Vixen is about to embark on a Spanish tour and
bassist Share Ross has been cool enough to answer a few questions about these
shows and her projects both with the band and other bands, as well as outside music.
ROCK´N´TALK: LET ME START BY THANKING YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS. I´VE BEEN A FAN OF THE BAND SINCE THE FIRST RECORD CAME OUT AND IT´S A THRILL TO BE DOING THIS.
I´D LIKE TO BEGIN ASKING YOU HOW YOU GOT INTO ROCK´N´ROLL. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT HUNDREDS OF BANDS FORMED IN THE STATES WHEN THE BEATLES APPEARED ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. DID YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF "LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE" BY LISTENING TO A CERTAIN BAND, GOING TO A CERTAIN CONCERT, ETC. OR WAS IT MORE LIKE A LITTLE BY LITTLE THING?
I´D LIKE TO BEGIN ASKING YOU HOW YOU GOT INTO ROCK´N´ROLL. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT HUNDREDS OF BANDS FORMED IN THE STATES WHEN THE BEATLES APPEARED ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. DID YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF "LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE" BY LISTENING TO A CERTAIN BAND, GOING TO A CERTAIN CONCERT, ETC. OR WAS IT MORE LIKE A LITTLE BY LITTLE THING?
Share Ross: Thanks so much Iñigo. My start was not really down to one band but more
down to one person... my mom! She was a musician and a piano teacher, too. From
the time I was 8 years old, I knew I would be in a band.
R´N´T: WHAT BANDS DID YOU LISTEN TO AS A TEENAGER? WHO DO YOU LISTEN TO NOW?
SR: As a teenager, I
was really into a combination of what my older brothers liked and what was on
the radio. My brothers got me into Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Cream and
The Beatles. And the radio got me hooked on bands like Cheap Trick, Sweet, ZZ
Top, ELO and Aerosmith.
I still listen
to all of them! But I also love Nikka Costa, The Hives, Mott The Hoople, Miles
Davis, Count Basie, and I have a big love for Cuban music.
R´N´T: WHAT BANDS DID YOU PLAY FOR BEFORE VIXEN AND WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DID THEY PLAY?
SR: Oh my. I played
in a LOT of bands before Vixen. I was a jazz bassist for a few years so that
kept me busy. But my first
band was in high school - Broken Arrow. We played straight up rock.
After the jazz
stuff, I went back to rock music and was also gigging as a session
player. I played with
everyone from The Drifters, The Coasters, Helen Reddy, Del Shannon, The
Temptations .... and a lot more that I don't remember now.
R´N´T: WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY BASS AMONG ALL OTHER INSTRUMENTS?
SR: For some bizarre reason, whenever I played duets on the piano I always wanted that left hand bass part. And again, my mom played an upright bass for a while and I really loved the sound and feel of that instrument.
When I was a
teenager, I decided I wanted to switch from piano to either bass or guitar and
quite frankly... I was just a whole lot better as a bass player than a
guitarist!
After Vixen, in
Bubble, I did finally become a guitarist but I did it my own way... on a 5
string open-G tuned Les Paul!!!!
R´N´T: IF I´M NOT MISTAKEN, YOU WERE THE LAST ONE TO JOIN THE BAND AFTER JAN, JANET AND ROXY. HOW DID YOU BECOME A MEMBER OF VIXEN?
SR: Jan Kuehnemund had seen me playing bass in one of those bands I was hired in. We were playing The Central (now The Viper Room) on the Sunset Strip. She came up to me afterwards and we chatted about her band, Vixen. She wrote her number down on a napkin and I didn't really think anything more about it.
A few months
later, I wanted to connect with bands and get out of being a session player and
dug her number out of my bag. (Thankfully I still had that napkin!!!) I called
her up and after a few moments of small talk, she asked, "Did you hear
something weird about Vixen?"
I replied,
"No. Nothing! Why?"
She answered,
"It's just odd that you called right now. We just fired our bass player
about an hour ago."
The rest is
history.
