Finally, I had an interview with one of the greatest in AOR history: JIM PETERIK. He was kind enough to do a very long interview with me and we talked about the past (SURVIVOR and IDES OF MARCH) and the present (WORLD STAGE 2000) and also a bit about the things to come in the future. I must say that this is one of the best interviews I have done for the past few years, so I'll hope you will enjoy reading as much as we took the time to make this interview possible, read on...
Can you tell us first about your first music experiences and so the beginning of your carreer?
I took two years of
piano lessons when I was about six years old. I hated practicing
and quit lessons when I knew enough so I could improvise by ear.
I then took up the saxophone in the 4th grade. My dad was a great
saxophone player and jobbed with the band the "Hi
Hatters" around Chicago mostly polkas and standards. But my
real first musical experience was when my older sister first put
a ukulele in my hand when I was five. I couldn't even get my hand
around the tiny neck but I was hooked. At age 11 I got my first
electric guitar a Davoli Wandre from Italy. I taught myself
basing the chording on the ukulele - I still form my chords all
wrong. I learned all the Venture's tunes, Chuck Berry, Wilbur
Harris, Early Presley, Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy. when I was 12 I
entered the talented teen in search held near Chicago. I played
“Kansas City”. It felt so good to hear my voice,
through the p.a. and to hear the people applaud. At that moment I
was hooked for life. For the first time I felt really fulfilled.
In the early 70s you played in IDES OF MARCH and scored a massive hit ("Vehicle"). tell us all about this period...
The Ides of March
started out in 1965 as schoolmates at Morton West high school in
Berwyn. I was the lead singer, lead guitarist and front man. We
started out mainly covering Ventures and British invasion songs
and had many singles out on Parrot records between 1966 and 1968
(now re-issued on Sundazed records called Ideology). We even
scored a number 42 in Billboard in 1966 with “You Wouldn't
Listen”. But by 1970, we had added brass and were very
influenced by Blood Sweat and Tears. We weren't jazz guys though,
we were rockers and the result was a song called
“Vehicle” which I wrote for my future wife Karen. The
band was all in high school or first year college so toured on
weekends through the summer of 1970. What a summer it was. As we
watched the record climbed to #1 we played festivals in USA and
Canada with Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Led Zeppelin, the
Youngbloods, the Grateful Dead , the Allman Brothers, Poco and so
many more. it was unbelievable for me at age 19 and a summer
I’ll always remember.
In
the late 70s you released a solo-LP, can you tell us about it...
The Ides broke up
in November 1973. Some of the guys went into straight gigs but I
went in pursuit of a solo deal. Finally, in 1976 I landed a deal
with Epic Records and put out Don't Fight The Feeling. It was far
from a mega success but had some good songs on it and some great
people like Tommy Shaw, James Young (JY), Bruce Gaitsch, Gary
Smith, Dennis Johnson, and yes, even Dave Bickler adding their
considerable talents. It was engineered by none other than Barry
Mraz, the brilliant Chicago engineer who did all of those early
of Styx records. Tragically, he passed away some years ago. I did
some great shows with the band opening for Boston in their first
live gig ever at Chicago's Uptown Theater opening for Heart.
Then you wrote some big hits for 38 SPECIAL, can you recall this period, how did you get in touch with them and how came that these songs ("Hold on loosely" and "Rockin' into the night") became such big hits in the USA?
Survivor had
recorded the song “Rockin’ Into the Night” with
Ron Nevison for our first album. Ron felt the song didn't fit the
album and the person that signed us to Scotti Brothers/Atlantic
gave a rough mix to Mark Specter, 38 Special’s manager. 38
loved it and it became their first-ever hit. After that John
Kolodner put me together with them to write songs for their next
album. The first song we came up with, as Don Barnes, Jeff
Carlisi and I were strumming around my kitchen table was
“Hold on Loosely” - talk about beginner's luck! From
there we got on a roll, and in the next few years wrote a nice
string of hits, including “Caught up in You”,
“Fantasy Girl”, “Wild Eyed Southern Boys”,
“Chain Lightning”, “Keep on Running Away”,
and “Prisoners of Rock-and-Roll”. I write with 38
Special to this day and we have a great relationship.
