JIM PETERIK JIM PETERIK
Talks
about PRIDE
OF LIONS
and SURVIVOR
JIM PETERIK is one
of the most important musicians in the AOR scene. He was the man
behind SURVIVOR’s success, (co) writing all of their songs,
and he actually formed the band back in 1978, orginally as the
JIM PETERIK BAND, but adopted the band name SURVIVOR from his own
solo record’s liner notes. That particular album ‘Don’t
fight the feeling’ by the way has just been re-issued onto
CD, with a lot of bonustracks, a review will be up soon. Anyway,
Jim even was in a band before SURVIVOR and his solo stuff from
1978, because if we go back even further in time it takes us back
to as far back as 1965 when Jim Peterik was just a 14 year old
kid. He formed the band THE IDES OF MARCH, with whom he scored a
hit in 1966 in the USA, but scored massive with the song “Vehicle”,
which brought him and his band fortune and fame, because it went
up to the number 1 position in the USA. 10-15 years later Jim
would achieve the same success with SURVIVOR and their classics
“The eye of the tiger” and “Burning heart”,
becoming ultimate classic rocksongs worldwide. The LP ‘Vital
signs’ is still till this day, after 20 years it was
released, the absolute best album of all times!
Anyway, in 1996 Jim Peterik left SURVIVOR, and went his own way,
first with the WORLD STAGE project, but more recently as PRIDE OF
LIONS. 2 years ago I did an interview with Jim about the WORLD
STAGE project, but his new PRIDE OF LIONS record is an even more
interesting project, as this album takes us back to a time when
AOR ruled the airwaves, yes the 1980s! So I had to do another
interview with Jim about his new project, which is going to
launch another new chapter for Jim Peterik. It all started 18
months ago when Jim met TOBY HITCHCOCK, and from that day on a
whole new chapter of Jim’s life started, as he has finally a
band where he can sing leads, play guitar and keys, write all the
songs and take therefore most of the credit, but is accompanied
by an amazing singer who sings all the choruses and high notes
Jim isn’t capable doing. Toby is his name and he is just 26
years old, but has the voice of an AOR GOD! He sounds like a mix
between BOBBY KIMBALL and DENNIS DEYOUNG, with some FERGIE
FREDERIKSEN here and there.
The CD Jim and Toby created is called PRIDE OF LIONS and early
November it will be released in Europe, and I had a very nice
conversation with JIM PETERIK, here’s what went down...
Jim, nice
to talk to you, please tell me first about what’s going to
happen first with the PRIDE OF LIONS project...
Well, we’re first gonna do a small promotion tour through
Europe, we’ll be starting in Munich, Germany on the 9th of
November, when the CD is officially released. From there we will
visit places in Germany, the UK and Italy. We really want to
focus on Europe first, and later also on Japan to see where we
can go from there. Maybe and hopefully a US release will also be
happening later on.
You just
finished shooting the video for “Sound of home”, the
first single off the record...
Yes that’s
right. We shot “Sound of home” at two places, at the
‘Park West’ club in Chicago, where we also shooted the
SURVIVOR video “I can’t hold back” way back in 84.
And we filmed back at my house, which was a lot of fun to do.
There is this gorgeous girl called Lisa in the videoclip and it
just felt like we were a band on the road.
Can we
expect it on MTV?
Well, we
shot the video and put it as an extra on the CD-single, so people
would also buy the single and not only the album. By the way, we
also put 2 songs on that CD-single, which aren’t on the CD,
so it will be very interesting for the fans to check out that
single as well.
That’s
just great, now the big question, where did you find Toby, who
has got an amazing voice talent...
Well that
was more a coincidence, because my nice took her friend one time
to the studio where he could sing for a TV-show, and I had this
song unfinished called “Love is on the rocks” and asked
if he could do some lead vocals on the particular song, so he did
and I was AMAZED! It sounded perfect and so I knew this was going
to be something special. Toby and I got along really well and as
the time progressed we had this project PRIDE OF LIONS going on
and after months of recording the CD is now finished!
And it’s probably the best AOR record since
the SURVIVOR heydays of the 1980s! Let’s talk about some of
the songs, first off “Love is on the rocks”...
Well, as I just told you it was the first song Toby sang on and I
was blown away when I heard him singing. It gave me the same
feeling I had back in 1983/1984 when we had to find a new lead
singer to replace Dave Bickler. After 4 or 5 singers we had for
the audition, JIMI JAMISON showed up and we asked him to sing
“Broken promises”. I heard him singing the song and I
was blown away, and I knew this was the guy I was looking for. He
was the man to sing on our upcoming record back then, ‘Vital
signs’. With Toby I had the same feeling again, it was like
the perfect match! Actually, the song “Love is on the rocks”
was a song I had written around that period, but somehow the guys
didn’t like it enough to make it on the SURVIVOR record
‘Vital sings’, so it kinda ended up on a cassettetape
in my house somewhere, until last year when I was dusting off
some of these old tapes and finished the songs, such as “Love
is on the rocks”, which is now on the PRIDE OF LIONS record.
And it’s
my favourite song!
