By David E. Gehlke
Undoubtedly one of rock’s accomplished singers, Jeff Scott Soto now finds himself juggling multiple bands at once, a common scenario for many vocalists in his age bracket. His CV is no doubt impressive, dotted with the likes of Yngwie J. Malmsteen, TALISMAN, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, SONS OF APOLLO, W.E.T. , several solo albums and countless guest appearances, among other outlets. The one thing missing is a consistently dependable band for which he’s synonymous. Instead, Soto continues to lend his magnificent pipes to a number of projects that, if anything, consistently demonstrate his versatility and range.
The aforementioned W.E.T. has dropped a new, excellent studio album in the form of “Apex”. The band’s fifth album finds Soto partnering with band ringleader, guitarist and vocalist Erik Mårtensson, also of ECLIPSE, for a number of perfectly executed tradeoffs that are AOR rock galore, and even nails the always tricky ballad, “Love Conquers All”. W.E.T. is perhaps too good a band to be relegated to a studio project, but as Soto would tell BLABBERMOUTH.NET, integrity and understanding his limitations remain of paramount importance.
Blabbermouth: Do you feel like you’ve bucked the supergroup trend with W.E.T. by releasing your fifth album? Most bands of this type rarely do more than one or two.
Jeff: “We never approached this as a ‘supergroup.’ That term has always bothered me. For instance, when we did SONS OF APOLLO, it felt like, ‘What are we supposed to be wearing? Capes?’ For the most part, W.E.T. wasn’t necessarily a supergroup; it was a collaborative effort that the label wanted to see what would emerge from it. In some ways, we were somewhat the antithesis of what was to come, especially for Frontiers. It seemed like ‘supergroups’ are a dime a dozen. There are a few who, from time to time, would release a couple of albums when they realized there wasn’t enough traction to continue. DAMN YANKEES was a band that could have carried on but didn’t pan out after two records. What keeps W.E.T. going is that there is no expectation of touring or what we’ll do after the album comes out. We can make records at our leisure and our own timing. When we do, we can invest the time to ensure it sounds like our band and our efforts instead of a conglomeration of everything we’ve done. It kind of does. There are elements of TALISMAN, ECLIPSE and WORK OF ART. It’s a culmination of where we’ve come from. We’re not saying, ‘It has to be representative of all these things while we’re doing it.'”
Blabbermouth: How much of a driving force is Erik now in the band?
Jeff: “I have to give major kudos to him. He’s come such a long way. When we first started this, without bragging, I would say, I had the bigger name of the three of us in terms of how they were going to market this. He has worked hard to push himself and learn until we could be neck and neck, especially in this situation. I give him tremendous credit for everything he’s learned, from songwriting to his studio skills. He produces everything and comes up with most of the songs. He oversaw the entire project from start to finish. I give him a lot of credit. If anything, I take less credit for W.E.T. than I give to him. Robert [Säll], I would say, is next in line in the pecking order, and then I do what I do.”
Blabbermouth: Can you share how the vocal trade-offs in “This House Is On Fire” and “What Are We Fighting For” came together?
Jeff: “On the first album, I was the sole singer, while Erik provided all the backing vocals. Erik is a lead singer. When he sends me songs, he records the lead vocals as a guide or a blueprint for me to follow when I record my parts. When we moved on to the second record, I approached the label and Erik, stating, ‘I don’t understand why we’re not utilizing Erik as an additional singer in the band. We are representing three bands; we’re not just representing me as the singer or as these bands. This is a whole new project. There are no rules; we create them as we progress.’ I was a huge fan of bands from the ’70s, such as JOURNEY, STYX, QUEEN and EAGLES. Many of them featured multiple singers, and I loved that when you listened to an album, you experienced a different voice and texture from the same band, that’s what made them unique. I had the idea for the second album, suggesting, ‘Hey, we should duet on one of the songs.’ It was as simple as Erik muting where he thought I should be muted, and then he added his vocals. It didn’t require me to do anything. The idea evolved from there. Not only did the fans and record buyers enjoy that, but it also broadened our sound and possibilities. We continued to amplify it more and more. On this album, we went a little crazy. He sings lead alongside me on a few songs now. I love the concept of multiple singers and adding different textures to our music because, once again, it sets us apart from what we did in our previous projects. It won’t sound like TALISMAN anymore if Erik is sharing lead vocals with me and we’re alternating lines. Regarding who sings what, I absolutely and wholeheartedly give my blessing: ‘You choose what you feel will best represent your voice.’ Not once did I think, ‘I should sing that line’ or’ I can sing that line better.’ I keep it very open, free and respectful.”
Blabbermouth: The ballad you did on the album, “Love Conquers All”, is great. Are you a ballad guy?
