Jeff Pilson is what you call a utility guy. He can do everything: play bass, play guitar, produce, write songs, sing, even act. He does them all extremely well, which would explain why he’s still an in-demand player after 30 years.
Pilson first burst onto the public radar when he joined Dokken as their bassist in 1983. He stayed with the band during the peak of their success for six years. During the 90s, he played with Ronnie James Dio for a spell before rejoining Dokken. When a chance to join Foreigner as their bassist came along in 2004, Pilson seized the opportunity. And he’s been in the spot ever since.
What a lot of people may not know about Jeff Pilson is that, even as a member of the always-on-the-road Foreigner, he’s also been part of dozens of other projects over the years. His most recent foray is called T&N and it features Pilson’s old band mates from Dokken — guitarist George Lynch and drummer Mick Brown — along with drummer Brian Tichy and four fairly well-known singers (you’ll have to read the interview to find out).
While focusing on T&N and the new album Slave To The Empire, on which Pilson sings and plays bass, the following interview also touches on his role as producer of the Adler (featuring Guns ‘N Roses drummer Steven Adler) album, Back From The Dead; the latest on the Foreigner front; and fond recollections of Ronnie James Dio.
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You have a new album Slave To The Empire with T&N and your band mates from Dokken, George Lynch and Mick Brown, plus a bunch of special guests. Tell me how the record came together.
Well, basically, George called me up and asked me if I’d be interested in writing a Lynch Mob record with him. So I said, “Yeah, sure.” So we started writing and it didn’t really work out to be Lynch Mob stuff. Brian Tichy, who had played drums on all the new songs we had written, suggested we call Mick Brown. He (Tichy) said, “Why don’t you re-record some Dokken songs and get Mick to do it.” He suggested we call it Tooth & Nail, and we loved the idea…of course, we had to change it T&N. But it was Brian’s idea and we’re very happy with it and we’re very excited. Once that happened, it pretty much evolved and we knew had music to finish for ourselves. It worked out to be a great creative outlet for us. And we’re real excited about all momentum it’s generated.
You have an interesting mix of new material and the remakes of classic Dokken songs. You guys knock the first two new ones — the title track and “Sweet Unknown” — out of the park. And the epic closer “Access Denied” is pretty wicked too. And that’s you on lead vocals and Brian Tichy on drums.
That’s right.
You feature a lot of singers on the record, which we’ll get to in a minute, but you’re actually singing most of the vocals on this record. Obviously, you’re a strong singer, but most people know you as a bass player. Was it matter of not wanting to get another singer, or was singing these songs part of the plan?
We never really looked at any other people to sing our stuff. George and I had done a record in 2003 called Lynch/Pilson. Until the whole T&N idea came along, we just of figured that this material would somehow end up being another LP record, which would have been cool because I sang on that record (the self-titled debut LP) as well. There was never really any talk about bringing in singer for the new stuff. What works for me as a creative outlet is to be able to sing. I love being able to do it; the opportunity is wonderful. We did pretty much want to get the singers for the Dokken stuff right away. That was an idea that evolved very soon. We thought it would make it a lot more interesting. We’re aware that some people take this as we’re against Don Dokken, and that’s not what we want. That’s not our intention. We thought this would kind of diffuse that as well.
Have you heard from Don Dokken about this record?
No, not especially.
One thing I noticed listening to the CD is that it’s heavy, way heavier than Dokken — both the new stuff and the remakes. Was that what you were going for?
We know things change over time. I love heavy music. We always intended for Dokken to be heavy. On the remakes, they’re not that really much different, but they are a little more raw. That’s something even back then we wanted to do. But things were a little different back then. They used more effects and more reverb and all that kind of stuff. As far as the heaviness, that’s just really kind of naturally where we’re at. That’s the music we love. We love heavy music and yet we also love melody. We’re doing what we’ve always been basically trying to do to — we’re trying to fuse the two: melody with heaviness.
Did you write more material?
There were a few more songs that were left over that we probably really won’t do on the next record. Not that they were horrible, but they’re probably a little more toward the Lynch Mob direction. And who knows, maybe we’ll come up with some different parts and use them again. I think for the next record, we’ll probably just start from scratch. That’s one thing: George and I have never had a problem writing.
