KH: There must have been a lot of opinions when you were selecting
songs for the show.
GH: It was Hard. We picked up 30 songs or so but they were mostly Joe's
lead vocal songs and we were stuck because we did not know what I should
do. Then I suggested to do more from Rainbow because we had done a lot
of songs like Burn, etc already at that time. I personally wished to do
more from the HTP album. 'On the edge' 'Against the wall' 'Run Run
Run'etc. However, the songs we eventually chosen were all welcomed by
the audience and we are happy. We were correct that we thought HTP is
welcomed because the audience loves classic rock'n'roll. Anyway, the
process was so hard. We could not miss, 'spotlight kid' 'Death Alley
Driver' and I wished to sing 'Mistreated'
KH: The GH version of Mistreated was wonderful. We know that this song
was also memorable for you too whilst David sang this on the Burn album.
GH: Yea right. I think I told you this story but it is about before DP
did the tour with me and David. DP had two fresh members me and David
and Ritchie was always smiling to everybody. He was supposed to be very
happy about the new line up. We all were having a lot of drinks
together at a castle in Wales or something. When we moved to a castle
in Switzerland for recording of Burn, still everybody was so happy.
When we started to create the song Burn, it went so well. Start
together, doing BANGBANGBANG and that's it. It was completed.
Mistreated was the first song that Ritchie shared with me and had me to
listen to before David joined. When I visited him at his house, he
started to play that riff saying 'this is my new idea'. Kaz, you know I
love Andy Fraser's bass play. I immediately followed Ritchie playing
my bass like Andy's style and thought 'Wow it will be a brand new
style/sound for DP !!' This was the story how I firstly touched the
materials for the later Burn album. And David joined and completed
words, wish if I was allowed to do so but David did the words writing
so.....
The recording for Stormbringer was also great. I am still proud of all
of the songs in those days.
If I say there's any mistakes during DP era, No, it was actually not a
mistake but when I was invited by DP, I was told to take over Rodger
Glover but I sad 'I need to sing...' Kaz, as you may know this story.
The successor for Ian Gillan was David but not me and I was not a lead
singer. However, I think sometimes it worked for a good way too. When
a bass player sings, it gets more attention from the audience making
them wonder who he is. 'Who's that bass player singing ??' I am glad
that you liked my version of the song. But I have been always a
secondary position for vocals and still Joe is singing and I am 'another
guy', you know.
However, I do love the position now I am enjoying being another man
playing bass next to the lead singer. It took so long to accept the
position though.
Kaz: Were there any song that you were not sure if you would like it
playing.
GH: I had not known Death Alley Driver or Spotlight Kid, etc before the
I toured with Joe as HOLY MAN tour. I knew I surrender, Street of
dreams etc sang by Joe as he is the best pop-rock singer ever. And now
I love those songs, Death alley, Spotlight kid, King of dreams, etc
Probably it is due to Akira's good play.
KH: But Highway star...
GH: I know what you mean. That's a Ian Gillan's song. We could have
ended the show with Spotlight kid or something. Anyway, we have just
started HTP tour and are leaning what songs are good for us. (laugh)
KH: We are really wishing you to find the best songs for HTP. 'This is
the HTP live !!'
GH: Will do. Thank you for your comment. I think the HTP concept was
correct and is successful. Both Joe and I are narrowing the targets
with good concentration. How I wish me to be. How I wish to be
memorized by the people, how I wish to impress people, etc. I think I
grew up in these 2 - 3 years. I noticed and accepted some important
truth. I had wished to do more R&Bs, Funk and Jazzy things but it was
too late for such a carrier developed character like me to change a
direction to another at the age of mine. In general, people recognizes
me as 'Glenn Hughes ex DP'. It took so long for me to accept that there
are so many people who would not accept Glenn Hughes not doing rock.
However, this is business and it is not the same as doing music as a
hobby. Only one point I don't wish to be misunderstood is that I am
enjoying doing classic rock a lot! HTP is real Real is HTP.
KH: There are so many GH fans who are impressed/moved by your way of
doing things recently, i.e. you are accepting your position, doing rock
again after long years , etc
GH: Joe and I, both are trying to improve each other. We became grown
ups. Sometimes 2 lead singers may make a situation like a nightmare but
we are different. The album featuring 2 singers is none since Come taste
The band album. It is so great! If I am asked how I wished to be 5
years later, I would answer 'In 1974, Glenn Hughes was the god of
singing bass players. In 2006, he is still the god of singing bass
player' you know, Ronnie Dio is still singing hard as like he was
doing. His focus is not going away. In that sense, I do respect very
much.
KH: You also influenced a lot in the terms of Bass play.
GH: It's strange. I was a guitarist and a bass player was gone and I
switched to play bass instead of him. Singing wise, I did not have any
intention in singing when I was with Trapese at the beginning but the
other members let me sing and liked it. The lead singer was replaced to
me. I was 18 at that time. I just wished to play bass but was not
ready for singing. I was no a lead singer at all.