How did you get in touch with Dave Bickler and Frankie Sullivan and when did you form SURVIVOR?
In 1973, I was
singing jingles in Chicago (Schlitz malt liquor, Sunkist orange
soda etc.) to support my expensive recording habit, and found
myself at a session with an amazing singer named Dave Bickler.
His range was incredible he had an interesting voice and was a
very nice guy . I asked him to sing on my solo album. When I
decided to put another band together I tried to find the cream of
the crop. I had noticed a brilliant young guitarist named Frankie
Sullivan playing in a band called Mariah. When I went to see
them, Frankie’s energy and stage presence blew me away. He
was the first person to come over and play with me for what was
to be the new Jim Peterik Band. I retained Dennis and Gary from
the last band and called Dave Bickler to see how it all sounded
together. It was amazing! We had some originals I had recently
written like “Somewhere in America”, ”She's
Arrived”, “Drifting Away”, “Life Is On The
Line”, “Indigo Nights”, “Love Has Got
Me” and others. We
started playing clubs as the Jim Peterik Band but soon realized
this was a true band in every sense of the word and chose the
name Survivor from the liner notes of my solo album. From that
point on we never looked back.
Can
you tell us about the SURVIVOR debut in 1980?
We recorded our
first album with Ron Nevison in 1979. Going out to L.A. to
record, and living in a house together in Playa Del Ray was a
real rock and roll dream come true. Everyday we'd get up, run on
the beach, climb into a car, drive down to the Record Plant and
record with one of rock's greatest producers at one of the
world's greatest studios. Regrettably, Ron was taken off the job
in the early part of mix down. Although Bruce Fairburn and Bob
Rock were hired to take over, the mixes never seemed to equal
those great Nevison playbacks. The album got some attention for
the band worldwide and basically made at the world aware that
there was a new force rising up from Chicago.
In 1981 there was 'Premonition', a wonderful record, but it didn't became the big success you wanted, anyway, please tell us all about the album and the period?
Premonition is one
of my two favorite Survivor records. At this point, the record
label said that our demos sounded so good “Why don't you and
Frankie produce the next one yourselves.” That was a ballsy
move on their part and one that I don't think they ever
regretted. By that time, Gary and Dennis were replaced by Mark
Droubay and Stephan Ellis. Frank had known Mark for years and we
discovered Stephan in L.A. playing in a band called Baxter in a
disco roller rink called Flippers. As soon as the new lineup
played the first song, we knew we had that special sound and a
signature all our own. Premonition reflected that new sound and
we are told that it was part of what attracted Sly Stallone to
the band in the first place. Songs from that album like
“Summer Nights”, “Poor Man's Son”, and
“Light Of A Thousand Smiles” are still among my
favorites. “Summer Nights” was, in my opinion, the
first great song Frankie and I wrote together. We were
disappointed by the sales of
Premonition but still optimistic about the future, even though we
were still playing clubs. We somehow felt we were one step away.
In 1982 came the big break-through when the SURVIVOR song "Eye of the tiger" became a worldwide hitsingle, partly due to the movie 'Rocky 3' which featured the song as 'theme-song', please tell us all about the song, when you wrote it, was it really Sylvester Stallone who liked it and choose it for the movie, was it thanks to him the song became such a big hit, and just please tell us all about the period the song was written...
