Dokken. Foreigner. End Game. Dio. MSG. The list goes on for as long as your arm when it comes to naming all the bands and special musical projects that Jeff Pilson has been involved in. Going all the way back to ninth grade when he played dances with his band Mahogany, Pilson has had music on the brain. Even before that, when his mother used to sing to him as a kid. “She was just a great mother and a great singer and I think that that had a lot to do with my aptitude for music,” he told me during a 2013 interview for Glide. It just all goes to show that the bass player from Milwaukee could only have headed in one direction: rock & roll.
Now you can add Revolution Saints to Pilson’s list. Debuting with their first record in early 2015 with Journey drummer Deen Castronovo, Night Ranger’s Jack Blades and Whitesnake’s Doug Aldrich, the hard-rocking outfit has recently regenerated with Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra taking over guitar and Pilson on bass. With ten rocking tunes, Eagle Flight is a hard rocker’s dream: big songs, big guitars and power ballads to die for. And when they came knocking to see if Pilson was interested, he was more than ready to add his basslines into the mix.
Although Revolution Saints is considered more a project band, not likely to play any shows together, Pilson’s main band, known for constantly being on the road, is coming to an end; albeit with a long goodbye. Pilson has been with Foreigner for almost twenty years and recently they have decided to call it a day. In a statement, singer Kelly Hansen said, “The time has come. We have more or less lived our lives on the road for almost eighteen years. We have always strived to give you our best and we intend to finish this the same way. Foreigner has a brilliant and increasingly demanding catalogue of songs to sing and I refuse to give them less than they deserve. So, we’re going to finish strong.” The tour is expected to last into 2024. [The band is currently promoting $25 tickets for select dates. For more info, visit livenation.com/concertweek]
Although it hasn’t really sunk in for Pilson that his longtime gig with Foreigner will be ending, he has loved every minute of his time playing thousands of shows with the band Mick Jones originally put together in 1976. Pilson’s first exposure to them was their debut hit single, “Feels Like The First Time”: “Loved it immediately. Thought it was an amazing song right away,” he told me.
But Pilson is definitely not sitting around sulking. He is recording music, producing music, thinking about music and creating new songs. He has, of course, lots on his plate and I talked with him about what we can expect in the future, including more music with his Dokken bandmate George Lynch. Dokken kick-started Pilson’s career when he joined them for their second album, 1984’s Tooth & Nail. “Going in and recording the record was really a fun experience and what was great was that the band was so close. I think back and I think, man, I was the new guy and they actually gave me a lot of responsibility on that record. It was pretty cool that they did and it worked out great,” Pilson told me back in 2013. It also cemented his bond with Lynch: “He and I wrote the bulk of that record. We had a writing period of about a month where I practically lived at his house and we set up a little studio there and did all our demos and, like I said, did a chunk of the record there. I think that started a bond that’s still here today.”
So as Pilson continues down his rock & roll yellow brick road, he took a few minutes to talk Revolution Saints, Foreigner and emulating Chris Squire.
As always, you have a lot of things going on in your musical life and I want to start with Revolution Saints. How did you get involved with them, cause you and Joel Hoekstra are both new to the band.
Well, they had already done a couple of records with Jack Blades and Doug Aldrich on bass and guitar, and those guys, for whatever reason, weren’t able to continue. So I got a call from Serafino Perugino, head of Frontiers Records, and he asked me if I’d be interested in filling Jack’s shoes and I said absolutely. I love Jack and I know those are big shoes to fill but I’d love to take on the challenge. I think the same went for Joel and it just seems like we found a really great chemistry.
Were most of the songs already there or did the three of you make them complete together?
Actually, the songs were all written ahead of time, even for the next record (laughs). And this summer we’ll be starting on a third record where we are going to be involved in the writing. But producer Alessandro Del Vecchio I believe wrote most of the songs but I do think there were a couple of things he had Joel play on, cause I think Joel might have even written some of the music for it.
When did you find the time to do this record with everybody so busy?
