Saturday, February 11, 2012

Jack Blades Announces Solo Album Proving You Can Still Schlock In America

Just how long can Jack Blades milk his limited contributions to the rock and roll landscape?

Forever and a day.

He wasn’t in the version of Night Ranger that I saw in the early 90’s. Instead he was parlaying his pop-rock tunes with the “supergroup” Damn Yankees. Most recently he teamed up with his old Yankees’ cohort Tommy Shaw for Shaw-Blades and nobody knows why Shaw got top billing on that.

Guess he noticed what Tommy did to Dennis De Young when he recently manhandled his old band from him.

Not that I’m a fan of Styx, just like I’m not a fan for much of anything Blades has done.

I’m merely fascinated how these SoCal arena alumni continue to eek out an existance from us even when they don’t have much of a catalog to pull from. And nobody wants to hear the new songs, so how can they get away from it?

For Blades, the answer has been to team up with those aforementioned alumni and rustle up another tour to pay the bills.

But what’s this?!

A Jack Blades solo album?!

The upside is how in his collage of back stage passes-including one from Sammy Hagar’s Three Lock Box tour-shows an incredibly geeky shot of Blades in glasses during his stint in Rubicon.

"New York, NY) - Much-beloved singer/songwriter/frontman/producer/bass player extraordinaire Jack Blades is slated to release his brand new solo album, Rock N' Roll Ride, on March 27th via Frontiers Records. The new record marks Blades' second solo release for the label. Hot off the heels of Night Ranger's celebrated 2011 CD, Somewhere In California, and a massive North American tour with Night Ranger as support for Journey and Foreigner last year, Blades shows no signs of slowing down with his buoyant new album. Of the new offering, Blades commented, Rock N' Roll Ride is an extension of what my music has been for the last 30 years. It has been quite a rock n' roll ride and I decided to lay it all down on a record!"

Rock N' Roll Ride features contributions from Blades' Night Ranger bandmates Brad Gillis, Kelly Keagy, Joel Hoekstra and Eric Levy, as well as a special guest appearance by Cheap Trick's Robin Zander. Click here to download the cover art. The first single from the album "Back In The Game" will soon impact at radio. Please see below for the full album track listing.

Jack Blades is a frontman, lead singer, bassist, songwriter, and producer as well as a founding member of the highly-successful arena rock band, Night Ranger and supergroup Damn Yankees (along with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw from Styx) and the highly-regarded Shaw/Blades. Throughout his remarkable career Blades has sold over 25 million albums, performed in front of millions of fans worldwide and collaborated with some of rock's most legendary artists. With a career spanning three decades, Blades has recorded with, penned songs and produced albums for some of the music industry's biggest names including Aerosmith, Cher, Ringo Star, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, Journey, Ozzy Osbourne, Styx, Ted Nugent, Motley Crue and Vince Neil. His music has been featured in movies such as Armageddon, Boogie Nights, Tommy Boy, television shows such as "South Park" and "American Dad," the hit Broadway musical (and soon-to-be released major motion picture) Rock of Ages and the wildly successful videogame series "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero". With Blades' songwriting, driving guitars, stage antics and on the strength of Night Ranger's songs "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," "Rock in America," "Sister Christian," "When You Close Your Eyes," and "Sentimental Street", along with the Damn Yankees hits "High Enough" and "Coming of Age", Blades' legacy continues to inspire generations while still being written."

Jack Blades Rock N' Roll Ride track listing:

1. Back In The Game
2. Rock N' Roll Ride
3. Hardest Word To Say
4. Anything For You
5. Love Life
6. West Hollywood
7. Born For This
8. Don't Give Up
9. Say You Will
10. Rise And Shine
11. Hey Now

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