Tom Keifer
My Solo Project Is A New Adventure

25.09.2013

All of us have been waiting for this moment for almost 20 years! Well, if not all of us, then the glam rock fans, anyway. We’ve been waiting for it since Cinderella released their 1994 record, and the band’s mainman, Tom Keifer, went to hospital to undergo yet another surgery in a long and difficult battle with left vocal cord paralysis. If there was a “Born to Overcome” nomination in rock music, I am sure the Cinderella frontman would receive it multiple times. I know of very few people who have been so persistent in fighting their way back to the stage regardless of doctors’ grim forecasts. Anyway, Tom finally managed to succeed, and that’s why, after almost 20 years, we now have this chance to hold his new record, titled “The Way Life Goes”, in our hands… There’s no Cinderella logo on its cover, but there are 14 new tracks on the CD written and sang by Tom. We phoned Mr. Keifer shortly after the end of this very successful solo tour and asked him a few questions about this new step in his career, as well as about Cinderella, whose new record we are still hoping to hear one day…

As far as I know, you’ve just returned home from a tour. How was it?

It was great. We were touring for the solo record since February and it’s been a lot of fun. We had some great response both to the shows and the record. So I’m on a little break now but planning to do more shows this year coming up.

America only or maybe Europe, too?

At the time being we’ll probably be in America but we hope to go overseas as well at some point.

Your recent concerts were very much different from those you played with Cinderella. The venues were smaller, people could come very close to the stage and look right into your eyes. How did you like it?

I loved it. That was the idea from the beginning. We started touring well before the release of the record, and the idea was to go into smaller, more intimate venues and give the fans a really up-close and personal performance that gave them a preview of some songs on the record. We also played some old Cinderella favorites. That tour continued even through the release because we were getting such great response to that smaller, intimate vibe. So that’s how we’ve been doing the show, that’s how the performances have been. We did an acoustic section in the middle, and the rest of the set was as hard drive and high energy rock as people used to see from me. It’s a good balance and people seemed to enjoy it and so did we.

It seems to me this intimate vibe matches your solo album just perfectly. Not sure, if these songs would work as good in larger venues…

I don’t know. I don’t think the style of the music on this record is really that far different from Cinderella. There are some really hard rock things as well as some ballads and acoustic stuff. We were always able to perform those things in huge venues with Cinderella, we’ve even done acoustic songs, and people responded to that really well. It’s a nice contrast sometimes, when you’ve just been doing hard rock and then change to something that is more intimate. It gives you a break that allows you to enjoy the driving stuff when you get back to that. I’ve always thought that both work very well together in any size of a venue.

How did you like to go on tour with your wife?

Oh, it’s great. We produced the record together with Chuck Turner and she co-wrote a lot of the songs on the album. She also joined me on the stage and sang with me a couple of songs… You know, her vocals added some magic to them. I enjoyed it tremendously and I think the fans did as well, too.

That’s great. Let’s talk about your album that we were waiting for about 20 years. Were you always sure, it will be released someday?

The creation of this record really was a leap of faith. We produced it with an independent label and it was also during the time when I was having a lot of vocal problems. So it was very difficult to make this record from a lot of aspects. It took so long to be created. The whole time we didn’t even know if it ever would be picked up by a label and released. We didn’t really care, it was something that we were doing for ourselves, out of the love for music. Obviously at some point as it was all coming together we realized it was a good album… You know, we hoped that would happen, but the whole time we were making the album we weren’t sure what was gonna happen with this record. (laughs) We just wanted to make some great music. That was our goal. Hopefully, we did. 

I think so. Do you stop writing music if you are not sure you will be able to perform it?

I write music any time. I never can describe the way the songs come to me. It can really happen anywhere any time. An idea just pops into my head and if it really strikes me and inspires me I rush to any instrument trying to figure it out what I’m hearing in my head. That’s how I’ve always written. A lot of this happens on the road, a lot of ideas pop into my head when I’m on an airplane or driving down a road in a car. The inspiration can really come from anywhere.

