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Album Details
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· Produced By: Jim Peterik
· Running Time: 60.20
· Release Date: November 10
· Released: EU
· Genre: AOR / Melodic Rock
· WebLink: Pride Of Lions
· LabelLink: Frontiers
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Artist Bio
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On Africa's Serengeti plain, a company of lions running free is known as a “Pride”. In the world of melodic rock there is a new “pride” running wild: Pride Of Lions. This new alliance made up of veteran rock performer/songwriter: Jim Peterik (Survivor/Ides Of March/38 Special/Sammy Hagar) and twentyfive year old wunderkind vocalist Toby Hitchcock, takes no prisoners in defining its musical turf: soaring melodies, thought-provoking messages, sledgehammer back beats, searing guitars and dazzling keyboards - in other words - everything you loved about melodic rock in the 80's and early 90's!
Jim says: “With Toby's amazing range, I could finally again write the kind of melodies I was writing for the great singers I've had the pleasure of working with in the past: Survivor vocalists Dave Bickler and Jimi Jamison, Don Barnes of 38 Special and Sammy Hagar. My voice works as a good counterpoint in Pride Of Lions with my lower and thicker texture”.
Their first album simply titled “Pride Of Lions”, boasts 12 brand new studio tracks - from the diamond-hard rock of songs like “It's Criminal”, “Sound Of Home” and “Unbreakable”, to mid-tempo rockers like “Gone”, “Love Is On The Rocks” and “Prideland”, to break-your-heart ballads like “Interrupted Melody” and “Last Safe Place”, the intensity of the music never lets up. “What I love about this album is hearing the great comments from my friends who are really relating to the music both on a musical and lyrical level. Our goal is really to reach people - to get inside their hearts and tell them we know what they are feeling - and to rock!”
The genesis of Pride Of Lions was a conversation between Jim Peterik and Serafino Perugino, president of Frontiers Records, who suggested that instead of joining forces with an established singer, he could blaze a new trail with some great lesser-known vocalist that could really breath new life into his songs. “I had been planning a new World Stage album, but decided to put it on hold and to search for that singer that could inspire me with his voice and the way he was as a person”.
The search was over when Jim's talented niece brought a young singer she had met at an audition: Toby Hitchcock. “I was immediately intrigued by his tone and expression of emotion, then I was blown away by his 4 octave range”. Although Jim already felt that he had found the guy for Pride Of Lions, he did a test recording with him on a song he had just completed called “Love Is On The Rocks”. He sent it to Frontiers Records for their opinion and their response came back in a resounding “HE'S AWESOME!”. The vocal you hear on “Love Is On The Rocks” is that same audition vocal! Jim teamed up with fellow Ides Of March member Larry Millas who handled co-production, engineering and mixing of Pride Of Lions. Working on this project was a real joy- going for that real impact of musicians interacting together- not trying to program computers to make rock and roll- this is the real thing!”
Although Jim is carrying on all his regular duties: singing and playing lead guitar with The Ides Of March, writing with bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special, organizing World Stage concerts and developing new talent like Cook and Miller and Sum Of Hearts, he is planning to take Pride Of Lions as far as it can go. “We would love to do a tour of Europe and Japan in the very near future, with a full band to represent the album to it's fullest. We will also be doing a DVD of our first single, “Sound Of Home” to promote the group and show people what we're all about.”
“Good luck” has been described as “opportunity meeting preparation”. With Pride Of Lions those elements have come together full force. The life and musical experience of Jim Peterik has found the opportunity to present his songs and vision in a whole new light, with the help of a young man named Toby Hitchcock to create something strong and fresh, yet somehow timeless - the pride is back - Pride Of Lions.
Track By Track with Jim Peterik!
It's Criminal - "Actually a very positive song - despite the title - the idea is that its criminal to go through life with a rotten attitude when there are so many chances to take advantage of. The key line is "its criminal - to possess the key to life yet be so cynical". It's about everyone ive ever known who looks at the glass as half-empty instead of half-full. I started this song back in '84 to be a part of Vital Signs by Survivor. I played the unfinished song for Ron Nevison - he loved it but said we had enough for the record. It took me till 2003 to find the time, singer and inspiration to finish it! Eddie Breckenfeld, Clem Hayes, Christian Cullen and Mike Aquino own this track!"
Gone - "I walked into the studio one morning and my co-producer and fellow Ides Of March member Larry Millas was playing this great chord progression on the keyboard. I immediately grabbed my trusty Sony recorder and taped it. I immediately went to work - I knew this riff had AOR stamped all over it - for the next week I worked on it showing it to Larry as it developed. When we thought we had it right I showed it to Toby. When I heard him singing I knew it was as powerful as I hoped. My favorite line is "heaven is hiding an angel" - something about a song in a minor key that gives it a haunting bitter sweetness. I hope you can empathize with this guy in the song whose angel has left without a trace and is "gone". Weird lyric of the song... "is she wearing the sundress that goes with her eyes - is she starting to undress to rest for the night."
