Joe Lynn Turner Exclusive Interview BURRN Magazine Release of the solo album Nothing's Changed! The ever-confident, "strong-willed Joe" speaks out at length The true story behind his departure from DEEP PURPLE and his complex feelings toward RAINBOW Joe Lynn Turner was widely considered the absolute top favorite to be the vocalist if Ritchie Blackmore ever resurrected RAINBOW. However, it didn't turn out that way. Instead, in the exact same month of September as the release of the RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW album, Joe ended up releasing his own solo album, Nothing's Changed. This marks his second solo album and his first in ten years since 1985's Rescue You. The album was completed with the full participation of Al Pitrelli (g), who has worked with Joe intermittently since around 1989. Unlike Rescue You, which had a strong Foreigner-esque flavor (in fact, at that time, Joe was deepening connections for a potential entry into Foreigner, and there were even talks of him replacing Lou Gramm), this album stays grounded in Bad Company-style, R&B-rooted rock. Personally, I had hoped Joe would follow the "golden path of American hard pop" like Survivor—and considering that during the period when Joe was working on his second album with Deep Purple, both Joe and Ritchie were leaning toward approaching Survivor — I can understand that some people might feel disappointed by the lack of that slick, Survivor-style arena rock flavor on this solo effort. However, Joe wanted to emphasize his side as a "Paul Rodgers-style R&B singer" here and show that he is more than just a standard heavy rock singer. If you look back to his days in Fandango, returning to a Survivor-esque style is something Joe could do at any time. But right now, it makes total sense that he wants to present a more mature image as an R&B-oriented singer. And since that desire has culminated in such an excellent album, there is really nothing to complain about. This time, I visited New York to interview both Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Joe Lynn Turner. As you may know, Rainbow's John O'Reilly (ds) and Greg Smith (b) are musicians who have been active as part of Joe's band, and they play on every single track of Joe's new album. The day before Joe's interview happened to be the interview day for Rainbow, and they all repeatedly told me, "Give Joe our best." Even on Ritchie's part, you could feel a sense of respect and closeness toward Joe, to the point where it felt almost strange that they were now in different bands. Naturally, I was thinking I must ask about that when Joe walked in. Carrying a large bag with a newspaper in one hand and a cell phone peeking out, slung over his shoulder, Joe looked right at home in the bustling streets of New York. Perhaps this new album is a direct reflection of that very atmosphere. Last night, I interviewed Ritchie Blackmore, and he asked me to send you his best regards. Oh, you saw Ritchie? I've been so busy lately that I haven't even given him a call. He stole my band! (laughs) I also interviewed your "stolen members," John O'Reilly and Greg Smith. Those guys are the greatest. So you interviewed the whole band? Have you heard the new record? Yes, it's an excellent album, though I felt a little lonely not hearing your voice on the Rainbow record... (laughs) Well, thank you. I gave Doogie (White) a chance. (laughs) I need to keep growing. That's the theme of my new solo album. Moving forward is the whole theme. Your album Nothing's Changed turned out wonderfully as well. How long did the actual recording take? This record holds a very special meaning for me. After all, we recorded every single track in 30 days. Everything in just 30 days! That was the fastest tracking I've ever done in my life. With Rainbow or Deep Purple, it used to take about six months. This time, it was from May 15 to June 20... roughly a month. And we wrapped up the mixing in just three or four days. For the past few years, my new band has done everything the exact same way. We just play, sing, and we're done; that's why we were so fast. I rehearsed with John O'Reilly, Greg Smith, and Al Pitrelli for two weeks—four days each week, making it eight days total — and during that time, Al and I even wrote some songs. But for instance, a track like "Save A Place" was written eight years ago. It's still a great song, so we recorded it, but it was originally written for a Paul Sabu album. It's actually "Only Child." It's the same song, but with a different arrangement and production. "Promise Of Love" was written about six years ago, and we updated it into a newer style. Songs like those were tracks I really loved, but they never saw the light of day with Rainbow or Deep Purple. I held onto them tightly the entire time I was too busy to make a solo album. Just like children. You can't just ignore your own kids, right? Especially when they are good kids. So I dusted them off, cleaned them up, dressed them in nice clothes, and sent them out into the world. We had plenty of brand-new tracks and lots of fresh ideas, too, but these specific songs had something special that truly moved my heart. Take the hook in "Promise Of Love," for example... I decided not to overanalyze it and just enjoy it myself. We tried it out in rehearsals, and this is how it shaped up. We chose from about 30 songs, and it was a relatively straightforward process. It was like, "This one is too complicated, this one doesn't work, next... let's use this one." A few tracks were written by my friends. For example, "I Believe" was written by my buddies Mark Spiro and Charlie Midnight. They are incredibly talented writers who wrote songs for Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Even if it's not a song I wrote myself, if I find something that makes me think, "This is my song, this fits me perfectly," then it becomes mine. I don't have the kind of ego where I feel I must write everything myself. While I wrote a lot of good songs, I make the other tracks my own as well. Songs where you think, "Man, I wish I had written that." For instance, "Satisfy Me" is a song Mark wrote, and "Imagination" was written by another friend. I heard that you and Al Pitrelli started writing songs together after you parted ways with