Post by HARD ROCK UNIVERSE on May 30, 2006 1:13:23 GMT -5
Legs Diamond
Interview by Nightwatcher
December 4, 2005
Formed in Los Angeles in 1972, releasing their debut self titled album in 1977, Southern Californian rockers Legs Diamond have, throughout a 30 year recording career, produced some of the best hard rock albums ever to come from either the L.A. or any other scene for that matter. Often described as "The American Deep Purple," due to their similarities in style to the classic British rockers, the band, (named for infamous gangster of the '30's, Jack "Legs" Diamond), despite widespread critical acclaim, never achieved the sort of commercial success, at least not in the U.S., that they undoubtedly deserved. Their story is unfortunately a classic one. One of incredible music falling through the cracks due to many reasons, many of which have been out of the band's control. In fact, Legs Diamond could possibly be the greatest band that too many people have never heard of. But, after a too long 12 year hiatus between studio albums, the band is back and better than ever with the fantastic 'Diamonds Are Forever.' A classic slab of commercial keyboard laden hard rock which features strong songwriting and incredible performances from the entire band. The album also marks the stellar debut vocal turn courtesy of vocalist John Levesque (Shout, Wild Horses, Montrose), who replaces original singer Rick Sanford. One of the top releases of 2005, it shows that even after over 30 years, the band still has the drive, ambition and passion that has made their entire catalog one of the most worthy in hard rock history. Recently I had the extreme pleasure of sitting down with keyboardist Michael Prince, guitarist Roger Romeo, drummer Jeff Poole and vocalist John Levesque as we discussed the past, present and future of one of America's finest hard rock bands ever. A big favorite of us here at Rock N Roll Universe, particularly our esteemed founder Rikki, who's been a major fan since '77, we're proud to take you on a journey through the history of this legendary band.
Special thanks to Rikki Rampage for coordinating this, and a BIG thanks to Michael, Roger, Jeff and John for doing this interview for Rock N Roll Universe!
Rock N Roll Universe : Let's start out by talking about the new album 'Diamonds Are Forever'. For those who haven't heard the album, how would you describe the sound?
Michael Prince : Well, the way they always classify our band is melodic hard rock, and I'd probably have to agree with that. We tried to keep it raw, just powerful sounding. Songs with harmonies..we have two sides to the band. We have our hard rock side, where Johnny's really belting them out, with not as many harmonies with more guitar oriented songs. Then we have others that are sort of weighted towards the keyboard side, with big harmonies, choruses, stuff like that, more orchestrated. We always used to say we're between Black Sabbath and Abba, we're right smack dab in the middle. (Laughs)
RNRU : One question that fans might be asking would be, why 12 years between studio albums?
MP : Well, that basically goes back to getting the right people in the band where making an album was enjoyable, easy and something we all wanted to do. That had a lot to do with it. This album came together really naturally. The songs just fell into place. Everybody added 110%. Nobody had to go "No, don't do it that way." Whatever they did, everything just fit together like a perfect puzzle.
RNRU : When you released your last studio album, back in 1993, that was at the height of the "Grunge" era. Did that have anything to do with the time in between?
MP : I'm glad you brought that up. When we did that album, we were told by the label "Just make it as heavy as you want, have fun..do your thing, we love your music." Well, we did it, and by the time the record came out, and Johnny can tell you this as well, as he was in a band called Wild Horses at the same time. We released albums in '92, '93, and I remember doing an interview with a guy in Europe, and he goes "Well Michael, how do you feel with your album coming out now, and music having completely changed?" The question took all the wind out of me for about a minute, because I hadn't realized that it'd changed. But that was the fastest I'd ever seen music just go in a different direction. I still don't understand how it happened so fast. But, it did, and the album, when it came out, basically just the fans got it, and nobody else was really aware of it. The bottom just dropped out, in about 6 months.
RNRU : You do have a new vocalist, with Johnny Levesque replacing original vocalist Rick Sanford. What happened with Rick, and how did you come about having John join the band?
