I N T E R V I E W

Interview Jake, Ronnie, Jonas & D.J.

Two hours before the show at Le Forum in Vauréal, the band Red Dragon Cartel gave a press conference at their hotel. Here's an almost exhaustive report of the questions asked by the different journalists and the answers given by the band that evening.

Jake, you’ve been under the radar for quite a long time, what finally convinced you to be part of a band again?

Jake: When Ronnie Mancuso and Kevin Churko approached me about doing a record, it was very casual, and we were just gonna write songs, head for the studio and see what it felt like… There was no real commitment, which I’m good with (he smiles). So we started writing songs and when we finished the first one, “Feeder”, we asked ourselves what kind of vocalist would sound good and we thought about Robin Zander. He put his vocals on the track and it sounded really good. That’s when I knew I wanted to go ahead and make a record. At that point, since there wasn’t a band, we were going to find singers for each particular track and it sounded like a fun way to do it, write a song and then imagine who would sound really good on the song… And we did that for a couple of songs and then we realized the next step would be touring and that would be very difficult with nothing but guest singers on the album. So that’s when we decided we should bring a real band together and finish the record that way. So we did auditions, both these guys (looking at Darren James Smith and Jonas Fairley) auditioned as vocalists, one got it as a vocalist, one got it as a drummer although he’s a fine vocalist in his own right.

It’s very hard to find information about you and what you’ve done since 1993.

Jake: Well, I had no life (laughs). I didn’t do anything. I watched a lot of TV and played with my cats a lot. I still wrote some music, by myself, on my computer… But I’m not much of an attention seeker. I don’t like being the centre of attention so I don’t go out and go “woohooo”. So nobody really sees me… I’m a quiet dude.

Ronnie: But I can say that he created a lot of great music. When we started working together, he had hard drive upon hard drive full of ideas and guitar riffs which helped us create our album. So it’s not like he wasn’t doing anything. We started writing songs based on his ideas and all the music he had written during this period of time. There was a lot of great music to choose from and there’s still a lot left. We could probably write three or four albums with all this stuff.

Jake: Plus, by staying under the radar, I could google myself and find out what I was up to. Because I was up to some kinds of mischief, apparently! I was in an alley smoking crack, in the gutter with a bottle in my hand… You know you get some pretty good rumours about yourself when nobody knows what you’re doing. That’s pretty interesting (laughs).

Ronnie: Yeah, there are lots of false rumours out there…

Jake: Yeah, some of them are false (laughs)

What’s the next step for Red Dragon Cartel?

Jake: Errr… Somebody else? (laughs)

Ronnie: Well, really, it’s up to you (laughs).

Jonas: Well, five albums, three world tours… No, really, it’s up to Jake at this point…

Jake: Baby steps, you know. I’ve not been doing anything for a long time. So right now, I’m just concentrating on doing this tour, European dates then a Japanese tour… and then let it all steep and see what feels right for the next step. Mysterious, right? I’m a mysterious guy! (laughs)

Are you satisfied with the attention the album has got so far?

Jake: Yeah, yeah… especially our first show…I was really happy about all the attention I got. (the rest of the band smiles or laughs, Jake being ironic). You guys didn’t hear about that over here, did you?

Yes, actually I did. I read about it and I had a question about that…

D.J.: Well, I’m not supposed to talk about it (smiles). I didn’t happen! (laughs)

Jake: To come back to your question, the record seemed to get a decent amount of attention. Of course, I read a couple of comments because there’s always some people who wish it was more like Ozzy or more like Badlands, people who say it’s too modern, people who say it sounds too old… But I’m glad there was a lot of feedback.

Ronnie: Overall, I think we got really positive reviews and people seem to really like the album. We’re proud of it.

Is the formula you used for this album, having Darren singing on half the songs and guests for the other half, something you’d like to repeat for the next album or will you just have Darren singing all the songs this time?

Jake: We’ll have to find another singer (everybody laughs).

Ronnie: No, seriously, we’d really like to make a real Red Dragon Cartel album with everybody in the band contributing and Darren singing the songs.

Ok, shall we talk about what Jake mentioned a bit earlier now? The first show? Darren, how did you recover from that? I suppose it was a bit hard to receive so many bad comments from people on the internet who insulted you, who said you were a terrible singer…

D.J.: Yeah! Who the fuck are those guys?? (laughs)

Ronnie: In some way, it was a TMZ moment, you know, some kind of a paparazzi moment that creates some buzz and gets you a lot of attention but then, we went out and Darren proved he could deliver the goods and he’s been doing it over and over again since then so we’re all happy and that’s all that matters.

Jonas: Yeah, wolves don’t care about the opinion of sheep!

D.J.: Yes, I had to learn my place in this band. That first gig was probably a bit too high profile to do that and I thought everybody would like a drunk Ozzy… Oops! You know, you gotta learn… I wish we had done lower profile shows first because we had never played before. That was the very first show. Nobody told me how to be or anything so I just followed my instinct and it was absolutely fucking wrong. But you know, I learned from it all, I’m no dummy… and I haven’t had any complaints since then.

Jake: And it’s true we got a LOT of attention… a lot more than if we had played well. So, are we marketing geniuses? Ha ha ha…

How did you guys choose to name your band Red Dragon Cartel?

Jake: Well, I wish there was a really cool story about that. Can you make one up, anybody (looking at the other band members)?

Ronnie: No really, we just liked the association of words, they just seemed to stick well together, it’s hard to explain, we just chose some words and it’s just something which evolved and seemed to stick…

So it has nothing to do with cannibalism?

Jake: Cannibalism?? How do you get that?

