10 Q's with JEFF SCOTT SOTO
1. What are you currently up to?
I have a new album coming out in March – Damage Control and yes, I will be touring.
2. Can you take us through the songs on the new album ‘Damage Control’?
There is a song on the album called Afraid to Die which is an anti suicide song, this was influenced by the loss of one of my friends – Marcel Jacob who sadly took his own life. Writing and recording the song was a relief in a way -it felt like something I needed to go through – and hopefully the song might help anyone that reaches the point where they don't want to continue in their life.
There are quite a few songs on the album that deal with people in life who might bring you down – a boss or a colleague or even a friend – one of those songs is called Take You Down – it’s about not letting people get the better of you. I always try to take positive things even from the negative experiences in my life -it’s a shame there is such negativity out there in the world – which brings me to a song called Never Ending War – which seems to be where we are today. It’s not necessarily just about war but it’s about the war in life – recession and people trying to find their way and pick up the pieces.
3. How did you get so many special guests involved like Y&T’s Dave Meniketti, Casey Grillo (KAMELOT) and Joel Hoekstra (NIGHT RANGER)? Did you set out to involve guest musicians or was the original idea to only use your band?
I had a short list of people I wanted to work with, some of them it didn't work out with due to conflicting schedules but the majority of the people I hoped could to it did. Casey for example, the brilliant drummer from Kamelot and of course Dave Menikietti from Y&T, and of course some of the less known guys I worked with are also great musicians
4. Like Glenn Hughes you release solo albums that cover various musical styles – AOR, hard rock, funk to name but a few. What musical style do you enjoy singing the most and what can be the most challenging vocally?
I don't find anything challenging that I choose to do, that’s one of the great things about having a solo career, you can do the things you want to do and not have to do – which makes me very happy. A solo career was actually something that made me fearful to begin with – as I was so used to having a band to lean on as an anchor and people that I had played with for so long. So a solo career made me feel pressure. But as I started going along I love the freedom I have, and now I can enjoy the best of both worlds.
5. Are there any unreleased Talisman tunes in the vaults that could be released at some stage in the future?
I think Marcel covered that already, he bought all the rights to Talisman and released demos and unfinished songs. We were one week away from recording a new Talisman album when he took his life and I was hoping there would be his demos, so I could immoratalize him with a final album – the bass tracks that we could have taken and completed – but unfortunately there were not.
6. Have Brian May and Roger Taylor ever formally approached you to front Queen at all? Are there any plans to re-issue your Queen convention live CD as it seems to be in short supply now!
No plans at the moment to re issue this – I don't think the demand would be high enough.
7. How did you originally hook-up with the TSO? What was it like being involved in the first UK show last year?
I hooked up with TSO based on my long friendship with Al Pitrelli. It’s one of those instances in my career – I have so many people I want to work with and who want to work with me, and this happened to be a situation where that could happen. He needed something that I could bring to the table at that point in time and dropped my name in. So I got to do something I wouldn't even have thought about doing, and it opened up a whole new side of my career. I can be on hiatus but still working -playing these amazing shows with this amazing band and machine that is TSO. Taking it to Europe for the first time last year was a thrill, I was so happy to be a part of that and hope to continue to work with them as long as my schedule permits
8. Given your work with the TSO and on various soundtrack albums, along with your adaptable vocal range/style, would you like to appear in a musical in Broadway or the West End?
I have no desire to do that. I very much fell into the whole TSO thing because I was working with friends. Musical theatre is not something I am going after.
9. What can we expect from the upcoming W.E.T. album? Is this a band that could tour more given the chance as many Frontiers bands/projects are studio based?
WET was a studio project that we wanted to leave open ended, in anything I do in my career it’s a never say never motto that I live by!
We never thought we would end up playing a show together live and Firefest opened up a can of worms in a way because we all looked at each other and were like ' we need to do this again'. So with that in mind we are planning to do another album and there will be more of a chance for us to tour – having a second album under our belts -instead of making a 90 minute show from 45 mins of material.
10. Anything else to add and a message for your fans…
It’s the same message I have said for the past 27 years – I am lucky to be able to do what I am doing and to have everyone that chooses to do it with me – thank you to everyone that got me to this point.
http://jeffscottsoto.com/news/
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