R´N´T: THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL ALL-GIRL ROCK´N´ROLL BAND I CAN THINK OF BEFORE YOU GUYS IS THE RUNAWAYS. BECAUSE OF THAT, DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD TO DO AN EXTRA EFFORT TO BE TAKEN SERIOULSY BY THE MUSIC BUSINESS, THE MEDIA OR EVEN THE ROCK FANS?
SR: It's crazy isn't it? There's sooooo many talented female musicians around and yet… not a lot of successful all-girl bands. We simply refused to focus on any extra efforts and concentrate on our fans support. That's who made us and it's still who we thank on a daily basis.
The music
business is run by a bunch of corporate suits who don't give a shit about music
for the most part. So personally, I never gave a shit what they thought about
me or any band I've ever been in.
I'm a music fan
at heart ... so I only care about the fans.
:-)
And ... by the
way, we've been doing a few shows with Lita Ford and she is really fuckin'
awesome.
R´N´T: DO YOU THINK IT´S EASIER NOW FOR ALL-GIRL ROCK BANDS TO SUCCEED? OR TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE BARRIERS YOU ENCOUNTERED WHEN YOU WERE STARTING OUT REMAIN OR ARE THEY GONE BY NOW?
SR: I certainly hope so!!!! The one thing that's different is the internet
has made it easier to get your music out there. The other thing that's changed
is people used to be shocked that we were playing our own instruments. That is
not shocking anymore!!!! Just look at YouTube. There's legions of amazing,
REALLY amazing chick players out there now.
R´N´T: FOR ME, THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "VIXEN" AND "REV IT UP", YOUR SECOND ALBUM, IS THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND WROTE 10 OF THE 11 SONGS ON IT, WHEREAS IN THE FIRST ALBUM MANY SONGS CAME FROM OUTSIDE WRITERS. WERE YOU FEELING MORE CONFIDENT AS SONGWRITERS AT THE TIME OF MAKING THAT RECORD?
SR: Ha! I think it was more like we were way more pushy about using our own
songs on the second record. We were just as confident on the first record but
we were still proving ourselves.
R´N´T: WHEN GRUNGE APPEARED IN 1991 IT SEEMED TO KICK EVERY ROCK BAND OUT OF THE MUSIC SCENE. WAS THAT THE REASON WHY WE DIDN´T HEAR FROM THE BAND FOR A LONG TIME? WERE THERE OTHER REASONS?
SR: That definitely contributed. But like many bands, we sort of imploded at
the time. There were a ton of factors and the change in the music scene didn't
help!!!!
R´N´T: WHAT DID YOU DO ALL THOSE YEARS UNTIL YOU REJOINED VIXEN?
SR: At first I threw my bass in a closet and locked the door. I was mad at the music business!!! But then I got over that attitude and started playing in a band called Havana 3 AM.
(NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: in 1991 Share also played in Contraband with Richard Black, Michael
Schenker, Tracii Guns and Bobby Blotzer. Check out “Loud Guitars, Fast Cars,
Wild Wild Livin´”):
After that I
started fronting my own bands until eventually I switched to guitar and formed
Bubble with Bam from the Dogs D'Amour. We released 3 full-length cd's and 3
eps and toured the States, Japan and the UK. (Check out “Deadender”):
As many of the
fans in Spain might remember, I also played bass for The Dogs D'Amour on an
album and toured with them when they opened for Alice Cooper in 2002. (Check
out “Firework Girl”):
R´N´T: WHOSE IDEA WAS TO GET BACK TOGETHER AND HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
SR: I am not sure whose idea it was at first. But we all liked the idea and
we missed each other!
R´N´T: NOW THERE´S ONE THING YOU PROBABLY WON´T WANT TO TALK ABOUT. IN FACT, I DON´T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT EITHER, BUT I THINK IT´S INEVITABLE THAT I ASK YOU ABOUT JAN (FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT AWARE, LEAD GUITARIST AND FOUNDING MEMBER OF VIXEN, JAN KUEHNEMUND PASSED AWAY LAST OCTOBER AFTER FIGHTING FUCKIN´ CANCER). JUST SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT ABOUT JAN.
