Nasty Crüe explain departure from glam metal sound with new album ‘Riots In Heaven’

Nasty Crüe explain departure from glam metal sound with new album ‘Riots In Heaven’

Nasty Crüe‘s frontman J.J. (Jøn Jøndrensen) was recently interviewed by The New Wave of Hair Metal‘s senior admin. Tom and spoke about the change in the group’s musical direction.

The New Wave of Hair Metal noted that Nasty Crüe‘s latest album Riots In Heaven was quite a departure in image and sound for the band and asked what brought on those changes.

J.J. replied: “After years of playing the same notes you want to refresh your point of view and try something new. I think “growing as an artist” is a good explanation why we made that changes. Nasty Crüe musicians are free, independent artists and one of the benefits of being “unsigned” is that we can do with the sound and image – literally – *whatever we want*! This is why we did not signed up to any label – we want to keep that “rebel’s unpredictability”. I may sound boring with this one, but one of the reasons of the change you can observe in Riots in Heaven is simply coming of age. But don’t worry. I didn’t mean getting old. We’ve simply got something to say. It’s not just another album about drinking, showing off and singing about how rockstar’s life looks like. We’ve focused on present day problems of the world. The main linkage between the songs is humanity control. In details those are stories about a madman in control (‘Cabin In The Woods”), revolution (“Riots In Heaven”), gov’t invigilation (“Movie Star”), dark side hidden in every man (“Crime Wave”), social courage (“Hero”), behavioural patterns (“Johnny & Mary”) and finally looking for your own way of life (“Find My Way”).”

J.J. also stated: “Not long after release of previous album a new guitarist have joined the party. Peter Shuffle gave us the motivation to refresh the sound of guitars as every new member makes an impact on the sound. Especially in hair metal which is driven by the guitars. New riffs mean new sensations and that drives the music to another direction. We decided to give it a try. The inspirations for Riots In Heaven were mainly scandinavian bands like Santa Cruz. I must say that I can find tons of great hair metal classics from the ’80 and I realized that it’s pointless to copy the same patterns existing in the past and just hit the “replay” button for another album in 2017. That worked well during the “pink years” of Nasty Crüe but with the new album we wanted to sound modern. Preferably, like no one before in the genre to bring something fresh to the glam/hair metal. As I’m a keyboard player I decided to experiment with the electronic sound. I found inspiration in “Dubstep” and introduced some of it in “Movie Star” or “Hero.” We also went a bit “prog” in “Johnny & Mary” in epic-like double solo of guitar and synth. Now that’s new to hair metal, am I right? For all the glam fans that enjoyed Reckless Love – Hot guitar solo I recommend checking to solos on Riots In Heaven album.

My feeling is that half of the album sounds extraordinary for a glam metal fan (“Riots In Heaven,” “What Happens On Backstage Stays On Backstage,” “Movie Star,” “Crime Wave”) while the other part (eg. “Lynchburg Tennessee,” “Make Some Noise,” “Hero”) is the good old Nasty. I think you will also be surprised by the sound of future albums. Nasty Crüe is evolving along with its members.”

You can read the rest of the interview with J.J. at The New Wave of Hair Metal‘s Facebook page.

Nasty Crüe‘s “Love At Backdoor” video (song released in 2015):

Nasty Crue – Love At Backdoor (video feat. Agnieszka “angie” Orzechowska)

The video is a summary of last 5 years of Nasty Crue. The ‘pink years’ as the band says.Mix & master by Casey Jones (De La Cruz)Music by Tomasz Błażej Targos…

Nasty Crüe‘s “Rock’n’Roll Nation” video (from Rock ‘n’ Roll Nation released in 2013):

Nasty Crue – Rock’n’Roll Nation (Official Video)

We had been shooting this vid for the last three years during excessive tourin’, playin’ gigz, partyin’, drinkin’ etc. We’d like to thank all people involved…

Nasty Crüe‘s “Riots In Heaven” video (from Riots In Heaven album released in 2017):

Nasty Crue – Riots In Heaven

Full album “Riots in Heaven” by Nasty Crue is available out now!https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/nastycrue4 [Worldwide]https://www.demondollrecords.com/products/n…