TONE WORLD "NEWZ"
03/11/05
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell."
In a breakneck schedule that began on Feb. 15th and ended on Feb. 27th, "The Slashtones" and "Reckless Fortune" combined forces and recorded two songs for Versailles Record's upcoming "Guns-N-Roses" tribute CD.
Versailles Records CEO Jake Brown had announce completion of principle recording for the CD when a close associate asked: "How can they do a G & R tribute without Slash?" No, not that Slash, they meant Harry Slash.
Jake Brown and Harry Slash then traded long phone calls as all the details of the recordings were worked out. Harry was given the captain's helm of creativity to work out all the details due to the last minute rush of this project. Harry, at the suggestion of Joey Fortune, combined forces with members of "Reckless Fortune", "The Slashtones" and long time associate Joe Lynn Turner all working together on this as one cohesive unit.
The band(s) dynamics were great, everyone was contributing. The whole project was pioneered by Frank and Joey Fortune and Harry Slash and Roderick Kohn were given given creative freedom in the arrangements of the songs. While there were several G-N-R hits like "Night Train" and others that had not been covered yet, Frank, Joey and Harry chose two lesser known songs from the 'Use You Illusions" CDs, “Fourteen Years” and “Pretty Tied Up”.
“Fourteen Years” already had a bit of a 'Rolling Stones' circa 1972 feel to it and we took that up a notch, arranging the piano and saxophone parts much in the way The Stones did back then. Having Arno Hecht who toured and recorded with the Rolling Stones on board helped a bit for that. We almost had Buddy Miles play drums on this tune, almost. Buddy called the studio while we were recording, (Roderick Kohn is also the guitar player of the current "Buddy Miles Express") Buddy heard the recordings being played back while on the phone. He liked what he heard, but was in Texas at the time. Had we had another week, Buddy would have been flown in, but alas, the clock was ticking.
(Some folks get calls from the President, we get calls from Buddy Miles. Go figure?)“Pretty Tied Up” is closer to the live version that G-N-R did than the studio version. “Pretty Tied Up” is pure 'Cheese metal' and we had a lot of fun with that. While keeping close to the dynamics of the original tune we took more of a "King's X" approach to the layering of vocals on this one. Where "14 Years" was a dual lead vocal between Frank Fortune and Joe Lynn Turner with Joe Lynn, Frank, Tony More and Roderick Kohn singing back up harmonies during the choruses, “Pretty Tied Up” had Tony Moore on lead vocals with Harry Slash, Joe Lynn Turner and Frank Fortune singing secondary lead parts and included harmonies sung by Turner, Moore, Fortune and Slash on both the verses and choruses. Aside from the creatively twisted intro, the thing we are most proud of is that we took the old 'SNL'' routine to the next level .and all the musicians involved in the project played a cowbell on “Pretty Tied Up”.
(The Ian Anderson of the Cowbell.)Some other interesting notes and trivia. While know as the stratosphere hitting lead singer of "Riot" during their heyday on CBS Records, Tony Moore was originally trained on piano and bass and ironically, these will be the first recordings his bass and piano playing are featured along with his voice. This is also the first time Tony Moore and Joe Lynn Turner sang together since "Riot's "The Privilege Of Power" album around 14 years ago. Budgie and Joe last worked together on Leslie West's "As Phat As It Gets"
The other result of these sessions seems to be the formation of a whole new band, combining all players and a few others. While still in the talking stages, "The Mediterranean Musical Mafia." is scheduled to begun rehearsing and recording after the second or third week of April. "Triple M" is a band separate and apart from any Slashtones, Reckless Fortune and JLT projects. Our current concept is a 10 member band, recording 11 songs, with one guest member per song. Basically, it will all go to eleven.
The tracks appearing on "It's So Easy" A millennium tribute to 'Guns-N-Roses' are:
“Fourteen Years” by Reckless Fortune
Frank Fortune: Lead and Backing Vocals - Joey Fortune: Rhythm Guitar - Adolph Marcellino: Bass
With: Joe Lynn Turner: Lead and Backing Vocals - Arno Hecht: All Saxophones - Roderick Kohn: Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Hammond Organ and Backing Vocals - Tony Moore: Piano and Backing Vocals - Steve Budgie Werner: Drums - Harry Slash: Percussion
“Pretty Tied Up” by The Slashtones
Tony Moore: Lead Vocals, Bass, Backing Vocals and Cowbell - Harry Slash: Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals and Cowbell - Roderick Kohn: Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Hammond Organ and Cowbell - Arno Hecht: All Saxophones, Clarinet and Cowbell - Steve Budgie Werner: Drums, Cymbals and Cowbell
With: Frank Fortune: Backing Vocals and Cowbell - Joey Fortune: Rhythm Guitar and Cowbell - Joe Lynn Turner: Additional Vocals, Backing Vocals and More Cowbell Both tracks were Produced and Arranged by Harry Slash and Roderick Kohn at Blue Ribbon Sound, NYC. Executive Producer on the project was John C. Cavise Jr.
For more info check Versailles Records (http://www.versaillesrecords.com/) in the coming months.
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