Metal Edge: Kix front man Steve Whiteman talks ‘Blow My Fuse,’ breakthrough ballads and ‘pushing that magic button.’
You can read the entire interview @ this location. An excerpt from the conversation has been provided below.
Your vocals on the classic KIX ballad “Don’t Close Your Eyes” are powerful. Do you have any vivid memories from cutting that track?
Steve Whiteman:
We were so adamant about our demos that by the time we got into the studio, there wasn’t a whole lot of work that needed to be done. I just had to remake the demo. And it sounded almost like what we did in the studio. Our preparation has always been very, very good so by the time we hit the studio, it’s just do it and get out.
How many takes do you think “Don’t Close Your Eyes” vocal was then?
Well, [Blow My Fuse album coproducer] Tom Werman had a unique way of recording vocals. He would have me sing the song three times all the way through, and then he would go back and then he would just put piece everything together. And I rarely had to go in and fix anything, but then I would go in and double the vocal track.
As you were recording Blow My Fuse, did you get the feeling that even if the record company mishandled the previous album, this one was so good there was no way it would be denied?
Honestly, we didn’t know. We’d been disappointed three times before, so we were just hopeful that this was the one. We knew we had the material. And honestly, I think if it wasn’t for MTV, that record company probably wouldn’t have pursued it as hard as they did. The other thing, and I’ve told this story before, but when we were out on the road with Great White and Tesla, Great White’s manager, whose name escapes me now for some reason …
Alan Niven w/ Slash
Alan Niven [who also managed Guns N’ Roses early on].
Thank you. He was on the side of the stage watching our show and when we came offstage he said, “What was that ballad you guys played?” And we told him. He said, “I’m gonna call [label executive] Doug Morris at Atlantic Records and he needs to put that out. That’s a single.” And that’s what he did. He called Doug Morris and Atlantic Records and next week we’re filming a video for “Don’t Close Your Eyes.” That’s the one that really catapulted the album. I mean “Cold Blood” did well and “Blow My Fuse” did well, but “Don’t Close Your Eyes” put it over the top.
@OfficialYJM Killer show as always by the Maestro at the Monsters On The Mountain Festival!! Always love seeing Yngwie shred!! 🤟🤟 pic.twitter.com/W7A0EQC0SV
Cold Sweat (feat. Marc Ferrari & vocalist Roy Cathey from THE FIFTH) just wrapped up a quick hotel room rehearsal & gave me a call – they are on stage this afternoon (Sat Aug 20) at @MonstersCruise (Monsters On The Mountain) –
LISTEN HERE: https://t.co/oigs3LeB31pic.twitter.com/TKCPl1a7Sb
Thanks to everyone who came out for Monsters On The Mountain. One of the highlights for me was getting to hang with one of my guitar heroes, Pat Travers. He likes my @CRAlsipGuitars! 🤘😎 pic.twitter.com/uJCBjOSiiu
I drove my husband & son down to see Stryper at Monsters On The Mountain! They'll be looking for you @michaelhsweet while I'm shopping at the Old Time Pottery Store! pic.twitter.com/51AnPRSFcM
KIX FRONTMAN STEVE WHITEMAN RELEASES FIRST-EVER SOLO ALBUM,
YOU’RE WELCOME ON JULY 2, 2021
KIX CURRENTLY ON THE ROAD PLAYING DATES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND HEADLINING M3 ROCK FESTIVAL ON JULY 2ND
For the first time in his 35+ year history as the lead singer and frontman of KIX, Steve Whiteman will release his first-ever solo album, You’re Welcome, on July 2, 2021. The 12-song album was co-produced by Whiteman along with his trusted collaborators Brad Divens, Jimmy Chalfant, and Bob Paré; it was recorded and mixed by Divens at Fixintogetmixin Studio.
Though the recent pandemic essentially derailed the last year-plus of KIX’s touring plans, it gave Whiteman the chance to settle in at home for a critical period of time and vocal rest, the results of which he was able to channel directly into writing and recording You’re Welcome. “Not being able to play for over a year gave me the opportunity to get together with some friends and make an album of these songs,” said Whiteman. “It was great having something to do during COVID. We all had a great time making this record and I’m very proud of it!”
