By Jim Barber
Rick Hughes has carved a remarkably diverse, dynamic and eventful career as a vocalist/frontman/songwriter over the past 45 years.
The native of Canada’s La Belle Province, aka Quebec, best known as the lead singer for pioneering Canadian classic metal band Sword, as well as stint with international hard rockers, Saints and Sinners, has developed a glowing reputation for his powerful and emotive vocals and his demonstrative and thoroughly engaging stage presence, But there was an itch he wanted to scratch – Hughes always wanted to release an album that was a pure, effusive and celebratory love letter to his passion for music. And he wanted it to be a shared celebration, one where he got to work with and alongside both peers and heroes to make a record that is as wonderfully melodic as it is memorable.
And he’s succeeded. With the recent released of Redemption, Hughes, who has strut and strode across stages throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, sharing those stages and venues on tours with the likes of Metallica, Motorhead, Alice Cooper and Black Label Society, this is a joyous, thoughtful, inspired collection of songs that deftly toes the line between timelessness and resonant modern relevance.
“It’s been at least two years in the making. My manager and I started to look for songs about two years ago. I am a songwriter at heart, and I love writing songs. But this time around, I wanted to sing songs that I felt I was not capable of or able to write. I wanted to celebrate somebody else’s craft, other than just mine. A lot of artists and performers choose to go that path, because sometimes it’s hard to think outside the box for yourself. Like, I am sitting here in my music room. I will pick up a guitar and if I start to write songs, it’s usually going to be a ballad because I’m alone here with my acoustic guitar. It’s hard to get another vibe; it’s hard to get into that hard rock headspace sometimes. But for some guys, it’s their profession. They make sure that a rock song is good, and it’s got pop vibes and it’s hard and heavy, and it’s everything all at once,” he said.
“I wanted to do this album so that I can travel the world and be on different stages. I’m a live performer. I’ve been a live performer for more than 40 years, with Sword, with Saints and Sinners. I did a lot of work here in Quebec as a hired gun too, as a vocalist. I worked with many, many people, and on many TV shows. That brought the bread and butter for me for a few of years, but I never really kept writing songs and releasing albums. When you asked me earlier if this was my first solo record. No, it’s not. And I thought about it because I released an album in 2006 just here in Quebec [Tiens Ma Main]. And I was nominated for the Felix Award [Quebec’s equivalent of the Junos] for Best Rock album of the Year. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve had a long career but I want it to be even longer. I don’t want it do stop, I want to continue until my last breath.
“And it was also important to do a full album too. Because that’s what artists do. Just think about the painters back in the Renaissance, those guys were poor, poor, poor but they kept painting and selling their paintings for peanuts. Now they’re worth millions because the inspiration was there. It was about the inspiration. That’s why I created this album because the inspiration for this album was there and it was strong. I wanted to do something different, something big, something that I’d never done before.”
To add even more heavyweight musical luster to the album, Redemption was produced by John Webster, the well-respected collaborative force best known for his work with Aerosmith, Motley Crue and AC/DC.
“When my manager and I were starting to talk about this new project, and John Webster’s name came up. I said it would be best for the album if we could get John Webster on board and my manager said he was a friend. So, I owe it to my manager Pierre Paradis [Sword’s original manager, former Saints and Sinners Manager and Hughes’ personal manager] because in my book, John Webster is the best producer I’ve ever worked for in my entire life,” Hughes said effusively.
“John was so into quality control that it got me doing different songs that I might not think of. And it started before we even got into the studio. I kept feeding him songs and songs and songs that I thought we should record and he kept saying, no, no, no, no, no. And, you know, I’ve been around. I’ve been in this business a long time and throughout my life I’ve learned not to take things personally, but sometimes it was hard. But then again, that’s why you hire a guy like John. That quality control is the utmost important thing about your art, to make sure that it’s perfect, and it’s true to who you are.”
A large portion of the album was recorded at HippoSonic Studio in Vancouver B.C. Originally founded in 1989, in 2017 the studio moved from its original location to 201 West Seventh Avenue in Vancouver – formerly the home of one of the most famous studios in rock music legend and lore, Little Mountain Sound. That studio was essentially the home studio for legendary producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock, and before the facility closed in 1993, saw some of the most important bands heading out west to record some of the most successful and significant albums in rock music. The roster is a veritable if not literal who’s who of iconic bands and artists including AC/DC. Aerosmith, Metallica, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, The Cult and Motley Crue.
