《Circus》杂志Cinderella乐队主唱专访

Cinderella become 1986’s rock sensation

Cinderella成为了1986年的摇滚明星

By Paul Gallotta

作者 Paul Gallotta

 

*原文刊登于《Circus》杂志，1986年12月刊，42-45页

*翻译：up主 / 微博@堆堆带我飞

The scene was like an outtake from Life’s Most Embarrassing Moments. The location was an anonymous closet-sized bar in North Jersey. The Priscilla Harriet band were hacksawing their way through the standard Scorpions-AC/DC-Judas Priest covers to a half-empty house when the vocalist drew the proceedings to a screeching halt in mid-song and demanded that the musicians turn down their amps so she could hear hear herself through her monitor better. The guitarist, a lanky youth with shoulder length black hair, complied, and shot the chanteuse a sideways look that told her they wouldn’t be sharing the same stage much longer.

仿佛电视剧《尴尬时刻》中的一幕，在北泽西某家不知名的小酒吧里，Priscilla Harriet乐队正在稀稀拉拉的观众面前像平常一样表演Scorpions、AC/DC和Judas Priest的歌曲翻唱，这时，主唱突然中断了演唱，并且要求乐手们把乐器声音调低，因为这样她才能更好地听到自己的声音。乐队的吉他手——一个留着及肩黑发的瘦长青年——照做了，但从眼角斜睨了主唱一眼，告诉她他们不会在同一个舞台上待太久了。

 

After that set, aspiring axe-hero Tom Keifer turned to bassist Eric Brittingham and asked him if he thought it was worth it. The blond string thumper, who had been friends with Keifer since the two first played together in Saints in Hell the year before, shook his head negative. That night,a rock&roll fable named Cinderella was born.

这段风波之后，满怀抱负但惨遭开除的反叛英雄Tom Keifer找到了贝斯手Eric Brittingham，问他觉得自己这样做是否值得。自从去年在Saints in Hell乐队中合作以后，两人始终维持着友谊。此时这位金发乐手摇了摇头。就在这一晚，一个日后将成为摇滚传奇的名字——Cinderella诞生了。

 

Three-and-a-half years later, Tom Keifer can reflect upon the incident and still manage a lopsided smile. It’s easy to find humor in awkward situations when your debut album, which your own record company wasn’t sure would ever see the light of day, has gone gold (500000 units sold) after being on the charts for less than three months. But back then,a sense of humor was about all he could afford.

过了三年半的时间，当Tom Keifer回想起这件事时仍然能够勉强保持微笑。当公司对你的首张专辑的前途充满怀疑，而它却在登上榜单还不足三个月的时间里就已经达到了黄金销量（50万张）时，你可以轻松地在尴尬境地中发现幽默之处。但回想那时，幽默感却是他唯一付得起的东西。 

“The whole situation sucked,”is how Keifer diplomatically assesses the scenario.”We were playing for six nights in a row and at the end of the week,we didn’t have enough money to buy a doughnut.Then she pulls that.It was the most unprofessional thing I’d ever seen.I told Eric then and there that we weren’t going to make a living by playing covers.He agreed,so we decided to step over the line and do our own material.”

“整个情况糟糕透了。”Keifer这样评价这次冲突。“我们连续演了六个晚上，结果到这一周结束的时候，我们甚至连一个甜甜圈都买不起。然后她做了这种事。我从来没见过这么没有职业精神的事。当时我就告诉Eric，我们不能一直靠翻唱来谋生。他同意我的说法，于是我们决定跨出那条界线，开始做我们自己的音乐。”

 

The two drafted battle plans for obtaining a recording contract and began holding auditions,eventually turning up guitarist Mike Schermick and drummer Tony Destra.Keifer began writing and the foursome commenced with the slow,arduous process of building a following.They worked the Marylan-New Jersey-Pennsylvania bar circuit and sent out demos to all the record companies and anyone else they thought could help--including Kiss’Gene Simmons,producer for fledgling bands like Keel and the precontract Van Halen.

为了拿到唱片合约，两人制定了作战计划，并且开始招纳乐手，最后吉他手Mike Schermick和鼓手Tony Destra出现了。Keifer开始创作，四个人也缓慢而艰难地培养着自己的追随者。他们在马里兰、新泽西和宾夕法尼亚的酒吧之间巡回演出，把样带寄给所有唱片公司和一切可能起到帮助的人，其中就包括Kiss乐队的Gene Simmons，他同时也是Keel等新兴乐队和Van Halen乐队的制作人。

 

“He helped us a lot,”recalls Keifer.”He tried to get a deal together for us and he gave us a lot of really good advice.But we still came up empty-handed.”

