Jack Blades - Bass, Lead vocals Alan Fitzgerald - Keyboards Brad Gillis - Guitars, Vocals Kelly Keagy - Drums, Lead vocals Jeff Watson - Guitars, Vocals
"You can still rock in America," or Japan, or just about anyplace else on the globe, if it's 1997 and you just happen to be the five original members of Night Ranger: Jack Blades (bass, lead vocals), Alan Fitzgerald (keyboards), Brad Gillis (guitars), Kelly Keagy (drums, lead vocals), and Jeff Watson (guitars, vocals). 15 years since the release of their debut album, and nearly a decade after they recorded their last album together and went their separate ways, Night Ranger has come full circle to scale the hard rock heights, "Forever All Over Again," as they so aptly declare in the first single from their brand new Legacy/Sony Music album, Neverland.
Night Ranger, one of the most successful touring and recording bands of the 1980s, left their indelible mark on that decade's charts with a string of five best-selling albums between 1982 and 1988 (Dawn Patrol, Midnight Madness, 7 Wishes, Big Life, and Man In Motion) that went on to sell a total of more than 10 million copies worldwide. At the same time, their popularity was fueled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks that are as much a part of 80s rocklore as Night Ranger itself, including "Sister Christian," "(You Can Still) Rock In America," "When You Close Your Eyes," "Sentimental Street," "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" and "Restless Kind," to name but a few.
After calling it a day in 1989, the five Bay Area veterans embarked on a dizzying series of group and solo endeavors that were faithfully followed by the Night Ranger legions. For example, Blades founded Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw (ex-Styx) which led to the subsequent Shaw*Blades project. "Fitz"gerald became a regular in the ever-changing Van Halen tour lineups. Watson released a pair of star-studded solo albums, then formed the equally all-star band known as Mother's Army. Gillis also attracted some of rock's big names to his solo effort, Gilrock Ranch. Keagy, another busy session rat, eventually hooked up with Gillis to play their own music and Night Ranger hits on the road.
It was inevitable: The paths of the five had to cross again, and any loyalist could have predicted that Japanese audiences were prime targets for the Night Ranger reunion that took place in the summer of 96. It proved so successful that a U.S. tour with Ted Nugent was booked. Night Ranger fans networked to ensure that, although the tour was virtually unannounced, it was packed with those who could still recall a time when rock was a little less serious and a lot more fun.
The positive reaction was not lost on Night Ranger, who jumped into the recording studio with master engineer turned producer Ron Nevison, known for his knob-turning ventures with Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Heart, Damn Yankees, and Bad Company, among others. The new music caught the ear of A&R sage John David Kalodner, who immediately brought it to Sony Music's attention.
Neverland was initially released on Zero Records in Japan on March 26, 1997, and sold an overwhelming 40,000 copies on that day. Night Ranger rewarded their Japanese fans the next month with three weeks of shows, every date sold-out in advance. Since then, the pieces have quickly fallen into place: Miles Copeland has been enlisted to handle management duties, while Bob Clearmountain's mix of "Forever All Over Again" stands ready to clobber U.S. radio. Night Ranger is returning with a vengeance, proving once again that, "You can still rock in America!"
Night Ranger's roots go back to 1976 and the San Francisco-based funk rock band called Rubicon, led by ex-Sly Stone saxophonist Jerry Martini and featuring Jack Blades. A bassist and singer, Blades was born in Palm Springs and started playing rock at age eight, when he bought his first Beatles LP. His career kicked into gear in 1976, after his senior year as a pre-med student at San Diego State, when he moved to the Bay Area to join Rubicon.
That band's lineup soon included drummer and singer Kelly Keagy, a Glendale native who was only five years old when he started imitating Elvis Presley. By age 12, when he started playing drums to surf records and Beatles music, he knew rock n roll was his life. Following his entry into Rubicon, the group enlisted Honolulu-born Brad Gillis on lead guitar. He was also inspired by the coming of the Beatles and wanted at first to be a drummer like Ringo Starr; as it turned out, Brad's traps kit was too noisy so his dad bought him an electric guitar and amp instead.
