CINDERELLA's TOM KEIFER Says Move To Nashville Didn't Prompt Shift To Bluesier Musical Direction

In a recent interview with Music Existence, CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer was asked how much of the fusion of hard rock, country and blues that is present on his debut solo album, "The Way Life Goes", can be attributed to his move to Nashville. He responded: "A lot of people have that perception, but starting with the second record, CINDERELLA had a pretty heavy blues feel once we progressed into a production that painted the picture a little more. The songwriting always came from the same place through my songs on all the CINDERELLA records and now my solo record, and that would be words-inspired hard rock. My heroes were THE [ROLLING] STONES, [LED] ZEPPELIN, Rod Stewart and Janis Joplin. Lyrically and melodically, they're all based on blues and even little touches of country. The lyrics are about real, everyday things, the ups and downs of life, the good times, the bad times, falling in love, falling out of love, and overcoming adversity."

He continued: "I think what's sometimes perceived as a change in style is that we didn't know what the hell we were doing in the studio when we made the first record. We had a veteran producer [Andy Johns] who came in and said, 'You guys are a bunch of crap. I've got to teach you how to play.' And he made a very basic record. It didn't get real complicated. It's two guitars, bass, drums, and the vocals. As we grew as a band, we started painting the picture differently, but with the same style of music and writing. We started bringing in different instrumentation and that kind of thing."

Keifer added: "I see it as all the same style of music. We just got better at painting the landscape and the picture as the years went on. I see my solo record as a continuation of that. In hindsight, we probably would have liked to have seen some of those colors on the first record, but I think Andy was too busy teaching us how to make a record. [Laughs] So that's kind of my take on that."

Although CINDERELLA hasn't released a new studio album since 1994's "Still Climbing", the band started playing sporadic shows again in 2010 but has been largely inactive for the last few years while Keifer focuses on his solo career.

"The Way Life Goes" sold 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 78 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on in April 2013 via Merovee Records (through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group).