SR: Thank you Iñigo. Yes, it's been very sad and it's still difficult to believe that she's gone. We were all set to reunite in 2013 and we were shocked to find out about her cancer. She asked us to keep it quiet and respect her privacy. So 2013 was a very challenging year. There were so many moments where the fans asked about her and we could not reveal what was really going on.
It seemed like
she was getting better and better and then all of a sudden, in a very short
span of time... she took a turn for the worse and then she was gone. Still
doesn't seem real.
We talked at
length with her most recent lineup of Vixen and her boyfriend of many, many
years and everyone agreed that it made sense to carry on the legacy so people
will remember her.
R´N´T: FIRST TIME I CONTACTED YOU, IN FACT, WAS TO SHOW YOU THE TRIBUTE I DID FOR HER ON A FRIEND OF MINE´S BLOG SHORTLY AFTER SHE LEFT. IT WAS VIXEN´S TOP 10 VIDEOS AND AT NUMBER ONE WAS "DESPERATE", NOT BECAUSE OF THE SONG, BUT BECAUSE OF THE VIDEO THAT WENT WITH IT, WHICH WAS A TRIBUTE ITSELF. HERE IT IS AGAIN:
SR: Thank you so much Iñigo. It helps to know people care.
R´N´T: GINA STILE IS THE CURRENT LEAD GUITARIST IN VIXEN. HOW IS SHE DOING AND HOW IS SHE BEING RECEIVED BY THE FANS?
SR: Gina is doing fantastic. It's a tough path to take because she's her own
person and is not trying to 'replace Jan'. I think the fans receive her very
well and appreciate her loving spirit. Gina is an incredibly talented musician
and I think her upbeat personality makes her irresistible to the fans!
R´N´T: WHAT KIND OF SHOWS ARE YOU GUYS DOING RIGHT NOW AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOUR THREE GIGS IN SPAIN? CAN WE EXPECT A LONG SHOW?
SR: We have been doing a variety of gigs. Sometimes we're part of a festival
so our show is tailored to what the promoter wants. But in Spain? We're gonna
give you all we got.
R´N´T: DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO WORK ON A NEW VIXEN ALBUM?
SR: Heck yeah!!!! We're hoping to release a new record in 2015!!!!
R´N´T: YOU PLAYED A ONE-OFF GIG WITH MY FAVORITE BAND OF THE PAST 25 YEARS, THE QUIREBOYS
AND IN DECEMBER YOU WILL BE JOINING GRIFF, PAUL AND KEITH ON JOE ELLIOTT´S DOWN N´ OUTZ TOUR OF THE UK. THAT´S FUCKIN´ AWESOME!!!! I WISH YOU CAME TO SPAIN WITH THAT BAND AS WELL. (Check out the video for “Rock and Roll Queen”):
AND IN DECEMBER YOU WILL BE JOINING GRIFF, PAUL AND KEITH ON JOE ELLIOTT´S DOWN N´ OUTZ TOUR OF THE UK. THAT´S FUCKIN´ AWESOME!!!! I WISH YOU CAME TO SPAIN WITH THAT BAND AS WELL. (Check out the video for “Rock and Roll Queen”):
SR: Thank you Iñigo.
Yes, I've known Griff for a long, long time and playing with the Quireboys was
a blast. When I got the call about the Down n Outz I was really excited!!! It's
gonna be amazingly fun and it's really cool music.
I wish we were
coming to Spain too. But one thing at a time! This will be my first time
meeting Joe Elliott and playing those songs! So hopefully, it will be
well-received and there will be many more dates.
R´N´T: THESE LAST FEW YEARS THERE SEEMS TO BE AN 80´S HARD ROCK REVIVAL. AS A PART OF THAT SCENE, DO YOU NOTICE THAT YOURSELF OR IS IT JUST MEDIA HYPE?
SR: There's definitely a revival going on. Hope it lasts a long, long time
and we can keep rockin' for our fans and keep making new fans!