After two albums, three of the members of Rubicon (Blades, Keagy and Gillis) evolved into a new band, the "pseudo-new wave-funk-jazz-fusion-country-metal" outfit known as Stereo. Jack's roommate at the time was Maryland-born keyboardist and singer Alan Fitzgerald. "Fitz" had quite a reputation around San Francisco, having played bass and keyboards in guitarist Ronnie Montrose's self-named heavy metal band starting in 1974. When the volatile group blew up in 1976, Fitz and two others left Montrose and joined his lead singer Sammy Hagar on his solo move. But by 1978, after three Hagar LPs, Fitz was eager to move on.
The opportunity to join Blades, Keagy and Gillis in Stereo was well-timed for Fitz, who had by then accumulated valuable studio experience as an independent producer. One of his sessions was with the Jeff Watson Band, led by the Sacramento-born guitarist who already had a record deal under his belt and a couple of songs on local radio. JWB had even toured on the West Coast with the likes of Ted Nugent and Heart. Fitz knew that Watson's revolutionary 8-finger technique (as applied to a vintage 1956 Gibson Les Paul gold-top) would be the perfect complement to Gillis.
When the quintet came up with the name Night Ranger, their fortunes began to change. In 1980, as Night Ranger began to perform around the Bay Area, they attracted the attention of rock cognoscenti like Bill Graham, who became a fast friend and supporter.
In 1982, Night Ranger was signed to a new start-up label, Boardwalk Records. Their debut album, Dawn Patrol, hit the Billboard chart Christmas Day 1982. It was produced by Pat Glasser and spawned two solid chart singles, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sing Me Away," as well as several other tracks that became radio and in-concert faves, "Eddie's Comin' Out Tonight," "Call My Name" and "Night Ranger" among them. Their first major national tour booking was with Kiss, and the cumulative exposure Night Ranger was receiving at this early stage catapulted the sales of their first album.
(1982 also proved to be a landmark year for Brad Gillis. When Ozzy Osbourne's 25-year old guitar whiz Randy Rhoads was killed in an airplane crash on March 19th, the former lead singer of Black Sabbath offered Gillis an interim proposal to fill Rhoads' spot. Gillis wound up staying for the entire tour, which climaxed in September at the Ritz in New York City. Those shows became a live album, Speak Of the Devil, a Black Sabbath tribute on which Gillis shined. And then, it was back to Night Ranger...)
In 1983, the group moved over to Camel/MCA Records, and once again closed the year with a new album produced by Glasser, Midnight Madness, issued in November. "(You Can Still) Rock In America" was the first single, but it was the power-ballad "Sister Christian" that reached number 5 and brought Night Ranger to the masses. They returned with a mid-tempo rocker, "When You Close Your Eyes," which peaked at number 14 and pushed the album past the RIAA platinum million-selling mark. It remains an incredibly strong LP, with such touchstone tracks as "Rumours In The Air," "Let Him Run," and "Touch Of Madness" becoming Night Ranger staples.
On the strength of Midnight Madness, the band toured for a year and a half, working their way back and forth across North America and establishing themselves in Japan and the Far East. As a result, their third LP (and final production with Glasser), 7 Wishes, did not hit the chart until June 1985. But it was worth the wait, heralded by another top 10 single, "Sentimental Street," and two more top 20 entries that kept Night Ranger on the singles chart through the following year, "Four In The Morning (I Can't Take It Any More)" and "Goodbye." 7 Wishes reached number 10 and was Night Ranger's second consecutive RIAA platinum million-seller.
The band's fourth album, Big Life, contained "The Secret Of My Success," the only single to be issued from that soundtrack album from the Michael J. Fox feature, and the follow-up single, "Hearts Away." Produced by Kevin Elson, Big Life marked the first change in producers for Night Ranger. Nevertheless, the change had little effect on their streak, and the album was certified gold.
1988 brought another production shift, as Keith Olsen took over for Night Ranger's final studio album on Camel/MCA Record, Man In Motion. Of the three singles that were released from the album, "Restless Kind," "Don't Start Thinking," and "I Did It For Love," only the latter penetrated the top 100. Night Ranger's five original studio recordings were followed in 1989 by the requisite Greatest Hits collection, which actually did live up to its title. The following year MCA released a Live In Japan set, virtually without the band's knowledge. "We pretty much found out about it when it hit the streets," said Keagy. But by that time, most of the guys had moved on to new endeavors.
