STAN MEISSNER
Here´s an new interview with Stan "The Man" Meissner. He have just released a great project album (METROPOLIS) with Peter Fredette.
Hello Stan! Can you please start with
telling us everything about the METROPOLIS album :Which songs are you most
pleased with & can you tell the story behind them What kind of
Equipment(Guitars,Amps,Keyboards,Drums)do you use on this
album?(metropolis)
Metropolis grew out of a relationship
where I was hiring Peter to sing on my song demos. The first one we did together
was 'Wild and Blue' and later I got him in again to sing on 'Never Look
Back'. For a few years after that, because I was a fan of his voice and he
was a fan of my songs, we talked about doing a project together. We
started working on it and wrote and recorded 'The Best Is Good Enough' and 'The
Eyes Of Love' and I guess that was in '91. Soon after I brought him in
again to sing on 'The Darkest Side Of The Night' which Fred Mollin and I wrote
for a Friday The 13th movie. Some genius who mixed that movie put a 'flanger' on
the whole track and it phases in and out for three and a half minutes! I
was glad to re-record a clean version for this cd. I've always loved the
'vibe' of that song. After that, for whatever reasons we kind of went our
seperate ways for a while. At that time Peter was touring regularly with
Kim Mitchell and I was gearing up to do my Undertow cd.
Fast forward to
spring 1999 when at the urging of the guys from MTM music we decided to get back
to making a Meissner and Fredette record. I dusted off some old masters, cooked
up some new songs and we dove in and made this CD.
I wrote in my review that I think that"The
darkest side of the night & A million miles away" are the only songs that
are a little bit weaker. And You said that "the Darkest side" is one of
your faves! Does this mean that I´ve got bad taste
I don't question your taste.
What makes the world go 'round is that we all have different opinions. If
you have one favorite song and I have another maybe it just means they are both
good songs but each one won't appeal to everyone. I agree with you though,
that 'A Million Miles Away' is a bit of a throwaway rocker. But I think
you need that to make the better songs stand out.
Why did it take 12 years for you and Peter
Fredette to complete this
project ( I know that you´ve been busy! but 12
years :-)
You said it, we
were both busy. I guess it wasn't a high priority for
either of
us. I have my own career as a songwriter and recording artist and Peter is
busy with his work with Kim Mitchell. It's not like we actually worked on
it for 12 years. We did a few songs together, spaced over a few years and
then had very little contact between '91 and '98. Finally in the spring of '99
we decided it was worth working on finishing up this cd.
If this record had been released back in say
1986-87 It would have sold "millions"! Why do you think that melodic rock(that
we both love)almost died and does´nt sell as much anymore? Who´s to
blame?
Millions? You
think? Why did I wait so long to finish this? I'll never
forgive
myself! No, really I have no idea why trends are the way they are. I just
hope that there are those out there who will appreciate the record we have
made.
Metropolis- The
Power of the Night Have just been released ! But i´d
still like to know if
there are any plans for another album? :-)
Another album? This one just came out five days
ago! Remember it took 12 years to do this one!! Next up for me will
be a 'Stan Meissner' cd and after that who knows. If there is great
response to METROPOLIS, we'll do another record.
(Peter & Stan/Metropolis)
For
guitar, I play an old 1960 Strat that has been my constant companion in
everything musical I have ever done since I was 13 years old. Btw, I didn't get
the guitar until '69 so you do the math. I mainly put it though something called
a 'POD' and also a Korg A3 processor and either record it direct or through any
one of a dozen old amps I've got. Fenders, Ampegs,Vox etc. I've got a
whole rack of Keyboards and modules from Roland,Kurzweil Korg,Akai,you know,the
usual suspects. I've got an old Ludwig kit but most of the drums are
samples that I have collected over the years.Peter plays an old Fender Precision
bass.
You started as a
songwriter for A&M Records almost 20 years ago
Can you name the
songs(that you have written for other artists)
that you are most pleased
with!
There have been many
but Eddie Money recorded a version of my song' One Chance' that I liked (and he
preferred my recording) and Celine Dion's recording of 'If We Could Start
Over' has always meant a lot to me. I also have some great songs on French
(Belgian actually) artist Lara Fabian's cds. She is about to release an
English album which I'm sure will be big although I have nothing on that
one.
What´s the secret of
writing a good song ?
I wish I
knew! Keep it simple and give it a beat.
Can you tell us about some of all the Music
awards that you have won
Lots
of Gold and Platinum records and various awards for airplay and sales over the
years. Awards are nice but there is no reward like hearing your songs
playing on the radio.
How
would you describe your music to someone that have never heard about you?(there
is´nt too many of them out there.. I hope)
I'm sure there are far too many! Oh I don't know, 'power
pop' is the tag I'm happiest with, although you guys seem to prefer 'melodic
rock'. I can live with that.
How come that there´s so many Really good AOR/Melodic hardrock
bands from Canada ? "Bryan Adams,Aldo Nova,Harem Scarem,Honeymoon Suite" and of
course Stan Meissner :-)
Maybe
it's the clean Canadian air or more likely the Canadian beer! We likes our
beers in this country.
What are your future plans ?
I'm writing songs (like I always do) and we'll see where that
leads. As I said there will be a 'Stan Meissner' cd in the future but after that
who knows.
A BIG Thank You! to Stan Meissner for
answering my Questions :-) Make sure to check out and Buy! the METROPOLIS
album.