So you must have written a lot of stuff during all these years. Was it difficult to pick the exact 14 songs for the record?

I started writing songs for a solo record in the mid-90s, and for one reason or another the idea of production and recording it kept getting put on the back burner, so…  In 2003 when we actually started the production and recording of the album, there were many songs to choose from. I gotta be honest, it wasn’t that hard to select as the 14 that we chose for the record really stood out against all the songs that we were considering. It felt pretty obvious which songs were the best at least at that time. Well, I haven’t listened to the rest of them for a long time, but I’m sure there are some good ones, too.

What about the style of the album? Could “The Way Life Goes” be another Cinderella album if you had recorded it with the help of your Cinderella bandmates?

Yes, of course it would be. That would be the band. That’s not how this record was recorded though. It was recorded at the time when we were all off doing different things. Actually everyone was doing some solo project at that time. So it was recorded with some musicians from Nashville, who are friends of mine. At that point it becomes not a Cinderella album. (laughs) Obviously. Because it’s other musicians.

That’s right, but I was talking about the style of the music itself. You were the one who wrote all the material for Cinderella albums, too, so is there any difference?

Well, I think any group of musicians you put in a room together are gonna bring a certain style that comes from their playing and their input, their creativity as well, so… I was the main songwriter and the lead singer and I did much of the guitar work in Cinderella. So it’s obvious I had a big part in that sound of Cinderella. I think, the musicians that I worked with on this solo record are quite different from the members of Cinderella. So if it was a Cinderella record, there would be a slightly different style to the playing of it, but I think at the end of the day there is a similarity with either group of musicians that feels like Cinderella and I guess I’m the common ground. (laughs) But I think it certainly has a different feeling depending on the different sets of musicians, obviously. I hope that makes sense. (laughs)

Talking about the music styles… There are so many different styles on the album, from hard rock to country music and whatnot. How do you manage to combine them together to form one solid album?

Well, the music that I love, my heroes as musicians, lots of them came from the 70s, - that’s what I grew up on. And that was very common back then, to combine acoustic music with very hard and driving one. You know, Led Zeppelin did that, The Eagles did that, The Rolling Stones did that. It was very common, a lot of contrast even within the same song. So I’m very familiar with that and I’ve always tried to create dynamics and contrast when making a record. It’s better than an entire record being the same thing over and over. I’ve always liked records that are more like a journey that take you through many emotions, peaks and valleys. Because it’s what I grew up on and obviously what you grow up on is where you learn. Those bands I mentioned were my teachers. So I don’t know how exactly you figure out how to make them all work together. It just kind of happens, I guess.

Now you’ve started to write songs together with Savannah for the first time. How does it work?

We work much in the same way. We’re both inspired by lyrics first. It’s always the lyrics that comes to either one of us first. Whenever we collaborate, it’s usually one of us bringing in an inspiration that we have like I described. It just sticks in your head. I’ll give you an example - “Solid Ground” that is the first song on the album. The idea for that song popped into my head one day, I don’t even remember where I was. It had been playing in my head for a while, just sticking there, and one day we were sitting in the living room and I told the idea to Savannah and she and I finished the song right then and there. But the initial inspiration came probably weeks or months before that, it had been in my head for a long time. And she’ll do the same thing too. She’ll get an idea and if it sticks with her at some point when we are sitting down the idea is gonna pop out and then we finish it. So we both write in the same way. We don’t try to force things, we allow the song to come to us. We don’t necessary even force finishing it because sometimes things become contrived if they are forced to that point, so… Sometimes we get stuck through writing a song and it feels like the rest of it is not coming… Some of them would sit for two years and then come back. That’s how we write. (laughs) I think, that’s how you get some real honesty. I hate to force writing. And Savannah does, too. So we collaborate very well in that way.

There are a lot of love songs on the new record and there have always been that way, with Cinderella, too. It looks like it’s really important for you.

