Q&A with Jack Blades of Night Ranger

By David Burke | Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Marking its 25th anniversary this year, California rockers Night Ranger released “Hole in the Sun,” their first studio album in a decade, earlier this month.

Night Ranger, which plays at the Jackson County Fair in Maquoketa, Iowa, on Saturday night, notched eight songs in Billboard’s pop and mainstream rock charts from 1983 to ‘85, including “You Can Still Rock in America,” “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” and its most successful song, 1984’s “Sister Christian.”

From a tour stop in northern Washington state, lead singer and bass player Jack Blades, 54, talks about the present and the past:

Q: Why was this a good time to put out a new album?

A: We just felt like it was time. We hadn’t done an album in 10 years, I think, and we’d all been doing things individually: solo records, producing, Shaw/Blades records. We just felt it was time for a good rockin’ Night Ranger record.

Q: How do you think this differs from what we heard in the ‘80s?

A: I think it’s one of the more hard-rockin’ records we put out since the first one, “Dawn Patrol.” As a musician, you can’t help but benefit from 20 years of experience, you know what I mean, to put that into your creativity.

Q: There are also acoustic versions of “Sister Christian” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” right?

A: I think it’s kind of fun. Those are two of the fans’ favorite songs, and sometimes people don’t want to be bashed over the head with screaming guitars and drums and things like that.

Q: In the live show, do you stick with the way the hits were recorded or do you vary it up after 20-some years?

A: Each show we’re playing, we’re playing a different number of songs, not only for the audience but for ourselves, so we don’t get in the routine of the same 12 songs over and over again. ... We relearned a bunch of classic Night Ranger songs that we hadn’t played since the ‘80s.

Q: Why do you think the band hit as well as it did?

A: I think Night Ranger was — not was, is — a straight-ahead, no-holds-barred American rock ‘n’ roll band. We always write songs people can sing along to — the choruses, there’s a lot of melody in our stuff. Since the Beach Boys came out, America’s always loved harmonies.

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.