awkward rehearsing with different bands for Japan and Europe?

That's a very good question. Y'know to me the songs are all the same because I only have to learn them once, but it is strange when you have to teach it twice. The Japanese musicians are always proficient but it all comes down to economics, that's why we use the Swedes in Europe and the Japanese in Japan, because then you're only flying in Glenn and myself. Y'know we're not exactly making retirement money here because rock'n'roll is no longer on top of the game, we're doing this because we love it, not because we can go out and buy a Jaguar or something. It is strange, but you do what you have to to make it happen.

So you have a tour planned for February?

We hope to. We have Japanese dates booked and leave the States on January 31^st and leave Japan on February 10^th. We don't know yet if we can do the economics of Chad Smith being on board, but any European dates will happen after Japan if possible. I hope so.

Do you still do jingles for American TV?

Yeah (laughs). In fact one was aired last night. I did 'Feels Like The First Time' with Mick Jones from Foreigner for a Folgers Coffee commercial. When you're doing stuff like that they cease to be jingles. You use a top studio with a top producer and great musicians. Mick came in and replayed all the guitar parts and it sounds just like the original, except for this little tag at the end that goes "With Folgers in your cup". It's great fun to do stuff like that, so I have the Folgers and a couple of kids toys, like Rescue Heroes and things like that which are currently playing, but it's been a slow business.

There was talk of you doing MTV's Rock'n'Roll Fantasy Camp. Did you have time to fit that in?

Yeah, I did it and it was so much fun. It was just ridiculous being there and getting up on stage with all these great players, of course Ace Frehley never made it because he fell down a flight of stairs. Karl Cochran had told me a couple of weeks before that Ace wouldn't make it because he was back on the sauce, but Leslie West, and Simon Kirke, and Roger Daltrey were there. Ace is an enigma, I don't know how he does it. But the Camp was a load of fun, unfortunately I could only stay there one day but it was a twelve hour day. I went around the rehearsal rooms and sang with some of the young bands and gave them advice and encouragement, then there's a huge dinner and a jam session that night. The beer is flowing and it's a really good time. MTV filmed the whole thing and I've already been told that the footage has been shown on MTV and VH1, so it's all good.

So finally, will there be a new Mother's Army album?

Jeez! (laughs) Awwww… poor Mothers Army! We're just a band with a curse on us y'know! We had such great music in my opinion. We had our own style and a direction, (Bob) Daisley and I really connected on the lyrics and melodies, (Jeff) Watson was shining and doing what he does, finally Aynsley Dunbar came in and we just couldn't get off the ground. We couldn't win for losing. Will there be another one? Well I hear Bob is down in Florida recording with Jimmy Barnes and Steve Morse so who knows?

Anything you'd like to add?

Yeah Phil, I'd just like to say that we all appreciate what you, and people like you, are doing in Europe to keep this music alive. It enables me to keep working and living my dream, that's what it's all about.