Rock My Monkey: Hello, you are listening to the Rock My Monkey netcast on RockMyMonkey.com. Today we are speaking with Ken Hensley, well known for his work with the legendary Uriah Heep. Today we are talking about his cd, Blood On The Highway. How are you doing today, Ken?
Ken Hensley: I’m doing very well, Mark, thanks. It’s nice to talk to you.
Rock My Monkey: This cd is being called your autobiography. How much of an autobiography do you feel that it is?
Ken Hensley: Well, it’s autobiographical in the sense that, the essence of the concept is the life of a rock star in the ‘70’s, which I know quite a bit about. And while it talks about that particular experience as seen through my own eyes, it also tries to be a little more generalized, in the sense that there were many, many others than just me out there pioneering this new rock and roll road.
Rock My Monkey: Okay, so it as actually is more of a fictional tale, but based on your own experiences?
Ken Hensley: Yeah, I guess you could summarize it that way. A lot of it’s based on real experiences, but I tried not to make it just based on specific personal experiences. It was more generalized than that.
Rock My Monkey: You also have an autobiographical book that you released recently. Is that separate from this, or do you feel that they work as companion releases to each other?
Ken Hensley: I feel that they work as companion releases. I definitely feel that the book is really like an expanded version of the cd. The idea for the cd came from the first edition of the book, which I wrote and published myself. When the boss of my publishing company read the book, he was the one who contacted me and said, ‘You know, I like the story. Can we tell the musical part of the story on disc?’ And that was really what prompted the whole thing. The book, however, is about much more than just my ten and a half years with Uriah Heep. It’s about my entire life. And it’s more about my personal life than my professional life. So whilst they work together, they are different animals.
Rock My Monkey: What does the limited edition box set version offer fans that the regular retail version of the cd does not?
Ken Hensley: The cd and the book are identical to the individual releases. What the box set brings to the market is a live DVD, which I recorded about a year and a half ago or so with my live band. It also brings a DVD which is the film of the making of Blood On The Highway in the studio, with Glenn and Jorn and all of the characters, which actually I even personally find quite interesting, because the whole studio environment is something which very few people get to see, and this illustrates it really well. Also in the box are a commemorative t-shirt, a personal note from me, a signed autograph card, a signed guitar pick. It’s packaged up really nicely to really be a collector’s piece. It’s a limited edition, and each one will be numbered. I’m hoping it will find an appropriate place in people’s collection.
Rock My Monkey: What song on this cd do you think has the chance of being a song that fans demand for decades to come?
Ken Hensley: That’s a tough question. First of all I’d have to say that this particular cd is the closest I’ve come to having the cd with which I’m a 100% happy. And so it’s hard for me to choose between the songs. I really don’t know the answer to that question. I mean, every song has it’s own individual merit in terms of its where it took place within the framework of the overall concept. There are songs which are specifically meaningful to myself, personally, like “I Did It All”, which about sums up the position of my life at the time when I wrote this, where I could have taken a cynical look at the past, and said ‘Why don’t I matter anymore?’, but instead chose to take a more positive look at it, and say, ‘You know what, it was great while it lasted, but I also like what I’m doing now, and at least I can say that I did it.’ But that doesn’t answer your question. I don’t know if there is a single song on the cd, because it’s a concept, and every one of those songs is a topic, an individual topic within the context. I don’t know if one of them could be taken out of that context and be just as meaningful. Sorry.
Rock My Monkey: What do you feel makes Blood On The Highway unique in the rock world, and what do you think this release offers fans that just isn’t being offered to rock fans right now?
Ken Hensley: I think that’s a good question. I never approached it with the view of making it something unique, and something that covers territory that was otherwise unavailable. That wasn’t my goal. My goal was just to tell that story as effectively, poetically, musically and generically as I could so that it would get people to look inside, into the emotional side of making the commitment of ‘I want to be a rock star’ and going out and trying to be one, and all that you go through in order to get through, and what you go through in the aftermath of that. I don’t know if that story’s been told this way before. I know there are things out there like Spinal Tap and so on that put a rather comedic view on the whole thing. But I don’t know if that particular story’s been told before. And I think it’s one of the reasons why now there is a lot of conversation about turning it into a stage musical, which would expand the story considerably, and I think more effectively than say a Volume 2 would do.
Rock My Monkey: Awesome. So there actually is a chance that this might be an actual dramatic touring play?
