I must be really bored tonight, I keep popping in here to kill a little time (ok, truth be told, been bedridden with a hellhole of a flu the past 5 days!) so I'll round it up for ya...
Yea, part of my 'under the radar status' in the US had a lot to do with the stereo-type of singing with Yngwie as the start of my career, not too many guys make a name for themselves singing for guitarists that are the main marquee names....so aside of the style of music & the horrible hair/fashion I considered cool then, another problem I ran into throughout the demise of the hair metal era was race. Not too many Puerto Rican or hispanic singers were fronting popular hard rock bands that played predominantly 'white music to white audiences' back then. Sure you can argue, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt is hispanic, Vince Neil of Crue is half Mexican, etc., made it but they didn't have the features I did that showed my ethnic side as prominently. Bands I was in after Yngwie not only did I have to muscle my way out of the stigma people thought of me as a 'heavy metal screamer' but also heard it all too often, 'he doesn't look the part' as in blond hair & blue eyes. I lost many an opportunity because of it & with that was completely overlooked in talent because I didn't 'look the part'. I got lucky in TWO ways from all that....the 1st being I'm not some washed up has been trying to make a comeback after selling millions of albums that sound like comedy albums these days & 2, in Europe they looked past the color/race thing & only cared about the talent which brings me to Talisman.
I was lucky enough to reteam with my bud & bass player of Yngwie's band Marcel Jacob, who at the time was recording a solo album with an indy label in Sweden. When he released it, he called the album Talisman & used a photo of the 2 of us on it...we thought of it as a fun project & paycheck, nothing more, to our surprise, the thiing shot like a rocket throughout Europe & Asia forcing to form a band & tour on it. It became a pet project & band for us which continues today with our 7th studio album coming out this month. Yngwie & Talisman opened me up to audiences worldwide except here at home, where no one wanted to know which was ok with me, but I always had a dream to become a household name in my own country....something that seems to be occuring this year finally, 22 years after I started my (damn it, please excuse me!!) journey as an 18 year old nobody singing songs about a 'viking'!
That's the bottom line, there's more that goes into it but now I'm even bored reading this
Goodnight all>>>>
JourneyRox wrote:I'm still listening to these boots & just wondering why JSS was kept "under the radar" for me until SS. I was wondering if u buffs out there could fill me in.
I know Jeff was with Yngwie Malmsteen & some of u saw him then. I never heard of Yngwie before u all started talking about him. Did he have any charting hits in the US? Did he get airplay on the radio?
Did any or JSS's work either solo or w/Talisman ever chart in the US? Did it get airplay on the radio?
Thanks.
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:13 pm
