RM: Um, Lord. It’s been a… could be a boring subject but, uh… I’ll make it very brief. Um, didn’t see this one coming. At all. I, uh, I stay pretty healthy, um, long story endless, you know I was about to… I was actually about an hour to leaving my home to, I’m actually in Vegas right now with the Rock Vault. I live in LA and I was about an hour away from leaving home to catch a flight to Florida because I was to come back to Vegas the following night to continue in the Rock Vault on the opening night of the 11th in our new venue of The Rio.
In the good Catholic boy that I am, I went to church in the morning, we came home and had a family meal, breakfast, and about an hour before leaving, I got extremely cold for no reason. I had no symptoms, nothing, it was a great morning, and then in about a twenty minute window my sorry old ass got hooked up to a gurney and taken to intensive care and I was… everybody was shocked and I really didn’t feel much of it, other than the fact I was really cold and I was going into shock and had no idea what was going on. One of my sons, really jumped on it and called 911, and I had a temperature over 104. You could have fried an egg on my butt. And… uh… and the the diagnosis I finally got after the long week in hospital I somehow had contracted the ecoli virus and it had turned into a bladder infection that had gone into my bloodstream, became sepsis, and I was starting to poison me. I was put in a 12-hour critical stage. I remember at one point going, “Huh, what does that mean.” *laughs*
When I came out of the haze and I… my god I won’t bore you but, you know, I have a lot of tattoos but I hate needles. Go figure. Right? And, I’ve never had so many injections and blood and, oh god, IVs, and you know the other things they strap, that fateful magnet every man hates to wear? It was about to leave four days before they actually managed to get a diagnosis on the real infection. Which you know is just turned into sepsis and they were able to treat me with the proper antibiotics and they had me on a broad spectrum of things. Anyway, I’m feeling terrific. It really was a shocker, didn’t see it coming at all! I know what septic means, I’ve heard of septic, but sepsis. *laughs*
DB: Isn’t it amazing though how quickly? I had a hernia operation a couple years ago and I went in to see the doctor for a recheck and everything was healing pretty beautifully, and, you know, I felt good, and I cleared to go back to the gym. I was feeling that good and the incision was a tiny bit pink. And… he said, “Let’s put you on this antibiotic. Just to be sure.” In 24 hours, I was back in there, I thought I was dying. He admitted me. I was told if I had gone another 24 hours it wouldn’t have been good. In no time, it’s amazing how in no time your body can just be effected and it can just take you down.
RM: You’re absolutely correct. Let me elaborate because a year ago this January, we had just been out, we just came back in off the road with Mike Scheneker Fest, and our dear drummer, Ted McKenna, from Scotland. Ted had been complaining about, [in Scottish accent] “I have this hounding afix, man.” Well I mean I don’t know you sit there every night… god… with the drum kit and you know just tearing that thing to shreds. You know, he was put on the table in January and god help us, he never came off it.
DB: I had talked to you right after that, and I remember, um, that was shocking.
RM: You know and we’re talking about routine surgery, right? So I hear you Cate, and it’s just you don’t know. So I’m a great believer that people get sick and then you go, “yeah, but there has to be something underlying. you don’t just get sick, you don’t just fall down.” But, apparently you do.
DM: Yes? Sometimes, you really do. But, I’m glad you’re doing good.
RM: Right? And I’m going, like wait a minute, this is not what the manual said, you know? Yeah, so anyway by the grace of god I came back to Rock Vault this week. And people are going, “Dude, you’re still with us.” And I went, “Yeah, dead man walking.” *laughs* I can laugh about it now.
DM: How do you feel, like, with performing this week because, well I saw…
RM: I was sequestered. The doctor said, “You might think you are going somewhere, but you’re not going anywhere.” Uhm, you know I’m weeks upon extremely strong antibiotics once they had got to the root of this cause. And, then I was strapped to an IV, so I was pretty shitty, to say the least. And when I got all of this stuff removed from my body, that next week was, it was miserable because I had no strength, at all. Just walking, and I don’t know, just something about the doctor’s tell me about when your body goes into shock, all of these muscles suddenly start to flare up, and my legs were like lead. So then they… they gave me an extra two weeks and I started back, Saturday at Rock Vault.