Yngwie Malmsteen, and you continued writing with Al even after you left Deep Purple, right? Al Pitrelli has been a friend of mine for years. The same goes for Greg and John. Nothing's Changed is an old song Al and I wrote together, probably about four or five years ago. I was writing these tracks before, during, and after my time in Deep Purple. Even when I joined Deep Purple, I never stopped songwriting. Eventually, I formed a band with Al Pitrelli, Greg Smith, John O'Reilly, and Gary Corbett (key), and we were playing gigs in small clubs. It was incredibly fun. That band is easily one of the best lineups I've ever put together. "We were playing Rainbow songs better than Rainbow actually did!" (laughs) I'm sorry to say it, but it was perfect. It was bursting with fresh enthusiasm, the musicianship was incredibly tight, and audiences at every single venue were telling us, "You guys seriously need to record this." We played everything; "Can't Happen Here," "Street Of Dreams," "Stone Cold," and so on. That band was truly spectacular. But then John and Greg joined Rainbow, and everyone ended up doing different things for about two months. Right around that time, I signed my record deal, so it became a matter of, "Alright, we've got to hurry up and do this!" Putting this together had been a long-held dream for us. So now that it's finished, I'm incredibly happy. Sometimes working fast yields much better results. When you take too much time and keep rewriting over and over, you can end up ruining a song. The magic gets lost. It loses its freshness. I actually know that your band was playing Rainbow covers because I heard it on a bootleg (laughs). It was from July '94... but the guitarist wasn't Al Pitrelli. That was Al Pitrelli's predecessor, Cole Coonce. He is a phenomenal guitar player. I really wanted him to play on a few tracks for this album too, but... Why didn't that work out? Because we had to make it fast. I spoke with Cole for a very long time recently. He's currently playing with Ace Frehley, playing bass, actually. He's a brilliant guitar player naturally, but he plays all kinds of stringed instruments, including slide guitar. Because this album was put together incredibly fast and on a tight budget, time constraints meant I couldn't get everyone I wanted to participate. I managed to get Derek Sherinian (key) from Dream Theater, and Gary Corbett, who has played with everyone from Kiss to Cinderella and L.A. Guns, to jump in. But because everyone is so busy, gathering them all in the studio at the same time was tough. Cole was out on tour with Ace, and the timing didn't line up, so I just went ahead without waiting. Otherwise, I would have absolutely loved to have him play guitar on a few tracks. Of course, Al Pitrelli and I have wanted to make an album together since forever, so this was an amazing opportunity. But since the other guitarists are uniquely talented too, I felt integrating their styles could elevate the quality of the record, and Al had absolutely no objections to other guitar players joining in. We simply ran out of time. That was the sole reason. On the next recording, we'll have more time and a bigger budget, so I'll be able to bring in a lot more guests and a ton of friends. There are so many people I want to involve. Like blues player Jon Paris... he plays great slide. Honestly, "Nothing's Changed" was supposed to feature his slide solo, but due to scheduling conflicts, we had to move on to the next track. We cut out quite a few things in order to meet the September release date. Still, I don't think we sacrificed anything. If you don't know what was originally supposed to be there, you won't feel like anything is missing. I know what's missing, though. I honestly couldn't tell that it was made in such a rush. Neither could I! (laughs) It's a surprise. I was a little nervous because I thought it was moving way too fast, but everyone told me, "It sounds amazing, don't worry about it." John O'Reilly and Greg Smith knocked out all the rhythm tracks in just two days. They did it in two days, and then spent one more day on a song we forgot we had to do. I really wanted to cut a new song that I wrote at the very last minute for my daughter. It's a song about a parent's love for their child, and the lyrics deal with what it truly means to have a kid. While I was holding her as a baby, she looked up and said, "Don't drop me, don't drop me," and I told her, "I will never, ever drop you." In that exact moment, it hit me: this is the eternal love that every parent holds for their child. That's what inspired me to write the song. Then I walked into the studio and told John, "Play it exactly with this kind of feel." (laughs) At the very beginning of "The Last Thing," you can hear a young girl's voice. That's my daughter, Liviana. She actually sang in the studio. She's only six years old, but she sang right there in the studio! She was standing on top of a chair right in front of the microphone. I put my headphones on and asked her, "Can you hear me?" and she snapped back, "Don't yell right in my ear!" Right at that second, Al Pitrelli was hitting the record button! Great story, right? I desperately wanted to keep that on tape, so I went as far as wiping out a guitar part just to capture it. After that, I decided to just leave it exactly as it was. The song kicks off with me sitting at the piano saying, "I'm not shouting, I'm singing..." (Note: That section ended up being titled "Liviana's Intro"). That's adorable. She's six years old? She turns six this September. But she acts just like a 26-year-old woman; she sings, she plays piano... she goes to a Yamaha music school and studies solfège and things like that. Her mother, we're divorced now, is a classical pianist. So my daughter plays piano, sings, and dances too. We go to concerts together, like at Carnegie Hall. She's only six, but she is incredibly mature. She listens to my tapes and tries to copy my singing line for line. She might just be a prodigy. I think so too. She's definitely going to be someone big. (laughs) That's why I made sure to include her voice. It's a wonderful thing to use your own child's voice. Though I don't want it to be just a novelty. This is music, and it's love. Those are the kinds of things you want