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Exclusive interview with Tommy
Denander who recently released the record Radioactive "Ceremony
Of Innocence"
Featuring: Jeff, Mike & Steve Porcaro,
David Page, David Hungate, Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen,
Joseph Williams, Fee Waybill, Jason Scheff and many more
Q: Hi Tommy, You have recently released
you're Radioactive record, how does it feel?
- Well Bengt!, I have to admit that I've been a bit naive about
this cause I was working on the album for so long that I honestly
forgot what it would do for my career and "status" as a musician
around the world!
It took me by surprise all this attention and only now am I
starting to feel relaxed about it... I mean even CNN has contacted
me about maybe doing an interview! That's how big it's become
in like 1-2 weeks!!!
The reviews and feedback are stunning and I can't thank people
enough, I put 10 years of my life in to making this album and
it was no easy task to make all the dreams come true so now
I've really started to enjoy it myself.
Q: What kind of music is it on the Radioactive album?
- I've always been more of a westcoast fan than the typical
AOR stuff but I'm also a hard rocker at heart so to me it's
a soup made of one part Toto's Isolation, one part Giant's Time
To Burn, one part Fee Waybill's Read My Lips, one part Van Halen,
one part Mr Mister's Welcome To The Real World, one part David
Foster and a big part of me...boiled for ten years and served
with love!:-)))
Q: What has been most fun under those year you have recording
Radioactive?
- Two things always stand out for me -
1. recording live with Jeff Porcaro...to sit in a great studio
in LA with him and Mike Porcaro and cut the 10 songs we did
live was the greatest thing I've done and ever will do!
2. Having my idol David Foster say yes and actually play on
the song "Grace". Foster has meant so much for me as a writer,
player and producer and never in my wildest dreams would I think
of having him play on my album, I even got e mails from some
American top players saying "how the hell did you get Foster
to play on your album!!!":-)))... it's not easy but David is
the greatest! Other than this it was OK to work with the other
guys as well... :-))))
Q: What did you do to get so many great musicians on the
Radioactive album?
- They're all gay and I paid my dues!... JUST KIDDING!!!!! Thru
a miracle I asked Toto if they would play on my album if I got
a deal and they said yes!!!...after that happen I parted ways
with the record label and decided to take my time with the album.
Of course I didn't know it was gonna be ten years but when Jeff
sadly passed away in 1992 I knew how unique my album was and
that's when I decided to try and get as many of my heroes to
play and sing on it.
Most people said yes right away simply because they wanted a
chance to "work" with Jeff one last time, that's how big he
was and a few of them had never worked with Jeff and knew this
was gonna be their last chance.
Some people like Bobby Kimball and Fergie I had become friends
with so when I asked them it was no problem and when you have
ten big names you can get 2-3 more and that helps to get another
2-3 and so on!
Also the album has been written about all over the world since
1991 and many knew about it and was simply honored to be a part
of it.
The thing that makes me most proud with everyone on the album
is that they all had a great time doing it!...most of them put
in more time then they've ever done on anything before and played
and sang at the top level of their capacity.
Q: Are there someone you haven't played with yet, that you
want to have on your play list?
- There's lots of people I want to work with like Michael McDonald,
Richard Page, David Coverdale, Steve Perry and so on and I hope
I'll get the chance but when I look at the list of people and
bands I've worked with and think about that I'm only 33 I'm
amazed and deeply grateful.
Q: Before you went to the States in 1987, who did you play
with at that time?
- I was in several bands like ATC, Cheese, Down Town and Cool
For Cats but I did a lot of sessions and some small tours as
well, it was the "early" years and I took any kind of gig I
could get.
I had a lot of fun cause I was still living at home with my
wonderful parents and I had very few expenses so most of the
money I made I bought home studio, guitars and keyboards for....great
time!
Q: Prisoner is one of your great project, is there some
new releases for Prisoner in the near future?
- We just released Prisoner II and it's doing pretty good but
it wasn't the album we really wanted to do. Due to circumstances
outside of the band we had to use drum machine and so on but
we're already writing for a third CD to be released in the fall
of 2002 so we're gonna take our time and make a really good
album!
Q: Do you have any other new recording project you want
to share with us?
- I'm always involved in lots of projects... I recently did
some keyboards plus engineered the keyboards of Mats Olausson
(Yngwie M) for the new Lions Share CD "Entrance", I'm almost
done with the new Sayit CD that I think is very good, I did
a solo on Bruce Gaitsch new solo album "Understanding", I'm
writing with Geir for the next Rainmaker album, I'm gonna work
with another great Swede Peter Friestedt next week on his LA
Project album and I'm working with Bobby Kimball on some cool
stuff.
Q: I read on your
site
that you have a project with Bobby Kimball, what kind of project
is that?
- I'm writing songs with him for a couple of really cool projects
he's doing in USA but I can't tell you what yet so I'll get
back to you on those but we're also writing a special song for
the Jason Becker tribute part II that will be called "Jason".
It will be a kind of "We are the world" situation with a ton
of big stars guesting plus an all star band backing, it's an
up tempo kick ass rock song that I hope will be very cool when
it's done.
Q: Do you have any plans for a concert tour, in Scandinavia,
Europe or USA?
- No live gigs at all for me this year but hopefully next summer.
Q: Your All Star Band, include: Drum, Bass, Guitar, Keyboard,
Lead song and Guitar. Please let us know?
- You got it and I'll add a few -
Drums - Jeff Porcaro
Percussion - Lenny Castro
Bass - Nathan East
Guitar - Michael Landau (even though
I'd like the gig:-)
Keyboards - David Foster and Vince DiCola
Vocals - Bobby Kimball, Geir Rönning and Michael McDonald
Backing vocals - Joseph Williams, Jason Scheff and Richard Page
Thanks for the interview Tommy.
Good luck with all your project!!
Bengt and The Swedish Westcoast Music Site
- Thanks a lot mate and keep up the great work! Tommy
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