3.main_start content
Burning Rain - Doug Aldrich / Ready To Burn Europe!
Interviewer: Marco@ON THE ROCKS (Oct-2000)
Doug Aldrich has always been an idol for me! He is not only an outstanding guitarist, but also a great songwriter and the all albums of his previous bands LION, HURRICANE and BAD MOON RISING have become Hard Rock classics. There's no doubt about it, that his new band Burning Rain will also leave a big hit on the history of Hard Rock, as their second album Pleasure To Burn is nothing else but a another masterpiece! So it was more than just a dream come true for me to do an interview with Doug and to talk about his new band but also about his past bands and his solo projects...
- Hey Doug! Here Is Marco!
- Hey Marco, glad we could finally meet up.
- Yes, how are you mate??? Hope I didn' throw you out of bed!?
- I'm good, actually, yes I was up late but I had my wife set the alarm.
- So do you have some time to answer me a few questions?
- Yeah, sounds cool
- So here we go! First of all I have to congratulate you for "Pleasure To Burn". It's great and I reviewed it with 88 % on my website ON THE ROCKS!
- Thanx alot man. That is a good score I guess? I am happy that you like it. I think we got some cool songs on there. It is like the next step for Burning Rain.
- Yes, you received 88 % of maximum 100 %. That's great, mate! It's definitely another step forward for Burning Rain. The new album sounds a little catchier and more fluent as the first one. What do you think?
- Well I really love the first one. I think that it was a good strong statement for us. I thought we stuck to one type of sound. For "Pleasure To Burn" I was hoping to push the envelope a bit. Keep our sound but try some different types of things. I think this new record sounds more like a band too. Yeah, I guess it is catchy is the sense that some of the songs are more simple. More rocking.
- I also like the first album, but as you said, the new album has more of a band character album. But you did all the musical songwriting and production by youself again. So what influence do the others have on the music of Burning Rain?
- Well, I co-wrote with Keith St. John. I would give him my melody ideas and he would go away and work on his lyrics and melody. I think everyone has a lot to do with the direction the song will take in the end. I just usally start off the basic idea. I think Keith has really good ideas and the more I work with him, the more imput he has. As for production, I just have a good time twisting knobs on the board. I would love to get an outside producer for the next one though. I just want it to be someone that will inspire us and add to the sound that we already have.
- How would you describe the music of Burning Rain or with which acts would you compare your band? In my review I described it as fist in the face Hard Rock with parallels to LION and THE CULT, because of Keith's voice that reminds me of Ian Astbury sometimes. Would you agree?
- Wow, I never heard that of Keith. But that is cool with me, I love THE CUlT. I guess Keith has alot of diverse influences. When I was looking for a singer, I wanted sombody that had a little of everyone, but had his own style too. I think Keith has that. I guess the band has a bit of a seventies influence like Zep and Deep Purple, but also eighties too like Whitesnake and Van Halen. Of my former bands, I would compare this to early Bad Moon Rising, I guess.
- Good, that you mentioned WHITESNAKE as I think "Chery Don't Break My Heart" sounds like one of the best songs David Coverdale has never written. How do you think about that?
- Ha Ha, yeah I could see that. It is just sounds like that mixed in with a new band. I mean the sound is simple and young.
- I love this song! I also love "Love De Jour" and when I heard this song first, I thought: "Wow, it's Ian Astbury of THE CULT on vocals now." You should listen to this song and then compare Keith's voice with Ian Asbury on THE CULT's "Love" album. I'm sure you will hear the similarities. Great!!
- Thanx, I am glad you like that one. It was a bit of a departure fore us. I was just jamming with Alexx and Ian Mayo bass and I came up with that. I was just experimenting. But it turned out cool, I guess. I will check it out. I have heard that album, but I got into the later records by them.
- Yeah, as "Sonic Temple" and "Ceremony" are great albums. I'm really looking forward to their new one! Another outstanding song on "Pleasure To Burn" is "Judgement Day" as it is very dramatic and atmospheric. It sounds a little different to most of the other songs of the album. How do you think about that?
