Cinderella were always one of my favourite bands of that classic late 80s / early 90s period and Tom Keifer was one of my favourite singers. Cinderella have survived legal battles and health issues and continue to tour although there hasn’t been a new studio album since 1994. A Tom Keifer solo album has been talked about for almost 20 years and was finally released in April entitled “The Way Life Goes”. It was a great pleasure to get an opportunity to do a short interview with Tom over the phone and ask him about the record, touring, musical influences and future plans.
The interview was broadcast on the Friday NI Rocks Show on Rock Radio NI on 10th May 2013.
NI ROCKS – Tom, thanks for taking some time to answer a few questions for Rock Radio NI. You’ve a huge fan base here in Northern Ireland and right across Europe. - Your first ever solo album entitled “The Way Life Goes” has just been released. A solo album was first talked about back in the 90s so it’s been a long time in the making. Can you tell us how we’ve got to where we are now?
TOM KEIFER – I started recording it in 2003 and produced it independently of a label. It was on the heels of a record deal that had gone bad with Cinderella. So I didn’t want to deal with a record company or anything because that deal with Cinderella had got pretty tied up in court so I just wanted to make the record for the love of it and not have to deal with the legalities and that kind of thing. That was the intention and we stuck with that intention for almost ten years, plugging away and just trying to make the best record I could and to be proud of it. Over the ten years I took a lot of breaks, got away from it for months on end just to get some objectivity and did quite a few tours with Cinderella during that time. I was able to walk away from the record and come back to it fresh and change stuff. I worked on it that way for about 10 years
NI ROCKS - How much would the final album reflect those 2003 recording? Would it reflect them quite closely or has it changed over the years?
TOM KEIFER – Yeah, it changed quite a bit. Arrangements changed and a lot of things changed over the years. It was mixed many times over and mastered. It was just constantly changing and evolving from the second we started recording it.
NI ROCKS – I’ve been listening to it now for a couple of days. It’s a great mix of rock and blues tunes. For anybody who hasn’t listened to it yet would you agree that the two singles “Solid Ground” and “The Flower Song” are a good indicator of the range of tracks on the album?
TOM KEIFER – Yeah, those two songs would represent the extreme ends. You know there’s a lot of very hard driving, high energy rock like “Solid Ground”. That represents that end of the spectrum on the record. And “The Flower Song” represents the more acoustic ballad, mid tempo kind of songs. There’s a few of those on the record as well. And then there are a couple of songs that are in between.
NI ROCKS – I believe your wife Savannah was involved in writing some of the tracks and performing and producing as well.
TOM KEIFER – Yeah, she co wrote a lot of the songs on the album and co-produced it with me as well.
NI ROCKS - Who else was involved playing on or producing the album?
TOM KEIFER – Chuck Turner was the third producer on the record. The three of us worked on it as producers.
NI ROCKS – There have already been some tour dates USA. Who else plays with you on tour? Do you have a band with you or do you tour on your own?
TOM KEIFER – No, I have a band. Including myself, a five piece band, plus Savannah who comes out and sings a couple of songs.
NI ROCKS – Anyone we might know?
TOM KEIFER – I don’t know. There are guys from Nashville. Tony Higbee is playing guitar. Paul Taylor is on keyboards who you might remember from Winger, Steve Perry and Alice Cooper. Our drummer is Paul Simmons who has played with Black Oak Arkansas. Bass player Billy Mercer has played with Ryan Adams and Dan Baird.
NI ROCKS – And the question everyone here will want to know the answer to! Are there plans for a UK or European trip, and particularly for us - N Ireland?
TOM KEIFER – I hope so. I’d love to get over there. We’re just getting started here in the States and the record has just came out so I’m taking it one day at a time, but I certainly hope to.
NI ROCKS – You had a long recovery period to get over the vocal cord problems that arose in the mid 90s and hit again in 2008. How much of a struggle was it to get to a position to sing again and what kept you going over those years?
