HOUSE OF LORDS
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
AUGUST 1989
Before new wave, rap music and MTV there was progressive rock music.
Many bands attempted to earn a place in rock music history by fighting for the progressive rock king's throne and establishing their kingdom. As the battles laid waste to many bands' dreams of winning the war, few survivors were to be found on the record charts and radio airways. House of Lords rises up from the ruins of these dark ages and sets up a musical roundtable that gives vocalist James Christina, keyboard wizard Gregg Guiffria, bassist Chuck Wright, guitarist Lanny Cordola and drummer Ken Mary a new quest for success in the progressive rock realm. In an interview, the members of the House Of Lords discuss their battle strategies and future conquests.
Q:Would you consider the band to be an overnight success?
Chuck Wright: Well, our overnight success took quite a long time to come about. We all have been in the business for quite some time and on the surface we may appear to be an overnight success but we're not. Maybe the fact that two days after we were signed to our record label out line-up was completed gives some people that impression.
Q:What do you feel that you owe to your fans who support your act?
Ken Mary: I think that any band in our position owes the people that support their music the courtesy of at least saying hi and shaking hands with them or giving them an autograph when they ask. We always make a point to be nice to our fans. Like if there is a crowd of fans outside of our tour bus when we leave a concert hall, we will stop and sign autographs for everybody that wants them. I think that it's really important to keep in touch with your fans. You have to be in touch with the people who like you.
Q:How did the classical guitar solo find its way onto the album?
Lanny Cordola: There is an interesting story behind that. That is the actual guitar solo that I used to get my first audition with Giuffria. It was the beginning of a hard rock song and that is what impressed him the most. Chuck liked the solo and he really pushed for it to be placed on the record. I had sent Gregg a tape for my initial audition and the guitar solo was on it and they really did like it.
Q:Do you think progressive rock music will make a comeback in the near future?
Lanny Cordola: We did not consciously write songs in a progressive rock style. It is what we are capable of playing. We were influenced by a lot of seventies bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen. There are elements of progressive rock in our sound, but we are not trying to revive anything like that.
Chuck Wright: I feel that this is the first time that we have all been together in a band that we believe in musically and have faith in everyone's talent. We are all sounding boards for each other. I wouldn?t say that we are attempting to make progressive rock the new big thing. We are going for more musical arrangements that are different from what most music is today.
Q:So you are saying that your sound is not a product of a musical formula?
Chuck Wright: We are products of what we listen to and we are products of our environment. I listen to jazz and classical music, and also bands like Chicago, Steely Dan and Angel.
Lanny Cordola: I am more blues oriented; I love all that stuff.
Q:How did the name House Of Lords come about?
James Christian: The name came about from Gene Simmons hearing our music and saying that his sounds majestic, so why not call the band "House Of Lords"? We all agreed that would be a great name for our act.
Q:On the album there are several different co-writers outside of the band. What is it like to work with so many songwriters on one project?
Gregg Giuffria: Well, we did that deliberately. Everyone is from different countries too! We wanted a different kind of feel, and I had never written with a lot of outside people except for Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick. The people that I wrote with on the House Of Lords album are from Canada, England, South Africa and everywhere else that you can think of! The music publishing companies helped to put all of the songwriters who contributed to this album together to work on this project.
Q:What was it like to be the first act signed on Gene Simmons' new record label?
Chuck Wright: Gene is a very smart businessman. He is very intelligent when it comes to the rock music business. A great deal of independent record labels fail because of improper management. In this case if you look at anyone to try and start their own label, Mick Jagger or whoever it may be, Gene is somebody that we feel can make a successful band happen. He is a great businessman. He ran the whole Kiss organization pretty much along with Paul Stanley, and look at how well they did.
Lanny Cordola: We put our trust in him because he is a musician and he knows what we as a new band are going through because he has been there himself. He really believed in us as a band and that inspired us to work even harder. A lot of people are watching us to see how well we do because Gene is backing us.