Jeff: “I’ve always been a ballad guy because I didn’t grow up liking rock music. When I was in junior high school, while all of my friends were listening to Ted Nugent, KISS and CHEAP TRICK, I was tuning into EARTH, WIND & FIRE and the LITTLE RIVER BAND. I was into soul and R&B, and those bands had tons of ballads. My entry into rock came through JOURNEY, FOREIGNER and TOTO, particularly with Bobby Kimball, who embodied a white-soul blend. You could tell they grew up heavily influenced by R&B. Their approach to rock music appealed to me; I could appreciate the heavy guitars and big drums because the vocalist brought a nice, soothing, soulful vibe. That was my gateway to MAIDEN, DIO, and everything else that came along the way. But I’ve always been a balladeer, a pop guy, an R&B, and soul guy. It’s evident in what I do. That sound and those artists, including the obvious ones like THE TEMPTATIONS, Motown, Terence Trent D’Arby, and Prince, deeply influenced me. They all added colors to my musical background. I felt I had something a bit different compared to traditional hard rock singers.”
Blabbermouth: What would it take for W.E.T. to do some shows?
Jeff: “It would require redoing all five albums in a more humane register. [Laughs] I’m nearing 60. I don’t belong on stage singing anything above an A below a high C. My voice isn’t what it was when I was in my 20s, 30s, or even my 40s. You have to adapt. If you listen to the progression, some might call it ‘digression’, you can hear the evolution of my vocal style; I’m not performing in the same way as before. Even live, I don’t perform many songs anymore because I can’t. I won’t mime them. I refuse to lower the key so much that you barely recognize them. I choose to leave them. They’re little shrouds of gold to me. I prefer to preserve them as is rather than sing them poorly or mime them. From that point, all these vocals were written and sung with the old Jeff Scott Soto high-register voice in mind. It’s great to do it in the studio; I could take a day, a week, or even a month to perfect it. But once I’m on stage, I have one shot, and if I mess up, YouTube is forever. That’s one of the main reasons. The schedules and finding windows of time or opportunity, that’s the easy part. Ultimately, I don’t think I can do this material justice live. I’m being honest and candid. Many singers aren’t honest about their inability to perform live what they can do in the studio. This is one project where I would struggle live. I’d rather not put that pressure on the band.”
Blabbermouth: It’s refreshing to hear you say that. Some of your peers are still trying to make it work.
Jeff: “It’s not that I can’t do it. I just don’t think I could manage it for a long time. I don’t think I could or would want to handle that stress and pressure during a full tour. If they say, ‘Hey, we booked a specialty show that’s a one-off,’ I could pull it off. However, if it’s the same two-hour performance for six weeks on tour, with a day off every three or four shows, it’s not going to happen. [Laughs] Especially having done this for as long as I have, understanding my voice and my body, I realize what happens when I get sick. I know how to bluff through certain things when I have to while I’m on tour with the material I choose to perform live. I can get through it enough so it doesn’t sound horrible, but you’ll sense that something is wrong. You can tell that I’m either worn out or sick. In this line of work, there’s no mercy. There’s no bluffing or getting around it. You’re either going to sing it lower or get through it in a way that doesn’t sound like the original, or, as I said, you’re going to put it on tracks and just move your lips. I’m not about that at all. I’m not knocking anyone who does it. I use tracks live as well, mainly as loops or sound effects, which I feel complete the song. If we’re not using them live, the song sounds naked. I use them to enhance and fill it out. Lead vocals and backing vocals? No, man. It has to be real. I have to be committed to something and not worry about, ‘I closed my mouth before the words finished.’ It’s too much stress.”
Blabbermouth: I’m sure you got pretty good back in the day at figuring out how to get through shows when sick. You could sing for hours on end.
Jeff: “Oh yeah. My favorite teacher of all time was Freddie Mercury [QUEEN]. He rarely sang live what he did in the studio. He reinvented it. It didn’t really bother you; the fact that it’s him singing and it’s not like him singing someone else’s song and he’s bluffing—he’s singing his song and singing a different interpretation of it and the fact it’s not like the studio version, it’s not going to be what you’re expected it to be. They found ways to get around it. They reinvented their songs live. I base my whole ideal around Freddie in terms of, ‘The studio is the studio. Live is live. As much as possible, I want to be able to do it live in the same way I did in the studio.'”
Blabbermouth: Are you comfortable with doing multiple bands at once? Or would you rather have a steady gig?