Well, you know, we do most of the work remotely so in the moments that we’re home, we get in our studios and we do our tracks. That’s kind of the only way you can do it nowadays. Basically, Alessandro works up the skeleton of the song and then sends us the tracks, we each put our individual tracks on it, then Deen sings it and we’re done (laughs).
You make it sound so easy
Cause you made it sound really hard (laughs)
What were your primary basses that you used?
Mostly my Fender Precisions. I’m trying to think if on this record I used my 10-string on one or two songs but I know I used my Fender 5-string, I have a Precision 5-string, and my 1963 and 1958 P-basses. So I would say I used three P-basses, two of them 4-string, one a 5-string, and if I used my 10-string, which I forget if I did or not, it’s a Marvin 10-string.
These are big songs, big power ballad guitar solo songs, from beginning to end. Did you feel the electricity running through them when you first heard them?
Oh sure. I knew what it was going to be right away. Alessandro is a quality writer and I knew everybody was going to play great so I felt it immediately. I will tell you my favorite song on the record is “Crime Of The Century.” Just for some reason I just love that song and I think it’s a great song.
You said you guys are going to try to get together to do another record pretty quickly?
Oh, we’ve already actually done the second record (laughs) so we’re going to start working on a record you won’t see probably until 2025 (laughs).
Will you guys get a chance to play anytime?
You know, we talk about it and if the opportunity arose I think we’d take it but it’s just very difficult and very challenging to get these project bands, which this is more than a project band but it’s still you’re making a band out of people who work with other bands. So the logistics of getting all those people together to be able to play live, especially with my Foreigner schedule, which is crazy and I’m always on the road, so it’s very difficult. That’s why I never promise it but I will say if it ever happens I think it would be a great thing.
Speaking of Foreigner, you’re on your Farewell tour. Has it sunk in yet that you’re going to wake up one day and not have a Foreigner gig?
Probably not. I’m aware of it and my body is telling me things like, oh it’ll be so nice, you won’t be beating me up all the time (laughs). But as far as the reality of it, I don’t know when I’ll be ready for that.
Will this be a lengthy tour?
Absolutely. This is going to at least the end of 2024.
How was the decision to halt the band brought to you guys?
Well, Kelly and Mick discussed it and then they came to me. The thought was, Kelly doesn’t want to do this at anything other than his top level and he feels like soon that’s going to be over and he just doesn’t want to go out there and suck. He thinks that the band is too strong, the songs are too strong and the audiences deserve too much more. I couldn’t agree with him more. So our thought was, let’s end on a high note and that’s what we’re doing and I’m damn proud of the fact that we are.
Are you guys adding in any surprise songs to the setlist?
Not at this moment, although I think our headlining set this summer is going to feature a pretty detailed set. So there could be some deep stuff in there. We just haven’t quite figured out exactly what it’ll be yet.
You’ve played these songs hundreds and hundreds of times. When it’s all said and done, which one do you think you will miss playing the most?
You know what I’m going to miss the most is the acoustic set. I love when we do our acoustic set, I really do. Honestly, that part to me really makes it come home. So I think I’m going to miss that the most.
Which song in the Foreigner catalog would you have liked to have played more live?
There’s a song on the first record called “At War With The World,” which I absolutely adore. It’s one of my favorite Foreigner songs. We tried it live a couple of times with Jason Bonham at least fifteen years ago and it just didn’t go over. I was disappointed that it just wasn’t resonating with people but that is a song that I absolutely love and wish we would have played more.
You’ve been playing bass since your early teens and you’ve told me in interviews before that Chris Squire was your musical idol. What in particular did he do that maybe you’re still trying to emulate today?
He just had the most creative way of building his parts and the way he played was so unique and percussive but smooth. I mean, he was just a genius, a brilliant player whose basslines, his tastes, his feel, everything about him are still things I emulate today.
What was your first bass?
A Teisco Del Rey. I bought it from Eddie Ryan for $35 bucks. It was my bass for a couple of years. I loved that thing. I wish I still had it just to have it but I sold it years ago. But yeah, I bought a Teisco Del Rey bass and a Gibson Skylark amp, each for $35 bucks from Eddie Ryan.
