JEFF PILSON
War & Peace Vocalist
Ex-Dokken bassist
www.jeffpilson.com

(Summer 2004) by George Dionne

The Walls Have Eyes (read CD review) is the third release by War & Peace, better known as the side project of ex-Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson. Where previous War & Peace releases were a way for Pilson to share demos and unreleased material with his fans, The Walls Have Eyes is a full-length release of all new material performed all most entirely by Pilson himself. To support the album, Pilson assembled a touring band to bring it out on the road. I caught up with Jeff and talked to him about his work with War & Peace, Dio, and of course Dokken.

RIL: Jeff, I hate to stop you after three questions, but I forgot to plug the tape recorder in.
JP: That's okay. I called you an hour and half late, we're even now.

RIL: How does the new War and Peace album The Walls Have Eyes differ from previous ones?
JP: This record is a far more cohesive one. It approached a little more seriously this time. Past War and Peace records have generally been just me releasing demos. This one is more of a whole body of work.

RIL: Did you have an idea or theme in mind when you wrote the album?
JP: Not per se, but a few musical motifs kind of developed. There's sort of a lyrical undertone to it that also developed as the writing continued.

RIL: We're any of the new songs demoed for the Lynch/Pilson album Wicked Underground that you released last year?
JP: Not really, because most of it was written after the Lynch/Pilson record. However, the song "The Walls Have Eyes" was actually written with Lynch/Pilson in mind. I played it for George and he loved it. We were going to use it for a Japanese bonus track if it ever got quite than far. Then we decided to leave a track off that release, which ended up leaving us with no time to record that song.

RIL: You composed and performed everything on the new War and Peace album, but you've put together a touring band.
JP: That's correct, but there's one guitar solo I did not do on the record that was done by Alex Masi. It was for "Stranger in My Own Land", and I didn't play the drums.

RIL: How did you decided on the touring line-up?
JP: I love playing with the drummer Michael Frowein. It's a frighteningly good chemistry that we have. To give you an example of how much George and I wanted to work with 'Frow', when we were writing the Lynch/Pilson record, we were all set to go in and record the album, but Frow's mom had passed away. He was going to be out for a while, so we delayed the recording for a couple of months. He was an automatic. He ended up bringing in the bassist Brad Lang. He worked out perfectly because he has such a great voice. I've known Mitch Perry for a number of years and worked with him in different capacitates. So I called him when it was time to put this together and he was really interested. We he came in to play, we knew that this was going to work out to everyone's advantage.

RIL: Is it tough to record a record and to get it heard in today's music industry?
JP: Of course. It's nearly impossible.

RIL: Well, your pretty established as an artist yourself...
JP: In a small nitch that, by industry standards, the industry refuses to acknowledge me anywhere else. My being established gets me into certain doors, but no every door. Certainly not modern rock or major label's door. That's why my expectations are not extremely high. I'm doing this more for fun than anything else. I mean, of course we all want success, but I'm mostly doing this because I love it. I'm not doing this because I need the money, I want to do this.

RIL: You said that you don't need to do this, so did you make enough money in Dokken that you don't have to do this?
JP: I have another career that I'm working in that's going fairly well. I'm producing. War and Peace is not how I make my living right now. It's strictly a labor of love. I think that's the healthiest way. Of course, it's THE best way when you can make tons of money (laughs). That doesn't necessarily make the music any better.

RIL: You handle the vocals on the new album and with the live shows, is that something that you longed for when you were in Dokken?
JP: If I were to say yes, then that would be misleading. I always enjoyed what was going on with Dokken. I Understood the perimeters and I loved it. I love to sing, and I think that I got more involved with it on a n emotional level after Dokken broke up the first time. Throughout the nineties I sort of developed things for myself as home recording became more practical. It one of those things now that, I don't have to go out there and front a band, I just love to sing. It's just that simple. I do love to sing on record, but there's just something about singing on stage that's very complete.

RIL: Do you ever look at old Dokken publicity photos and go, 'What was I thinking?'
JP: All the time!

RIL: Did you guys ever compete with each other for the highest hair or the tightest pants?
JP: We definitely made a thing about whose hair could be the highest. You know what? Actually, we were very supportive of one another. We used to actually help each other make our hair go as high as possible. We called it hair tone. The tone master was he that would go around and make everybody's hair the highest.

RIL: After reuniting in the nineties Dokken released Shadowlife which....
JP: Actually, Dysfunctional was the first one that we did.

