POP MUSIC
INTERVIEW:
Bryan Adams 12:34
This Side of Paradise
Pete Fornatale 13:07
Bryan Adams and a live version of this Side of Paradise from his latest CD room service on mixed bag radio. Bryan is actually here with us today to talk about not one but two current projects, the musical one that I just mentioned. But Brian, let's start with the non music one, which is a book, a photographic essay actually called American women.
Bryan Adams 13:29
That's correct. Yeah.
Pete Fornatale 13:30
Tell me a little bit about how it came about?
Bryan Adams 13:32
Well, it's actually a collaboration with Calvin Klein. And it's sort of a one of a trilogy of books I've done in support of breast cancer because it's, it's a tribute to a friend of mine who passed away back in the 90s. And I did a book as a tribute to her in Canada called made in Canada. And the project seems to have kept going and going and going. And we've raised a lot of money over the years from from doing these books. And so I've continued in that spirit with with my friend Donna as the muse.
Pete Fornatale 14:05
Oh, that's lovely.
Bryan Adams 14:06
Yeah.
Pete Fornatale 14:07
Tell me who some of the American women are and what the experience was like photographing with them.
Bryan Adams 14:11
Well, there's a lot of people there's 90 Something portraits in the book and all the proceeds go to the Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York City. And there's everybody from Hillary Clinton to Hillary Swank and, and Brittany Murphy to you know, Katie Couric has a lot of people here
Pete Fornatale 14:31
who's the one that got away?
Bryan Adams 14:33
Oh, they all got away.
Pete Fornatale 14:36
I noticed in some of your in one of your interviews, you mentioned that you were in the hunt for Oprah did that work out?
Bryan Adams 14:43
No, I never got Oprah and I would love to have had her on and I would still like to have her support the book in some way.
Pete Fornatale 14:50
Volume 2
Bryan Adams 14:52
maybe
Pete Fornatale 14:52
music is a passion photography as a passion. Are they equal passions?
Bryan Adams 14:57
Well, I don't think anything will fit the shoes of make He records in music that this there's this, they're just the shoes are too big and they're too well worn, you know. And so I, I do this as sort of a way of diverting my creative energy. Instead of making records and touring all the time, I try and do something else just to give my brain a break. And photography seems to be the ultimate way of doing that for me
Pete Fornatale 15:21
any any formal training.
Bryan Adams 15:23
Zero, I have zero formal training in anything, and probably going to have to keep it that way.
Pete Fornatale 15:29
You don't want to spoil it. No. No, that that makes eminent eminent sense to me. Are there any parallels between the two means of artistic expression?
Bryan Adams 15:43
Only from the sense that perhaps the both of them start with nothing? You know, you know, I mean, they both have blank canvas when you start, that's the only thing parallel I could really, you know, give you but, you know, the process of producing a song is as equally as complicated as it is to produce a photograph. So, a good one that is,
Pete Fornatale 16:06
I know exactly what you're talking about when I have an idea for a show. And I'm staring at a blank page. Yeah, no, it's just that moment of panic. You know, can you go to the well, again, can you do it again? And then all of a sudden, what you mentioned the word Muse before or, you know, something in the atmosphere. All of a sudden, the pages, the pages filled up, and you've got some incredible stuff? That's, that's the joy. I think that is the joy. More than anything.
Bryan Adams 16:35
Yeah, it is. Absolutely.
Pete Fornatale 16:37
And then when, when people like it, that's not bad, either. It helps. And you certainly had that happen many times over?
Bryan Adams 16:45
Yeah, occasionally got lucky. Yeah.
Pete Fornatale 16:47
As I mentioned earlier, the latest album is called room service. And without even knowing anything about your past is the obvious connection to your life as a road warrior, which you have been since day one. Has that experience of traveling on the road changed for you in that last quarter century?
Bryan Adams 17:10
Well, only the the selection of songs is perhaps slightly more you know, I've got a I've got an arsenal of songs to play. So when he started out, when I started out 20 years ago, the certainly wasn't the the setlist as it is today.
Pete Fornatale 17:28
Even the way this record was recorded is different from what you've done in the past. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Bryan Adams 17:35
Sure. The, the album was recorded unconventionally, because of the way technology is today, it's so simple to record. We just packed up a little computer and took it on tour and 90% of the album was recorded in hotel rooms and backstage, which was a great creative relief for me, because, you know, being on tour is fine. But the 22 hours that you're not playing, and just you're traveling or sitting in hotels is much prefer to find something that you know, to do creatively. And so this was a great outlet. So I spent a lot of time setting on the SAT around the hotel, just working on songs.
