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Stan Bush is well known in the rock scene and it might surprise some within the Transformers fan community. Now Stan Bush has a new album out which is called Dream The Dream. Time to learn more about the man behind the music!
Three years after In This Life you are back with Dream The Dream. After more then 25 years in the music business you are still dreaming your dream? Or did your dream come true?
I think both. I'm living my dream and still dreaming it too! While I haven't sold zillions of records, I do have fans all over the world that love my music. What more could anyone ask. :)
Dream The Dream as a title has a positive message. Did you have a positive feeling about the album right from the start? Do you want to encourage people to live their dreams?
Thanks, I think it started with The Touch. I've always loved putting out a positive, 'go for it' message. Each of us has way more power than we realize to create our own reality. I feel like if I can help someone in some small way, it's all worth it.
How long did you work on Dream The Dream? How long took the recordings?
We worked on writing and recording for a year and a half. My last album In This Life received such great reviews ('album of the year 07'), I had to push myself to try to make the best album possible. I think we have another amazing album!
Again you hooked up with Curt Cuomo, worked with Bobby Barth, just to name a few of the people involved. You seem to enjoy working with different musicians / song writers. Do you prefer to work with people you know for years and worked with before? Or do you like to meet new people?
I'm always open to writing with new people, but I knew these guys for years, and that we would come up with great songs together. Curt Cuomo is a really good writer and producer. He and I did three albums together, and we just always 'click' when we sit down to write a song.
Is there anybody you would like to work with in future? An unfulfilled dream?
Not really. I've always loved Don Henley's work, but I don't know if that collaboration would work. He has a different style. Some of my dream collaborations have already happened, like co-writing with Jonathan Cain from Journey and Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams, Aerosmith). I've been fortunate to have worked with many accomplished writers.
Songs like Love Is The Road, If There Is All There Is and Two Hearts can touch the listener with emotional vocals and guitar play. Are you kinda testing the waters asking friends & family to listen and give you their opinion? Or do you think that it comes from the heart it will find its way to someone else's heart?
Well, Love Is The Road and Two Hearts are basically love songs, but If This Is All There Is is about a search for meaning. I think everyone has times when they wonder what it all means.
Which song would you like to do a video clip for? And do you think that videos get more important again?
We've talked about doing a music video for the title song Dream The Dream. There's already a video for Sam's Theme (The Touch). You can see it on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/OfficialStanBush
The music scene - not just musically - seems to change constantly... When you started it was the times of vinyl, by now many people prefer MP3s to CDs. And for many it seems the music lost the value... What's your answer to this development? Do you think that music which comes from the heart will always find a way to survive?
I hope so. You're right about the music business being drastically changed by the Internet. It seems to me there's still a lot of good music out there, and by following what's in the heart, a good artist can do well. People can tell when something's real.
Every long time career has ups and downs, but you were lucky that some songs were used in movies. Have you been a fan of movies / soundtracks before getting into this scene?
Yeah, I especially love the 80's style anthems where the chorus just explodes. Much of the modern music is a bit more subtle. The soundtracks from movies can really be uplifting.
The Touch is probably your most popular song. When you write songs now, do you feel under pressure? Or do you think that it was a lucky incident and if it's meant to be, it will happen again?
Yeah, I'll always be know as 'that guy who sings The Touch'. I suppose it's good to be known for something. I don't know if I'll ever have a song as popular as The Touch, but I just try to always write the best music I can.
Sam's Theme (The Touch). Was it difficult to do this remake? Are you disappointed that the song didn't make it onto the movie soundtrack?
Film soundtracks are big money deals, and the movie sells the soundtrack rights for millions. Linkin Park, Goo Goo Dolls, etc... are Warner Bros. acts, so it's not likely they would use an outside track. For me, just being associated with the Transformers brand has been great. My song Til All Are One just came out in the new Transformers: War For Cybertron game.
Is something like Guitar Hero a good way to introduce younger fans to classic rock? As far as I know you also played it at a Transformers convention with the fans... Must have been a great experience...
Yeah, I've performed at a few Transformers conventions, and the Guitar Hero was a very cool thing. The Touch will be also coming out on Rock Band very soon.
You won an Emmy award, one of your songs was featured during the 1996 Olympic Games. Both very special experiences, can you imagine anything which can top this?
Winning the Emmy Award was one of the highlights of my career. It's one of those amazing lifetime achievements. Having my song Capture The Dream featured in the Olympics was great too!
Would you like to write more music for TV productions or movies? For a special project? Or prefer they pick one of the songs you wrote for your albums like in case of The Touch?
I'm always writing songs for my own artist thing. Sometimes a song of mine will fit a TV show or film, and they’ll contact me. It's very competitive as you imagine.
So far LA Records was to license your music overseas, but now you want to expand. Have you already arranged distribution, so that you can kick off releasing other artists? Or will it take more time til we see the first signing?
LA Records was set up just to license my music overseas and also to release my albums here in the States. The subject has come up before about possibly releasing other acts on the label, but the way the music business has changed, it's not likely. Most artists and bands these days just release their own stuff on the Internet.
What's next on your schedule?
Well, I'm writing new songs, and I've been busy doing promotion for the new album. I've been in contact with a European promoter who's working on setting up some shows in the UK and elsewhere in Europe sometime soon.
Thanks so much for the support and thanks to all my fans! Please check out stanbush.com!
Dream The Dream is a great album and I hope Stan Bush can tour in Europe, it would be great to see him live again.... So Dream The Dream!
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