Une interview de tt le groupe qu'on découvre avec des yeux d'enfants, les influences, les passions, les perspectives etc ...

http://taliassima.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/bon-jovi-goes-full-circle-and-back-again/

Citation:

By Talia Soghomonian “Wait a minute. You work for a Swedish paper, you’re from L.A. and you live in Paris? You got issues baby!” Jon Bon Jovi wants to psychoanalyze me, with his bandmates Richie Sambora, Tico Torres and David Bryan, looking on in this posh London hotel suite. But I’m the one who gets to ask the questions… The quartet from New Jersey is still going strong as one of America’s most famous rock bands. And their history is all documented in Phil Griffin’s rockumentary “Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful”. Folowing the release of their new album, ”The Circle”, last fall, Bon Jovi have now embarked on their massive In The Circle Tour. You’ve been together for almost thirty years, that’s a milestone that most young bands today won’t ever reach… Richie Sambora: We’ve been together for a lot of years and we’re like a family; we’re like brothers. We have a great job to be able to create together. It’s like a sexless marriage! But in essence, we all enjoy what we do together. Yeah, we have problems but it’s a happy balance. All is good in Bon Jovi world! The album is called “The Circle” and I was wondering if you felt like you were closing a musical circle with this album? Jon Bon Jovi: No. “The Circle” was not our idea. A friend, a girl that we all know, said, “I’ve got an idea for an album title for you: ‘The Circle’!” And I said, “I love this!” Because to me, it is a continuum and even if we never made another note of music at this point today, I will have spent more of my lifetime in the band than out of the band, and this circle is a huge part. And in Jersey slang terms, we always say, “It’s very hard to get in and harder to get out.” And that’s what it represents. “We Weren’t Born To Follow” is your first single. Is that the Bon Jovi maxim, that you’ve remained true to your style? Jon Bon Jovi: I think what it really encapsulates the human spirit and I think it underlines our biggest beliefs in optimism and also helps those who want and need their one voice to be heard to know that there is somebody listening to that force. When we saw the Iranian uprising, the protest at the beginning of this summer, and that girl Neda who was the face of the protestors, that’s the kind of song that that person should know it was about them. It was about the anonymous guy in Tiananmen Square. And then it’s about Lance Armstrong coming back from cancer. He/she, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, L.A. chick (laughs) – that’s what this song is. How have these events affected your songwriting? There are a lot of allusions to politics and such. Jon Bon Jovi: I think it’s very evident in the songwriting, the lyrics. It’s a return to a simpler time. There’s cautious optimism if you read into “Happy Now”, which we wrote right after the president was elected, almost the next day: “Can I be happy now?” There’s that reservation: Could he be everything that he promised? There’s the disappointment and the characters that still try to find hope – songs like “Broken Promiseland” where they lived beyond their means and blew it and had to reorganize and go on. “When We Were Beautiful” – we couldn’t have written that song before this downturn because the world wasn’t feeling like that. “The world is cracked, the sky is torn” – we wouldn’t have written a lyric like that because just 14 months ago, the American stock market was at 14,000 points; everyone had one of those big mansions; it was Bush’s last days in office; even the war was a page 25 story in the back section of the paper. So the world changed dramatically last October. And it’s documented in the songs. Did the album emerge from all these feelings or were you already working on an album and it just took on a more political shape? Jon Bon Jovi: I had to be a little motivated. The initial plan for this fall was that we had to fulfill a commitment with the record company and do a greatest hits, and we went in and started writing last September. The world was different then. We started writing a couple of boy girl songs and a rehab song. Both of us were bored to tears! We were just like,” There’s nothing here right now! It’s crafting.” And then by October, we started to see there was opportunity. That’s why we put the record out. Actually, it was an interesting crossroad because we had this documentary finished with the greatest hits to accompany it. And now you’ve got a studio album. Your documentary shows that there seems to be more insecurity in your and that people would have guessed. I think someone mentioned a chip on the shoulder at one point. Do you feel you still have something to prove every time you go in the studio? Jon Bon Jovi: I think that everybody that has ever slung a guitar, painted a picture, wrote or a movie script or wanted to make shoes wakes up every day and wants to do it to the best of their ability. Half of the rebellion in being in a rock band is having a chip on your shoulder! I think it comes naturally with the job description. Being contented would be boring. Big dinosaur rock ’n’ roll bands don’t seem to form anymore. Why do you think that is? Is it because the music industry has changed so much? Tico Torres: I think the current climate is difficult for bands. We started touring the world very soon in our career and kept doing it. Also, I think it’s important to do music that’s new. That’s how we write our songs: We live in the present musically and that’s important. If we were sitting on what we did in the 80s, I don’t think we’d been doing this right now. The world is smaller but, at the same times there are less places for people to culture their craft as musicians. Where we grew up, e had plenty of places to play