|
(Winter 2005) by George Dionne
Paul Bonrud stared his musical career as a studio musician in Minneapolis
before relocating to Seattle. His past musical endeavors include extensive
recording, producing, and performing live. His self-titled debut has just been
released through Frontiers Records. Bonrud was written completely by Paul,
and he played all of the instruments himself. The CD itself is a well-balanced
melodic rock experience. If you don't believe me, then take my word for it...read
CD review
RIL: How does a Seattle guy get involved with the Italian Record label Frontiers?
PB:
I was offered record deals from several different record labels but in the
end, I decided to sign with Frontiers. Serafino really has a passion for
this style of music and I had been impressed with many of their previous releases
(I really love the Kelly Keagy and Giant III CD’s!) I only sent my CD
to the labels I thought would do the best job marketing the material so I was
very selective and I'm very pleased with the work that Frontiers has done for
me. Frontiers signed me for Europe, Russia, and Israel and Marquee/Avalon is
distributing the CD in Japan.
RIL: You play all of the instruments on your debut CD, which instrument is
your specialty?
PB: I’m primarily a guitar player. The only
time I play the bass or keyboards is when I need to record a part. 99% of all
of
my songwriting occurs
on the guitar.
RIL: What are a few of your favorite songs from the album and why
(and you can’t say all of them)?
PB: “Desperate Heart” is without a doubt my favorite song. It’s
big and dramatic, the music is beautiful, and the production is huge! I also
really like “The Phoenix” because it’s got a powerful groove,
and I love the fun lyrical theme of the song “I’ve Changed”.
RIL: How does a song come together when you play all of the instruments?
PB:
Very slowly! ? Well, it usually starts out with me coming up with some cool
riffs on the guitar. It doesn’t take me very
long before I have the music for the verse, pre-chorus, and chorus worked
out. So, once I have
the music arrangement figured out, I record scratch guitar tracks along with
a click track. Then I have my drummer Paul Higgins record real drums and then
I record the bass, and guitars individually on top of the drums. After the
music is laid down, I sing a scratch vocal track and then I have Dave Hendricks
come in and sing the vocal part I have written. After that, I usually record
all of the backing vocals myself and have Dave sing a few parts if time permits.
RIL: Are you planning any local or national dates in support of the
album?
PB: Just local dates for now.
RIL: You were a session musician before you cut your first CD, did you work
with anyone notable?
PB: None of my past session work was done on anything
big…mainly just
local artist’s CD releases. I learned a lot by doing all of those recordings
though. You really have to learn to be versatile and deliver something that
compliments someone else’s creation.
RIL: In past interviews you have done it’s clear that you are a huge
Journey fan, instead of asking you what your favorite Journey album or song
is I’m going to go in a different direction; what do you think of Steve
Augeri as the lead singer of Journey?
PB: I think Steve Augeri is doing
a great job and was an excellent choice. He’s not a Steve Perry clone but he sounds great singing the old tunes
and he brings soulfulness to their new recordings. Steve Perry will always
be my favorite singer but Steve Augeri is right up there as well. I was skeptical
of him replacing Steve Perry until I sat in the front row of a Journey concert
back in ’98. I remained skeptical through the first verse and chorus
of “Separate Ways” but after that, he got on track and quickly
won me over. I’ll always love the old Journey stuff but I look forward
to more new recordings with Steve Augeri. There’s no need for them to
ever reunite with Steve Perry as far as I’m concerned. I miss hearing
Steve Perry sing but I don’t blame the guy for wanting to get out of
the rock and roll circus. He lived that life for many years and if he wants
to be a private person now, I can respect that.
RIL: Which Neal Schon side-project do you like the best and why; Bad English,
HSAS, Jan Hammer/Neal Schon, Hardline, or Soul SirkUs?
PB: That’s a tough call because I enjoyed Neal’s guitar playing
in all of those projects. I think his guitars sounded the best on the Hardline
CD. I probably would have loved a quality studio album from the HSAS project
because I’m a big Sammy Hagar fan but the songwriting and production
of that was a loose affair. I thin the whole HSAS album was written, recorded,
and performed live all within a two week period. My favorite song from that
album is “Missing You”. The new Soul SirkUs CD is pretty cool too.
I bought it directly through their web site. I much prefer buying CD’s
directly from the band when I can. Record labels take too much of the money
for themselves. Support independent musicians!
RIL: Ever meet anyone from Journey?
PB: Yes, I’ve met everyone from the current line-up. I’ve met
Neal and Deen the most. They’re all great guys. I have to give Ross extra
credit for being supremely approachable and generous. He actually gave me back
stage passes once. After meeting Steve Augeri, it’s easy to understand
why they picked him. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s an exceptionally
nice guy. He’s an easy guy to get along with so that is a huge bonus
when you’re on the road all the time.
RIL: Do you think we’ll ever see Steve Perry back in Journey?
PB:
No, I think he’s done with Journey and really doesn’t want
to live in that kind of pressure cooker environment anymore. He doesn’t
have anything left to prove so I wish him well in his retirement. Still, I’d
love to hear new music from him and if I could get in contact with him, I’d
be twisting his arm to sing on one of my next CD’s! ;-)
RIL: Isn’t that phoenix on the cover of your CD eerily similar
to the ones that appear on Journey’s albums?
PB: It’s not too surprising since the artist also did all of the artwork
on Deen Castronovo’s drum kit for the past Journey tour! He also just
designed the artwork for George Tickner’s new website. George was a member
of Journey through their very first album.
RIL: Why do you think that your style of music is a tough sell in the U.S.?
PB:
Time marches on and things change. I do however hear stronger melodic elements
in today’s music so the style is coming around again albeit
in a newly packaged form.
RIL: What’s the weirdest question a journalist has ever asked you (now
don’t be picking any of mine)?
PB: I wish I had a good weird question to report
but most of them have been pretty much on target!
RIL: What’s next for Bonrud?
PB: I’m actually working in the studio today, laying down a few scratch
tracks for a few new songs. Paul Higgins and I will be recording drums for
3 or 4 new tunes next weekend. So, work is just beginning on the next Bonrud
CD. I’m not in a rush since I’m still busy promoting the current
CD but I enjoy the creativity of writing and recording new material. All of
the new songs I’ve written are rockers and I’ll probably continue
down that path for awhile and then write a few ballads toward the end.
RIL: Anything I missed?
PB: I’d just like to thank everyone who has been supporting us by purchasing
a CD. We greatly appreciate all of our fans. People who haven’t heard
us yet can check out our web site at www.bonrud.com. Also, we’re selling
autographed CD’s directly through our website for just $10. So please
check us out and help support independent music!
Previous Page
|
PAUL
BONRUD