Blades, who was responsible for writing (or co-writing) seven of Night Ranger's first eight chart singles ("Sister Christian" was a Keagy composition), quickly joined Ted Nugent, ex-Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw and drummer Michael Cartellone in a new band called Damn Yankees. Damned by the critics -- and every major label who turned them down after their first New York showcase -- Damn Yankees soon made their detractors eat their words. Their self-titled 1990 debut album on Warner Bros. kicked off with a modest single, "Coming Of Age," then came back with the monster hit "High Enough," which reached number 3 and blasted the album to more than 2 million sales in the U.S. alone.
One of the most consistently roadworked bands of the '90s, Damn Yankees didn't get around to releasing their second album for nearly two and a half years. 1992's Don't Tread also bowed with a modest chart single, the double entendre "Come Again," but then all hell broke loose once again with the second single, "Where You Goin' Now," which reached number 20, moving the album to RIAA gold status. A third single, "Silence Is Broken," was featured in the soundtrack of the Jean-Claude Van Damme action film, "Nowhere To Run."
Jack and Tommy have become close friends and songwriting partners over the past eight years. Besides Damn Yankees, they've written songs for Aerosmith, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, and Cher. In 1995, they put their cards on the table as the duo Shaw*Blades, and released their first album, Hallucination. While Blades was committed to Damn Yankees, the other members of Night Ranger found themselves just as busy:
Jeff Watson: After organizing numerous Hamer guitar clinics in the U.S. and Japan during 1991-92, he released a critically acclaimed album in 1992, Lone Ranger, with a cast of well-known players that included Sammy Hagar, drummer Steve Smith (Journey), and guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Kansas). Two tracks from the album, "Mountain Cathedral" and "Osakarocka,' were recently heard on the San Francisco-based TV series "Nash Bridges." A second solo album was released exclusively in Japan, 1993's Around The Sun, featuring singer Steve Walsh (ex-Kansas), and Sammy's offspring Aaron Hagar.
Shortly after that album's release, Jeff formed Mother's Army with singer Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple, Rainbow), bassist Bob Daisley (Ozzy, Uriah Heep, Gary Moore), and legendary drummer Carmine Appice. The Mother's Army debut album was released in late-1993, and a second album is slated for follow-up release in late-1997. Meanwhile, Jeff is featured on the Chris Isaak albums San Francisco Days and Forever Blue (hear Jeff on "San Francisco Days" and "Somebody's Cryin'"), Steve Morse's Southern Steel, and Maximum Security by Tony McAlpine.
Alan "Fitz"gerald: As noted earlier, although Fitz has hardly been seen, he has certainly been heard -- as keyboardist on the last three Van Halen tours, and more recently with Aerosmith.
Kelly Keagy: Much in-demand for recording sessions, he was heard on the four studio cuts that supplemented Poison's 1990 album, Swallow This Live. That same year he formed his own band, King Of Hearts, with singer Tommy Funderburk, bassist George Hawkins, and Bruce Gaitsch taking some of the writing credits. They recorded one album for Chrysalis that remains unreleased.
Brad Gillis: His 1993 solo project, Gilrock Ranch, featured Gregg Allman on two songs, "Honest To God" (which became a top 20 AOR track) and "If Looks Could Kill." The album lineup also included drummers Carmine Appice and Michael Cartellone, and Derek Shiranian. Two other songs from the album found their way onto the soundtrack of the Christina Applegate film, "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead."
After Gilrock Ranch, Gillis hooked back up with Kelly Keagy and drummer Gary Moon for a one-off album, Feeding Off the Mojo on the Drive Archive label, released October 1995. This band subsequently booked a mini-tour that highlighted the Night Ranger songbook and a few titles from Gilrock Ranch. It was a short jump from there to the reunions of 1996 that led to Neverland. It's been said before and it'll get said again and again: "You can still rock in America!"