RIL: That's true, shame on me for not doing my research. Dysfunctional was a really good album. I remember that one. When you released Shadowlife it was that well received due to the change of musical style. Lynch left the group shortly after that and was replaced with Reb Beach (Ex-Winger). Dokken went on to release Erase the Slate, which was quite impressive. Why didn't this version of Dokken last?
JP: I don't want to speak for Reb about why he was unhappy in the band, because I know that he loved playing the music. He really enjoyed his role in Dokken. I don’t really want to get into Reb's reasons.

RIL: You left right around this time too, right?
JP: Yeah. That can be contributed to a reason that I got really disheartened. I thought Reb was vitally important, and I thought he was being given credit by certain members that he deserved. He wasn't treated the way that he should have been. Reb was a great member of the band, and he contributed a lot. I wasn't very excited about him leaving the band.

RIL: You worked with Ronnie James Dio on Strange Highways, Angry Machines, and his latest album Master of the Moon, was it just like old times working together again?
JP: In a way, yes. Ronnie's a real close friend and has remained so over the years. We have a very fun and productive working chemistry. I love to work with him. Creatively, the new record was energizing. It should be like that to make a record, fun and energizing.

RIL: Do you think that Master of the Moon is on par with Strange Highways and Angry Machines or do you think its better?
JP: To be honest with you, I haven't even heard the finished record yet. I haven't heard it since the bass and drums, but I pretty much knew where it was going. What I can say is that I'm quite confident that the fans are going to like it. I thinks it's more comparable to classic Dio than it is to the records I worked on in the past. I think that there's some great songs on there regardless of the era. I don't evaluate Dio records by how closely they sound to Holy Diver. I know that a lot of people do, and I understand that. I was more forgiving for Strange Highways and Angry Machines for their stepping out. I understand why fans are not, but of course I was part of it.

RIL: Why did you choose to leave Dio after the recording?
JP: They knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to tour. My wife and I had our first child this summer. The whole idea was for me to just record the record. They knew I couldn't tour.

RIL: There was an interview with former Dio guitarist Viv Campbell on the Def Leppard website where he slams Ronnie by saying, "[He's] an awful business man and one of the most vile people in the industry".
JP: One of the most vile people in the industry?

RIL: Yeah, in the interview Viv goes on to say something to the effect that Ronnie belittles the band in front of everybody, and he stiffs them on money and royalties. Viv's stand point was that he didn’t get paid at all. You obviously didn’t encounter stuff like this working for Ronnie, did you?
JP: I encountered nothing but professionalism and fairness up front. I can't complain one bit. I can't speak for Vivian, I don't know his situation. I've heard the other side of the story by the way, but that's not for me to comment on. I know Viv and I think that he's a great guy, so I wouldn't comment one way or the other. My dealings have always been on top.

RIL: You've done a lot of the Deadline/Cleopatra tribute albums over the years, like Tribute to Van Halen, Tribute to The Scorpions, they release that stuff all the time. Some are good, some aren't so good. What do you think of them?
JP: It's more about fun from my angle. It's like being a kid again. You have to understand that the studio that they're all recorded at is literally around the corner from my house. Plus, I love working with Bob Kulick. He does most of those records and we have a lot of fun. I rarely hear them finished, so a lot of the time I don't know what they're going to be like. It's a fun thing to do, and I'm one of those believer's that fun and music are a good combination.

If you could excuse me for a second, I have a call on the other line... (two minutes later) You're not going to believe this, but that was Bob Kulick (laughs).

RIL: His ears must have been burning. What tribute album to you have to record now?
JP: (Laughs) I actually just finished one. He was talking about that.

RIL: Any plans on a follow-up to last years Lynch/Pilson album?
JP: We talk about it, because we're very good friends. We'd both like do it, but it comes done to when the right time would be. When can we both block out a time where we can both do it. So my answer is, I would bet more on it happening than not happening. I just have no idea when.

RIL: You have a production company called ZuZu Recording, what projects have come of it?
JP: We worked with a band called Revis that had an album come out a year and a half ago on Epic. They sold a couple hundred thousand records; it was a really good one. We worked with an artist by the name of Brooks Buford. We've got an act called Clear Static whose record we're working on right now. I'm working with a band right now called Bound that I think the metal fans are going to absolutely freak out about. It's really heavy and the singer sounds a lot like Dio, but it's a chick. It's gonna blow people's minds.

RIL: So do you prefer being a behind-the-scenes guy, or do you prefer being in the spotlight on stage?
JP: I don't know if there's a preference really. Let's put it this way, I love producing, but there is that part of me that still needs to perform. I kind of need both to feel complete right now.

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