“他帮了我们很多，”Keifer回忆道，“他试图帮我们拿下一份合约，也给了我们很多宝贵的建议。可最后我们还是空手而归。”

 

The quartet carried on,thrashing around the local bars at night and working at demos and no-future jobs by day,until their big break came in the form of a then little-known singer whose Jersey-based band had gone the same route two years earlier.

四个人继续前行。晚上在各地的酒吧之间兜兜转转，白天忙着制作样带和毫无前途的工作，就这样日复一日。直到一个名气不大的歌手从天而降，为他们带来了重大的转机，这位歌手所在的新泽西乐队在两年之前也经历着与他们相同的窘境。

 

“We had heard that Jon Bon Jovi was in the audience on night while we were playing at The Empire in Philly,”recollects Keifer.”He was in town recording 7800°Fahrenheit at the Wherehouse,and we thought,ya know,cool.We played our set and afterwards he came backstage and said,‘I really liked you guys,I heard a couple of hits,good luck.’We hung out with his band for a little while and then they left.I thought that was it.”

“有一天晚上，我们在费城帝国摇滚俱乐部演出时听说Jon Bon Jovi正在观众中间。”Keifer回忆道，“他当时正在城里的Wherehouse录音室录制《7800°Fahrenheit》。我们想，酷啊。我们表演了自己的歌，结束以后他来到后台，他说，‘我真的很喜欢你们，我刚才听到的几首歌很棒，祝你们好运。’后来我们和他的乐队一起出去玩了几次，然后他们回去了。我以为就这样结束了。”

 

  

But it wasn’t.Jon went to Derek Schulman,the A&R man at PolyGram who had signed him,and told him that Cinderella warranted closer scrutiny.The two returned to check out the band,but Schulman came back with mixed feelings.

但这没有结束。Jon找到了签下自己的PolyGram公司A&R人员Derek Schulman，告诉他这个叫做Cinderella的乐队值得他去深入了解。两人返回费城去考察乐队，但Schulman对他们的感情十分复杂。

 

“We did get signed,to something called a six-month development option contract,”explains Keifer.”It was a full record deal that didn’t go into effect until a six-month period was up,at which time the record company would decide if they wanted it to go into effect.”

“我们的确拿到了合同，但那是一份六个月期限的期权合同，”Keifer解释说，“唱片公司可以提供一份完整的唱片合约，这份合约必须在六个月的期限结束以后才能生效，到那时合约是否生效要由唱片公司来决定。”

 

It seems that Schulman was suitably impressed with Keifer and Brittingham,but felt that Schermick and Destra were somewhat lacking.

Schulman似乎对Keifer和Brittingham印象深刻，但同时认为Schermick和Destra有所欠缺。

 

“Eric and I had noticed what he was talking about,and we were on [Schermick and Destra] about it,but they were’t working at it.They couldn’t get it together,so it was either replace them or let them hold us back.”

“Eric和我注意到了他的意思。我们（Schermick和 Destra）讨论了这个问题，但他们并没有努力改变。他们无法振作起来，所以要么把他们换下去，要么让他们拖住乐队。”

 

The guitarist and drummer were out--auditions were again held,this time yielding guitarist Jeff LaBar (who had previously been in a band which opened for Cinderella) and drummer Jim Drnc (pronounced darick).

失去了吉他手和鼓手——又一次开始招纳乐手。这次选出了吉他手Jeff LaBar（他此前曾经是一个为Cinderella开场的乐队的成员）和鼓手Jim Drnc（读作darick）。

 

“Everything looked pretty good until we got into the studio,”claims Keifer.”Andy [Johns],our producer,said that Drnc wasn’t cutting it and that we’d have to replace him.We thought he was wrong and we fought with him over it,but he eventually proved it to us ,so we had to get a session drummer [Jody Cortez] to finish the album.”

“看起来一切似乎都很好，一直到我们走进录音室，”Keifer说，“Andy（Johns）是我们的制作人，他说Drnc不行，要求我们把他换掉。我们认为他错了，并且为此与他争执，但最后他向我们证明了他是对的，所以我们不得不找了一个临时鼓手（Jody Cortez）来录完专辑。”

 

After Night Songs was completed,a third round of auditions were held,this time turning up drummer Fred Coury.

乐队在录完《Night Songs》以后又开展了第三轮面试，终于选出了鼓手Fred Coury。

 

“Fred had substituted for Randy Castillo in Ozzy’s band for a while when Randy had a broken foot.Someone who knew Ozzy turned him onto us through a secretary at PolyGram,”elaborates the Springfield,Pennsylvania-born frontman.

“Ozzy乐队的Randy Castillo脚受伤的时候，Fred曾经顶替过他一段时间。有一个认识Ozzy的人通过一位PolyGram公司的文员把他介绍给了我们。”这位来自宾夕法尼亚州斯普林菲尔德的主唱这样解释道。

 

With the line-up finally stabilized,PolyGram agreed to release Night Songs,but their method of promotion and choice for a lead-off single left the band somewhat uneasy.