Thanks
I really
like the 80s vibe in the song, it reminds me of LE ROUX, do you
know that band?
Yes, they
had a major label release, with FERGIE FREDERIKSEN on vocals...
Yes and
strangely enough it reminds me of LE ROUX circa early 1980s
Well, it
was indeed written around that time
Another
pure early 80s song to me is “Turn to me”, I love this
upbeat rocker...
Me too, it
was a part of me saying I wanted to write a catchy upbeat rocker
in the style of “Caught in the game”, “Rebel girl”,
with a guitar riff. The end of the song has this amazing
guitarsolo between me and .....
Yeah that
is an awesome ending of the song
Funny to
say this, but we were doing this song, and after the final
choruses ended it was like me and ... doing some great
guitarsolos and we kinda liked the idea and just went along and
rocked on. So it was us two minutes playing this guitar solos to
show off a bit and so there you had the two minutes of us playing
on and off (and together) these guitarsolos, twin guitarsounds,
it was awesome and it just fitted in there perfectly!
My
absolute favourite is “Music and me”
You’re
right about that, because it is also my favourite song, and a
very special one, because it tells everything I’ve always
wanted to do, and is basically showing and including all the
parts of music I have loved and lived for the past 40 years. It’s
a musical journey and takes me back to 1963 when I played my
first song in front of an audience. It was a song called “Kansas
City” and after I had played it, the audience applaused and
I saw all these smiling faces, for me that was the starting point
of my career. I knew I had to make music from then on and never
look back. Rock’n’Roll was my life and I had to make
the best of it, and so 40 years later I am still doing what my
heart says me to do and that’s making Music! I love to write
song and hearing the response of people saying the like what I
do, that gives me a motivation to continue doing this.
I love the
song “Madness of love”, which revails some of your 70s
Progrock influences...
I am a
huge Progressive Rockfan and this song was for me finally the way
to tell everyone I can also make such songs and I love to do it.
I love bands like QUEEN, STYX, KANSAS, KING CRIMSON and my
all-time favourite YES! I love those 70s Epic Progrocksongs and
therefore I wanted “Madness of love” on the album, as
this song has got that 70s vibe. Not many people know that
SURVIVOR was actually a sort of Progrockband back in the very
early stages of the band. SURVIVOR had in 1978/1979 some very
Progressive Epic Rocktunes in their set. We played them in clubs
once in a while, but actually never recorded them and that’s
a pity because these were very progrock kinda songs. “Madness
of love” was also a way of showing off, because in the
middle there are all these solo’s (bass, keys, guitars,
drums), just to show to people we could all play our thing.
Opener
“It’s criminal” is a very SURVIVOR sounding
uptempo AOR rocker...
Definitely!
I actually wrote it, like some of the other songs, back in the
SURVIVOR period, around 84 and “It’s criminal” was
actually the 10th song delivered for ‘Vital sings’. Ron
Nevison liked the song and it was actually gonna be on the ‘Vital
sings’ record, but somehow we were told that the album only
would contain 9 songs, so we had to scrap “It’s
criminal”. Now 20 years later it ended up as the opener for
PRIDE OF LIONS.
Well, it’s
the best way to start the album, as it picks up where SURVIVOR
left almost 20 years ago, which is pure AOR! It’s very good
to see you and Toby both singing...
Yeah definitely! It’s something I’ve always loved to do
and this is also something I had in mind when forming SURVIVOR
back in 78, me doing the leads together with a real singer.
Unfortunately this never happened with SURVIVOR, except on the
debut on which I also sing some leads. Anyway, I sang lead vocals
for IDES OF MARCH back in 1970 and so it felt right that finally
after so many years I had found someone like Toby, who was able
to co-sing with me. I do most of the verses, while Toby sings the
choruses, and in between we sing the bridges together. It works
perfect and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
Toby is incredible, as he is one of a few singers I know who is
able to sing the high notes at the end of the chorus of “The
eye of the tiger”. Jimi could sing it, but as far as I know
only Toby is able to do this, because my voice is not able to
reach that high note. Toby can easily sing those high notes and
that’s what makes him so special. Also on stage he is
awesome, he isn’t afraid at all and is a real stage talent,
so if we’re gonna tour it’s gonna be a blast! Toby is a
very nice young talented guy and is starting to like everything a
lot, especially when another new good review comes in, then he’s
like: “Cool!”.
Well, it’s
amazing how such a young guy is singing such 80s related AOR, did
he knew SURVIVOR?
Well of
course he knew SURVIVOR, and although it wasn’t his
favourite all-time band, he loved the well-known songs such as
“Burning heart”, “The eye of the tiger”,
“I can’t hold back” and his favourite “The
search is over”. If we’re gonna do a tour next year,
which all depends on the album sales in Europe, we are gonna do a
stage show, which we are already preparing. The set of this show
will include ½ SURVIVOR and ½ PRIDE OF LIONS songs, and we are
at the moment rehearsing some of the old SURVIVOR classics, and
going through the entire discography of SURVIVOR to pick out he
best songs.
Well it
will be fantastic to see you and Toby on stage in Europe someday!
