Gary Cherone & Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme)
July 2008
It's not the first time Extreme has reunited in the last couple of years. What was the plan back then?
Gary: We had a couple of one off gigs in 2004 and 2005. Nuno and I kept in touch throughout the years and these opportunities just became more frequent and we just had some getting togethers.
Nuno: They weren't necessarily reunions so to speak. They were just get togethers. Everybody happened to be around at the same time and we did a couple of gigs and said goodbye to each other and then we got together again and did more gigs. I still wouldn't say it's a reunion, it's more like a reformation and it's more for real than just getting together for a couple of gigs.
When did you make up your mind to make this permanent and make a new album?
Gary: It was always in the back of our minds and it wasn't a question if but when. It was always predicated on new music like Nuno just said before. We got together for one off gigs here and there but when we felt like we had some music to offer. We never wanted to do a nostalgic tour just to cash in on the merchandise and make money by doing that. We are very protective of our music and if we're gonna go out there it just has to be about new music. Me and Nuno have written songs throughout the years together and it just seemed like the right time. It was sometime in 2006 when we started getting serious about planning it.
So you two stayed in touch over the years but how about Pat? Was he also in the picture?
Nuno: Pat's been around. Me and Gary always stayed within the music scene. We've always had our own projects and bands so we were kind of more in the business while Pat kind of fell out and put it away. What he basically was doing was his personal life. We wanted to make sure that he was gonna be interested and he kept on doing one or two shows with us back home a couple of years back and I think he got the bug and then he was just interested in doing it.
And how did you hook up with Kevin?
Nuno: Kevin is an old friend of mine from a little Portuguese community in Hudson, Massachusetts. Way before we played music together he used to play in a hockey team. (Laughs) Through the years when I came back I've heard that he'd been playing and he just really blew me away when I saw him playing. So we've been doing a couple of projects together in recent years. When it was time to do Extreme we knew that Paul Geary wasn't able to do it because as a manager he's keeping it very busy and he just doesn't really want to play drums anymore. I just approached Gary and Gary had already been on stage with Kevin a few times in Portugal and Kevin just seemed right, he was the perfect drummer for Extreme.
Gary: He really infused energy. He was a fan of Extreme and he was kinda like the last piece of the puzzle. He's the right guy.
What was the feeling like working on these new songs together again after all these years?
Nuno: A lot of it was just like in the old days. We've always had the chemistry between us, we became kind of a writing team and you kind of know what the other one is going and it gives you comfort. Hopefully we are a bit more mature and a bit more smarter. I think the writing is getting better.
All the songs of the new album are result of brand new ideas or you had some of them sitting around from the earlier days of Extreme?
Gary: I think when we started Nuno and I had some ideas, half songs, half riffs, half lyrics. A couple of songs are from an earlier period that we re-wrote or we worked out in a different way but once we got in the studio and we started jamming together the band really got inspired and Nuno was coming up with a new song every time he tuned up the guitar. The majority of the stuff was really inspired by the four of us in that room.
Did you have anything in mind as far as the musical direction when you entered the studio?
Nuno: No, we never do that. It's just song by song, day by day and you don't really say that you make a rock record or a pop record or a funk record. Every record of Extreme has all those things. Every song has its own life and at the end of the day when we pick the songs that make the record it's more of like a surprise to see what the result will be like.
Does it often happen that you write a song that you want to put on the album but in the end you find out it doesn't fit the album?
Nuno: We always write a lot of songs. We ended up with 20-24 songs for this album and it's just a matter of picking the ones that fit the album the best.
Gary: Yeah, it's a balance at the end of the day because we ended up with so much material. If we wanted to we could have a whole record of the ballads, or a whole record of the eclectic songs, or whatever kind of songs we wrote. It's always been Extreme's problem that is not necessarily a problem but as Nuno said when we write we're just trying to write songs and let it fall in its own category. I think a lot of the songs we did on this record are a new direction for us. I think of songs like Sunrise and Learn To Love. Some of these new songs put us in a new direction and that's what is exciting about each new Extreme record.
Do you delete those songs that don't make the album?
Nuno: We never really throw anything away and we didn't really want to put them as B-sides or bonus tracks either. We kind of use old demos for those purposes. We wrote a lot of great songs for this album that we were even talking about making it a double record at one point. So we'll definitely hold down to it.
How would you describe Extreme in 2008?
Nuno: I don't know. You can't describe Extreme 2008, it's just 2008 Extreme. It's still funky, it's still poppy, it's still heavy at times, it's corky, it's Elvis rockabilly type stuff, there's beautiful piano stuff, there's punk stuff. It's just us now, it's just a collection of us today, where we are today.
Gary: What comes to my mind is the production of this record. Nuno produced this record and I think this is what we already tried to do on our previous records and mainly maybe with Punchline in 1995. The production of this record is a real sounding record. It's as close as you're gonna get to what Extreme really sound like live. It's a very live sounding record but not overproduced and these are probably the best performances of our lives. It's got all the elements of what Extreme is: the classic Nuno riffs, the harmonies of Pat and Nuno, the pop tracks, the ballads and the funky elements. If you're an Extreme fan I don't think we're gonna disappoint you with this record.
What's the message you're trying to get through to your fans with your lyrics this time?
Gary: I think some of the dominant themes on this record are pretty much based around relationships.