- This is one of my favorite songs on the record. I was really happy with how it turned out. This is what I meant by pushing the envelope. The first record kinda stayed in the same vein from start. But on Pleasure To Burn, I was wanting some songs like this to take you away. It has nice scene changes. There was a song on BAD MOON RISING debut called Wayward Son. I liken it to that one too.
- Yes, you're absolutely right. What are your other favorites on "Pleasure To Burn"?
- I like Fireball, Shot Down alot. I think Faithfully Yours is cool. And I really like Devil Money alot. I really like everything. If I had to choose one song to leave off it would be Love De Jour, which is funny cause without it the record might not work as well. The flow would change.
- What is the story behind the new album title?
- Well, I thought it, at the obvious, it had burn in the tittle. It was like there are many ways to burn. Hopfully people will have pleasure in the way we choose to burn. I had quit smoking about a year ago. The first day we started the record, I was in the studio and I was reading magazines. I came across an advertisement for my old brand of smoke. In this advertisement was the phrase "Pleasure To Burn" I thought it was just so weird. It never left my mind as the best title.
- Cool! You have finally signed a deal with Z Records for a European release of your albums. Why did it take so long to get a deal in Europe?
- Well, it shouldn't have taken this long. I am really happy about this. I was last in Europe in 95 with BAD MOON RISING. I was hoping to get back sooner, but I guess the business people couldn't get together. Finally Mark from Z Records said: Fuck it! I will contact them myself. I'm glad he did. We worked out the details easily. I think he has a vision about this type of music, like you self.
- Yes, Mark is great! Will the European versions of your albums readfile any bonus tracks?
- I'm not sure yet. We don't have any extra tracks recorded. We have several other songs though. Maybe. We will see I guess. Z is releasing the first record on November 13th. It will be the same as the original. With Pleasure To Burn it will be out in January.
- And you will play at the next Z Rock festival!? I guess you're really looking forward to it, don't you?
- Yes, I just am happy to be coming. We are gonna have a big party, in Mark Algers room of course. I want to go on record now that Burning Rain is not responsible for any damages to Mark's hotel room!!
- Ha ha!! I guess, some of the European fans are not familiar with the history of Burning Rain so far. So let us take a look in the past. When and why did BAD MOON RISING split?
- Well, to make a long story shorter. We started of with a kind of sound that was our own. With each record, we changed a bit and it was just getting too far from what I really wanted to do. I have a great respect for Kal Swan. He is a cool singer. I think we just wanted to go in different directions, so we split in '97.
- But the end of BAD MOON RISING was not only the parting of you and and Kal, Josh Ramos and Ian Mayo also parted after a long period of working together at different bands like HERICANE ALICE or BANGALORE CHOIR!?
- Yeah, but they really didn't figure into this part of it. Because, Kal and I could not get any songs written. If we had we may have still been together. Ian and Jackie are still very close. In fact we all are. Kal has been recording some unbelievible solo stuff at my house.
- That was my next question. You once told me, that Kal started working on a solo album, but never finished it. Do you know what he is doing today? Will his solo album ever come out?
- Man, I hope so. He is a true artist. He just lets his ideas flow. But with that art is the chance for blockage, or boredom. I think he doesn't realize how good he is and he gets bored easily. I think he will get to it at some point.
- As you mentioned Kal's solo stuff - you have also recorded solo stuff. When I took a look on your "official" discography I only found one solo album entitled "High-Centred". But I also heard about a second solo album entitled "Electrovision". Is that correct?
- Yes, It came out in Japan only in '96. I really like that record. It was me just flowing musiclly. It has some really crazy music on it. Basically, I just recorded anything that was in my head. I guess when people hear that one, they will know just how fucking loony I really am!
- Is the second album only instrumental? I think, the first one readfiled two songs with vocals. One with Kal Swan and the other one with HARDLINE singer Johnny Gioeli on vocals; right?
- Mostly instumental, but yes one song with each of those guys as well as one from Matt Krammer from SAIGON KICK.
