By Jeb Wright
Photo by Matthew Becker @
www.melodicrockconcerts.com
I interviewed Lita Ford this July for the
jumbo-tron at The Moondance Jam in Walker, Minnesota only
moments before she went onstage. Her two sons were in the room
watching the interview, her oldest even recorded it for a school
project. I could not help but notice that next to Lita, just
out of camera range, was a giant of a man with red flame tattoos
up and down his arms who was sporting a blonde Mohawk. I had
been warned earlier by some staffers not to upset this man as he
was Jim Gillette, Lita’s husband and that he had a black belt in
everything and that if I upset her during the interview it would
be curtains for me. Luckily, the short chat came off splendidly
and I didn’t get my ass kicked.
I have interviewed hundreds of artists over
my ten-year career and, I must admit, there are still times the
rock fan in me comes out. When I interview someone who I admire
then it is still thrill for me. I have always admired Lita
Ford. From the first moment in the 80’s when I saw her rip out
a killer solo on her BC Rich Warlock guitar I have had a thing
for her. I bought her albums and read her articles in all of
the rock magazines. Instead of fearing Jim Gillette, I found
myself envying him. After all, he is married to Lita fucking
Ford. How cool is that?
After the interview, we were standing there
chatting and I said, “Jim, where I come from we are gentlemen.
I love your wife’s music and I admire her as a person. I need
to ask your permission to give her a hug.” Jim instinctively
looked over at Lita. A mean scowl appeared on his face. He
looked at me and held up his right hand and made a motion with
his thumb and forefinger and said, “Just a little one.” As soon
as he did that, his face broke out in a big smile. I hugged
Lita and shook Jim’s hand and we talked for a while. Jim gave
me his business card and we have been emailing each other,
giving each other shit, and becoming friends ever since.
Fast forward a few months and I am waiting
for the phone to ring so I can interview Lita again. This time
we are going to talk about her new album Wicked Wonderland.
This album is, by far, the heaviest music Lita has ever
written and recorded. She has honed her chops and is kicking
out the jams throughout the entire disc. Lita called right on
time and I picked up the phone. After exchanging a few
pleasantries, I confronted her concerning her change in style
from the pop metal she did in the 1980’s to the brutality that
is Wicked Wonderland. Lita explained to me
that the times have changed, “What was heavy back then were
things like ‘Close My Eyes’ and ‘Kiss Me Deadly.’ Things have
gotten heavier, now, fifteen years later. We wanted to appeal
to our older fans as well as a younger audience. Jim and I
decided to go heavier and make music that had a lot of energy.”
We discussed the difficulty of coming back
after fifteen years and playing a new type of music. Lita even
admitted that while she loves the new stuff, her listening
tastes have not changed, “You just have to listen to what is out
there today and try and play off of it a little bit. You have
to be careful not to stray too much from your roots.
Personally, I don’t listen to too much new music these days. I
am still listening to Metallica, The Ramones and Van Halen. I
like the older stuff but Jim is pretty hip to what is going on
today. Greg Hampton, who is his songwriting partner, also
listens to a lot of the newer stuff. Together, the three of us
wrote this album.”
When asked how she knows if she got it
right, Lita laughs and says, “You never really know until album
sales start shooting through the roof; that’s when you know. So
far, the number one requested song off the five-song EP has been
a song called ‘Crave.’ It is one of my favorites. I love the
rolling bass in the beginning. As soon as you hear that bass
then you know what is coming up.”
Lita used to plug in her BC Rich Warlock
and crank up her Marshall amp and just go for it. Now, she is
surprised by the number of tools the modern guitarist has at her
disposal. “The guy we wrote with is really into gadgets. He
would tell me, ‘Lita, you have to try this pedal. And you have
to listen to the this box. Oh, and you need to check out this
guitar and the sustain on it. You can hit a note, set it down
for week and come back and it will still be sustaining.’ If you
listen closely to Wicked Wonderland then you will hear
all kinds of weird things going on in the background. All of
the weird sounds really stick out. Fifteen years ago I wouldn’t
have done that.”
Next came the subject of the albums
lyrics. I told Lita that many of the tunes are very sexual in
nature and not very ladylike. Lita surprised me by saying, “If
you want to talk lyrics then I am putting Jim on the phone.
Hold on.” With that, she put her husband, Jim Gillette, on the
line. To my surprise, my interview with Lita was over. Not on
purpose but because Jim and I just keep chatting. We talked so
much that I never got back to Lita.