MP : You mean why are we the luckiest people in the world? (Laughs) Well, several things actually. Number one, Rick, about two, three years ago, moved to San Antonio. That makes rehearsing a bit difficult. Also writing, and all those other things that a band needs to do. For a little while it was okay, we'd fly him out here, we'd rehearse for a few weeks, then we'd go do some shows. It became increasingly apparent that not only was the distance a major problem, but really since '94, '95, that his voice was just starting to go. I don't want to be negative, but it's the truth. A lot of it was because he didn't practice at all. It's an instrument, you've got to use it a lot, and John can tell you more about that. But, basically, he wasn't the same guy when it came to being able to do songs on stage, and songs in the studio. We played a show in September of 2004, in Texas, and there were a lot of other great bands on the show. We try to be able to watch as much of the other bands' shows as possible. The band that played before us was Montrose.The singer just blew us away. I remember standing there at the side of the stage, and just going "Wow, that guy can really sing." Then, we did our show, flew back to L.A., a few months went by, and a couple times, Jeff, Roger and I had talked about how good that singer from Montrose was. At that time, we had no idea what was going to happen with the future of Legs Diamond. We'd just known that we'd seen a great singer, and said if we ever need a new singer, man, that would be THE guy. What happened was, we had a chance to go to the U.K. and play a festival, and do a new album. We called Rick on the phone, and I think he just knew that he couldn't do it anymore. So, he bowed out gracefully, and there was a day or two where we thought "Well, that's the end of Legs Diamond." It was fun, it was enjoyable. Then, we started thinking "Wait a minute, we really like doing this, let's see if we can make the band better." So Roger, who produces a lot of bands, put the word out to his friends. There was no official ad, or cattle call. Johnny found out, and the rest is history. The perfect singer came to us. The band, I think is better than it's ever been. This is really more than anything a new beginning for Legs Diamond. For some, this will be the first Legs Diamond album they'll ever hear. They may go back, and check out the old catalog. But if they don't, and just start with us now, and go forward, that'll make me happy.
RNRU : John, how hard was it for you to come into a band with such an established vocal identity like Legs Diamond has? Was there ever a feeling that you might not be accepted by Legs fans?
John Levesque : Yeah, in the beginning, even though I knew I was pretty much established, and people knew who I was as a vocalist, from playing with people like Wild Horses with Jeff Pilson and James Kottack and Montrose. I still felt strange in a way where their singer had a certain vocal style that was unique. That was part of the band, the sound of the band. He had a style, where I was kind of weirded out in a way where it was like "Will they accept me as a singer?" Because I sound different. Not so much that one's better than the other, just different. So, I was a little bit concerned about that. But, I didn't let it get to me. As soon as we played the first show, at Palladino's in L.A., it went over so well there that I gained confidence. So, when we went to England I felt pretty good about it, and after the first couple songs the audience response was so good, that was it for me. I knew I was going to do okay with the band. When you join a band that's been around that long, and you're replacing a singer that has a unique sounding voice..he has his own style. I think I sort of fit right in, 'cause I can kind of bend. I can sing raspy, I can sing clean, so I don't think they're gonna miss the grit that Rick had in his voice. Because I can do the same stuff anyway.
RNRU : For those that aren't familar with you John, what bands have you been in previously and what are some of your influences?
JL : Shout was my first band, out of Boston, we used to do a lot of shows with Extreme. We co headlined back in the 80's. We got an offer from Relativity Records, and our manager advised us to hold off for bigger and better, then it took so long that I ended up getting an audition to come out to L.A. to play in Wild Horses. So, the band kind of lost interest in pursuing anything, so I left. I joined Wild Horses, and they were already signed to Atlantic, so I just auditioned and got the gig. I came out to L.A. in 1990, and the album was released in '92, but it was supposed to be released at the end of '90. So, it got delayed two years, then the same story with Mike and these guys with 'The Wish' album. Grunge came into effect, and pretty much took over popular radio. So, all you really heard was Grunge. Even bands like Aerosmith had a hard time. For those years, from '92 through all the 90's was hard for commercial melodic rock bands. Speaking of Aerosmith, I became friends with a lot of people surrounding that band, I got to meet the guys in the band..Joe Perry, I used to babysit his kid. They were a huge influence, they were my favorite band.