Jeff: “I always wanted to be the one band guy, from day one. I never wanted to be a jack-of-all-trades, jumping from one thing to another, like doing one album and then moving on to the next band. To me, that bothers the hell out of me. Just as you’re putting your all into something and the momentum is starting to grow, then the band fizzles, and it never really felt like a band or made progress. For me, it was out of necessity. I was criticized like hell for it back in the day. There were so many times when I would hear, ‘If you would only stay in one lane or with one band, you’d get somewhere. You’re jumping around too much. It’s confusing for people.’ I said, ‘I know! I’m not in control of why the bands break up or don’t work. I’m only in control of my input and destiny.’ Unfortunately, my career was a lot of that early on before it became the norm. Now, everyone is involved with multiple bands and situations, and there’s no criticism. I faced a lot for it. To be honest, I have always wanted to be in a METALLICA situation, where it was my one and only band. I’m not moonlighting or doing guest appearances. Not only can I follow through with one band and sound, but I can also help that band grow; it truly comes down to identity. I want to have the identity of one particular entity where I can do everything I want to do. That was the other problem. I couldn’t be in a band called EYES and also do an R&B song. I couldn’t be in an R&B-ish kind of band and do a TALISMAN song. TALISMAN was the closest to the one thing I wanted to do musically. Even that wasn’t a situation that could sustain me. I had a young son to raise and bills to pay. If the band is touring for a month and a half in a year, it’s not enough. Out of necessity, I needed to go out and earn and do all these different things to make ends meet.”
Blabbermouth: TALISMAN always seemed like the best spot for you. It’s such a shame Marcel (Jacob, bass) is no longer around.
Jeff: “The best thing about starting with Marcel and meeting him during the Yngwie era was that he was not close-minded; however, musically, he wasn’t really into R&B, soul, or anything outside the rock genre. My influences, combined with what we listened to while writing and touring, opened his musical encyclopedia in terms of what he wanted to do. You could hear that in future songs. By the time we got to the ‘Humanimal’ album, we had already done ‘Colour My XTC’, which was funky, and that wasn’t the TALISMAN sound we had when we started. You could hear the evolution from that point.”
Blabbermouth: Had the stars aligned, SONS OF APOLLO could have been a stable, long-term band. Do you have a bad taste in your mouth from how it ended?
Jeff: “No bad taste. Everything happens for a reason. I’m one trillion percent for Mike [Portnoy] going back home where he belongs [in DREAM THEATER]. He’s back at his alma mater. I felt worse for [Mike] Mangini because he put in his time, and he’s moving on with his life now. I was hoping he’d announce something just as big or prosperous musically by now. That aside, I knew it needed to happen. There are no sour grapes. The only bummer about it is exactly what you said, it seemed like the kind of band that was growing our audience. We were building our own platform. Everything about it was about to happen. Then the pandemic occurred. All you could do is go with it. As I already have experience with disappointment, I know what it’s like to have to start over again. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, what am I going to do?’ You just forge ahead.”
Blabbermouth: It’s a lot of work to do all these bands, although you get something from all of them, like the project you’ve done with David Ellefson. What’s next with that?
Jeff: “We have something coming out in a few months, which I’m really excited about. But back to what we were talking about, working with different bands has truly allowed me to grow creatively. In a million years, I would never have thought I was the kind of singer who would work with TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA. I’m not a show-tunes guy or Broadway; that’s where that world really lives. I’d never have attempted to audition or asked if they’d be interested in having me. It was only by chance that my dearest friend, Al Pitrelli, who is the musical director at TSO, said, ‘Hey, you should check this out.’ He’s the one who got me in and insisted they listen to me. Here we are, 17 years later, and I’m still doing it. It’s a musical outlet I would not have pursued on my own. However, I’ve gained so much from it in the process. It’s in certain situations I’m compelled to be in or have thrown myself into things that normally I wouldn’t have been in that I’ve gained something from it, allowing me to transcend that into something else.”
Blabbermouth: And, of course, there’s the MEGADETH connection between Al and David Ellefson. It goes to show how small the scene really is.
Jeff: “That’s the thing. That’s one of the greatest things about my career. I’m not a household name by any stretch. I’ve done what I’ve done. I have my own dedicated legion of fans who stay with me and follow me, for which I’m so grateful. But I’m not a household name. You don’t mention Jeff Scott Soto in the same light as Paul Stanley [KISS], Ozzy Osbourne, and Axl Rose [GUNS ‘N ROSES] in terms of the level they’ve achieved. However, over the years, now 40 years later, my name is recognized in those circles. My name is mentioned. My name is discussed. When I receive a text from a friend, ‘Hey, I was hanging out with so-and-so, and they were talking about you.’ That feeling alone is far better than knowing that in 1994, I had a number one album and haven’t had anything since. There are certain things I don’t miss because I have something else that weighs more. I’d rather my name be in conversation with the big names and the big leagues in the industry than to have had one or two hit songs 30 years ago.”
Source: blabbermouth.net