You’re Welcome is chock full of hard-rock gems. “I knew pretty early on this music wasn’t KIX music and that it was definitely going to be for my solo thing,” says Whiteman. Whether it’s the harmonica-splattered conflict of “Bad Blood,” the bluesy strike of “Lightning Bolt,” the instantly catchy “Do Me Like You Done Me Before,” the heartfelt and somewhat melancholy “Kid Dynamite,” a tribute to Ronnie Younkins [KIX guitarist], who’s been going through another bout of rehab, or the lusty wink-nudgery of “Tug of Luv” (one of the artist’s personal favorite tracks), You’re Welcome adds yet another exciting chapter to Whiteman’s storied recorded legacy.
If Whiteman’s loyal KIX fanbase feels like the album title sounds familiar, they’d be right. “It comes from a bit I do during KIX shows where I ask our crowds for a response. I demand they reply, ‘You’re welcome’ every time I say, ‘Thank you,’” Whiteman explains. And if the cover art gives them an incredible sense of déjà vu — it depicts Whiteman’s signature at the top, and a large, self-drawn stick figure underneath it, they’re exactly right. “Yeah, that started when KIX’s first album came out and the label had us do all these local in-stores,” Whiteman recounts. “It was madness because we would be sitting there for like two or three hours just signing albums. People were always saying things like, ‘Write something special to me’ or ‘do something special,’ and I just ran out of ideas. Finally, I just started doing this little stick man as a portrait — and it kinda stuck. When people ask for my autograph now, they want my stick man — and now everybody can get it on the cover of my album.”
KIX has released seven albums over their career including last year’s Midnite Dynamite Re-Lit, released on the 35th anniversary of the release of Midnite Dynamite. KIX will be on the road for the rest of the year, including headlining the M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on July 2. See all KIX tour dates @ this location.
You’re Welcome Tracklisting:
1. Easy
2. Talking Bout Luv
3. Get The Wild Out
4. Shock
5. Prick Teaser
6. Bad Blood
7. Kid Dynamite
8. Lightning Bolt
9. Strip
10. Tug of Luv
11. Do Me Like You Done Me Before
12. Shook Me In My Shoes
Beau revisits Kix’s 1985 album, ‘Midnite Dynamite’ – talks about working on the original album & the new 2020 remixed / remastered rerelease, ‘Re-Lit.’
The Complete full in bloom ‘Out of the Cellar’ Podcast
The full in bloom interview with RATT producer Beau Hill is now available. LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP ABOVE, ON YOUTUBE, OR VIA THE SOUNDCLOUD WIDGET BELOW.
Check back for more video / transcribed excerpts from this interview.
An excerpt taken from the beginning of our interview has been transcribed below. You can listen to the entire interview via the embedded YouTube clip above or at this location.
full in bloom: What’s new and what’s on the horizon?
Beau Hill: Well, basically all I do these days is mix. Bands from around the world send me files, bands that I’ve never met or heard from. I guess they go by reputation and then they find my website, and then they email me. We figure out how to do business together. They send me the files, I go to work and I send them back.
full in bloom: Is there anything you mixed recently that you took a liking to?
Beau: Absolutely. I did one Kix record, Midnite Dynamite.
full in bloom: I loved that record.
Beau: Thank you. So, they were doing the thirty year anniversary of Blow My Fuse and Blow My Fuse was supposed to be my record. But, again, there was another little falling about money with myself and the leader of the band, at the time, he’s no longer with them. Anyway, somebody else did the record and when it came up to do the reissue, which they just did, they said, ‘hey, let’s see if Beau wants to do the remix on it.” So, I did…the whole album. Really, really super happy with it. Number one, it was so fun for me to work with those guys again, and it came out great. That’s the most recent thing of merit. People send me files from everywhere, Australia, Moscow (laughs), it’s so crazy. I think they are primarily small projects, self-funded. I still like doing it and I guess I’ll keep doing it until I get bored or I don’t like doing it anymore, and then I just won’t. It’s still my passion; I love doing it.
full in bloom: What are you mixing with, console or are you on the computer?
