"This album is a
longtime goal that I've had over the years," so remarks the worldwide renown singer,
"that finally came about. And I'm very happy to say that I'm really pleased with the
results. And I think after you heard the album that you'll also agree that it's the best
album I've ever recorded."
First of all, Rob Rock gives you a short
outline of his musical career: "My recording career began with the 1986 worldwide
release of M.A.R.S. Project/Driver. That album featured Tony MacAlpine on guitar, and Ozzy
Osbourne, Rudy Sarzo on bass, and Tommy Aldridge on drums. This album has been like a
classic metal album since its release. It was a great way to start my recording
career."
"Meanwhile," Rock goes on
pointing out, "I continued to release a number of recordings over the years with a
lot of guitar heroes like Chris Impellitteri, Roy Z, Axel Rudi Pell, Joshua Perahia, and
Dennis Cameron. And I spent the majority of the nineties in the group Impellitteri where
we recorded six albums and did three tours with that group. And over that time I began to
wish to do a solo album. And once JVC/Victor in Japan was also interested in it, it
finally after four years of prayer and waiting, we got an agreement on the budget and the
timetable and I was abled to make the solo album."
Wanting to make an album is one thing, the
making of it another! This singer was abled to get a fine line-up of songs on Rage Of
Creation. He explains how he got the songs together for this solo album: "I decided
to get together with my good friend Roy Z. We had wrote some great songs together back in
1989 and 1990 when we were in the band called Driver. And I knew I had like thirty songs
that we wrote back then on demo. And we listened to them back and we picked five or six
songs that still sound great today. And so we decided to take those songs and rewrite
them. We took the hooks that we liked. And any other parts that we liked we kept and the
parts that we thought were a little weak we just rewrote and made them modern. So, this
album, Rage Of Creation, is a mixture of five or six brand new songs that we wrote and
five songs that have pieces from the past, from the Driver days, that stood the test of
time."
So, here it is, Rage Of Creation. What does
Rob Rock think the production of it and how was Roy Z's involvement with the production of
it? "I'm really happy to finally do a legitimate album with Roy Z who's a great
friend of mine," he points out. "And he's also a great producer. Roy Z has
produced the Bruce Dickinson solo albums, Chemical Wedding and Accident Of Birth. He's
also produced the new Halford album, Resurrection. And the new Helloween album Dark Ride.
So Roy Z is really moving up in the producer world and I was abled and glad that he had
time to record this album with me. Not only record it but write and produce it as
well."
Rob Rock was surrounded by several
musicians to realize the plans he had with the album. He tells he himself did the lead and
backing vocals while Roy Z played rhythm and lead guitar, some bass and some keyboards.
About other appearances on the album he explains: "We also got Reynold Butch Carlson
on drums who played with me and Roy back in the Driver days. Gregory Analla who happens to
be Roy Z's singer for his own band Tribe Of Gypsies, he came in and helped me on the
backing vocals. And we had a couple of guest players come in. We had Ray Burke on bass. He
played bass on songs like All I Need, In The Night and Never Too Late. And then a good
friend of ours called Jake E Lee from Ozzy Osbourne's band, he did a few solos for me.
Actually, he did two. He did the guitar solo for All I Need and also for the song Media
Machine."
The goal set for the album was to create a
very live feel, the singer tells. Rock speaks: "A feel of power and performance, of
honesty and emotion and passion. And thus it creates a whole vibe in the album that this
is true metal, right from the heart, raw, yet very well produced. And the result is just a
fantastic record. Rage Of Creation, to me, is my Magnum Opus up to this point. It's the
greatest record I've made so far. And I hope to continue in this vein, obviously. But
right now, we have Rage Of Creation!"
"We had a great time recording this
album," Rock finally enthusiastically comments, "and I believe it shows in the
result of the album. It was a lot of fun. Roy Z has a great neck for getting out personal
performances, yet without the stress and strain of the studio. I mean, he just frees you
up to fly!"
Rage Of Creation contains eleven songs.
Rock is willing and interested in giving some comments on each song.
"The album starts out with an
instrumental piece called In The Beginning. In this song -it's a new song that we've put
together- it evokes the mystery of the beginning of creation. And this theme of creation
and fresh, real, metal, is like the theme I had for this whole album."
