JON BON JOVI
For the past two years, Jon Bon Jovi has walked the fine line between leaving his band, Bon Jovi, and staying on for another album and subsequent tour. “At this point, it wouldn’t have been too hard for me to play with whoever I wanted to,” said Bon Jovi in a recent interview from his hotel room in Albany, N.Y. “I’ll bet you a nickel I could have played with Elton and Beck and everybody who played on the ‘Young Guns’ record if they wanted to go out and do a handful of shows. But that didn’t even entice me a little bit because I wouldn’t have anything in common with those great musicians other that the moment.”
Bon Jovi decided to stay with his band because the loyalty his band members had shown throughout the past 10 years was important. “We originally set out to do something 10 years ago,” said Bon Jovi, “and now it’s time to see it through. There’s nothing I can do or say to thank these guys in Bon Jovi for the loyalty they’ve shown to this band. I really like playing with these guys.
Q: When you finished the ‘Young Guns’ soundtrack you went to Texas alone on your Harley Davidson for quite some time. Were you searching for something during that period?
A: At that time in my life I was just completing the ride of my life. From 1983 until 1990 I was on a peak. However I wasn?t feeling fulfilled or satisfied or like I had accomplished anything other than a paper standard. I had to walk away from everything in order to see if there was anything left that I still loved. The parallel I found with folks in Southwest Texas were similar to my own. Because these were folks who came down from the Dakotas of Oklahoma or even homegrown in Texas, looking for their pot of gold or their dream and came up disillusioned. Wondering what the hell makes it all worth it. Which is exactly how I was feeling. I didn’t have to worry about paying the rent but I was wondering what the Hell is it all worth? I might as well go out and do what they do working on an oil well. Not until I walked away from this did I realize that there are things in my life that make me want to do what I do.
Q: Do you have any role models?
A: There’s guys like Norman Nardini (a Pittsburgh Pennsylvania rock and roll musician and entertainer) who I’ve known longer that I’ve ever had a record deal. Norman lived on top of a bar in Jersey and he used to come over to my house to visit. Man, this guy deserves to play the Pittsburgh Civic Arena and I know the joint. I know the Decade in Oakland and I know those places and those people. When I see Duke play, the thing that he and I relate to is that this guy lives and breathes his guitar and rock and roll. He don?t care if it (the audience) is 20,000 or 200 as long as he’s playing, that’s what matters. As long as there’s people there like it’s his entire life’s reason that God put him on this earth. That?s what I had to get back to.
Q: When Richie Sambora was dating Cher, most of the press focused on their relationship and not Bon Jovi. Did this situation ever create any friction between you and Richie?
A: That was not my concern, believe me. Cher was very hip. She would come out on the road and could not or would not ever consider herself to be more that just one of the girls. Example: At the end of our show, when we would do a runner off the stage and head right out to the airport, all the girls who were with us would have to be waiting in the van because we’d literally come running off the stage out of the building. Cher would be sitting patiently right there in the van with the other girls waiting for us. We’d be in a Holiday Inn bar after a show somewhere and she’d be drinking a Budweiser like anyone else. So it was very hip that Cher could fit into any situation. The next day she’d go out and meet the president and handle herself elegantly. As far as Richie dating Cher, I believe he could have gotten a ton more press and done a ton more if he even would’ve blinked an eyelash. He didn’t want to know anything about it. He just liked her. As far as I was concerned, I didn’t want her, I’m married (he laughs). I got to enjoy the ride and not have to deal with the headache, you know?
Q: Is Bon Jovi headed towards the direction of Jon and Richie working on their solo careers independently from the band?
A:It is a group. We didn’t have to do this record. There’s nothing that binds us to this band. Nobody needs it financially or to satisfy their ego. How many more number ones or sellout shows do you need before you’re fulfilled? What I want to do is keep the band together. At this point, it wouldn’t have been too hard for me to play with whoever, fill-in-the-blank. But, at this point that doesn’t even entice me a little bit. Because I want to look on the side of the stage like I did at Giants Stadium, which was the gig of my lifetime: I want to see the guys who sold their souls to believe in me 10 years ago. For that loyalty there is nothing I can do or say other than I want to look at the side of the stage behind me and see the guys who’ve been in Bon Jovi since the beginning. There’s something to say about that.
Q: Loyalty is probably a key word in this situation.
A: Yes. Loyalty is very important. That’s something that is part of a dying breed at best these days. That?s unfortunate. I’ve learned to understand that. It’s just nice to play with a quote unquote band. There’s better musicians than any one of the Rolling Stones, but it?s a great band.
Q: Do you believe that the young as well as the young-at-heart love hard rock music? There’s a devotion displayed by hard rock fans which is quite rare in any other genre of popular music.
A:I don?t know. That?s a tough one only because I think that there are diehards who live and breathe for Elvis, or the fans who go to see Sinatra in concert at 75 years old for 45 minutes. I think that there are fans of music and different styles of music touch different people. As far as hard rock is concerned, I think that the fans can be very fleeting. I’ve been in the business this way long enough to see bands come and go. There were always bands bigger than Bon Jovi who are gone already. They’re out of work sitting at home watching TV. The Cars, for example. People loved them, they were huge then they’re gone and nobody wants to know about them anymore. That’s real tough for those guys. I think that you’ve got to continue to make great music and hope that you have an audience and if you do great.
Q: Before your latest release, “Keep The Faith,” your public image was more of a record company executive than a rock star. Why?
A: Jon Bon Jovi, businessman, exaggerated to some extent. After my solo record, my attention was on Jambco Records. That my label and was a boutique put into place for struggling artists who deserved a break. So when the artists I had signed to my label such as Billy Falcon didn?t win the Grammy Award that he deserved, and Aldo Nova was perceived as being too old, it broke my heart. So it made me appear business-oriented because what I was doing was producing records. The last thing I wanted to do then was make another Bon Jovi record. At that time I had nothing to write about. I was a record producer. However, I never sat behind a desk. With my lucky streak of discovering bands such as Cinderella and Skid Row, it broke my heart to see that it wasn?t working.
Q: Do you have a problem seeing yourself in hip magazines such as ‘Interview’ instead of the mainstream newspapers?
A: There is more of the celebrity-oriented press for me, that?s how I’d like to think about it. I would really like to stress that I don?t sit behind a desk and wear a three-piece suit ever. That?s really not what this is about to me. I started my own management company because I had to. It’s a part of the daily business that you have to do. We didn?t have the management in the past that you wanted to have so we had to do it. We were forced to do what was necessary for us.
Q: Bon Jovi’s success with songs like “Living On A Prayer” was based on radio requests by the fans. Bon Jovi was an underdog at the time and the fan support helped establish the band as major entertainers. Were you aware of this at the time in 1987 when the band was first becoming popular?
A: I wasn?t but Richie was at that time. Richie brought that situation to my attention at that time. Richie would say, “It’s us against the world.” After “Slippery” was such a success we were the king of the hill and the guys to shoot at. What happened after the influx of rap and country music was that Bon Jovi has definitely become the underdog once again. With the release of “Keep The Faith,” we’re starting all over as the underdog. People have been saying that we won’t keep it together that we’re out of fashion and that we’re this and that.
Q: What was your point of view when you wrote the title song “Keep The Faith”?
A: I wrote it from the point of view of a guy growing up believing the myths and lies and legends of the Reagan years. In looking forward to a world that doesn?t seem all that sunny-side of things, the guy says, “We’ve got to keep some faith or else this whole thing is going to turn into a Mad Max movie.” I’ve always been the optimist, so much so that it’s a fault.