“Nothing has changed. They kept all the framed albums and things on the wall. I saw pictures of Bon Jovi in the studio and I asked the question if they had changed it. They said no, it’s all there. It’s the way it’s always been. They haven’t changed a thing, just the owners and the name. I am a very curious person and of course a huge fan of those bands, so I just kept asking people questions. They told me stories about the studio and what happened with Aerosmith and Motley Crue and this and that. I was like a kid in a candy store. But also, I have been doing this long enough that I didn’t let myself get distracted by the history. Instead, I let it inspire me and help me focus. I am a very focused guy and always have been. When I went out to Vancouver to record, they hoped that for this first trip I would nail vocals on five or six songs. But I went there and I recorded my parts for all the songs in one shot. It took me five days. And while I was there, we had to decide to pick one more song because we were one short. I was already there when we chose the last song, so I learned it, and I recorded it. So, I did all ten songs in one stretch although I was supposed to do it in two or three stretches. But no, I was focused.”
Redemption came out Friday, Oct. 24 worldwide in both physical (vinyl and CD) and digital formats through Deko Entertainment.
To launch the promotion for the album, on Sept. 5, Hughes released a music video and single for his incendiary cover of The Who classic song of revelation and self-empowerment, ‘The Real Me’ from their 1974 classic rock opera, Quadrophenia. The version presented is excellent in its own right, sonically and energy-wise, with superlative playing and Hughes’ skillful and powerful vocal interpretation, which is both homage to original singer Roger Daltry, but also a declaratory statement that he too can rise to the heights of vocal explosiveness.
But what makes this version, especially the video, so significant, one could almost say ‘historic’ is the individuals backing Hughes. What we have, heavy metal fans, is a reunion of the Speak of the Devil era band of the recently, and dearly departed Ozzy Osborne: Rudy Sarzo on bass, Tommy Aldridge behind the kit and Brad Gillis shredding on guitar.
Speak of the Devil, released in late 1982, was a live album which featured only songs from Ozzy’s Black Sabbath repertoire, coming while he and the members of his Blizzard of Ozz band were still in deep mourning after the sudden, catastrophically tragic death of genius guitarist Randy Rhoads in a plane crash earlier that year.
“You know that song ‘The Impossible Dream’ from the musical Don Quixote, what happened was not even an impossible dream, because I never even dreamt that this could have happened. It was pure luck. It started with the idea of getting outside writers for the albums. When I told my manager that, he said, ‘let’s ask Jesse.’ Jesse Bradman was the keyboard player in Saints and Sinners. He lives out in San Francisco and he’s a close friend of Brad Gillis of Night Ranger. So, Jesse sent us a couple of songs that he wrote with Brad Gillis and also David Sykes, who used to be with Boston for a while too. We picked a couple of those songs, and John liked them, so we started to work on them. And then we had the idea to ask Brad to be the guitar player on the songs he co-wrote. And he said yes. So, when it was time to do ‘The Real Me’ we said, well, we have Brad Gillis, let’s ask him if he wants to do ‘The Real Me’ and have some major players with him, because this is such a big song. We need some big names, some heavy hitters for this one, so he was the one who suggested Tommy and Rudy. We thought it was a great idea. But, again, the impossible dream,” he said.
“When Speak of the Devil came out, I was one of those big, big, big Ozzy fans. Diary of a Madman, Blizzard of Oz, Randy Rhoads, all that stuff. So, when Randy died everybody was like, ‘what the hell. What’s going to happen? Who’s going to replace him.’ So, when Speak of the Devil came out we all put the needle on the record and went, ‘wow! What a tone. Who is that? Brad Gillis? The guitar player for Night Ranger?’ Wow what a player. Fast forward to today and these guys are all like 10 years older than me, so when I was 15 they were 25. I would go to the Montreal Forum and see those guys play on stage. And when I was 25 I was onstage playing with Metallica. So, the wheel keeps turning and it keeps turning and it feeds itself. It brings us back to why some artists still record albums while others prefer not to. Let me be very, very sincere. It’s not always about the money. Some people will say, ‘what’s the use of doing albums. We don’t make money anymore.’ Well, It’s not about the money. It’s not for me. Look, I have a house. My kids are grown and they’re out of the house. I’m happily married. I don’t know how to explain it other than this is what I do. I do it for the love of music, for the joy of writing and recording, and especially so I can keep playing shows and travelling all over the world. I think people get miserable in life because everything’s about money to them. No, it doesn’t need to be. When is enough, enough.”
While the focus of the last few paragraphs has been on the star-studded lineup that appeared on ‘The Real Me,’ Hughes talked about why he and Webster chose to record that song in the first place, a song that has actually be covered a few times by acts such as WASP, Pearl Jam and Phish.
