Interview with Bassist Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot, House of Lords)
By Mick Michaels
Cosmick View: Hello, Chuck! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with us. It's greatly appreciated.
CV: What drove you to finally release a solo album after all these
years? Was it a long-time coming decision or more of a spur of the moment...like
"what better time than the present" sort of thing?
Chuck Wright: Once the pandemic hit and we were asked to stay home, I thought to myself, what better time than now to start composing again. I had no agenda. I just wanted to create music I'd want to listen to myself. Many don't know that I was a co-writer on every song on Quiet Riots Q3. With my band House Of Lords, I was the majority writer on the debut and major contributor on the 2nd album "Sahara." I've been a writer on quite a few albums I have out there. It felt good to be composing again.
Chuck Wright: Once the pandemic hit and we were asked to stay home, I thought to myself, what better time than now to start composing again. I had no agenda. I just wanted to create music I'd want to listen to myself. Many don't know that I was a co-writer on every song on Quiet Riots Q3. With my band House Of Lords, I was the majority writer on the debut and major contributor on the 2nd album "Sahara." I've been a writer on quite a few albums I have out there. It felt good to be composing again.
CV: Are you ever concerned with past accomplishments overshadowing
what you are currently doing; in a sense, having those accomplishments create
blinders for both fans and critics?
CW: Not at all. It is a completely different landscape now in the music world, and there are so many avenues to reach people globally. Of course, I want to reach the fans that know my Rock works, but I am trying to also reach out to a bigger audience with this album. With this collection of songs, I cover a wide range of genres, from Jazz Fusion, Prog, Heavy Funk to in-your-face Hard Rock. Imagine Pink Floyd meets Led Zeppelin. I even have a song that is similar to what Robert Plant is doing with Allison Krauss. It's a really diverse album overall.
CW: Not at all. It is a completely different landscape now in the music world, and there are so many avenues to reach people globally. Of course, I want to reach the fans that know my Rock works, but I am trying to also reach out to a bigger audience with this album. With this collection of songs, I cover a wide range of genres, from Jazz Fusion, Prog, Heavy Funk to in-your-face Hard Rock. Imagine Pink Floyd meets Led Zeppelin. I even have a song that is similar to what Robert Plant is doing with Allison Krauss. It's a really diverse album overall.
CV: With having such stellar achievements in your past, are you
ever personally concerned with living up to expectations of others, or even
more so with yourself? As an artist, is there need to out do what you did
before?
CW: I don't really think about such things. With this music, I just wanted to take the listener on a musical journey. A lot of what I am doing is cinematic and lyrically thought-provoking.
CW: I don't really think about such things. With this music, I just wanted to take the listener on a musical journey. A lot of what I am doing is cinematic and lyrically thought-provoking.
CV; The new album, "Sheltering Sky," is
loaded with guest performances. What was it like working with so many
talented artists all at once?
CW: Actually, the name of this project is “Chuck Wright's Sheltering Sky”. It doesn't have a title.
By doing my weekly event, "Ultimate Jam Night" at the legendary Whisky A Go-Go since 2015 and bringing together 45 to 100 musicians a show, I've felt like an umbrella or a sheltering sky for these performers…helping new artists by putting them on stage with established pros. So many new relationships have formed, bands created, musicians getting hired by being seen at my event. I discovered the ultra-talented vocalist, Whitney Tai this way. She sings on three of my songs and co-wrote with me. "Ultimate Jam Night" is on hiatus right now because of the pandemic, but I am hopeful we will return in January 2022. To learn more about the event, go to ultimatejamnight.com
CW: Actually, the name of this project is “Chuck Wright's Sheltering Sky”. It doesn't have a title.
By doing my weekly event, "Ultimate Jam Night" at the legendary Whisky A Go-Go since 2015 and bringing together 45 to 100 musicians a show, I've felt like an umbrella or a sheltering sky for these performers…helping new artists by putting them on stage with established pros. So many new relationships have formed, bands created, musicians getting hired by being seen at my event. I discovered the ultra-talented vocalist, Whitney Tai this way. She sings on three of my songs and co-wrote with me. "Ultimate Jam Night" is on hiatus right now because of the pandemic, but I am hopeful we will return in January 2022. To learn more about the event, go to ultimatejamnight.com
It
seemed a natural thing to include many of my friends in my vision. I would just
send a track and ask what they thought, and they'd reply with wanting to play
on it. That was sweet validation for what I was doing. So far, the album
features over 30 guest performers, including members of Mr. Big, Skid Row,
Tesla, Dream Theater, Great White, Asia, Jefferson Starship, acclaimed solo
artists Allen Hinds, Toshi Yanagi, and many others.
CV: "Chuck Wright's Sheltering Sky" is to
be a wide range of styles and genres. Do you feel some fans might be surprised
to hear what you have put together?
CW: I would think that most people will expect a "Classic Rock" stylized record from me because of my years with Quiet Riot, and yes, they will be surprised, but those fans out there that really know my body of work having co-produced two Reggae albums, an Ambient Trance album, my very eclectic band projects Magdalen, Odd Man Out and Chaos Is The Poetry, and others, will know this album will be very different. My roots are in Prog, really. I had one of the top drawing bands in Los Angeles in the late '70s called Satyr. Truly a prog band in the beginning. I was the main composer. We outdrew Van Halen before they were signed. We were the first band ever to use Lasers. We had a friend who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that was developing the Laser technology. Our singer did many costume changes, and we had special sci-fi staging. The keyboard player, Pat Regan, went on to produce Kiss, Deep Purple, Mr. Big, and others. It was a great/ inventive band.