Like any huge hit,
many events have to come together at the right time. It started
with a message to both Frankie and my answering machines from Sly
Stallone. Frankie and I got together at my house and called him
back. He told us of his new Rocky III movie, that it was complete
except for the title song. He had heard our Premonition album and
liked the tough honesty of that record. But he was looking to
update the sound he had on the earlier Rocky movies and thought
we'd be perfect. We knew at that moment that our big break had
come - if only we could deliver the goods. Stallone sent us the
first three minutes of the movie where the song was to appear. It
featured Stallone getting rich and soft contrasting the sinewy
Mr. T.- rising up, ready to kick his ass. I started playing the
dead string riff as Frank and I headed to my music room. We got a
good start on the music that day but needed more grist for the
mill, lyrically. We persuaded Stallone to send us a rough cut of
the entire movie. It was then that song really came together. We
pulled the phrase “the eye of the tiger” from the
dialogue and from there the ideas flowed. We sent Stallone a demo
we did quickly with the band. He flipped out over it, but made us
write a third verse and offered a few other suggestions. Due to
the tightness of the schedule, the version you hear in the actual
movie was the demo version that Frankie mixed in L.A. while he
was spotting-in the music to the soundtrack.
What happened to you when you saw that "Eye of the tiger" was entering all charts worldwide, a dream come true?
When we heard
“Tiger” had hit #1, we were in New Orleans on our tour
with REO Speedwagon. It all seemed pretty unreal than and it
seems even more unreal now.
Then
came the album 'Eye of the tiger', a great record and of course
the sales were also good, tell us more how this album was made,
because in nearly two years the band had released 3 albums, was
this album maybe a bit too soon?
This was a good
period for the band. We knew we had a major selling point with
Eye of the Tiger, but felt we had the goods to round out a great
album. A few of the songs were around for a while like “
Children of the Night” which we’d been performing since
1979. “Ever Since the World Began”, we originally wrote
for Rocky III, but it was not used. (It was used later in a
different version on Stallone’s “Lock-Up” movie in
1990. He also used “Vehicle” by The Ides of March in
the same movie.) Frankie and I wrote “American
Heartbeat” right there in the studio. I wrote “The One
That Really Matters” back in Chicago and many others like
“Feels Like Love” and “Silver Girl” were
written and arranged back in the Chicago carpet warehouse where
we used to rehearse. Frankie and I again produced the album with
Mike Clink joining Phil Bonnano for the engineering. We recorded
the album in the L.A. suburb of Canoga Park at a studio owned by
Daryl Dragon of the Captain and
Tenille fame called Rumbo Recorders. We had also recorded
Premonition there, so we felt comfortable. Sadly my father passed
away just as we were finishing vocals and I went back to Chicago
for a few days while Frankie continued work. When I came back
Dave was singing the last few lines of “Eye of The
Tiger”. When they cranked up the playback I was overwhelmed
by what I heard! After the loss I had just suffered, it was
exactly what I needed to help me get back on my feet.
One year later 'Caught in the game' was released, this album is probably the best SURVIVOR album with Dave Bickler on vocals, really great songs and singing, please tell us more about this album?
Caught in the Game
is certainly a favorite for many people. For me, it is in some
ways a hard album to listen to because it was a hard period for
the band. Nothing came easy. Maybe I can hear the struggles we
were going through at that time. We felt an enormous amount of
pressure to top the success of Tiger and I think it added to the
tension in the band. Also, Dave started having problems with his
vocal chords, making vocal sessions a longer process. But there
are many musical highlights for me: “Caught in the
Game”, undoubtedly one of the best guitar riffs Frankie ever
came up with, “I Never Stopped Loving You” (I think of
that song as the prototype for “The Search is Over”),
“What do You Really Think” and of course , “Santa
Anna Winds”.
And again we only have to wait one year for a new LP, only this time you had changed from lead singer, why did you do that, because Dave Bickler was almost as good as Jimi Jamison?
Dave Bickler left
the band in Late 1983 due to throat difficulties. After his
surgical procedure, he needed a lot of time to recover.
How did you actually came to the decision to recruit Jimi as new singer?
We auditioned 3 or
4 singers to replace Dave. The best besides Jimi was Kevin
Chalfant of 707 who went on to front “The Storm”. We
went with Jimi because of his great combination of assets.
Then there was 'Vital signs' in 1984, one of my favourite albums of all times, this album can easily be called 'The Perfect AOR record'. Please tell me evrything about this Classic...
Vital signs is my
personal favorite as well. Somehow with the pressure off and new
blood in the band, it was the perfect climate for a great album.