to keep preserved on your records. And ultimately, that is what music is all about. It lasts forever. It keeps growing while continuously changing. When you look at your child and inspiration strikes into music. In today's world, that's the only pure thing left. Everything else is just crazy. I happened to have the chance to listen to a demo tape you made previously, which included songs like "Let Me Love You Again" and "Nothing's Changed" That's from ages ago. We made it in the basement of Al Pitrelli's house. It was on an 8-track recorder, so it was very rough. Your vocals were also quite raw on it, so I was actually worried that maybe your voice was in bad shape. Not at all. You can tell by listening to this album, right? Back then, Al Pitrelli and I were sitting up at 3:00 AM, drinking cognac and smoking cigarettes, going, "Hey, let's sing that track! I'll play guitar," and that's how we laid down the demo (laughs). Besides, my voice sounded a bit gruff partly because I was experimentally pushing that specific side of my vocals. When I was in Rainbow, I sang with a cleaner style, almost operatic. But normally, when I sing the blues, my voice is much thicker. It has a Rod Stewart kind of vibe. People actually love that tone and ask me, "Why don't you sing like that all the time?" In Rainbow, I sang cleanly and perfectly because that's what Ritchie preferred. That was the signature sound of that band, and during my time with Rainbow, I wanted to deliver that myself. It had nothing to do with '80s trends. I enjoyed experimenting with that way of singing, too. But setting that aside, the vocal delivery on that late-night demo tape was simply because I was drunk (laughs). I only sang it through once... Mind you, even on this actual record, I only sang the tracks twice. I did one full pass to map it out, added or trimmed a few lines, and then just sang it one more time. I didn't want it to be pristine. I wanted to keep it real. I wanted an honest sound where you can directly hear the five band members in the studio together. Whenever I asked, "Let me do one more vocal take," everyone would go, "Why!?" (laughs) When I pointed out, "My voice went sharp here, and dropped a bit there..." they just told me, "No way!" They said I was being too meticulous. They'd say, "What you just sang came straight from the heart, it's real, so it's perfect as it is." So I said, "Alright, I'll trust your judgment." I put my faith in Al and Mark Wexler (the co-producers alongside Joe and Al). I think it turned out great because of that. Of course, if I wanted to, I could have polished it into a technically flawless vocal track. But what does "flawless" even mean? If it isn't real, it's meaningless. I know you're capable of singing in a very bluesy style, but things have certainly shifted quite a bit compared to your Rainbow days. Though I suppose even in Deep Purple, you were singing with a slightly different flavor... Deep Purple definitely leaned a bit more bluesy. We had bluesier tracks like "Breakfast In Bed." Back then, Roger Glover told me, "Joe Lynn Turner has finally found his true voice." That was the highest compliment I could have received. He wasn't necessarily saying he preferred my Rainbow-era vocals, but he recognized that the operatic style was a pure form of singing. Back then, I once told Roger, "I really feel like singing something heavily rooted in the blues." He remembered that, which is why he made that comment. I will never forget that. It was the ultimate validation because I felt I had discovered it myself. It wasn't Lou Gramm or anyone else, it was uniquely me. The vocal performance on this album truly sounds like "nobody else but Joe Lynn Turner." Exactly, it's completely me! (laughs) That's why I want to stay true to this direction. Even now, I can still sing in a very pure style if required. I think "Let Me Love You Again" carries a bit of that vibe. There are R&B elements, too. "Imagination" turned out incredible. And there's straight-up rock. I love bands like Free and Bad Company. Those are my roots. I absolutely love R&B and soul music. The R&B influence definitely comes through strongly. On my first solo album Rescue You, the sound was heavily tailored to a Rainbow, Deep Purple, or Foreigner vibe. That was back in '85. Now it's '95... ten years later. A lot of things happen to a person over a decade. This new album feels like Bad Company with a deeper R&B edge, mixed with the polished sophistication of Foreigner... "Sophisticated" is a great word for it. It also has a hooky, Bon Jovi-esque catchiness... It's melodic. The focus is entirely on the songs. In that sense, this album lays bare your true essence much more so than Rescue You or Deep Purple's Slaves and Masters. Thank you! That means a lot. I'd be thrilled if everyone felt that way. I've been wanting to make this album for years, and we finally brought it to life. I'm so happy that you understand it, that you get my heart and my soul. The sophistication and the R&B elements are all right there. It's a complete package! Everything is articulated. Most of the time, rock journalists don't really get it, but you understood perfectly! If you go on tour in the future, what will the band lineup look like? Well, since my band was taken by Ritchie... whoops! (laughs) Besides, nobody ever really knows where Al Pitrelli is or what he's up to at any given moment (laughs). He's always tied up in some project. Right now, he's playing with Savatage. The guy is constantly working. He's easily the hardest worker in the rock 'n' roll business. Anyway, I really don't know how the full band situation will shake out. If it's a promotional tour rather than a full-scale touring production, Greg Smith and Al Pitrelli might join me on acoustic guitars to do radio performances. When the time comes for a full live tour... if Ritchie's tour is wrapped up by then, I might just take my original drummer and bass player back (laughs). That would be perfect timing (laughs). I'll ask Ritchie when his tour wraps up, and once it's done, I'll head over to Japan. Or maybe I'll have Greg and John just stay in Japan while I fly out to join them (laughs). I'll just tell Ritchie to head home so I can play with my own band. Speaking of which, there's an interesting