After a few years out on the road with his band, road testing new songs, becoming a tighter, creatively dynamic and compelling live rock band, former Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer hit the studio with the #KEIFERBAND to write and record a sometimes raucous, other times heartfelt, but always gritty, compelling and badass new album, Rise.
Released through Cleopatra Records on Sept. 13 in both physical and digital formats, it is the second Keifer solo album, but the first to contain reference to his stalwart and talented band. Rise hits listeners right out of the gate with its potent combination of insistent rock riffs, memorable melodies, superlative vocal performances, and lyrical sentiments that penetrate you in your heart and soul.
The #KEIFERBAND hashtag and brand has been how the group has been billed for a number of years now, and part of the reason Keifer himself likes this is because he wants fans to know that this is a band, not just him and some backing musicians.
“We started using that billing a few years ago. The band had a great energy and chemistry from night one when we put it together. And it’s something that the fans noticed and recognized right away. They actually came up with the hashtag #KEIFERBAND – it was something fans created and started using online and on social media. We thought it had a good ring to it, so we have actually been using that branding, for lack of a better word, for a while now,” he said.
“And that’s because it’s definitely a band. This new record Rise was created with a band, with all of us sitting in the room together. And we tried to cut it very live, keep it raw and real and capture the energy that we’ve had out on the road, because we know what level that energy can go to with all the touring that we’ve done. So, we tried to capture that in the studio.
“When the first solo record was released, that was made with session players because there was no band. But this band came together when we went out to support that record and it’s been a band ever since. And, like I said, the fans recognized that, and I am very happy about that, actually, because I always like being part of a band. I didn’t want to just be a solo artist. I am not really worried about the pressure of being under my own name, I just kind of like the idea of being part of a gang, and not just creatively. Some solo artists are changing bands all the time, and the fact that we have stuck together and not only become a band, but a family too, on and off stage, is really cool. Obviously, it made sense to have something familiar in the name of the band, that’s why my last name stuck. But #KEIFERBAND was a natural progression from when we first started.”
Since Keifer is enjoying being with his band so much, we decided to give him an opportunity to chat them up and extol their virtues to music fans who may not as yet have seen #KEIFERBAND up close and personal.
“We’ll start with my wife Savannah, who sings in the live shows, plays percussion and piano. She and I co-write together pretty much all my solo stuff, and she is also involved in the production and brings so much to the table. That’s kind of the way it started because we created the first record together, using session players. That’s where the partnership began in terms of this band, it was in creating The Way Life Goes [initially released in 2013, and re-released in 2017], together. And then we’ve got Tony Higbee on guitar, who is also an amazing singer. He’s such a high energy performer, just a true rock and roll guitarist. He’s got that edge to his playing; it’s real nasty, he has a great tone and is very creative in the studio. He and I work very well together on the guitar work and shared the solo responsibilities on Rise. I think it’s about 50/50 between us in terms of lead playing,” he explained.
“We’ve got Billy Mercer on bass, who is just an amazing player. He is so deep seated in the roots of rock and roll and what inspired that. He is really well versed in the Motown stuff and that sort of movement on the bass that’s just so great in rock and roll. Kory Myers on keyboards is also a killer singer and is amazing on the Hammond B3. He is also very steeped in the roots, like on the song Waiting On The Demons, which has a real Gospel feel to it, and did an incredible job with his piano playing. Kendra Chantelle does background vocals and percussion live and in the studio and she also co-wrote the lead-off track Touching the Divine with Savannah and I, so she is a great songwriter and brings a lot to the stage vocally and with her stage presence. With the vocals on Rise, we’ve got six singers in the band and we work together kind of stacking some unique blends of vocals on the record that I think are really cool, and Kendra’s voice is a big part of that.
“Jared Pope is just the most amazing drummer that I have ever played with. He’s got a swing and a groove to him; he’s very much a rock and roll drummer. He knows how to create and maintain that pocket but also kind of be very old school and traditional at the same time. His snare hand is traditional grip, which you don’t see a lot of in rock. He delivers. They are all just incredible musicians and singers but also incredible people. The most important thing on top of all that is how we call get along. It makes it very easy to work together when we’re on the road, or in the studio.”
Getting back to his life and creative partnership with wife Savannah (a noted singer/songwriter in her own right under the name Savannah Snow), Keifer said he can’t really explain why they work so well together creatively, as well as maintaining such a loving and supportive marriage – something that doesn’t always happen in any form of show business.
