Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, it's Jeff Stevens and we are backstage at
Phrase Pavilion celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of our Mixedfest concert.
And I'm here with the man, ladies and gentlemen, Jack
Blades of Night Ranger. How are you, my friend, Jeff?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm great, man, I'm great to be here a phrase. Man.
We love this place. I mean, we've been here so
many times. We've been here with you so many times.
I mean it's crazy you and I are walking down
memory Lane looking at pictures. Who are those young guys
over in those pictures? God, when was that two thousand
and one? When was it two thousand?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Was your first time got up?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Are you kidding me? Two thousand? Twenty four years ago?
So we're only one year back from the twenty fifth
anniversary of their first shows here. Yeah, okay, we're gonna
call this the end. We've been here since the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Night Ranger has been here since the beginning. And you
know what's really awesome about you guys. I've had a
chance to see probably a dozen fifteen times over the years,
not just here, but other places too. You guys just
seem to have a blast. You love what you're doing
and you can tell that when you're on stage every time.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, you know. I mean it's at this stage of
the game when you know a player, we've done it
for so many years and anything like that. If it's
not fun, why even do it. So we just got
I mean, we have a ball. I mean we're backstage,
are in our dressing rooms, like music is blasting, we're
all telling jokes, everybody's laughing, everybody's getting crazy and stuff
like that. I gotta tell you a story one time.
This is a manager for a very famous man who
(01:17):
I shall not name for obvious reasons. For obvious reasons,
he was, yeah, right, right, exactly, what's it? Right? But anyway,
so so he's backstage hanging out with us backstage, and
he's looking around and we're in our dressing we're all
laughing as you know, like pull my finger, you know whatever.
It's like everything just everything is just going crazy and
stuff like that. And then we got up and to
walk on to the stage and we're walking the stage
(01:38):
and he said, wow, man, I said, what's that? And
he goes, You guys all actually like each other, don't you,
because like still enjoy each other's company. I said, yes,
of course. He said, yeah, well okay, and.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Is not every band feels that way?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, not every band feels that way. Yeah, so we
do have fun. I mean, tonight, we have no idea
what we're gonna play. We're just gonna We're just gonna
are playing songs. I mean, we dude, we might play
some songs that we grew up listening to. You know,
we might throw in some songs that we all grew
up and who knows, you know what I mean, who
knows what we're gonna play. So it's like that, so
we're gonna have a blast.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, you could tell you have a good time with it.
You guys have continued to make new music from time
to time as well, and that's always cool too because that,
you know, the diehard night ranger folks, you know, they
want to hear what you're still up to and then
but you always deliver all of those hits. And I
think it's awesome because you could tell that people sometimes go,
I forgot about let him run or sing me Away
(02:32):
or something that's a little off the beaten path that
the diehards really love.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, you know it's you know, I've been I've been
to a million shows just like, man, they're playing stuff
from their new album, hmmm, four or five songs? Is like,
why don't they play something we know? You know or
something like that. So I've been I've been in that position,
so we and we all have so so we know,
you know, the people want to hear the songs that
they grew up listening to, that they that they you know,
(02:56):
like major events in their lives happened to the songs,
you know, And I mean, how many people do Sister Christian?
Come on? But it's a it's a legitimate question.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And when you close your eyes, I mean, you know,
it was like the fall of my senior year of
high school and you're like, oh, that song just comes
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What the story is? Here we go, here we go.
But we get that all the time with songs like
you know, rock and America and Don't Tell Me You
Love Me and Sing Me Away and when you close
your eyes and Rumors in the Air and Goodbye and
just you know, and on and on and of course
Sister Christian and all that kind of stuff. And then
and then we're gonna throw in some damn Yankee stuff tonight,
because look, man, the Damn Yankees. Are We played here
with the Damn Yankees, probably in the nineties or something,
(03:34):
you know, early nineties. I'm sure we did, you know.
