For me when I look back at all the 80’s style Rock Albums that came out post-Grunge in the 1990’s a handful stand out immediately. These are records that you feel are the prisoners of time – a couple of years before and they would have been deservedly huge but due to record companies fixation with trend riding they never stood a chance. Roxy Blue’s debut ‘Want Some?’ is one such album and 27 years after it’s release one that still stands the test of time. In my 1000th interview I caught up with Todd Poole to find out all about their roaring comeback – the self-titled ‘Roxy Blue’.
Mark: Hi Todd, thank you for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit this morning, how are you?
Todd: I’m doing good man, how you doing?
Mark: I’m very good thanks It’s a pleasure to talk to you. One of the albums I’ve played regularly since it was released is ‘Want Some? So it’s a pleasure to talk to you. You’re also my 1000th phone interview so it’s doubly special.
Todd: That’s cool (laughs)
Mark: I love the new album, it’s not quite what I expected. It doesn’t try to recapture the past instead it builds on it. Unlike a lot of bands that make a comeback it actually sounds like you’ve been listening to and enjoying music over the past 20 plus years.
Todd: Yeah man, I mean the thing is I didn’t want to rehash the past, none of us wanted to make ‘Want Some #2.’ But it’s been twenty seven years so I wanted to write about what we’ve lived and learned and everybody’s lost and loved – there’s just a lot to life. Life has a way of slapping you in the face and I tried to put that on the record. So I just don’t think it would have been real man if I’d just gone back and tried to write the extension of that first album, it wouldn’t have been from the heart and I wouldn’t have felt great about it. And that’s not to say I didn’t like that record, back then it was just sex, drugs and rock and roll and now I have a family so there’s things a little deeper to write about.
Mark: Just staying on that first record for a second though, there were some fantastic songs on it. I found a mic tape I did back in the day the other week and it had ‘Sister, Sister’ on there and ‘Nobody Knows’
Todd: (laughs)
Mark: You always did write a great ballad and there’s a couple of great ones on the new record, I love ‘Collide’ particularly.
Todd: Thank you so much, that’s the band’s favourite. One of our plans is to do a video for that. We have one ready to come out, it’s ‘Rockstar Junkie’
Mark: Great choice, a song that’s heavier, chunkier and has that nice raw edge to it. Those first two songs ‘Rockstar Junkie’ and ‘Silver Lining’ are great they hit you right in the face.
Todd: Yeah, ‘Silver Lining’ was actually the last song I wrote for this record. Wayne Sweeney from Saliva, which was a band I actually started, we actually wrote that song together, well at least the music, it was actually a different song originally. But me and our drummer Scotty were talking about it, it was actually a song called ’Take the Wheel’ and in the chorus I was actually singing “Jesus take the wheel” and Scotty lives in Nashville, Tennessee, so he’s like “Dude, that is like the holy grail” in Nashville with Carrie Underwood so they wanted me to change it around and I was like “Nah, that doesn’t work for me” but I actually got lucky, I was driving home from the studio one night and I pushed the wrong button on my phone and it was the music to the song that was to become ‘Silver Lining’ with no lyrics, so I actually wrote the song on the way home from the studio, I just came up with something new. And so my wife was like “Have y’all come up with a single yet?” and I told her “No,” that we were working on t with Frontiers and she said that she thought we should use ‘Silver Lining.’ And I thought “OK my wife’s turning into a Rock Chick here!” So it all worked out good. And of course ‘Rockstar Junkie’ is about the era we all lived in and about the rug being pulled out from under us and how all the Rock and Rollers and the fans still came to see us, so that’s exactly what that song is all about. That song is for the fans.
Mark: It must have been a very ‘interesting’ and dispiriting time, you’re one of a very few bands that I just can’t help feel that, two years earlier you would have been huge.
Todd: Yeah (laughs) yeah the timing of that was crazy an, it hurt me for a long time I think. We pondered on that and the “What ifs?” We made a second record, well the demos, that never got out, but you know I think things happen for a reason. I look back, and yeah, it did kill everything we were going for but I do think music needed a change. To be honest you know it needed a change, of course I wish it had changed a couple of years down the road (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
Todd: But I think that what Kurt Cobain and all of those guys were doing, I think a lot of the bands started sounding alike and there was a lot of identity crisis for a lot of the groups as far as you couldn’t tell one band from the next. I don’t know those things that happened were way beyond you and I and unfortunately we took a swim. (laughs)
Mark: And you couldn’t have had a better team behind you either – you had Tom (Werman), Mike (Clink) and Doug (Thaler) all there?