So let’s talk about the Dokken songs you guys cut with the guest singers. You have “Tooth and Nail” featuring the very soulful Doug Pinnick of Kings X, a highly underrated band. How did that one come together?
Doug is just a guy whose voice we’ve always loved. In fact, George is even got a project going with him right now — him and Ray Luzier from Korn. He’s just a one-of-a-kind, unique, incredible singer that we’ve always wanted to work with. We knew that Dokken music was a bit of a stretch from his kind of soulful stuff that King’s X does, but I thought he did an amazing job of bringing his style to “Tooth And Nail” and that version I absolutely love. We were so happy to have Doug on this record. King’s X is not only underrated, but most musicians you talk to consider them way up there as far as respect and credibility. It was great having him. He just nailed it.
And you have “It’s Not Love” with Robert Mason of Warrant, Tim “Ripper” Owens on “Kiss of Death,” and Sebastian Bach on “Alone Again.”
I think they all did an incredible job. Sebastian came in here and he had a cold. But he knuckled down, worked his ass off, got an incredible vocal. And it’s a really beautiful, emotional vocal that I …I think to me now when I hear it now, it sounds like it could have been a huge Skid Row hit (laughs).
I know you normally have a heavy touring schedule with Foreigner, so what’s the likelihood of T&N playing any shows?
We would like to. And the plan was to do that in November and December of this year (2012), and, for various reasons, that just didn’t work out. But we’re going to do another record next year (2013), and we just hope we figure out a way of doing it then. That’s really the next logical step is to take this on the road.
Would that just be you, Lynch and Tichy then?
No. I’m not even sure who would necessarily play drums. If Ted Nugent isn’t touring, maybe Wild Mick will play drums. But we’d also take a fourth guy with us, and the guy we’re hoping will still be available when this happens is Michael Sweet from Stryper because we talked to him about it when we were going do it. He would just be a perfect guy because not only is he an amazing singer, but he’s also an amazing guitar player. And on the songs I’m singing he can be playing guitar, so he would just be perfect.
Do you ever see a reunion with the classic Dokken lineup happening? I know there was talk of doing one a couple years back, but scheduling was given as the official reason as to why it did not happen.
Not for awhile. I would never say never. I know better than that. Here we are 30 years on and still talking about it, so you never know. But at the moment, scheduling still remains a problem. To do a Dokken reunion would be pretty time intensive, so I can’t say soon, but maybe someday.
Foreigner, of course, is pretty much your full-time gig these days. What’s on the horizon for them?
Just lots of touring (laughs). We just did this live unplugged show for the Grammy Museum in October (2012). That show actually turned out fabulous. So we’ll probably be releasing that some time next year. And just then lots and lots of touring on the horizon.
Foreigner’s last studio album, Can’t Slow Down, was pretty solid. Any plans to do another one?
At some point, I think it’s entirely possible. The biggest problem with Foreigner, once again with scheduling, is that we tour so much. To actually to stop and make a record is like trying to get a locomotive to come to a screeching halt.
Along with everything else, you recently produced the Adler album, Back From The Dead. How did you get involved with that?
Originally, they called and asked if I would play bass on it. This was before Johnny Martin joined the band. So I said, “Yeah, of course.” So they came over to my studio and said, “Hmmm…maybe we can record in here.” So we just started recording and it fell together very naturally. They’re a great band with some great players, singers and writers. We just had a great time and that was a real fun record. I’m really proud how it turned out.
I’m going to let you go, but I have one more question to ask. You spent a little time playing with Ronnie James Dio’s band. Can you share a special moment you had with him?
I could name a million, but I think the one that always stands out in my mind is…Ronnie was an outstanding band leader. Obviously, he was a great singer, but he really knew how to run a rock group. He knew every aspect of the business. His organization was always so professional and together. One time I was talking to him and I said, “Ronnie, how is it that you are able to get everybody to work so hard for you. It’s wonderful how people really want to please.” And he said, “You know what it is? You give 150 percent 150 percent of the time and they’ll always work their asses off for you. And you got that ability too. You can make that happen too.” He was a very positive guy. He wanted to spread the wisdom. When he saw potential in people, he was very helpful. He was definitely a mentor that I learned a great, great deal from and I miss him. There‘s barely a day goes by that I don’t think about him.