Ken Hensley: Yes. There is a very good chance. We’re having conversations with people right now that are experts in that particular field, which I’m not. But it would be a fantastic challenge, as far as I’m concerned, to take the whole thing and to develop it that way. Again, the idea came from the people at my record company in Germany, and they’re well enough connected to be able to find the right people to do it. I would be involved in the sense that I would need to write more music for that, and I would be involved as a consultant in the musical aspects of it, but I would not be involved in neither the dramatic or production or presentation, because I have no experience there.
Rock My Monkey: So this would be done similar to the way Trans Siberian Orchestra does things, where the writers actually stay home, but they send a crew out that they approve of to actually do the dramatic play?
Ken Hensley: I think it would be-I don’t know if that’s a good analogy. I think the best analogy would be Mama Mia, to tell you the truth. I mean, honestly, Mark, I haven’t seen it developed yet. I haven’t seen any kind of a stage play written for it, or a storyboard written for it. And I have my own ideas. I’m perfectly willing to be as involved as they want me to be, but at the same time I really feel my particular strength would be to provide the additional music that would supplement what’s already there. I think it would be a great story to tell in the stage environment.
Rock My Monkey: Is there any plans for a video single for this release?
Ken Hensley: There are plans for some kind of a DVD promotional tool. Next year in March, 2008, we will release the live DVD from the cd release party that took place in Hamburg this May. That performance was divided into two parts, which was the presentation of Blood On The Highway from beginning to end with the original cast, and then the second part was a normal show, which I do using a lot of special guests. So from that DVD, which I’ve seen the film, which looks really good, and I’m in the process now of mixing and mastering the audio, from that DVD will be taken segments that will be specifically designed to promote the whole concept of Blood On The Highway.
Rock My Monkey: You had a great cast of guests on this cd. Did any of them help write their parts, or was the writing all you?
Ken Hensley: No, I wrote everything in it’s most basic format. This is a good question. I wrote all the songs as they were originally written. What happened was I gave each individual singer completely free range to come in and interpret the song the way they normally would interpret the songs. This is something I haven’t done since my days with Uriah Heep. When I was with Uriah Heep I would typically bring a new song into the rehearsal room, or the recording studio, in its most basic form, as a guitar or piano song with the lyrics written and the basic melody established. Then each individual in the band and the vocalist would then take the songs and add their own interpretations to them, which would result in the end arrangement. I did that same exact same thing with this record. I brought in a rhythm section and a guitar player whom I’ve worked with in the past, and whom I’ve trusted from a creative standpoint. And I just gave them the complete freedom to add their own interpretation, which resulted in the songs being really developed, and considerably enhanced in some cases. So all the basic writing was mine, but the arrangement was contributed to by everybody involved.
Rock My Monkey: Did they actually come down to Spain to your studio to record it, or did they record it wherever they’re from and then mail the file?
Ken Hensley: No, everything was done here in Spain. I felt like this was certainly the best way to do it. We have an excellent environment in the studio. We have an excellent environment in the location in Spain where we are. It was not a problem to persuade people to come here. But I also felt like for consistency purposes, I wanted to have control over the audio aspects of it, so it made perfect sense to me from a production standpoint to have everybody come here and do it.
Rock My Monkey: You have done a wide variety of different work throughout your career, so I always wondered would you consider yourself to be metal or rock?
Ken Hensley: That’s a really good question, too. I am a pop rock artist. I don’t even know what metal means. I’ve never known, in fact. I know that Uriah Heep was labeled as a heavy metal band in the early ‘70’s when the phrase was first coined, or the term was first coined. But I didn’t know what it meant then, and I still really don’t know what it means. But certainly, realistically I’m, as a writer, I write pop songs that lean toward rock, although I have to say on the new album which I’m writing now, and I don’t know when that will see the light of day, I just had finished writing the first song I’ve ever written which is absolutely balls out 100% country. So I don’t know quite where this creative trail is taking me, but I always give its head and let it run its own course.
Rock My Monkey: So that new song then will be on your Love And Other Mysteries release?
Ken Hensley: That’s correct, yes.
Rock My Monkey: Now, some people are listing that as a 2008 release, but you don’t know if it’ll actually make it before the end of 2008?
