With a band with a pedigree like Foreigner an introduction seems rather redundant – a classic rock giant with songs that have more than stood the test of time. For fans in Australia and New Zealand the great news is that they’re coming over to see us in October – but it’s not going to be just any rock show – this time they’re giving their catalogue the orchestral treatment. We talked to the man with the golden voice – Kelly Hansen to find out all about the tour and the release of the mighty ‘Foreigner with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus’
Mark: Hi, Kelly thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. It’s exciting times; you’re coming over to Australia, and coming over here to sunny Perth too! I’ve been watching the DVD all week, and it’s amazing! A lot of bands have done that, but not pulled it off as well as you guys have.
Kelly: Thank you. I think it shows a real side to the band performing these songs, with the juxtaposition of this fantastic, epic sound of an orchestra, and they are all volunteers by the way!
Mark: Wow! Is it something Mick’s been working on for a long period of time? Was it a long term project?
Kelly: Well, there were several months of preparation, preparing the arrangements, and Mick was in New York meeting with Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer, and then they would get together with a cello player, then a violinist and a trumpet player and they would work on these parts of pieces with singular instruments. Dave had had this experience before doing stuff with Evanescence, but there was making sure you chose songs that work with an orchestra, and will be complementary, and then flushing out those arrangements so that they are complementary and actually expanding their composition, not just mirror it.
Mark: Did you find it very different working with an orchestra on stage compared to the traditional rock band?
Kelly: Well, yeah, there were a lot of goose bumps actually! You are used to hearing and playing these songs in a certain way for so long, and then you have this added dimension which is just huge, it was quite moving.
Mark: It is, and it’s a wonderful DVD, I would definitely recommend it! We are actually fans from way back and we loved the album “Can’t Slow Down”, it’s been almost ten years since we had some original Foreigner music, are we likely to see another new album from Foreigner?
Kelly: I think that you’re likely to hear new songs, I don’t know if it makes sense to do an entire CD anymore in this day and age. The one story that I constantly tell, is that we took a year in 2009 to create “Can’t Slow Down” and we were on the road in America and Europe, and in all our “off” time we were writing and recording, in New York and LA. Mick was coming out to LA, and it was incredibly exhausting, it was a lot of hard work, took up any empty time that we had and our energy, and it took huge amounts of money to complete that record, and the day that it was released people were trading it for free on the internet!! That’s really disappointing when you know how much time and effort you put in to something. I don’t think that model really works anymore; I think it’s better to do a song or two at a time. In fact we did “Flame Still Burns”, and we’ve done certain things and added them to pieces of our releases lately, but I think it’s going to be more a song or two at a time from now on. I would never say never, but from having had that experience, I think people who aren’t musicians or trying to make a living as an artist will understand that it’s just become the norm now, you don’t pay for anything you just get it for free. Or, even if you subscribe to a music service, the amount of cash that goes to the artist for a download or a stream is absolutely inconsequential!! It means absolutely nothing to anybody! I’ll give you an example. I had a large piece of a song, and I got a statement for my royalties, and it streamed 42, 000 times, and I got 42c!! That’s indicative of the times!
Mark: That’s about right. It’s something we need to get away from. Personally, I won’t subscribe to any streaming services; I try and get as much music as I can directly from the artist.
Kelly: It’s just the way it’s going, I don’t think there’s any way to stop it, so you work with the hand you’ve been dealt, thankfully we are still fortunate in that we can go on tour, but we almost have to tour year round now, it used to be you could tour three or four months in the summer and then spend the rest of the time working on new material, and you can’t do that now.
Mark: The world is changing!! Well, we are pretty excited that you are coming down here to come and see us! What do you think it is about the music of Foreigner, you’ve been with the band since 2005, were you a fan growing up?
Kelly: Well, I was a working musician and a professional musician when Foreigner started, and I was very aware of them, as I was of many other bands of the time, it was a rich time for pop and rock music, there was a lot of freedom, the technology in recording was really just exploding, and record labels would allow a band to develop and give them a number of albums to get better and hone their skills, as opposed to the eighties and nineties when if you didn’t have a hit with the first single you were dropped!! So that time when Foreigner came out was a really great time to be doing what they were doing and they made the most of it for sure.