Q:Do you feel that you have paid your dues to get into the position that you are in today?
Lanny Cordola: We are not martyrs; we have been that for too long. We have done the trenchwork in the studios and bars and not really gone anywhere.
Ken Mary: I played drums with Alice Cooper's band for about a year. So I had great experience before I came into House Of Lords. I remember one time I played a concert in Rhode Island, and I was sick with food poisoning and a 103-degree fever. I played the entire show, drum solo and all!
Gregg Giuffria: I was part of Angel and my own band, Giuffria, so I really worked hard to get where I am today.
Q:House Of Lords seems to be more music conscious than image conscious.
Ken Mary: We are all veterans of the music industry except for James, whom we decided was the best choice for lead vocals because he has a strong voice and a fresh approach to his singing. Everyone else is a seasoned veteran. Lanny played with Ozzy, Chuck was with Quiet Riot, and I was with Alice Cooper. I don?t think that it would have been right for us to place all the emphasis on our image when we have such a strong musical background among us. We try to do what comes natural to us as far as the music and the image and everything that goes along with it. We are not out to fool anybody and be "too cool" or say that we are into drugs when we are not. We do not want to be hip for the moment or a passing fad. House Of Lords wants to play great music and do what we do; if people love it, then that?s great.
Q:It is crucial for a debut act to land an opening slot on a national tour. How do you keep your opening set strong when you play in concert?
James Christian: Well, basically you have to be thankful for the time that you have to play in concert as an opening act. Most of the time we walk out on stage and put out visually and hope that the soundman at the board is keeping our sound together as we play. It is really hard to get the audience's attention, but we love the challenge of it all. It is not very hard to get psyched to play our opening set because it is exciting being on a national tour.
Q:James, what experience did you have prior to your joining House Of Lords?
James Christian: Well, prior to this band I played in a great deal of bands along the East Coast of the United States. I played in every small bar that is imaginable on the East Coast. Concert halls are really not that much different than playing small clubs because in the clubs I would sing four, one-hour sets a night! Now I sing for 45 minutes in concert. I have been singing nearly all of my life so I already had a solid background before I signed on to be in House Of Lords.
Q:What are some of the rock groups that influenced House Of Lords music?
James Christian: Well, there is not a band out there today that cannot be compared to one band or another. The band that Gregg played in, Angel, was a big influence on us because of their majestic progressive sound.
Q:The album, 'House Of Lords', has songs on it that seem to be expertly crafted for FM-radio airplay. Was it intended to be that way?
James Christian: No, it was not thought out that way but it is always nice to know that you have music that can cross over into different areas. Some songs were written just as songs that ended up being made into CHR versions like "I Wanna Be Loved." "I Wanna Be Loved" is a great song for FM-radio because it is different in some ways than what is on FM-radio today. Most rock songs have a really strange drumbeat through the whole thing where Ken, our drummer, is wailing on it throughout the whole single. "Love Don't Lie" is another good FM-radio song; it's a power ballad. Lyrically, "Under Blue Skies" is a great song. The lyrics are intense! So all in all we are fortunate that our type of rock music can cross over into various areas.
Q:Do you consider House Of Lords to be progressive rock revivalists? Is that a good way to describe the band and your music?
James Christian: Yes that is a good way to describe what our music is about. I would add to that "modernized". Even though we have keyboards and melodies with a lot of interchanging chords, we keep our music at an even keel in tempo. In the old progressive rock days there was a stop and go interchange in the rhythms of the songs. This band has a groove through the musical counterpoints.
Q:With so many writers on this album, how do you keep a democratic situation in the studio?
James Christian: We looked into the material and said what do we believe that we can play and make strong statements musically with. We had about forty songs that we could choose from. I came into the project five days before we went into the studio. I did get a chance to co-write on several of the songs that turned up on the album. That is a good way to describe the band. It truly is a democracy. I do not want Lanny to play a song that he does not believe in and I'm sure that he feels the same way. So the band really is musically and mentally a democracy.
