European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse I no Messin with this mama by Dennis Hunt los Angeles times his is my tramp image said Rock Singer guitarist Lita Ford referring to her Low Cut strapless top and leather pants that As she boasted seemed sprayed on. Ford eagerly cultivates that biker girl heavy Metal mama image which fits her Raunchy music. But until her new album Lita her first for Ria records her music seemed to be less interesting than that image. However this album featuring her top 15 single kiss me deadly is her first hit. None of her three Solo albums on poly ram were big successes. The Raunchy image is nothing new for Ford. Now 29, she first surfaced in los Angeles All girl teen band the runaways Back in 1975. Again their tawdry image was More provocative than their amateurish music. Since her Days As a titillating teen guitarist people have been asking the same question about Ford is she for real is there a saintly Young lady underneath that biker get up listen Rock n Roll Ain t Church Ford said in a recent interview in los Angeles. It s a Nasty business. You gotta be Nasty too. If you re Goody Goody you can t sing it or play it. Kids Don t pay to see Nice. They want aggression they want anger and some sleaze too. They want the Way Ford tells it her new album would not be a hit without producer composer Mike Chapman. I was in a Hole she said. I needed a Good producer a Good songwriter somebody to get the Best out of her previous Solo albums suffered from so so songs and mediocre production Ford said. Those other producers would get me mad and uptight she said. They did t know what to do with me. The songs needed Good production and i was t getting it and i knew it which made me even madder. They had me screaming not singing. I can scream Well but i m not supposed to be screaming All the Ford decided that Chapman who produced some of Pat Benatar s Best material would be her musical guru he was part of the new regime that was guiding her career. In 1986, she scrapped the old machinery manager band accountants and record company. I had the wrong people around me she said. I was t getting anywhere. I wanted to see what new people could do. I even dumped my Boyfriend. He was wrong forme not Only did Chapman bring her the song kiss me deadly but he pulled Good vocals out of me in the studio. No one else had done that. I can play guitar i m confident about that. But i m still learning to sing. Five years ago i could t sing. I m much better now but i need guidance. Mike knew just what to do and when to do it. Sometimes we had to record in the Early afternoon and i was t quite into singing some hard nosed Rock song then. He d give me five Bucks and Send me Down to the Corner bar to get a shot of tequila. I d come Back raring to Ford s biggest contribution to this album was composing some Quality songs. Though used to writing alone she wrote part of it with Metal masters Ozzy Osbourne Motley Crue s Nikki Sixx and motor head s Lemmy Kilmister. It s agony writing by myself she said. I get impatient and lose my temper. It s Nice to write with other people occasionally. I be written with other people before nothing As Good As this. I m a guitar player. That s my first born in London and raised mostly in America Ford has been playing guitar since she was 11. I used to take my guitar in my bedroom and learn Black Sabbath riffs she said. Yes i was a weird at 16, she was skilled enough to be invited to join the runaways an All girl band masterminded by Rock entrepreneur Kim Fowley. The band split up in 1979. We weren t very Good she said. Being an All girl band was a gimmick. We were sexy. We got a lot of Media attention because there was no one else around like until recently Ford s Post runaways career had never really taken off. But being a woman she insisted has not hampered her. Women proved Long ago that they can Rock As Well As men. If you have the Talent the songs and Good machinery behind you that s All you need whether you re a Man or a the Only problem with being a female Rocker she said is attacks by the occasional sexist heckler. Those big Mouths just make me work harder. But i be got a big Mouth too. They learn not to mess with Ford who recently toured with Yng Wie Malmsten will be on the Road in the United states with three even bigger Metal acts later this year Poison Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne. But she does not plan to be an opening act for Long. It s of for a while but i la be headlining next year i want to be huge huge. I want to headline the biggest and Best places. I want to be a superstar now. I Don t want to wait much longer. I get so enthusiastic i want to scream. But i have to keep a lid on it. I have to keep a lid on myself. That gets harder and harder to All fired up by John Swenson United press International a after a two year hiatus Singer Pat Benatar has emerged with the mos powerful album of her career wide awaken dreamland. Benatar s voice is in magnificent form on material with More musical and Lyric depth than she s Ever worked with a fact that she readily acknowledges. I think it s the first record we be had enough time to let the songs come to maturity she said during a break in rehearsals for her upcoming tour. Sometimes the songs just Don t get enough Benatar was hard pressed to come up with an explanation for the newfound maturity on dreamland. The passage of time changes people she suggested and it must be the cyclical feeling of the band bringing More private and personal feelings to the writing. The thing that always happened in the past was that i tried to keep my musical life separate from my private life which i think was a mistake. Having two years off you get so much time to say what you want to think about what you really want to say. Especially after having a child the Way you View things your perspective Benatar worked on several of the album s songs with her husband guitarist Neil Giraldo and drummer Myron Grombacher. The nucleus of the band Myron Neil and myself is very incestuous because we spend so much time that Way Benatar has no trouble delivering the More personal lyrics with conviction. When we write lyrics i go Over them with the band even if i m not writing one of the songs too Long a Soldier has a thinly disguised anti War theme. It s kind of ambiguous Benatar admitted. It really does t have to be about americans or any specific age group it s just the feelings and observations about what people go through. It s a very patriotic song in one dreamland opens with a particularly Strong Rocker All fired up which sets an upbeat tone for the album. I liked the song because i was looking for a straightforward Bash she said. Just go ahead and play a guitar based song. It s a real positive song. It s a song of peaceful acceptance if you think something s Worth keeping a relationship or whatever if you just persevere use your experience you can go on with a new passion. There s always a place to find Light in the darkness. Even the deepest problems can be overcome if you have a Strong belief in yourself or whatever you believe in. That s what that song s one of the most emotionally powerful songs on the album suffer the Little children was written about the tragic Story of a girl named Melissa. Melissa is a Little girl in California who was murdered in 1985," Benatar explained. She was abducted tortured and sexually abused then stuffed in a suitcase and buried alive. The idea of being crammed in a suitcase and left to die underground is almost beyond belief. After i read this Story i just went insane and it cemented in my mind. After having a child it makes it even worse. I wrote the song the Day i read the article. I thought it was a Little too depressing to go on the record but finally i did it for her to prove that someone thought about her the new numbers have forced the Benatar band to drastically alter its stage show. We be been going Over this trying to narrow Down she said. I try to think about someone like David Bowie How he managed to adjust his shows Over the years to reflect the different kind of material he was writing. I Don t know How treat me right fits in. You have to include some of the songs from your past because it s part of what you Are. I May have outgrown some of them. At 35 it might be hard for me to sing you re a real Tough in the end though dreamland represents a whole new Era for Benatar. It s such a strange feeling she said. Sometimes you make a record and you like it and sometimes you make it and you re scared of it. This time i m proud of wednesday August 17, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 17
