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be able to rescue her, so it’s more of a knightin-shining-armor
kind of deal. But again,
people can take from it what they want. And
if you got that from it, that’s great. As long
as the lyric is really saying something, and
it’s not gibberish.
long way ‘round. Nowadays, it’s so much
easier to get product out. But then again, you
get a lot of crap out there in the process.
IE: Do you think maybe you tapped into
some universal environmental zeitgeist by
accident on New World, though?
JC: You know, it’s possible that there was
IE: For years, I’ve had this cool House of
Lords promo item sitting on a counter — a
sword-in-the-stone metal letter opener, set
in real stone.
JC: I have one of those in my house somewhere,
too. I’m pretty sure it was done on the
second album, the one with the phallic symbol
on the cover (Sahara in 1990). So they sent
that out as a promotion for “Can’t Find My
07•2020
some train of universal thought that I tapped
into. But sometimes I think I tap into things,
and then I’ll look back at it a year later and
go, “Nah, I didn’t.” You never know if you
got something right, and I guess only the test
of time will answer that question. I have
records — like the first three House of Lords
records — that I can listen to today, and I get
it, totally. I’m not crazy about the production
values, but the songwriting, the recording,
House of Lords, Sahara album, 1990
Way Home,” and yes, they did spend a lot of
money. But they got the return on their
investment, because that was one of the
most-requested songs on AOR radio, and for
a few weeks held the #1 spot there. We didn’t
get to the singles chart, but this was AOR
radio and that’s what House of Lords was all
about. So that letter opener really did its job.
That was a great little promotional tool. I
don’t think they make things like that anymore.
IE: How have you seen the business change
over the years?
JC: It’s really so different than I remember it.
It’s way more advanced than what I’m used
to, but I’m not involved in it that heavily. I do
music now with a company called Frontiers
Music in Europe, and they give me a budget
to put out House of Lords records because
there are fans out there who still want to hear
House of Lords. So my little universe
revolves around that group of people. But
there are people who do things on my behalf,
just because they want to — they’ve got fan
pages on Facebook and stuff like that, and
they really know how to employ that market.
But now what happens is, anyone with a
computer and a recorder can make an album,
so there is so much music out there that doesn’t
really deserve to be. But how can you stop
it? Back when we started making records,
you had to go through the process — write
your songs, then go out there and play ‘em,
then do showcases for labels. And if you didn’t
get a label deal, you didn’t get a record
out — there was no “Oh, I’ll make my own
record!’ Nobody did that. We had to go the
the musicianship is everything that I wanted
it to be in that time. But when things got
away from the melodic rock that we were
doing in the ‘90s, and the grunge era took
over, it took away that mystique of what
being in a band was like. Garage bands were
suddenly the thing to be, and it took off from
there. New rock idols came in, but they didn’t
look like rock idols. They looked like normal
people you saw walking down the
street. But hey — it was a generational thing.
It’s just the way things go. I was living at
home with family as a kid, and I used to
think, “Wow! They’re so OLD!” And now
with where I am and where my daughter
came from, we have a generation gap, even
though we’re both in the music business. She
grew up in my studio, and we recorded a lot
of music while she was growing up. So she
always listened to music. But she didn’t want
to become a pop or rock singer — she wanted
to be a Broadway singer. And once she got
out of college, it took her basically four
months before she got an offer from
Phantom of the Opera, and then Les
Miserables. And I thought to myself, “You
didn’t even pay any dues yet!” I played clubs
for nine years! And she was like, “Whaddaya
mean, ‘dues’? I did what I had to do.” But I
look at it like…she got lucky. But we’re all
still here, doing what we love, and how
many people can say that these days? Most
people end up working a job they went to
school for, and constantly complaining about
it. So we might be complaining about what’s
going on in the world, but we’re still doing
something we love.
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20 illinoisentertainer.com july 2020