And you know the first night back, you’re, you know, when you’re offstage for a whole month you’re riding a bicycle. It is and it isn’t. It’s a new venue so, I had to get used to that and uhh… uhm… Right now, this will be my fifth day in and, you know, I’m rockin’. And thank god and I feel great and got my legs back, and my voice is in great shape. And so, there by the grace of god, I am very thankful and grateful. And I’m happy to be talking to you so it’s an extra plus.
DB: I’m so glad. I’m so glad though. When I saw that, my heart, it just sank. It was like nooo, he has to be…
RM: *laughs* My heart almost gave out.
DB: Yeah, it did more than sink. But yeah, I’m glad you’re back. I’m glad you were able to return to the stage. Actually, I know it felt like a lifetime but a couple weeks is pretty quick considering so…
RM: You… you know the doctors were very funny and they told me, “You know, you’re the youngest person in here. You need to get the hell outta here. and… you know, we have more pending cases than yours,” and I’m like, “Thanks.”I mean, they were very encouraging. They encouraged me constantly. “Get better. Go home. Because as soon as you are home, you will have a ma- an immediate turn around. Even though you are strapped to an IV. You know, even though you have transfusions. That sort of thing, starting at five o’clock in the morning, and I’m like, “Jeez, help me.” And… uh… they were right, and you get used to it and you’re kind of, you sort of are mopey around your own house and it’s just very different then into the hospital, it’s very, very sick people. And… yeah, they were fantastic and you know and my wife was awesome, my boys were awesome and that keeps you going. You know, I had to get home and I’m here now. And you know this is my Friday so I headed home tonight.
DB: Oh, that’s good. You drive through the night don’t you?
RM: I sure do. Yes, it’s a nice long… uhm… I use it wisely though because I have so much new stuff to learn for Schenker Fest. The car will be blasting, so that… uh… that’s where I do my homework, believe it or not. You’re driving through the desert in the dead of night learning a new setlist.
DB: So… uh… is… do you have dates for that yet?
RM: Yeah, so we uh, we leave for Japan, we leave the first week of March. Japan is already sold out, it’s amazing. Uhm, it’s a huge undertaking because Simon Phillips will also be second drummer on this one. Ronnie Romero will be coming in guesting on vocals. Barry Sparkson was also one of the earlier MSG bass players who will also be coming in so it’s… uh… it’s… uh hefty lineup. Then we will leave Japan and then we will hit the UK and the rest of Europe in April, you know, etcetera. It’s a lot of fun.
DB: Wow. So are there any US dates yet?
RM: You know the US will maybe come in the tail end of the year like it did last year and the year before. I’m waiting for those dates to be confirmed. That will be on the strength of the ‘Revelation’, the new record.
DB: So let’s jump to Black Swan.
RM: Whooo! My favorite band of all time, I want to tell you right off the gate.
DB: Oh, mine too, honest to god. We last spoke, it was because Jeff sent me to you and said, “Robin is so great. He’s never sounded better. You have to go talk to him,” and so I came to you and said, “Well Jeff said this,” and you said, “Well you have to get an invite to Jeff’s Christmas party because it is just the best.” But so anyway, and all of the buzz and hearing first hand from the four of you guys, you know all of the hope, and the buildup, and the excitement, it doesn’t begin to match what the music actually is. Which is amazing. I’m serious.
RM: Awwh, I love you Cate.
DB: I love you too and it’s so good, you know you’re fans and Pilson’s fans and Docken fans and Winger fans, like, everybody is just dying to see what comes next.
RM: Yeah you know we have another song that will come out on the release date on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, it’s a beautiful song. You know, uhm, short story, you know Jeff came to me with this and after Frontiers had approached me maybe two years ago about maybe wanting to work with me because I was possibly the only guy left… you know, I thought you guys hated me. *laughs* Just kidding. And I was so busy with Rock Fall and Schenker and plus they wanted to put me in with some of their in-house writers, who are fantastic and producers.
