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With Second Hand Life New York singer Joe Lynn Turner presents his latest solo album. "The album is called Second Hand Life coz it presents the album best. But it's more a statement of myself at the time. I'm more mature. Blood Red Sky is the premier song on the album, but Second Hand Life has a deeper meaning and fits better" Turner explains. The cover shows some kind of symbol and not as so often a photo. "It stands for the mysteriously life. The cover should fit to the title and the story." Joe Lynn Turner told the graphic designer the story behind the song and was very satisfied with the way it turned out, coz it's somehow mysterious and symbolic. He continues: "It's just a great story behind from the old days with Jack Ponti and Bon Jovi. At that time Ponti was part of some commune and the name was Second Hand Life - in translation. He told me a lot about his experiences and it was really interesting. He later gave me the handbook he got from them and I read it. I was really impressed. In short: We are born into this life and we grow up with the ideas and plans of others... First it's our parents, later our friends and partners. And you be what others want you to be. It's this line of thinking. And the message came across... Be yourself! Instead of living a life to fulfil others expectations and instead of being unhappy. You do things only for money, to make your boss happy, to make your partner happy, but what about yourself? You aren't doing what you want to do and when you are honest to yourself you feel miserable. The message was do what you want to do... Do everything with heart and soul!" And it's true, we all are doing things to make others happy. We do jobs we don't like, coz we earn more money instead of doing what we love.
Lyrically Mr. Turner always told stories - about life in general. "Melodies are important. And you need inspiration. I like to write about feelings, about relationships. We are all the same and when you write about it, about your own life, it probably helps - yourself and the listener." Early this year another album with Joe Lynn Turner got released, but only in Turkey. It's a live album he recorded with Cem Köksal... "Cem contacted my management and sent his CD. He wanted to do a tour and asked me to sing. He seemed to be extremely nice when we talked - and it was only a handful of shows." And Turner took the chance and went to Turkey and did the shows. "The people in Turkey were great! We played a few shows at universities and there been 40,000 people at the shows. it was amazing! You know, I love Germany, but Turkey is great. The opportunity was there and I just did it." And this is documented - well, the atmosphere at the concerts - on a live CD and DVD called simply Live!!! "I had a great time in Istanbul and Blood Red Sky is inspired by this experience." As he told me he was at one of the days at a mosque and listened to the music there - and to the prayers. "Back at the hotel I thought about what I saw and heard. The Arabic scales are interesting and later the song developed fast out of the experience in Turkey." It's a kind of Romeo-and-Juliet-story, but placed into the Arabic world. "Turkey was very inspiring. Anatalya and Istanbul are great places. In Istanbul I stayed at a hotel at Baghdad Street and I looked over the Marmaris Sea. One day I went down there. It was warm and sunny - and I went swimming. There were dolphins - amazing. Later I went to a small restaurant at the Marmaris Sea they just got some fresh fish from a boat and the cook made something special for me! The Turkish are so friendly." And then the singer told me about what changed his life... "I had a life changing experience. I prayed to so many different types of God. And I thought why not talking to Allah!?! And while I was there one night I prayed to Allah. I had some difficult times and I did my prayers. And 2 days later I had the answer! Something happened." Joe Lynn Turner didn't get into details, but that's okay, coz even a legendary singer like him should have some privacy. "You have to believe into something out of yourself. There was a time in my life where I was an atheist and basically believed that we are the co-creators of our lives." This also influenced the lyrics on Blood Red Sky - and the chorus was written within 5 minutes. The Arabic scales sound kinda strange to a Western listener, but it's not that new... "Blackmore played Arabian scales and influenced many people. Reminiscences can be found in many ways. The Arabian scales are really amazing and here they give you a familiar feeling." Biggest surprise was probably that there is a song written by Richie Blackmore... Stroke Of Midnight gives you some Deep Purple-ish feeling... "It was sort of a break through. I was emailing Candice for In Your Eyes, asked her to sing this song. You know, it's a haunting, beautiful ballad and she wanted to do it, but had no time. So we agreed on doing something together next time. She told Richie about it and about working together next time and he emailed me! We started talking and he encouraged me to do Stroke Of Midnight. He said 'It's okay with me. But you know the Deep Purple guys, it's all about money, so be careful.'" The song was actually written for the follow-up of Slaves And Masters which never been recorded. At that time JLT was writing with Jim Peterik and Roger Glover some songs for Deep Purple, but Richie Blackmore added some riffs. He wanted to credit Roger Glover, but not Ian Paice and Jon Lord as they weren't involved in the song writing. "Ian and Jon were all about money which led into the break-up. I left the band, but I was carrying the band at that time and they needed someone to blame. And the sacrifice-goat was me. These guys are lazy and greedy which is a bad combination." But quite common in the rock biz. As everybody knows, when Blackmore left Deep Purple they first worked with Joe Satriani and later Steve Morse joined them. But that's history and these days JLT is working with different people and choose carefully the projects he's doing. But his fans are curious if he's still in touch with the Fandango guys... "Occasionally I talk to them and we talked about a re-union, but one is missing... Rick had died in October. But perhaps it happens... It's not about me... We have different lives, different concerns. I don't hold jealousy, but one has a grudge..." Looks like Fandango is history... But perhaps someone changes his mind... Something else the fans want to know is.... will he tour? "I can't tell you much. There is a festival near Stuttgart which I'll play in late September. I hope to do a tour, but I want to make a break-even. I have a band to pay. Business is going down, fans sit in front of the TV and don't go to concerts. I want to tour and I'll try to tour in 2008. I talked to Frontiers and to some bookers and they think in 2007 it won't make sense - too many tours. The package is important, too." And so this year there are only 3 shows of JLT in Europe - the United Forces Of Rock festival in Ludwigsburg and a few days before the festival he'll play shows in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid). So if you want to catch Mr. Turner and his band, that's your chance!
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