For those who remember the band Nitro, Jim
Gillette was the lead singer. His gimmick was hitting a high
note that would piss off Ella Fitzgerald. In addition to Nitro,
Jim started the mail order business Vocal Power that
taught people how to sing.
What follows is an in-depth interview from
the man behind the woman known as Lita Ford. Jim talks openly
about his two-week courtship with Lita, being this open with
their sexuality, living on a deserted island, home schooling
their kids and the new video game featuring Lita called
Brutal Legend.
Read on to take a peek into the lives of
one of America’s most interesting celebrity couples.
Jeb: Jim, Talk to me about the lyrics.
Lita is not too ladylike on some of these songs. Take “Piece”
for example.
Jim: The gist of that song is, “Look, but
don’t touch or I’ll beat your ass.” I hope you heard all of the
references to the old stuff on the album. We did that for the
older fans because we thought they would think that was cool.
We say, “Dangerous curves with the deadly kiss.” There is lots
of that stuff all over the record. When you hear it then you
will smile.
Jeb: The album sounds really good. I
put it in the car and cranked it up. To me, that is the litmus
test...how well it sounds in the car stereo.
Jim: I know what you mean. I don’t even
have that good of a car stereo; it is pretty good but not
great. I still love to listen to the CD in the car.
Jeb: To me, “Crave” needs to be the lead
single.
Jim: Lita and I thought that same thing but
our radio guys said that was not the one. There are fifteen
songs on the CD and they are all really good. All of the songs
come from the same tree but they are all different branches.
Each song has just a little bit of a different vibe, which makes
it really cool. I am really glad you are digging it.
Jeb: You have a lot of one-word titles.
Was that on purpose?
Jim: We didn’t do it on purpose. “Crave”
says it all. What more do you need to convey? The one word
just sums them up. Plus, we are getting older and we can’t
remember shit. It makes it easier to read the set list taped on
the stage because you can use a bigger font [laughter].
Jeb: The album art was done by the guy
who works with Rob Zombie.
Jim: Do you love it?
Jeb: It is cool, man. It fits the music
well.
Jim: We love it and I agree.
Jeb: Lita has always been into looking
good and dressing up for things. She must have loved this photo
shoot.
Jim: She loved it but she didn’t know what
to expect. A long time ago, she was more in control of what she
was going to wear. I told her, “You know, honey, we have been
gone so long, let’s have some fun. Piggy D is a bad mofo and
let’s let him do his thing and see what he comes up with.” He
did the shoot in this weird bordello, it was awesome. They went
to town on her. It came out great. We are thrilled.
Jeb: Is being back enough for you or are
you worried about the sales on this album?
Jim: Right now, with all the great people,
like you, telling us that it passed the cruising test and that
it is brutal, that makes it all worth it. We know that for
every one unit we sell there will be twenty-five downloaded for
free. We are not looking to sell ten million copies, of course,
that would be great, but if people just remain as excited as
they have been then we are good with that.
I have not had one person come up to me and
go, “I just don’t like this shit.” No one has said, “It is too
heavy.” When an identifiable woman, like Lita, has been away
for fifteen years, I thought we would get more people saying,
“This does not sound like her.” If anyone says that then I will
tell them, “It does sound like her. It has been fifteen years
you asshole. It is 2009 and not 1988.” We have not had anyone
say that yet. Anyone that would complain about that would
complain about the opposite if we would have made a record that
sounded like 1988. They would have said, “This sounds old.
It’s 2009.”
Jeb: I agree with that.
Jim: We just decided to do what was in our
heart and not worry about what anybody was going to say or not
say. We went for it and thankfully we are getting good comments
and people are excited. At the end of the day, big sales would
be great but if people are digging it and it gets people to come
to the shows then we are doing great. We are getting new fans
that were not even around in 1988. We did a college radio show
and these kids were nineteen years old and they were digging the
music. They told us how cool the music sounds. I can’t tell
you have cool it is for us to have an artist that is, literally,
old enough to be their mother telling us how awesome and heavy
this music is.
Jeb: How much did your two boys know
about Lita’s past life.
Jim: They grew up and saw the albums and
they have heard the music so they are aware of it. They are
with us when people ask her for her autograph.
Jeb: It would be cool to see it from
something that was before their time and now, be able to
experience some of it first hand. You are really doing this as
a family affair.