CW: I would think that most people will expect a "Classic Rock" stylized record from me because of my years with Quiet Riot, and yes, they will be surprised, but those fans out there that really know my body of work having co-produced two Reggae albums, an Ambient Trance album, my very eclectic band projects Magdalen, Odd Man Out and Chaos Is The Poetry, and others, will know this album will be very different. My roots are in Prog, really. I had one of the top drawing bands in Los Angeles in the late '70s called Satyr. Truly a prog band in the beginning. I was the main composer. We outdrew Van Halen before they were signed. We were the first band ever to use Lasers. We had a friend who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that was developing the Laser technology. Our singer did many costume changes, and we had special sci-fi staging. The keyboard player, Pat Regan, went on to produce Kiss, Deep Purple, Mr. Big, and others. It was a great/ inventive band.
CV: Did the events of the last two years provide any writing
inspiration for the new record?
CW: Yes, as we descended into the depths of the pandemic isolation while watching the spectacle that is New York City becoming a ghost town, twelve million lights dimmed in Las Vegas, a now deserted Hollywood Sunset Strip, I decided to pick up my acoustic guitar (something I haven't done in eons) to just create music from what I had been feeling about this crisis thrust into our lives. I have had no agenda, just drawing from this feeling. Later, during all the unrest of 2020, I was inspired to finish "Army Of Me". I was searching for a song file and found the basic track that I had recorded years back with my friends, Lanny Cordola and the late Pat Torpey of Mr. Big. Bjork wrote the original song and lyrics, which were about her brother, telling him to get his act together. For me, this song and video represent telling the world to get their act together. The visuals in the video include 3D animation created by my friend, Drew Lanius, of an "army" of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court Justice. I chose to recognize the late Justice in the video as she was such a formidable presence on and off the bench. She challenged the status quo knocking down legal obstacles to women's equality, and inspired an army of believers.
CW: Yes, as we descended into the depths of the pandemic isolation while watching the spectacle that is New York City becoming a ghost town, twelve million lights dimmed in Las Vegas, a now deserted Hollywood Sunset Strip, I decided to pick up my acoustic guitar (something I haven't done in eons) to just create music from what I had been feeling about this crisis thrust into our lives. I have had no agenda, just drawing from this feeling. Later, during all the unrest of 2020, I was inspired to finish "Army Of Me". I was searching for a song file and found the basic track that I had recorded years back with my friends, Lanny Cordola and the late Pat Torpey of Mr. Big. Bjork wrote the original song and lyrics, which were about her brother, telling him to get his act together. For me, this song and video represent telling the world to get their act together. The visuals in the video include 3D animation created by my friend, Drew Lanius, of an "army" of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court Justice. I chose to recognize the late Justice in the video as she was such a formidable presence on and off the bench. She challenged the status quo knocking down legal obstacles to women's equality, and inspired an army of believers.
CV: What are you hoping fans come away with after hearing the
album?
CW: I hope they feel like they just took a long deep breath of fresh air. I hope they will reflect on some of the lyric content with songs like "Giving Up The Ghost", "See You On The Other Side”, and "Time Waits For No One".
I hope the music touches them, moves them, and makes them want to press play again.
CW: I hope they feel like they just took a long deep breath of fresh air. I hope they will reflect on some of the lyric content with songs like "Giving Up The Ghost", "See You On The Other Side”, and "Time Waits For No One".
I hope the music touches them, moves them, and makes them want to press play again.
I
believe many will come away knowing that I am a much deeper musician than what
they've heard being with Rock bands like Quiet Riot.
CV: Many artists seem to live in the past these days, so we often
don't get to hear much new material, if any. Do you feel that an artist's
best days are always ahead of them rather than behind them or is there some
truth in the belief of keeping the past alive to avoid dealing with the future?
CW: With legacy artists, the fans really just want to relive the glory days, their youth…the happier, less complicated times in their lives. The '80s were mostly about having a good time…it was a 24/7 party! Some try to recreate themselves, and a few have made some very cool new music. Still, fans seem more interested in hearing their past hits.
CW: With legacy artists, the fans really just want to relive the glory days, their youth…the happier, less complicated times in their lives. The '80s were mostly about having a good time…it was a 24/7 party! Some try to recreate themselves, and a few have made some very cool new music. Still, fans seem more interested in hearing their past hits.
CV: In addition to the release of the new single, "Army of
Me," and the upcoming album in 2022, what more can fans expect to see
coming from you?
CW: I'll be doing more videos of songs from this album. I'm actually planning to start a music video/film company with an incredibly talented friend from Belgium. My dilemma now is deciding what song to follow "Army Of Me" with. I also hope to put together a "live" band to at least film a show. If that goes well, then I’ll get out there and do this music everywhere. Though to pull off what I envision, I'd need to have Roger Waters' budget. LOL!
CW: I'll be doing more videos of songs from this album. I'm actually planning to start a music video/film company with an incredibly talented friend from Belgium. My dilemma now is deciding what song to follow "Army Of Me" with. I also hope to put together a "live" band to at least film a show. If that goes well, then I’ll get out there and do this music everywhere. Though to pull off what I envision, I'd need to have Roger Waters' budget. LOL!
CV: Thanks again Chuck for taking the time to share
with our readers. We wish you all the best and continued success.
CW: Thanks for having me.
Check out Chuck at:
CW: Thanks for having me.
Check out Chuck at:
Instagram @cleopatrarecords
Twitter @cleopatrarecord
Youtube @Cleopatrarecords
Soundcloud @cleopatra-recs
Dailymotion @Cleopatrarecords
Vimeo @cleopatrarecords
Spotify @cleopatra_recs
Linkedin @cleopatra-records
The Cosmick Voice
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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.
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