R´N´T: SPEAKING OF MEDIA, NOWADAYS THERE ARE SO MANY PLATFORMS TO GET YOUR MUSIC ACROSS TO YOUR AUDIENCE, WHICH IS GREAT BUT I PERSONALLY FIND A DOWNSIDE TO IT, I DON´T KNOW IF YOU´LL AGREE: WHEN IT COMES TO THE LIVE GIGS, THERE´S TOO MUCH INFORMATION PRIOR TO THEM. BACK IN THE 80´S, YOU´D GO TO A ROCK CONCERT AND EVERY SONG WOULD BE A SURPRISE. TODAY, BANDS PRINT SETLISTS ON THEIR WEBSITES AND THANKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTUBE YOU KNOW WHICH SONGS THE BAND WILL PLAY AND THE ORDER THEY WILL BE PLAYED IN. THAT SUCKS AND RUINS THE SHOW FOR ME. WHAT´S YOUR TAKE ON THAT?
SR: Ha ha! You love the mystery Iñigo. And social media has erased all mystery from a band's identity. It's all about 'transparency' now and for new fans, they expect that. But for fans who remember what it used to be like... yeah, it takes away the mystique of a band.
I just accept it
and go with it. But I'm also an 'open book' type of person as you probably
know.
For the bands
that I adore.. (Like Cheap Trick) ... I admit that I love the social media
aspect so I can get more more more more about them.
R´N´T: WHAT MANY PEOPLE PROBABLY WON´T KNOW IS THAT YOU´RE MUCH MORE THAN A MUSICIAN. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER PROJECTS OUTSIDE THE MUSIC BUSINESS.
SR: Ah yes. Somewhere along the way, people began coming to me for advice. I turned it into a coaching practice and now have a few brands. Video Rockstar University is where I coach people to create engaging videos.
One of my brands
is called Make Epic Shit Happen and it's about creating a life and lifestyle
that is what you truly want. I believe we're all here to do more than just sit
around and watch tv and play on Facebook. We're here to leave legacies and to
inspire other people.
That's what MESH
is all about. Getting that driving force lit up in each and every one of
you.
I'm proud to say
I've had clients double their income, finish 2 novels, create e-books and build
lifestyles that suit their heart's dreams.
R´N´T: A FEW SHORT QUESTIONS AND WE´RE DONE:
FAVORITE BAND EVER:
The Beatles
The Beatles
FAVORITE SINGER:
Sarah Vaughan
FAVORITE BASS PLAYER:
Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
FAVORITE VIXEN SONG TO PLAY LIVE:
Edge of a Broken Heart
Edge of a Broken Heart
FIRST ROCK CONCERT YOU EVER ATTENDED:
Black Oak Arkansas and Rick Dillinger
Black Oak Arkansas and Rick Dillinger
A SONG YOU WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE WRITTEN:
Imagine
Imagine
SONG YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO WHEN YOU´RE DOWN:
Shining Star by Earth, Wind & Fire
Shining Star by Earth, Wind & Fire
A GIG YOU PLAYED THAT STICKS ON YOUR MIND:
SR: When Bubble performed for the first time in Tokyo.... all the Japanese girls were crying and singing the words to our rock ballad, Sparkle Star. I almost fell over on stage when I realized this.
SR: When Bubble performed for the first time in Tokyo.... all the Japanese girls were crying and singing the words to our rock ballad, Sparkle Star. I almost fell over on stage when I realized this.
BAND OR SINGER YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ON STAGE FOR A DUET:
SR: Paul McCartney. I'd be
happy just to meet him!!!!!! Or to share a pint with him.
R´N´T: WELL SHARE, IT´S BEEN AMAAAAZING TALKING TO YOU, I JUST CAN´T THANK YOU ENOUGH. TAKE CARE, KEEP ROCKIN´and I´LL SEE YOU IN BILBAO!!! If you see some freak losing it and
singing along to every song, THAT´LL BE ME! Thanks again, cheers!
Vixen is playing
Madrid (September 25th), Bilbao (September 26th) and
Barcelona (September 27th).
You can follow Vixen
on:
You can follow Share
Ross on:
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