Jim: We are full on doing it as a family
thing. Right before I called you, I finished up a comic book
deal about our family. It is going to be about us getting ready
for a show and these zombie creatures come around and we have to
kick the shit out of them. It is really cool. I think the more
we do the more fun we are all going to have.
Jeb: Do you ever worry about taking your
young kids to some of the venues you play in?
Jim: You saw how we did it at The Moondance
Jam in Minnesota. They are with me at all times. On stage,
they sit, literally, two feet from me. I have got my assistant
who is a big guy like me and he is right behind them. We are
not worried at all. Rule # 1 for us is that if there are people
acting foolish backstage, then we remove them. I will leave the
mike stand and I will go throw them out myself. We have only
run into that one time so it has been real cool.
Most of the bands have done all the crazy
stuff and now they all have families. They know where we are
at. They may leave their kids at home but they have kids and
they don’t want to act like idiots in front of our kids. People
have cooled out and chilled out. You remember guys you saw
twenty years ago and they could hardly stand up. Now you see
them and they are either fifty pounds heavier, because they have
replaced the drugs with food, or they are all health conscience
and are eating carrots and jogging. They had to quit doing what
they were doing back then. They had two choices: Get healthy or
start eating.
Jeb: You live on an island that you
own. You have an amazing home and plenty of money. You have a
great family. Why did you decide to get back into the crazy
world of rock music?
Jim: It was Lita’s idea. I think she
always really wanted to get back out there and do it again. I
have to tell you, though, she is the most incredible mom on the
planet. She has home schooled the kids. She cooks for us and
she takes care of the house. She is everybody’s perfect vision
of a mom. She didn’t want to bring the kids out when they were
too little. They are now old enough to get an education out of
it. We took our kids all over Europe; what a way to learn
geography. They are able to learn about other countries and
they get to go to restaurants and eat foods from all kinds of
different cultures.
The kids like being home, don’t get me
wrong. When we are out on the road, they want to be home. But
when we are home they can’t wait for the next show. I think
Lita had it in the back of her mind the entire time that our
oldest son is really getting great on the guitar. I think he
sees her playing and he thinks it is cool. He gets to be part
of the show when he comes out and throws balloons at people. I
think he feels that energy you feel when you are up on stage.
When he comes home, he really practices all the time. I think
he has the itch.
Jeb: You all are living the right kind
of life and you are supportive parents.
Jim: We would love to see our kids do
something with music but that is up to them. They are actually
both in training to fight professionally — which is ridiculous
because one is just eight years old. They learned Jiu-Jitsu
from the Gracie’s, who created the UFC. They have learned
fighting from Howard Davis Jr. who is a 1976 Olympic Gold
Medalist in boxing. They actually spend twenty hours a week in
training. They are both very serious about it. I said, “Do
that for a year or two, get the belt and then make rock music.”
One would be cool for the other. Wouldn’t it be cool if one of
the guys in Metallica would rock out one night and go fight in a
cage the next? I am very happy that they are digging the
fighting thing because I am big into that.
Jeb: I saw Lita playing some Warlocks at
Moondance.
Jim: She is still playing Warlocks. Bernie
Rico made Lita all of these killer BC Rich guitars back in the
day. I will bet that she has twenty-five of them from him. He
ended up selling BC Rich and then he passed on. His son has
continued on but they call them Bernie Rico Guitars now. We
looked him up on the Internet and he said that he would love to
work with Lita. He said that Lita was his dad’s favorite. For
Sturgis, he made Lita a guitar that is kind of like a Flying V,
but he put a lot more cuts into it and it really looks good. He
painted an American flag over it. He is making some more
guitars for her. I think he is going to make a signature guitar
for her as well. It is about time. Guys have tons of signature
guitars and there are a lot of girls who would have loved to
have a Lita Ford signature guitar but it didn’t exist.
Jeb: She deserves one. There are a lot
of women who play but there are few that play like Lita.
Jim: She really rips the shit out of the
guitar. She has great feel and she has the best vibrato that I
have ever heard.
Jeb: You all just flipped backing
bands. The new band kicks the old bands ass. What happened?
Jim: Weird stuff went down. I don’t want
to air dirty laundry because that is kind of a code of mine.
Honestly, the chemistry was never there. We practiced — this is
going to sound insane — we practiced once with the new guys and
then played a show the next day. That show felt better than any
of the shows we had done with the other guys. You know how it
goes, man. There is so much more than just playing something
wrong or right. It is how you play it and the feel you play it
with. Lita is a feel player. The old regime just never felt
right. This regime feels right and it is continuously getting
better. We love the guys in this band and there are no attitudes
or problems. They are very low maintenance.
