As someone who thought that Love/Hate’s 1990 debut ‘Blackout in the Red Room’ was one of the best and most intriguing releases to come out of L.A. in the late eighties/early nineties and had a sound far more diverse and ground-breaking than the likes of Nirvana it’s great to hear new music from singer Jizzy Pearl. And whist that record is far in the rear view mirror I will always remember those early UK Tours when Love/Hate was one of the finest live acts I have ever seen. 2022 sees Jizzy’s Love/Hate release what just might be the best Love/Hate music since ‘Wasted in America’ in ‘Hell CA.’ on Australia’s Golden Robot Records. Jizzy of course is also busy fronting Quiet Riot, writing books you need to read, and at one point also took centre stage with Ratt… but we’re not here for that, we’re here to talk all about the new Love/Hate record and relive a few past glories as well as a killer new record!
Jizzy: How are you Mark?
Mark: I’m very good Sir, hope you are well?
Jizzy: Doing good.
Mark: Well first of all thanks for a wonderful album. As a fan from way back in the early 90’s when I used to catch Love/Hate on their UK Tours you were right up there with the best live bands I’ve ever seen. I think on this new record you’ve really captured the spirit of those early Love/Hate releases.
Jizzy: Well sure, thank you for saying that.
Mark: It’s been a while in the making I’m guessing, you signed to Golden Robot in 2020 and then…
Jizzy: And then the world went to shit! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) Exactly! I’m taking it that you’ve been living with the songs for a couple of years now?
Jizzy: Not for that long really, a lot of it was written during the lockdown and then I got the deal and recorded during the lockdown, so every one had a lot of time off so I used that time the best I could.
Mark: It’s a great set of songs and interestingly I wanted to start right at the end. The final track on the album ‘Lonely Days Are Gone’ a huge song, wonderfully hypnotic, very Zeplinny and uncharacteristically long for a Love/Hate song, Where did the inspiration for that song come from?
Jizzy: Well I’m not good at writing syrupy love songs, I’m just not good at it, so it’s sort of… the lyrics are about where I am in my relationship and how I’m settled and how I’m comfortable and how I’m OK with it. ‘Lonely Days are Gone’ meaning you know, I don’t have to be at a bar at 2 a.m. trying to find love, you know what I mean?
Mark: I do. A wonderful song and a great uplifting way to end. Tracking right back the the first track now and ‘One Hot Minute’ if you’re a Love/Hate fan then as soon as you hear that you know you’re listening to Love/Hate. It must have been fun to write that one?
Jizzy: Yeah, the riff on that is kind of like a Pat Travers kind of thing. You know what I mean? Or a sort of ‘Day of teh Eagle’ kind of thing – you know Robin Trower. It was my attempt to write something like that, because you now, I grew up with those songs. And then it has the twists and turns I guess which is typical Love/Hate stuff that takes you somewhere else.
Mark: One of the thigs I love about teh album is that I loved the singles as they were coming but but I think my favourites are some of the non single tracks. Can you settle something for me? I hear a certain song when I listen to ‘Bruised and Battered’ it’s only a feint echo but it really reminds me of early Van Halen.
Jizzy: Huh, interesting. I mean are you talking about the riff? I mean I didn’t think Van Halen, but OK, I’ll take it. I’ll take it and put it in my pocket. But to me the chorus riff, I grew up with The Cult and I really loved Billy Duffy’s playing – you listen to ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ and that open three note ringing thing – that’s where I was going with that. That riff was kind of the ‘Billy Duffy’ thing in me. That Cult ‘Love’ record and the ‘Sonic Temple’ record are just brilliant records and his playing is so distinctive. He doesn’t sound like anyone else and I really admire that.
Mark: Talking of not sounding like anyone else, when ‘Blackout’ finally came out in 1990 Love/Hate was one of the bands that just didn’t sound like anyone else. I mean you did get lumped in with the Hollywood scene, but for me that first album was more diverse and ground-breaking than Nirvana. You had everything in there!
Jizzy: For sure, our influences were not strictly Aerosmith, we had Jane’s Addiction we had heaps of other influences. But n this new album I just have to say I’m a huge Led Zeppelin fan and always have been so when I was doing the guitars for this new record I wanted it to be a lot heavier than the last Frontiers release. So I put on four rhythm guitar tracks…
Mark: (laughs) wow!
Jizzy: Which is a lot (laughs) That’s like ‘Live Aid’ – you know the jam at the end where there’s 80 guitar players. And I decided that two of the guitars were going to be Les Pauls because I wanted that Jimmy Page sound and two of the guitars were SG’s which is Angus Young. SG’s have that bright, chirpy sound and I wanted both you know what I mean, because that’s what I wanted!