And so since the Yanks aren't playing, I mean, what
the hell you know, We'll throw in a couple of
Yank songs.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
A couple of Yank songs. I love when you do
a couple of Yank songs. And I had a chance
to talk to a friend of yours whose last name
is Shaw, a couple of weeks ago about their about
their summer tour for Styx, and he was telling me
how you guys wrote high Enough. He said, you were
hanging at his place in New York. Tell me if
any of this is true, and he was like doing
laundry or something, and he heard you singing like this
(04:05):
melody over and over, and he finally he grabs a guitar.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Jack's never heard this story.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
He said, you grab a guitar, and all of a
sudden he wrote the chorus, and you guys wrote high Enough.
Is any of that true?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
What was he talking about? Yeah? Actually it is true. However, however,
it's let me correct the record. I was doing the laundry.
I was downstairs doing that. He wasn't doing laundry. I
was throwing him. I was throwing in stuff in the
in his basement down there doing laundry, going going, I
don't want to hear about it anymore. It's a shame,
you know, just kind of humming along something like that,
(04:40):
and he goes, wow, what's that? And I said, that
just something. I'm just like, you know, singing along. He said,
come on upstairs. We went up to his little little
recording studio I had in a room up there, and
we got down and I swear to God, literally thirty
minutes later, the entire song was written, the entire song,
like start to finish, and we finished it, and we
demoed it real quick, and then we looked at each
other and we went, I think this is really good?
(05:04):
Is this good? I think this is really good? This
is a good song. Is this a good song? I
think it's a really good song, you know. I mean
we weren't sure, just like cause that happened so quick,
you know, And but you know what, all the great
stuff happens really quick. I mean, don't tell me you
love me was like, you know, when I wrote that,
it was like just you know, we needed something for
the album for you know, we got to get an uptemple,
we got to get a rock or stuff like that.
(05:25):
You know, Like an hour later that was done. The
same thing with the with the lyrics to the song Goodbye,
The same thing with rock in America. I was out
on the road. We were out on the road with
Sammy Hagar off the first tour, and I was sitting
around in a hotel room in Springfield, Illinois, I think
it was, and I was reading all these magazines saying
rock was dead. You know. It's like with Blondie, Haircut,
one hundred, Flock of Seagulls all that, you know, all
(05:46):
those bands and everything like that. But every night we
were out here, there's like ten thousand people screaming and yelling,
just going ah, you know what I mean like that,
I'm like, good dude, what are you talking about? We
can you can still rock in America. I don't know
what these folks are talking about. I thought, well, that
was a good idea for a song, and so I
wrote that. And that's how the good stuff happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Absolutely, So there's no truth that when Ted Nugent heard
that there was a keyboard in high enough that he
was going to kick the song off the album. No,
that's what Tommy said.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's pretty good. That's probably a good urban myth. We'll
just keep going with that one. We'll keep going with
that one, right. So yeah, So our compromise with Ted was, Okay,
let's put real strings at the beginning of it. So
we brought in a string section, and so we put
the beginning and the end with actual real strings, and
Tad's like Ted acquiesced, you know, It's like, Okay, it's real,
(06:39):
all right, all right, Okay, I don't have to shoot
anybody or anything. Okay, fine, but let's go shooting.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You know. Well, Jack Blades, thank you for being such
a part of our station for twenty five years. I
think it's I think we figured out it's six of
the twenty five that you've been here for our mix fest,
and we appreciate you. Man.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That's right. We're excited about and we're excited about being
here tonight celebrating with you guys, and we want to
see everybody out here. Man. It's gonna be pack. We're
gonna have tons of people. There's still plenty of time
to get out here. This is the most beautiful day
in the world. I mean, I woke up this morning
and walked outside. I mean, where do we play last night?
Ed quick? Louisville, Kentucky. Thank you. We were in Louisville,
(07:18):
Kentucky listening. Sorry, my brain dead. I guess I didn't
wake up that quick, did I So, so you know,
I woke up there and I walked outside. We went
outside to get some coffee or something like that. And
the day is just gorgeous. I mean, it's just perfect.
This is a perfect night to come out under the
stars and hear some kick ass American rock and roll
and night Ranger style.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, Jack Blades, everybody, you can still rock in America, alright,
all right,
All right, it's Jeff Stevens and we are backstage at
Phrase Pavilion celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of our Mixedfest concert.
