MUSIC NEWS
Gino Vannelli Performs at Dosey Doe Gino Vannelli will be returning to the Houston area this month for a very special and intimate concert at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands on Wednesday, September 25th. Gino is touring in support of his new album release, Wilderness Road. This is Gino’s 19th studio album release. Wilderness Road is Gino’s first album of all new originals in nearly a decade, releasing a whole new set of emotions for the Canadian musician and singer. The album features many great new songs packed with the emotions and wonderful vocal skills that Gino has been known for since his first breakthrough song, “People Gotta Move” on his second album release, Powerful People in 1974. However it was his song, “I Just Wanna Stop” off his 1978 album, Brother To Brother that really catapulted him into the spotlight. “I Just Wanna Stop” made it to No. 4 on the Billboard chart. It became a No. 1 hit in Canada, and received a Grammy Award nomination. His next album, Nightwalker yielded the hit song, “Living Inside Myself”. It was his second top ten hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It went on to reach No. 5 in the U.S. and No. 2 in Canada. Gino was on a roll. Other great hits followed such as “Hurts To Be In Love,” “Wild Horses,” and “Black Cars.” Gino has also won Canada’s Juno Award for Best Male Artist in 1976 and 1979. Gino and his brother Joe Vannelli shared the Juno Award for Recording Engineer of the Year three times: in 1986 for “Black Cars,” in 1987 for “Wild Horses”/”Young Lover,” and in 1991 for “The Time of Day”/”Sunset on L.A.”. Gino has certainly made his mark on the music industry. As we said, now Gino is back with his first new batch of great new songs in almost a decade and the results are fantastic. In a perfect world, several of these songs would become bonafide hits. Songs like “Ghost Train,” “The Long Arm of Justice,” and “The Woman Upstairs” will definitely capture your total attention.
We had a chance to sit down and talk to Gino about the new album and he gave us some great insight into the new releases and the inspiration behind them. Music News: Hello Gino. Congratulations on the new album. You have some pretty provocative subject matter here. I hate to ask where your inspiration comes from. Some of the songs are pretty deep. “Wrestling With Angels” is a pretty deep song. I hope that doesn’t come from a life story of yours. Gino Vannelli: Well, you know, everyone has thoughts about . something bad that happens in your life. Or knows someone that’s close to the family. There’s not many degrees of separation between catastrophic events and ourselves. There’s a whole lot of things I wanted to tackle on the record. One was “Wrestling With Angels,” about self-emulation. “The Long Arm Of Justice” was loosely based on Adam Walsh, John Walsh’s son, who was kidnapped and violently killed. They never found the perpetrator, but he died of some unrelated incident some thirty or forty years later. I asked the philosophical question, “do we pay for our crimes” and I came to the conclusion that we pay for our nature one way or the other. Other topics, like “Wilderness Road” is largely biographical. “The Woman Upstairs” is about a woman who lived in the upstairs tenement where I lived as a kid. Music News: So then that song is based on a factual occurrence. Gino Vannelli: Oh yes, yeah, yeah, of course. It’s very factual. Music News: I found that song a bit disturbing.... especially at the end where she convicted and given 25 years in prison. Gino Vannelli: Yes, that was a very difficult thing. In Quebec, especially in those days, it’s still on the books, but not practiced anymore. It was called ‘Napoleonic Law.’ Really, in those days, nobody went around snitching on other people. If a woman was being battered... I re-
member many of my uncles and people in the family would just say, ‘mind your own business.’ And in her case, she was driven to the point where she murdered her spouse and instead of it being heralded as self-defense, several people in the 60s thought it was premeditated murder. We obviously have grown from that, but alas many people have suffered injustices. Music News: Can you tell us about a couple of more positive songs on the album. Gino Vannelli: I wouldn’t say that’s a negative song, it’s just a real life song. Well the “Road To Redemption” is about someone wanting to make good and it’s sort of a contrite love song. “Give Me Back My Life” is a typical, but tongue-in-cheek about a lost love and something figuring he’s left his soul in the house she kicked him out of. “Older n’ Wizer.” I had many versions of “Older n’ Wizer.” I think I recorded it four or five times. I really like this version. The lyrics are quite hilarious to me because many of my friends and people of my age group proclaimed their reformed, but most of them are forced into reform only because they can’t do the things they used to do forty years ago. People get older and always remember the ‘crazy days’ and this one is about someone saying that he’s a much better person now, but the key line is ‘If I could be any better than I am now, I’d be dead.’ It’s kind of a warped look at what’s moral or immoral. Music News: A lot of us have given up our bad habits and wayward ways when we were young and indestructible. Gino Vannelli: Yeah, and a lot of it is involuntary. You just can’t stay up all those hours and do the things you did when you were twenty-
continued on page 26
HAPPY HOUR Monday - Friday 4:00 - 7:00 PM $15 Buckets!
Host Your Event or Gig Here!! Have Your Party On Our Patio & 1-Acre Backyard Now Booking Live Entertainment! PA Available! Call For Details: 843-991-9436
one years old or you’ll just perish. You’ll just fall on your face, and I think that’s the comedy of it. I’m kind of laughing at the self-delusion of people thinking they have reformed other than nature forcing them into reform. Music News: What about the song, “Ghost Train.” Gino Vannelli: “Ghost Train” is a personal experience. It’s sort of a a mystical experience. A long time ago in the 80s I took a trip to the Andes and I sort of wanted to leave my life behind and it just so happened that my wife happened to be pregnant and it’s hard to explain. You just have to read it and listen to it. It’s a mystical journey back into this world in just a much better way, being in a different way. Music News: Will you be performing any of the new material when you appear at Dosey Doe this month?
2315 GREENS ROAD • HOUSTON, TX • 281-645-4120
THIS MONTH AT THE NOSE DIVE SUNDAYS OPEN MIC hosted by MARK ZEUS MONDAYS SERVICE INDUSTRY NIGHT with $2 WELLS TUESDAYS $2 WELLS $3 DOMESTICS @ 5:00 - 9:00 PM WEDNESDAYS LINGERIE NIGHT with SINFULLY SEXY THURSDAYS AIRPORT EMPLOYEES NIGHT - $2 WELLS FRIDAYS LADIES NIGHT with $2 WELLS & KARAOKE SATURDAYS LIVE MUSIC
Live Music Saturdays! WEDNESDAYS LINGERIE NIGHT with SINFULLY SEXY
Follow Us On Facebook For More Updates and Information!
September 2019
Music News - Page 17