idea floating around. You know about the Mothers Army project, right? Carmine (Appice), Jeff (Watson), and Bob (Daisley) suggested to me, "Since both your solo album and the Mothers Army record are coming out, we should go to Japan and play a set covering Joe Lynn Turner tracks, Night Ranger tracks, Ozzy tracks, Rainbow tracks, Rod Stewart tracks, and Mothers Army material." That might actually be a great idea. We might end up forming a touring unit like that. But for my own dedicated tour, I really want to perform alongside the absolute best musicians that I select myself. The Mothers Army album was initially expected to drop this past May, but it has remained delayed. What is the current status? Let me give you the backstory. The finished master tape is sitting right inside my bag. You haven't heard it yet, but it's fantastic. It's incredibly good, but it's not straightforward hard rock. I want to expand the horizons of the fans from my Yngwie Malmsteen era. Everyone grows little by little, and we have to move forward. I refuse to stay stuck in the past. With this record, I want to show my fans the future we're heading toward together. I want to introduce music that carries meaningful weight for who we are today, rather than looking backward. I'm glad for what I accomplished in the past, but if you don't evolve as a musician and an artist, your career essentially ends right there. I honestly can't stand seeing musicians who are still playing the exact same material when they hit 50. Endless repetition just gets boring. Mind you, as long as Grateful Dead audiences exist, the Grateful Dead will stay exactly the same. They never change. Your first solo album, Rescue You, was... It sounds like Pink Floyd. It feels like Pink Floyd and The Beatles met in Led Zeppelin's dressing room (laughs). It's wonderful. It covers current global political issues, and it's a very deep album. It's a magnificent piece of work written by Bob and Jeff. However, Apollon told us, "We are a heavy metal label. We don't know how to market an album like this." About six or seven months before that, I told Jeff and Bob, "The songs you guys are writing aren't heavy metal. I don't know what the record company is going to say." But they kept telling me, "Don't worry, they'll definitely like it." Sure enough, once Apollon heard the tape, they said, "We don't know how to promote this." So right now, they are looking for another label. Pony Canyon has my solo stuff, so they're looking into other labels! (laughs) When Jeff and the guys found out I was making a solo album, they asked me, "Why?" What do they mean, why? While they're out in California, am I supposed to just sit around in New York doing absolutely nothing? Even Carmine made his Guitar Zeus album. Jeff made a solo album too, so why shouldn't I make a record? But everyone was angry. Not in a truly serious way, but they were shocked. They confronted me, saying, "You made a solo album? Why didn't you tell us?" Well, yeah, I didn't tell you! (laughs) It's already finished! It's coming out before Mothers Army. It's crazy! It's funny, but I knew it would turn out this way. I knew an HM label wouldn't know how to market something like that. The upcoming Mothers Army album is incredibly sophisticated, with a beautiful sound and superb lyrics, it's like Pink Floyd or The Beatles... and unlike this solo album or the Deep Purple records, I'm singing with a very sweet voice, kind of like Paul McCartney. As soon as we find a label, we can put it out right away. The album is already mixed and finished, and it has turned out to be something I'm incredibly proud of. I hope everyone likes it. I don't care if it's classified as HM or not. I've already graduated from those kinds of genre definitions. I just want to approach music as art. Back in the day, Deep Purple was my absolute favorite band. I even used to be in a Deep Purple cover band named "Ezra," taking the name from the poet Ezra Pound... I told you about this before, right? To me, Deep Purple was a band with soul. They were a band with a funky soul. That was exactly what set them apart from Led Zeppelin and other bands. Back in those days, even though everyone else loved Led Zeppelin, I was strictly a Deep Purple guy. So of course, getting to sing for that band was like a dream come true; it was the absolute best. But it's just like you said. While I can sing with a rough edge, singing strictly in an HM style isn't the real me. I hate to sound like I'm full of myself, but I'm simply too good of a singer to sing nothing but HM. A lot of HM singers are just screaming "Waaah!" They're just shouting. I mean no offense, but for example, Axl Rose could probably never make a record like my Nothing's Changed. He can't sing like this. He's likely not going to transform himself for the adult contemporary market. He does his own thing, and within that realm, he is wonderful. Please don't take it the wrong way, but that's just what Axl Rose does. Ozzy Osbourne wouldn't sing the way I do, either. Even Ian Gillan couldn't sing like this. There is absolutely no way he could. Because I'm blessed with this kind of talent, I can fly high. I can be an artist like Don Henley. As a singer-songwriter, I am truly grateful to have been given this kind of gift. Glenn Hughes also constantly says, "I am grateful to be blessed with talent." Yeah, Glenn is definitely one of those people. I love him, and we talk all the time. Even though he was in heavy bands, he is a singer who can deliver authentic R&B, authentic soul, and make everyone weep. He is wonderful. I respect him immensely. My favorite singer is Glenn Hughes. I still consider the Hughes/Thrall album to be an absolute killer record. It's magnificent. I also have his new record, From Now On. His latest album is called Feel, and Pat Thrall plays guitar on it. Oh, that's right. I ran into Pat at a studio near here recently. Pat Thrall, John Miceli from Meat Loaf's band, and Kasim Sulton on bass... we actually put together a band just for fun once. That sounds like "Meat Loaf without Meat Loaf" (laughs). Exactly! (laughs) Kasim, Pat, John Miceli, and I played a gig at a tiny pub without making any announcements beforehand. We just played in exchange for beer and drinks. Since we started playing