Mark: I think so, and you do a fantastic job too, I’m a big fan of your music, I’ve just pulled out a couple of old vinyls, before we spoke and the first one is “Take What You Want” by Hurricane.
Kelly: That was a little while ago!!
Mark: I have a couple of questions about Hurricane, but getting back to Foreigner, what’s your favourite song to play in this format?
Kelly: You know what; it changes, because it’s never the same! The ambience, the setting, how I’m hearing, how the band is feeling will change, and so whatever is the most cool song to play that night! The fortunate thing is that I am not in a band where the audience only really knows the last two songs! Every song we do is a well-known well-crafted song, it’s an entire show full of hits, and so it just depends on the night, some songs will feel better one night and a different night a different song will feel great.
Mark: I love the orchestral opening to “Cold as Ice”, it sends shivers up my spine! Taking it all the way back, you’ve been a musician for a long time, where did it all begin for you?
Kelly: It was by accident! I was getting to the end of my high school years, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life, and my friend had a band, and our families were friends so we would go to the beach together in the summer, and he would bring his guitar. One day he said why don’t you sing a song with me and I did, and he said why don’t you come and sing in my band, and so I did, and three months later I was lead singer of the band, it was something I didn’t know I had the ability for, and so it turned in to what I was going to do.
Mark: Really? So you didn’t even realise you could sing?
Kelly: Well I was in choir when I was very, very young, and I had the ability to remember jingles and TV theme songs, I still do to this day, to the great annoyance of the rest of the band members!! So, I had that and then when I started singing in the band, I thought yeah, I do have this ability!
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any great album, what would it be? Just to see how it all came together?
Kelly: Wow! Probably “Sgt Peppers”, I think that that was a really interesting time, but also maybe, “The Wall”, it’s two sided for me, it’s not only the creative process, but also the recording process, as that was also a really fascinating time for me as well.
Mark: Two great albums, where I guess the boundaries were pushed considerably!
Mark: Finally, what is the meaning of life?
Kelly: I think the meaning of life is to live every day trying to continually understand more about what your happiness is. I think that being happy means that you are more positive, and I think when you’re more positive you are going to be better towards others, and I think that makes the world better.
Mark: Great answer. What’s the best thing about being in Foreigner these days? You are constantly touring the world, playing to new audiences, playing acoustic, as an artist is that a wonderful thing to be able to do to get out there and share the music?
Kelly: It is, and to be able to do it with a truly great catalogue of songs, and to be in a group of musicians who get it, who understand how fortunate we all are, and enjoy each other’s company and to share the same sense of humour is rare. There’s that aspect, but to be in a band with such great songs, songs that have really survived through these decades, thriving because of their great quality, it’s like a trifecta or more of good fortune, so I do really understand how fortunate I am.
Mark: It is a great group of musicians. Going back to Hurricane, you came back in 2001 with what I thought was a fantastic album, are there any plans to revisit that music?
Kelly: I always appreciate people saying that about Hurricane, but I think the audience is way too small for me to validate me spending any of my precious time on any more Hurricane!! (Laughs). I just don’t think it’s on the cards and I’m so incredibly busy with Foreigner as it is, I just can’t see it making any sense.
Mark: Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions, maybe a solo album down the track for you?
Kelly: I’m not quite sure about that, I mean I would love to be able to do a bunch of standards, you know that would be really great, that’s just for me, and maybe I’ll do that one day, but maybe working with different people, who knows, but I think asking for more than I have is just being greedy!!
Mark: Where does your inspiration come from? And has it changed over the years?
Kelly: I just have a desire as an entertainer to win an audience, I think it’s an old school kind of philosophy, that if you’re an entertainer, that’s your goal. I know that Mick and I share that same thing, we’ve talked about it, you cannot go out there and be defeated, and that’s a driving energy for us every night, it really is, and it’s so satisfying when you feel that you have done that.
Mark: Thank you so much for your time, Kelly, can’t wait to see you over here! Take care.
Kelly: Thank you, you too. Bye.
