While the Los Angeles scene received the most attention when it came to 80’s rock, there was a scene in Canada, led by bands like Honeymoon Suite, that was almost as strong. Honeymoon Suite had a string of hit records created with legendary producers. They are back with a new record called Alive and vocalist Johnnie Dee recently took some time to talk all about it.
Please press the PLAY icon for the MisplacedStraws Conversation with Johnnie Dee –
On why Alive took so long to come out – Mixing. Logistics. If I recall, we couldn’t get, I couldn’t get back to England to go see Mike Krompass to finish vocals on account of flying because of the pandemic, all that sort of stuff. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but it took us back. Anyways, so we said, “We got to get this thing done”. So I started doing vocals in small little studios in Ontario and around Toronto, and in this little beach town that I live in and then sent them off. That was the only way we can finish it. There’s so many different variables that stop a record from getting released. I mean, it’s technical. It’s business. It’s a lot of different stuff. Finally, Frontiers came on. We weren’t sure. We had our first meeting and they said, “We really want to take your band on”. I go, “Well, you got, you got like 70 bands coming out or something like that at the same time”. I go, “Where are you going to put Honeymoon Suite?” I go, “This record is too important for it to get shelved”. Then he goes, “No, no, no”. Anyways, they came back at us. I got to hand it to Frontiers at this point right now. It’s like me talking to you and it’s getting out there and people are going to know about it. So we’re proud. Back to your question, why it took so long? It just did.
On if it feels different playing and recording with mostly the classic Honeymoon Suite lineup – Oh, well, of course, they’re my friends, their family, right? So that’s all good. But no, just let me backtrack. I’m going to try to answer your question. Yeah, it feels great. I mean, on stage, we’re a family up there. It’s like people in the crowd, they know what it’s like. We’re doing our thing. We’re not making records on stage or anything, but it’s it’s a family up there. But back to the recording of it and back to what this record is. Our producer, Mike Krompass, wanted to take the band on. We went to Nashville where he was at the time. He said, basically, “What kind of record do you want to do? ” I said, “Look, I want to get really close to the nitty gritty of what Honeymoon Suite is. I think we hit it off the first album. We hit it off The Big Prize record. I said, “Give me a Big Prize record. Give me those horns. Give me all that sort of stuff”. Anyway, we went back to his studio, recorded a song. Just then Derry (Grehan) came up with that riff. “Done Doin’ Me” is the title track. We laughed, the drums done, the riff, the whole deal. No vocals. But over that night, the next day I walk into the studio and it’s like (sings the melody) and then the horns come in and then it’s like, “Oh yeah”. The drums are clear and everything’s clear. There’s not a bunch of guitars. Then the vocal, the vocal was just easy when it’s like that, no junk in it and it’s it was just great.
On if he can appreciate success more now than in the heyday – That’s a great question. Of course, I appreciate it more. First of all, let me go back to the beginning, “New Girl Now”. So I had Honeymoon Suite going prior to Derry coming into the band. Anyways, my manager and agent set me up with him, he said, “Go meet this guy, this Derry Grehan dude”. So I picked him up. He was rehearsing with some other band, gets in my car, doesn’t say a word. I think what the frig is this guy? Anyways, we got to talking, and I basically said, “Hey, I’m Johnny, whatever, my manager set me up with you guys, so you got any songs? “So he played this track and he just started singing and he sang through a megaphone. I go, “This is a great song, but you need a singer”. Long story short, that one did really well for us, “New Girl Now” and then “Burning In Love”, “Stay In The Light, “Wave Babies”. But now the writing, he was coming up with a lot of the ideas, he had him in the bag already. I did my stuff. But on this record, particularly, it was like, “Okay, Johnny, step up to play, do your stuff. Say, say what you need to say”. So do I appreciate the success of what’s going on right now? Of course, I do. It’s like that “Done Doin’ Me” is my title. “Love Comes”, that’s my top line. “Not Afraid To Fall”. Those are songs that are in my guts that I finally, I had something to say and I said it.
On if the band was influenced by the burgeoning LA scene when they started – Were they influences? I don’t know. What was going on? I don’t know. Everything was like, “Here, get in the studios and here, lay those drums and start singing.” Was I influenced by all that other stuff? I was touring. I started this band and playing like three nights, three sets in one night. It was like, finally, we’re in the studio. Everything just came into play, like everything just happened the way that there was, there was no there was no path to take, it just came out.