Mark: It’s immense and that explains it beautifully for me because sonically it’s a monster of a record and right up there in album of the year territory for many I’m sure. It takes me right back to Nottingham Rock City 1991 when I first saw you guys, and the shows never stopped after that we always tried to get to as many as we could!
Jizzy: That was a crazy time. When we first went to the U.K. I’ll tell you a funny story – we were going to do our first record store signing and I’d always been scared of those from the Spinal Tap movie.
Mark: (laughs)
Jizzy: Because you just never know! I mean when they say “We’re going to have a record store signing” you’re just hoping that someone will show up! So we were in the park waiting to go to the record store and you know in the UK you have to go through these twists and turns to get there and so we were waiting in the park and we get the nod to go there and we’re twisting and turning round these little streets to finally go there and we turn the corner and there was a line around the block! And I was like “Thanks God”.
Mark: No ‘Artie Fufkin’ moment! That sounds suspiciously like the signing I went to at Way Ahead Records in Nottingham back in the day, you always packed out the shows in the UK. I think we adopted you.
Jizzy: Yeah, you just don’t know. We’re weren’t super huge huge in the States, but in the UK we were somehow ‘special’, I mean we would stop at services and there would be car loads of kids travelling going to or shows, it was sort of surreal! And I always appreciated it you know what I mean. I always thought I’m hungover as hell, I’m tired but these punters make it all so special, enjoy it while it lasts because it may never come back again. So we enjoyed it.
Mark: It did threaten to come back though. I remember back in 2007 not being able to get a ticket to the Whisky reunion show so I caught the band on the European Tour instead,
Jizzy: My ill fated Love/Hate reunion!
Mark: That was the one. I always wondered what happened there?
Jizzy: Well what happened was (sighs) people grow up, they grow up and they change, and back in the day when you said ’91 the for all 4 of us the band was the most important thing in our lives. More important than girlfriends, more important than parents, more important than anything. We were a tribe and it was the most important thing in our lives. But when that stops being the most important thing because they get married and they have kids and have to get ‘real’ jobs because music doesn’t pay the bills anymore. Things change and it’s not the same anymore and when we tried to get back together we played a couple of good shows and it was fun and it should have stayed there. It should have stayed at a couple of good shows, but we tried to take it on a tour and it fell apart, you know what I mean. It was like we should have just stopped and counted our blessings.
Mark: It’s hard, it’s always great to look back and try to recapture the magic but sometimes people change and they move on and sometimes you can’t go back…
Jizzy: That’s right people always ask me why we haven’t got back together and I say well it’s been 25 years man, it’s been a long time since this band was a functioning four piece tribe and it’s not like that anymore. I play with other bands, I play with Quiet Riot, I used to play with L.A. Guns but I also do my Love/Hate too. You can do two things at once, or three things – I have a YouTube Channel now called ‘J. Pearl TV’. I do that too. And I think lockdown has taught me that you need to diversify – you can’t put all your eggs in one basket thinking you can always go out on tour because – look what happened!
Mark: And there’s another string to the bow too. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed over the years is your writing as well.
Jizzy: Yeah, I wrote another book. I’ve got four books now and people seem to dig them. They can go to Jizzypearl.net and get the books. Thus endeth my pimping of my products
Mark: I would just like to recommend them though to everyone they are well worth a read! Crazily good reads.
Jizzy: Well you know what, it’s real writing, it’s not people talking into a tape recorder and telling everyone how many times they got laid in 1987, it’s real writing and you know I appreciate that.
Mark: Let’s take it all the way back, when did you realise that music would be your life? Was it like a blinding flash or realisation or something more gradual?
Jizzy: (laughs) Oh! Are we going back to childhood? (laughs) Oh Jesus, you know drugs have sort of ruined my long-term memory dude. Everyone gets into music for the same reasons I did – they listen to Led Zeppelin and they dream of being where they are. You know, you listen to Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and you think “Fuck, I want to do what they’re doing, I want to be what they are! I want teh Hammer of the Gods!” you know what I mean? It’s like you get out and do it for the fantasy and you stick with it when you realise it’s a real job and work! You know I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to sustain a living and a career in making music, and I’m still here all these years later.
Mark: It’s been a wonderful ride so far and some great music along the way. I think teh last time we spoke in person was Rocklahoma way back in 2009, which seems like an eternity ago!
Jizzy: It was so hot!
