QUIET RIOT's BANALI, DUBROW Talk About New Album

Wayne "Doobie" Dubay of Glam-Metal.com recently conducted an interview with QUIET RIOT members Kevin DuBrow and Frankie Banali. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Glam-Metal.com: Kevin, I'm excited to hear that QUIET RIOT has a brand new studio album coming out, titled "Rehab". Mind telling us a little about the album and what people can expect from it?

Kevin: It's a departure from previous QUIET RIOT albums. The songs are composed differently, and recorded differently. It's similar to our QUIET RIOT albums in two ways: it's got my vocal sound, which is like it or not, distinctive, and Frankie Banali might be only one of maybe five drummers around who's identifiable with his drum sound. You've got John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Cozy Powell, Frankie Banali, and maybe Keith Moon as guys who are distinctive by their drum sounds, besides their playing. Songwriting-wise, we dug into our '70s roots, and some of the guitar texture are more modern sounding. Not modern sounding like you may think, but more bluesy, I think.

Glam-Metal.com: How happy are you with the new release, and is there anything you'd like to say about the new record Frankie?

Frankie: I'm very happy with the fact that it's getting released, and that it's getting released worldwide. Beyond that, I think it's a great record, I think the songs are great, I think it's a very different QUIET RIOT record, but we'll let the listening public decide what they think.

Kevin: It's all about the songs. The big emphasis was on the song writing, and other times for one reason or another, we went in a direction that was applicable to all four people that were playing in the group. On this one, Frankie and I were able to go in whatever direction we wanted to, and not having to cater to any personal style other than what we wanted to do.

Glam-Metal.com: Frankie, I understand Rudy [Sarzo, ex-QUIET RIOT bassist] is out with DIO, but I'm surprised Carlos [Cavazo, guitar] hasn't been touring with QUIET RIOT. Why is that, and do you expect him to return anytime soon?

Frankie: When we decided to re-group, we did ask Carlos if he wanted to participate, and Carlos' position was that unless it involved the so called original "Metal Health"-era members, he wasn't interested. So...by his own choice, he declined the offer. I can tell you without any reservation, and with no disrespect to Carlos, that that invitation would not be repeated, and I told him that at the time. Is there a chance that Carlos will be involved in QUIET RIOT again? I can say with all assurences, no. Will there ever be a QUIET RIOT that will include the so called original "Metal Health"-era band members? No, that will not happen either. I think people need to put that to rest. I think also people need to understand that with the time that QUIET RIOT has existed, and I'm talking post-Randy Rhoads-era QUIET RIOT, there has been a longer period of QUIET RIOT that did include those four individuals, including Kevin and I. I think people need to get the notion that the so called original QUIET RIOT isn't going to happen anymore than Bill Wyman is going to start playing with the STONES again.

Kevin: I think it's important to remember to, is that when we play live, people have a certain vision of QUIET RIOT, but I think it's about the era, and songs, and the memories from that era, the early '80s, and the whole MTV generation. I think we've proved for the last three years that QUIET RIOT as a concept is what people are really still enjoying regardless of who's in the band...

Frankie: You know...it's impossible to meet an audiences nostalgic view of what the band should be, and be realistic, because once they leave, that nostalgia goes out there with them, but we still have to stay together, and that doesn't always work.

Glam-Metal.com: Frankie, since you handle all of the QUIET RIOT business, I'll ask you this next question. I'm curious about all of the line-up changes in the past few months. What's up with that man?

Frankie: It's actually pretty easy to nail down. At the end of 2005, Chuck [Wright] and Alex's [Grossi] contracts were done, because we do an annually contract with them, and at that point in time, Kevin and I knew that we wanted to do a record, we didn't know when or how, and it was best to cut them loose. There were some issues that were going on internally anyways, that needed to be worked out, and we figured that time would take care of those, but we didn't have the time to wait for that, and also go in and do a record. We auditioned a variety of bass players, most of them were not working out. We went into the studio and used Tony Franklin specifically to do the record, and Glenn Hughes was kind enough to play bass on a track and do a vocal duet with Kevin. We used Neil Citron, who is a briliiant studio gutarist, and is also a very good engineer. At one point we entertained the idea of having Tracii Guns in the band, but that was very short-lived, and didn't work out, we had only one rehersal and it wasn't working for everybody. Ah...so we went ahead and did the record from a seperate situation as an actual touring band, and during that period of time, we've gotten back together with Alex and Chuck, and we've been moving forward ever since.

Read the entire interview at www.glam-metal.com.