We’re
first be coming over this November to Europe, and if sales are
good enough we will come over next year March to do an European
tour, but it all depends on the sales. Because we want to come
over, but don’t want to lose any money, so clubs need to
offer enough money to let us come and play without paying extra
costs. We are not in it for the money, but also don’t want
to lose money. On the other hand, I would love to play some of
the samller clubs in Europe, and finally be on stage and tell the
people the stories behind my songs.
It’s
great to hear SURVIVOR songs will also be included in the set,
just to get back to the old SURVIVOR songs, I would like to hear
your comments on my favourite SURVIVOR songs, first off my
all-time favourite “I see you in everyone”...
That’s also one of my favourite tracks! Thanks! Well, I
visited the Cinema with my wife Karen, and we were watching a
movie starring James Stewart. The movie was called ‘Vertigo’
by Alfred Hitchcock, and the story was about a man who was
fascinated by a woman, and saw her in every other woman he saw.
It was about changing identities, and after the movie I wrote
down what would become the chorus, and later on showed it to
Frankie (Sullivan) and then we basically finished writing the
song together.
And “Jackie
don’t go”...
Well, it
was Frankie’s idea to try a little harder sound, so more
edgy with the guitar riff, and I guess you can hear that clearly
on the ‘Caught in the game’ record. I tried to sneak in
some Pop elements, with my keyboards, and together we wrote this
song, basically a rocking popsong!
In that
same style we have “Popular girl”...
Ah! That’s
one of my favourite SURVIVOR songs. It’s the exact style I
love the most to write...
Especially
the verse/bridge “It takes a long time to know her...”
is perfect!
Thanks!
Yeah I like that part also very much, would love to play this
song live with PRIDE OF LIONS
When are
you gonna be on stage for the fist time as PRIDE OF LIONS
actually?
Well, we
are opening up for REO SPEEDWAGON in Chicago next month, and we
will be playing with the 70s Poprockers of OFF BROADWAY, so that
will be interesting and if all goes well next year we will tour
Europe!
That would
be awesome!
Yeah, and
it will also be great to play some of the old SURVIVOR songs
again, songs like “Runaway lights”, most of the ‘Vital
Signs’ album and even “Burning heart”. Do you know
we haven’t played that song much? So I am really looking
forward to perform it, and this time with Toby on vocals!
Yeah that
would be very interesting to hear, but do you miss the SURVIVOR
days?
Of course,
but when I left in 1996 I knew I did the right thing, because I
wanted to do stuff on my own and not do stuff other people told
me, so basically it was just the end for me as a SURVIVOR member.
Frankie could use the name and from there it was over and out
between me and Frankie. I haven’t spoken a word with either
Frankie and Jimi ever since.
But isn’t
it strange that when SURVIVOR releases a new CD sometime in the
future, your name will not be part of it, even though you
actually formed the band 25 years ago...
Of course it is strange not to be part of a band you played in
for so long, but I have a new chapter in my life and that’s
called PRIDE OF LIONS!
And it’s
a very good chapter, probably better than anything the remaining
SURVIVOR members will ever make! I haven’t got any info here
on who wrote the songs...
I wrote all the songs on the CD, Toby only co-wrote a song with
me for the CD-single called “Stand by me”.
You have a
lot of experience in the music career...
Yes, I
started in the 60s and found out in 1970 what fame and fortune
was all about. I was with IDES OF MARCH and we had released our
debut LP and our first review by ROLLING STONE was awful, they
totally wrote down our record, so we were like 18/19 years old
and got such a bad review by this big magazine, and the funny
thing was that we were having a number 1 hitsingle, so from that
period on I had learned a lot, which is never to listen to
critics, and just follow your own heart, write the music you
love!
What do
you think of the current rockscene in the USA?
Well, it
ain’t much actually. The 1980s saw the charts filled with
good bands, while nowadays it is hard to find something good on
the charts, but I would like to break that barrier and bring back
AOR music with PRIDE OF LIONS. Actually AOR is coming back,
because we have a new radiostation over here playing the old and
new AOR music of the well-known bands, which is a good thing,
because we can finally bring back Classic Rock to the youtful. In
fact, my 14-year old son is only listening to Classic Rock!
Do you
agree that if there’s a huge promotion behind this record it
could turn out huge...
Yeah
definitely, if only we could get a US deal, because so far the
album will only be released in Europe and Japan.
Finally,
what are you currently doing?
Later
today I am gonna record a demo for JOHNNY and RONNY VAN ZANT, the
brothers known for their bands LYNYRD SKYNYRD and 38 SPECIAL.
They are gonna do a CD as VAN ZANT, and it’s a little like
their 1985 record. The song I wrote is a song that sounds like
SURVIVOR meets CHEAP TRICK. And I have 7 songs on the upcoming
album of 38 SPECIAL, which will be released in the spring of
2004!
Well,
thanks for all the infomation you shared with us, I hope to see
you on the road in Europe next year, and let’s hope PRIDE OF
LIONS will be the success we all hope for!
I hope so too, thanks for your kind words, bye!