It’s 5.30am on a Thursday morning in Jersey and the sky is as dark as my coffee.
This letter is an over the shoulder look back as well as a look inside the pencilled plans of a caffeinated mind. WOW, I’m scaring myself. O.K. here goes.
2004, was meant to be a quiet year for the band. Perhaps spent on a beach somewhere drinking pina coladas or reading a nice book about something nice. All I know is we weren’t meant to do a record or a tour. It started out well enough. We were all doing out own thing, and then before you knew it Dave was opening MEMPHIS, (his musical about the early days of rock music.) The Torres family was announcing the arrival of the baby Hector, Richie started getting involved in television as a songwriter and even did episodic TV. And me, well you know the story. I promised myself I’d lay low but couldn’t turn down a couple of film roles, had to launch a football team, buy another house, campaign across America for the presidential election and help my family welcome ROMEO JON to the gold. Oh yeah, then there was the issue of a box set promise I made. 50 songs, 38 of which no one had heard before! I had been talking about it for years. 2004 was the time for truth. I wasn’t sure if the vaults really held all the treasures I had promised or if I was going to feel lower than Geraldo Rivera at a news convention when we opened the doors on our history. Much to my surprise we had far more than 50 songs that were unreleased and all of them were in pretty good shape. I’m glad I only promised 50 as there are enough there for a couple more albums after we do find that pina colado. It’s probably next to that book I didn’t read on the beach I never got to. So, the box set… So now you have it. Promise kept. 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong. Obie and Mike Rew deserve all the kudos for the selections as well as the mixes. They worked harder than you’ll know to insure that ours was going to the best box set available. Ilene Schreibman and then Kevin Reagan and Vartan get a big slap on the back for the amazing artwork. I’ll tell you the competitive truth. We heard that the Beatles, Nirvana, and Michael (I should have quit the business after the Jackson 5) Jackson were all releasing box sets the same time of the year. We wanted to give you something more than rehashed master recordings. I hope we didn’t disappoint.
Speaking of disappointment. There was some in 04 but aside from the obvious, there were some bright spots as far as music goes. There seemed to be less manufactured pop and more rock. There were even a couple songwriters thrown in for good measure. When asked about my feelings towards the state of the music business a year ago. I would have asked where to send a mass card and flowers. The radio played 20 songs tops, or I heard rehashed classic rock that left me feeling lonely and bored. The ipod which could still be a good idea was and is causing kids to buy singles only, no b-sides, no album tracks, forget the album art which was lost during the advent of the CD. Now the record companies have found a new way to sell us the same music we have in a different format, AGAIN. As one executive said to me a year ago when I accused him of protecting his bonus and selling his lost soul in the name of commerce, he replied, “It’s always been about commerce Jon.” I hung my head and cursed them to a future of J-Lo and Britney. Fortunately the ghost of Elvis wasn’t listening to me and gave us all something to hang hope on. I’m relieved to hear artists such as Damien Rice, who is a songwriter from Ireland who just knocks me out. He could be a Tom Waits for the internet generation. The killers, and Jet are good examples of kicking bands that know what guitars are and know how to use them too. These aren’t just pop posers who show up on the pages of US weekly at every letter opening in NY and hollyweird. I wish them and all their peers a very successful second record, as it is even more important than the first. You know what, every record is as important as the first. That’s why I’m up writing this letter instead of sleeping soundly. That said, out studio record is done. Was done, will soon be done, may never be done. It depends who you ask in my schizophrenic head. We recorded it out of our exuberance and the pure adrenaline flow that was brought on by the box set. We did it really quickly with the help of John Shanks who is a really hot producer right now. The subject matter is that of inclusion. The songs speak to me on that that level. “Welcome To Wherever You Are”, “Have A Nice Day”, “Bells Of Freedom” all seem pretty good to me. There are some surprises including a duet on a song Richie and I write called “Who Said You Can’t Go Home” with Keith Urban. Yep, Keith Urban.
Here’s the story on that one. John produced some of Keith’s record and was someone I was hearing a lot about for years as he was kicking around Nashville, a guitar-slinging transplant from Australia. Anyway, He was in the hotel gym…..I invited him down to the studio to see John and hear what we were up to. Once he was there it was just a matter of time till I figured he’d be fun to play with. A couple minutes later there was a banjo and a vocal. The guy is a great player, a great singer and not a bad guy either. I don’t know if we’ll use it but it’s cool. The record is slated for a May release. I still don’t have a title but I guess Have A Nice Day could be it.
HAVE A NICE DAY could be a New years resolution..Just wake up and before I make the muddy coffee just resolve myself to HAVE A NICE DAY. Huh, that might be a good idea. I’d start today if the sun would just come up….jbj
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Riptide Movement - Dublin - Apr 14
The Coronas - Cork & Dublin - Jun 14
Bryan Adams - Cork - Jun 14
Richie - Dublin - Jun 14
Garth Brooks - Dublin - Jul 14
Forza Ferrari!
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01-28-2005, 08:07 PM
!!!
You know this stuff always ends up online anyway, so why shell out hard earned money for it.
