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Live Night Ranger pics
(Spring 2005) by George Dionne
As of 2005, it will have been twenty-five years since the formation of Night
Ranger, twenty-two years since the release of their debut album Dawn
Patrol,
and fifteen years since they recorded their last 80’s album together
and went their separate ways. Night Ranger came full circle to scale the
hard rock heights again in 1997.
Original band members Jack Blades, Jeff
Watson, Kelly Keagy & Brad Gillis reunited to create Seven,
a studio album that was pure Night Ranger - the very best of the hard
rock genre that
set the standard for the 80's rock and roll revival (taken from Night
Ranger's official bio, I really couldn't have said it any better). Night
Ranger
has been touring coast to coast for a handful of dates ever since they
re-united. I caught up with Jeff Watson just before this years tour began.
RIL: What’s the current state of Night Ranger?
JW: We’re intact and touring and writing a new
record. We have a new record deal. The release will be in Japan first and
then America and Europe
will follow. We’ve been in a studio for about a week and a half. We’ve
been going to my place and Jack’s place writing songs, it’s definitely
aggressive and fun and more like the early days of Night Ranger. We have
five songs demoed up that are more of the aggressive stuff. The 'ballady,
stuff will come at the end. We’ve just been getting together and slamming
like a band and it’s great. We’ll probably go in with 20 songs
and use different songs for different countries as it’s appropriate.
RIL: Will you preview any of the new songs at the live shows?
JW: We tried to last weekend but everyone wasn’t one the same page.
We wanted to but the lyrics weren’t complete yet. We’re chomping
at the bit to play some new stuff. It’s a hard call because all the
fans want to hear our big hits and of course it’s fun to play those
for them. But, it’s fun to play new material. You’re torn between
what gets put in the show because you only have so much time.
RIL: During the live shows do you stick to the Night Ranger songs
or do you cover some of your outside projects’ materials?
JW: The only thing we’ve ever thrown in, other than an AC/DC song or
messing around with “Sweet Home Alabama”, we’ll put in
a Damn Yankees song. They were chart toppers so we’ll do “High
Enough” in the acoustic set or “Coming of Age” at the end
of the set. Other than that it’s just Night Ranger. Because everyone
has done so much solo work we all have prolific careers so it would be quite
a wander to include everything. I think it’s good to stay focused because
people come in to see Night Ranger.
RIL: Are you doing just a handful of dates or are you planning something
bigger?
JW: We’ve switched booking agencies so we’re back home with MPA.
We got a late start on the season but we’re looking to playing a lot
of shows and we want to be in the studio. Summertime gets busy and we’ll
probably wrap-up a little more than we do in the winter time. We’re
revving up to 2007 which is our 25th anniversary. And so we’re going
to have an album or two out and just keep building the band and getting really
creative. For a while we were playing the same shows and satisfying the fans
but we need to open the creative doors and let out the creative juice again.
RIL: Tell me a little about your Mothers Army project with Joe Lynn
Turner
JW: It originally started out with myself, Carmine
Appice, and Bob Daisley; then we brought Joe in. We’ve done three albums, with a fourth one
in the can. It’s just really fun. The guys come out to my place here
in California, they stay over night, and we just cut this heavy, heavy
rock. Joe’s a great singer, and most of the music is ‘point
of view’ motivated, rather than political. The first record was pretty
raucous, the second one was a little Pink Floyd-ish, and one the third
one we replaced Carmine with Ansley Dunbar. They’re available through
my website. The fourth one is ready to go, maybe later this year.
RIL: Why did Night Ranger break up in 1990?
JW: Wasn’t it 1988? Anyway, the band had gotten pigeon-holed as a ballad
band ever since “Sister Christian”. This was a rock band when
we put this band together. We were playing guitar wars and battle of the
bands in the beginning. Once the ballads came out, it got attached to by
the record company. It’s very hard to break that mold. The last album
that we did, the record company released this song “I Did It For Love”.
It wasn’t even written by us. It was forced upon us to release and
record. So it was time to step back and take a look at what was really going
on. We were all doing stuff on the side anyway at this point.
RIL: How did you get back together?
JW: I got a call in 1996 from Pat Glasser, the producer
for the first three Night Ranger albums. He said ‘hey, they’re interested in having
[Night Ranger] in Japan’. I called Jack and he said ‘let’s
do it”. We got together for one day of rehearsals and it all came
back to us like that. From then on, we became a touring band again. We
did a couple of records toward the late nineties too. I think now it’s
going to be a more creative venture.
RIL: Do you think it feels right now because you have more control over
things?
JW: Absolutely! On top of that, the band looks and plays
better than they ever did in the eighties. We all got caught up in the fast
lifestyle back
then; living in L.A., we were young and successful early. The lifestyle didn’t
go to our heads so much as it distracted us. Now were all settled and more
mature to a certain degree. Everyone’s perfecting their craft, which
in turn makes for a better band.
RIL: What Night Ranger album are you most proud of?
JW: I think that everybody has great moments on every record. You know, Dawn
Patrol was so good because it was our first record. We were putting a lot
of energy into it. I think our first two records were our proudest moments.
From a personal point of view, I would say I like something on each song
of every album.
RIL: Which one do you think could have been better?
JW: Maybe Big Life? I haven’t really
listened to it in a long time. I think that an album that got overlooked
was Man In Motion. I thought that
was a real good record. We were breaking up at the time, it cost the record
company a lot of money, and it just didn’t do what we wanted it to
do. The record company released the wrong single with “I Did It For
Love”. There was some great material on that record I thought.