Everyone’s attitude was incredible as we rehearsed day after
day at the carpet warehouse. It seemed everyday Frankie or I were
coming in with the seeds to a new tune. We recruited Ron Nevison
again to produce (this time he saw the album all the way through
mix-down). We cut basic tracks in studio D at the Record Plant on
3rd Street in LA. We had cut enough tracks for the record, but
when Frankie started playing a certain magical riff, we knew we
had to write one more. That song became “I Can’t Hold
Back”, one of my favorite tracks on the record. We flew up
to Sausalito to do overdubs and mix at the Record Plant. We all
lived in a house together in Mill Valley. I stayed in the coach
house so I could play piano as long as I wanted. Some of the
parties in that house were not to be believed! I can still listen
to that record all the way through and really enjoy it. It has a
very good vibe and consistent mood. It all came together for us
on that one.
In 1985 Stallone again choose SURVIVOR to perform a song in a Rocky movie, this time youw rote "Burning heart", this song also became a worldwide hitsingle and actually by then you guys had reached the highest peak in your career. The Rocky 4 soundtrack became one of the biggest selling soundtracks ever and SURVIVOR was worldwide known, can you please tell me evrything about this period, and about "Burning heart"?
We were on the road
touring when Stallone contacted us again. Frankie came to me
excitedly one day and said Sly wanted us to write songs for his
new movie Rocky IV. We again read the script and got to work even
in the middle of the tour. I remember setting up my electric
piano in a hotel room and banging out the first chords of
“Burning Heart” – (originally titled “The
Unmistakable Fire”) and a song never used in the movie but
heard on When Seconds Count called “Man Against the
World”. We cut “Burning Heart” in Chicago at
Jor-dan Studios with Phil Bonnano engineering.
1986 and 'When seconds count', another Classic superb AOR record, but maybe a copy of 'Vital signs' or not, please explain and tell us about the album?
When Seconds Count was another case of the pressure of following up a classic. Certain tracks flowed very smoothly like “Is This Love” and “Rebel Son”. In my opinion, “Man Against the World” (and the video that accompanied it) is one of the most powerful ballads Survivor ever did. Other songs came a bit harder although I believe the song “When Seconds Count” is very underrated. Nevison and Frankie produced this album. I co-produced “Man against the World” and was associate producer on the rest.
Why did you put
away Ron Nevison as producer and hired Frank Filipetti as new
producer, because after all it was Ron who gave you the success
because of his polished productions?
Sometimes change is
necessary to keep moving. Frank Sullivan and I admired Frank
Fillipettis work on Agent
Provocateur and James Taylor’s That’s Why I’m
Here. We were looking for a slightly different sound and the
direction we with it.
'Too hot to sleep' was a very different SURVIVOR record, yes some songs were pure SURVIVOR, but you can feel that something was bothering you and you wanted something different, wasn't it...
Too Hot to Sleep
was a bit different for Survivor - different co-producer,
different engineer, different studio, different drummer and bass
player. The only common elements were Frankie’s
co-production, the songs we wrote together and Jamison’s
voice. I think we were pushing things in a slightly harder
direction with songs like “Burning Bridges”,
“Rhythm of the City”, “Here Comes Desire” and
“She’s a Star”. But the pop was still present in
the form of “Didn’t Know it was Love”,
“Across the Miles” and my personal favorite
“Desperate Dreams”. We tracked the record in New York
City at Right Track Studios and overdubbed and mixed at Right
Track. Tommy Shaw of Styx came by and sang back-ups with us on a
few cuts. A New York session singer named Rory Dodd did the
harmonies on “Across the Miles”.
This album was also the end for SURVIVOR, what did you do right after the split?
We were crushed
when this album didn’t do nearly as well as we expected.
Morale was down and we felt our our label had really let us down.
Jamison did a solo album at this point. Frankie concentrated on
production work and I mainly wrote songs with groups like 38
Special, The Doobie Brothers, The Questionaires, Tangier,
Aerosmith and solo artist, John Wetton. I also produced albums
for The David Carl Band and Captive Heart, wrote and produced for
Kane Roberts and Chicago singer, Cathy Richardson.