Jeb: Bumblefoot put up with Axl Rose.
You guys will be easy for him.
Jim: Talk about going from one extreme to
another. He is awesome. I think because there is no crazy
stuff going on here that he feels really comfortable.
Jeb: Lita has said that this is a very
sexual album. You all are very open about your sexuality. Was
there any discussion of how you throw this out there and not go
too far.
Jim: We just let it all go. This is
us...take it or leave it. We can still be good parents and do
this. We can still home school our kids and we can still make
them dinner. We just are very happy to show the world who we
are.
We knew each other for two weeks before we
got married. We got married on Friday the 13th.
Three years later, on our wedding anniversary, we had our first
kid. We are head over heels in love with each other. We have
now been married for fifteen years. We are soul mates and we
are partners. Our kids are our lives. We also love to have
sex. What the hell is wrong with that? We are husband and
wife.
We do most of the radio interviews together. We had one guy
kind of come at me a little bit. It was not like when you come
at me...he was very combative. I had to remind him that we were
married. I said, “We are husband and wife. Does God not want a
husband and wife to enjoy each other?” He stammered and said,
“Well, of course.” I said, “We shouldn’t talk about it? We
shouldn’t try to get other husbands to enjoy their wives instead
of their mistresses?” He goes, “That is not what I am saying.”
I know so many guys who are cheating on
their wives because they are not getting it at home. If your
cupboards are full of food, are you going to go to the store?
If you are eating filet mignon every night then you are not
going to be satisfied running out for a cheap burger. I hope
that we will help some people. Maybe people will hear about us
and give it another shot. A lot of my friends don’t know how
they got to where they got. They say, “Things were great but
then we stopped having sex.” Maybe they had a kid or they are
working too hard or maybe they just are too tired. Listen, if
you start pumping then you’re going to wake up. If you’re
enjoying each other then it is just great. If you stop having
sex then pretty soon you’re cheating on each other and it is
just a mess. Our lyrics are reality lyrics; this is our life.
We have lived on a deserted island forever, dude. There is
nothing to do late at night but have sex!
Jeb: [laughter] How in the hell did you
end up building a mansion on a deserted island?
Jim: I got into real estate but that is not
what brought us to the island. We just wanted to get away.
Jeb: A lot of people get away by going
to a resort for a week or so. They don’t buy a deserted
island!
Jim: [laughter] In all seriousness, we
wanted to raise our boys in a pristine environment. If the shit
hits fan, in the worse case scenario, in this world, our boys
can catch their own food. If they have a gun and a pocketknife
then they’re eating.
Jeb: You are not about raising them as
privileged. It is not about being rich.
Jim: Well, we are pretty well off. We do
have a mansion. We don’t live like that, though. We are pretty
simple; we are pretty normal. Most of our friends don’t have
the big house in the Caribbean. We like hanging out with normal
folks. We don’t like hanging out with snobs that are like, “We
can’t hang out with you because we have more money than you.”
We are not about that.
We don’t have a whole lot of friends
because we have not found that many people that we respect.
When you meet somebody’s family then that says a lot about
them. Most of the people who we meet, when we meet their kids,
they don’t talk to us and they don’t look us in the eye. They
act like you should be kissing their ass. We are like, “Well,
we won’t be seeing you anymore.” I don’t want my kids to be
that way. Our kids shake your hand and they introduce
themselves and they talk respectfully to their elders. That is
where come from.
Jeb: Have you been asked to do a reality
series?
Jim: They have been asking. I am not
saying we won’t ever do one but if we do one then I want to be
in control of the entire thing. They will take six weeks of
film and find the day where you had one fight and exploit that
throughout the entire show.
I would want to have control over the final
product and the editing. I would want it to be a real look into
our lives. I want to show the home schooling and I want to show
the kids working out and training. They train hard. We have
this rock wall and it keeps spinning like a treadmill. You
can’t get to the top of the wall. You just keep climbing it.
None of my grown men friends can climb the wall like my twelve
year old. You can only get your fingertips around these rocks.
The paper that came with this wall said to try and climb for
five minutes. My boy climbs for an hour, upside down.
Jeb: Do you work out a lot?
Jim: I do a lot of sparring. I don’t
really lift a lot of weights; I never really have.
Jeb: Back to the music, the album is now
out. What else is going on?
Jim: A lot of touring. We are out with
Queensryche. Brutal Legend, the video game is out.