RNRU : What do you feel that you bring to the band that previously hasn't been there before? What do you bring to the table?
JL : I think I bring ideas..I don't think, I could be wrong, but I don't think Rick played guitar. And, I play instruments. I think that I can provide a section to the band where I can give ideas for songwriting. I write lyrics, and I don't think Rick did. And I enjoy rehearsing. I'm really into checking out what's going on right now too, with new bands. Trying to exploit little ideas that we can fit into Legs Diamond, but never really changing the vibe of the band. Which has been there for over 20 years. Basically contributing my own little ideas which can help, and venture into different avenues.
RNRU : On the album, on several of the songs, particularly "Don't Turn Away," "King Of Speed" and "Trouble," there seems to be a definite Deep Purple influence...
MP : Well, "King Of Speed" is definitely almost an homage to Deep Purple. So is "Change," which is a song John wrote. The first song, "Don't Turn Away" I think is kind of in the middle between Purple and a little bit of a Zeppelin type riffing. Actually, Deep Purple now are more riffy than they used to be. We just listened to their new album a couple of weeks ago. That's a band who's one of our favorite bands of all time.
RNRU : You guys have been called at various times, "The American Deep Purple"...
MP : Exactly, and we've always taken that as a compliment. An extreme compliment. We were friends with them. A couple of them would come to our reheasals, we'd go to their rehearsals. In fact, when you wrote in the review of the album, that was the coolest thing anybody's ever said about us. Because we always..we didn't really compare ourselves to Deep Purple, but we'd come out with an album, in the '70's and '80's, then they'd come out with an album, and we'd go "Wow, that's a good album." They had ten times more money than we did, they spent a lot of time in the studio, great musicians.This is the first time, that when we were driving to to do a TV show, we were all in the car at the same time. We put on the new Deep Purple, 'Rapture Of The Deep,' and I'm going "Wow, this is the first time in my life that I've actually liked our new album better than theirs." We're big Deep Purple fans, so when you wrote that "This is how Deep Purple should sound these days", I was like "Holy Cow, somebody else noticed that" (Laughs) And those guys can play their butts off, so I just think it's attitude and songs. We listened to the album, and there wasn't anything that caught my ear that made me want to sing along with. They've got great playing, Don Airey can play solos that I could never dream of, but you've got to have a song. That's your basic building block, and then everything else goes around that .
RNRU : Have you ever stayed in contact with any of the members of Purple?
Jeff Poole : I was going to go backstage and talk to them when they played The House Of Blues out here, but the timing didn't work out. I'd like to get ahold of them again. I was invited to their road manager Ossie Hoppe's wedding, I think it was in Frankfort, Germany, and that was the last time I talked to him. I wish I had, but I haven't. As people have asked us, "Who would you like to tour with?" Well, for me, my dream tour would be with Deep Purple. Because there's a lot of respect. There's a friendship there, similar styles. I think their audience would definitely like us and vice versa. They're super talented. I get every one of their albums as they come out, because I have nothing but tremendous respect for Ian Paice and the rest of the band. I like where they're at right now. I've liked all of their albums. I'd like to hear Ritchie do something again, but for right now this is what's available. I actually saw them in I think it was back in 1968, at the Pleasanton Pop Festival with the original band, when Rod Evans was still the vocalist. It was amazing to see a really young Ritchie Blackmore out on stage, just tearing it up, moving all over the stage. They were great even back then.
RNRU : What was the process you used when coming up with the songs for the new album, and has that changed throughout the years in terms of how the songs are composed?
MP : No, that's all pretty much stayed the same.
RNRU : In addition to playing keyboards and guitar on the album Michael, you also produced the album. How difficult is it being objective when it comes to producing your own music?
MP : Maybe a tad more, on your own, but pretty much, I think it's pretty easy to step back, really listen to it, and know what everybody's capable of playing and singing at their best. You just try to get the best performance out of them. Pretty much on this one it was a piece of cake. There wasn't any hair pulling or nail biting. (Laughs) I don't think Roger's ever, in my opinion played as good as he's played on this record. He's been a great player for...over a year now, you've been playing for over a year now, right Roger? (Laughs)
Roger Romeo : Yeah, about that. (Laughs)