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 House of Lords are currently on the road with Bang Tango. When I think of one of the most powerful and quality voices to emerge out of the 80's rock genre, James Christian is at the top of the list. Although James Christian is the only original member left in House of Lords, the talented singer has recruited a whole new line-up featuring top musicians out of the Connecticut area which include Jimi Bell on guitar, B.J.Zampa on drums, and Chris Mccarvill on bass.
House of Lords has recently released a brand new album,” World Upside Down" on Frontiers Records. The album was voted Number One on ARFM European Radio Station in 2006.
I recently caught up with James, when he performed in the New England area. In this Exclusive interview for GlamMetal.Com. James Christian discussed the rebirth of House of Lords, why Greg Giuffria left HOL, the new release "World Upside Down", and working with Gene Simmons.
James, House of Lords is currently on tour with Bang Tango and the Dropoutz. How does it feel to be performing in The States again?
Well, it is a little bit different than playing Europe, where you are playing to audiences that are much larger sizes because the music is still very healthy there. When we play here in The States, it is kind of challenging. I don't mind, that we have to go up there and almost prove ourselves again. Which is kind of cool. I don't mind that at all. I grew up playing the club circuit seven days a week. I am no stranger to it.
Right, a lot of people don't know that you hail from Connecticut. Actually you performed in Hartford a week again. What was it like performing in your own stomping grounds again?
Yes, we performed at The Webster Theatre. It was wonderful. Do you know what was wonderful about it? All of my friends were there. They came to support me. It just felt really great, because they are the same people that came to see me in my local band. It was just a feeling of way to go James, and I loved that.
House of Lords recently released "World Upside Down" on Frontiers Records. Your voice sounds as tremendous as back in the day. It is flawless. How do you keep your voice in shape?
Well, Thank you. I think with age you learn to use the best parts of your voice. We call them the money notes. Plus I have my own studio, and I am able to just work on a vocal to I feel comfortable with it. In the old days, we use to have 100 dollars an hour, and you had to move very quickly. So it is not conducive to give your best performance, when you are working like a clock.
What I really noticed about "World Upside Down" is that it is not overly done with keyboards. It brings out your voice, and there is a very melodic, hard edge sound to the guitars.
Yes, that was done on purpose. One reason is, I am a true believer that less is more, when you are dealing with a musical track. If you can get the drums and bass to sound homogenous, and then the guitars on top of it, all you really need are the vocals. It lends itself to be more exciting in a live situation.
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Well I had the opportunity to hear you perform the other night, and to tell you the truth I really didn't miss the keyboards. I liked the fresh new sound and the guitar work of Jimi Bell. House of Lords still have a huge sound. Also the band sounds more modern.
Thank you very music. That makes me feel because sometimes when we play in Europe, because Greg was such a big figure in the European market. He really is huge. One of the reasons we never took a keyboard player with us is because we know what would happen. The audience would be like well it is not Greg Giuffria. So what we do is we have Greg play all the parts, and we have them on a tape. So all the keyboards you hear are Greg playing. We can always say that is Greg playing, he is just not hearing onstage with us.
Did he perform on "World Upside Down"? Did Greg give any musical direction to the album?
We are still very close. Matter of fact, prior to his Hard Rock Casino falling apart, and Hurricane Katrina. He is a partner in the Hard Rock Casino. We were supposed to do a show with Robin Zander, Doug Aldrich, and Coverdale. It was an All-Star Band playing at the opening of the Hard Rock Hotel. That was supposed to happen two weeks prior to it going down. Greg was supposed to be onstage, and it was going to be an event. So after that, Greg said James,” I really just can't put that much time into this record, but I certainly want to give it as much input as I can." I told him I was going to pull back on the keyboards, and he was fine with that. His input was basically creative. He played on a few parts.
The new line-up of House of Lords is from Connecticut. How did the rebirth of House of Lords transpire?