Mark: It was hot that year.
Jizzy: I lost 5 pounds at that gig! It was like playing in a sauna! I mean crazy. A good gig though.
Mark: It was great, and such a crazy place for a Festival in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma!
Jizzy: Yeah a little bit of ancient Rome in Oklahoma!
Mark: (laughs)
Jizzy: (laughs)
Mark: Exactly!
Mark: What makes a great song for you? What interests you musically? What catches your ear, you’ve mentioned Zeppelin and Aerosmith, what is it that really drags you in?
Jizzy: Well what makes a good song for me is a good chorus, it’s as simple as that for me. I mean Elton John, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and on and on, I don’t care who plays it, it might be Dolly Parton or anybody, that’s the most important thing. That’s what I strive for in my writing. I want to capture that hook and have it mean something to me when I sing it, because when you write lyrics it’s like you’re telling somebody something. You’re not telling it ‘at’ them you’re telling ‘them’, like if it’s a song to a person or it’s about a person, you’re letting them know what you feel. You know what I mean? A good chorus is paramount, if you don’t have a good chorus your song is crippled.
Mark: A good chorus and a great riff – there’s plenty there on the new album. I was always intrigued by the names of the songs on ‘Blackout’ and of course ‘Hell CA.’ the title of the new album comes from a song on that album, an ‘Hell CA.’ is actually or at least used to be a real place as I found out many years later.
Jizzy: Indeed. That title obviously was taken from that old song but I think it’s more hellish now than it ever was.
Mark: That’s everywhere I think mate!
Jizzy: (laughs)
Mark: Just time for a few quick questions before we go that we ask everyone first time around. If you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great album at any point in the history of Rock and Roll, what would you have liked to have been there for? To see that magic happen?
Jizzy: You know what, I would have loved to have been around Aerosmith when they made ‘Rocks’.
Mark: A man after my own heart!
Jizzy: Because they were so out of control, I mean I hear legendary stories of Joe Perry just firing guns in the studio and everyone being just out of their minds and out of control. But that record is such a brilliant record I would have loved to see how that magic was created out of the chaos. A lot of times when people are making records its a tedious process, like if you hear Zeppelin bootlegs of them – they are paying ‘Trampled Underfoot’ just for hours and it’s just tedious because they’re editing, they’re fixing it. they’re finding the right flow, you know what I mean. So a lot of the times in the studio it’s like that, it’s not like that ‘Rockstar’ movie when you’re just going to see them magically write ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or whatever, it doesn’t work like that. But my teenage years are filled with wonderful music – ‘Quadrophenia’ by The Who – what an amazing record! Some great ones.
Mark: Don’t shatter my illusions, but I would have loved to have know what it was like when you recorded ‘Blackout’.
Jizzy: Well we did it at the studio where they made the ‘Black’ record by Metallica, so it was a good studio in North Hollywood. And again the making of it was… it was almost like we had to do a school term paper, you know what I mean? The expectation was so big of us delivering the record. I did a lot of the vocals in one or two takes so you know its a stream of consciousness thing – you know what I mean? ‘Tumbleweed’ – one take, ‘One More Round’ one take, ‘Mary Jane’ one take. And that’s great but it’s still all about that you have to deliver. There wasn’t much partying at the time, we weren’t getting wasted in the studio, we were very serious, and always have been in the studio. No drugs, no booze, it’s business, because you’re on the clock, you know what I mean! Because back then records cost a shitload of money. (laughs) so you know, no funny business!
Mark: (laughs) but some wonderful songs out of it! Just an easy one to leave you with ‘What is the meaning of life?’
Jizzy: (laughs) What’s the meaning of life! The meaning of life is to be able to do what you wat to do and get paid for it, and have a good life, drama free and that’s what my life is now. I get to be a musician, I get paid and it’s the greatest thing in the world.
Mark: Thank you so much mate I really appreciate your time. For me those days in the UK with Love/Hate are memories I’ll never forget and this new album is great it really takes me back, but also makes me so happy that you’re still out there still making great music and I’m not alone in that.
Jizzy: I’m happy that everyone’s happy!
Mark: And let’s hope you manage to get over to Australia finally I know Covid scuppered the show you were due to play with Crashdiet.
Jizzy: I know – twice!
Mark: Take care my friend, we’ll see you again somewhere soon I know, even if it’s a muddy field in Oklahoma!
Jizzy: Thanks Mark, cheers.
‘HELL CA.’ IS AVAILABLE NOW (RELEASED MARCH 11th 2022) FROM GOLDEN ROBOT HERE