TOM KEIFER – It’s been a pretty long battle since the 90s when I was diagnosed with paralysis of my left vocal cord. The only way to fix that is to retrain it – which is what I’ve been doing ever since. It’s not an exact science so I’ve had my ups and downs with it. Long story, short – over the years it’s got stronger and stronger. I’ve worked with many coaches and learnt as much as I can about technique and voice support to try and maximise what I have. In recent years it’s got –what I would almost call reliable at this point. I’m happy to have beat the odds with that and still do what I do.
NI ROCKS – As well as the health problems, you’ve mentioned already earlier the legal problems around Cinderella and the record deal. Was there ever a time that you thought that things would never work out - between health problems, record label problems and what have you, or were you always confident.
TOM KEIFER – Well, you know, it’s all part of life. You never know what life is going to throw at you. Certainly the voice thing was a left hook and there have been some things with Cinderella and obstacles in the way of us recording a new record. Starting with our original label dropping us in the mid 90s, then getting picked up by another label a few years after that with the hope of getting a new record out, then that deal going south and ending up in the courts and it wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. We continue to tour and have had great success with that. I’m fortunate that we can go out and tour quite regularly, and our fans are just great and we love doing that.
NI ROCKS - How have you found touring as a solo artist rather than with Cinderella? Would this be your first solo tour really or have you done a lot of solo stuff before?
TOM KEIFER – No, I’ve never done it. This is the first time and you know it’s been really fun. It’s a little bit different. Obviously it’s a different band that is out with me, but they’re great players. This show consists of 50 – 50 new songs off the new solo record and I’m also playing a lot of the old Cinderella favourites as well. It’s been fun.
NI ROCKS – I notice there are some videos on You Tube already of some of the shows that you’ve done so I’ve been checking them out.
TOM KEIFER – Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff there because we did a bunch of shows back in February.
NI ROCKS – You live in Nashville with your wife. Are you trying to keep touring to a reasonable level and not go full pelt the way Cinderella might have done back in the 80s.
TOM KEIFER – Certainly tours have got a little bit shorter. Back in the late 80s or early 90s they were much longer because we were out working records. We would tour for a year or a year and a half at a time on any one of those records. In recent years, touring with Cinderella we would do maybe 2 or 3 months over the summer. This could certainly be a different situation with the record, and it’ll depend on the success of the record. Like I said I’m taking it all one day at a time, but wherever this leads we’re ready to go.
NI ROCKS – Now that we almost have the long awaited solo album in the bag after 10 to 15 years are we likely to see a Cinderella album in the near future or is that further down the line?
TOM KEIFER – Well, we’ll see. It is going to have to be the right situation that we feel comfortable with. And if that situation presented itself it is certainly something that we’d consider.
NI ROCKS – Obviously promoting “The Way Life Goes” is the main focus for the next few months. What plans do you have heading into 2013 and beyond?
TOM KEIFER – Now, just touring and supporting this record and we’re going to see where that goes. I haven’t had a record out in a long time so this almost feels like a new experience for me. It’s very exciting and feels like a new adventure really. So I’m just looking forward to see where it all ends up.
NI ROCKS – Going back a bit. When you first entered the music scene, who were your big influences musically?
TOM KEIFER – I grew up with rock bands in the 70s. Zeppelin, The Stones, Joe Walsh, James Gang, Janice Joplin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Yes, Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles…I could go on!
NI ROCKS – All the classics in there.
TOM KEIFER – Yeah, it was such a great time to grow up and learn how to play music.
NI ROCKS – Is there anyone who would inspire or motivate you now?
TOM KEIFER – In recent years, I’m always kind of listening to new stuff. I like Bruno Mars , one of the more current acts I really like. Another I really like out of Nashville is Zac Brown - a band that’s really cool – more like a country act. And going back a few years I really dug a lot of the Train records, Jet and Buckcherry. They were some of the newer bands I’ve liked in recent years.
NI ROCKS – Thanks for your time Tom, hopefully we’ll see you in Belfast sometime soon.
TOM KEIFER – Thank you. I hope so too.
You can found out more about Tom at www.TomKeifer.com
or get updates at
www.facebook.com/TomKeiferOfficial or www.twitter.com/TomKeiferMusic
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