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ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 PAGE 21

I used to be a music journalist at a very young age.
When I was 13 and for more than 15 years I started
interviewing a lot of stars like Journey, Ted Nugent,
Queen, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Toto,
Chicago, Cheap Trick, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Hall &
Oates, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Asia
and hundreds of others. At the same time I recorded
demos and some of these guys helped me with my
music by playing a solo or singing on a demo here
and there. That way I got one of the biggest address
book you can imagine and before internet soars,
I contacted some of these guys but also many great studio
musicians I met and asked them to play on my records. I was lucky enough that most of these legends always took the time
to listen to my projects and some of them end up on my AOR Cd’s.

If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention?

When I started AOR, the sound was more “Westcoast” and laid back with influences like Toto, Christopher Cross,
Steely Dan, Player and many more. Then after the 5th album, i put my leather jacket on and started rocking like my idols
Foreigner, Survivor, Giant, Journey and Toto.

What bands have the biggest influence for song writing on your music?

My biggest influences for the vocals and melody lines is Foreigner. I’ve always had Lou Gramm’s voice in my head since I
started writing songs 40 years ago (wow I’m getting old ha! ha!). For lyrics and arrangements, I guess I was The Eagles who
had a strong effect on my music. Not bad, huh?

What plans do you have for 2017?

In 2017 I will be producing several cool projects and songs with new and old friends. But I don’t like to talk much about things
before they are completed. Let’s just say I will write soon a couple of songs with the legendary Jesse Damon and surely work
with the incredible Paul Sabu real soon too!

Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans?

Thank you for the great questions, and I’d just like to add that fans of the harder side of Aor will be blown away by
16 tracks out of this world. You will really get the best of what AOR can offer with “The Heart Of L.A”. And don’t
hesitate to check out my website or say hi! website: www.slama101.fr