But, I wasn’t ready to just do a record. Just any old record, and I went, ehhh. It wasn’t right. And I know about them and I’m going, “They’ll be writing for me and I don’t know them and they don’t know me. Why?” More on the same. And if I’m going to do something, I’m at least going to have to like it. That’s not being pompous but it has to start there. And, I’ve always wanted to do a different kind of record and so I guess my head was there and then I’m about to leave for the road and so I went, “I don’t know when I’ll get the time to record let alone write stuff.”
So anyway, Jeff called me about a year ago and he said, “Frontiers are picking up where you left off and uh… have asked me to talk to you.” Jeff and I you know go back a very long way. A very very long time, and he said, “well how would you feel to write with Reb Beach.” And he said, “I think it’s a great idea.” And I said, “Well, who wouldn’t want to write with Reb Beach.” And I had met Reb during my Survivor days when he was with Night Ranger for a short spell. And we sort of pinned together backstage and said hello and blah blah blah. Didn’t really know Reb, per se, other than seeing him and so Jeff and Reb got together at Jeff’s studio and they had sent me sort of a basic idea for a song just to get the ball rolling. So I was here in Vegas. I put some lyrics and a melody together into Jeff’s studio, and Reb was there just for like four or five days just to see what would come out of this. And, I came in and I had a melody and I had a lyric and it was called ‘Big Disaster’, and Reb just looks at me and goes, “For a new project, that is probably not the best name.” And that’s kind of how we started. And I go, “Yeah, got that much right.” So this is like dead to begin with. And isn’t ironic, I just get sick and was the second single oh a disaster and I’m thinking someone is going to see this and think that it’s gonna be a disaster or all of the above, but you know it’s a very cool song and we just you know carried on doing it and nobody was saying, “well should be a little MSG, a little Dokken, it’s White Snakey.” Know why would you want to do that? You know, why would that be the direction we go in? The first thing people are going is, “I can’t make up my mind whether it sounds like this or this.” And, I’m like, let’s… why do we have to talk about that? Why can’t we just be what we have.
Jeff goes to see Bohemian Rhapsody and sends me a short pilot at about midnight and he said he got home and set up the piano and wrote something called Divided. It was this amazing chorus and idea for a verse and I went, “Wow, this is just, people will never expect this.” And, it’s an amazing song and you know there was one of my son’s almost ended up at the Borderline Grill where that massacre took place and I was actually in Poland with Schenker, and I got this text saying, “Dad, did you know about this massacre that just happened up the street from us?” And because we live kind of close to it, he was on his way there, you know, he has a part time job outside of college. He got a call to come into work and he would have been there and he would have been the night before because you know ‘cause his college friends. There was this line dancing thing they would all do. Then this massacre and they had some ideas for it and this whole Borderline thing was weighing heavily on my mind so I had this idea of writing a song around the soldier that comes home from active duty and things are not the same at home as he left. And his head is in a bad place and you know, if we don’t take care of those… they’re kids. When we think of soldiers we think of men and these are kids. Kids with guns and bombs in their hands that are not properly counseled. Blah, blah blah you know, that’s how we take care of our soldiers. They get back home and things are not good and they know how to use weapons so it’s like let’s go get the guy that is doing this to me. Unfortunately, it’s a bunch of innocence, beautiful, young kids out at a bar.
DB: It’s so hard to parent teenagers at this point. I have three teenage girls and the thing is they go to school mentally preparing on how to get out and there is no protocol how they can become mentally prepared if something like this were to happen.
RM: Isn’t that a great way to go to school? I remember going to school and you go, “Shit, I gotta go to school, it sucks, it’s school.” Kids feel the same way but they are like, “How do I get outta here?”
DB: And that was never the mission.
RM: This sounds like yeah old folky talk. People were nicer to each other. People would say hello, hey, how ya doin’, thank you, please. You don’t get that respect anymore. Respect is gone. It’s gone. It’s just gone. It’s really sad. People don’t give a shit anymore. That just, please and thank you it’s forever. Someone flips you off now, it’s like, hey, have a great day. And I know some people have been saying, “Dude, are you — What are you saying this Black Swan record you know, will shake the world, big disaster, we are so divided.” And I go, “Well, no, we’re certainly not writing about… you know I went up the Sunset Strip in Hollywood and I star” *laughs* It’s none of that, but at the same time it’s not a political platform because I don’t know politics. No, I don’t know politics, but I know my own mind and I don’t like using music as a soapbox, you know for that purpose. But sometimes, you know something weighs heavily on your mind and on your heart and it just comes out in kind of a format that sort of says something.