out of nowhere, the people who walked in were completely shocked (laughs). We played clubs like that around Long Island for about two months. Al Pitrelli would come by and jam, John O'Reilly would show up to grab a beer... We had an incredible bunch of guys gathered together. In a tiny pub. It was a real moment of returning to our roots. It was so much fun. ...One day, I called Miceli, and he told me, "Pat Thrall is away working with Glenn Hughes right now," so that must have been for Feel. I saw Pat just the other day at a locksmith on Broadway. We were getting keys made. When Pat walked in, I said, "What are you doing here? I heard you were in LA or somewhere with Glenn," and he said, "We finished up, so I'm back." I interviewed him in LA this year as well. Pat was actually supposed to participate in this album too. He told me, "Please let me play on it," and I said, "I'm having all my friends participate," but we ran out of time... He was out of town, so it didn't work out. But I'll absolutely have him play on the next recording. It seems like New York musicians are all really close, or rather... We share a very tight bond. Yes. It feels like you are right at the center of that circle. They always need a good singer (laughs). When great musicians are trying to figure out which singer to call, I'm always at the top of that list because I play with everyone. Pat and John play with everyone too. I'll get a call saying, "Come over to my place!" and when I get there, massive names like Rod Stewart are up on stage jamming... Out of nowhere they'll ask, "Hey, do you want to sing?" and I'll jump up and sing. It's incredibly fun. It isn't business. It's purely music. It feels great. I absolutely hate the business side of things. To hell with places like Madison Square Garden! At one point, you were singing with CPR, right? That was after they put their CD out; I sang with them for about six or seven shows. I knew Randy (Coven) as well as Al and John. Everyone knows each other. Throughout Long Island, New Jersey, and New York, everyone is connected. Once you play music, you're bound to run into each other eventually. When you do, you swap phone numbers, go out drinking together, write songs, and jam. It's the absolute best place to be. You get to play with the finest musicians. Nobody is doing it for the money; everyone does it purely out of love for music. You mentioned before that Richie Sambora used one of your riffs. Richie actually wanted to play on this album too. We exchanged numbers, and he told me to hit him up whenever I was heading down to New Jersey. But the opportunity just didn't come up. I didn't have the time... On a completely different note, I did another Deep Purple tribute project. It was with T.M. Stevens. We did "Stormbringer" for Powerstation. I went right back to my metal voice for that one (laughs). It was a blast. We threw in a bit of a soulful vibe too, because T.M. loves funky stuff. We did things like "Woman From Tokyo"... Richie Kotzen, Al Pitrelli... all kinds of people are participating. I'm really looking forward to the album. I'm featured on two and a half tracks. On "Woman From Tokyo," I split the vocals with Tony Harnell. Then there's "Stormbringer," and... I'm pretty sure the other one was "Fireball." In the past, you performed "Lady" with Yngwie, didn't you? That was a project put together by Mike Varney. I think our version is better. It's not just a carbon copy. We tried to give it a completely different feel. I don't mean it's better than the original (laughs). Surpassing the original is impossible; the Deep Purple version is obviously always going to be the definitive one. But for a tribute, you have to bring your own style to elevate the quality. T.M. is an incredibly fascinating guy. Apparently, the album is going to be titled something like Friends From New York Do Deep Purple or Deep Purple and Friends From New York, and he has recorded spoken commentary between the tracks. It starts with lines like, "Hey man, you know where you are? You're in New York City, baby. We're going to check out Deep Purple. What do you mean, who's Deep Purple? Let me show you right now," and then the song kicks in. The whole record follows that kind of format. It's incredibly fun. It has an element of entertainment that goes way beyond a standard tribute album. That sounds exciting. By the way, since we're on the subject of Deep Purple, a lot of people wonder why you aren't in the current lineup of Rainbow. Why is that? (laughs) That's because... I don't want to be in it (laughs). First and foremost, I have no desire to do it. I want to do things on my own. This solo album is giving me the chance to try new things and grow as an artist. As we all know, Ritchie constantly requires fresh blood. He brings people in, cuts an album, and throws them away. Then he brings more people in, cuts an album, and throws them away. That's how it always goes. He requires fresh blood like a vampire. I don't mean that in a negative way (laughs). I think Ritchie is spectacular. He gave me my big break, after all. I'm always going to be grateful to him for that. I told John O'Reilly and Greg Smith the exact same thing. I said, "Now you can prove yourselves to the entire world. You guys are the best, so seize this opportunity, show them what you can do, and come back with pride and strength. Make the absolute most of this chance." I told them to give it everything they've got and go for it. And they did exactly that. I have absolutely no objection to them playing in Rainbow. They were worried that I would be angry if they played in Rainbow, but far from being angry, I told them, "Now we can say we've been in the same band together, even if it's at different times." We're family. There's no way I'd be angry. I'm genuinely happy that they were given that kind of opportunity. But for me personally, I don't want to keep repeating the same thing. Roger Glover is a very smart man, and I remember him saying, "I want to live in the moment, but I don't want to keep repeating the exact same moment forever." Returning to Rainbow would make it look like I'm only doing it for the money, or something along those lines. What I would actually love to do is play tracks like "Street Of Dreams" or "Stone Cold" as