Beau: I’m Pro Tools complete, that’s it. I kept a few of the real vintage pieces of outboard gear. Without getting to wonky about it, like some Pultecs and some Avalons, things like that, that I still use every day.
full in bloom: What do you mostly use the Avalons for?
Beau: I use the Avalons for the final chain on the 2-Buss, right before the final mix. It warms it up a little bit, and then there’s a compressor that I use on the 2-Buss. It’s very sensitive, I guess. I can compress like less that a half a dB and it warms it up. It doesn’t make it pump. which is what I really like about it.
full in bloom: What was your introduction to RATT?
Beau: I was living in New York in a rat-infested hovel (laughs). I had just come back from L.A. doing some work with Sandy Stewart, and I met Doug Morris on that particular day, the president of Atlantic Records. He and I hit it off really well. So, I was home in New York. Then about three weeks after I got back, the phone rang and it was Doug’s secretary. She said, “can you speak to Doug for a moment’ and I said, ‘absolutely.’ ‘Hi Doug, how are you,’ and he said, ‘listen, will you go to L.A. with me and I want you to look at this band. I think you’d be a great producer and if you’ll produce them, I am going to sign them.’ I was just like dumbfounded at that point. I went, ‘yes sir, absolutely, I’m there.’ We got on the plane, and funnily enough, I thought Doug was going to put me in coach and he would fly first class. But he bought us two coach tickets. So, he sat in coach with me the whole time, which I thought was pretty fun. We went to see them at the Beverly Theater. I said, ‘absolutely, I would love the opportunity.’
full in bloom: What was your first impression?
Beau: I liked them. My main first impression was, there were two thousand kids in that theater that were absolutely losing their mind. That was about all the reinforcement that I needed. There’s definitely a market for this – these kids are definitely responding to this band – so, I jumped at the chance.
full in bloom: Did you get the EP first?
Beau: I don’t remember how that all came about. Obviously, I got the EP at some point, because I think we took two songs off of the EP and redid them. I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but we started that record very quickly. We went into pre-production rehearsal first, because I think….they hadn’t been signed yet, so that took however long, a couple of weeks. My remembrance is that it happened pretty quickly.
full in bloom: I thought it was just one song on the EP, “Back for More.” Did you guys recut “You Think You’re Tough?”
Beau: No.
full in bloom: What was the other song that was from the EP?
Beau: I honestly don’t remember.
Tom Allom
full in bloom: Tom Allom (Judas Priest) was originally slated to produce that record?
Beau: That’s who the band wanted. The band did not want me to produce the record at all. Who was I? (Laughs) I was nobody.
full in bloom: I’m assuming he was busy or did he turn down the record?
Beau: No, Doug made it a contingency of him signing the band, that they had to use me. It was, ‘this guy is doing your record or you’re not getting signed to Atlantic.’ That was pretty much the way it went down.
full in bloom: Wow. So, what was it that made them think you were a good fit for RATT?
Beau: The only person that thought I was a good fit for RATT was Doug Morris and RATT’s manager Marshall Berle, who was Milton Berle’s nephew. The rest of the band were very displeased with the position they were put in, because, you know, they didn’t know me from a knothole. You know, they wanted bragging rights, I guess, of being able to get somebody that was a known quantity like a Tom Allom to do the record, rather than telling people ‘we got this loser from New York that’s friends with the record company’ (Laughs) ‘and then forcing us to use him.’ But that’s the truth, they really did. So, the band really had no choice. It was Beau’s record or you’re not on Atlantic. (Laughs)
full in bloom: What are those initial sessions like, kind of standoffish a bit?
Beau: Yeah, it was quite challenging. (Laughs)
We’ve only just scratched the surface, there is a lot more interview left. You can listen to the entire interview via the embedded YouTube clip above, directly on YouTube at this location, or via the Soundcloud widget below.
On the 30th Anniversary of their platinum album, Blow My Fuse, Maryland hard rock icons KIX will release Fuse 30 Reblown on September 21, 2018, exactly 30 years after Blow My Fuse’s original September 19, 1988 release date. KIX announced the release from the stage of the M3 Rock Festival where the band performed their highest charting album in its entirety last weekend to their hometown crowd.
