RoknRollJesus
07 Nov 2006, 18:14
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MEAT LOAF UNLEASHES HIS INNER MONSTER
Bat Out of Hell trilogy complete with new release
Geoff Martin, canada.com
Published: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Nearly 30 years after Meat Loaf released Bat Out of Hell, which went on to sell more records than there are people in Canada, the singer has completed what he has always promised would be a trilogy with the release of Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
After performing to crowds in London and New York City, Meat Loaf brought his show to Toronto on Saturday for a single performance at the Elgin Theatre that sold out in three minutes. The show is performed in three parts, with the singer belting out songs from each of the three Bat Out of Hell albums.
But it's not a theatrical production, the singer who was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, hastens to point out -- unless you're talking about the songs themselves.
Long known for pouring everything he has into his performances, Meat Loaf doesn't feel the need to dress up what he's doing behind the microphone, nor does he feel the need to work the stage or engage the crowd with anything other than his voice and what he feels are the power of his songs.
"I don't have a bunch of stage props. I'm very emotional when I sing, because the object of the exercise is to seek the truth of each song," he said.
"So if you just go sing a bunch of notes and you smile at the front row and you point and wave and say 'Hi,' I don't think you're finding the truth of the moment. I don't go down and play with the front row, I don't go and wave to the girls on the side, and I don't do the normal stuff that everybody else does in their concerts -- put their hands above their head and tell the audience to clap. We don't do that."
His career started in musical theatre nearly four decades ago, but Meat Loaf says that if his performances have a reputation for being theatrical, the drama is all contained within the songs themselves, which he says all share a single quality.
"They're very emotional, intense periods of people's lives," he said. "They're never about going down to the store and buying a T-shirt. The songs that I pinpoint are when people are at their most vulnerable, in every sense of the imagination. Whether it be with a relationship, or whether it be with themselves. They're never about mundane moments -- they're really about life-changing events."
Take the title track from the new album.
"It's not about a relationship, it's about being trapped inside one's self at your most difficult moments," he said, "and about when self-doubt is completely overwhelming you."
If that sounds a little over-dramatic, then Meat Loaf says you're not paying attention.
"I disagree with people saying that's over-theatrical or over-dramatic, because that happens in everybody's life. And the people that hate those records, sometimes I feel they're very dysfunctional because they won't acknowledge their own emotion, their own drama."
Speaking of his own drama, the music Meat Loaf serves up isn't for everyone, and even after selling millions of records and winning a Grammy for 1993's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, the singer still takes to heart every bit of criticism he hears.
"I'm very emotional, and I'm not thick-skinned, and I don't know how I've lasted in this business for 40 years," he said.
"I take everything to heart, and I really have not figured out how I'm still here."
With a frustrated sigh, Meat Loaf recounts going to Amazon.com to see how his new album was selling in Europe, where it was released several weeks earlier than in North America.
"I just wanted to know what was going on," he said. "And there's some guy that's an obvious Meat Loaf hater, just going on about the most ridiculous stuff that was so untrue. One guy out of many, but that's human nature. A hundred people can come up and tell you how great you are, but one guy will come up and say you suck, and that's what you remember. I wanted to respond, and then I said 'I can't, I can't respond to this idiot.' But believe me, it was five hours ago and I've still got it in my head."
Thanks to his growing fear of germs and an increasing distaste for travel, the 59-year-old singer doesn't think he'll be doing any more tours like the one he's undertaking now.
"I don't think I can deal with this much longer," he said. "The travel, that's the difficult one. The time changes and just going from place to place. And I'm starting to get like Howard Hughes, or Michael Jackson, wanting to wear a mask and gloves. I hate flying commercial because of the air that's going around. You're too susceptible to people's colds and flu and stuff. And you have a responsibility, you're asking people to pay money for tickets and I'm devastated when I can't do a good show."
With songs on the new album written by Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx and Marilyn Manson guitarist John "5" Lowry, and with musical contributions by Queen's Brian May and heavy metal guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, there's no denying that The Monster Is Loose has a harder edge than much of Meat Loaf's past work.
There are still eight songs on the album from Meat Loaf's long-time songwriting partner Jim Steinman, but even those have a decisive bite to them, which the singer says was no accident.
"That was a goal that was set out," Meat Loaf said. "It surpassed my expectations. It frightened me a little bit at first, and then I really got into it. Because I asked for it, and what I asked for I got. That just goes to show you the old phrase 'Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.'
"I just thought at first that it might be a little too edgy, but then I thought to myself, no, don't pigeonhole yourself ... don't squash it, let it happen, see what happens. That's the problem -- there's too much fear, everybody's fearful. I had to get over mine and let it run."