On what Bruce Fairbairn brought to the band – I don’t know. He was just meticulous. We started pre-production in Toronto and it was like Ray Coburn would start playing “Feel It Again”, and we’d do verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and he kind of like just wrote a bunch of stuff down. Then, okay, that’s enough. And then we started doing “Wounded”. He goes, “Johnny, what’s the vocal for this?” And he writes his little stuff down. What sort of influence did he bring? Oh, geez. The horns, the drums, the sound at Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver. He brought a lot. Can I say it specifically? It was magical. That’s all.
On recording Racing After Midnight with Ted Templeman – First of all, Ted Templeman being Van Halen’s manager. Derry is such an Eddie Van Halen fan. It’s like, “Yeah, got to do it”. Being in Los Angeles with Ted working at Warner Brothers at the time, like we’re talking business here, but our manager said, “Hey, go do this”. A lot of things came from it. Working with Ted was, “Okay, record the drums, record the bass. Do you do your magic out there. Johnny, go sing. Okay. See you later. See you in a couple of hours”. That kind of thing. So he let us go with the whole deal. His engineer was like really rocky. Was it Honeymoon Suite? It was very close to it. I mean, my voice was on it.
Just let me say this. So I left the studio because I get studio bored real, real quick. I came back to Toronto. But anyways, there was this movie coming out, “Lethal Weapon”. They sent me this track that Michael Kaman wrote. It’s called “Lethal Weapon”. And I listened to it on the phone. I go, “Ted, really? This ain’t no Honeymoon Suit song. And we didn’t write it. I’m just telling you”. I’m saying,” I just can’t sing this”. And he goes, “Come back to the studio, get behind the microphone, do whatever you think is right”, and I did. I switched it all around, not switched it all around, but made it my own, and it worked. It got in “Lethal Weapon” the first movie. We sent it in late, so you watch the movie, and then all the credits go down, and finally our song comes up. But hey, back to what I said, working with Ted was good in getting our tracks into the movies and stuff like that, because he worked at Warner Brothers LA. They say, “Hey, you got to go to LA to do something”. So I did and got hit by a car there too. Oh, all that hurt. “Looking Out for Number One” was coming out and I had to do a video and I said, “Let me drive the motorcycle”. “No, you can’t insurance reasons”. “Let me on the freaking motorcycle”. I just got on it and did a shot anyways.
On if it felt like the end while recording Monsters Under The Bed – Yes, it did. Well, you just said music changed. We had fulfilled our contract with Warners, Canada, WEA, Electra, Atlanic, all that sort of business up after 10 years or whatever. You’d listen to the radio and everybody’s like screaming at you. It’s like all this grunge sort of stuff. It’s like, what’s going on? We still made that record the way. We wanted to make that record. Derry and I decided, why don’t we just try some different players? We did the record. It’s a great record. Northfield was amazing. Ray Coburn was on him, like, every day, meticulously. We recorded at, you mentioned Rush, I believe they have a studio called Le Studio. Is that, is that it? Anyways, we recorded there. There’s some really great tracks on it. We’ve opened up our set many times with “Say You Don’t Know Me”, but now we’re opening it up with “Find What You’re Looking For”. Those were good times.
On if they will be playing any US dates – Please, please, please. We’re gonna play, there’s a show in Rochester, there’s another one in Chicago, I don’t have it in front of me, but we’re starting to get into the U. S. because people are coming out. We did a couple shows with Aldo Nova, and then the guys were saying, we gotta change our set up. I go, “No, we’re not gonna change our set up”. We do sing along, like “Stay In The Light”, for example, break it down, see who’s going to sing the track with us. The guys say, “They don’t know the song”. I go, “Look, if two people out of those 5,000 people know the song. I’ll bring my microphone right to them.” That’s what we do. That’s what I do. I don’t change a thing. And so far it’s worked out good. Yeah, there’s a, there’s a bunch of shows coming up. I know because. I have to do those P2s to get across the border. So we got a, like a six-month visa or whatever. So they’re, they’re coming in.
On if the band plans to celebrate its 40th Anniversary – Celebrate it? I don’t want to think, it’s gone by so quick. I’m so happy that we’re getting the traction that we are on this new record for a band like us. First of all, I got classic rock music stations that don’t play new music. Am I looking for this big get-together of 40? Let’s just get out there and play and play as many tracks on this record as I possibly can and hopefully, something will come of it. So far people are liking it and that’s good enough for me at this point