And I'm here with the man, ladies and gentlemen, Jack
Blades of Night Ranger. How are you, my friend, Jeff?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm great, man, I'm great to be here a phrase. Man.
We love this place. I mean, we've been here so
many times. We've been here with you so many times.
I mean it's crazy you and I are walking down
memory Lane looking at pictures. Who are those young guys
over in those pictures? God, when was that two thousand
and one? When was it two thousand?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Was your first time got up?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Are you kidding me? Two thousand? Twenty four years ago?
So we're only one year back from the twenty fifth
anniversary of their first shows here. Yeah, okay, we're gonna
call this the end. We've been here since the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Night Ranger has been here since the beginning. And you
know what's really awesome about you guys. I've had a
chance to see probably a dozen fifteen times over the years,
not just here, but other places too. You guys just
seem to have a blast. You love what you're doing
and you can tell that when you're on stage every time.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, you know. I mean it's at this stage of
the game when you know a player, we've done it
for so many years and anything like that. If it's
not fun, why even do it. So we just got
I mean, we have a ball. I mean we're backstage,
are in our dressing rooms, like music is blasting, we're
all telling jokes, everybody's laughing, everybody's getting crazy and stuff
like that. I gotta tell you a story one time.
This is a manager for a very famous man who
(01:17):
I shall not name for obvious reasons. For obvious reasons,
he was, yeah, right, right, exactly, what's it? Right? But anyway,
so so he's backstage hanging out with us backstage, and
he's looking around and we're in our dressing we're all
laughing as you know, like pull my finger, you know whatever.
It's like everything just everything is just going crazy and
stuff like that. And then we got up and to
walk on to the stage and we're walking the stage
(01:38):
and he said, wow, man, I said, what's that? And
he goes, You guys all actually like each other, don't you,
because like still enjoy each other's company. I said, yes,
of course. He said, yeah, well okay, and.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Is not every band feels that way?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, not every band feels that way. Yeah, so we
do have fun. I mean, tonight, we have no idea
what we're gonna play. We're just gonna We're just gonna
are playing songs. I mean, we dude, we might play
some songs that we grew up listening to. You know,
we might throw in some songs that we all grew
up and who knows, you know what I mean, who
knows what we're gonna play. So it's like that, so
we're gonna have a blast.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, you could tell you have a good time with it.
You guys have continued to make new music from time
to time as well, and that's always cool too because that,
you know, the diehard night ranger folks, you know, they
want to hear what you're still up to and then
but you always deliver all of those hits. And I
think it's awesome because you could tell that people sometimes go,
I forgot about let him run or sing me Away
(02:32):
or something that's a little off the beaten path that
the diehards really love.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, you know it's you know, I've been I've been
to a million shows just like, man, they're playing stuff
from their new album, hmmm, four or five songs? Is like,
why don't they play something we know? You know or
something like that. So I've been I've been in that position,
so we and we all have so so we know,
you know, the people want to hear the songs that
they grew up listening to, that they that they you know,
(02:56):
like major events in their lives happened to the songs,
you know, And I mean, how many people do Sister Christian?
Come on? But it's a it's a legitimate question.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And when you close your eyes, I mean, you know,
it was like the fall of my senior year of
high school and you're like, oh, that song just comes
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What the story is? Here we go, here we go.
But we get that all the time with songs like
you know, rock and America and Don't Tell Me You
Love Me and Sing Me Away and when you close
your eyes and Rumors in the Air and Goodbye and
just you know, and on and on and of course
Sister Christian and all that kind of stuff. And then
and then we're gonna throw in some damn Yankee stuff tonight,
because look, man, the Damn Yankees. Are We played here
with the Damn Yankees, probably in the nineties or something,
(03:34):
you know, early nineties. I'm sure we did, you know.