End.
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
AUGUST 1989
Before new wave, rap music and MTV there was progressive rock music. Many bands attempted to earn a place in rock music history by fighting for the progressive rock king's throne and establishing their kingdom. As the battles laid waste to many bands' dreams of winning the war, few survivors were to be found on the record charts and radio airways. House of Lords rises up from the ruins of these dark ages and sets up a musical roundtable that gives vocalist James Christina, keyboard wizard Gregg Guiffria, bassist Chuck Wright, guitarist Lanny Cordola and drummer Ken Mary a new quest for success in the progressive rock realm. In an interview, the members of the House Of Lords discuss their battle strategies and future conquests.
Q:Would you consider the band to be an overnight success?
Chuck Wright: Well, our overnight success took quite a long time to come about. We all have been in the business for quite some time and on the surface we may appear to be an overnight success but we're not. Maybe the fact that two days after we were signed to our record label out line-up was completed gives some people that impression.
Q:What do you feel that you owe to your fans who support your act?
Ken Mary: I think that any band in our position owes the people that support their music the courtesy of at least saying hi and shaking hands with them or giving them an autograph when they ask. We always make a point to be nice to our fans. Like if there is a crowd of fans outside of our tour bus when we leave a concert hall, we will stop and sign autographs for everybody that wants them. I think that it's really important to keep in touch with your fans. You have to be in touch with the people who like you.
Q:How did the classical guitar solo find its way onto the album?
Lanny Cordola: There is an interesting story behind that. That is the actual guitar solo that I used to get my first audition with Giuffria. It was the beginning of a hard rock song and that is what impressed him the most. Chuck liked the solo and he really pushed for it to be placed on the record. I had sent Gregg a tape for my initial audition and the guitar solo was on it and they really did like it.
Q:Do you think progressive rock music will make a comeback in the near future?
Lanny Cordola: We did not consciously write songs in a progressive rock style. It is what we are capable of playing. We were influenced by a lot of seventies bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen. There are elements of progressive rock in our sound, but we are not trying to revive anything like that.
Chuck Wright: I feel that this is the first time that we have all been together in a band that we believe in musically and have faith in everyone's talent. We are all sounding boards for each other. I wouldn?t say that we are attempting to make progressive rock the new big thing. We are going for more musical arrangements that are different from what most music is today.
Q:So you are saying that your sound is not a product of a musical formula?
Chuck Wright: We are products of what we listen to and we are products of our environment. I listen to jazz and classical music, and also bands like Chicago, Steely Dan and Angel.
Lanny Cordola: I am more blues oriented; I love all that stuff.
Q:How did the name House Of Lords come about?
James Christian: The name came about from Gene Simmons hearing our music and saying that his sounds majestic, so why not call the band "House Of Lords"? We all agreed that would be a great name for our act.
Q:On the album there are several different co-writers outside of the band. What is it like to work with so many songwriters on one project?
Gregg Giuffria: Well, we did that deliberately. Everyone is from different countries too! We wanted a different kind of feel, and I had never written with a lot of outside people except for Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick. The people that I wrote with on the House Of Lords album are from Canada, England, South Africa and everywhere else that you can think of! The music publishing companies helped to put all of the songwriters who contributed to this album together to work on this project.
Q:What was it like to be the first act signed on Gene Simmons' new record label?
Chuck Wright: Gene is a very smart businessman. He is very intelligent when it comes to the rock music business. A great deal of independent record labels fail because of improper management. In this case if you look at anyone to try and start their own label, Mick Jagger or whoever it may be, Gene is somebody that we feel can make a successful band happen. He is a great businessman. He ran the whole Kiss organization pretty much along with Paul Stanley, and look at how well they did.
Lanny Cordola: We put our trust in him because he is a musician and he knows what we as a new band are going through because he has been there himself. He really believed in us as a band and that inspired us to work even harder. A lot of people are watching us to see how well we do because Gene is backing us.