Ken Hensley: I’m not sure. I can’t be sure, because I don’t know how long we’re going to be campaigning Blood On The Highway. You see, Blood On The Highway is designed, there are four components to it. There’s the cd, then the book, then the box set, then the live DVD. So the title is being sustained by dividing the marketing campaign over the four components, and I’m not exactly sure how long, when we’ll be finished with that. But I do know we’re all committed to letting it run its course. The additional complication may come from the stage musical concept, also, which mean that it would be consuming a lot more of my time. So it’s difficult to say. All I know is that the first project I’ll be working on in 2008 before I do the second part of the Blood On The Highway tour will be Love And Other Mysteries. I’m not sure. If I get it finished in the first quarter of 2008, it’s very likely it will come out before Christmas.
Rock My Monkey: You talked a little bit about the DVD side of this, Live Fire. Is that something that you have to be buy with the cd, or can you actually buy Live Fire separately?
Ken Hensley: The Live Fire DVD will not be available separately until 2009. And until then it will only be available as part as the boxed set. The Blood On The Highway DVD which was recorded and filmed at the release party in Hamburg, Germany, will be released as a stand alone project, product in March 2008.
Rock My Monkey: Great. Great. You recently did the Hammond solo on "Trul" from the album Gothic Kabala by Therion. How did you hook up with them, and what was it about Therion that made you want to get involved?
Ken Hensley: Well, I’ve done two or three things like that. I’m a little, I’m always very hesitant about those things, because if I don’t get the music and I don’t really feel like I contribute anything substantial to it, I generally stay away from those things. I have to say, for every one I do, I turn down probably 20 or 25. I get asked to play a Hammond a lot on a lot of things. I’m not quite sure why. In any event, I’m very selective about it, just because I want to be sure I can make a difference. In the Therion project, I had first worked on the project for Ayreon, and I think word got around that I was into doing these progressive rock things, which is not a fact. A friend of mine was working with Therion, and he contacted me and asked if I would consider doing it, and I said yes. I took the music into the studio. I listened to it. I played along with it. I left at the end of the project more baffled than I started, because I really wasn’t sure if I’d actually accomplished any of the goal. I felt a little bit like a fish out of water in that environment, musically.
Rock My Monkey: What song on Blood On The Highway do you consider the most personal?
Ken Hensley: “I Did It All”.
Rock My Monkey: And why would that be?
Ken Hensley: In writing the song I knew I was writing an exact essay on exactly how I felt emotionally, psychologically, personally, musically, spiritually, at that particular point in time. I think what it did was it exorcised a great deal of emotional turmoil that I was going through. And it says very specifically, and very clearly and very accurately how I was feeling at the time. And it satisfied me tremendously to finish that song. And it satisfied me tremendously to listen to the end result of the recording of that song. So I’m very personally attached to that song.
Rock My Monkey: With all your special guest vocalists, how did you decide which song you’d have Jorn sing, which one you’d have John sing, and which one you’d have Eve sing, and which ones you’d sing yourself?
Ken Hensley: I wanted “I Did It All”, and I wanted “There Comes A Time”. The reason I wanted “There Comes A Time” is because I originally recorded that song in about 1983, when I was living in Denver. I did the original demo for that song. And I felt like I could sing that song. “I Did It All” was the song that was, like I said before, was so personal that I really had to sing that song. With the other songs, I’m not a great rock singer. I mean, if you listen to some of the things that Jorn Lande does, for example, or some of the things that Glenn does, I don’t know how they even think about some of the things they do vocally. So not only do I not have the instinct in me, but I don’t have the ability to perform like that. So I hired those voices because I felt they were perfect for the songs I wanted them to sing. In another sense, Glenn and I had talked for a long time about working together. So this provided the perfect vehicle for doing that. As far as Eve is concerned, I needed a female voice for that song, for “Think Twice”. I wanted to have the female perspective for that song. I didn’t really know who to bring in for that song, to tell you the truth. I approached one or two singers, female singers, well known female singers actually. For various reasons they weren’t able to do it. But I was introduced to Eve by a friend of mine in Switzerland, where Eve now lives, and I listened to some of her stuff, and I contacted her, and I told her roughly the kind of voice I wanted her to bring to the song. And I think she just did it perfectly.
Rock My Monkey: I got to say, being able to have one cd where you have Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes both singing on one rock cd I think is definitely an amazing feat. They are extremely strong vocalists.
Ken Hensley: Yes, they are.
Rock My Monkey: What are the chances of you doing a full coast to coast tour of the U.S. anytime soon?
