PAUL BONRUD
 

www.bonrud.com

(Winter 2005)

Paul Bonrud stared his musical career as a studio musician in Minneapolis before relocating to Seattle. His past musical endeavors include extensive recording, producing, and performing live. His self-titled debut has just been released through Frontiers Records. Bonrud was written completely by Paul, and he played all of the instruments himself. The CD itself is a well-balanced melodic rock experience. If you don't believe me, then take my word for it...read CD review
 

RIL: How does a Seattle guy get involved with the Italian Record label Frontiers?
PB: I was offered record deals from several different record labels but in the end, I decided to sign with Frontiers. Serafino really has a passion for this style of music and I had been impressed with many of their previous releases (I really love the Kelly Keagy and Giant III CD’s!) I only sent my CD to the labels I thought would do the best job marketing the material so I was very selective and I'm very pleased with the work that Frontiers has done for me. Frontiers signed me for Europe, Russia, and Israel and Marquee/Avalon is distributing the CD in Japan.

RIL: You play all of the instruments on your debut CD, which instrument is your specialty?
PB: I’m primarily a guitar player. The only time I play the bass or keyboards is when I need to record a part. 99% of all of my songwriting occurs on the guitar.

RIL: What are a few of your favorite songs from the album and why (and you can’t say all of them)?
PB: “Desperate Heart” is without a doubt my favorite song. It’s big and dramatic, the music is beautiful, and the production is huge! I also really like “The Phoenix” because it’s got a powerful groove, and I love the fun lyrical theme of the song “I’ve Changed”.

RIL: How does a song come together when you play all of the instruments?
PB: Very slowly! ? Well, it usually starts out with me coming up with some cool riffs on the guitar. It doesn’t take me very long before I have the music for the verse, pre-chorus, and chorus worked out. So, once I have the music arrangement figured out, I record scratch guitar tracks along with a click track. Then I have my drummer Paul Higgins record real drums and then I record the bass, and guitars individually on top of the drums. After the music is laid down, I sing a scratch vocal track and then I have Dave Hendricks come in and sing the vocal part I have written. After that, I usually record all of the backing vocals myself and have Dave sing a few parts if time permits.

RIL: Are you planning any local or national dates in support of the album?
PB: Just local dates for now.

RIL: You were a session musician before you cut your first CD, did you work with anyone notable?
PB: None of my past session work was done on anything big…mainly just local artist’s CD releases. I learned a lot by doing all of those recordings though. You really have to learn to be versatile and deliver something that compliments someone else’s creation.

RIL: In past interviews you have done it’s clear that you are a huge Journey fan, instead of asking you what your favorite Journey album or song is I’m going to go in a different direction; what do you think of Steve Augeri as the lead singer of Journey?
PB: I think Steve Augeri is doing a great job and was an excellent choice. He’s not a Steve Perry clone but he sounds great singing the old tunes and he brings soulfulness to their new recordings. Steve Perry will always be my favorite singer but Steve Augeri is right up there as well. I was skeptical of him replacing Steve Perry until I sat in the front row of a Journey concert back in ’98. I remained skeptical through the first verse and chorus of “Separate Ways” but after that, he got on track and quickly won me over. I’ll always love the old Journey stuff but I look forward to more new recordings with Steve Augeri. There’s no need for them to ever reunite with Steve Perry as far as I’m concerned. I miss hearing Steve Perry sing but I don’t blame the guy for wanting to get out of the rock and roll circus. He lived that life for many years and if he wants to be a private person now, I can respect that.

RIL: Which Neal Schon side-project do you like the best and why; Bad English, HSAS, Jan Hammer/Neal Schon, Hardline, or Soul SirkUs?
PB: That’s a tough call because I enjoyed Neal’s guitar playing in all of those projects. I think his guitars sounded the best on the Hardline CD. I probably would have loved a quality studio album from the HSAS project because I’m a big Sammy Hagar fan but the songwriting and production of that was a loose affair. I thin the whole HSAS album was written, recorded, and performed live all within a two week period. My favorite song from that album is “Missing You”. The new Soul SirkUs CD is pretty cool too. I bought it directly through their web site. I much prefer buying CD’s directly from the band when I can. Record labels take too much of the money for themselves. Support independent musicians!

RIL: Ever meet anyone from Journey?
PB: Yes, I’ve met everyone from the current line-up. I’ve met Neal and Deen the most. They’re all great guys. I have to give Ross extra credit for being supremely approachable and generous. He actually gave me back stage passes once. After meeting Steve Augeri, it’s easy to understand why they picked him. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s an exceptionally nice guy. He’s an easy guy to get along with so that is a huge bonus when you’re on the road all the time.

RIL: Do you think we’ll ever see Steve Perry back in Journey?
PB: No, I think he’s done with Journey and really doesn’t want to live in that kind of pressure cooker environment anymore. He doesn’t have anything left to prove so I wish him well in his retirement. Still, I’d love to hear new music from him and if I could get in contact with him, I’d be twisting his arm to sing on one of my next CD’s! ;-)

RIL: Isn’t that phoenix on the cover of your CD eerily similar to the ones that appear on Journey’s albums?
PB: It’s not too surprising since the artist also did all of the artwork on Deen Castronovo’s drum kit for the past Journey tour! He also just designed the artwork for George Tickner’s new website. George was a member of Journey through their very first album.

RIL: Why do you think that your style of music is a tough sell in the U.S.?
PB: Time marches on and things change. I do however hear stronger melodic elements in today’s music so the style is coming around again albeit in a newly packaged form.

RIL: What’s the weirdest question a journalist has ever asked you (now don’t be picking any of mine)?
PB: I wish I had a good weird question to report but most of them have been pretty much on target!

RIL: What’s next for Bonrud?
PB: I’m actually working in the studio today, laying down a few scratch tracks for a few new songs. Paul Higgins and I will be recording drums for 3 or 4 new tunes next weekend. So, work is just beginning on the next Bonrud CD. I’m not in a rush since I’m still busy promoting the current CD but I enjoy the creativity of writing and recording new material. All of the new songs I’ve written are rockers and I’ll probably continue down that path for awhile and then write a few ballads toward the end.

RIL: Anything I missed?
PB: I’d just like to thank everyone who has been supporting us by purchasing a CD. We greatly appreciate all of our fans. People who haven’t heard us yet can check out our web site at www.bonrud.com. Also, we’re selling autographed CD’s directly through our website for just $10. So please check us out and help support independent music!

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