Q:Do you feel that you have paid your dues to get into the position that you are in today?
Lanny Cordola: We are not martyrs; we have been that for too long. We have done the trenchwork in the studios and bars and not really gone anywhere.
Ken Mary: I played drums with Alice Cooper's band for about a year. So I had great experience before I came into House Of Lords. I remember one time I played a concert in Rhode Island, and I was sick with food poisoning and a 103-degree fever. I played the entire show, drum solo and all!
Gregg Giuffria: I was part of Angel and my own band, Giuffria, so I really worked hard to get where I am today.
Q:House Of Lords seems to be more music conscious than image conscious.
Ken Mary: We are all veterans of the music industry except for James, whom we decided was the best choice for lead vocals because he has a strong voice and a fresh approach to his singing. Everyone else is a seasoned veteran. Lanny played with Ozzy, Chuck was with Quiet Riot, and I was with Alice Cooper. I don?t think that it would have been right for us to place all the emphasis on our image when we have such a strong musical background among us. We try to do what comes natural to us as far as the music and the image and everything that goes along with it. We are not out to fool anybody and be "too cool" or say that we are into drugs when we are not. We do not want to be hip for the moment or a passing fad. House Of Lords wants to play great music and do what we do; if people love it, then that?s great.
Q:It is crucial for a debut act to land an opening slot on a national tour. How do you keep your opening set strong when you play in concert?
James Christian: Well, basically you have to be thankful for the time that you have to play in concert as an opening act. Most of the time we walk out on stage and put out visually and hope that the soundman at the board is keeping our sound together as we play. It is really hard to get the audience's attention, but we love the challenge of it all. It is not very hard to get psyched to play our opening set because it is exciting being on a national tour.
Q:James, what experience did you have prior to your joining House Of Lords?
James Christian: Well, prior to this band I played in a great deal of bands along the East Coast of the United States. I played in every small bar that is imaginable on the East Coast. Concert halls are really not that much different than playing small clubs because in the clubs I would sing four, one-hour sets a night! Now I sing for 45 minutes in concert. I have been singing nearly all of my life so I already had a solid background before I signed on to be in House Of Lords.
Q:What are some of the rock groups that influenced House Of Lords music?
James Christian: Well, there is not a band out there today that cannot be compared to one band or another. The band that Gregg played in, Angel, was a big influence on us because of their majestic progressive sound.
Q:The album, 'House Of Lords', has songs on it that seem to be expertly crafted for FM-radio airplay. Was it intended to be that way?
James Christian: No, it was not thought out that way but it is always nice to know that you have music that can cross over into different areas. Some songs were written just as songs that ended up being made into CHR versions like "I Wanna Be Loved." "I Wanna Be Loved" is a great song for FM-radio because it is different in some ways than what is on FM-radio today. Most rock songs have a really strange drumbeat through the whole thing where Ken, our drummer, is wailing on it throughout the whole single. "Love Don't Lie" is another good FM-radio song; it's a power ballad. Lyrically, "Under Blue Skies" is a great song. The lyrics are intense! So all in all we are fortunate that our type of rock music can cross over into various areas.
Q:Do you consider House Of Lords to be progressive rock revivalists? Is that a good way to describe the band and your music?
James Christian: Yes that is a good way to describe what our music is about. I would add to that "modernized". Even though we have keyboards and melodies with a lot of interchanging chords, we keep our music at an even keel in tempo. In the old progressive rock days there was a stop and go interchange in the rhythms of the songs. This band has a groove through the musical counterpoints.
Q:With so many writers on this album, how do you keep a democratic situation in the studio?
James Christian: We looked into the material and said what do we believe that we can play and make strong statements musically with. We had about forty songs that we could choose from. I came into the project five days before we went into the studio. I did get a chance to co-write on several of the songs that turned up on the album. That is a good way to describe the band. It truly is a democracy. I do not want Lanny to play a song that he does not believe in and I'm sure that he feels the same way. So the band really is musically and mentally a democracy.
End.
