Jack Blades – Revolution Saints is a Frickin’ Wicked Band!

By: Robert Cavuoto

Three titans of rock, Deen Castronovo [Journey],  Jack Blades [Night Ranger], and Doug Aldrich [Whitesnake] have joined forces for the next big super group; Revolution Saints.

Their music combines commercial rock with its big riffs and tremendous sense of melody – all sung with a true sense of passion and purpose.

A new and revolutionary sound born out of the classic rock hits of the ’80s, a sound which has been missing from radio for quite some time. Revolution Saints are on to something big, an untapped sound where other bands will soon follow.

Superbly handling drums and lead vocals with Revolution Saints is Deen Castronovo who is renowned for his drum talents and backing vocals with Journey and Bad English. Deen’s excellent vocal talents are in the spotlight on this release.

On bass and co-lead vocals on a few tracks is Jack Blades from Night Ranger, and on guitar, Doug Aldrich who provides some blazing hot guitar that all other guitarists will soon be judged by.

Together they are a powerhouse band that I hope will continue to record and tour!

I caught up with Jack Blades to talk about this revolutionary new CD, scheduled for release on February 24th, his friendship with the band members and what the future holds for the band when it comes to touring!

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Robert Cavuoto: Tell me about your relationship with Deen and Doug and how Neal Schon ended up playing a solo on the CD.

Jack Blades: I’ve known Deen a long time, since the early ’80’s when he was in a band out of Portland called the Wild Dogs.

He was also Night Ranger’s lighting director at the time and was their manager in ‘83 or ‘84.

Night Ranger toured with Journey in 2009, 2011, and 2012 and I’ve written songs with Jonathan Cain for Journey CDs and co-wrote some songs on Neal Schon’s solo CD.

When this whole thing came about it was absolutely easy to pull together. This is Doug’s first thing out of Whitesnake so he’s gotta come out with both barrels blazing and there is no question he did.

The Saints are a rockin’ band!

Robert: It seems there was a Night Ranger and Whitesnake guitarist swap of sorts?

Jack Blades: Yeah, pretty much [Laughing].

I’m excited about the fact that I’m playing with Doug. I’ve been fortunate to play with some amazing guitar players over the years like Ted Nugent, Tommy  Shaw, Brad Gillis who is a phenomenal guitarist, Jeff Watson, and Neal Schon who is just a great friend of mine. Neal played on my solo CD and I co-write a few songs on his solo CD, So U. So, to play with Doug is a great and he can really shred.

Like Neal, he knows the right moment to hold that note or bend it to get the most from it. I feel fortunate to be on a CD with him.

Robert: With Deen’s voice and vocal phrasing similar to Steve Perry of Journey, did you set out to capitalize on that Journey commercial rock sound?

Jack Blades: I think that’s something that naturally evolves because he has been in that situation for so many years. I think it was natural for him to sing that way.

Robert: I don’t have the benefit of the liner notes, how do you approach writing the CD? Was there a pre-conceived strategy of what the band should sound like?

Jack Blades: When Deen started this project, producer Alessandro Del Vecchio pulled all these songs together for him.

Deen picked the demos he liked and played his drums over them, the files were sent to me, I put all the bass, then to Doug who put some slamming guitar on it. We then got together in August at a studio in Portland, where Deen did all the lead vocals and we sang together on “Turn Back Time.”

Due to our schedules we didn’t get a chance to sit in a room and write. That’s my only real disappointment to the whole thing. The only song that Alessando and I wrote together was “Turn Back Time” and the chorus to “Dream On.”

Robert: You can feel the passion in Deen’s voice on these songs.

Jack Blades: This is the first full CD where Deen is the singer. What you are hearing is years and years of pent up passion just oozing out [Laughing].

Robert: They say everything is in the name, what does Revolution Saints mean?

Jack Blades: Naming a band is tough. You always come up with all these lame ass names or names that are already taken. When Serafino Perugino of Frontier Records was saying that this music can be a real revolution of classic rock music, I thought “Revolution Saints”. So when I hit the guys up with that name, everybody thought it was really good. Everybody went, “Done.”

Robert: With radio stations not playing new rock and no real video music channels, is it frustrating as a musician to put on an amazing CD like this and then struggle to have it be heard?

Jack Blades: Yeah, it is. You can bitch and moan about it, but until you jump on the band wagon and figure a way to get around it; it won’t do you any good.

Nobody wants to hear me complain that I’m not selling millions of albums like I did through the ’80s and ’90s [Laughing]. So I don’t even try. But if you jump in to what it is; that you can put out a CD and the world can hear it within a week of you making it, that’s an amazing thing. Records are now an advertisement for a tour.

Robert: Do you have a favorite song on the CD?

Jack Blades: My favorite is, “Mend a Broken Heart,” I love that one. It’s a rocking track. I’m glad that I co-wrote “Turn Back Time.”

Robert: Will there be a tour and if so, will Deen be fronting the band or playing drums while singing?

Jack Blades: In my opinion, we should take a page of what Ringo Starr does and have Simon Kirke play drums while Ringo sings. Then the two of them could get up there and play together. Just like with Genesis too. It would be killer to have two drummers playing along to Doug and me. I can also sing some of the parts while he plays the drums.

We should find a drummer that plays like Deen, just like Dave Grohl found a similar drumming style with Taylor Hawkins. To get a new cat slamming away would be awesome.

Robert: So the band will tour?

Jack Blades: I really hope so. The powers that be are trying to figure that out now. There are a lot of moving parts with Journey’s and Night Ranger’s crazy schedules. Plus Doug has his projects going on like Raiding the Rock Vault and Burning Rain. I don’t think it should be a “one and done” thing. I think it would be frickin’ wicked.

Robert: How important is it for musicians like yourself to have their hands in so many projects?

Jack Blades: It’s important for me to keep creating. That is what I’ve done all my life and all that I wanna do. At this stage of the game I just want to play with friends and enjoy making music. That’s why I’m working on this project.

For example Alice Cooper asked Night Ranger to come and play at his Christmas Pudding Benefit show in Arizona. I’ll be getting together with Nils Lofgren, Johnny Lang, and Kelli Keagy on drums and well put together a little super group jam at the event too. I love doing stuff like that.

Robert: I’m really intrigued by your songwriting skills, you have an innate sense of melody and your always able to capture an artist’s signature sound and style when writing for them?

Jack Blades: I don’t really know. When you sit down with the guys from Aerosmith you have to say to yourself “I’m in Aerosmith”, let’s write a song like “Draw the Line” or a song off Rocks. With Ozzy I was thinking what would classic Ozzy sounds like, and the same when I wrote with Alice Cooper.

I just like doing it and I’m a fan of every type of music, country, R&B, Hip Hop, pure pop, and the British Invasion with Cream and Deep Purple. I’m all over the map.  That’s just the way my brain works.