“The Who are part of my major influences as a rock singer. I sang a lot of Who songs throughout my career as a cover artist, as a performer. Roger Daltry is a legend and a real inspiration to me. That song was one I always wanted to do, and with an album called Redemption it was the best place to put it, to do it finally. And I chose that song not knowing it would be the Speak of the Devil lineup that would be playing the song with me. We chose the song way back, way back. The video was shot last year and we were supposed to release it earlier. But when we heard about Ozzy’s health and everything, we decided to wait out of respect. When Ozzy died, we were supposed to release it that same week, but we said no, let’s not do that. Let the fans mourn. Let Ozzy rest in peace, and then we’ll release it. But the video has been in the can for almost a year. And I know people have played and recorded that song a lot. It’s a good song, with a lot of meaning. Anybody that’s professional that plays that song as a cover is going to sound good because it’s so well written. I mean, there’s a special part for the bass, there’s a part to showcase the drums, there’s a part for the guitars and there are these great vocals right in the middle. It’s just a great song. Pete Townsend is such a brilliant songwriter.”
One of the most evocative and significant songs on Redemption is ‘Dans La Peau,’ which was originally written for French (as in France!!) music and cultural icon Johnny Hallyday as a duet with his oft collaborator Amy Keys. Hallyday died in 2017 at age 74, so the song never got recorded by him, but was in essence gifted to Hughes, who happens to be one of Hallyday’s biggest admirers. Oh, and the transportive, ethereal, jangly guitar intro just happened to be recorded by Robby Kreiger … co-founder and guitar player for The Doors.
“Johnny Hallyday is the French Elvis Presley. He’s the biggest, biggest star they ever had in France, and also in Quebec. Not only is he one of my idols as a kid, I would look up to him as a singer because, like I said earlier, I am a performer. I love doing the studio work. I love to sing in studio so I can work on my voice and make sure everything sounds perfect. But to me, it’s all about the stage. That’s where I was born to be happy – on a stage. Well, this guy had the best presence you can imagine on stage. Go check out videos from Johnny Hallyday when he was doing stadium tours. He’s larger than life and his voice is so big. I always wanted to do one of his songs,” Hughes said, explaining how the recording for ‘Dans La Peau’ came to be.
“Again, it was pure luck. The guy who wrote the song ‘Dans La Peau’ on the album is Gerry Stober, an excellent songwriter who was born in Montreal but lives in Los Angeles. And he worked a lot with Johnny Hallyday because Johnny also lived in L.A. So, he was working with Amy Keys, who was a back-up singer for Johnny Hallyday for all his tours. When he would do duets on tour, she would come up to the front of the stage and he would sing with Amy. At one point Jerry said to me, ‘I got a song that was proposed for Johnny and Amy and they were set to do it. But Johnny got sick, so the song got put on a shelf. If you’re interested, you could have it.’ I heard the song and immediately said yes, but I also asked if it was possible to have Amy record it with me, because on the demo, it was Amy Keys singing with another guy. And Gerry made it happen.
“But listen to this. So, the album was recorded in Vancouver, but some sessions were done in Los Angeles. When it was time to record Amy, somebody said I should go to Robby Krieger’s studio [Love Street Sound] to do the recording of Amy. I said, ‘Robby Krieger’s studio!?!’ I said, come on man, he’s one of my idols. Of course we have to go there. That’s how we got him on the song too. Pure luck, my friend. We booked a recording session with his people, so when Amy was doing her part, I said to my manager, ‘let’s try to talk to Robby’s manager and have him play on the song while we’re there. It’d be amazing.’ It took a bit of time, a bit of negotiation, because he’s a busy man. He’s a legend and I guess he doesn’t accept everything right on the spot. It takes a while. When I heard that it was a big yes, I was thanking my lucky star because, I mean, what are the odds?”
Having songs like ‘Will of the Gun,’ which talk about important issues and mindsets prevalent in modern society and culture is important, as music is a gateway into consciousness raising for many people, especially the youth. Songs about real life, real love, lost love and heartbreak are also important as these are everyday experiences felt by people around the world. It’s why music is considered to be a tonic for tough times, and a powerful healing tool for so many. Which is why Redemption has a dynamic range of compelling songs on its track listing.
“It is true that music brings people together, but it also helps you being alone. Sometimes when you’re alone and your thoughts go out there, they’re everywhere. You put on a record and you come back to yourself because it’s your music, it’s the music you chose, that you love. It’s your vibe right now in the moment. So, it does both: it unites and it invites you to be calm with yourself. That’s what I love about rock music. If you take Led Zeppelin I and then In Through the Out Door, it’s like two different bands. One is heavy blues and the other one is world music. And it between, it’s all different – every album is sounding different, you know,” he said, warming to the subject.