“I actually got asked this the other day and the first thing I said, and not to make it sound too simple, is that we just really get along well. I know that sounds really simple, but we do. So, we’re able to walk through this journey together and any difficulties or even things that maybe we don’t see eye to eye on, we’re able to talk through and work out very easily. It’s pretty effortless. And I know in some cases, in some relationships it’s not like that. But it’s really amazing to be working with her, not only for her talent as a songwriter and as a musician and what she brings to the music, but also our relationship, and how we get along so well and can work through everything that goes along with having this sort of lifestyle.”
Rise takes the rootsy vibe of Keifer’s debut solo album The Way Life Goes and dials it up a few notches in terms of emotional grit and lyrical heaviness, creating an album that highlights a dynamic that has listeners going on a bit of a roller coast ride, eventually ending up emotionally spent, but ultimately uplifted.
“For me, the writing always starts with lyrics and I always say the lyrics should dictate what the music should sound like. So, the lyrics really did dictate the tone on a lot of these songs where there’s a lot of angst, heaviness and rawness. I really love raw rock and roll records and to me the goal of everything I do is to be very real and not over-produced. Having come from an era where that was very popular, where things were a little more slick, we really started steering the ship out of those waters with [1990’s] Heartbreak Station with Cinderella and just tried to make it more organic and real. I think, ultimately, that sound doesn’t have a timestamp to it, it’s pretty timeless,” Keifer said.
“I think that songwriting is a way of expressing what you’re either going through in life or what you’re observing in the world. It can come from either side of that or a combination of both. It’s an outlet: you’re reflecting on what you’re feeling or what you’re observing out in the world and maybe what other people are going through, including people who are close to you. You are ultimately expressing some emotion that you felt, so then the music becomes the outlet to express that. That’s what I meant when I said a song always starts with lyrics, never with music for me. I read the lyrics, or a lyric is rolling around in my head and I start to hear a type of tone of the music or attitude to the music, which I feel is appropriate to deliver that emotion.
“If you want to look at two different ends of that spectrum on the new record, The Death of Me is a lyric that Savannah actually wrote and gave to me and when I read it, I suddenly heard heavy angst ridden guitars and sat down and that kind of dissonant guitar riff you hear came out right away. On the opposite side of the spectrum would be the song You Believe in Me, which, when I wrote that it was immediately obvious to sit down with an acoustic guitar to play and sing it. So, the lyric really does dictate how I am going to express the emotion musically.”
The connective emotional tissue between all the songs on Rise is one of affirmation and hope.
“I think there is a common thread that runs through a lot of the songs, although not all of them. There is a lot on there about overcoming adversity and challenges, which I think we all go through. I have been through plenty in my life and career. As a band over the last six years, as we’ve come to know each other and become a family we’ve watched everyone in this band go through their own challenges and heartaches. We’ve all had each other’s back on that, and although it was hard at times, we made it through. And I think that is kind of the overall theme to this album,” Keifer said.
“The writing that Savannah and I do is very much based on the kind of music that we grew up on, which was that rock music of the late 1960s and 1970s, and that was all really inspired by American roots music – country music, folk music, R&B and Gospel. Lyrically, all of that was about real, everyday things. It wasn’t about imaginary things. It was about overcoming adversity, falling in love and falling out of love, celebrating successes and overcome your challenges – real, authentic life. I have always written from that perspective. So, most of the songs I have written or been involved in writing, all the way back to Cinderella, have had something to do with everyday life.”
With just two solo albums under his belt Tom Keifer and #KEIFERBAND still play a number of Cinderella hits in their set, something that will undoubtedly continue for years to come as a many of the band’s biggest hits, such as Shake Me, Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until It’s Gone), and Nobody’s Fool are still played on radio and are favourites with many fans.
“At our shows, we have both new and older fans, and that’s a very cool feeling. With the release of the first album, we put the band together and toured and a lot of fans wanted to hear the old material. But we had a great label behind the first album, and they gave it a great push. We got airplay and had success on the radio, so people were familiar with the new material. The single Solid Ground, which went to number 14 at Rock Radio, was right next to Nobody’s Fool in the set and it was going down as well as the biggest Cinderella song with the crowd, which was really cool to see,” he said.
“We started something new here, there’s a new band, but I love playing the old stuff from Cinderella with them. I wrote those songs and I sang them, and I played guitar on them. They are a part of me, and I love playing them and the fans want to hear them. They are as new and exciting to me every night on stage as they were on the Night Songs tour. But, since it’s a new band, the injection of new music and bringing in new fans to support them too is legit.”
As for touring in support of Rise, Keifer said they current run of shows wraps up in October. The #KEIFERBAND will then probably take November and December off before ramping up the schedule starting early in 2020.
For more information on #KEIFERBAND, the new album Rise and upcoming shows, visit www.tomkeifer.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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