And so since the Yanks aren't playing, I mean, what
the hell you know, We'll throw in a couple of
Yank songs.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
A couple of Yank songs. I love when you do
a couple of Yank songs. And I had a chance
to talk to a friend of yours whose last name
is Shaw, a couple of weeks ago about their about
their summer tour for Styx, and he was telling me
how you guys wrote high Enough. He said, you were
hanging at his place in New York. Tell me if
any of this is true, and he was like doing
laundry or something, and he heard you singing like this
(04:05):
melody over and over, and he finally he grabs a guitar.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Jack's never heard this story.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
He said, you grab a guitar, and all of a
sudden he wrote the chorus, and you guys wrote high Enough.
Is any of that true?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
What was he talking about? Yeah? Actually it is true. However, however,
it's let me correct the record. I was doing the laundry.
I was downstairs doing that. He wasn't doing laundry. I
was throwing him. I was throwing in stuff in the
in his basement down there doing laundry, going going, I
don't want to hear about it anymore. It's a shame,
you know, just kind of humming along something like that,
(04:40):
and he goes, wow, what's that? And I said, that
just something. I'm just like, you know, singing along. He said,
come on upstairs. We went up to his little little
recording studio I had in a room up there, and
we got down and I swear to God, literally thirty
minutes later, the entire song was written, the entire song,
like start to finish, and we finished it, and we
demoed it real quick, and then we looked at each
other and we went, I think this is really good?
(05:04):
Is this good? I think this is really good? This
is a good song. Is this a good song? I
think it's a really good song, you know. I mean
we weren't sure, just like cause that happened so quick,
you know, And but you know what, all the great
stuff happens really quick. I mean, don't tell me you
love me was like, you know, when I wrote that,
it was like just you know, we needed something for
the album for you know, we got to get an uptemple,
we got to get a rock or stuff like that.
(05:25):
You know, Like an hour later that was done. The
same thing with the with the lyrics to the song Goodbye,
The same thing with rock in America. I was out
on the road. We were out on the road with
Sammy Hagar off the first tour, and I was sitting
around in a hotel room in Springfield, Illinois, I think
it was, and I was reading all these magazines saying
rock was dead. You know. It's like with Blondie, Haircut,
one hundred, Flock of Seagulls all that, you know, all
(05:46):
those bands and everything like that. But every night we
were out here, there's like ten thousand people screaming and yelling,
just going ah, you know what I mean like that,
I'm like, good dude, what are you talking about? We
can you can still rock in America. I don't know
what these folks are talking about. I thought, well, that
was a good idea for a song, and so I
wrote that. And that's how the good stuff happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Absolutely, So there's no truth that when Ted Nugent heard
that there was a keyboard in high enough that he
was going to kick the song off the album. No,
that's what Tommy said.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's pretty good. That's probably a good urban myth. We'll
just keep going with that one. We'll keep going with
that one, right. So yeah, So our compromise with Ted was, Okay,
let's put real strings at the beginning of it. So
we brought in a string section, and so we put
the beginning and the end with actual real strings, and
Tad's like Ted acquiesced, you know, It's like, Okay, it's real,
(06:39):
all right, all right, Okay, I don't have to shoot
anybody or anything. Okay, fine, but let's go shooting.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You know. Well, Jack Blades, thank you for being such
a part of our station for twenty five years. I
think it's I think we figured out it's six of
the twenty five that you've been here for our mix fest,
and we appreciate you. Man.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That's right. We're excited about and we're excited about being
here tonight celebrating with you guys, and we want to
see everybody out here. Man. It's gonna be pack. We're
gonna have tons of people. There's still plenty of time
to get out here. This is the most beautiful day
in the world. I mean, I woke up this morning
and walked outside. I mean, where do we play last night?
Ed quick? Louisville, Kentucky. Thank you. We were in Louisville,
(07:18):
Kentucky listening. Sorry, my brain dead. I guess I didn't
wake up that quick, did I So, so you know,
I woke up there and I walked outside. We went
outside to get some coffee or something like that. And
the day is just gorgeous. I mean, it's just perfect.
This is a perfect night to come out under the
stars and hear some kick ass American rock and roll
and night Ranger style.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, Jack Blades, everybody, you can still rock in America, alright,
all right,
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