Bryan Adams Interview / By Sean Spillane
Bryan Adams' low key tour stops in state
By SEAN SPILLANE
sspillane@ctpost.com
It's been nearly 10 years since Bryan Adams skyrocketed with his single, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," and over 20 years since the release of his first album, but the Canadian-born rocker shows no signs of slowing down.
Adams, who completed a 12-day, 11-city tour of eastern Canada in February, is back in the United States for a brief tour of the Northeast, which stops at the Warner Theatre in Torrington for a sold-out show Friday night at 8.aid.)
"This month, we're doing 11 shows in 11 days in America," Adams said in a recent e-mail interview.
"Next month, we go to India and Sri Lanka for a week to do a bit of the same. It's going to be incredible. Every month we go somewhere where we can blast out for a few hours.
"I'm into it because we haven't toured much in the U.S. in the last few years, so it will be interesting to see what's going on. I don't have a record to promote or a world tour to hype, it's just a couple hours of Mickey Curry [originally from Guilford] on drums, Keith Scott on guitar and me on bass."
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(That's right, Adams has given up his guitar duties to concentrate on the bass. "My guitarist, Keith Scott, gave me a Beatles bass for my birthday when I was making demos for [1998's] On A Day Like Today. That was it. After that, I was hooked and ended up doing most of the last record [on bass]. From there it was logical to go on stage and play it," Adams said.
The son of a diplomat, Adams was born in Canada, but spent most of his childhood in Europe and the Middle East. It was in Europe where Adams got his musical education, listening to British bands such as T. Rex, the Who and Humble Pie, "although I did like Alice Cooper, Janis Joplin and CCR."
Back in his native land, Adams started forming bands and forming his sound. He put out two records before hitting it big with 1983's Cuts Like a Knife. The combination of rockers (the title track, "This Time") and ballads ("Straight from the Heart") would become a trademark of Adams' albums.
His career soared even higher with the release of 1984's multiplatinum Reckless, which had the hits "It's Only Love," "Run To You," "Heaven," and "Summer of '69."
That was just a prelude to 1991's Waking Up the Neighbors, which featured the song "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." The song was also featured in the Kevin Costner movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," with an accompanying video that a music channel staple.
"What happened with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You' was phenomenal. It basically eclipsed every other song we released that year. And everyone else on the planet's [songs] for that matter," said Adams, who has lived in England since 1990. "It ended up being the longest-running No. 1 single in
British history, staying four months at No. 1.
"In some ways, it's enabled me to go to places most people only dream about visiting, never mind singing at."
Adams has put out five albums since then, including two volumes of greatest hits and an unplugged record, and is hard at work on what will be his 13th album.
"We just came back from Paris, where we recorded basic tracks for over 15 songs," Adams said.
"We should have another record out by the autumn."
So after 25 years and more than 55 million albums sold, is Adams surprised or impressed by his longevity in such a fickle business?
"Impressed would be the wrong word," he replied.
"I've worked really hard for a long time. The result is we're able to gig any time we want, anywhere in the world."
"In the last six months, we've played everywhere from Beirut to the Vatican in Rome, from Edinburgh, Scotland to St. Petersburg in Russia. We've seen some of the most incredible things and some of the most beautiful parts of the world, all because of music."