When we recorded MEDUSA, I started to be hooked on listening the songs
on American Radio like Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Stevie Wonder, etc/
The result is apparent on You Are The Music ...We're Just The Band
album.
It was such a drastic change fro Medusa and You Are ....album. It was
almost like Led Zeppelin turned Americans. The next album after You
Are... for me is Burn. Now I think It was so quick and I was also
growing/developing in a very quick manner.
I was in the late teens and was so fast for everything. Ritchie knew,
therefore, that I was Soul, Funky & Blacky at that time. In order to
do Burn with DP, I needed to adjust my direction a bit back to rock but
the direction of mine was correct eventually, I think. I can not tell
you in details but I contributed a lot for the song Burn writing, too
after that.
KH: Who influenced you for bass playing.
Of course, Andy Fraser, from FREE. We did an opening act for FREE one
day. Paul was super and Andy was also super. However, also thought 'I
can do the same' which was namely, the notes he did not play. That is
the root for the bass of Glenn Hughes. I was influenced by his style not
playing some notes.
Joe Lynn Turner Interview
HTP live performance was held in Japan and the live recordings will be
released. The tour members in Japan were well known Kajiyama, Egawa and Kudo.
Now HTP is planning to expand the tour to Europe as well with Glenn's
band members. The live report was given last month, in this month; we can present you
the latest interview with him just after the shows in Tokyo.
KH: What impression do you have after you finished the tour?
JLT: We are proud that it was such a fantastic tour. Fans were good,
the band was good and the promoter was good. All was done by our team
work. The team deserves the success.
KH: I think it is you that have motivated the whole team to this
success.
JLT: (Laugh) Thank you Kaz. The 'Crazy Joe' said by Ritchie Blackmore
has now grown up and is establishing an adult character to understand
more about the people around and to help them. Seriously, I am trying
to do be so. I know how to run a band and I have been working with
Ritchie, Yngwie, etc so I can handle such a guy with a strong character
like Glenn (laugh). I am glad that you recognized I am trying to
motivate people for a team work.
KH: The venues were not so huge but the tour was very successful.
JLT: Though they were relatively small but I think we have ironed our
position. Now we can concentrate in increasing number of the fans to
come to see us.
Sounds, idea of classic rock may be terminated unless somebody keeps
rocking. I think it is us to do. New rock, new pop, they are OK but, I
think anything should have a place to stay. Record companies should
not refuse us just only because it is out of a fashion today. Such an
attitude is not ARTISTIC and the music lovers will suffer from it. They
do have the right to listen to what they like.
Record companies are making money from music lovers. That's enough but
if still they say they need more money, record companies are too greedy.
I do believe that good old rock has some meanings and nobody can stop
rock'n' roll!! The fans who came to see us shared this and it will be
spread to other wider range of fans, we expect.
KH: Observing the fans in the show, we found some new fans that have
never seen Rainbow or DP live.
JLT: That is exactly what Glenn and I were talking last few days. Glenn
said, 'There were many of very young fans. It was much expected.' Off
course, there also came the old fans carrying the pictures taken from
previous tours but it was encouraging to have new generations. It
proved if we give a good music and give a good promotion, we can invite
new fans.
KH: You mean if it is real, they will come.
JLT: Yeah that's the most important. If the thing is with no fake, it
will eventually success no matter what category it lies, I think. On
the other hand, fake will not last long.
If I put music in a time capsule and to launch it for people in 2000
years later time, the artists which I wish to put in the capsule will be
quite limited in the number and chosen by only two standards. The one is
if it is sincere. The other one is if it is fashionable. We can not
ignore fashion.
However, HTP is not judged by a fashion. Even if a fashion journalists
in Milan or Paris says 'the new pants should look like these!' our music
will never be changed. We are something more than pants (laugh)
KH: I think your recent approach through Holy man, Slam and HTP is
improving the market situation steadily.
JLT: Steadily, well said. DP now changed and Ronnie Dio's sound is
different from?the Rainbow days. Ritchie gone to the Middle Ages and
...I do understand what Ritchie was aiming though. Anyway, there are a
lot of fans for the music like DP or Rainbow and I do really think we
have to keep on rocking. I once was doing some pop and recorded albums
like 'Hurry up and wait' but it was not rock'n'roll like Slam or HTP. I
think I am trying to be very multi/solid (or three dimensional) but not
flat/ monotonous. Sometimes they hurt me because I'm being multi.
'This is too pop' 'this is too heavy' 'this is too blues', etc etc.
But these are all Joe Lynn Turner!! As you know, diamonds do look
beautiful because they have a lot of flats and being multi/solid/three
dimensional. I am trying to achieve anything with various aspects. The
real JLT fans will do love my various aspects and works resulting from
such variety of my aspects.
Kaz: The word Variety is deeply linked to the set list this time.
JLT: You are right.