Pete Fornatale 18:15
You know, the irony of what you're saying is that we are recording this in a legendary New York recording studio now hold the Hit Factory, which isn't here anymore, because of those new methods of technology. It is a changing business that you find yourself in, isn't it? Both in the way but good thing?
Bryan Adams 18:34
That's a good thing? Yeah. Yeah.
Pete Fornatale 18:36
In what ways do you feel it's better?
Bryan Adams 18:38
Well I think it's good to keep the goalposts moving the you know, the the advent of digital technology. I knew it was going to change everything back in the 80s. When people brought out CDs, he you know, the sound quality was better. I mean, arguably, some people still feel vinyls better. But, you know, from my, you know, limited ear threshold, you know, I always thought the DVD, the DVD of the CD sounded better so and, you know, it was inevitable that things are going to change and it has, it's, it's going to keep changing, I reckon.
Pete Fornatale 19:14
I tried to think of other albums that might have been recorded in this fashion and Jackson Browns came to mind.
Bryan Adams 19:22
There's a lot of live albums that have been recorded, you know, on tour on the road. Yeah. But I don't know if there's a lot of them been done in hotels. I mean, the only only album I can think of that's been actually done completely in a hotel was Deep Purple's machine head. Yeah, because Jackson's record was recorded live. I mean, well, there was some you know what I'm thinking I think there are there are some stuff on a bus and some other things. Yeah, when his record but
Pete Fornatale 19:50
you also wrote the songs in that fashion. That's obviously a different way of writing songs for an album. Can you explain what some of the differences This might be
Bryan Adams 20:00
well, you know, I mean, songwriting just for me is I had sort of just locked myself up and go somewhere. And you know, there's no place better to do that than a hotel. Really?
Pete Fornatale 20:14
Are you disciplined writer? Somebody's a discipline. Was it what felt good,
Bryan Adams 20:21
I have to have to discipline about it. Because the if I was to, if I was to just stay at home and work, which I don't, the phone would be ringing, there'd be too many distractions, I have to literally go away somewhere.
Pete Fornatale 20:34
It's interesting to get all of the different perspectives, Paul Simon told me that he literally it's almost like office hours, gets up at eight, writes till noon, breaks for lunch, finish it and then gets back does all the writing at home, and then goes off to work it out in the studio.
Bryan Adams 20:53
I'm not surprised.
Pete Fornatale 20:54
Yeah. But this this process seems like a very alive way of doing an album
Bryan Adams 21:02
what's also the inspiration hits, you're just you can just put it down. So but there have been mishaps, I have to say with digital because there was one incident recent instance recently where I lost an entire track. Oh, and we tried to recover it from the hard disk and it just was gone. So I had to go back and record it again. But, you know, luckily, it was only a acoustic guitar and vocal performance, but still, you know, it's annoying because you think you've got a great performance and then you have to write go back and so it's not flawless. You know, it's, you know, and of course I tell this to my friends who are producers and engineers and they go well, I kinda remember the tape you know, it was great when we just put it on tape and it never left you know. So anyway,
Pete Fornatale 21:42
we wanted to play something that was representative of the album and the way it was recorded and we were on the same page on what to play first that being the title track room service, what can you tell me about
Bryan Adams 21:53
well, I can tell you that it's it was one of the last songs recorded for the record and do you want me to play live for you. So what are you going to play
Pete Fornatale 22:05
we're going to we're going to we're going to play any anytime you want to play some of the live that's fine with me
Bryan Adams 22:09
No play play it play it play the album version because I think it's indicative of what the album is really about. Um, but it's kind of like you know, turning the peep hole in the door the other way around. So looking into the in looking into the room as opposed to looking out
Pete Fornatale 22:24
this is Bryan Adams and the title track from his latest CD room service.
Pete Fornatale 22:32
That's room service the title track from Bryan Adams latest CD Pete Fornatale on mixed bag radio. I'll have more with Brian after this. One down two to go.
Bryan Adams 22:42
We're not going to be be able to open road because Oh, my harmonica
Pete Fornatale 22:46
Is there one of the older things you would play acoustic
Bryan Adams 22:49
No, So what else can we do?
Pete Fornatale 22:53
What would what would be another choice?
Bryan Adams 22:56
Well, I suppose I could probably play it without the harmonica. What the hell I do to bad. Damn. see if this was the old hit factory we could probably find a harmonica.
Pete Fornatale 23:11
Did you record here, Bryan?
Bryan Adams 23:12
Um, no, I never did. I've been to this. I was at the studio when it was all done up though. I remember being here I visit some brother some brothers Italian brothers on this place.