The Sun Will Rise Again - "It's just a
powerful song," Rock says. "It's a song of hope and (has) a positive vibe. And
it rocks! It's a good way to open the album. Some songs were written around a guitar riff,
or the music. It was already there. Some songs were written around the melody in the
vocals. Like The Sun Will Rise Again. I had the verse melody and lyrics and the chorus
melody and lyrics and I just stood there with Roy and I just sang it to him. And out of
thin air Roy Z comes up with this great metal riff. It was awesome! When we play it live
it's really great!"
One Way Out - "Now this song is a
revamped version from the Driver days that Roy and I wrote. It's very high energy. It's
got a cool guitar riff. It's got an awesome solo in it. We just took that song and played
it with a modern feel and the result is what you have on Rage Of Creation."
Judgement Day - "Lyrically this song
is basically inspired by the book of Revelation in the Bible. And of course it's about the
end times. And it's a new song written around a Roy Z riff. Roy Z had the riff, the
beginning riff for that song. And I said 'oh, man! That's cool, let's use that! Let's
develop this into a song.' And Judgement Day basically turned into a three part song. It's
almost like a mini opera kinda thing. To me all three parts mesh well together. It's a
very heavy song and it's very cool. It got modern tones in it. It's awesome!" So he
exclaims enthusiastically.
Streets Of Madness - "I think this
song has one of my best vocal performances on it. It's a great song. We had the riff. I
think parts of that song were from the old demos I had. But we rewrote all the lyrics. And
this song kicks butts. It's great!"
Eagle - "It was actually written by
Abba. I was introduced to this song by a friend of mine called Chris Leibundgut who helped
me put together some of the people in the band. But Chris suggested this song and said
'Rock, why don't you do this song? I can hear your voice doing it and I can hear you
building it up'. And when I first heard this song, I was like 'okay, Eagle, Abba!' I mean,
Abba is a great songwriting band. But, you know, Abba in my mind was nice, sweet pop
music. But me and Roy discussed it and we thought that if I would perform it in the way of
one of my favorite songs of all time, Heaven And Hell that Ronnie Dio sings with Black
Sabbath, that I thought it would evoke a great vibe that would enhance the song and bring
it to a new level. A level of metal mystery and power. And so, I went for that and the
result for Eagle, to me, is one of the best songs on the album and I really enjoy it. It's
a well written song and well performed. Roy Z does a great solo on it. And it just has a
cool vibe to it."
"On the song All I Need", Rock
continues telling, "we brought in Jake E Lee to handle the solo on it. It's a bluesy
song and it rocks! I mean, it's got a great hook in it and Jake E Lee just takes off on
the solo area."
Media Machine - "This song here is
like an American metal style song. It's got some of that old, early Dio sentiment to it.
It has some of that Impellitteri rhythm guitar styles in it. And it's basically a song
about the media and how they invade famous people's lives. I mean, you see it everywhere,
where they're trying to sell you on everybody's business. It's just a big machine but the
whole point is they sell magazines and that's what the song is about."
In The Night - "This song here was
originally conceived back in the Driver days. It's got a classic metal style. Kind of like
some Judas Priest style going on. The song is really a great mood. I really like the
rhythm part of it; the chugging of the rhythms and the vibe it sends off. It's definitely
a cool song. It starts off slow but then starts grinding like true metal does."
Never Too Late - "This song was
originally written with me and Roy back in the day. We thought it stood the test of time.
It's a great single type song. It's a short American metal style ditty. And it kicks butt.
I mean, it's got a lot of down picking on the rhythms and it gives a lot of energy and a
lot of strength. And Butch does a great job on the drums as well."
"And the epic song of the album is a
song called Forever," Rob Rock finally comments. "It kind of starts off like a
ballad, turns into a mid-tempo song. To me this is like a classic song. I mean, me and Roy
put this song together. And I think Roy Z's solo on it especially is like what you've
never heard before. This guy's drippin'! But the main part of the song, is the melody. To
me it's a great song to sing. It's real fun to sing and it's a great song to listen to as
well. And I think everyone will enjoy this song." |