part of a memorial tour, purely for the enjoyment of it. I'd definitely do something like that. I know that's what the fans want to hear. When I play with my own band, people get incredibly excited. It's exactly the same as Paul McCartney singing Beatles songs. Exactly. If people want to hear "Hey Jude" or "Yesterday,"... we just have to get him to do it. I want to do something called the "RAINBOW FUN TOUR." Not doing it so seriously, just playing the hit songs. It might be cool to bring along everyone who has ever been in RAINBOW. It would probably be a tour with about 300 people! (laughs) There would be a long line of tour buses following each other. (laughs) Graham Bonnet sings, I sing... and all the keyboard players and drummers gather. Bobby Rondinelli, Chuck Burgi... everyone. It would be so much fun. Just picture it: a RAINBOW reunion tour. We wouldn't even be able to fit everyone into one hotel because there are too many members. (laughs) Ritchie insisted that DEEP PURPLE had to keep you in the band, right? Yes, and he was also the one who argued that they should keep me instead of Ian Gillan. He didn't want to work with Ian Gillan. That's why he ended up quitting DEEP PURPLE of his own accord. It felt strange to me that Ritchie didn't invite you to join him this time. I think that probably had to do with the situation surrounding DEEP PURPLE. When he was in DEEP PURPLE, he was satisfied writing songs with me, but as you know, by the time we were working on the second album together in DEEP PURPLE, most of the music was already done, and I was writing completely different tracks to match that music. Most people who heard the demos liked them many times better than The Battle Rages On.... That was exactly when Ritchie was pressured into bringing Gillan back. He was forced into it. BMG kept saying, "You guys have to make a record that sells, or we're in trouble." Ritchie locked himself in his house and wouldn't even answer the phone because BMG kept pushing for Gillan. They tried to push me out. There were copyright issues with the songs, and various other business matters... There were just so many stupid business-related problems. It's a real shame. But speaking as a friend, Ritchie fought hard. That's why they didn't have a singer for six months; he refused to accept Gillan. Eventually, when BMG forced his hand, Ritchie made a counter-condition: "I'll let Gillan back into DEEP PURPLE, but in exchange, let me make a solo album." That's how the revival of RAINBOW came about. He did a one-month tour in Europe and then quit DEEP PURPLE. That was his plan from the very beginning. You can see the bargaining games of the business, right? Ritchie is a very smart guy. He makes a million dollars per album, while I only have $4,000! (laughs) See what I mean? That's why he gets rich. But this is the real story. It's the truth. I was incredibly disappointed with The Battle Rages On.... It was a terrible album. It was terrible. I'm sorry to say it, but it was. Yesterday, when I told Ritchie that The Battle Rages On... was terrible, he actually shook my hand. Just because you said the album was terrible? (laughs) Yes! He said, "I thought so too, but nobody would tell me so bluntly." It really should have been finished by you. It really should have been. At that time, if they had let us use the songs I wrote... if you heard them, you would absolutely love them. Plus, Jim Peterik from SURVIVOR was participating in the songwriting. He is truly a wonderful writer. He wrote all of .38 Special's hits and, of course, SURVIVOR's hits. Bringing him into the DEEP PURPLE framework, we were writing some really cool songs. The melodies and lyrics were all far better than The Battle Rages On.... I still have the demos. So, if there is time someday, and if we can get their permission, maybe everyone will get to hear what it was supposed to sound like. Everyone would be shocked. Jon Lord and the others said that Ian Gillan's version was better, though... That's just their side of the story, isn't it? The only ones who thought that way were them. So Ritchie didn't think so either? Exactly. The real issue was business. It had nothing to do with personal problems. Towards the end of the recording sessions in Holland for the album that would later be released as The Battle Rages On..., I felt an immense amount of frustration. The other members besides Ritchie were always hostile toward me. They were picking a fight with me and Ritchie. It wasn't like we were trying to control the band; we just wanted to make good music. We didn't care who wrote the songs. We just wanted to make an incredible album. We needed a comeback like AEROSMITH had — a "revival" on that kind of grand scale, on a global level. We truly put our egos aside and were just trying to create the most wonderful music. But you know how humans are. Egos come out, jealousy happens, greed happens. Then suddenly I got a phone call, and our manager, Bruce Payne, told me, "I want to have a talk, we don't want you in the band anymore." I replied, "That's fine. I've already quit anyway." To be completely honest, when I was tracking vocals, Ian Paice hadn't even thought out his drum parts. The tempo would speed up drastically or slow down, and I told Ritchie, "I can't sing to this." It was riddled with problems. That's the truth. And as usual, I spoke up about everything. I'd say, "We have a problem here." They didn't like that. So they held secret meetings to try and kick me out. When I took the tapes and went to a studio in L.A. with producer Tony Bongiovi to sing, the guys from MÖTLEY CRUE happened to come by and said, "What a great song. A 'living singer' in a 'dead band'." I answered, "I know, we have to redo it because it's not good enough," but that was exactly the problem. They didn't like the "facts." They wanted to make it seem like I was the only problem. It's a crazy business where a singer gets fired because the drummer isn't doing his job properly. It makes no logical sense at all. But I'm not complaining. I learned a good lesson through the whole experience. Personally, it was good mental discipline. I didn't get angry; in fact, you could say I felt incredibly relieved. It's better to be able to do what you want on your own than to be in a situation