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Home  Archive music profiles Richard Marx: The Un-Comeback Kid
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Richard Marx: The Un-Comeback Kid |
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Written by Jim Campbell
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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I didn’t know how much I missed singing until I was making this
record. I missed being in a band playing and singing on stage.
Playback St. Louis recently caught up with Richard Marx as he was
taking some family members to Wisconsin on a fishing trip. Marx is
taking a much-needed vacation before his life goes haywire as he starts
to promote his latest album, My Own Best Enemy.
Let’s get
right to the new album. This album is a breakaway from your more
traditional pop releases. It’s a little grittier and rock oriented,
wouldn’t you say?
Oh, definitely. It’s one of the things that
I have never claimed to be innovative; I have always been a product of
my influences…it had always crept into the records I made. This record
was influenced by what I have been listening to the last few years;
it’s everything from The Beatles to U2 to Travis to Coldplay.
One track that stands out on the CD is “Colder.” It is a step away from
the safer, smoother sound that I grew to know and love and completely
rocked out. It just kind of breaks the mold of your earlier songs.
Thanks, man. “Colder” is a great example of me listening to some of The
Ataris’ records and I thought, “Aw man, I wish I could do a track that
would fit on their records and still be me.” That’s where it came from.
I appreciate you noticing that. It’s not like it was some master plan
like I set out to make an edgy record; it’s definitely a product of
what I’ve been listening to.
What made you decide to come back into the music industry now?
It’s not like I pulled some Garth Brooks retirement thing. I was really
OK with the idea of not making another record. It was one of those
things where I felt like I had my turn. I had a ten-year turn. I
couldn’t complain; I was really blessed. At the beginning of my career,
I knew my success on the charts would be finite. So when my career hit
a wall in the ’90s, I was able to go and reinvent myself as a producer
and writer for other people, and I have really been enjoying life that
way. But then the guy that originally signed me named Bruce Lundvall
called me up a year ago and said, “Dude! I wanna make a record with
you.” I didn’t know how much I missed singing until I was making this
record. I missed being in a band playing and singing on stage.
What kind and size of tour are you going to do for this record?
We will do a limited number of dates, even if the record doesn’t do
well. What we are doing now is a bunch of concert dates for radio
stations that are supporting the record. Those range from 200-seat
venues with me acoustic to a full band in front of 12,000 people. It’s
all different kinds of configurations, all different kinds of venues,
which is fun because the songs get reinvented every night.
Who would be your dream opening act?
Oh man, I would have to think about that. But I have told my agents and
my manager that if there is an act that wants me to open for them that
I think is a great act, I would do it. I would love to open for Maroon
5, where you wouldn’t expect it to work, but it would. But as far as
the dream opening act, I don’t know. Most of the people that I really
love are doing so well, they wouldn’t be opening acts—they are doing
fine.
Well then, what was the last CD you bought?
Velvet
Revolver. I was not a huge Guns N’ Roses fan; I was more of a Stone
Temple Pilots fan. Then when I saw the video on MTV…it’s just so
awesome. That track is so incredible and I had to buy the album.
I know that you hail from Chicago, so I have to ask: are you a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan?
I’m a Northsider; I’m a Cubs fan. I am a big fan of Moises Alou; he’s
probably my favorite player on the team and it’s great to have Dusty
Baker with our team. I actually sang at game seven last year at Wrigley
Field, which was the game that was going to send us to the World
Series. I have never in all my years seen Wrigley Field so alive; I was
the luckiest guy being able to sing the National Anthem before the game
that sent us on, and the unluckiest guy was Billy Corgan who had to
sing “Take Me out to the Ballgame” in the seventh inning when we were
down four runs and we all knew we were not going to the World Series.
Poor Billy; people were calling him names. I then knew I was lucky to
sing before the game.
Several acts from the ’80s are releasing
new albums which are being hailed as comebacks. Do you consider this
your comeback attempt?
I don’t consider this a comeback, but I
totally understand if the public does. I understand if the woman at the
grocery store tells me she misses me and asks me if I am still in the
music business—for her, it has been seven or eight years since I put
out a record. So I understand that concept. But in the last seven
years, I have produced—I don’t know, 30, 40, 50 songs for different
people. It’s just kind of funny for me, but I totally understand why
people would think that.
Well, comeback or not, the time is
right for Marx to bring back his brand of refreshing, fun pop music
which will hopefully be appreciated as much as his earlier work.
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