and meet musicians. It’s really difficult now with shows like “American Idol”. And that’s it. You can’t find a club. You can’t go see bands in a club and you can’t meet other guys. I think the future is in peril in that degree. There’s a different fusion if music coming out – it’s going to be electronically boosted – but as far as the physical contact with other people, it’s going to be very difficult. Jon Bon Jovi: That was depressing! (Laughter) That’s sad, man. Richie Sambora: (Pretends to cry) These new bands don’t have a chance to develop! Anytime you put out a new record, we look at our band’s career as a continuation of communication with our audience. “The Circle” is the latest installment in that continuum. Any time you put yourself out there, you kind of wonder: Are you leaving me hanging or are you gonna accept my handshake? Any time you put your love out there, you’re gonna get your love back, no matter what stage in your career that you’re at. There’s obviously a certain poise and confidence that you retain after being in the business for a long time, but then again, there’s that thing: How long is it going to last? So there’s always a little push and pull. Did it bother you back in the Eighties when you were describes as a metal hair band? Jon Bon Jovi: It’s bothersome for anyone to be lumped into a certain genre because you’re judging a book by its cover. But the only revenge I guess is still being here. Richie Sambora: Time proves itself right – or wrong. And for the record, Bono had more of a mullet than I did! (Laughter) All of you have side projects. What are your personal goals in the long term? David Bryan: Just to keep on keeping on. The band is the mothership, if you will, and then we do other projects outside. Jon Bon Jovi: Dave’s got a play on Broadway right now and play off-Broadway and it’s now even in a touring company, which is quite an accomplishment for any playwright. To have two plays – that’s like Elton John territory. That’s pretty big! David Bryan: Our goal is just finding art, making art. That’s what we love to do. Just continuing on and getting better at it and it’s fun. They call it playing an instrument, not working an instrument! You dream something up in your head and when you actually see it come to fruition, it’s pretty damn rewarding. Do your influences still seep through in your music? Richie Sambora: As a musician, it all seeps through. You go and rediscover music that you listened to in your formative years. Then you forget about stuff because it was 30 years ago. I just downloaded Band of Gypsies by Hendrix the other day and I started listening to that again. I used to sit in my room for hours and hours and play with Jimi and try to emulate him when I was a kid. So you go back and rediscover stuff. You listen to new stuff. It all seeps in a little bit. When it’s four of us in a room together, we’re going sound like Bon Jovi. Jon and I sit down and write a song, it’s going to sound like us. That’s just the way it is. So influences seep through a little bit, but it doesn’t really make a huge, monumental impact. When one talks to New Jersey born-and-bred artists, from Bruce Springsteen to Nicole Atkins, there’s an unusual sense of local pride. Is there anything about New Jersey that you think is reflected in your attitudes and what you’ve done? Tico Torres: I think it’s a blue-collar, working-class area living in the shadow of the great metropolis of New York. And between D.C. and Philadelphia, Jersey was this place that was the in-between. But it also gave you the ability to hone your craft without the major spotlights of New York or even Philadelphia. But there is a great sense of pride there, yeah. We came out of something that dates back to Sinatra and Count Basie. It didn’t start with the famous rock bands. It goes back 50-60 years now. We had all the access to all the greatest theaters and nightclubs, and then we could go disappear into the suburbs. Working hard is a part of our upbringing. That’s what our parents did – they worked really, really hard and consequently we fell into that same thing and we still haven’t psychologically got out of that mindset. We’re sill here after 27 years of being in a band and working really, really hard at our craft and also reaching out to our public and our fans. You’ve made your mark on the American rock scene. Is there a moment in music history that you would have liked to witness? Richie Sambora: Well, I never saw the Beatles live. That would be something cos they had so much to do with changing the culture, besides just the whole music scene. It changed fashion. It changed the way kids grew up. I got a chance to experience that but I never got a chance to see that live. I was a child of the Sixties, which I believe is probably the renaissance of music because everybody was so open to so many different genres of music. So I was a little kid then, I wasn’t a teenager. As long-standing bona fide rock stars, do you think rock is a matter of age? Jon Bon Jovi: That’s a good question. As long as you’re making music that’s relevant, you can be however you want. B.B. King sits on that stool every night and plays; Sinatra sang and toured until he was 80. I don’t see me doing it at 80! Richie Sambora: As an artist, you do it until they nail the coffin shut. Tico Torres: For artists, musicians and writers – you’re a writer, so you know – being creative keeps you young. Richie Sambora: It’s hard to imagine it not doping it at this stage when you’re excelling and you’re in an evolution process. I think that’s also a very important part of your question about personal goals. Personal goals is when the door to evolution opens, step through it not matter stage you’re on or what platform it is or wherever you are in your life, whether it’s being a parent, a good friend a good bandmate, a great songwriter, a great performer. If you have the chance to evolve, that’s what keeps you young in your heart.