Interrupted Melody - "Another song that I started in the covered wagon days - back in like '87. I was writing songs for what became Too Hot To Sleep. This was one that I thought had big potential but couldn't really put it to bed - sometimes we have to live just a little longer to be able to finish a song. I always loved the melody and the theatrical feel of the music and lyrics. As I was going through old cassettes I came across this one and felt it would be perfect for Pride Of Lions - this time around the final lyric seemed to write itself."
Sound Of Home - "I was so pleased when Frontiers chose this song as the first single and video for the album. It has to be one of my one or two favorites. I had started it a few years ago - it was then called Sounds Of Home. In Jan of '03 I went to my summer place with my wife and some friends - the energy was perfect and I finished the song that weekend. The theme of this song is one of my favorites - the bittersweet longing we all have when we are separated from our loved ones - I used to say I missed most of the 80s just by being on the road and as much as I love it - I had to reacquaint with my wife and family when I finally got off the road. In the video for this song Toby and I are filmed onstage at Chicago's Park West - it shows the fun, excitement and passion of being onstage playing the kind of music we love - those scenes are contrasted with footage of the girl waiting back home...scenes of her alone waiting and flashbacks of their good times together. I think everyone can relate to this song in one way or another - the melody and chord structure are very much in the vein I have written most of my life - a lot of minor chords and superimposed chords contrasted with bright major chords. Toby and I form a good contrast between verses (me) pre-chorus- (Toby and me) and chorus (Toby)."
Prideland - "I was coming out of a massage at the health club where I work out - I was in a very mellow mood and my mind heard a particular sequence of chords and a very serene feeling - I was thinking about the lions in their wild habitat and I had written down a word earlier that I heard when I watched "Lion King" in its re-edited version. The word was Prideland - I never heard that word before and suddenly it seemed like the perfect word for the Pride Of Lions album. I was thinking album title at the time - but that was decided against in favor of the self-titled version....anyway I couldn't wait to get to a keyboard to try out what I heard in my head - I went out and bought a book on lions on the Serengheti Plain and got inspired with the whole social system of the lions - the young, the old, the male, the female...all having specific roles. Suddenly it seemed to my that Toby was the young cub and I was the mature lion trying to impart whatever wisdom I could. Musically and lyrically the song came together very quickly after that. I am very pleased with the way it came out - it is one of those rare instances where it sounds exactly as I imagined it would."
Unbreakable - "this song started life as one line from my good friend and co-writer Stephen Salzman (Zig Zag, Armageddon) "take the knife in your teeth as you climb the mast - take your life by the reigns and hold on" - I took off from there and Steve helped me put on the finishing touches - as you can hear it's very much in the Rocky mode - piledriving beat and a message of hope for anyone who has ever despaired - "when you think you've got the whole world in your hands, never think that life can't shatter all your plans". We are never bigger than life - but we can always stand up to it and be "unbreakable". By the way this was the first take from Toby!"
First Time Around The Sun - "The second song I wrote for POL - if there is one song that embodies my life philosophy, it is this one - the notion of every day being a new beginning is central to my whole energy system. "This is our "day one" - first time around the sun". Very much an early Toto feel on this one - again a duet between Toby and I - this one may take a few listens but I think it may get under your skin in a few tries!
Turn To Me - "An uptempo barnburner very much in the "feels like love" "first night" wheel house - this one ain't rocket science - but it smokes! Mike Aquino and I had a ball trading off leads at the end and just when you though it was gonna end, we play some more - we were having too much fun to stop!
Madness Of Love - "This is one of my most over the top melodramatic songs - kinda like queen meets survivior! I think everyone can relate to the crazy things we do for love - well heres the theme song - everyone gets to show of their chops in the center section. The part where the time signature changes from 6/8 to a 4/4 shuffle - I wrote this one and Turn To You in one desperate weekend after my record label rejected one of my other tunes! Hilary Jones does an amazing job on this one - she is one hot drummer!
Love Is On The Rocks - "This is the first song I completed for Pride Of Lions - in fact it was Toby's trial song, to see how everyone liked his voice. Well he really nailed it didnt he! This song is unusual for my lyrically because it talks about a love affair that is falling apart - of course I offer hope on the horizon - "do we save this ship or do we go down trying"."
Last Safe Place - "I wrote this song in April of '03 when America was in the midst of its confrontation with the mid east - everything seemed to be in turmoil and our illusion of invulnerability was being seviously challenged. That was the mood I was in when I wrote the first line - "I though the world was a safe place - a calm space - street lights and tree-lined squares"- In times like these to be in the loving arms of family seems like the "last safe place"."
Music And Me - "In the same way that "Light Of 1000 Smiles" described the rock/stage experience back in '81 on Survivor's Premonition album - "Music And Me" gets to the heart of my personal love affair with rock and roll - from the cradle to now. When I was a young boy growing up in the suburbs of Chicago it seemed that I was afraid of everything - nuclear war - thunderstorms - tornados - disease - you name it... When I finally stood on stage and played my first rock and roll song (Kansas City- here I come) and heard the auplause- all my fears went awy- because I had finally found my true calling. I have been chasing that dream ever since and the tornados have stayed away! Toby and I share lead vocals and again the World Stage band shines - Eddie Breckenfeld is absolutely untouchable on drums on this one.
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