QUIET RIOT Frontman: 'The '80s Were Fun, But I Don't Live There Anymore'

Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with QUIET RIOT vocalist Kevin DuBrow. Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: What can you tell us about the new album?

Kevin DuBrow: "Well, it's obviously different from any previous QUIET RIOT release. And that was intentional. Frankie [Banali, drums] and I have always been capable of playing more than one kind of rock 'n' roll. It was just a matter of being able to write the right songs and play them with the right people to express that. Frankie and I both had songs like this. We had specifically discussed going in the direction of a retro '70's-type album, so we had to get the songs written. They weren't sitting lying around. When people talk about material from that era from bands like FREE, SPOOKY TOOTH and HUMBLE PIE…there's a lost art to that kind of songwriting. We had to have the songs and we had to have the right people to play them. It's a certain kind of style. Let's say you wanted to play a guitar solo that sounded like Paul Kossof from FREE. You can't use someone that sounds like Eddie Van Halen and expect it to sound like Paul Kossof. It's a different time and it's a different feel. You have to have the right people for this kind of material. Tony Franklin is a super-versatile bass player. Neil Citron can play anything from Steve Vai down to Paul Kossof. If you have someone whose style is very limited, that wouldn't work with the kind of material we wrote for this album. If you listen to some of the guitar playing on songs like 'Evil Woman' or 'Blind Faith'…it's really a lost art, ya know?"

Blasting-Zone.com: Were you initially concerned that a certain aspect of your die-hard fans wouldn't embrace the new recording?

Kevin: "We've haven't sold multi-platinum in many, many years, so it doesn't really make a difference. We made an album that we wanted to make for ourselves. We kept making the same record over and over again and that's boring. In all honesty, as much as I like some of the songs on 'Guilty Pleasures', it's an ear that had already been well-traveled by us before. It would have been boring for us to have traveled it again. The only song on 'Rehab' that's like that is 'It Sucks To Be You'. The only reason why we included it was because Frankie said we needed some small link to the past. It's a classic in that style of music. I was hesitant to include it, but I suppose you do need to have some small link. But it's not where we want to go musically. We're not trying to reinvent ourselves, we're just trying to explore more areas of this one microcosm of rock music."

Blasting-Zone.com: Realistically, what are you're commercial expectations for "Rehab"?

Kevin: "None. We don't really care. We wanted to make something that we like. We did it for ourselves for our own artistic fulfillment. Anybody who gets it and likes it speaks the same language. Anyone that doesn't like it…we could care less. We love listening to old FREE, HUMBLE PIE and LED ZEPPELIN records and the love we get out of that inspired this record. If you close yourself off from listening to us play another style of rock music then you'll be missing out on some pretty bad-ass retro '70s-style stuff."

Blasting-Zone.com: Is the current version of the group better than the classic "Metal Health" era line-up?

Kevin: "Well, I don't know why people call that line-up the classic line-up because to me, that line-up wasn't classic at all. It just happened that those four people were in a band together when an album broke real big. The so-called classic line-up had some fun moments in the '80s for about ten minutes. When we got back together from 1997 to 2003, those were probably the six worst years of my life. This is a musical band of nice people. Everybody gets along good and has the same sense of humor and it's not self-serving for anybody on a personal level. The only difference for Frankie and me with the old band is that Frankie has a tolerance for a lot of stuff that I won't deal with. I don't think he cared for it either, but a lot of people have fond memories of that band because they saw them on MTV. It's like your first taste of pussy…there's a lot better pussy out there. If you haven't seen a lot of other rock bands, the 'Metal Health' line-up does seem like a good idea. But if you were in it, here were some not so good moments. It was a fun era, but we have a band now that can compete musically and visually with the band from that era. It's much better musically, that's for sure."

Blasting-Zone.com: Do you also feel it's better than the version of the group that featured Randy Rhoads?

Kevin: "No doubt about it. Frankie Banali is untouchable. He's one of the few rock drummers who is identifiable by his sound and his style. Think about it…John Bonham, Cozy Powell, Keith Moon…these are guys who have distinctive drum styles. Frankie Banali falls into that category. That sound and groove he has on 'South Of Heaven'…you don't hear that anymore. Kelly Garney is one of my best friends and he's a good bass player, but as far as that classic rhythm section John Paul Jones/John Bonham thing…that's not where Kelly came from. He learned how to play bass from Randy, so he played bass like a guitar. You can't compare Kelly and (original QUIET RIOT drummer) Drew (Forsythe) to Frankie and Chuck or Frankie and Tony Franklin. The less said about Drew the better. Comparing him to Frankie Banali…you just can't. And I wasn't the greatest singer either. It was a fun band to go watch…but musically, the first QUIET RIOT line-up was really primitive. I was twenty two years old at the time and was still listening to managers that were telling us to sound like whatever the flavor of the week was. …The end result of that was the band ANGEL because they had the same manager. Every time something new came along, they told ANGEL to sound like that. And I'm sure they had the same reaction. They wanted to do what they wanted to do. But you want a record deal so bad when you're young that you tend to follow these business people. Randy always hated that. He had his own vision of what we should sound like."

Blasting-Zone.com: At least you're not sitting around giving bitter interviews to VH1...

Kevin: "Having said that, I probably won't be doing anything more with them. …I'm sick of sitting around for three hours as a favor to them so they can use ten seconds. I have other things that I can do. They don't wanna talk about 'Rehab' or anything current because VH1 isn't really about anything current. It's all '80s this and '80s that. I could make my own '80s show. I would call it 'The '80s Were Fun, But I Don't Live There Anymore'. VH1 makes thousands of dollars of these shows and that's great. I'm not expecting to get paid, but if you're going to use me, I have more to say than just 'It was a good time and I got blown by a lot of girls…' That's about the extent of the depth of the sound bytes that they take. I doubt you'll see me doing any more of them."

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com.