Wednesday
Jul312019
Tom Keifer Band Announces New Album
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 12:01AM From my inbox - for all the Tom Keifer fans! This is pretty exciting - the Tom Keifer Band is finally going to put out new music.
July 30, 2019 -- Timing, as the saying goes, is everything. And when you’re a career artist like TOM KEIFER, you know exactly what it takes to get to the pinnacle and just how precarious it can be once you reach the top. After years of touring and growing with his solo band, KEIFER feels the timing is right for a new record with Keifer Band.
KEIFER with #keiferband--Savannah Keifer, Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Kendra Chantelle, Jarred Pope, Kory Myers—are ready to RISE to yet another peak in their ongoing music journey with the September 13 release of his second solo album on Cleopatra Records. Pre-orders of the album are available today at TomKeifer.com/Preorder on all formats, including CD (digipak), vinyl (in your choice of red, blue, or green) and digital, which will include an instant download of the first single, “The Death Of Me.”
A video for “The Death Of Me”—written by KEIFER and his wife Savannah, and directed by Vicente Cordero--was released today. Though TOM KEIFER has faced many ups and downs all throughout his storied career, his unyielding resilience can be found well within the grooves and lyrics of the song. “We created ‘The Death of Me’ to inspire people not to give in to or be defeated by the seemingly insurmountable lows that we all sometimes face, but rather to Rise and overcome them,” he says.
His creative renaissance is fully on display via the eleven tough ’n’ tender tracks that comprise RISE.
Produced by TOM KEIFER, Savannah Keifer, and Kyle O’Connor, RISE scales renewed sonic heights. From the tasty slide work that stamps “Touching the Divine,” the nontraditionally arranged, heavy, dark jam of “Untitled,” the breakneck thrust of “All Amped Up” to the tender coda of “You Believe in Me,” RISE signifies the ongoing evolution of the former Cinderella frontman as a person, songwriter, and bandleader. It’s the aural portrait of an artist who, to borrow a phrase, is still climbing
“When this band came together, we all felt a bit like broken souls, each with our own unique story,” he explains. “If you ask anyone in the band, they would all say this band came along at just the right time. Every human who walks this planet faces challenges and extreme adversity they have to overcome. As a band, we feel fortunate to be able to face those things together. There is a piece of every band member in the ‘The Death of Me’ as well as throughout the entire RISE album.”
The common thread to each song on RISE is the intuitive interplay between each member of #keiferband, a tight but loose collective that’s spent the last six-plus years on the road honing their live craft together in support of KEIFER’s critically acclaimed 2013 solo debut, THE WAY LIFE GOES. RISE is the studio-bred equivalent of a band just now realizing the full scope of its powers. “We were trying to capture the feeling of what people have witnessed live with this band,” KEIFER explains. “There’s an off-the-rails, real live feel to RISE — and that’s what we were going for. It shows a real kind of angst and reckless abandon that we tried not to polish too much. And when we pull it back on the ballads, it’s more about the emotion, the soul, and making people feel something in a different way.”
THE WAY LIFE GOES - DELUXE EDITION was released October 20, 2017 on Cleopatra Records, which is an expanded compilation of his debut album chocked full of special artwork and bonus content, including the long-awaited studio recording of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends,” which KEIFER performs at all of his concerts, plus a powerful new take on the Cinderella classic “Nobody’s Fool,” newly recorded as a duet with Lzzy Hale of Halestorm.
In touring news, TOM KEIFER and #keiferband have been on a vigorous trek ever since the 2013 album release, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. Their next batch of headlining dates start July 30 in their hometown, Nashville, TN today at The Cowan. Dates are already confirmed through the end of 2019, with more to be added in the coming weeks, and are already being planned for 2020.
Reader Comments (20)
But, listening to this song (which is fine), I still would like a reunion. I'd love a chance to see the classic line-up one last time. So I listen to this song and think (already acknowledging that it is Keifer who steered and steers the Cinderella ship): can't you get your stuff in order LaBar? And couldn't Brittingham and Coury broker something that helps that happen--as a life plunging into the abyss matters more than a reunion--while also helping LaBar and Keifer mend fences?
Don't get me wrong. Cinderella weren't more than the sum of their parts. There was Keifer and the other, talented, band members (putting aside Coury's absence on their first two albums, although he is credited on the second when it was Cozy Powell and Dennis Carmassi who actually manned the kits).
