{"id":1697,"date":"1984-11-01T00:00:59","date_gmt":"1984-11-01T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2012-02-18T02:16:43","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:16:43","slug":"feature-black-n-blue-mf8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-black-n-blue-mf8\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK \u2019N BLUE – Fight The Good Fight (MF8, 1984) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK \u2019N BLUE – Fight The Good Fight<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 8 (1984)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Black \u2019N Blue (l-r): Tommy Thayer, Jeff Warner, Patrick Young, Jaime St.
James and Pete Holmes<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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I spoke to Jaime St. James (vocals) and Tommy Thayer (guitar) on a very bad phone connection from Los Angeles. Normally, the transatlantic phone service is as clear as a bell, but not this time! Black \u2019N Blue\u2019s debut album release on Geffen Records was reviewed by Philip DiBenedetto in Metal Forces<\/em> issue #5 and had received a slating, being dubbed a band who play \u201chard metal pop with a little bounce and a lot of make-up\u201d.<\/p>\n

Of course, the album could\u2019ve been a real killer had the band decided to stick to the format of their original demos but \u2019twas not to be. I personally like the album for what it is and it\u2019s certainly no wimp-out really (listen to \u2018Autoblast\u2019 or \u2018One For The Money\u2019 and you\u2019ll hear what I mean). How does the band view the \u201ctoo commercial\u201d claims?<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201cWell, I\u2019m sorry if some people think that the record is \u2018too commercial\u2019 because that\u2019s just the way it is\u2026 that\u2019s the way we are. I mean, it\u2019s not as if we sound like Journey or anything is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy: \u201cI think it depends on who you compare the album to, whether you\u2019re putting us up against bands like Mercyful Fate or Venom (which proves that these guys do take an interest in heavy metal unlike a lot of their American colleagues on the LA circuit).\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201cThere\u2019s probably more emphasis on the vocals than some people may like, but the record is Black \u2019N Blue and we haven\u2019t wimped out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philip also mentioned in his review that it was hard to believe how the band go all the way to West Germany for Dieter Dierks to produce the LP and give them an American sound, when they could\u2019ve just saved dollars by recording in LA. So what have you to say in your defense Jaime?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell we could\u2019ve stayed in the US to do it, but we felt that Dieter Dierks would give us a commercial edge that we wanted but still retain our heavy metal sound. A lot of other American producers wanted to get their hands on us and turn us into a real wimp-out with the use of keyboards and stuff, but we didn\u2019t want that to happen. The sound he achieved for us we\u2019re happy with.\u201d<\/p>\n

How different is the debut album from the mini-LP, Violent Kid<\/em>, you planned to release as an indie product before you were signed, because I was never fortunate enough to hear a tape of it?<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201cIt was a lot rougher, maybe a bit heavier, but we never released it because we suddenly got signed to Geffen and had the opportunity to do a full blown album.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tommy Thayer and Jaime St. James<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Black \u2019N Blue made a surprise UK live debut, third on the bill, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London with Whitesnake and the Headpins. They were also scheduled to play a few dates on a support tour with Samson too. So what happened with that tour and were they disappointed at the reaction they received at Hammersmith?<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201cThe tour with Samson didn\u2019t happen because we suddenly had recording commitments in Germany, so we couldn\u2019t do it. We weren\u2019t disappointed at the reaction at our London show because hardly anybody had heard of us (with a few exceptions such as us obscurists here at Metal Forces!) and we also came on much earlier than advertised, so a lot of people were still in the bar or hadn\u2019t arrived yet. I think we went down pretty well, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big question is though, when will you be back?<\/p>\n

Tommy: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say, because we\u2019ve pretty much ignored the US and so we\u2019d obviously like to break some ground here (it being their native country after all). So far, we\u2019ve played a few shows with Aerosmith and Night Ranger, but we really want to break out of California and do a major Stateside support tour. We\u2019re currently negotiating in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll be back in Europe next year?\u201d<\/p>\n

It is possible of course that Black \u2019N Blue\u2019s second album will once again be recorded in Germany under the production of Dieter Dierks. <\/p>\n

So why wasn\u2019t \u2018Sign In Blood\u2019 on the LP? Possibly one of Black \u2019N Blue\u2019s heavier, catchy songs along with another ace cut on a demo I have with the truly inspired title of \u2018We\u2019ve Come For Your Girlfriends\u2019?<\/p>\n

Jaime: \u201c\u2018Sign In Blood\u2019 was originally going to be on that Violent Kid<\/em> EP but we left it off our debut album because the other material was possibly better, and also it was co-written with a person outside of the group so that created problems. It might be on our second LP though. Hopefully, \u2018Violent Kid\u2019 will too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for \u2018We\u2019ve Come For Your Girlfriends\u2019, that was a fun song. You obviously have a tape we did in my parents\u2019 front room from rehearsals. We may do that sometime, who knows.\u201d <\/p>\n

All I can say is that Black \u2019N Blue are not a wimp-out, they\u2019re far stronger than the likes of LA laidbacks Dokken, Great White and our own Def Leppard and, I suspect, will get heavier. The strong will always rock, right? It\u2019s a real pity the telecommunications service isn\u2019t always as good!<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 8 (1984)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACK \u2019N BLUE – Fight The Good Fight Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 8 (1984) Black \u2019N Blue (l-r): Tommy Thayer, Jeff Warner, Patrick Young, Jaime St. James and Pete Holmes I spoke to Jaime St. James (vocals) and Tommy Thayer (guitar) on a very bad phone connection from Los Angeles. Normally, the transatlantic phone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blacknblue","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1697"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4253,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions\/4253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}