From Alun Williams
Jack Blades has been getting lots of good news lately.
Sales of the new Shaw-Blades album, Influence are good. A new Night Ranger album, Hole In The Sun is coming out. A live performance by Damn Yankees (Blades, Tommy Shaw, Ted Nugent and Michael Cartellone) has been released on DVD.
Perhaps best of all was the news he had received just before our interview about Tommy Shaw, whose illness had forced some Shaw-Blades tour dates to be postponed.
Jack Blades:
Yeah, he just called me and the doctor gave him the green light. All the L.A. shows are on, everybody’s in good shape. He had a real bad, bad bout of this viral thing and it went right to his throat. I’m talking about he couldn’t even squeak. For a singer like Tommy -- he wants to have all that range and it feels like if he’s anything less, he’s giving the fans less than they deserve. So we made a joint decision [to] just reschedule those shows. But you know what? We will all live to sing again.
About Classic Rock:
So were you going stir crazy with Tommy sick or were you catching up with other things?
Jack Blades:
Still focusing on Shaw-Blades. We had another great weekend for sales [of the new Shaw-Blades album, Influence] and we’re so happy because really this record was like a labor of love for us, I mean we just loved it. We loved doing it. We just did it for the fans. We did it for the music that influenced us and changed our lives and all those things really make a big difference for us.
About Classic Rock:
I guess I kind of got the hint that the album would maybe be more acoustic than what it turned out to be.
Jack Blades:
The tour is acoustic and I think therein lies [the reason] that everybody thinks that the whole album is acoustic. There’s a couple of the songs that are acoustic, like "Sound Of Silence" but we decided to go out completely acoustic -- because we’ve never done anything like that before, ever -- and just tell stories and not only play the Influence songs but some of the Hallucination songs that never got the chance to see the light of day on stage, acoustic versions of Styx songs, Damn Yankees songs that we haven’t played in 12 years, Night Ranger songs. I mean, we are just having a blast!
About Classic Rock:
The artists’ responses that you’ve had so far on the covers that you’ve done on Influence have been good. Have you heard anything from Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel?
Jack Blades:
No, we haven’t yet and I’d love to hear something, although I’m like, Oh my God, I’m wondering what they’ll say! You know what I mean? That’s just my musician’s insecurity. We’ve had some very kind things from the other people that have heard our record, the other artists. Greg Lake from ELP, Jon Anderson [Yes], Michelle Phillips [The Mamas and the Papas], Graham Nash [Crosby, Stills & Nash]. I mean, these are all like idols really, so I’m just like WOW! It’s amazing to me.
About Classic Rock:
I guess from the background of Styx, Night Ranger and even Damn Yankees, you probably surprised a lot of people with your choice of songs. Maybe they would’ve expected something different, but hey, they’re your influences, right?
Jack Blades:
Yeah, and if you think about it, Tommy and I have both been influenced very heavily by harmonies. Early Styx was a very progressive band, I mean along the lines of ELP and Yes, stuff like that, you know what I mean? We were like 12 year old, 14 year old kids back then and this stuff hit in our brains and it registered in such a way that it made us the artists that we are.
About Classic Rock:
The new Night Ranger album, Hole In The Sun is just around the corner and a lot of people are already saying it’s really heavy -- big guitars, big harmonies.
Jack Blades:
Right, we want to crack people right in the jaw! To me it’s like "When You Close Your Eyes" or the classic Night Ranger "Four In The Morning" -- sort of a classic rock and pop Night Ranger thing for 2007, that’s what it feels to me like. "Tell Your Vision" just frickin’ rocks! It’s twin guitars, twin lead vocals, anthemic chorus. I mean, you know, describe Night Ranger and then describe that. That’s like where it’s at, you know what I mean?
About Classic Rock:
There are a few Night Ranger live albums out there and I hear there’s another one coming out.
Jack Blades:
There is, there is. We recorded a live record in Japan in 2003 and I think that’s coming out [in May 2007]. These songs are just screaming to be played live, and that’s the exciting part about it, that’s really the exciting part about it.
About Classic Rock:
Okay, Shaw-Blades, Jack Blades solo, Night Ranger, anything else up your sleeve right now? I mean, where does it all end?
Jack Blades:
Yeah, right, exactly. Actually, I’m supposed to be producing Ted Nugent’s new record, I gotta fit that in. I’m flying down to Texas and we’re gonna go over some songs and get everything rolling with that.
About Classic Rock:
Anything new on the Damn Yankees front?
Jack Blades:
It was great that Warner Brothers released a DVD of a concert we did at the Rocky Mountain Jam in Denver back in 1992 I think it was. It was on VH1 playing a lot in the last couple of months. It was really fun and I had forgotten how much fun the Damn Yankees could be. So, you never know, if we could figure out how to get everybody to do some more stuff, I think we’d be idiots if we didn’t do it.
[Source: About.com: Classic Rock]