Ken Hensley: Well, I think the chances are very slim, to be honest. The whole touring thing, for me, at the moment-it doesn’t matter if it’s a U.S. tour or the U.K. or Europe, is a very mysterious animal. The issue of economics is clearly one that plays into it. But more than anything else, there’s such a stigma attached to artists from the 70’s who have reached a certain point in their careers, or in their lives. And it’s very difficult to persuade promoters in a general sense to invest in something that has any degree of risk attached to it. It’s much the same in Europe as it is everywhere else. There are very few media available for promotion purposes. Unless radio takes a song or an album and really moves with it, then it’s not likely to create the kind of general interest that will sell tickets. Like everything else about them music business these days, it’s all got to smell like money or else people won’t invest in it. Trying to get people to invest in promotion and advertising and those kinds of things is very difficult. So I’m confronted all the time, as much as I would love to take this album out on the road, as much as I love my live band, I’m always confronted with this dilemma of people who seem to show a degree of interest in the idea, but really don’t want to spend the money to make it work, to make it happen.
Rock My Monkey: That’s pretty sad.
Ken Hensley: I agree. It’s very sad, Mark. It is a very sad situation because I’ve always felt in the worst of times and the best of times that music has to stand on its own and speak for itself, and everything should be judged on its musical merit, as opposed to on hype or purely on a name. But I also understand the economics of the industry, and I understand that people can sell tribute bands these days more easily than they can sell the original. Which is a very peculiar thing.
Rock My Monkey: Hopefully the channel VH1 Classics will come in and-I know they’ve done this in a lot times. They’ve taken things that may not work otherwise, and they’ll put together a package and they’ll put their muscle behind it, and make some kind of touring package like that happen and get promoted properly. So let’s all send emails to VH1 Classics.
Ken Hensley: That’s the kind of thing, Mark, that’s the kind of thing to me which is necessary. If that happens then there’s a very strong chance that that could support. Without that kind of support, without that kind of muscle, as you put it, it’s almost impossible to make those things succeed, because you’re faced with a triple enemy, really. First of all, you’ve got a lot of bands, young bands, and vintage bands that are out there playing for next to nothing. That’s the problem. It makes it a buyer’s market. The promoter doesn’t need to spend money on Ken Hensley when he can get some version of Blue Oyster Cult or Nazareth or something very cheaply. You’ve also got the issue that there’s a lot of manufactured pop music out there that represents instant dollars for promoters. And the other issue is of course that the hard core fans of the 70’s bands are in at least their mid-forties, and approaching fifty and maybe their early fifties, and then you’re fighting with the remote control. Is the guy on a Wednesday going to go to a crowded, maybe in Germany for example, a smoky venue on a Wednesday night and leave his wife and kids behind and go stand up for three or four hours to hear some of his old favorite songs, or is he going to just keep the remote control in his hands and watch Champions League? It’s a hard fight.
Rock My Monkey: Now is the time in the interview I like to call The Lightening Round. I’m going to name something in popular culture or the news, and you sum up your thoughts in one short sentence.
Ken Hensley: You got it.
Rock My Monkey: Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Ken Hensley: Know nothing about him.
Rock My Monkey: The NBC show Heroes.
Ken Hensley: Know nothing about it.
Rock My Monkey: The Apple iPhone.
Ken Hensley: Want one.
Rock My Monkey: President Bush.
Ken Hensley: A little misguided.
Rock My Monkey: Fox News.
Ken Hensley: Don’t watch it.
Rock My Monkey: Recording Industry Association Of America.
Ken Hensley: Very valuable institution.
Rock My Monkey: I do have one final question. Every year we do choose one final question that we ask every single band, every single artist, from classic rock legends like yourself, to the most extreme death metal bands at the end of every interview, partially to stump people, but also to see who wimps out and won’t answer. This year I’m asking people to look into their crystal ball and predict what political figure, world leader, musician, celebrity, anybody world wide famous, who do you think might die before the end of the year?
Ken Hensley: Nelson Mandela.
Rock My Monkey: Wow. That is probably one of the most interesting answers I’ve had all year. I thank you very much for doing the interview, and anybody listening to the audio version can go to RockMyMonkey.com for the full featured version with clickable links, readable text and many more wonderful features. I’m asking people to click on the album cover above and below this interview to purchase Blood On The Highway by Ken Hensley. And I do hope to see you guys up playing a show in the Northwest sometime soon if it can all be possible. And I thank you very much for your time.
Ken Hensley: You’re more than welcome. Thank you, and god bless you.
