CINDERELLA's JEFF LABAR Talks To 'The Classic Metal Show' About Solo Album (Audio)

CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar was interviewed on the latest edition of "The Classic Metal Show", which is heard live on Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. EST at TheClassicMetalShow.com. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

LaBar's solo video for the song "No Strings" was directed by James Erdman and features drummer Matthew Arnn, Jeff's son, guitarist Sebastian LaBar, and bassist Jasmine Cain.

"No Strings" was recorded with TESLA drummer Troy Luccketta and was mixed by CINDERELLA drummer Fred Coury. It is taken from Jeff's solo debut, "One For The Road", which was released on August 26 through Rat Pak Records. The CD was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with longtime friend and noted engineer Ronnie Honeycutt, and was mixed and mastered by Chris "The Wizard" Collier (KXM, LYNCH MOB, LITA FORD).

"I wrote 'No Strings' following my first marriage and subsequent divorce," LaBar tells Ultimate Classic Rock. "The relationship was awesome; the breakup, not so much."

Jeff's first solo release highlights both his songwriting and guitar-playing abilities. It is also the first of two seven-song offerings of classic, hard rock style material that will be released via Rat Pak.

About the album, Jeff states: "This record is written about parts of my life since the heydeys of CINDERELLA... and there is a lot more where that came from!"

The song "Ode To Page" is Jeff's acoustic tribute to LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page. Other tracks set to appear on "One For The Road" are "Asking For A Beating", "Muse", "Hello Or Goodbye", "Nightmare On My Street" and "One For The Road".

Tracks on the CD range from classic, early CINDERELLA-style hard rock, to groove-laden blues rock and really captures the magic and spirit of the genre that Jeff helped create.

In a June 2013 interview with Legendary Rock Interviews, LaBar stated about his upcoming solo album: "The way it started was, I've been threatening to do a solo album or years and at the end of [the summer 2012] CINDERELLA tour, my tour manager Larry Morand and my wife Debi called me on it. They said, Look, Tom's [Keifer, CINDERELLA frontman] solo album is coming out this spring, he'll probably tour on it through the summer. Now is the time, Jeff. It's time to get in the studio and start putting your money where your mouth is.' So, that's what I've been doing."

Asked how the direction of his solo material is different from what he has done with CINDERELLA, Jeff said: "The first song I recorded could have been a CINDERELLA song, I think, but you know when you get guitar players putting out solo records, from what I've seen, they are very self-indulgent in terms of guitar playing or even sometimes, they're instrumental records. Mine is self-indulgent in the sense that it will cover a lot of different types of music. The first song I did is called 'No Strings' and like I said, it's a rock song, it could be a CINDERELLA song. The second song I recorded is a total blues waltz/shuffle. The latest song I've done is almost like a FLEETWOOD MAC-type ballad. I've also written a slow, chunky metal song, a blues slide song and a flat-out metal burner, fast song so I think I am really trying to explore all of my different influences. It's all me singing and playing everything but drums."

Asked if he enjoys singing, Jeff said: "Absolutely, I've been singing all my life. Since I started playing guitar at the age of nine or ten, I was also singing, sitting in my bedroom with [LED] ZEPPELIN and BEATLES songbooks. I didn't just learn how to play the songs I loved, but I learned how to sing 'em too. I actually started out as a drummer and aspired to be a guitar player, and then when I became a guitar player, I aspired to be a singer. [laughs] I got the chance to do a lot of background vocals over the years in CINDERELLA, but make no mistake, I see myself and believe in myself as a singer."