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Interview date: March 16, 2010
It’s been a long time since your last shows in Europe. The continent was politically a completely different place back then. What are your memories of the early eighties, and what are you expecting from this mini tour?
I loved touring Europe. Everything happened incredibly fast,
and at the time it really felt like I was on a world tour, not just playing a country or two. I’m looking forward to coming back to Europe. I’ll have my incredible backing band with me, and we’re going to really burn it down at the shows. I can’t wait for the European fans to see what I do, and I hope we’ll be back for a slightly longer tour in the future too.
Before the Sahara Snow project (which Rick used to return to the music scene in the mid-nineties), you put out the amazing album Rock Of Life. You were supposed to tour Europe for it too, but the tour never happened. What went wrong?
Right before the world tour was supposed to start, I had a motorcycle accident. I broke a few bones, so I couldn’t hold a guitar, let alone play one. I wasn’t able to hold and play a guitar until about six months later.
In my opinion, Rock Of Life is a very personal record and one of the best of the late eighties. Is there a special story behind it?
Thanks for the compliment. I’m glad you like it. There really isn’t any special story. The album just reflects what I was feeling at that time. That’s simply how I write music. When I make an album, all the music comes from that period, so it reflects my mood back then. It reflects the things going on inside me and the changes going on around me.
Why did it take so long for you to come back to the music scene?
From 1988 to the mid-nineties I was mostly busy raising my two sons (Liam and Josh). I also shot the TV series High Tide. I really enjoyed making all three seasons. But I never actually gave up music, it just took a back seat during those years. When we wrapped up the series, I turned my attention back to music.
A lot has changed in the music business since you came back. The personal computer revolution happened, and with it the problems of music downloading. From the mid-nineties to today, the music industry has changed completely. What’s your take on illegal downloading?
I think artists have to get paid for their music. We make music for the audience, the fans. That’s how we make our living, so it seems normal to me that people pay for our work. If people steal music, it’s harder for us musicians to live. Unfortunately the damage is already done, but people should realize that when they steal music, nothing is free. I’m not defending music theft, but we artists have to adapt to the situation we’re in. Our music is worth something, and we have to make use of that, or rather turn it to our advantage.
I assume MTV in the US played a lot of your videos in the eighties. These days everyone knows MTV hasn’t been just a music channel for ages. Do they maybe play your music, or your music videos, on VH1 today?
In the US, VH1 doesn’t just play music anymore either. Honestly, almost no TV station plays music videos these days. They do pop up on TV every now and then, but more by accident. The channels are too busy with reality shows. All my videos can be found on YouTube, so somebody must still be playing them somewhere for the fans to upload them to YouTube.
In my opinion, your music definitely isn’t promoted enough in Europe. What can you and the media do about that?
I hope the release of my latest album Venus In Overdive, bundled with the DVD Live in Rockford will boost the promotion of my newer music in Europe. Like I said, I love coming to Europe, but it’s hard to plan a tour when concert promoters aren’t sure what kind of crowd my music will draw. Fans should call radio stations, request my music, and follow my official website and my Facebook profile. Get people interested, and we’ll definitely be back.
Since your comeback you’ve put out a few albums, and Venus in Overdrive is your third studio album. The album was co-written with the excellent bassist Matt Bissonette. How did that collaboration come about?
Matt has been playing in my backing band for a while now. He’s extremely talented, and it felt completely natural that we started writing together on tour. We recorded a few things on the road too, and I was blown away by what I heard. I hadn’t had this much fun in the studio since the mid-eighties. Matt is a blast to work with, so the whole process of writing and recording the album was really smooth, and also pretty quick. We got into a great groove, and we recorded the whole album in a mere 32 days.
Just like me, you’re a big Beatles fan. How much did the Beatles influence your music?
A lot, more than anyone. But it’s really about where I was when I first heard their music, and how it „hit me”. It was phenomenal. I wanted to be part of it, part of that music.
Besides the Beatles, did any other artists influence your music? Maybe Queen or Journey? I think your music is kind of similar to Journey, melodic rock. I’ve called your music Guitar Oriented Pop. Would you agree with that?
If that’s what you hear in my music, I like it, great. I think every fan hears music in their own way. The wider the circle of listeners the music reaches, the better. Growing up, the biggest influence on me was Cliff Richard & The Shadows.
What songs can we expect on the mini tour in Europe?
Like I said, I’ve got a phenomenal band. We burn it up on stage, and the fans are going to be blown away. We’ll play a kind of best-of mix, and throw in a few newer songs too. A bit of everything, but one thing’s for sure, we’re very high-energy live.
You’ll be playing a few festivals in Scandinavia and one in Germany with the band. I assume the Scandinavian shows will run about an hour, and the one in Germany (where Rick is actually the only headliner) about an hour and a half. So far you’ve almost never played anything live from Rock Of Life apart from the title track. Is there any chance fans will hear a song from that album this time?
You never know! As you mentioned, Rock Of Life sneaks into the setlist every now and then. I usually play around 75 to 90 minutes. I like to cram as many songs as possible into that time.
The website of the festival in Germany where you’ll be playing says there’s a screening of the World Cup match between Germany and Australia (Rick was born in Australia) after your show. Will you watch the game, maybe with your fans?
Probably not. I’m not exactly a big sports fan. After a show I usually have dinner and wind down a bit. And when it comes down to it, I’m not in Germany every day, so I’ll probably have dinner at some local restaurant.
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