JOE LYNN TURNER Doesn't Think Message Of His Last Album, 'Belly Of The Beast', Reached Enough People While Coming Off The 'Plandemic'

In a new interview with Finland's Tumma Nuotti, former RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE frontman Joe Lynn Turner spoke about the lyrical inspiration for his latest solo album, 2022's "Belly Of The Beast", which is said to be "a lot darker" than his previous efforts. He explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I think that the messaging, as far as lyrically, was a place that I was in at the time. I mean, I'm not out of the this messaging, but I thought it was very important for the world to know what was actually happening. And that's why I called it 'Belly Of The Beast' because the 'beast' system is the system that we live in, whether it's government, education, religion, all institutions, for example. We, as a humanity, are being enslaved. Little by little, our freedoms are being taken away, and it's very important to realize that this is a very, very dangerous adjustment that they're trying to make slowly.

"I liken it to the theory of boiling the frog," Joe explained. "You take a frog, you put him in warm water, you put it on the stove, and little by little you turn the heat up and the frog doesn't realize it. And pretty soon you've got the heat and the fire all the way up and the frog is boiled to death. And that's the theory of the frog. And I think we are the frogs. Slowly but surely, our freedoms are being taken away. Control is being imposed, and they're making it sound like it's for our comfort and betterment, but that's not true. So 'Belly Of The Beast' was a big message trying to reach the people."

Turner added: "I don't think, coming off the pandemic, or the 'plandemic', as we say, [the message of 'Belly Of The Beast'] really reached enough people. I think now it's starting to gather much more of a understanding, simply because they're looking back now and saying, 'Hey, wait a minute. There was something about this in there.' … And it was — not disappointing to me at all, because I only hoped that at least a certain few would get it, would understand it. And there were some absolutely amazing reviewers who did understand it, which got the message out to the public more and more. But there's still time for people to wake up and understand what's really happening more and more. And I think at one point in the future, this album is gonna come back and resurface as, 'He told us. He was trying to tell us something in this album. It was not just great music, great melodies, but also an amazing message.'"

Turner went on to call out corporate greed, saying:  "I think the music industry today — all industries, really — there's a lot of evil out there. And people don't realize evil from good. And it's very strange to me why their intuition doesn't tell them, 'Excuse me, but this is right and this is wrong.' And that's basically good and evil.

"I think, and as the ['Belly Of The Beast'] record explains, we are in a spiritual war here," he explained. "Not only physically. War is not only physical, with bombs and bullets, but it's spiritual. And I'm not talking religion, I'm talking our inner spirits. People have lost the right and wrong of things, of values of where we should be going. And it's really very disappointing to see that. And that's, again, what 'Belly Of The Beast' was about. I was trying to reach people to say, 'Look, this is right and this is wrong. No matter where you're from, what color, what creed, whatever, there's just simply right and wrong.' And there's a lot of things today that need to be changed, and it only starts with us. 'Rise Up', for example, is an anthem. It's trying to tell the people, 'Look, we're being put in chains.' You can live on your knees, you can die on your knees, if you want, but you have to stand up for these things. And I think the people are too comfortable now, in a way, where they don't realize that someday they're going to be wishing they did rise up and it will be too late. So song by song by song, you can go through this thing. A lot of is personal. 'Dark Night Of The Soul', it's for every man, but it's really about me realizing, what's my purpose in life? Where do I go from here? What shall I be doing that's meaningful to the world? What will my life mean? And I think that's a question that everyone should answer… Well, we all [struggle with that question]. I mean, look, if you don't, then you have no self-reflection, then you have no inner dialogue, as we say. Like, where should I be? What should I be doing? How will I be remembered? How can I leave something for mankind? Or am I just here sucking up the energy and kind of being a useless, wasted flesh? We are all here for a purpose, and if you don't find your purpose, or at least look for it desperately, you are wasting your time… You'll be enlightened by so much once you start to really introspect and ask yourself, how can I be a better human being? What can I contribute to this world? What can I give? Because it gives me so much — what can I give back? Just don't take, take, take… We were born to love. And when you don't do that, there's no love there. It's just greed, which is unbelievable today."

Joe added: "The 'beast' system, by the way, is in the Bible. It's happened before in humanity, but humanity recovered from it a couple of times before. But this time I don't know if we can, because the powers that be have us in such good, great control right now that we're very comfortable with compliance, complying to the rules and the regulations, and everybody's so interested in Netflix and the material things in life — sex and drugs and this and this and that… If you just take, take, take, take, honestly, you will meet with a very, very horrible fate, because that taking — you may seem like you're winning now, but you're actually losing. Because the laws of the universe say — and maybe people will scoff at me, but this is true — there is such a thing called divine law. I'm not talking religion, people, I'm not talking this or that. I'm talking a divine law from the universe. And they say, if you take, take, take and never give, sooner or later it's over for you. Because to give is the real thing."

Joe founded FANDANGO in 1977 and sang for the band for four records before RAINBOW guitarist Ritchie Blackmore rang. His vocals powered the seminal "Difficult To Cure" in 1981, going gold in the U.K., France, and Japan in addition to cracking the Top 50 of the Billboard 200 and Top 3 on the U.K. albums chart. A year later, he ignited RAINBOW's "Straight Between The Eyes", which Guitar World retrospectively hailed as one of "The 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Albums" of 1982. It also spawned the Hot 100 hit "Stone Cold". During 1988, a Polygram VP wanted Turner to extend his writing and singing skills to collaborate with legendary shred virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen for his project RISING FORCE. Their album, "Odyssey", scaled the Top 40 of the Top 200, marking Malmsteen's highest bow on the respective chart and going gold in Sweden. Not long after, he reteamed with Blackmore for DEEP PURPLE's "Slaves And Masters" (1990),reaching gold status in Switzerland and Japan.

In addition, he has co-written for and appeared on classics such as Mick Jones's "Mick Jones" (1989),RIOT's "The Privilege Of Power" (1990) and Lita Ford's "Dangerous Curves" (1991),to name a few. Not to mention, he lent his background vocals to Michael Bolton's double-platinum "The Hunger" (1987),Cher's platinum "Cher" (1987),Billy Joel's Grammy Award-nominated quadruple-platinum "Storm Front" (1989),and many more. From 2001 to 2004 he teamed up with his friend and counterpart Glenn Hughes and formed HTP (HUGHES TURNER PROJECT). The release of two highly acclaimed original albums and two world tours in support gave him further recognition. Other collaborations range from shining on stage with "Raiding The Rock Vault" at LVH Hotel and Casino and an unforgettable turn on "X Factor Bulgaria" to two cuts on MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP's 2021 album, "Immortal".