Jizzy Pearl has one of the most unique and recognizable voices in hard rock. Pearl first hit the scene with Love/Hate and their classic debut Blackout In The Red Room, and has gone on to front Ratt, LA Guns, and currently fills the vocal spot in Quiet Riot. Jizzy recently released a new record with Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate called Punk Rock Fiesta and took some time to talk about it.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws Jizzy Pearl Interview –
On who joins him on the record – Drums, Dave Moreno who was in Puddle of Mudd. Darren Householder, one of the original Love/Hate guitar players, and me.
On if he keeps in touch with the classic lineup of Love/Hate and if they will ever play together – Never, ever, ever. I talked to the drummer. We’re friends, but he’s retired. He doesn’t play drums anymore, really. But we still chat a lot.
On creating the songs for this record – It was pretty much written. I wanted it to be aggressive and I wanted it to be heavier than the other, the last two records I did. It’s supposed to convey an attitude of punk rock fiesta. I want the attitude of punk rock. I don’t I don’t want the musicianship of punk rock well…Rock people that play punk rock have to be precision players and stuff like that. But generally, It’s going to sound like a Love/Hate record. It’s just me sort of going in a different direction, a little bit straight up and more aggressive, maybe.
On the artwork and aesthetic of the record – I’m involved in every freakish little aspect of it, unfortunately. I wish I wasn’t. I wish I could just delegate authority, but I like to be hands on as far as all that stuff. I used to like record covers, and I used to hold them in my hand and dig the art and own it. So that’s maybe why I spend more time on record covers than other people, because I have that old school mentality…In these days where people don’t sell records the way they used to, you have to give the buyer more bang for their buck, I think.
On if he plans to add more solo Love/Hate US tour dates or if he will be touring with Quiet Riot – Well, most of it will be Quier Riot. But I’m open to doing more dates with Love/Hate for sure.
On if there is a satisfaction to recording his own music as opposed to fronting other bands – Well, of course. When you do it yourself and you own it and it’s yours, you get more satisfaction from it for sure. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. As a musician, you want to create new music because you’re doing the record for you, to sustain yourself and, and validate the fact that you can still do it.
On if Quiet Riot will record new music – There’s been talk. There’s been talk about that. So yeah, that that could happen.
On if he will write more books or write outside of music – I have this YouTube channel that I do right now called JPearlTV. That’s kind of where my other side of writing is going to there’s stories and short stories and episodes and music and shit talking and nonsense and shenanigans and stuff. So, I mean, that’s kind of where my writing outside of music has gone to.
On if he enjoys writing for things outside of music – The short answer is yes, I do enjoy it a lot of it. You don’t make a whole lot of money on YouTube unless you’re one of those people that sticks firecrackers up his ass or something crazy. But I just do it for the outlet to be able to create stuff and write stories and present them. It’s a good outlet for creativity.
On if he sees a scene like the Sunset Strip happening again – The internet has changed everything. Streaming has changed everything. It’ll never ever go back to the way it was. That’s why young bands have more of a problem. Being able to make a living off music. It’s probably more frustrating for them. See, I can just lean on the hits. But they don’t have that luxury. So, it’s probably a lot harder for them. So, to answer your question, no, it’s a different world now.
On if he prefers recording together or remotely – I don’t have that luxury. My guitar player and drummer live in Los Angeles, and I live in Vegas. So, I do it on FaceTime and I give them sort of a demo of what I want and then they give me what I need. Then we go back and forth a couple of thousand times. Same with mixing, my mixers in Arizona. That’s the way I do it. I mean, it’d be nice if we were all in the same room together, but you know, I don’t live in LA.
On upcoming plans – , I could see myself making another record for sure. But, to do that, I kind of have to be off the road. I can’t do both. There are two different disciplines, there’s touring a lot, and then there’s being by yourself and writing. I have to tour all the time, like everyone else, which is fine. But then I need some time off to just sit with my guitar and build up some more material for another record.
On if he has notebooks of songs – No, usually I write a collection of songs and then I whittle them down to the good ones. Generally, I don’t go back and reuse anything that wasn’t really good enough. To answer your question, I don’t have notebooks of stuff. I just kind of, I do it in a blur. I write it all in a blur. I record it really fast, and I deliver it. That’s how I do it. Almost like you got to give birth to it and get it out there. Then you move on to the next one. If a song is not good enough, it’s not going to be good enough a year from now or two years from now. So generally, the songs that. are good are the ones that are in the collection.
On if he writes with a partner – I do everything. I do everything, it would be awesome if I did have a partner, but I don’t. I had to learn how to write everything. I had to learn how to play all the instruments myself. I just had to learn, there was a time when I was reaching out to certain people and they just, they weren’t interested. I just said, fuck it. I’ll learn to play bass. I’ll learn and I do it all myself. So now there’s that awesome freedom of doing it all yourself and having your own way, but, if it sucks then it’s your fault. There’s no one you can blame it on if you did.