Well, that’s what makes world go round, right? (laughs) Love is in all of our lives and there are also lots of relationships that are going bad… “Nobody’s Fool” is an example of that, and on this record "Cold Day In Hell" is one of those. On the flip side, there’s "Thick And Thin" on this record, which is about falling in love and being, you know, just committed to each other for life. So those are two ends of love and I’ve written a lot of songs about both of them over the years. I think, my songwitting has always been inspired by life and real things and obviously love and falling out of love are parts of our lives. So I’ve been inspired by both.

It seems to me you used to write more about love that’s “gone bad”. Now it’s a different story.

Well, “Thick and Thin” I wrote for Savannah to state me commitment and love for her. I am really happy, with a beautiful relationship and family. I also wrote “You Showed Me” from new record for her, because that’s my “thank you” you to her for getting me through some difficult times… Yeah, you’re in different places at different time in your life and obviously those emotions come out in the writing.

Can you tell me a bit more about other songs? “Welcome To My Mind” for instance. All these flying monkeys and everything, is it really what happens in your mind?

Well, that’s not daily. (laughs) I wrote that with Savannah and a good friend of ours and a great songwriter Blair Daly. We all go through periods of time in our lives that are very troubling and you’re confused and we’ve all been through it. That’s a glimpse of how the three of us, the songwriters, take on those times in our lives. It’s been, you know, a hell ride, when you’re trying to deal with everything when the ship’s upside down. Sometimes we think we’re crazy and a lot’s coming at us and that’s not what we want to be coming at us. It’s a difficult process sometimes and I think we’ve all been at that place. Like I said the feelings expressed in that song are not something the three writers feel every day, but it happens and it can happen to all of us, so…

One more song I wanted to ask you about is “Fools Paradise”. What is it about?

To me, it’s about the “catch 22” of technology. Honestly, I could write a book on my feelings about it (laughs), and we don’t have time for that. It affects so many aspects of our lives in a very positive way and gives us a lot of conveniences, but there’re a lot of things about technology that  are creating some aspects in our society that are very negative to the individual people in our world. So that’s generally what the song is about.

Can we talk a little about your Cinderella days?

Sure. I can sum it up as just an amazing experience. Obviously a lot of work went into the writing and production of the records and ultimately us getting the chance to release the first Cinderella album. You know, they always say there’s no such thing as an overnight success, but it always appears that everyone is an overnight success. (laughs) But there’s always a lot of work behind that. That’s true. We finally got the opportunity to release “Nights Songs” and it’s just exploded. From that point to the “Heartbreak Station” tour, that period of time was just amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of it. I’m proud of the music we made and the tours and shows we done. It was just a dream come true. All the fans that have supported us over the years are ultimately the reason why all this happened. We are forever grateful for that.

My intention was to ask you about Moscow Music Peace Festival of 1989. Do you remember that?

Yes.

For many Russian fans of hard rock it was a landmark event, for many years we considered it to be a sign of goodwill from the West, as if the West was extending a hand of friendship or something like that. But in the past few years another point of view has surfaced, some people have started to believe that it was more like Western corporations wanted to cash in on selling the rights to TV broadcasting and on selling live recordings, and the only reason why they went to Russia for this is that all Russian things were very popular in the West in the late 80s. What were your feelings as a participant in that event? Was that festival really a landmark event for the performers, or was it basically just another stage to play?

I haven’t been aware of that people are viewing it that way. To me I always viewed it as an amazing event that I felt fortunate to be a part of. I can personally say Cinderella has not made any money from Moscow Music Peace Festival. At all. And honestly I don’t think anyone was trying to cash in on anything. It’s a long time ago, I don’t remember exactly all the specifics but I know we were not even paid to go there to do it, so… It was just something we all wanted to be a part of. I remember it as one of the most memorable and amazing events in our career, certainly. It was an opportunity to go somewhere we’ve never been and reach out to people and share our music. It definitely stood out at the time and as years have gone by and it is remembered as a landmark concert it feels even more special than it did at the time. But it definitely felt special from the beginning.

