NIGHT RANGER's BRAD GILLIS Didn't Care For A Lot Of Music From Grunge Era: 'It Was Just Too Much Of A Downer'

In a new interview with Dawn Osborne of TotalRock, NIGHT RANGER guitarist Brad Gillis spoke about the multigenerational appear of the band's music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Probably 15 years ago or more, we were seeing a lot more younger kids come to our shows, and we'd have the meet-and-greets, and the kids would come back. And I ended up asking 17-, 18-year-olds, or whatever, I said, 'Hey, how'd you get into NIGHT RANGER?' And there was a few different reasons, and I thought it was interesting. One of them was… Some of the kids would say, 'I'm not into the '90s grunge thing. It's depressing.' Other kids would say, 'Hey, man, my parents have been playing your music and DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY around the house since I was growing up. And I got into it and dig it.' And other kids would just say, 'Hey, man, it's fun, positive music.' And when you've got, like I said, bands like JOURNEY and DEF LEPPARD and crazy, more wilder stuff like MÖTLEY CRÜE, I mean, these kids kind of get into that stuff. And it's not some of the downer music that came out in that grunge era. A lot of the stuff in that era I liked myself, but a lot of it I didn't care for much; it was just too much of a downer. And I think music should be more of a positive feel."

He continued: "You've got these parents that raised their kids. They're off to college or away. They're married and with kids. Now they're home alone. They wanna relive that decade of decadence, the '80s. So they're coming to the shows, 'cause they have no kids to worry about and they wanna relive those old memories from the '80s."

Last summer, NIGHT RANGER supported POISON frontman Bret Michaels on his 2023 "Parti-Gras" tour. Also appearing on the bill were JEFFERSON STARSHIP, Steve Augeri (former lead singer of JOURNEY) and Mark McGrath (SUGAR RAY).

NIGHT RANGER released its 12th studio album, "ATBPO", in August 2021 via Frontiers Music Srl. "ATBPO" stands for "And The Band Played On", an ode to making music during the COVID-19 era.

NIGHT RANGER is Jack Blades (vocals, bass),Kelly Keagy (drums, vocals),Brad Gillis (lead and rhythm guitars),Eric Levy (keyboards),and Keri Kelli (lead and rhythm guitars).

In a recent interview with Ralph Rasmussen of Radio Bypass, Blades spoke about what keeps him and his NIGHT RANGER bandmates motivated to make new music more than 40 years after the group's formation. He said:  "You know what? We're just gonna keep creating and coming out with albums and doing stuff until somebody says we can't. But right now people are letting us do what we wanna do and we're just gonna keep having a blast doing it. That's the way to do it.

"You've gotta keep creating," he explained. "You've gotta keep moving. We're like sharks — if we stop swimming, we die, just sink to the bottom. So we're just gonna keep creating and rocking and rolling and touring and doing it and doing it and doing it. That's what we wanna do."

Blades, who was promoting NIGHT RANGER's recently released live album and concert film "40 Years And A Night With Contemporary Youth Orchestra", was also asked if there are any plans for him and his bandmates to write and record a follow-up to 2021's "ATBPO" album. He said: "Yeah, we're pooling ideas together right now. We're coming up with stuff and thoughts and everything like that. Like I said, you can't stop us. I mean, we just keep going and going and going. And somebody will send me a track or I'll send somebody a track, this and that. 'I've got an idea.' 'I've got an idea.' 'How about this idea?' 'How about that idea?' You never know. And then suddenly, the next thing you know, we're making a record. So, I don't know. I mean, we'll see what happens."