But with music, as with food, we often eat with our eyes. And I recall that band, in that form, playing. I am lucky enough to have seen them play together. I would love to do so again. Bottom-line though: too many bands have withered away as a consequence of personal demons and the feuds, frustrations, and futility that erupts around them. So I am not expecting a miracle.
That said, I hope LaBar finds a path back from the place where partying and anxiety led him . . . independent of what happens to the band. And I wish them all well (not that they care). Cinderella played a big role in my youth. I actually miss having them around when so many other great bands of that era barely exist or don't exist anymore, or when members of those bands have tragically died too early or stopped communicating because they fear that is what will happen.
[This post should, if anyone was worried, dispel any sense that I was either: (a) not capable of a cogent post; or (b) figured out how to distill my thoughts down into small snippets meant for quick consumption. So, yeah, I am still here . . . just less frequently making my presence known. We all win, right?]
Sure it would be cool if we still had Cinderella but we don't... so at least this doesn't suck (*cough* Skid Row).
Sure, he could replace Jeff Labar and do Cinderella tours + albums, but he doesn't, because he refuses to do Cinderella without the 4 core guys. it's not that he doesn't have the rights - he wrote ALL of the music for Cinderella band and likely owns the name (much like Meniketti with Y&T).
It seriously hurts my heart when bands release dogshit albums without key members,,, I would rather the band not exist than tarnish their catalog like that.... Remember when Motley did that album with Randy Castillo playing drums *shudder*
PS - I did see the only Cinderella tour with a replacement member (Ray Brinker playing drums on Still Climbing tour). Was still a great show but it's so much more legit with Fred Coury.
PSS - What do KISS and Warrant have in common?? Both released EMBARRASSINGLY BAD albums with a member of Black And Blue replacing an integral member.... Moral of the story is don't let anyone from Black and Blue in your band, and certainly don't make an album with them (are you listening Pearcy and Croucier??)
I know this band rocks, and I’ll give this album a chance, but this song does nothing for me
Keifer doesn’t need Le Bar to keep Cinderella going, Mike.
This new track and all of Keifer’s previous efforts are evidence as to why he needs to keep Cinderella going.
As with so many artists who leave a band and go it alone, Keifer, as talented as he is, comes off boring without Cinderella.
He could have his pick in terms of replacement guitarists for Le Bar. And while I appreciate Le Bar admitting he f*cked it all up, having witnessed it with my own two eyes (and ears), on The Monsters of Rock Cruise.
And that includes the last show they ever played, which was also on said cruise, when Keifer thanked everyone, before Cinderella played their final encore, and said something to the effect of how Cinderella always gives their all for the fans and, I quote, “... never mail it in, right Jeff?”
While it’s “noble” of Le Bar to take the blame, I actually put the blame on Keifer. He’s the one who could keep it going with the others as long as they would be willing to.
His latest solo effort only conjures up the half a*sed pursuits of Brett Michaels, someone who has about 1/100th of the talent Keifer possesses.
So what’s worse? Cinderella with a more than capable replacement for Le Bar, or Keifer coming off like another Brett Michaels and with nearly equally bad songs.
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m with BK all the way! This, as with all of Keifer’s solo efforts, unequivocally S*CKS! And this coming from a person who told Keifer directly to his face, “You’re a legend.”
I just wish he hadn’t taken it the wrong way.
Have you ever seen The Tip?
Totally KICKA*S!!!
Get to see this band and LA Guns open up for them in a couple months. Can't wait.
That being said, this just seems like he's going through the proverbial motions. I hope that's not the case for the rest of this go round, because his 1st solo album was pretty freakin' awesome, at least to this old guy. I gotta think there'll be some banging songs on this one also. Dude has more than earned the benefit of this guys doubt. Guess we'll wait and see. 🤘🤘
Trust me, I have been tempted---soooooo many times--to chime in. But I am keeping, more or less, to my original promise: keep my points to the point (for me, mind you), slagging only when slagging seems necessary, and avoiding the needless dives into tit-for-tat that sucked the life out of posting for me.
Great comments on here, as always. Nice to see all the give and take, and to hear the stories from people who lived it. Still the main reason that I come here to read and, occasionally, opine.
Now . . . back to my oxygen tent. The air gets thin about this time of night. I'd blame it on the smokes. But that is just pointing at others when the mirror doesn't lie. That is a partial jest, by the way.