Jake E. Lee thinks that Red Dragon Cartel lead vocalist Darren James Smith is an incredible singer
Jake E. Lee thinks that Red Dragon Cartel lead vocalist Darren James Smith is an incredible singer
Red Dragon Cartel guitarist Jake E. Lee was recently interviewed by Rock Radio N1 and spoke about his bandmates (singer Darren James Smith, bassist Anthony Esposito and drummer Phil Varone) on the group’s new album Patina, which was released earlier this month.
In terms of working with his three bandmates, Lee advised: “It was great. They’re both really solid, groove-oriented players, so I knew we had that nailed. But I like to get a little weird in my songs. I like to take songs off in different directions that you wouldn’t normally expect. I like surprises, even in my songs; I like to surprise myself in songs. They both adapted really well to that. I would like to think that both Anthony and Phil did their best playing on this record. They really expanded beyond the usual meat and potatoes kind of playing that they are well known for. This band, it really felt good during the writing and during the recording and I’m really looking forward to going out on the road and doing these songs live. I think these songs are going to be a lot of fun to play and they really kick you in the face more when they’re live. Especially “Havana”, which sounds great on record, but when we play it together in a room it just has so much more impact. It’s just such a fun song to play. I’m really looking forward to being able to do these live.”
Smith‘s debut concert with Red Dragon Cartel at the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood, California, USA on December 12, 2013 was a subpar one at best and received many negative reviews. Lee was asked whether he hopes that Patina will be a turning point almost and that people focus on that rather than what happened before. The guitarist replied: “With Darren? I don’t know in this day and age, if you’re ever forgiven (laughs). I think once you fuck up there is always going to be somebody with a screenshot or a video, or somebody to bring up your past transgressions. But, I do think that he sang great on this record and I think from the comments that I’ve read about the first two songs, and we just released the album in Japan and I’ve read a couple of comments on that; everybody is impressed with Darren, because he does sound a lot more natural on this record. I think he is an incredible singer and I do believe that people are going to change their minds, if they thought he was bad. If they thought he was a good singer before then they’re going to be pleasantly surprised at just how good he is.”
You can read the rest of the interview with Jake E. Lee at Rock Radio N1.
Red Dragon Cartel‘s “Bitter” video:
Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel – “Bitter” (Official Music Video)
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