Who was Eddie Ryan?
He was a guy that was in a band that was playing with some of my friends’ older brothers, so they were like the older band, more like the real deal to us (laughs). And he was buying REAL equipment so he was selling me his old stuff. But Eddie was a bass player in a local Milwaukee band and I haven’t seen him since but here it is fifty-plus years later and I remember him.
When did you finally get your dream bass?
That’s kind of hard to say. I mean, in 1986, I was in New York at 48th Street and I had some friends that contacted me. There was a vintage 1958 P-bass in there and it was only $800, which is hard to imagine now (laughs). But I bought that bass and fell in love with it and that’s been my baby ever since. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful bass that I’ve played on countless Dokken, Dio, MSG records, all sorts of stuff. It’s just a great bass and like I say, it’s my baby.
You mentioned a 10-string bass. Is that something like what Tom Petersson plays?
Correct. It’s the same principle only Tom Petersson plays a 12-string bass and what it is is he has the four strings of the bass, there’s three strings per of the four strings so there’s an octave, there’s a note that is above the low one and then there’s two of them up above the final note. So it gives a real large sound. The 10-string, what it is is it’s a 5-string bass, which means it’s got a low B and it has an octave on each one of those. Because it has the higher strings on it, I like it when it’s something you really want to emphasize whatever the riff is the bass is doing so then it really cuts.
Do you ever pull it out live?
I have with The End Machine, when we did some shows a couple years ago. I’m trying to remember if I took it to Japan or not in 2016 but yeah, it’s a staple.
Of all the albums you have played on, which one top to bottom do you feel you were locked into everything you wanted to achieve as a bass player?
I’ve got to say I’m very excited about the new End Machine record that we’re working on right now. I did some bass stuff on this that I am very, very proud of. So I guess that but something that is released already, that’s a tough one. Probably any of the End Machine records just cause I really like the bass sound that we’ve accomplished on those.
You and George Lynch can’t stay away from each other
We consider ourselves musical soulmates (laughs)
Where is Mick Brown? Has he retired now?
Yes he has. He’s a happy retired guy (laughs). He’s still in Arizona and he’s doing great. His body feels better cause he doesn’t have to be lumping around big heavy drums so he’s doing great, enjoying life, as he so deserves.
Which song in your catalog required the most finger maneuverability?
Wow, let me think on that. There’s a record called “Silent Winter” that has some really interesting maneuverability stuff on it, some interesting licks to play. And that’s on the one we’re working on with End Machine.
What was the first song where you felt the bass over everything else going on in the song?
Undoubtedly when I first heard “Roundabout.” I mean, there were a lot of things like “Badge” by Cream. I love that song to this day and the bass part at the beginning really grabbed me. But I distinctly remember the first time I ever heard “Roundabout” by Yes. The way the bass sounded was just so incredible, it just blew my mind. And that day changed my life. That day I stopped playing the way I had been, I started using a pick, I changed everything over immediately (laughs). I ended up buying a different bass. I ended up buying a different amp (laughs), everything to emulate Chris Squire and it was the best thing I ever did. That was the day that had the most effect on me.
You have been producing for a good while now. Has recording always interested you?
Here’s the thing. Before I ever walked into a recording studio proper, I had been doing a lot of stuff at home. I would bounce things back and forth on my cassette machines. I had a reel-to-reel recorder so I would record something on the reel-to-reel, like a vocal and a guitar or something, and then I’d play back the reel-to-reel and sing harmonies and maybe add like a guitar solo or something. So I was like a very experimental kid. I’ve always loved recording, it’s always been a big thing for me.
So what all are you working on besides End Machine and doing the Farewell shows?
This summer we’ll be doing some writing for another Revolution Saints record and then at the end of the year I’m starting with Black Swan again and doing another record with them. Black Swan is with Reb Beach on guitar, Robin McAuley on vocals and then Matt Starr on drums. It’s an amazing band and I’m very, very excited about it and can’t wait to write for that one too. So always busy. No rest for the wicked (laughs).
Live photo by Leslie Michele Derrough