Sebastian Bach has recently said that he “doesn’t understand the nostalgia factor of the present-day rock music”, meaning that he wants to play songs that are new, rather than the songs that are 20 years old. At the same time, one cannot deny that the audience wants to hear the songs that are 20 and more years old. What do you personally think about this “nostalgia factor”? Is it a problem for you that the audience wants you to play “Nobody’s Fool” or “Shake Me” at every show?

No, it’s not a problem at all. We’re able to share these songs with our fans that have been so faithful to us and created that amazing world that happened to us back then. So being able still to this day walk on the stage and share the same songs with them, it just feels special every night. The fans have been so loyal and when they come to see us, we play “Nobody’s Fool”, we play “Shelter Me” and we play “Night Songs”. The fans make it feel like it’s the first time for us every time. I never get tired of it.

I know you are telling some stories from the stage during your shows now. Unfortunately, the Russian fans have no opportunity to hear them as much as they would love to. Could you share one of the stories here?

Mmm, let me think. (pause) One of the stories I share is about the song “Ask Me Yesterday” from the new record and it’s an example of how songwriting can sometimes be a longer process than you think. “Ask Me Yesterday” was originally co-written by myself and Jim Peterik whom you may remember from Survivor and The Ides of March. He’s a great songwriter and he wrote some other songs on the record. So he and I started “Ask Me Yesterday” and we ended up with something that we thought was finished and we thought it was great, we thought we had a song. Though something about it still wasn’t sitting right with both of us and we just sat on the song for a long time and one day I pulled it out and played it for Savannah. You know I have an outmost respect for her as a songwriter so I just asked her, “I think we have a great song here but something’s bothering me about it”. She listened to it and said, “It’s cool, but it’d be even better if it had a chorus”. (laughs) So it was, like, “Oh, wow! We forgot to put the most important part of the song”. And when she said it I realized she was right. At that point Jim and I brought her in and the three of us finished the song together. She added an amazing chorus to what we’ve already written and the song became co-written by the three of us. So that’s one of the stories that I share on stage and the audience gets a kick out of it. It’s really funny when you think you’ve got something and then somebody points out, “Uhmm, I think, it could be better”. And that’s what happened in that situation. There are so many different ways the songs come together and it’s just one example of it. It probably appeared two years from the time Jim and I originally wrote the song, thought we were done and then I eventually played it for Savannah and she said, “You guys ain’t done yet”.

Thank you for sharing. What about your plans for the future? Maybe another album?

Well, I’m just taking it one day at a time. This solo project is a new adventure, kind of, and we’ve just got started on it. Cinderella is on a break this year ‘cause we’ve toured pretty heavily the last two years. I’m just really enjoying what I’m doing right now and trying to take it day to day and we’ll see what the future holds.

What about Cinderella? You said several times that you’d like to release another record but you couldn’t find the right label to do that. What about Merovee Records? Are you satisfied with their work?

They have their hands full with my record. They're doing an amazing job with it and they’ve really been committed to that. I really respect that because I think it’s important to focus on what you believe in. They believe in this record and they've shown me a lot of commitments and beliefs. So, their hands are full right now with me. And I appreciate that. As far as Cinderella goes… You know, we’d love to make another record but we want to have the opportunity to really do it right and to produce it right. Because a lot of energy and emotions, sometimes even turmoil goes into creating these records. It’s not an exact science when you’re trying to put your emotions onto tape and have them come out from the speakers the way you want to. It’s a rocky road, it’s a lot of work and when you’re finished with it you wanna to be able to say you did it right and to be sure that it gets to your fans properly. I think for Cinderella to want to step up and make the commitment to all of that we wanna be sure we have a label that is as committed as we are. If that opportunity raises its head, I’m sure we’ll be on board.

Tom Keifer on the Internet: http://www.tomkeifer.com/

Special thanks to Doug Weber (New Ocean Media) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ekaterina Akopova
Promo photos by Thomas Petillo
Live photos by Natalie "Snakeheart" Patrashova
July 23, 2013
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