RIL: Do you think that when "Sister Christian" appeared in
the movie Boogie
Nights, it introduced Night Ranger to a new generation?
JW: Yeah, I think that did a lot of good in a lot of ways. It was such a
great scene. I think reminded people of the band. There were a lot of people
that saw that scene that just found out about the band because they were
too young when it originally came out.
RIL: It didn’t seem to do too much for Stan Bush when Mark Wahlberg
sang “You’ve Got the Touch”. I would have liked to seen
better things for Stan Bush after that.
JW: (Laughs) That’s funny.
RIL: You compose and perform music for TV, anything I would recognize?
JW: I did a lot of stuff for Nash Bridges, which is
in syndication right now. There was some stuff from my solo records on that
show, as well as
some Mother’s Army stuff. I even appeared on the show a few times.
I did an entire film called Vertigo Frontier. I did like 63 pieces of music.
It was a documentary that went to all the film festivals a few years ago.
I still do a lot of music for TV and film. We just do blind placements.
We send it out to my agent and they get picked up here and there. Every
now and then you’ll hear something, but you won’t know it’s
me. It’s a wide structure of material.
RIL: You’re credited with introduction the fretboard tapping
style known as the 8 Finger Technique…
JW: Yeah, that’s what I called it. I probably
should have called it something more cool huh?
RIL: What exactly is that?
JW: It’s just using all four fingers of my right hand, tapping strings
instead of plucking. It was a means to an end. It became a signature thing
for me, but I’m sure other people were doing it. I just happened to
get on MTV with it. I guess it would be egotistical to think that I invented
it. It’s something I did to achieve a piano lick on a guitar neck.
RIL: So you use all eight fingers on the fretboard?
JW: Yeah, it’s tapping technique. It’s not
always eight. I use whatever it takes to accomplish the desired passage.
It was a signature thing
for me that put me in the guitar magazines, but I think that there are so
many other elements of my style that are important.
RIL: What kind of guitars do you play?
JW: I’ve always played old gold top Les Paul’s on stage. I played
Hamers in the eighties. Swing Guitar Technologies have just started making
me interesting guitars that I’m trying out live and in the studio.
I play Line 6 Variax for acoustics. It’s really great when you can’t
bring all your acoustics on tour because they’ve modeled all different
kinds into this one guitar. I have a numerous amounts of different guitars
that I play, depending on the situation. I’ve been in the business
so long, that eventually you have one of everything.
RIL: Ever get sick of playing "Sister Christian"?
JW: No. The joy of the crowd makes it great for us.
They sing along with us, and it’s a great song. Kelly sings his butt
off on it and the band plays it really well.
RIL: Do you think Night Ranger would have had a chance in today’s
music industry?
JW: Probably so. The band it really talented, everyone
is good at what they do. I think that’s why we got signed in the first place. There’s
good song writing going on and Jack’s a great front man. I think we
would have a great chance today.
RIL: Let’s say from a record company stand point, do you think that
they would be acceptable to your sound? You just don’t get that sound
today. You have to go over to Europe and Japan to enjoy that sound.
JW: That’s a really good point. I’m not sure in today’s
climate if that’s what they’re looking for, but if they were
looking for that kind of music, we would be at the top of that heap.
RIL: Are there any bands of today that you enjoy listening to?
JW: I think The Killers are cool. Things go by when
I’m in the car,
and I have no idea who it is. When I’m at home, I’m always working
on my own music. I have a bluegrass station on that I play along with, I’m
out on the porch with classical playing, or I’m in the studio cranking.
I’m pretty isolated when it comes to being a mainstream listening guy.
RIL: Any Spinal Tap moments?
JW: It’s so funny that you say that because I’m looking at poster
in my office of me when I played with Spinal Tap. I played two nights with
them at the Warfield. I did two songs, I forget the first one but the other
one was “Break Like the Wind”. They’re such nice guys.
I’m one of the lucky ones to be in a photo with them.
RIL: I guess that’s the ultimate Spinal Tap moment.
JW: As far as ‘Spinal Tap’ moments with Night Ranger, there were
just so many funny moments. I think that movie was based on so many bands
actual moments. I can’t think of any specific one right now, but there
were so many.
RIL: Why is there no official Night Ranger website?
JW: Actually, I just got a phone call from management
to approve the new one that’s about to be put up, www.nightranger.com.
It’s been
too long. Our new manager Greg Digiovin is starting to put all the missing
pieces together, and that’s one of them.
RIL: Is their a new acoustic CD in the works as well?
JW: There talk of one. I think that playing acoustic
music is one of the things we do well. We’ve done acoustic shows in the past and they’ve
gone really well. We’re thinking of re-doing our original songs acoustically
and maybe adding a few new ones. We’re floating the idea around,
we’ll see what happens.
RIL: You’re playing the Mohegan Sun Casino this month, are
you going to hit the tables after the show?
JW: I will hit the tables and have a little fun.
RIL: What’s you’re game of choice?
JW: My girlfriend Yolan likes to play the nickel machines.
She has this ability to walk up to any machine that’s about to hit. She’ll go up
and hit jackpot after jackpot on the nickel machines. I have a friend that
owns a casino and hotel. He says that there’s no way that any machine
is better than the others, but Yolan begs to differ. I get suckered into
those card games like Blackjack, but I’m not very good at all that.
I’m not exactly a huge supporter of gambling. I just don’t
think it’s that good for America. I just get worried that people
are going to develop gambling additions.
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JEFF
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