Kaz: I think both you must have wished to play more songs from solo
albums of each but...
JLT: the show time is limited. For my case, only 1 song from my solo,
Slam but 0 from Holy Man, If I do all of the songs from the recent 2
albums, 2 hours is not enough. If we do songs like Blood Sucker or
Slam, it should be a lot of fun but...
Even HTP songs were not fully played. The band wished to play Mystery
Of The Heart because it was so challenging song for them in the terms of
feeling/emotions we can out in our play. But we needed to think about
balances. If we play Street Of Dreams, we should skip Mystery of The
Heart since they are similar to each other. Also If I sing two ballads,
it will make Glenn to skip No Stranger to Love because we can not do
that much of ballads in our ROCK gig.
Kaz: Next time, you may be able to skip Mistreated and Highway Star
because they were already done this time.
JLT: Anyway, it was very very hard to chose songs from our lists
therefore; it was very helpful that they did a request on Burrrn
magazine. The requests by the fans were very interesting.
I also learned that sometimes, people can not get out of certain places.
The No 1 song was Burn and it meant that.
Also 4 songs out of top 10 were from HTP and it was amazingly wonderful
news to us. Though we did not perform 3 songs out of the 4(laugh)
Maybe when we do next HTP tour in Japan, we will be more concentrated on
HTP songs/HTP vive.
KH: Are you doing something different in European tour?
JLT: uum, the most of my songs may remain the same but I may wish to do
The Cuts Run Deep by Deep Purple as it is a good song. At least, we
will do it in next Japan tour.
Glenn said that I am more popular in Japan and Glenn is more popular in
Europe so if he needs to get more attention taking the lead of the band,
I am OK. Anything effective for the show is fine with me and I have no
EGO. What I wish to do is to just to give my best performance with my
most sincerity. That's all.
When I see Glenn on stage lately, I am about to cry because I know how
terrible once his situation was. This project is not a so-so project
but we both are very serious. Both music and lyrics do have our soul
in it.
To be frank, we earn no money from European tour. We just don't lose
our money. But we think we are obliged to show in front of our fans.
And I just don't want to make Glenn feel bad with poor arrangement when
touring, like no room but sleeping in a bus or no dinner time, etc. If
we can avoid such, we don't expect anything special. We just wish to
keep our good condition for our good performance for the fans.
Kaz: Can you tell me about the live recordings done in Tokyo shows.
JLT: I am going to listen to them tomorrow with Akira who is going to do
the engineering work for us. I appreciate him a lot. The takes are
from 2 shows in Tokyo but I think they are good enough level. For me,
the 1st night, the beginning was better I think. I could listen to
myself and I concentrated more.
On the second night, the band was so loud and I could not even hear
myself and it made me so upset (laugh) I encouraged myself to carry on
telling myself that I am a pro but it sounded like a huge noise (laugh)
It took 2 or 3 songs for all of us to settle down. It was no problem
during the sound check though...
For vocalists, the loudness of the band is so important because, we can
only hear the band and own voice when they balance. Voice is not
something to become louder just by turning a knob. You can only rely on
your ears and throat.
Live performances therefore, can not be perfect but it is also a part of
live. I hope you can enjoy the liveliness.
What do you think to be good for the album title ?
KH: Midnight In Tokyo (laugh)??
JLT: Oh, I should have done that too (laugh)
Seriously, can you help us by sharing your ideas in the future as well
because we are the team.
The recording with Akira started from you and also for the Glenn issue
as well. You should remember that at that restaurant, when I said 'If
I invite Glenn to join my tour...' We first thought that 'That's a good
idea but it may not be so easy to invite Glenn to join.' Anyway it
was the starting point of HTP.
I personally think we should immediately start recording HTP II now but
you may think it is better for me to do a solo. I am very keen to know
what our business friends like you are thinking to be the best for us.
With your help and other team members' help, both Glenn and I can create
more good music.
KH: We fans are just happy to see both of you are singing as you wish
to. We do believe that you will do a good job all the time.
JLT: Thank you Kaz. I guarantee you of the quality of our music. We
are like good old wines. Aging, better result.
KH:It reminds me of Vintage?
JLT: Yeah !! Vintage!! Good guitars are also vintage guitars.
One big hit song, looking good, being young, etc. They may not be the
most important factor for music. The most important thing is the artist
himself. Growing but still doing a good job. With some good
entertaining talent, it is better.
Such artist can iron his ground with fans. I have been targeting such
an artist and I am so happy that you are recognizing me to be like that
and trusting me. I am so glad.
When I let my wife listen to HTP, she said 'Amazing !!' I asked 'in
what means ?' She said 'I just can not believe that I am related to such
a wonderful album!!' Even my daughter loves it. She is very cool and
usually loves SUM41 but she tell me that she loves it and why.
KH: How old?
JLT: 12. She usually is crazy about GOO GOO GIRLS but such a young
girl loves HTP. I think it can be very successful (laugh).