Tom Keifer does not think that his solo material differs a lot from Cinderella songs
Tom Keifer does not think that his solo material differs a lot from Cinderella songs
Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer was recently interviewed by Brian and Jay for the Tunestiles Podcast and the singer spoke about the differences between his new solo album Rise and Cinderella‘s material in the ’80s and ’90s.
Keifer indicated: “I don’t know, it’s all rock and roll to me. I don’t think my writing style has changed much. I mean, sometimes people perceive that, but I’ve always kind of had a lot of diversity in the styles on records, between really heavy songs and acoustic songs and ballads and mid-tempos. Particularly starting with “Long Cold Winter,” the title track was a blues song; you had “Coming Home” which was a country blues kind of mid-tempo; it opened with Robert Johnson-style “Bad Seamstress Blues;” there were heavy tracks on it like “Falling Apart At The Seams;” so that’s always been a part of my style. I think writing wise and style wise, it’s the same kind of music: it’s my voice and my guitar style and so, yeah, I don’t think it differs a lot.”
In terms of what his new studio band brings to the table that is different from Cinderella and any other bands that he’s been in, Keifer stated: “I think that the new band brings a very different energy to “Rise.” I would say, and this is no diss to Cinderella, because I was in a lot of bands before Cinderella, so I included every band I’ve ever played in: The chemistry, and what I feel musically with this band is better than anything I’ve ever been a part of. And I felt that from the first night with this band, so I think that heaviness and that angst and that rawness that you feel on “Rise,” that’s a direct result of this band. It just has that chemistry, and it was very easy to just hit record and be in a studio and boom, it was there. We’ve been feeling that on stage every night for the last six years and we couldn’t wait to get into the studio and capture that and make a record.
Every record kind of takes on its own sound and if you even look at each Cinderella record, you know, the approach to how you record them, how you produce them, how you mix them, they all have a different personality, if you will: from “Night Songs” to “Long Cold Winter” and then to “Heartbreak Station,” but they’re all rock records, right? There’s a common thread, of course. So, you know, I don’t think that the solo records are much different them in that sense. There’s that common thread of the style of music, and it’s my voice and guitar playing. I think the approach to recording the records gives them their own personality. And the personality of “Rise,” it’s just very raw and heavy, and that’s because of the way we approach the recording of it, which was to really capture live really live performances, and not and not fuck with them too much.”
You can listen to the interview with Tom Keifer via Tunestiles Podcast‘s website.