Press release –
“Louder Than Concorde” is the new lyric video from rock guitarist-singer-songwriter Bruce Wojick & The Struggle, and it’ll be on YouTube and streaming digital media on August 15 at noon ET/9 am PT at https://youtu.be/_F6sB-nlriY. The song appears on their upcoming album “The Hard Way” out October 3 on the Segno Records’ label. “Louder Than Concorde” is about Bruce’s first time at a big rock show—Elton John on August 7, 1976 at Buffalo, NY’s Rich Stadium (which will be torn down next year). The tour, which changed Bruce’s life, was called “Louder than Concorde…. But Not Quite as Pretty.”
“When I wrote the song I searched online for anything about the tour and found bootlegs of videos and stories about the Rich Stadium show,” says Bruce. “That concert affected a lot of people, and it’s a thrill that so many people remember and share the energy of that date. Lots of memories. Elton expressed solidarity with the audience, who were watching him in the rain. He dumped a glass of water on himself.”
After that Bruce wanted to write songs, and make music. His sound is inspired from classic rock, especially pure hard rock and roll bands kindred to The Black Crowes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Black Stone Cherry.
“The Hard Way” is Bruce’s first release since 2022. His group features bandmates bassist Leo McDonald, drummer Denny Pelczynski, Saxophonist Will Holton, and keyboardist Dan Delano (co-writer of the band’s soulful song about homelessness “Cryin’ Shame”).
Bruce steps fully into the role of songwriter and producer (except for the EJ “Love lies Bleeding” rock track “Yesterday is Gone,” produced by Rainbow/ Black Sabbath drummer Bobby Rondinelli, who also plays drums on the song). The album also features other guest appearances from vocalist Erin Hoyle on “The Hard Way,” a Jerry Lee Lewis-Skynyrd-like rocker and “1983” a tribute to partying to Van Halen in his teen years. Bruce’s son Vito co-wrote the first single from the album “More Time” and played drums on that and “Powerlines 25.”
Other guests include Steven Padin, who is in a Tragically Hip tribute band with Bruce, called The Strictly Hip. Steven plays keyboards and programs percussion along with Bruce’s bass-playing brother Josh on Bruce and Josh’s co-write “Watching the Sky Turn Blue;” that song is about carrying on after hard times. Other songs on the album are “Cryin’ Shame” a soulful story about homelessness, and the guitar hero rocker “Something in the Water.”
Inspired by the Keith Richards’ song, “The Struggle,” the band name represents the spirit of Bruce’s decades-long career in music forged in basements, clubs, recording studios, and cross-country dreams. At times, I didn’t think we were going to get this album finished, as we worked between different studios, down time, shows, and switching songs! It ended up taking 5 years to record “The Hard Way.”
Born in Niagara Falls, NY, Bruce was already writing songs for his high school bands, before his group God’s Children played showcases at CBGB, and opened for Blind Melon and Robin Trower. While a record label materialized, Bruce learned to bet on himself, “We even named our label D.I.O.,” he recalls. “Do It Ourselves.” After God’s Children, Bruce started Klear, who had major radio airplay, and landed shows at CBGB, The Viper Room, and The Whiskey a GoGo. His music has been featured in TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X‑Files, ER, Touched by an Angel, The Osbournes; and films like Vegas Vacation, The Station Agent, A Thousand Acres... Klear was signed to Goo Goo Dolls’ Robbie Takac’s label, Good Charamel records, and from that turbulence came something lasting:The Struggle, Bruce’s most enduring and personal project to date.
“Everyone that’s worked with me all these years are longtime musical allies,” says Bruce of the group, which he calls “his family.” “We’ve all been through every version of bands that don’t work,” Bruce laughs, “and now we know what does. These guys show up. They care.”
Visit: www.BruceWojick.com.
