TOM KEIFER Says There Is A New Album 'Probably Brewing'

In a new interview with Rock 100.5 The KATT FM's Cameron Buchholtz, CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer was asked if he has commenced work on material for the follow-up to his sophomore solo album, "Rise", which was released in September 2019 via Cleopatra Records. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I think there's a record probably brewing. There always is one. Music is kind of floating in the air. Songs are, they're always out there somewhere. It's just when the inspiration strikes you. I like to keep it organic and wait for a strong emotion or a feeling to hit that really feels like a song. And you kind of collect those. I call 'em like the little seeds of songs — you get these chorus lines in your head. I just kind of let 'em brew. And the ones that I remember I feel like are maybe the strongest ones or the best ones and then eventually those are the ones that get written. So, yeah, since 'Rise', there's been a lot of ideas floating in and out. I'm kind of keeping track of 'em. I'd say albums are kind of like a lightning strike — you kind of know when you're ready and when you have one, and just boom, it falls out."

He added: "The writing process is — I know this might sound weird, but it's almost every day, because ideas go in and out of your head all day long, and the first question as a writer is, 'Hmm, is that a song?' And if one really sticks with you, you eventually write it. At least that's how I work."

Asked how he keeps track of all of his musical ideas and whether he sings melodies into his phone, Tom said: "Usually I don't. I didn't for years. Every once in a while I will now, if there's something that I think that's really good that I won't remember. But my natural filtration process used to be was not to record anything, and for decades that's how I did it, because I figure if I forget it, then it's not memorable. Now that I'm getting a little bit older, if something goes through my head that I think is really strong and I'm afraid that I'm gonna forget it, I might sing that into the phone. [Laughs] But I still try to do the natural filtration process where you see what sticks with you. It's always worked for me. I've heard other songwriters say they do it that way, too — see what really sticks with you. And if it keeps haunting you and keeps coming back to you, then maybe there's something there, I guess is the best way to put it."

This past March, Tom told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he will release a new studio album "at some point." He added: "Inspiration hits at the oddest times. When the first solo record [2013's 'The Way Life Goes'] was released, we were so focused on touring that I just thought, 'Man, I'm never gonna write another song again. The inspiration's not coming, and I don't know when we're ever gonna get another record done.' And then, for some strange reason, when we got off the road in 2018. we just ended up in the studio and all these songs just fell out and we had 'Rise' in about six months' time, between the writing and the recording and mixing and all. So I feel that coming again."

He continued: "I think that we all want to make another record, and there's definitely some ideas for some songs starting to drift into the antenna. That's how it always starts for me, is you get ideas for songs and you sing them into a voice memo or you jot down a line. I don't usually finish them when they come to me that way; I just kind of store these ideas, and then at some point you've got a pile of them, you go, 'Let's go make a record.' And then you finish out the songs and you record them. So, yeah, that process is going on all the time, of just collecting the ideas. You get an inspiration driving down the road, and you pull out the voice and then when you sing a chorus line into something and then don't come back to it for who knows how long, but usually you come back to when you have a pile of those. And then you finish them out."

Keifer went on to say that he usually blocks everything else out and just focuses on finishing the songs when it's time to make an album. "Yeah, that's kind of when it gets serious," he explained. "And that comes when you feel like you've got a bunch of ideas, because you don't wanna go with the first 10 ideas you have. So then you feel, like 'Whoa, this is really starting to pile up.' Okay, then you go through and you pick, like, what are the best ideas here? And with the solo stuff, I write most of it with [my wife] Savannah, and she writes the same way, and she stockpiles ideas, and we just get to a point where we, like on 'Rise', we just started kicking ideas back and forth at each other, and then, before we knew it, they were finished. But, yeah, that's the point where you've got to block the rest of the world out. And that's what happened when we got off tour in 2018 and I had a ton of ideas and Savannah had some ideas and we kind of were going through 'em. And boom, it's, like, we just started finishing 'em. It was, like, 'Man, that's a great idea. Let's finish that one.' And then next thing I know, I'm up in the studio with the band and we're tracking them. And that record went really fast, compared to the first one, which was the better part of 10 years putting that one together, and it was recorded with session musicians and stuff. And there were a lot of obstacles that came into play with that record, but we eventually got it done and sounding the way we wanted it. And then, very pleasant surprise when we made 'Rise', it was the opposite experience. I mean, it was, like, no obstacles. It was, like, 'All right, we're making a record. Block the world out.' Boom, all of a sudden it's done. Every record's different."

Tom's #KEIFERBAND is rounded out by Savannah Keifer, Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Kendra Chantelle, Jarred Pope and Kory Myers.

Last year, Keifer told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he hadn't "recorded anything" new since "Rise". "Some song ideas are starting to bubble," he said.

"The pandemic kind of threw a wrench in everything, obviously," he explained. "We were in the middle of working 'Rise'; we were on the second single, 'Hype', and were about to go out on that 'Big Rock Summer Tour' [with RATT, SKID ROW and SLAUGHTER]. And 'Hype' was kind of moving up the charts, and then everything got shut down. All the creative juices, all the energy during that couple of years just kind of… I know some people got creative; some people didn't. I didn't. [Laughs] So, it's starting to come back now. I think getting back out on the road last year kind of ignited that spark again. But, yeah, we definitely wanna do a follow-up to it.

"I would say records come in their time; I don't like to rush them," Keifer added. "But, yeah, there will for sure be a follow-up. And that antenna is starting to go up and song ideas are starting to kind of come in. Yeah, it's coming."

According to Tom, the pandemic-related break from touring came just at the right time. "I kind of needed it," he said. "We toured so much with this band leading right up to the last tour, right before the pandemic. We were actually out early that year, in 2020, 'cause the 'Rise' tour was still kind of continuing; we were still working the record. So it was 10 years straight for me — or not quite 10 years at that point. But there were three CINDERELLA tours prior to that. So I'd been on the road, like, 12 years straight. So I was crispy by the time that pandemic hit. None of us wanted that forced on us, obviously, but I guess it forced me to take a break, which I probably needed."

Although CINDERELLA hasn't released a new studio album since 1994's "Still Climbing", the band started playing sporadic shows again in 2010 but has been largely inactive for the last few years while Keifer focused on his solo career.

In March 2022, Keifer said that he was "not prepared" for the 2021 passing of CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar. Jeff was found dead by his wife in July 2021 inside his apartment in Nashville. He was 58 years old.