Yes, Jimi Bell was the Connecticut guitar hero. I call Jimi the greatest well-kept secret in guitar players. Somebody that good, flying under the radar, it boggled my mind. When I got him on the record, he was rapidly becoming the guitar player that everybody called the next big thing. B.J. Zampa played with Yngwie, and Tony Macalpine. He is so well rounded. Chris Mccarvill is the young boy in the band. He is a terrific bass player and very charismatic.
How do feel that "World Upside Down" compares to "Power and The Myth"?
We released a record prior to "World Upside Down" and it was kind of like the second coming of House of Lords called "Power and the Myth". I wasn't even ready at that time to record a record. But the guys in House of Lords had already written it. They said James just sing it. We get into a situation now, and I put the vocals on it, as I am doing it I said, you know guys that just don’t sound like House of Lords. I mean it is great music. Your musicianship is top notch. But it doesn’t sound like what people is use to. When that record got received in Europe, they pretty much slammed it. They said this is not House of Lords. So my record company said James, I want to give you the opportunity to bring House of Lords forefront of what it was. I asked all of the members would they consider doing it basically my way, and in my direction. So basically they didn't want to follow any one person, they had their own visions and their own direction. So a change had to be made in order to create that record. Once it was done, then the band had to prove itself. We went on our first tour as House of Lords and now here you have the band with one original member and three other guys. So the first couple of times people said, "Well that is not House of Lords". I said House of Lords are just as much as House of Lords as Whitesnake is with David Coverdale. He is the only original member. Before you know it, by the end of the first tour, people were saying this is House of Lords. They proved themselves, and the boys really worked hard.
Actually you can tell in concert and on the record that it is a band effort and not a solo effort. The sound is huge, and everyone gets along so well. Would you agree?
Absolutely! I could have always have done a solo record. But I could have never done this record without those guys. I always label it as a band effort.
House of Lords are going to be headed to Europe February 14. How long is the tour slated to run?
About a month. Romania just called; they want to add tour dates there and Portugal. So we might land up being there longer than we thought. The audience there is huge. It is a huge market for Glam-melodic bands that came from our era. In my opinion, these bands really kind of put a staple on that era. It is something that hasn't been repeated yet. It is a very important era in music.
Yes, I don't think we will ever come close to it again, as long as we live.
We were fortunate be part of it. The 80’s had such great music. In Europe, they still appreciate it. Europe has so many Festivals. They have UFO, Tesla; it is like going to one of these concerts in the 80's.
When I listened to: World Upside Down". I noticed a few of the songs a war theme to them. They were "These Are The Times", and "Field Of Shattered Dreams."
Yes, when we wrote "Field Of Shattered Dreams", there was an article in the news that was just heartbreaking. A bunch of men that were just ready to go home, they were fighting on the battlefield and their term was up in two days, and they got blown up two days before coming home. It was like, "Oh My God", here are these guys who had very opportunity and did their job and they were on their way home and that was the "Field of Shattered Dreams". They were there and they never made it back. I thought it was appropriate to write a song about that happening. Great music doesn’t need a label. We incorporated acoustic guitars. They are not considered a heavy metal instrument, but if you use them correctly they are cool.
Back in the day, when you were getting started in the business, what was it like auditioning for Gene Simmons?
Do you know that point in your life, when you just have nothing to lose? Well I was at that point. I had already been there a year in Los Angeles. I played with some local bands like LA Rocks. We opened up for some different bands; we played The Palace, and The Whiskey. As I am playing in this band, I am saying to myself, my local band in Connecticut blows this band away. It wasn't that great of a band, but I thought despite they are here in California, maybe they are poised to do something. Everybody was getting signed. Bands like Pretty Boy Floyd, Faster Pussycat, and Warrant. A year went by, and this was just not happening. I had zero money. I heard about this audition happening, and I heard there were hundreds of singers at the gig. I said I have nothing to lose, but to go in there and sign a song. That is what I did, I got a call back to meet Gene at his house, and actually did another song for him he just talked to me about it, and I told him how hungry I was, what I had done, how much time I put in Connecticut playing the nightclub scene. If anybody was ready to be on a stage, it was I. I wan not inexperience when it came to playing onstage. That was it, and he just said,” We would like you to be the singer." That changed my life, right then at that moment. I went from the lowest point of my life, and was actually ready to go back to Connecticut. We were doing 2500 dollars a night. We use to stand outside Sunset Strip with our one flyers and pass them out to people who were coming out of shows at The Roxy or anywhere. That was our thing. Talk about playing dues, that is a lot of work.
