Timing, as the saying goes, is everything. And when you’re a career artist like TOM KEIFER, you know exactly what it takes to get to the pinnacle and just how precarious it can be once you reach the top. After years of touring and growing with his solo band, KEIFER feels the timing is right for a new record with #keiferband.
KEIFER with #keiferband–Savannah Keifer, Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Kendra Chantelle, Jarred Pope, Kory Myers—are ready to RISE to yet another peak in their ongoing music journey with the September 13 release of his second solo album on Cleopatra Records. Pre-orders of the album are available today at TomKeifer.com/Preorder on all formats, including CD (digipak), vinyl (in your choice of red, blue, or green) and digital, which will include an instant download of the first single, “The Death Of Me.”
A video for “The Death Of Me”—written by KEIFER and his wife Savannah, and directed by Vicente Cordero–was released today. Though TOM KEIFER has faced many ups and downs all throughout his storied career, his unyielding resilience can be found well within the grooves and lyrics of the song. “We created ‘The Death of Me’ to inspire people not to give in to or be defeated by the seemingly insurmountable lows that we all sometimes face, but rather to Rise and overcome them,” he says.
The clip can be seen below.
His creative renaissance is fully on display via the eleven tough ’n’ tender tracks that comprise RISE.
Produced by TOM KEIFER, Savannah Keifer, 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 former 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,” he 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.”
THE WAY LIFE GOES – DELUXE EDITION was released October 20, 2017 on Cleopatra Records, which is an expanded compilation of his debut album chocked full of special artwork and bonus content, including the long-awaited studio recording of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends,” which KEIFER performs at all of his concerts, plus a powerful new take on the Cinderella classic “Nobody’s Fool,” newly recorded as a duet with Lzzy Hale of Halestorm.
TRACKLIST
1. Touching The Divine
2. The Death Of Me
3. Waiting On The Demons
4. Hype
5. Untitled
6. Rise
7. All Amped Up
8. Breaking Down
9. Taste For The Pain
10. Life Was Here
11. You Believe In Me
TOUR DATES
Tues 7/30 Nashville, TN The Cowan
Fri 8/2 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
Sat 8/3 Derry, NH Tupelo Music Hall
Mon 8/5 Englewood, NJ Bergen PAC
Thu 8/8 Hopewell, VA The Beacon Theater Hopewell
Fri 8/9 Greenville, SC The Firmament
Sat 8/10 Winder, GA Innovation Amphitheater
Thu 8/15 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
Fri 8/16 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Bar & Grill
Sat 8/17 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Ballroom
Wed 8/21 Scottsdale, AZ BLK Live
Fri 8/23 Montclair, CA The Canyon
Sat 8/24 Ojai, CA Ojai Libbey Bowl
Sun 8/25 Pasadena, CA The Canyon at The Rose
Tue 8/27 Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre
Thu 8/29 Las Vegas, NV Count’s Vamp’d
Fri 8/30 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House
Sat 8/31 Big Bear Lake, CA The Cave
Fri 9/6 Leesburg, VA Tally Ho Theatre
Sat 9/7 Cherokee, NC Cherokee Blue Ridge Run
Fri 10/11 Knoxville, TN Cotton Eyed Joe
Sat 10/12 Versailles, OH BMI Indoor Speedway
Tue 10/15 Flint, MI The Machine Shop
Thu 10/17 Warrendale, PA Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
Fri 10/18 Niagara Falls, NY Seneca Niagara Event Center
Sat 10/19 Akron, OH Goodyear Theater
Thu 10/24 Green Bay, WI Green Bay Distillery
Thu 10/31 Milwaukee, WI Potowatami Bingo Casino
Fri 11/1 Medina, MN Medina Entertainment Center
Sat 11/2 St. Charles, IL The Arcada Theatre
