WBAB and Romeo’s Fuel present Lita Ford at Bald Hill with Warrant and Firehouse on August 10th, 2024. We recently spoke to Lita to discuss the show. I asked Lita how she felt about doing package shows like this. She told me the guys from Warrant and Firehouse are like family, they get along great and are all happy to see each other.
In speaking about her band, Lita said they are “Irreplaceable” and she “Can’t even imagine going on stage without them.” In speaking about the live guitar interplay Lita mentioned that it took a long time for her and guitarist Patrick Kennison to work that out over the 10 or so years he’s been in her band. She also spoke about drummer Bobby Rock being with the band for about a decade as well. From there Lita mentioned one of her favorite bands growing up was Thin Lizzy. She spoke about that guitar duo harmony being an influence along with Judas Priest as well.
I had heard that Lita was currently working on a new album. I asked her if she was approaching this new album by trying to capture a live sound or did, she work differently in a studio atmosphere. Lita explained that for her “The studio has always been trying to teach everybody what I wanna hear.” LIta said she’s worked with some of the greatest engineers and producers and that this time around Gary Hoey was in the producer’s chair for the album. Lita said the new album is finished now. Lita gave great praise to Gary for getting creative with anything she threw at him in the studio. She seems to be extremely excited about this album. Unfortunately, Lita said there is no target date for release just yet.
In here, the discussion turned to record labels and trying to find the right home for the album. From that perspective I asked Lita if she was in full control of this album, and she absolutely expressed that she was. She said this album is “Lita, and what Lita wanted to do.” She also explained, “It’s a concept record. It’s a big story.” She feels a lot of people will relate to this record. About this time Lita went through people involved with the record like Bobby Rock, Jean Beauvoir, Gary Hoey and Max Norman.
We discussed when we spoke back in 2018 and something she said to me back then about starting out in the music industry. You can hear that quote right below this. We dug into her experiences in this business especially for a woman who started out so young. Lita did mention how important it is to have people you trust to work with, get opinions and bounce stuff off.
We did take some time to get into gear. Lita was very expressive in describing the sound she wanted and how she is more than willing to experiment and break rules to get that sound. Lita even explained about in the old days experimenting with a reel-to-reel tape recorder to get her sound. Lita had said at the beginning of the gear discussion that she breaks rules and takes things apart. When I repeated that back to her, she commented, “That’s the truth, more so than you know Joe.”
LIta wrapped everything up by reminding everyone to come out to the show August 10th, 2024, at Bald Hill. Get tickets and info here. Lita’s final comment on the show was “It’s gonna be badass.”