Somewhere in 1993 SURVIVOR returned with a few new songs on a 'Greatest Hits' record, how long did this reunion last?
In 1993 we were
contacted by Scotti Brothers Records to come up with two new
songs for a revamped greatest hits package. Frankie and I got
right down to business. The two tracks picked were “You Know
Who You Are” and “Hungry Years”, both produced by
Frankie and myself and sung by Dave Bickler. I toured with the
band until mid ‘96. We made two trips to Germany in that
time – once for a three week tour and the last time to play
“Eye of the Tiger” for a major international boxing
match.
The past few years SURVIVOR was a lot of talked about, but you never wanted to get involved in either Frankie's or Jimi Jamison's SURVIVOR, have you closed the book of SURVIVOR now for always or will you ever be part again of SURVIVOR, especially since Frankie and Jimi are back together again?
From what I hear
the original “Jamison era” band is together minus yours
truly. I am very happy with my life and career currently –
I’m doing things I love the most - writing songs with some
of my favorite bands, performing with the Ides of March and World
Stage, discovering new artists and of course, spending time with
my wife of 28 years, Karen and my 10 year old son, Colin. I
can’t ask for much more.
Since last year we were surprised to hear you were planning to release a solo-CD as JIM PETERIK AND WORLD STAGE and now it has been released, can you please tell us all about it...
Jim Peterik and
World Stage is a culmination of 35 years in the business for me.-
it’s the friends I’ve made, the wisdom I’ve gained
along the way and the kind of music that I like the best.
It’s a coming together of many talented singers and
musicians to make one unique sound with guest artists like Kevin
Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Don Barnes of 38 Special, Kelly Keagy
of Night Ranger, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, blues legend Buddy Guy,
Johnny VanZant of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Keifer of Cinderella and
Rick Nielsen and Bun E Carlos of Cheap Trick as well as newer
artists such as Cathy Richardson, Anthony Gomes, Jeff Boyle,
David Carl and Margaret Becker.
How did you get so many great musicians involved?
The musicians and
singers got involved because they wanted to be a part of my dream
project. I feel very lucky that I could surround myself with such
talented and gracious people – so supportive of what
I’m all about.
I would like to
hear from you some comments on a couple of my favourites of the
record...
"Fade to blue" written with Danny Chauncey and Don
Barnes of 38 Special is based on a conversation I was having with
Don regarding the pain he felt while living on the road and being
separated for long periods of time from the one he loved - his
wife Gina.
“To Miss Somebody”, very similar in theme, was also written with Don. Gee, I guess he really did miss her! We wrote this in Atlanta at Don’s house for the upcoming 38 Special record, but I convinced him that I needed the song more than they did.
“Diamonds for
Stones”, is probably my favorite song on the album –
I’m a sucker for a good power ballad. It’s
especially dear to me because when I was writing it at the grand
piano in my great room, Karen called down from the bedroom and
said “Why don’t you call it Diamonds for Stones.”
I was totally blown away by the idea and wrote the lyric around
the hook.
“Between Two Fires” was written with my buddy Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon. We were writing songs for their “Ballads” album when this one came along out of nowhere. I had the lyrical and musical phrase “and I can’t hold on and I can’t let go” and we developed the story about a man caught in the web of temptation. Gradually, over the period of a month, the song took shape. Reese Candee, my video director has the entire writing process of that song on tape from it’s inception all the way to mix down and performance at my World Stage concert in Chicago in January 2000.
“Long Road
Home” – I wrote this song way back in 92’ or
93’. I was commissioned to write the end title song
for the movie “Backdraft”. Filmed in Chicago, I was
very inspired by the closing scene of the skyline at sunrise.
This song just poured out of me describing the relationship of
two brothers in the film – one of them lost his life in a
fire, the other brother realized too late that he had never
expressed his love for him. The song ended up being replaced by a
Bruce Hornsby song (talk about movie politics), but I got a great
song out of it and I believe the message stands with or without
the movie.