where you are constantly opposed by others. I don't need the kind of wealth or fame that requires enduring irrational situations. I just want the music. To hell with the business side. Before this album, I had a chance to make a different solo album but ended up not doing it, and it was for the same reason —he contract wasn't good. Like I said at the beginning, I have no intention of taking a step backward. Businessmen are always just using artists. There's no loyalty in this business. You can be praised today and thrown away tomorrow. But music is something far more important to me. I learned where music truly starts for me. Things like being a "rock star" are total nonsense. I'm not a rock star. I was just a musician from New Jersey. That's who I am now, and that's who I'll always be. I just want to be honest with my music. When Ritchie left DEEP PURPLE, I thought, "Ritchie should have formed a band with Joe..." Right. At that point, the two of us should have turned our backs on them and decided to do RAINBOW. And if we had been incredibly successful, they would have realized what we were trying to do. Ritchie writes tons of riffs, and I write the melodies and lyrics. And we would let anyone participate. I passed a tape to Jon and asked him to write something, but after two weeks, three weeks, nothing came back. Why deal with people like that...? So I told Ritchie, "We should just do it ourselves." But Roger is always around... Ian Paice wasn't the problem; he just wanted to play the drums. We should have just let him play drums while we wrote the songs. It's crazy. I hear Steve Morse has joined them now? I wish them the best. I spoke with Ian Paice three days ago, and with the tour manager too. They are all in Florida. We are still friends. It's a business issue, not a personal one. I still don't hate them. It's business, and business makes people do strange things. Besides, they were deeply concerned about the image of DEEP PURPLE, especially when making a comeback, and I suppose I was in the way of that image. I thought Slaves and Masters was a good record, and everyone accepted it. I thought the next record would be even better. And yet... Ritchie really likes Slaves and Masters, doesn't he? It's a good album. Every song had power from beginning to end. Even now, you can sit down and really listen to and enjoy that album. There is a lot of real musicianship packed into it, as opposed to an album full of senseless screaming and stupid lyrics. Didn't Ritchie invite you to join RAINBOW right after he quit DEEP PURPLE? No, he didn't. I think he wanted to invite me, but his anxiety and hesitation were probably greater than that feeling because he knew I wanted to focus on my solo career. Maybe he was respecting my feelings, or maybe he wanted to see what I wanted to do. But because we never asked each other what we wanted to do... Doing it together might have been a good idea. If he had said, "I'm doing this with John O'Reilly and Greg Smith, why don't you join us?", I might have done it. I had been wanting to make a solo album like this one, Nothing's Changed, for a long time, so if he had invited me when I was relaxed after finishing it... But the truth is, I also didn't want to repeat the same things all over again. I want to move my music forward. I don't want to step backward. In any case, for your fans, it's wonderful to be able to hear this solo album. While we want to hear you sing in RAINBOW, we also wanted to know what you would do as a solo artist... Exactly, that's what this album is. Fresh music from Joe Lynn Turner. And it's only for this year. If this album is well-received, I'll make the next one, and that one will be even better. I already have songs for the next album — great songs that didn't make it onto this one. You need a mix of rock 'n' roll and ballads, so you have to piece them together carefully like a puzzle. That's why I couldn't include them here; they are very good songs, so I'm saving them for the next album. You mentioned some of the tracks from Nothing's Changed earlier, but could you talk a bit more about any particular songs that you especially like or have a strong attachment to? I think "Bad Blood" turned out incredibly well. It has a groove, almost like rock-jazz. The keyboards too... "Promise Of Love" is straight rock 'n' roll, but... "Bad Blood" is an epic piece. It's about 6 to 7 minutes long. It starts with keyboards... The lyrics are about the state of the world today, conveying that "if everyone hates each other and we don't find love, we will all perish." "Bad Blood" feels like a standout track to me. It's a track that serves as the foundation for building the album, like a cornerstone. It's one of the big stones. But I have a lot of tracks I love. "I Believe" is a song a friend wrote, and it's wonderful. It's an acoustic track, and the lyrics are great, too. It has a positive message: "Even though it's a terrible world, if you believe in love and heaven..." Today's music—grunge and alternative—is so negative. It's all about hating everyone, doing drugs... that's all it consists of. The world is already bad enough, so there's no need for musicians to add to it. Someone has to save it. If politicians are ruining this world, music must rescue it. Watching the negative attitudes of the kids really gets me down. The current generation in America, in particular, is completely lost. Society brought this upon itself. America did this to itself. But looking at the rest of the world—Bosnia, Bangladesh... nowhere is doing well. It's the same all over the world. Even in Japan, what was that subway poison gas attack all about? It's crazy. Humans are killing one another. Why?! What's going to happen next?... That's why I want to remain more positive. Naming this album Nothing's Changed has a double meaning. It doesn't have much to do with the song itself. The song "Nothing's Changed" is about a boy and a girl, and how he still loves her and nothing has changed... but choosing Nothing's Changed for the album title is because even though everything in the world seems to have shifted, at a deeper level, nothing has changed. Core values and the things parents talk about are still the same today. Nothing has changed. Even if everything looks different on the