One More Time: A Conversation with Foreigner Bassist Jeff Pilson
At one time, the thought of Foreigner retiring was, pardon the pun, a long, long way from home.
Selling 80 million records over the course of 40 years can bring about thoughts of invincibility.
You know, like Aerosmith.
But all great things must come to and end. Foreigner included.
Time waits for no one, and unfortunately for Foreigner, their touring days are rapidly coming to an end.
Long-time Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson touched base with ListenIowa prior to the band’s upcoming stop during its “Historic Farewell Tour,” at the Iowa State Fair Grandstands on Aug. 10.
At the forefront of this decision to bring the touring wheels to a halt is founding member Mick Jones, who announced earlier this year that he has been battling Parkinson’s Disease. Jones no longer tours with the band, and his future is unknown at this juncture. Equally, four decades in, vocalist Kelly Hansen faces a monumental task of recreating the singing stylings of original original vocalist Lou Gramm. Hansen, now 63, still has what it takes to hit the apex of the thunderous “Juke Box Hero,” and “Hot Blooded,” but, as Pilson admits, at this stage of the game, it is no longer easy.
Pilson, who rose to fame as bassist for Dokken in the 1980s, shared his thoughts on this, the final go-round, and what he’s learned as the man helping hold down the low end of the Foreigner rock and roll machine.
ListenIowa: How have things been thus far on this, the farewell tour?
Jeff Pilson: When we say farewell tour, we mean we will no longer be touring for nine months of the year like we’ve been doing for the last 20 years. We’re not going to disappear off the face of the earth. There will still be some music we’re working on, there will be some shows — just much less frequently. The audience response has been incredible.
LI: Because this is the “final” go-round, do you allow yourself moments onstage to maybe soak this in a little more than usual?
JP: I think it’s in the back of your mind the whole time. It’s kind of an interesting thing. It makes you very appreciative. Every night I’m going out and seeing thousands of lighters during “I Want To Know What Love Is,” and all these other things, and I’m thinking that these are the memories I’m going to be carrying with me for the rest of my life, this incredible experience playing in Foreigner. It makes you emotional, but that’s a good place to be when you’re playing music because you’re in contact with your feelings, and that’s a great place to be.
LI: At this point, do cell phones make you nervous when people hold them up and push that “record” button?
JP: I’ll be honest, there’s a little bit of “I can’t go out there and suck,” there’s a little bit of that, but I try to use that as a good inspiration to be better. There aren’t any secrets anymore with the Internet. It’s going to go out there. And if it sucks, it’s going to go out there even further. It’s like a little bit of a policing mechanism, and I don’t mind that. What really bothers me is when you look out at the audience and people have their heads down looking at their cell phone. It’s not about me, it’s just, “Don’t you want to enjoy the show?”
LI: How is Mick these days?
JP: He’s in good spirts and incredibly excited that the band is about to be inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. He’s in a very grateful place right now. He’s had a wonderful, long, interesting, deep career, and the fact that the cherry on top is going to be the hall of fame is absolutely incredible. I don’t think there’s any way that’s lost on him.
LI: Mick hasn’t been able to make this tour, but will he be making an appearance at that show?
JP: We haven’t really addressed that. He’d like to. We’d like to. He has announced that he has Parkinson’s, so there are limitations. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the disease, some of that won’t be known until closer to the day.
LI: What are some of the things you’ve learned from him over the years, whether it’s songwriting, playing or otherwise.
JP: You know, the first thing about Mick is his incredibly high standards. If he thinks something needs to be worked on, he’ll work on it forever. And nine times out of 10, it will come out a whole lot better. Diligence, perseverance, listening to your gut. If anything strikes you wrong, work on it until it doesn’t. That’s one of the reasons why Mick was such a successful producer. His ear was incredible, and his dedication to making the vision come true, were his strongest qualities, other than pure talent, of course. He has it, but it takes that perseverance to make it.
LI: Mick also worked with other artists, including producing Van Halen’s “5150” album, their first with Sammy Hagar, after he replaced David Lee Roth. Did he share any stories of that?
JP: Oh yeah. You know, by his admission, he didn’t have a lot to do with the musical side of Van Halen. They had that pretty much taken care of. He helped mostly with Sammy, and man, what they got out of him was pretty insane. I’ve always admired Sammy, and am a huge Montrose fan. When I heard the “5150” album, my respect for him went through the roof. That’s an amazing vocal performance on that album. I know Mick, and I know what he’s like in the studio, and I guarantee you Mick had a lot to do with it.
LI: When did this discussion of a farewell tour begin for Foreigner? Was it brought on by Mick’s health situation?
JP: Interestingly enough it did not come from Mick, it came from our vocalist, Kelly Hansen. He brought this up a couple of years ago. He doesn’t want to be that singer who goes out there and sucks, and we respect that. He wanted to start scaling and toning it down. If he’s going to be on stage, he wants to kill it. With the schedule we’ve been doing for the last 20 years, that’s hard on a guy who is in his early 60s. So the decision was made a couple of years ago, the decision was made to just start scaling back. And at one point, Kelly was thinking about dropping out and just leaving, but over time he’s realized that with a lighter schedule, he’s realized he can do this, so over time it’s morphed from a total farewell tour to a farewell to touring situation, and that’s kind of where we’re at. We’re not going away, just touring a whole lot less.
LI: How about you personally, Jeff? How have you been able to make a go of it for this long, and what does your regimen look like these days as opposed to the 80s where you might have been able to just go out and let it rip at the drop of a hat?
JP: I have to really, really take care of myself. I’ve had a lot of health issues recently. I had lumbar back surgery a few months ago, knee surgery before that, both of my hips replaced. I’ve had to learn how to get my body in shape, so I do hot pilates twice a week, I do my meditation, work out, try to eat healthy and get a lot of sleep.
LI: You closed the Dokken chapter back in 2016 with the live album, “Live From The Sun.” Were you happy with the way things went with closing that out, or did you think you guys had a little more gas in the tank, so to speak?
JP: It was kind of mixed bag. We did a new song, and the chemistry for that was as if a day hadn’t gone by. It was almost spooky to be honest, how smoothly the new song came together. Musically, we still had something left in the tank, but our live performances I thought weren’t particularly great, and I was very disappointed with how we performed. That kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t know if it would be worthwhile doing a reunion if we sounded like we did during the reunion shows. We’ll see. Listen, guys get older, they lose their voices; it happens.
LI: And let’s be honest here, Don (Dokken, vocalist) has had a rough go of it lately. He’s struggling with his vocals. Everyone has seen the videos on YouTube. Having said that, is it even worth contemplating trying to get more out of Dokken, the band, then?
JP: I’ll say this. I don’t want to be one of those guys who is piling on Don because he’s got difficulties. I don’t want to be that guy. I do love the guy. We’ve had our differences, and he’s said some really horrible things about us in the press lately, but that’s done. He does that. But I don’t want to be piling on with him. I sincerely wish his voice would get better, but at 71 years old, it’s probably not going to. It’s an unfortunate thing. He was never great at taking care of his voice, and I think it’s hard for an old dog to learn new tricks, but I have hope for him. I’ve always been a fan of his voice. And even when he sings at lower registers he can come up with some great stuff; it’s just that his limitations matter now. They might be a factor for me in determining whether I would want to do anything. We’ll see.
By Darren Tromblay
Foreigner
Friday, Aug. 9
8 p.m.
Iowa State Fairgrounds Grandstand
Tickets $35/40/50/60/70
www.iowastatefair.org/entertainment/foreigner