Todd: Yeah we had the dream team, so the stars were definitely aligned and I don’t think that we realised at the time the amount of pressure that was actually on us and that was probably a good thing because these guys were involved with Motley Crue and Guns ‘N’ Roses for the biggest part and I think people expected us to be the next ‘that’, because of who we had, and I’m glad we didn’t think of that back then because if we would have it really would have been bad. But we were blessed to have those power players and I think they had plans for us, I know we were planned to do a Motley Crue Tour which would have been huge, but you know, things happened right! It was out with the old and in with the new and we just happened to be the other part of it.
Mark: Talking to so many people around then I always felt that the labels didn’t need to destroy the old to bring in the new, other genres had always co-existed an not everyone had to wear a flannel shirt to make good music. I think it was as much the ‘Poison wannabees’ that all looked the same ad just plain sounded uninspired that did as much damage as Seattle did?
Todd: Yeah you’re right it was like that, but it is funny, I made the statement when we played a show with Warrant last weekend and I made the comment from stage that back in the day if someone said to you “wipe that smile off your face and get depressed” you’d have wondered what they were talking about. I actually personally liked the Seattle sound, even though it did destroy us, but what I didn’t like was that it wasn’t cool to have a good time anymore. You know what I’m saying? And that sucks. I lived in that time and played music and it’s funny when you play that music now you see it in people’s faces – they’re glad that you’re there and they miss that. And I think we need that back a little bit.
Mark: That’s so true Todd, a show should be fun, it should be a good time to get you away from the daily grind. It’s such a sad thing to think a whole generation of kids missed out on that. A friend of mine Derek Davis remembers a tour he did with you guys back in the day, that must have been fun – Babylon A.D., Roxy Blue and Wildside?
Todd: Babylon! I saw those guys not too long ago at ‘Rock and Skull’ and we hooked up and hugged each other, it was a fun tour that tour, saying that it was kind of a blur though back then! We played so many shows! I think we were doing five or six days a week then a one or two day rest. But you know what I’d do it again right now if someone would give me the opportunity! (laughs)
Mark: We have a little segment on our Podcast called ‘Off the Record’ and as the man who created my album of 1992 I’ve always wanted to ask you these – just some random quick-fire questions, you ready?
Todd: I’m good.
Mark: Before we start properly I do have to ask this though – your voice sounds great on the new record, any secrets for aspiring vocalists? How do you keep it in shape?
Todd: I just sing all the time! I mean I do take pretty good care of myself and I do a lot of session work, but there are so many great singers out there so thank you for saying that. I do ‘warm up’ believe it or not, I used to warm up with a shot of Jack Daniels and I still do to tell you the truth, but my father in law told me, and my father in law was the late, great Jimi Jamison from Survivor, and he taught me a lot because I had no idea that warming up your voice for 30 minutes before you go on would save your voice, so I do that every time now.
Mark: A great tip.
Todd: But don’t do some of those warmup exercise in front of anyone – they’re very embarrassing!
Mark: (laughs)
Mark: Kicking off properly then, what is it for you that makes a great song?
Todd: Wow, that’s tough, a tricky situation too because to me a great song and a hooky song are often two different things. To me a great song is if you write something that someone feels like they’re in or a part of. If you hear a sad song or an emotional song if it makes you cry that’s a great song to me. It doesn’t have to be a hit song, it can be any song, it doesn’t have to be a hard song, it can be very simple, but it has to touch me. I have to believe in a song for me that’s what makes a song great. And a great song shouldn’t need all the bells and whistles, if you can sit with an acoustic guitar or a piano and play it it shouldn’t need anything else.
Mark: And is that how you tend to write? I think I read somewhere that you’d come up with a melody and take it to Sid (Fletcher, the band’s original guitarist now a successful dentist) and together you’d work out the music before taking it to the band?
Todd: I did, that’s exactly how I did it. Back in the day they had these things called message machines in your house and if I had an idea I’d have to stop and phone somewhere! There were no cell phones so I’d call the message machine and I’d hum all my ideas on there. And as Sid and I lived together he’d get up and check the messages and he’d hear (Todd hums what I’m pretty sure was ‘Too Hot to Handle’) and that’s how we wrote back then! (laughs) These days I write a lot in my truck or my car while I’m driving I feel the solitude when no one’s around me and I get real creative and then I come home and I pick up my guitar and work it out. As a writer I always have y tool of recording with me no matter what – it doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing if I’m in writing mode if I even have the smallest idea I put in on my phone and then I come home and I suss it out. Some songs come real easy too, and some songs I have to hang on the refrigerator for a week or two before its right. And I don’t play a whole lot of piano but you did mention ‘Collide’ and I did want to tell you that I played everything on that.
Mark: Wow.
Todd: Well I didn’t play the bass but I played the piano, the strings, the acoustic and sang.