Nuno: The lyrics are very much like the music. They kind of speak for themselves. Star is talking about the Lindsey Lohans and Britney Spearses of the world. They were growing up as kid stars and failed so you can see how dangerous it can be. The song King Of The Ladies is just about us, it's about if we were younger and we knew what we knew now, how great would be with the women. All the lyrics are like this, it's always about life. It's about us as human beings. We experience the laughter, the sad moments of life, the religious side of life. The idea was to make this record varied and not to end up with a basic one-dimensional AC/DC record. It's not that I don't love AC/DC but it's a tricky record. Some people like three quarters of it and some people like half of it or maybe like a song. But it's definitely Extreme.
You went for a Portuguese album title this time. What does Saudades De Rock stand for?
Nuno: Yeah, "saudades" is a Portuguese word which comes from my background but it's not necessarily there because of that. I wanted to signify our time away and kind of how much we've been longing and missing the rock'n'roll that we do. In Portuguese you say that to things that you lost and something that went away and you aren't sure that you'll have ever again. Or you can say it about a person near to you. We also felt the same thing from the fans too, that they were kind of missing the band. I think this was the appropriate title for how we were feeling.
You were on a major label in the 90s so one would have expected that a band of your calibre would sign for a big label but you chose Frontiers...
Nuno: Why not?
Gary: I think we're in a different age. I have to say that we've always had control of our records and we rarely listened to what the record company had to say about our music. We've always had the freedom to do what we wanted to do. The opportunity came for this independent deal and the album is distributed by a big enough distributor so the music is going to get out there.
Nuno: When we first started the goal of our life was to get a record deal especially with one of the majors. Nowadays you say, "Hey, I got a deal with Sony" and everybody goes like, "Ah, sorry to hear that." It's kind of like the kiss of death because of the way things work these days. We just basically wanted a label that believed in us. It wasn't so much like getting the biggest deal or the biggest anything. We wanted somebody that was passionate about what we wanted to do. I've done some projects recently that was on probably the biggest label you can have and once that label loses interest in your single or loses interest in you, you are over. When they decide to hang you they hang you. In this case we found someone that is more passionate and more into what we're doing and you can work with them so you can get the music to the people you need.
Are you planning to record a video clip like in the old days?
Nuno: Yeah, we hope so. (Laughs) In 15-20 years ago it was automatic. You recorded a video first. Now nobody plays videos especially here in America. It's amazing.
What would be your pick for a video?
Gary: That's the hard part and that's where the band starts the fight.
Nuno: (Laughs) Yeah. It would be fun to do King Of The Ladies and also Learn To Love would be a great performance video. Peace would be an amazing one for a video. Every song has a visual concept to us. It would be nice doing a video album too.
So far there's only been UK gigs announced for Extreme. How about the rest of the world?
Nuno: As it seems right now we're planning to come to Europe in October and to the UK in November, to Asia in December. Our booking agent is working on confirming the dates as we speak. We're hoping to get to as many places as possible. It's been a while since we've been there. It's hard to say what we can expect. We're gonna reunite with our old fans and hopefully we'll make some new ones.
How are you planning to present the new album on the live shows? Are you going to concentrate on new songs or more like a best of setlist?
Gary: We're gonna approach it like the band never left. We have a new record we're going to play new material like we always did when we had a new album out. Again it has to be in balance, we don't wanna play too much new material what people don't know because it's new but we wanna give them enough to turn them on to the new music. Also we will play the back catalogue to give them a chance to sing along.
You're part of the music business for a really long time now. How do you see the changes the hard rock scene went through over the last 10-15 years?
Nuno: Honestly if somebody told us... I mean we have another record but we had one guy saying in the UK that this is the best record to come out in the new millennium. He might be right only because there haven't been. We're not getting the rock'n'roll that we used to get. There isn't a lot of rock records are being made anymore. It's very hard for new bands to break because of the new download generation. In America when you were at the Grammys or you watched the Grammys, which is almost a bit of a joke now, it's like American Idol. As far as the rock'n'roll category it's between three bands by default. The Chili Peppers have a record out they win. Foo Fighters have a record out they win. If Green Day have a record out they win. That's basically the last three major rock bands that really are doing the cycle of touring and doing records. It's a bit of a dark period for rock music over here but hopefully it's gonna change for the better.
Extreme was really popular and successful in the 90s and regardless how great the new album is you won't be able to top of that success probably ever again. How can you cope with this?
Nuno: You don't really cope, you just hope. You just hope like when you hoped back then. The main thing is always the nucleus of what we do. If the record is that good and it's real and you poured everything you got into it and people connect then it'll have to find its way. If something is good it's gonna find its way whether it's our record or anybody else's record. It's a different time but you have to hope. And you have to keep touring and that's what we'll do and people can talk about how intense the band is live. And hopefully that's what will separate us from other people and get the word around like.
Gary: Yeah, we're not worried about what happens. Extreme is Extreme and we're very confident. We like doing what we do and we do it with the same passion as we ever did and we're reintroducing Extreme to our audience.
What can we expect from Extreme in the future? Another long wait for a new album or more frequent releases on a regular basis?
Nuno: We're gonna wait another 13 years and then we're gonna put out another record. (Laughs) We're very much inspired right now, we're having a lot of music together and we're really excited about playing this new music on our first world tour in 13 years. I take we're gonna get inspired by the audience and we'd probably be writing the new record on the road. The plan is to go and have some fun because we spent the last six months making the record. We're very inspired.