surface. ...Which track did you like best? My absolute favorite is "Let Me Love You Again." That one is…… It's gospel. It has a beautiful melody. Of course, I love "Nothing's Changed" too... and I pretty much love the entire second half. Though the first half is wonderful as well. Listening to the third track, "Bad Blood," I was surprised in a good way. It's quite different from typical Joe Lynn Turner music. Exactly, it's interesting precisely because it's not typical. It has rock, jazz, fusion, funk... everything is packed into it. And there is a message in it. You can't just box it into one genre. That's exactly why I say it stands out both musically and lyrically. There's nothing in it that sounds like what people routinely expect. Except for one thing, that is. And that's high quality. That is my conviction. Maintaining quality and making something of true value is my core philosophy. But I'm glad you like the second half. Many people tell me they prefer the first half, which makes me wonder, "Does that mean they think the second half is weak?" But personally, I prefer the second half. So it makes me happy to hear you say that. The last track, "Knock Knock," is a high-energy rock 'n' roll tune, which reminds me of how "The Race Is On" closed out Rescue You with great energy... Definitely, it definitely reminds me of Van Halen. It's a fun song. A female singer named Katie Mac talks and laughs on it with me. It's based on a girl I actually met on a flight from New York to LA; she ended up becoming famous a few years later. It's Demi Moore! Yeah, this was before Demi Moore became famous. She was acting in a daytime soap opera in New York at the time. I already knew about Bruce Willis back then because he was working as a bartender in New York. He worked at "Heartbreak," the "Kamikaze Bar," all sorts of bars. People used to call him Bruno back in the day. There's no need to market this song as being about Demi Moore, though. It just served as the inspiration. But there are tons of people who head out to LA to become stars in Hollywood. This song is about that girl I talked to on the plane... a girl who left some small town for LA wanting to become a star, and actually made it. However, the phrase "Knock Knock" actually refers to "using sex to get into the movies"... that kind of playing the game. Very David Lee Roth, right? (laughs) It's a fun track. Rock 'n' roll has to be fun. I've been friends with Dave for a long time, but nobody really understands him. Dave is always hilarious to me. He's like a rock 'n' roll philosopher. He always says things like, "Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it," or "You're a singer and I'm an entertainer. If we study each other, I might get better as an entertainer, and you might get better as a singer." He's absolutely right. He's always cool, always funny, and always incredibly genuine. When he made Crazy from the Heat, people noticed for the first time, "Oh, he's funny. He's comical," but being funny is just natural to him. He was exactly the same way in Van Halen, but nobody understood it. In fact, I don't think anyone really understands his new material either. I absolutely love David Lee Roth's solo work. Even more than his time in Van Halen…… He's a real character. Incredibly entertaining. Anyway, "Let Me Love You Again" is also a very special song to me. I hope everyone likes it. "Baby's Got a Habit" was written about six years ago with Allee Willis and Rickie Byars. It was a lot of fun. As for others... "Save a Place" was written with Paul Sabu. We already talked about "The Last Thing." "Promise of Love" was written by a blues player friend of mine, Rhett Tyler, and that song had been stuck in my mind for the longest time. It's a beautiful song about relationships between men and women. It's about helping each other and growing stronger together. If we promise love, we can make it a reality in this world. This album really showcases your distinct identity as a singer. Thank you. I've actually been a bit nervous. This is quite an unusual style for me... Of course, you know that this is the kind of singer I've always been, and you might tell people, "He's always been this kind of vocalist," but the kids still have this fixed image of me from Deep Purple and Rainbow. I just hope they can grow along with me and enjoy this album. I think the timing is much better now than it would have been two or three years ago. Right now, it's.... You mean it aligns well with today's current style? I completely agree. Anyone who listens to this will instantly get what kind of singer you truly are. If they listen, they'll get it... Hearing you say that makes me incredibly happy. Because I'm trying my absolute best to express my emotions honestly and grow. I want everyone to accept that. I don't want people acting like the Deep Purple fan club, rejecting Joe Lynn Turner just because they prefer Ian Gillan. Why do we have to fight about it? I love Ian Gillan. I grew up listening to Ian Gillan myself. But give me a chance, too. It was a massive ordeal at first. People were saying, "There's no way Joe Lynn Turner belongs in Deep Purple." It was brutal in Europe — especially in Germany and the UK; people were practically throwing stones at me. Why? I don't think I did such a terrible job... Even now, those fan clubs are just stuck in their ways. They don't want to see anything new, they don't want to listen, they don't want to know. They're crazy people. It was the same way when you joined Rainbow. I felt so frustrated on your behalf. But just like you said, the timing is definitely right now. This kind of music is finally coming back. Honest songs and honest artists are making a return. I'm glad to be releasing it at a time like this. I feel this style is much more accepted now than before. Every single song on here is an emotional track that you could perform with just a single acoustic guitar. Please make sure to visit Japan again. I'll get there as soon as I possibly can. Japan is a very special country to me. Succeeding in Japan is my greatest wish. Every time I visit, I go sightseeing in places like Kyoto and bring back all sorts of things. At this point, my room looks exactly like a traditional Japanese room! (laughs) © BURRN Magazine no 10 - October 1995