“And the same goes for The Beatles. ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ – they started like that and ended with ‘Let It Be.’ If you take time to read the lyrics to ‘Let It Be,’ Paul McCartney was 26 years old when he wrote that. Imagine being so mature at such a young age, but also look at how he grew as an artist in just five or six years. It’s incredible. Music is important. It’s there for a reason, and it’s there for the right reason. When I wake up in the morning and I go around and run some errands, I’m going to listen to Elton John, Johnny Cash, you know, mellow music, but meaningful. And then later in the afternoon, let’s put on some AC/DC and then when I go to the gym, there’s good workout music. And there’s so much that makes up rock music too. It’s so various. You’ve got blues, heavy blues, rock, hard rock, ballads, up-tempo songs, country rock. It’s all rock music. And that’s what I tried to explore with this album, to make sure that each song had a taste of something different. For instance, the song ‘Shake My Soul.’ This is a hard rock song, but it’s really the only hard rock song on the album. So, you cannot say that my album is hard rock. It’s not. There’s a hard rock song, there’s a pop rock song, there’s a blues rock song. That’s what I like about rock music.”
‘Someday’ started off as an original composition from many years ago, a heartfelt meditation on loss, grief and mourning, which was given some magic musical pixie dust along the way by fellow Quebecois artist Aldo Nova, and Nova’s pal from New Jersey, Jon Bon Jovi. Nova recorded it for his 1991 album, Blood on the Bricks, while Hughes’ version goes back to more of its original tonal intent.
“I was working with Aldo Nova when I was with Saints and Sinners. He had written some very, very good songs for me and some ballads and other good stuff. At the same time, he was working with Bon Jovi on his own album, Blood on the Bricks, and he felt he was missing a song. But I didn’t know that. One night when we were in the studio, I showed him that song. I picked up a guitar and I played a part of ‘Someday’ and he said he loved it. I told him we were going to put it on the Saints and Sinners album we were working on. He said, ‘better than that, Rick. If you allow me, I’ll put it on my album which is produced by Jon and it’s going to become a hit. I swear to you, it will, if you trust me with it.’ I said, okay,” he said.
“Fast forward a couple of months and I got a call from them. They were in the studio doing the song and said they had changed some parts and some lyrics. So, I split the songwriting credit with Aldo Nova and Jon Bon Jovi and it did become a hit {top 50 in Canada] when Aldo got it out in the market in the early 1990s. When I wrote it originally, I was thinking a lot about my father that I lost when I was just a kid, because my first child had just been born. It’s one of those times where a song means exactly what you think. It paints a picture of your feelings and emotions. It’s a song about losing somebody, but gaining something too. Which, you know, sometimes in life you just have to wait. You think you’ve lost something, but then something’s going to come along to equalize that loss – balance things. But it’s a song that I think everybody can make their own stories for.”
Sword is also still a going concern for Hughes, with the band playing a few shows in Quebec, including one that happened on Oct. 18 in Montreal. The band bolted out of the gate in the early 1980s, causing a popular stir with their 1986 debut album, Metalized and it’s 1988 follow up, Sweet Dreams. In that short, but epic, span of time, Sword opened shows internationally for Motorhead and Alice Cooper, as well as on Metallica’s breakthrough Master of Puppets tour. A third album was released in 2022, after Hughes brought Sword out of mothballs in 2011. Again, the purpose of keeping the Sword name and band relevant is not simply for financial considerations, but to give him more chances to do what he loves to do in life more than anything else – sing on stage.
“The icing on the cake for everything is the crowd. The crowd makes everything worthwhile. If it’s 50 people, I don’t care. They paid for their ticket, they’re there so I’m going to give them 100 per cent. If there’s 50 or if there’s 2,000, for me, it’s the same,” he said.
“I’m a live performer. I’ve been doing between 50 to 100 shows a year for the past 20 years. I will play this album and the songs from this album everywhere they want me. And if they want me to do my cover band thing, I will do that, and if they want me to do Sword I will do that. But not on the same show. If I do shows with Sword, then I just do Sword. If I’m with my solo band, I don’t do any Sword. And so that’s the reason for this album, so I can tour with my band, and play the music I love, and have something new to bring to people.”
For more information on Hughes, Redemption and future touring plans, visit https://www.rickhughes.co.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for more than 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his community. Contact him at bigjim1428@hotmail.com.