Fuse 30 Reblown features a stunning Beau Hill (Alice Cooper, Ratt, Warrant, KIX) remixed and remastered version of their Atlantic Records release, as well as special never-before-released demos of all 10 tracks, recorded in the early to mid 1980’s. The album features the group’s biggest hit, the power ballad, “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1989. The album achieved platinum sales and peaked at #46 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the band’s most successful of their 35-year career.
“We are proud to be celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the biggest album of our lives,” says singer Steve Whiteman. “We went from clubs to arenas, a van to a tour bus, and from the U.S. to Japan and Europe. And 30 years later, our fans are still right here with us.”
Fuse 30 Reblown will be available for pre-order in July through the band’s PledgeMusic store, where fans can also purchase special commemorative merchandise.
KIX gracefully eased back into the public consciousness in 2008. After sold out hometown gigs, the quintet hit the stage at Rocklahoma in front of over 20,000 people, venturing out of the Mid-Atlantic for the first time in 13 years. Delivering a triumphant set alongside Sammy Hagar and Alice Cooper, they left their mark on old and new fans alike. After capturing their fiery reunion on 2012’s Live in Baltimore CD & DVD, the members agreed to enter the studio once again.
In 2014, the group released their seventh full-length album, Rock Your Face Off (Loud & Proud Records) their first studio effort since 1995’s Show Business. The album debuted at #1 on Amazon’s “Hard Rock and Metal” chart, in the Top 50 on Billboard’s “Top 200 Albums” chart, #5 on the “Independent Albums “chart, #11 on the “Top Internet “chart, #17 on the “Top Rock Albums” chart, #27 on the “Indy/Small Chain Core Stores” chart and #33 on the “Physical” chart.
KIX last released CAN’T STOP THE SHOW: THE RETURN OF KIX on October 21, 2016, a two-disc DVD/CD set that entered the Billboard Top Music Video Sales chart at #3, and rose to the #1 position, the band’s highest charting debut and first #1 ever in their 35-year history. The 71-minute film offered an in-depth look into KIX’s decision to record their first new album, 2014’s Rock Your Face Off, in almost 20 years.
FUSE 30 Reblown
Disc 1 – Blow My Fuse remixed and remastered By Beau Hill:
Red Lite, Green Lite, TNT
Get It While It’s Hot
No Ring Around Rosie
Don’t Close Your Eyes
She Dropped Me The Bomb
Cold Blood
Piece Of The Pie
Boomerang
Blow My Fuse
Dirty Boys
Disc 2 – Demos:
Red Lite, Green Lite, TNT (Demo recording, 6/20/86)
Get It While It’s Hot (Demo recording, 11/10/86)
No Ring Around Rosie (Demo recording, 1987)
Don’t Close Your Eyes (Demo recording, 11/25/86)
She Dropped Me The Bomb (Demo recording, 6/20/86
Cold Blood (Demo recording, 3/21/87
Piece Of The Pie (Demo recording, 6/20/86)
Boomerang (Demo recording, 3/4/84)
Blow My Fuse (Demo recording, 9/5/86)
Dirty Boys (Demo recording, 11/10/86)
KIX will be performing select shows for the rest of the year. A list of dates can be found below.
Tour Dates:
MAY 19 @ Rocky Gap Casino – Cumberland, MD
MAY 26 @ BMI Speedway – Versailles, OH
MAY 27 @ HerrinFesta Italiana – Herrin, IL
JUN 16 @ Club XL – Harrisburg, PA
JUN 23 @ Freedom Fest – Littleton, CO
JUL 12 @ Bottle and Cork – Dewey Beach, DE
JUL 21 @ Moondance Jam – Walker, MN
AUG 18 @ North Woods Rock Rally – Glen Flora, WI
SEP 01 @ Shenandoah County Fair – Woodstock, VA
SEP 07 @ Grand Rocktember Music Festival – Hinckley, MN
Metal Edge: Kix front man Steve Whiteman talks ‘Blow My Fuse,’ breakthrough ballads and ‘pushing that magic button.’
Steve Whiteman:
Monsters of Rock:
This is a full in bloom interview with producer/engineer Beau Hill.