Jeb: Lita is in that.
Jim: She plays the Queen in the game. She
is the Queen of my house and she is the Queen of Brutal
Legend. We have a song in the game called “Betrayal.” We
wrote that for the game. The guy who made the game is named Tim
Schafer. You know me well enough to know that if I thought the
guy was an asshole that I would tell you he is an asshole
[laughter]. This guy put over a hundred classic metal songs on
this thing. He paid over three million dollars on songs. I
think we have the only song that was literally written for the
game.
Jeb: How did hat come about?
Jim: We were in the home studio and I was
on the phone with them. Lita was standing there. They would
tell me something and I would tell it to Lita and she would come
up with something. This guy is a huge Metal fan. He was
talking about all of these songs he was putting on the game and
I told him that we had a new album coming out. I emailed him
the track and he heard it and he said he loved it and he wanted
it on the game. I told him to email me three or four paragraphs
about his game. We were able to put some things about the game
into the lyrics of the song.
Jeb: Your old band, Nitro, is also on
in the video game. How did that come about?
Jim: I was talking through the paperwork
with the EA people and this lady goes, “Machine Gun Eddie.” I
said, “What are you talking about?” She said, “We want to use
your song you did with Nitro called ‘Machine Gun Eddie.’” I
tried to cover and act like I knew what she was talking about
the whole time. I had not thought of Nitro in years. I
remastered “Machine Gun Eddie” and it sounds great. The stuff
you can do today is amazing. That album sounded tiny back then
because we didn’t have any money. We have beefed it up and it
sounds really heavy now. We have two songs and Lita plays the
Queen. The kids are looking forward to hearing mom and dad on
the video game.
Jeb: You were famous for being able to
hit the high note back in Nitro. Can you still hit the high
note?
Jim: I can. Well, not the ultra high
note. I would have to practice for a month or two to hit the
crazy stuff. To get the “Holy Fuck” note I would have to really
practice. You have heard my voice on the new stuff with Lita; I
like doing that better. I am singing for the song instead of
trying to show off.
Jeb: Last one: I am going to ask this
one because you can’t beat me up today.
Jim: I will run into you at some point.
Jeb: You’re right. I keep running into
you in airports.
Jim: Even in Kansas! When you least expect
it... there I will be.
Jeb: When you told me that you met Lita
and married her after two weeks I had to think that was crazy.
How long did it take for you to go from, “I just met Lita Ford
the rock star” to “I know this person and I love her.”
Jim: I am kind of weird. The only thing I
knew about Lita was “Close My Eyes” and “Kiss Me Deadly.” I had
seen her pictures in the rock magazines because I used to
advertise in all of those magazines for my voice lessons. I am
not the kind of person who gets star struck; I never have been.
I thought she was a pretty girl. I met her one night when I was
picking up a friend of mine at a nightclub in Dallas called
Dallas City Limits. Have you been there?
Jeb: No.
Jim: It is a huge room. I think it is
around a two thousand seater. I have no idea if it is even
still around. Nitro played there three years before. We sold
it out and there were hundreds of people out in the parking lot
that wanted to get it. He paid me fifteen hundred bucks. The
door alone was about forty grand. He probably made that much
with his bar and he only paid me fifteen hundred bucks. I went
in there that night and ran into the only owner. He said, “I
love you kid.” I said, “I know you do. I must have made you
seventy five grand that night we played here.”
He said, “Did you know Lita Ford is here?
Go say hello to her.” I told him, “We are just here to pick up
a friend.” He said, “Oh, go say hi to her.” So, I went over
and tapped her on the shoulder. I said, “Hi, my name is Jim.”
Two weeks later we were married.
She said, “Do you want to come see me in
San Antonio?” I said, “If you call me between now and then, I
will be there.” She called me and left a message. I went out
and I saw her. She was opening up for Kiss. I had talked to
Gene Simmons in the past so I went and said hello to him. I saw
Lita and I talked to her. I gave her a ride from the hotel to
the gig and she played. She came off stage and changed and came
out I said, “Can I put my arm around you?” She said, “Yeah.” I
had talked to her less than ten minutes that night but when I
put my arm around her I knew that I was going to marry this
girl. It felt like I was getting shocked. There was
electricity going through me. We were married a few days later
and now it has been over fifteen years. I think we are just
whacky enough for each other. It has worked out so far.
http://www.myspace.com/litaford
http://litaxx.tv/lita/
