Entrevista/Interview - Tom Keifer

Entrevista de Tom Keifer a Big Robbo, do site Mamma's fallen angels (http://www.mamasfallenangels.com/).  Publicado originalmente no site em 19/02/2010

Tom Keifer interview to Big Robbo of Mamma's fallen Angels website. Originally published on website on 19/02/2010.

Big Robbo: How are the pipes?

Tom Keifer: They are strong as can be, I've been working with a great vocal coach over the years and he's teaching me about breathing and using my voice. I'm ready to go.

Big Robbo: The last time I saw you apologized for your voice several times, although we in the audience thought it was great. Is it just something you feel or can tell back in the monitors?

Tom Keifer: Well the 2006 tour was the last one we did and in the early part of the tour my voice was doing pretty good but in the middle part it took a dive. Instead of packing it in I changed direction in my voice and Eric helped and covered a lot of lines for me. I layed out on a lot of stuff and did the best I could to finish the tour. At the end of the tour every part of my range was just fucked. We changed alot of things to accomodate songs for that tour. My voice is back, and I think God every day for getting back to the right coach.

Big Robbo: What's the deal on a new Cinderella album. When you guys get together is that something that you all work on?

Tom Keifer: It usually happens after the tour. During the 80's I used to write alot on the road. I had a mini studio on the road. They say you have your whole life to write your first record, and I did with Night Songs, but it was different with Long Cold Winter. The record company would hound us the second we got off the road. I was writing songs during that tour as well. Eric and I get together, and he writes a couple of songs. We usually do that after a tour, kick around ideas after tour. Lately we haven't tried to make any studio records. The last one we tried ended up in a lawsuit. We recorded a ton of demos in a two year period over that record. It was unfortunate, but the record never happened. In the meantime, while the band was tied up, we started working on other projects. I started a solo record, and am real happy with where it's at now. Over the last three years where I've been ironing out my voice I've been fine tuning this album to death. That's the beauty of pro tools is you can walk away from something for six months and then come back to it. It's been like bursts of a couple months here then take another couple of months to come back to it.

Big Robbo: Tom's actually been working..we haven't put him in the Axl Rose category yet. Sometimes the business of making music is something alot of people don't think about.

Tom Keifer: We're currently not on a label, but Mercury still promotes the band.

Big Robbo: You've moved to Nashville and have been working with some real heavy hitters in the Nashville/Country scene. Tell us a little about that.

Tom Keifer: Those things came about in different way. WHen I started working with Johnny (Van Zant) we would run into them on tour. I was fan obviously since I was a kid and they were a fan of my writing. Flew to Florida and worked with Johnny for a day...and did a song that was released on Somke Stack Lightning. It was cool to be sitting in a studio with Gary Rossington and playing guitar and writing tunes. Andy Griggs actually came through via my wife. SHe's a songwriter and was a staff writer with Sony for years and she had worked with Andy for a couple of years and he was a fan of my writing and we did 100 miles of bad road. THere were some compilations of country artists doing some ZZ Top tunes. And I produced a Hank Williams tribute that a bunch of country artists did. They all came about different ways. Bo Bice was actually looking for songs and his people contacted me for songs for the records that he had made. Bo decided he wanted me to produce a few tracks. I moved here to work on a solo record, and then I built a studio and Sony contacted me about putting Cinderella back together again.

Big Robbo: On the summer tour are you gonna hit any festivals?

Tom Keifer: There is still a huge audience, I think that record companies are kind of afraid..but that aside the touring audience and the live audience is still real strong, and when you get the right combination of bands on a bill and it allows us to bring more production and bang for the buck for our audience. The fans are paying to come see something, and there is nothing like a rock show in an ampitheater in the summer time. The audience is still there and when you get the right kind of bands together on a bill like that, and these warmups are fun...but there's nothing like being able to bring in that awesome production and putting on a great show.