Why did you
re-record "Eye of the tiger"?
I recorded
“Eye of the Tiger” for many reasons. I felt the year
2000 needed this message out there again and presented in a new
way. You can never really improve on a classic and the original
Survivor recording is just that - but it was fun to reinvent it,
put a new feel to it and let people hear it with new ears. I
think the new version really drives.
I must admit that it's a great new version and can you please tell me more about the guest vocalist on this song, Jeff Boyle?
Jeff Boyle is an
undiscovered gem from Chicago. He is a producer in town who also
puts out albums under his own name and performs locally. He has 2
albums out and is working on his third. They are quite hard to
find but well worth the effort. He was actually the drum
programmer on “You Know Who You Are” back in 1993. He
is a very gifted songwriter as well.
And why the re-recording of "Vehicle"?
Again,
“Vehicle” was a challenge – and I like challenges!
It was one of my biggest career songs and the Ides’original
from 1970 still stands the test of time. When I concocted the
idea of doing a blues version of it, and Buddy Guy agreed to do
the duet, I decided it had to be recorded.
I never knew you had a really good voice, because you never got to sing some lead vocals on a SURVIVOR record, but this CD proves you can really sing very well, kinda like Dave Bickler, why didn't you sing more songs in the past...
I was the lead
singer with The Ides of March and sang “Vehicle” when I
was 19, as well as singing the entire Ides’ repertoire. My
original concept of Survivor, was for Dave Bickler and I to trade
off lead vocals and in the first album you hear some of that
– “Somewhere in America”, “Love Has Got
Me” and “Whatever it Takes”. I’m not exactly
sure what happened after that but let’s just say I
wasn’t encouraged to sing by various band members, producers
and co-producers and I gradually gave up the fight. I truly
missed doing at least some lead singing and I also missed playing
guitar (which was my main instrument in the Ides of March). I
think Frankie felt I played out of tune and too loud! We had some
blazing guitar duels in the early days of Survivor at the Chicago
clubs. One of my greatest joys now is singing lead, playing
guitar and fronting a band, whether it’s the Ides, World
Stage, or just me, solo. I love talking to the audience, telling
stories about the songs and getting them fired up – I live
for that. I’d rather do what I do best at a smaller venue
than be a wooden Indian standing in the back
playing keyboards at a huge stadium.
Some time ago you also did this superb ballad with Kevin Chalfant, called "Sum of hearts", I thought it was gonna end up on your solo release or Kevin's Two Fires CD, but neither featured the song, are you planning to put this song on a future CD, because it is so beautiful and really needs to be on a CD...
“The Sum of our Hearts” was written by Kevin Chalfant and I as a theme song for a Rainbow Foundation event to raise money for a young boy in Illinois who was battling a rare form of cancer. I’m really not sure where this song will end up – but I agree it needs to be heard. It could possibly be on an upcoming Chalfant album or even World Stage.
What are the plans
for the coming months?
The summer months I
will be busy doing shows with the Ides of March and planning
World Stage concerts for the fall and winter. I am also doing
heavy radio and newspaper promotion to get the word out on World
Stage. I’m co-producing a gifted 18 year old girl from St.
Charles named Leslie Hunt, continuing to write with Cinderella
for their new album and up-and-coming blues artist Anthony Gomes
- featured on “Working Blue” on World Stage. I’m
also considering various other production projects.
Finally, do you have anything to say to the fans out there?
To my fans I’d
like to say “Thanks!” for all the support through the
years. The letters, e-mails and correspondence really keep me
going. Sometimes it’s easy to think you aren’t making a
dent in this world – just then I’ll get a message from
someone I’ve touched with one of my songs and it’s all
worthwhile. Also, thanks for getting the message in my songs.
Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s hidden between
the lines. The message is Hope. I try to put a little bit in
every song, and when that comes through I’ve done my job.
Many thanks for the interview, you are one of the greatest when it comes to songwriting, I hope to see some new songs soon, all the best!
Thanks must go out to Jim Peterik, all pictures are used with permission of Jim's website: http://www.jimpeterik.com