- Maybe you should use these vocal tracks as bonus for the European version of the Burning Rain albums! So I don't have to buy the expensive Japanese imports, ha ha...
- Well, I think that stuff is a bit of a departure from Burning Rain. But they will be availible for REASONABLE prices soon. They will be at my soon to be finished website www.dougaldrich.com in about a month.
- Great to hear that!!! Can I already place a pre-order, ha ha.. By the way, do you maybe have an email adress of Kal Swan for me? I would love to get in contact with him.
- He is a bit late on this thing. He is not online yet. If you can believe it. I just gave him a computer that I had with a 28.8 modem so he had no more excuses. Hopefully soon he will be on.
- Ha ha, let me know when the day has come!!! It's a while ago, when I did an interview with Malmsteen singer Mark Boals and he told me, that you did the guitars on his solo album "Ignition", but had to use a pseudonym. Why this?
- Well, I was just starting to think about a new band. My Japanese label is very protective of me. They said it would confuse the fans. I didn't want to rock the boat too much, cause I was signed to that label worldwide at that time. They asked me to use a different name. Actually, first they said that Mark should erase my work. I guess that management could have helped with that. In the end, I thought it was kinda funny.
- It's a great album, mate!!! Kelly Hansen has announced, that he wants to do a new HURRICANE album soon. Will you be involved in it?
- No don't think so. They should get the original guitarist back I think.
- What are your next projects? I guess you will play live with Burning Rain? But maybe you also have any solo plans or you will participate on new tribute albums?
- I am always working on a bunch of things. Right now I am working on this new site I mentioned. It will be really cool for me to have a place to interact with fans and other guitarists. I will have a bunch of cool things on it. Old photos of bands. All my guitars and equipment. Interactive things too, like online jams and lessons later. It is my main priority at this point. I just wrote two songs for a Japanese tv show called Mikazuki. We recorded them in Los Angeles. One of the songs is 20 minutes long.
- Wow, that all sounds great! Can't await to see your site!!! By the way, do you know guitarist Stuart Smith?
- I have met him a long time ago, but I don't really know him.
- But since yesterday you owe him a beer!!! Did you know that?
- OK, I will buy anybody a beer once!
- It was really funny. Yesterday evening, when I originally wanted to contact you, I was getting in contact with Stuart Smith and did a short interview with him as he said, he would like to take your part of the story. And at the same time I also hooked up with Bobby Barth of AXE and Jaime Kyle for short interviews. So your and mine misunderstanding regarding date and time turned out great, ha ha...
- Thats cool. But it sounds like Stuart owes me a beer though.. Ha Ha!
- I will let him know, ha ha!!! Oh, I nearly forgot another question regarding Burning Rain. How did you find your band mates and the band name?
- As you know Ian and I have been working together since '92. I met him at a club in L. A. called The Rainbow. It is a very famous place for musicans. Well I was there with his old girlfriend. She went with me to the bathroon to help me, ya know piss. Well, when we walked out, Ian was on the other side of the door! Turns out she told me she had broken it off with Ian. Only one problem, she forgot to tell him! That is how we met. He told me about Keith and Keith told me about Alexx... I had that band name for a while. It had a cool contradiction in the name and had a cool ring to it.
- I guess, that's true Rock & Roll life how you met, ha ha... OK; I am through with my list of questions. Maybe you have any questions on me now?
- Well, I actually owe you a beer! And so does Stuart and the guys of AXE. So I would say you will be quite pissed soon I think...
- We'll see, ha ha! I will remember you on the beer when you hit German stages, OK!? So let me thank you for the time and the patience you took to answer all my questions. It was a real honor for me, as you are one of my idols! Sorry again, that I threw you and your wife so early out of bed. It would be great if we could stay in touch, if you want to!?
- Thank you Marco. It was my pleasure. I really want to thank you for helping support my bands. You are one of the reasons that this band is now getting out in Europe. I would definitely like to stay in touch. I hope to be over there next year.Thank you and keep up the good work...
- Thank you Doug!!! And keep burning!!! Bye...
- Bye!
[ Page Top 2.Page Top ]
