A Conversation with Bryan Adams – HuffPost 11.8.10

Mike Ragogna: Hello, Bryan. You have a new album out, Bare Bones, which features live, stripped down versions of many of your biggest hits. Why did you take this approach?

Bryan Adams: It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while–not necessarily the CD, but just the acoustic tour. A couple of years ago, I started a forty-five minute set, in some cases, twenty minutes because I was promoting another album, and forty-five minutes became an hour and an hour became an hour and a half. I guess it’s just something I’ve wanted to do for a while. The CD, which is coming out in November, was something I thought I’d do for people that were coming to the shows, seeing the show, and asking where they get the copies of the songs that way. I didn’t have anything like that, so I created the CD for that purpose. Shortly after finishing the album, my record company over here in England caught wind of it and they said, “Hang on a minute. We’d like to hear this and possibly put it out.” So now, it’s coming out in thirty countries, including the U.S. and I’m pretty pleased about that.

MR: Did your Unplugged album come to mind when you considered this project?

BA: Well, that was fifteen years ago. (laughs) I guess you could call me a little bit of a slow burner. That was a great introduction into the acoustic world, but at the same time, that was a twenty-six piece orchestra and a ten piece band, and if that was unplugged, well, then this is just “un.”

MR: (laughs) Nice. For me, what’s best about these acoustic versions is that the songwriting pops out and your personality is front and center. Everything breathes.

BA: Thanks. A lot of these songs–in fact, all of them–were written with the idea of some sort of musical accompaniment. There wasn’t really any song, other than maybe “Walk On By,” which was done acoustically from the start. But even then, I thought maybe that would be an up tempo song and it turned out the way it did. So, it’s interesting, and it’s interesting to go through the songs every night and see which ones work and which ones don’t. What’s always surprising is when a new song that nobody knows goes over really well. You know that the songs that everybody knows are going to have some reaction, but when you play a new song and get an incredible response, it’s always a nice surprise.

MR: You’ve written so many classics that are not only huge hits in the U.S. and Canada, but are entrenched in culture internationally. At this point in your career, how does it feel to have had, well, an amazing career?

BA: As a singer-songwriter?

MR: As a songwriter, as an admired performer, and as somebody who’s sold millions of records and won many awards. When you reach this point in your career, you can do a little look back–as you did when you were recording these songs, obviously. How do you feel at this point about having had such a career?

BA: You know something? I really don’t think things like that. I just sort of wake up in the morning and think, “What am I going to do today?” People always ask me about the awards and how it feels to have all that stuff–none of it means much more than what happens on the day. I never look back because I’m always looking forward, and it’s what’s happening next that’s exciting, not so much what’s happened before. Of course, everything that happened before props up what you do today; but again, it’s about always one foot forward. So, in terms of how it feels, it feels great. One of the nice things about what I do now is that it’s always nice to look down at the set list and have songs that are pretty popular to play because you know you’re going to get a good reaction, who knows how good? At least you know that you have a fallback.

MR: Speaking of what’s happening next–do you see yourself recording a studio project that’s as stripped down as Bare Bones?

BA: I don’t know, I just don’t think it matters anymore to make albums. I think what matters is making great songsand linking them up to what you’ve done. I think the old way of making CDs and putting ten songs together…it’s going to work with some success for some people, but it’s not going to work with everybody. I just think that it’s time to rethink that idea, and maybe the thing to do is to do EPs or maybe it’s going back to making singles or just putting out a song whenever you write it. Let’s face it, it doesn’t matter when you put it out, as long as you put it out and your (fans) dig it. Why wait four years when you can put it out now?

MR: That’s a good point. On the other hand, artists look at projects of ten songs, twelve songs, or whatever as their “painting,” their work of art, you know what I mean?

BA: Well, you can look at one song like that too, or five songs like that. Does it have to be ten? Fifteen? The number is only there because that’s what we’re used to. But I think the times are changing, and I really think CDs are going to go. It’s already happening–people are just downloading songs they like because they don’t want to hear the whole album.

MR: Right, that’s very true, we’re there already.