Mark: I think ‘Collide’ and at the other end of the scale ‘Till the Well Runs Dry’ are probably my current favourite two on the album.
Todd: (laughs) Well thank you. That’s cool.
Mark: If you could have been credited with any one song so that your name was forever attached to it, what would it be for you?
Todd: ‘Happy Birthday!’
Mark: (laughs) you’ve gone for the financial one I see!
Todd: Yeah, I’d have made a lot of money for that one right! (laughs)
Mark: Do you have a guilty musical pleasure? Anything we might not expect you to listen to?
Todd: Yes, I have a few! Neil Diamond man!
Mark: Neil’s not that bad! (laughs)
Todd: Oh something bad? I don’t think I like anything that’s bad! (laughs) No I’m just kidding I get what you’re saying! Something that I’d be embarrassed if someone knew I listened to it? No I don’t!
Mark: Well said (laughs).
Todd: I do listen to a lot of hard music, I probably listen to Black Sabbath every day, and I know that’s not hard to a lot of people. I listen to a lot of new stuff too, I like a band called ‘Like a Storm,’ ‘Asking Alexandria’ and stuff like that. I really dig all that stuff. I’m a Foo Fighter fan too, I’m the kind of guy if I’m listening to the radio and its good I’ll crank it up.
Mark: You have three musical guests past or present to take to your favourite restaurant – who do you take?
Todd: That’s a great question. Ozzy, Dave Grohl… do they have to be alive?
Mark: No anyone at all living or dead.
Todd: Man that’s hard, I’m trying to make this interesting and honest, but I think we’d have a great conversation if we had Ozzy, Dave Grohl and…. Robert Plant.
Mark: That would be a great night, and two guys from
Todd: But you know man if I had to name a guy who came in and brought the drinks I’d have to say Bon Scott. I saw Bon Scott twice live with AC/DC and he was a hoot, that guy was the real deal. I was fortunate enough to see, I’m a big 70’s rocker, and I always thought that that was the very best. Though now that I think about what I said, Paul McCartney would have to walk in, he’s one of my all-time favourite, I just wasn’t thinking. But in all honesty Dave Grohl would have to be there no matter what because he’s what I like in a Rock and Roller, he’s an honest guy, he’s a funny guy and he rocks his ass off!
Mark: Sounds like a pretty cool evening, I’ll be over soon.
Todd: (laughs)
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the studio wall for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic happened what would you like to have been there for?
Todd: This is not that hard for me, it’s a toss-up though. Can I have two? I would have to say Zeppelin IV and there’s so many other great records by this band, but I’m gonna go with ‘We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll.’
Mark: Nice picks Sir.
Todd: ‘Physical Graffiti’ and ‘We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll’ kind of defined my life when I was young but there’s just something about the mood of Zeppelin IV that I would have loved to have seen the creative process at work, because that record is an iconic record.
Mark: And you hear such stories, I love the ones about the recording of the drums, and as a drummer yourself I’m guessing you’re a big fan?
Todd: There’ll never be another Bonham and you can’t say that about too many musicians. There are drummers that are technically insane now but there’s just something about the way that he played that if you’re a drummer the only words that come out of your mouth are ‘John Bonham.’
Mark: And we have one final question for you today Todd, thank you very much for talking to us, it’s been an absolute pleasure for me.
Todd: Me as well.
Mark: I was a huge fan of ‘Want Some?’ one of the albums that defined my youth and to finally get to the talk to the man behind it is a real honour for me, so thank you. We always close with an easy one though – What is the meaning of life?
Todd: (laughs) Oh man! I’m gonna have to go… The meaning of life is love and happiness, it’s got to be man. If you don’t have love you can’t have happiness and you can’t have happiness if you don’t have love. That’s the meaning of life and I have both.
Mark: The new self-titled album ‘Roxy Blue’ is out here and worldwide on August 9th, it’s one of my albums of the year without a doubt, it’s a great comeback. I know that a few years ago you released those albums on FnA Records ‘Want Some More’, ‘Stripped’ and a live album too.
Todd: Yeah, we weren’t even a band at that time, Scotty and I got together and we were approached – they wanted to give us some money to put out some stuff, so we got an opportunity to dig out some stuff. It was weird – we had some cassettes of songs, and they wanted three records worth so we had to go back in and make it sound OK, some of the quality was pretty bad on some of that stuff as the tapes were deteriorating so we had some work to make them sound right. But it was a fun process just to go back and think “Wow I forgot all about that song.” So it was fun for a minute but I think for really avid Roxy Blue fans it’s a good pick up just to get those records just to have them.
Mark: You take care of yourself Todd, I know you have a day of this hope you enjoy yourself.
Todd: Alright buddy take care, talk to you soon, thanks.