DB: Well there’s a difference between being a soapbox versus being something that touches you and the people around you so that it connects people, so that they get it. There’s a huge difference and it might be the slightest shift but it makes all the difference in how it’s perceived too.
RM: Yeah, well we need to shake things up, we definitely do. You know, we have a voice as we always say and we are supposed to be allowed to use it. Um… But, you know, as long as you put up with it, right, nothing is ever going to change.
DB: It is the truth though. Unless you speak up, nothing changes.
RM: You lead the people all for the people, by the people, so… Yeah but anyway, now we’re sidetracking. So, yes it’s a great record! *laughs* And the artwork is part of excellence. I just love it, I absolutely love the logo. Reb came up with the name, actually, Black Swan.
DB: How did he come up with it, though? What is the basis of it?
RM: We were kicking names around and we had some god-awful names. And they all got trashed and a lot of people were using them and go, “I would hate to call the band what they just called it.” And so, most of it was taken and then Reb came back and he goes, “Well, I like– I like Black Swan,” and I’m going, “Well, isn’t there a movie and a book?” So Frontiers actually got clearance there was a big brass school band, The Black Swan-something or other, and so they got clearance on the name and a new one that I knew of and that they knew of. There was but it was dropped or never registered, something to that effect. We managed to get it, and it fits perfectly, I think. It fit the music without even thinking about it. It just seems to go that people go, “There’s something here that just gels.” And, we’re happy to hear that, obviously.
DB: It all seems sort of fated to me. I don’t say things like that lightly, but just the way that it’s kind of fallen into place and the songs have lined up and the lyrics, maybe the messages from you guys behind things that led to the writing… it feels like it is where it’s supposed to be right now.
RM: Yeah, and you know it’s… uhm… I’ve recorded a lot of stuff, my name is not a name that rolls off of people’s tongues that go, “yeah, yeah, oh I know that guy.” Hardly anybody knows me and that’s okay. I don’t aspire to anything like that. But I will say that anything I’ve ever had my name on or recorded… I think this is my favorite of everything. I just love the production. It’s real. It’s not processed. It’s exactly like it is. It’s how we wanted it. And, it was one of my big things like, I don’t want another record that sounds like this, I just want this rock, this powerful sounding– and we all like who we are as opposed to a studio version of it. I’m really happy. Jeff did an absolutely monstrous job of it. His playing is amazing considering he didn’t want to play bass. You know, Reb and I had other ideas about that. *laughs* You know he had all of these great bass players lined up and for whatever reason, he was, as we were writing, he’d be laying down his bass tracks just as a guide, and I went, “Yeah, some guide. So are you going to get a bass player in here and show him everything you just played?” *laughs* And he goes, “yeah, I get it.”
Then, of course, Matt Starr came in and completely put the icing on the cake. And it’s absolutely– he looks great. I think the video is a killer. You know, who cares if it’s groundbreaking it just gets the message across. It’s his second band and it’s just terrific.
DB: It’s just powerful. The videos are just powerful and that’s all they need to be. So what are the chances of schedules ever syncing up to–
RM: It’s the million dollar, Black Swan question. Someone came and said to me, “So dude, are you using the artwork as a backdrop?” And I’m like, “woah, one step at a time here.” *laughs* You know, of course. Ideally, with every band, you want to go live. Reb’s schedule is stupid, as is Jeff’s. They just started actually at the beginning of the year, a Vegas residency. So they are my stablemates next door. And then you have Matt and you’re going, “How the hell is this ever going to happen?” So, we’re hoping that a window of opportunity, and there’s enough time to make the backdrop. And then, we’ll be able to push the fact. Of course, Cate, what’s most important is that we’ve had a great response so far.