BA: There are certain artists, of course, that will always have a great following and it won’t matter–they’ll want to hear the ten songs–but there are other artists that won’t be able to do that, and are going to have to work on the one song.

MR: Are there any songs that, when you sing them now, you go, “Man, I love singing that!”

BA: That’s all of them. I wouldn’t sing any of them if I didn’t love it, you know what I mean? Obviously, the bigger the hit and the more recognizable it is, the more reaction you’re going to get. Like I was saying to you earlier, what’s nice and what’s surprising is when you play a song that’s not familiar to everybody and it goes over as well as anything else in the set. That’s partially a combination of the moment, the song, the audience, the placement of the song in the set, and all that kind of stuff. It’s really interesting to build a show like that.

MR: Right. And a song like “Summer Of ’69” seems to have risen to the top of your fan favorites. You’re still sticking to the story that that’s not the year ’69, right?

BA: It never was.

MR: (laughs) I know, but most people, initially, I think, took it innocently, instead of…

BA: It’s a metaphor–it’s a song about making love and it doesn’t really have to be about the time. What’s funny about that title is people think it’s about 1969, but it’s just a play on words. You know, making love–69.

MR: Exactly. Many of the songs on Bare Bones have a very youthful feel to them. They’re like your “party” songs versus your ballads or love songs. Now, since you’re a maturing artist, is it getting a little harder to write the party songs?

BA: No, not at all. I just wrote “You’ve Been A Friend To Me,” which is the opening track of this record. That songs was actually written, originally, for the John Travolta film Old Dogs, and it’s a great party song. One of the closing songs on this record is a new song called “I Still Miss you…A Little Bit,” and it’s just a fun party song. It’s a silly song, really. It’s a silly country song.

MR: It’s interesting because fans sometimes do have certain expectations or different demands of their artists. But you’re apparently the kind of songwriter that’s not creating in terms of, “Let’s write another song about me, my state of mind, and my life right at this second.”

BA: For me, it’s supposed to be fun, first and foremost. If you can write about yourself and be self-deprecating, great. But I don’t think I want to be the artist that’s going to write about myself and give you my innermost thoughts because I’m writing about every day stuff and I want it to be fun. In the cases of the two songs I’ve just given you examples of, one is completely tongue-in-cheek, and the other one is really a testament to friendship. So, that could be taken as deep, but it’s lighthearted.

MR: Hey, I always wondered why on your first album, it seemed like you had a pretty different sound and image for Bryan Adams. But by You Want It, You Got It, that’s the Bryan Adams we know.

BA: I was nineteen when I made that album. I collected ten songs, and somehow BS’d my way into making a record with a record company, and I’m still getting away with it.

MR: (laughs) Nice.

BA: (laughs)

MR: Bare Bones is on Decca as opposed to A&M, right?

BA: Right.

MR: That’s still in the Universal family, so was that merely a shifting of artists to different labels within the Universal group?

BA: Yes, there’s a guy called Max Hole, who had become a real champion of mine, and he brought me over to Decca, in the States, which is the same label that’s putting out the Elton John record with Leon Russell and a number of other artists in a similar category. It’s become sort of a stable for artists of that nature.

MR: Considering you are an artist of that nature with years of experience and success, what would be your advice to today’s new artists?

BA: Just focus on songs and don’t focus on your website. Just focus on making your music as good as it can be because at the end of the day, the most important thing that people will remember you by is your music. So, the songs have to be great. However you get there, travel the road of making your songs as good as possible.

MR: Nice. Thank you again, for the HuffPost interview and for joining us here at solar-powered KRUU-FM, Bryan.

BA: I love that solar power. How is it solar-powered?

MR: Well, we’re solar-powered in that the sun is the energy source for the broadcast tower, the control room…

BA: …one hundred percent?

MR: It’s one hundred percent of the broadcast tower and control room.

BA: Well, whoever figured that out, congratulations to them.

MR: Thank you so much. What’s also interesting is that we’re the only one in the Midwest.

BA: That’s amazing. That’s killer. I really admire that.

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney