WARRANT

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interviewsofrecordingartists.com
AUGUST 1989
Los Angeles is the place where young musicians from all over the United States travel to in hope of rock and roll riches. Some go back home with nothing more than stories to tell. Others find day jobs and leave the scene altogether. A few are fortunate enough to break out of the L.A. club scene and land a recording contract and get their shot at stardom. The early days are most crucial for these newly signed acts. They must prove themselves night after night on the concert trail. Warrant is out to prove that they can get to the top and stay at the top for years to come. In an interview, the band members talk about their debut album and their plans for continued success.
Q: How do you approach the songwriting process?
Jani Lane: I have written songs nearly all of my life so the songwriting process is a natural for me. I came into Warrant with a lot of songs that I had already written. I wrote some while I was with the band. We kind of just picked the ten best songs and it worked out that my songs were the ones chosen for the album. We are doing a lot more co-writing as time goes along. So I really cannot say. I have a lot material for our next album and there are some songs that will be a group effort. I don't think that I will always be the only member who writes the songs, but for right now I am happy with the way that things have worked out.
Jerry Dixon: Everyone co-writes in the band. Jani is a great songwriter and in Warrant it is the best songs that win! It is just like an artist. Some people can draw really well and then there are others who have to work at it. We do not take sides and worry about who gets all of the publishing rights. It doesn't matter whoever get the credit. Whoever can pull it out of the hat is who gets it.
Q: What is it like working with producer Beau Hill?
Steven Sweet: We realized that Beau was right on our level from day one. He came to our rehearsal and watched us play our set; then he told us that he wanted to work with us on our album. He was like the sixth member of Warrant. He was not afraid to pick up a guitar and offer to us some new ideas about the way that our music should sound.
Jani Lane: He is one of the few producers I have ever met that sits behind the board and says that your sound is not heavy enough. So that was a thrill for us; we thought that we would get watered down. Beau wanted us to give more energy and power to our music. So it was really cool to work with him. He let us have a lot of input into the finished product.
Steven Sweet: He did not come into the studio and try and change our sound. He did not do a whole lot of rearranging at all. He really worked with us and he is a wizard of arrangement.
Q: What caused the delay in the release of your album?
Jerry Dixon: We were in the studio for six weeks and we had no time off to sit back and listen to what was recorded. So we did the record and then the next day we were back in the studio for 8 to 12 hours a day doing the mixing on the album. So when we got the mix back, CBS Records wanted to hear what we had done. We gave them the tapes and they like it very much. The next record we will two weeks off to listen to our work before we remix it.
Q: Wasn't going out on the road for a national tour a full two months before your album was out a bit risky?
Erik Turner: In most cases it would be considered risky but for us it was the best thing possible because we did not sit at home and get stale. We did not want to sit at home. It was great for us to get out and play the places that we hadn't played before. We had a chance to see how the people would react to our music.
Jani Lane: We did not play in front of record breaking crowds but a lot of people came out to see us. We had a root following going before the record was even released! It was a positive experience for us and it definitely helped to sell records when the album was released.
Erik Turner: It helped to familiarize America with the band. We were really lucky to go out on tour the way that we did.
Q: What was it like before you were signed? Why did you keep trying to break into the music business?
Joey Allen: I think that what you have to do to make it in this business is to stop everything else. You must work at your career in music as a full time job. Once we were sure that we had what it takes to be successful, then we worked at it morning, afternoon and night.
Jani Lane: None of us are good at anything else. What would we do besides music? I have no other education in anything else in the entire world except going onstage and making a complete ass out of myself. It works. So why try to change anything?
Q: Warrant's music has a melodic background with a hard rock edge. How do you keep the balance between the two?
Jani Lane: Never have I tried to write a hit record. That would stifle my creativity and put too much pressure on me.
Eric Turner: That is one of the best things to ever happen to us! Out balance is just what separates our music from the rest of the bands out on the scene today.
Q: What did you learn from your days in the hard rock club scene of Los Angeles?
Jerry Dixon: We learned how to be aggressive and to not always believe what people tell you. Basically, you have to know what you are worth. When someone is trying to undermine you at something such as getting paid for a show or what deals to consider, then you must learn how to handle those people and that type of situation. We are street-smart and you cannot let people get the better half of you. We learned a lot about the business. As we went on we learned, so it helped us later in our career.
Q: Where did the idea for the song "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" come from?
Steven Sweet: That was the name of a song title that was written by Jani about three years ago. We tried to change it a few times and then we canned it a few times. When the time came to get together demo songs for the album, we decided to go for it and use the song. It is a really cool novelty song.
Q: Do you realize that the music business is a very capitalistic business? Doesn't putting the capitalistic system down in your song lyrics kind of biting the hand that feed you?
Jani Lane: It is not biting the hand that feeds us; it's a mutual kind of thing. Without us they are nothing and without them we are nothing. So we can put the system down all that we want to. In private business meetings I am sure that they talk about how wild we are but then we help our label make a whole lot of money; so they love us! Our record label, CBS, is really cool and everybody that we work with is behind us 100%. So we can joke around with them and they joke around with us and we all have fun. That song is meant not to be taken seriously; it is all in fun. It is something that everyone can relate to and I wrote it tongue-in-cheek. Not every song that is written has to be about getting your heart broken or death. It has worked great and everyone has responded to the song very well!
Q: What was it like trying to survive on the streets of L.A.?
Jani Lane: We never complained about coming from the streets because the streets are not bad. It is an adventure. We made it fun. We loved to find the different girls who would help us with our everyday needs. It is like a vocational class on life skills and how to survive while getting along with different people. It is learning by doing.
Q: What did you think of the movie 'Decline of Western Civilization Part Two, The Metal Years'?
Jerry Dixon: She asked us to be in the movie. First, she made the movie and then she didn't want us in it. She didn't think that we were good enough. Then she asked us to be in the movie after she saw us play. We told her, "Fuck you, that's not cool. We don't kiss ass to people. That is one thing we don't do." A couple of the bands that were in that movie are guys that we see out every night. They are still passing out flyers and trying to get signed to a record label.
Steve Sweet: That's not bad; more power to them. That movie was not a true picture of what the scene is like in L.A. She showed the negative side of the heavy metal street and club scene in L.A.
Jerry Dixon: She just showed the guys that were not making it, the guys that weren't happy, the guys that had just moved there from Detroit. We know those guys. I am glad that we didn't go on that movie.
Q: How do you keep a balance in the act so that nobody overshadows anyone else?
Jerry Dixon: We all have our part to do and we just stick with it. No one tries to take over.
Steven Sweet: We have all come a long way. We did a great deal of practice and hours of rehearsal. The album was a great learning experience for us all. We are a variety of personalities. No one person is more dominant than the other.
Jerry Dixon: Our stage identity is something that we do not plan. We each make our own identity. We like to have good moves onstage and we want to rock hard while we are having fun.
Steven Sweet: We believe that the people pay good money to see us so we want to give them their moneys worth and make them want to come back again to see us.
End.