随着乐队阵容的确定，PolyGram公司终于同意发行《Night Songs》，但公司的推广方式和对于首单的选择都让乐队感到有些不安。

 

“Their intent was to break us without any airplay at all,”notes Keifer.“What with the radio not playing metal and all,it didn’t look too good.They wanted to break us through touring and videos.They decided our first single was going to be ‘Shake Me’.”

“他们完全不打算通过电台来推广，”Keifer指出，“我们的歌如果由那些从不播放金属乐的电台来播放听起来效果不会太好。他们想通过巡演和音乐视频的方式来推广。他们选择《Shake Me》作为我们的首单。”

 

  

While possessing a strong hook and a great chorus,”Shake Me” seemed a highly unlikely candidate for a 45.With raunchy lyrics that would send most radio programmers scrambling for the Tylenol and a pair of scissors,it seemed an unwise choice.

尽管《Shake Me》兼具强力的副歌和优秀的和声，这首歌却似乎不可能取得45以上的成绩。其放荡的歌词恐怕会使大半电台主持人头痛难忍，因此选择这首歌作为首单可能不太明智。

 

“I didn’t think that any radio stations would play it,”confesses the singer.”Much to my surprise,a few of them did.And it always gets a strong response when we do it live.Apparently it caught on,which surprised us.”

“我觉得没有一个电台愿意播放它，”这位歌手坦白道，“然而事实上竟然真的有几家电台播放了它，这令我非常惊讶。我们在现场表演这首歌时总会得到热烈的回应，显然它流行起来了，我们深感意外。”

 

The startling speed with which Night Songs has leap-frogged up the charts wasn’t expected either.In less then three months,the album has jumped into the Top 15 on Billboard’s charts,and at press time,was zeroing in on platinum.

同样出乎意料的是，《Night Songs》以惊人的速度跃居排行榜前列。在不到三个月的时间里，这张专辑已经进入了公告牌排行榜的前15名之内，目前正在冲击白金销量。

 

A package tour with Japanese rockers Loudness and West Coast upstarts Poison (who,ironically enough,were formed around the same time and in the same state as Cinderella) proved successful and helped set the band up for their first major cross-country sweep,opening for David Lee Roth.

乐队此前与日本摇滚乐队Loudness和西海岸新星乐队Poison（极具讽刺意味的是，这支乐队差不多与Cinderella同时同地成立）联合巡演取得了成功，这也为他们接下来的第一次大型跨国巡演奠定了基础，在这次巡演中他们为David Lee Roth暖场。

 

“The tour with Dave is going really well,”Keifer allows.”We haven’t had any trouble adapting to the bigger places that we’re playing. The tour with Loudness and Poison helped us clear that. It was a good stepping stone,but this is exactly what I wanted to do in the first place.”

“与Dave一起的巡演进行得十分顺利，”Keifer说，“我们很快适应了更大的舞台。与Loudness和Poison一起巡演的过程帮助我们做好了准备。这是一个很好的起步机会，不过对我来说，这正是我从一开始就想做的”

 

With the present looking fairly secure,many of the band’s new-found supporters are eagerly looking to the future and the follow-up to Night Songs. Tentatively scheduled to be recorded in June, with Andy Johns again producing, Keifer claims the album will be”the same, but different.”

在乐队目前稳定的发展前景下，许多新粉丝都热切地期待着未来和《Night Songs》的续作。下一张专辑将在明年6月开始录制，仍然由Andy Johns担任制作人，Keifer称与上一张相比，这张专辑“保持着原来的风味，但又完全不同”。

 

“For the first album, we had to choose from over 60 songs I’d written, so we still have a lot of good old materials. Plus I’ve been writting and we’ve got some really good new stuff. We’ve all learned a lot about writing from Andy Johns, so the newer stuff might be more sohpisticated melodywise. Who knows? We may even do a blues song that I’m working on. But at this point, I’m more concerned with what I’m doing now,” concluded Keifer. ”We’ve still got a few miles left on [Night Songs] and we’re going to have fun with it as long as we can.”

“在录第一张专辑时，我们不得不从我写过的60多首歌里挑选出一部分收入专辑，因此手中还剩下很多很好的素材。除此以外，我还一直在创作新的作品，我们积累了很多好东西。我们跟着Andy Johns学习了很多写歌的经验，所以新的作品在编曲上更加复杂和成熟。谁知道呢？我们甚至可能会把我正在写的一首布鲁斯歌曲录进去。不过当下我更专注于正在做的事，”Keifer这样总结道，“（《Night Songs》）巡演还剩下最后几站，我们会尽可能玩得开心。”