TOM KEIFER Releases Music Video For 'Rise' Title Track

The official music video for "Rise", the title track of the second solo album from CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer, can be seen below. The disc is being released today (Friday, September 13) via Cleopatra Records.

The "Rise" song was written by Tom Keifer, Savannah Keifer with Keifer and Shawna Thompson of THOMPSON SQUARE. The official music video was directed by Vicente Cordero.

"For the 'Rise' video, we wanted to capture the band performing the song with an uplifting look," Tom explains. "We chose a plain white studio that just happened to have a matching white grand piano. It felt like the perfect environment for the feel of the song. Director Vicente Cordero did an amazing job capturing the energy of the band in this simplistic, beautiful setting.

"The last line of the second verse of 'Rise', 'Won't be the last time… I'm gonna rise,' sums up a simple truth," he continues. "Along with all the beautiful good times and highs we are blessed with in life, there will always be those unexpected lows we have to pull ourselves up from over and over. That's the very heart of what the song is about. As much of the entire album's lyrics speak to finding strength in those times of adversity, we felt the song was the perfect title track."

Keifer goes on to say: "As a band, we have experienced so many of the amazing gifts life can bring, but have also walked each other through some very hard times. I think that's why 'Rise' was such a natural, effortless record for us to make. All of the life we have shared together has created a bond that is in the grooves of this record. Each member of the band brought something special to the energy of 'Rise'. It is a truly collaborative creation."

Keifer's #keiferband consists of Savannah Keifer, Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Kendra Chantelle, Jarred Pope and Kory Myers.

Produced by Tom, Savannah and Kyle O'Connor, "Rise" scales renewed sonic heights. From the tasty slide work that stamps "Touching The Divine", the nontraditionally arranged, heavy, dark jam of "Untitled", the breakneck thrust of "All Amped Up" to the tender coda of "You Believe In Me", "Rise" signifies the ongoing evolution of the CINDERELLA frontman as a person, songwriter, and bandleader. It's the aural portrait of an artist who, to borrow a phrase, is still climbing

"When this band came together, we all felt a bit like broken souls, each with our own unique story," Tom explains. "If you ask anyone in the band, they would all say this band came along at just the right time. Every human who walks this planet faces challenges and extreme adversity they have to overcome. As a band, we feel fortunate to be able to face those things together. There is a piece of every band member in the 'The Death Of Me' as well as throughout the entire 'Rise' album."

The common thread to each song on "Rise" is the intuitive interplay between each member of #keiferband, a tight but loose collective that's spent the last six-plus years on the road honing their live craft together in support of Keifer's critically acclaimed 2013 solo debut, "The Way Life Goes". "Rise" is the studio-bred equivalent of a band just now realizing the full scope of its powers.

"We were trying to capture the feeling of what people have witnessed live with this band," Keifer explains. "There's an off-the-rails, real live feel to 'Rise' — and that's what we were going for. It shows a real kind of angst and reckless abandon that we tried not to polish too much. And when we pull it back on the ballads, it's more about the emotion, the soul, and making people feel something in a different way."

"To me, the perfect rock and roll record is perfectly fucked up," Keifer says with a hearty laugh. "You try to make each record interesting and different. I don't ever want to make the same record twice, even though there's a common thread between them. Everything doesn't have to be perfectly in place, but there is a balance you try to strike. Sometimes there may be something about it that's technically not 'right,' but there's a vibe, an energy and an attitude to it that I always try to preserve."

"Rise" track listing:

01. Touching The Divine
02. The Death Of Me
03. Waiting On The Demons
04. Hype
05. Untitled
06. Rise
07. All Amped Up
08. Breaking Down
09. Taste For The Pain
10. Life Was Here
11. You Believe In Me

Photo credit: Tammy Vega