Well, you know, the novel by Thomas Harris with Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon?

Jake: Ooohh, oh! I never even thought of that! No, no. But next time somebody asks, it might be a good answer… (laughs)

Ronnie: Partly, it comes from Jake’s Asian heritage…

D.J.: And dragons are super cool… And red is a really nice colour! (laughs)

Jake: Now, Black Dragon Cartel would have sounded a little cooler but there’s already so many names with black in it (laughs). We tried other colours but none of them worked… White Dragon Cartel sounded racist…

D.J.: Fuchsia…not so good… (laughs)

Jake: If we had done a blues album, Blue Dragon Cartel would have been cool…

Was it important for you right from the start to have a very diverse album with some old-school elements, some more modern, sometimes heavy, sometimes bluesy, with a piano instrumental and so on?

Ronnie: We chose the songs we liked best and even though they’re different, I think there’s a thread to the whole album. Today, you’ve got so many albums that don’t sound like a complete piece of work. You’ve got songs that might all be singles and then a couple of extra songs at the end… I feel like this album is a complete piece of work from start to finish. It takes you to different areas and different styles of Jake’s playing and yet it has this same thread and I think it holds together as a complete piece of work, which is important.

(To the band) Is it democratic to work with this guy (Jake E. Lee)?

Ronnie: Oh yeah, absolutely. Obviously, he’s got a really strong opinion and he knows what he wants.

Jonas: With this band, right from the beginning, it’s been like “it’s the best idea that wins”.

Jake: It just happens to be mine all the time! (laughs)

Jonas: Absolutely (laughs). But really, the best idea wins, regardless of who contributes.

D.J.: But for the next album, things will be different because when most of this album was made, there wasn’t a band. It was Jake and Ronnie working together basically. Jonas and I came later when they decided that they needed a drummer and a singer. So we contributed a little of course but most of the record had already been written. Now the whole thing has evolved into a band and we’re still getting to know each other.

Are you recording any shows on this tour?

Ronnie: I’m sure somebody is (laughs)! We don’t have to, every show we have shows up on youTube the next day. No, we haven’t done a proper live recording so far but I’d like to at some point.

Jake, the first Badlands albums have become very rare to find, are there any plans for reissues?

Jake: Not that I know of… When we recorded these albums, we had a lot of money from the record company, big advances… we went to the studio, played pool… We spent a lot of money on those records, goofing around and owed a lot of money to the record company… so I’ve never seen any money from those albums and I doubt any reissues would show me any money either… But really, it’s out of my hands, these albums belong to the record company and my understanding is there are tricky issues as far as putting them back out there is concerned. So I don’t know if there’ll ever be a proper reissue for those albums. Hold on to them if you’ve got them.

Jake, as everybody knows, you played with Ozzy Osbourne in the 80’s. Do you think that this period of time will follow you forever? Are you still linked to it or is it just the past for you?

Jake: Of course, I’ll always be linked to that. And I’m proud of being linked to it. We did some great music and huge shows… So I don’t mind being linked to it. But yes, it is the past so I don’t really think about it but yes, I’m sure that I’ll always be known as Jake E. Lee ex-Ozzy Osbourne, you know.

How did you feel on stage with Ozzy on the US festival ’83? Because it could have been a frightening experience with this huge sea of people, still you looked very happy and not frightened at all as if it was a game to you.

Jake: Yeah! Just a couple of months earlier, I was playing some clubs in Hollywood and then I played in front of 300 000 people. I don’t get nervous, I don’t get scared, it is what it is… it sounds a bit zen like but that’s the way it is with me. I say that but when we got there, there was no soundcheck, so I went up there and I checked my guitar and I knew the first song was “Over The Mountain”… And I heard Tommy Aldridge doing his thing on the drums and I realized I had no idea how to start the song. For some reason, for a couple of seconds I drew a complete blank and I had no idea what to play… So I yelled at my tech “Hum the beginning!!” and he did, you know the first notes (he hums them) “ta dada!”, I said thank you and two or three seconds after that, I turned around and played the song (laughs). Things could have been a lot different if he had said “What??” (laughs). So maybe I do get nervous after all but I just don’t realize it.

Question How did your vision of the music business change when you played with Ozzy?

Jake: Before Ozzy, I thought that musicians were part of a brotherhood, that everybody took care of each other and you didn’t get ripped off. Obviously, with the Ozzy years, the whole business thing came to light with people doing all they can to get what they can get out of you… And also, it felt to me that between musicians, during the 80’s, it was not so much a brotherhood but more like a competition like “Ok, you want to play with me? Let me show you what I can do. I’m better than you”. I thought that was sad.

How was it do deal with Sharon Osbourne for a couple of years? What sort of manager was she?

Jake: Sharon is a wonderful, lovely… (everybody laughs) You know, I actually got along very well with her, I’m not kidding. When it came right down to business obviously she did it the way she felt she needed to do it. But on a personal level, I got along with her better than I got along with Ozzy. It’s not that I didn’t get along with him but we didn’t talk much. But with Sharon, I got along. I think she’s a nice person.

Would you like to come back to the Ozzy Osbourne band?

Jake: No, not really. I had my time with Ozzy. And you know, he had a very restricted spectrum in terms of what you could write. I was trying to do new things and say it didn’t have to always sound like this or that. And I think that was one of the reasons I got fired from the band eventually because I was trying to expend it musically. He was always like “No, I need another “Paranoid”, I need another “Crazy Train”, write me that!”. So I think he wasn’t happy with the songs I presented for our third album, so I think that might be why he let me go. So, to go back to that? I don’t really see that happening.

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