RELEASED 23.3.2012
Tracklisting: Back In The Game; Rock N Roll Ride; Hardest Word To Say; Anything For You; Love Life; West Hollywood; Born For This; Don't Give Up; Say You Will; Rise And Shine; Hey Now.
“Dynamic Singer”, “Gifted Songwriter”, “Energetic Frontman”, “Bassist Extraordinaire”, “Discerning Producer” and “Consummate Musician” would all appropriately describe Jack Blades and his contribution to Rock’n’Roll over the past two decades. Jack initially came on the scene in the early 80’s as the front-man and co-lead vocalist of his popular band Night Ranger. He was responsible for writing or co-writing the majority of the group’s major hits including “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me”, “(You Can Still) Rock In America” and “Sentimental Street”. After multi-platinum success with five studio albums throughout the eighties, Jack would go on to co-found another successful collaboration in Damn Yankees that consisted of legendary guitarist Ted Nugent, Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw and drummer Michael Cartellone. Just as he did with Night Ranger, Jack fired up the Damn Yankees sound with true anthemic power. The association brought two successful albums on Warner Bros. and Jack’s songwriting prowess generated double platinum albums, gold singles and rock hits.
In 1995 Jack and Damn Yankees cohort Tommy Shaw would collaborate again with Shaw*Blades. Their longtime friendship and mutual admiration would result in the critically acclaimed release “Hallucination” which confirmed the musical instincts of Jack as a master songwriter and performer. Two years later Jack rejoined his original Night Ranger band mates in order to release “Neverland”, an album which got an overwhelming success in Japan, selling some 40,000 copies in the first week of release. Night Ranger also toured in Japan performing nine sold-out shows in a row. In 1998 Jack was selected by Ringo Starr to be an integral part of his VH-1 “Storytellers” appearance and subsequent album. Released in 1998, Storytellers contained fourteen tracks featuring Jack on bass and vocals plus other members of the Roundheads including Joe Walsh, Mark Hudson and Simon Kirke. In addition to being a songwriting force in all three of his bands, Jack is known within the industry as one of music’s premiere tunesmiths as he penned songs for such notables as Aerosmith, Cher, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, Great White, Journey, Ozzy Osbourne, Styx and Point Of Grace among seemingly countless others. He has also written for country artists and offered numerous songs that appeared in blockbuster movies (Armageddon, Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy, Rock Star, The Secret of My Success) and TV shows. And if that isn’t enough Jack has recently produced releases from such artists as Great White, Vince Neil and Ted Nugent himself. In 2003 he released his first self titled solo album which sported collaborations with such rock giants as Tommy Shaw, Neal Schon of Journey, Michael Lardie of Great White, Warren De Martini of Ratt, Damon Johnson of Brother Cane and of course his Night Ranger band mates Kelly Keagy and Brad Gillis. This new record also sees his Night Ranger band mates guesting. But –as the title says – presents a full circle Rock ‘n Roll Ride for Jack Blades. Every aspect of his songwriting abilities is showcased here: from anthemic Hard Rock numbers such as title track or “Born for This”, to heartfelt ballads such as “Hardest Word To Say” through to the track co-written with Robin Zander of Cheap Trick “West Hollywood”, which has a distinct Beatles feel and the Shaw*Blades sound-alike “Hey Now”. Riding on the positive vibe and inspiration that brought the success of Night Ranger’s last release “Somewhere in California”, this new album “Rock n Roll Ride” promises to keep Jack Blades fans happy and in great mood for 2012 !
Musicians Jack Blades: Bass, guitar, acoustic guitar, lead and backg. vocals Joel Hoekstra: Guitars and solos Will Evankovich: Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, add. guitars, Coral Sitar guitar, backg vocals Kelly Keagy, Brian Tichy: Drums Eric Levy, Christian Matthew Cullen: Keyboards