Big Disaster just came out, and Valentine’s Day is about to drop. On that note, the release and how it’s perceived will make us think about it in the big scheme of things. You know, we are who we are. Nobody buys records, and you just listen to it online. Some of those will get a CD or whatever. If the comments section is busy, and people keep reposting and liking and that sort of stuff and there’s enough hoohah, I suppose it gives you some sort of greater incentive to take it to the live stage. Not that we need an incentive because I think we’ve all agreed, all four of us have agreed, that we’d love to do it. There’s… uh… promoters already sending messages saying, “We’d love to handle this one in Europe. I think I have this great guy to open up for you guys.” And I’m like, “Well, shit. Wow.” I hope we do. I think it is too good not to.
I can only answer so much because I just don’t have the answers, really.
DB: I know the schedules are monstrous. I know that Foreigner’s somewhere in the UK for half the summer and I know that White Snake is also, so I know. And before that, White Snake is in the UK too. Then, you’re in Japan.
RM: I’ll be in Japan in April, and then Madrid, France, Sweden, and wherever. All those beautiful places.
DB: And so hopefully at some point it’ll get there.
RM: God, I hope we get to do it. You know, Frontier’s definitely have their annual festivals spread out. I suppose we could look forward to that. I’m not sure when they are but they definitely want us to allocate time frames whenever is possible.
I remember last week, Matt had sent a message to all of us and he was talking about a band, some will remain nameless, that was dying to know if we were available to do shows with them. A message came back, *laughs* a message came back from Reb saying he’ll be busy with Winger. Another message came in from Reb going, “By the way, I’m writing with Kip right now. That was him that answered that.” He was looking over his shoulder saying, “No, fuck no. You’re going to be doing Winger here as soon as you’re done with White Snake. So in a perfect world, right Cate?
DB: You know it kind of is perfect, because you’ve got something that people already want. It can’t be any better than that and it gives you possibilities and options and potential to do something which is better than a dud, right out of the gate.
RM: Well, thank you. I’m really happy. I know everybody says that about their record. I never thought that at my state, I could actually make something that I could boast about. This is just, I couldn’t be in a better place. I never in my wildest dreams thought that we’d be churning out something of this quality, it’s just great. It’s great. So I’m very happy with it. I hope the listeners are equally as happy and we have a go forward with it. It would be terrific. Not that I need more work, but I love this particular work.
DB: Well, I will make sure that our readers know that if they want to see you that they should drop some comments under your videos and stuff. I’ll make sure they know to not keep it to themselves because it’s important.
RM: And you know, the t-shirts are awesome and it makes for a great Valentine’s Day gift. There’ll be t-shirts, there’s a whole package, there’s like CDs and there’s actual vinyl coming. There’s a t-shirt package that comes with the whole thing if you go online.
DB: Yeah, I’m gonna need the vinyl because I’m a vinyl girl, so that makes me happy.
RM: And I don’t know if I told you, through the artist Stan Decker, I ordered my own personal extra large size that I want to have printed on a canvas because I just love the art. I’ll be walking around the house and my wife will be carrying it behind me as a backdrop. *laughs* What a great concept. I’ll have it on my front door.
DB: Hang it from the back of the car.
RM: Well you know, my son has one of those little disco balls hanging in his car and he’s a big Motown fan so you get in his car and he goes, “You wanna listen to some real music, dad?” *laughs* He listens to Donna Summer too, very classic, classic Donna Summer. You know, I grew up listening to Motown and I don’t know if that was an influence. I swear to god, every- single- morning he gets up for college, he comes downstairs, and he has a playlist on YouTube and that is all of his stuff. He loves to make his own breakfast and he fills the house with that music in the morning. And nobody can interfere. It’s like, “Oh shit, here he comes.” *laughs* And my other son by contrast, is just like up and at it. He loves the screaming guitars, which just let me… a little aside here. We were talking about the Borderline thrill, that particular son, my son Casey, he’ll be 21 on Valentine’s Day, the release of the song. He sings backup on four of the songs on the record. He has an amazing voice, so he got to sing with his old man. Not directly as a result, but he’s now thick in the midst of his EMT class and he wants to be a first responder, he already a fire cadet for Los Angeles City Fire. So yeah, it touched home with him too. So there ya have it. There’s so much more to do.
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