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/otct/20061107/63915-24186.jpg
Article HERE (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=d2f07c3a-9eba-44b7-8d4c-95e03a192c4b)
MEAT LOAF UNLEASHES HIS INNER MONSTER
Bat Out of Hell trilogy complete with new release
Geoff Martin, canada.com
Published: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Nearly 30 years after Meat Loaf released Bat Out of Hell, which went on to sell more records than there are people in Canada, the singer has completed what he has always promised would be a trilogy with the release of Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
After performing to crowds in London and New York City, Meat Loaf brought his show to Toronto on Saturday for a single performance at the Elgin Theatre that sold out in three minutes. The show is performed in three parts, with the singer belting out songs from each of the three Bat Out of Hell albums.
But it's not a theatrical production, the singer who was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, hastens to point out -- unless you're talking about the songs themselves.
Long known for pouring everything he has into his performances, Meat Loaf doesn't feel the need to dress up what he's doing behind the microphone, nor does he feel the need to work the stage or engage the crowd with anything other than his voice and what he feels are the power of his songs.
"I don't have a bunch of stage props. I'm very emotional when I sing, because the object of the exercise is to seek the truth of each song," he said.
"So if you just go sing a bunch of notes and you smile at the front row and you point and wave and say 'Hi,' I don't think you're finding the truth of the moment. I don't go down and play with the front row, I don't go and wave to the girls on the side, and I don't do the normal stuff that everybody else does in their concerts -- put their hands above their head and tell the audience to clap. We don't do that."
His career started in musical theatre nearly four decades ago, but Meat Loaf says that if his performances have a reputation for being theatrical, the drama is all contained within the songs themselves, which he says all share a single quality.
"They're very emotional, intense periods of people's lives," he said. "They're never about going down to the store and buying a T-shirt. The songs that I pinpoint are when people are at their most vulnerable, in every sense of the imagination. Whether it be with a relationship, or whether it be with themselves. They're never about mundane moments -- they're really about life-changing events."
Take the title track from the new album.
"It's not about a relationship, it's about being trapped inside one's self at your most difficult moments," he said, "and about when self-doubt is completely overwhelming you."
If that sounds a little over-dramatic, then Meat Loaf says you're not paying attention.
"I disagree with people saying that's over-theatrical or over-dramatic, because that happens in everybody's life. And the people that hate those records, sometimes I feel they're very dysfunctional because they won't acknowledge their own emotion, their own drama."
Speaking of his own drama, the music Meat Loaf serves up isn't for everyone, and even after selling millions of records and winning a Grammy for 1993's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, the singer still takes to heart every bit of criticism he hears.
"I'm very emotional, and I'm not thick-skinned, and I don't know how I've lasted in this business for 40 years," he said.
"I take everything to heart, and I really have not figured out how I'm still here."
With a frustrated sigh, Meat Loaf recounts going to Amazon.com to see how his new album was selling in Europe, where it was released several weeks earlier than in North America.
"I just wanted to know what was going on," he said. "And there's some guy that's an obvious Meat Loaf hater, just going on about the most ridiculous stuff that was so untrue. One guy out of many, but that's human nature. A hundred people can come up and tell you how great you are, but one guy will come up and say you suck, and that's what you remember. I wanted to respond, and then I said 'I can't, I can't respond to this idiot.' But believe me, it was five hours ago and I've still got it in my head."
Thanks to his growing fear of germs and an increasing distaste for travel, the 59-year-old singer doesn't think he'll be doing any more tours like the one he's undertaking now.
"I don't think I can deal with this much longer," he said. "The travel, that's the difficult one. The time changes and just going from place to place. And I'm starting to get like Howard Hughes, or Michael Jackson, wanting to wear a mask and gloves. I hate flying commercial because of the air that's going around. You're too susceptible to people's colds and flu and stuff. And you have a responsibility, you're asking people to pay money for tickets and I'm devastated when I can't do a good show."
With songs on the new album written by Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx and Marilyn Manson guitarist John "5" Lowry, and with musical contributions by Queen's Brian May and heavy metal guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, there's no denying that The Monster Is Loose has a harder edge than much of Meat Loaf's past work.
There are still eight songs on the album from Meat Loaf's long-time songwriting partner Jim Steinman, but even those have a decisive bite to them, which the singer says was no accident.
"That was a goal that was set out," Meat Loaf said. "It surpassed my expectations. It frightened me a little bit at first, and then I really got into it. Because I asked for it, and what I asked for I got. That just goes to show you the old phrase 'Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.'
"I just thought at first that it might be a little too edgy, but then I thought to myself, no, don't pigeonhole yourself ... don't squash it, let it happen, see what happens. That's the problem -- there's too much fear, everybody's fearful. I had to get over mine and let it run."
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/otct/20061107/63915-24186.jpg
Article HERE (http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=d2f07c3a-9eba-44b7-8d4c-95e03a192c4b)