House of Lords toured with The Scorpions and also Ozzy. What is like it like working with Ozzy? Was that your favorite tour experience ever?
That was a phenomenal tour. I mean from what I remember with Ozzy, the only time I actually saw him was when we would have breakfast or catered dinners. He pretty much was that zombie that you see on TV. But when he hit the stage, he turned into the person he needed to. He had Zakk on his right, it was pretty amazing. Ozzy knows how to turn on an audience. That was a great tour. Again, kudos has to go to Gene Simmons. The reason why we got those tours was very simple. Gene Simmons did favors for bands like Cheap Trick, and for The Scorpions. If it weren’t for Kiss, The Scorpions would have never gone on a Kiss tour. So all of these favors were returned. In other words, Gene called up like he was the Godfather, and now I need you to return a favor. He put us on Number one tours, even though we were a brand new act. We were fortunate to have him on all corners.
What happened with RCA?
What happened with RCA was very funny. At the time, we had signed to them, they had just brought up The President of the RCA Nashville Unit. They were trying to resurrect the actual label. They brought him in and they fought us tooth and nail on the first single of the second record. They didn't want to release,” Can’t Find My Way Home". We said this a big mistake. That is going to be a hit song for you. They fought us, finally we won. Gene pushed for it. We were right. That song what they called breaker. In the music business, if you get a hundred stations in like three or four days. That means it is a break out song. That song broke out in a few days. It became the Number One AOR track in the U.S. Which is really a big thing because AOR sold albums, it didn't sell singles. We were coming off of that, and we spent so much money on the second single, which was "Remember My Name". We had Michel Bay produce it. He is the guy, who did Pearl Harbor and all of those big movies. That song reached Number two on the most requested songs. House of Lords was really on its way to just taking off big time. By the time we got to the third single, the President of RCA started rearranging everything. All the A and R people, and all the radio people, who put our single out got replaced with other people. It caused chaos n the company. Then we fell into that, "Oh My God, they are going to blow it for us, in which they did." RCA for many years after that did nothing. RCA and BMG kind of merged. During the merger, they did bad things, so we left the label. Then we went through Phil Carlson, who is actually responsible for Led Zeppelin. He ran Atlantic in England. He had a new label in The States called Victory Records. He singed three bands, David Bowie, Tin Machine, House of Lords, and Paul Rodgers. He gave us a budget that you could only dream about. With that big of a budget, we put on a really fantastic record called "Demons Down". That is the time when grunge had hit. We had our album party and I remember our program director saying this is probably one of your best records, but it is just too bad you are probably never going to hear it on the radio. I went, "What"? He goes the music scene has changed drastically in the last month or so. It has really changed so much, that they probably won’t play this stuff any more. He was right. It was pretty heartbreaking.
But now you are back, and have "World Upside Down."
This record was voted the Number one album in 2006 from ARFM Radio, which is a European radio station. Fans call in and vote on their favorite records. So we are really proud of that. Not only that, the record is just doing so well. Well enough from Eddie from VH1 Classics to call me o come into the studio and do an hour session with him. We took phone calls; people were calling from all over the country. They were just so happy to hear that we were back. They hadn't heard any cuts, but when they heard them, when Eddie was playing them, they flipped out. When Eddie was listening to it last night, because he never heard it, Eddie says,” This is great. I had no idea, this thing crunches and rocks." He was doing this on the air. He was blown away by it. Eddie is really going to do a lot to just keep playing it. We had just played The Crazy Donkey in New York.
Thank you so much James, for taking take out to discuss House of Lords and "World Upside Down" with me. I really enjoyed your show and the new album is phenomenal.
Thank you Debby, take care. www.JamesChristianmusic.com Check out our HOL show review here
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