Certainly no stranger to anyone who’s turned a radio on in the past 30 years, and never a performer to shy away from a strong work ethic or demanding tour, Bryan Adams is back with an album and busy-busy global tour. Released in October of ’15, Adams’s 13th studio album, Get Up, contains songs as catchy, touching, and well-written as any Adams and writing partner Jim Vallance have ever done. An accomplished finished product released on Polydor, Get Up is a competent collection of songs full of promise for dedicated, veteran fans and new listeners, with a special production touch from the one and only Jeff Lynne. Recently Adams took a few minutes from soundcheck to speak with me about the album, its supporting tour, and his latest work as an accomplished photographer.
I looked at your tour schedule and, to say it’s ambitious would be a big understatement. How do you keep going? I can’t even drive an hour without being exhausted for the rest of the day.
Oh, I love what I do, that’s how.
That was very obvious when I saw you at Bethel Woods last year. Your live show is fantastic.
Thanks. We had a great time. It was great there.
If you would, tell me a little about the new album. The last time we talked we touched on Tracks of my Years and the 30th anniversary of Reckless. How did Get Up come together?
It was just sort of an album that came together because the songs were there and I’d been working with Jim a lot lately. It all just kind of seemed like we were really in tune. I’d kind of just bumped into Jeff and he asked me if I wanted to do a song. So, I said yeah, hell yeah. We did a song, then another, and eventually we had enough for an album. And, that’s it. Record.
My favorite song on the album would be “We Did It All”. How did collaborating with Jim and Jeff bring that song together?
Thanks. We were probably four or five songs into the album and I wanted to write a song that was so, so…so Jeff that he wouldn’t be able to say no to it. Jim sent me the verse without lyrics or chord structure. I wrote the chorus and sent that back to him. Usually he says something like, “Oh, we should change this,” or something like that. He sent me back a track, a demo track, and I said, “Well, don’t you want to change anything?” He said no, it was pretty good and that we should get together and write the song. Once we had the track, music, and melody figured out then we sat down and worked on the verse lyrics because I’d already done the chorus lyric.
It comes across as a really touching, well done song. I also noticed the photography in the album’s liner notes was taken by you. Do you have any new photography collections coming out?
Yeah, there’s supposed to be a book coming out before Christmas but for some reason it hasn’t. I’m not sure exactly why. I continue to work for magazines. I’m a gun for hire.
I know the tour has just started but I’m sure everyone’s as excited to catch your show as you are to be there.
Yeah, I’m in Portugal today and Spain tomorrow. But, yeah, we’re excited. It’s pretty exciting.
Bryan Adams will be performing at the Beacon Theatre in NYC on Feb. 11, the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on Feb. 13, the Turning Stone Event Center in Verona, NY on Feb. 14, and The Fillmore in Philadelphia on Feb. 15. For more information, go to bryanadams.com.
