{"id":12034,"date":"2013-11-04T01:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12034"},"modified":"2013-11-13T22:41:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T03:41:58","slug":"blowin-wind-with-lita-ford-i-walked-into-long-beach-arena-in-california-and-saw-black-sabbath-playing-and-i-said-thats-what-i-want-to-do-with-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12034","title":{"rendered":"Blowin\u2019 Wind with Lita Ford: \u201cI walked into Long Beach Arena in California and saw Black Sabbath playing and I said, \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to do with my life.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LitaFord6-2012\"For well over 30 years, Lita Ford has been a staple in the hard rock and metal world. From her work in the legendary Runaways to her successful career as a solo artist, Lita Ford has lead rocky, turbulent life. After a lengthy hiatus, becoming a mother, and surviving and escaping an abusive marriage, Lita has made a comeback to the music world only to find that her fans hadn\u2019t gone anywhere and welcomed her back with opened arms.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a fan of Lita\u2019s ever since hearing her Dancing on the Edge album and have followed her career of ups and downs. It was a real treat to have the opportunity to speak with this legendary artist about her return to the music industry, her upcoming live album The Bitch is Back, and how seeing Black Sabbath in 1971 changed her life forever. I really enjoyed chatting with Lita. She\u2019s a truly funny, warm, and engaging person and I could\u2019ve talked to hear for hours. I hope you\u2019ll enjoy this interview as much as I did conducting it.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Hey there Lita! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey there Don. Thank you so much for having me.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said this before to some of my past interviewees but I wish I could go back in time and tell my 14 year old self that I would be talking to you on the phone today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Oh god that is too funny. Thank you Don.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Lita, as a longtime fan, it\u2019s so great to see you back in the game and to see you back with so much fire! How does it feel to be back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don, it feel s great to be back. I missed the music industry and it went through such a severe change when the grunge scene kicked in. Everything just seemed to get messed up and turned around. It was the perfect time for me to bow out and have my kids. Now that I\u2019m back I feel like I\u2019ve got all of this built up animosity and I just want to fucking rock. Man, I\u2019ve been wanting to rock for years [laughs]. I wasn\u2019t really able to because of having children. I always put my children first before anything but I did miss the music industry and it does feel good to be back.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

I feel like your excitement really shows with your latest album \u201cLiving Like a Runaway.\u201d It\u2019s a really fun and great album and it sounds like you haven\u2019t missed a step. Matter of fact, it almost sounds like you picked up where you left off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is so awesome to hear, Don. It does feel that way to me too when I listen back to it.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

So now you are about to release your first ever live album, \u201cThe Bitch is Back.\u201d Why a \"Lita-Ford-1-web-e1326381351673\"live album after all these years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was just something we wanted to do. It wasn\u2019t something that was in our contract or anything like that. We wanted to dedicate something back to the fans and I thought that a live album was appropriate. We had just come off tour with Def Leppard and Poison. The band was hot and I thought, \u201cNow is a good time.\u201d Our manager Bobby actually picked the Canyon Club. It\u2019s in our home town, it\u2019s easy to mic, it\u2019s a small room, and we could capture the intimacy of the crowd. When you listen to the album, you feel like you\u2019re in the club. You feel like you\u2019re really there. That\u2019s what I really wanted to capture. I wanted people to hear all the noise of people talking, people rocking out, the guitars just grinding and all that shit.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

I absolutely love the live album but in all due respect, it\u2019s not a perfect album. This album is live in the truest sense of the word. Was this your intention to capture a show, warts and all and not go into the studio and pretty it up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. Why not just record a whole new album if you\u2019re going to go in and do all of that? I mean, like I said, we had no obligations to deliver an album to the record company. We just really wanted to make a live album and make it live. Our engineer was wonderful and he made sure that we didn\u2019t lose any of the intimacy of that show. We didn\u2019t take a song from this show and a song from that show and piece it all together to make one live album. This album is just one, full, straight through show.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

\"\"You toured the hell out of Living Like a Runaway. Are you going to be heading back out again to tour behind this live album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think 2014 is going to be a very busy year for us. I\u2019m really looking forward to it. Right now I\u2019m taking the holiday to finish my book. I have a book coming out for Harper Collins and it\u2019s a lot of work. I\u2019m working with Marissa Mateo who is the co-author of the book and she\u2019s been wonderful. We\u2019ve been digging through all kinds of old memorabilia and having a lot of fun along the way. We are going to be working through the holidays so I can finish the book and have it ready for March 2014.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Back when I first started listening to Lita Ford, aside from Doro Pesch, I can\u2019t remember another female based metal act. Now it seems that female based bands are becoming more prevalent. Are there any particular acts that you look at and say, \u201cYeah, they\u2019re doing it right\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, I think that anybody who\u2019s out there and performing is doing it right. There\u2019s no wrong way or right way to go about doing it. That\u2019s what I love about rock n\u2019 roll. There\u2019s really no rules so long as you get your royalty check in the mail [laughs]. You really can do it any way you want. It\u2019s still rock n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

How about the female artists who rely more on sex as an image than their actual music? Do you feel these women set things back a bit for those that are trying to make a voice with their music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think that the image is part of being a rock band. I mean, it\u2019s cool to have some kind of an image. I mean, look at Wendy O. Williams. Remember her image? She had a Mohawk, wore hardly any clothes, I think she even wore duct tape on her boobs if anything. She had an awesome image. It\u2019s distracting and it can take away from your music though but at the same time, if you have a great body you should show it off. Its sex, drugs, and rock n\u2019 roll. It all goes hand in hand. Look at David Lee Roth. On that last Van Halen tour he was ripped to shreds [laughs]. Why not show it off?<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

I remember back in the day RIP magazine did a spread on you and Doro Pesch \"71veftb4l3w7feb7\"hanging out. Was there a connection made between you two and if so, how was it hanging with her?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh wow. Yeah, Rip Magazine was run by Lonn Friend. Lonn Friend was the only one in the music world that had the balls to put a female on the cover of a rock magazine. At that time, there was nobody else who would put a female on the cover. There might be a little picture down in the corner of the magazine but never on the cover. When we did that photo session, that was a huge statement in rock n\u2019 roll. They flew Doro into the US and we did that photo session with Gene Kirkland. We just had a blast. Doro was just such a wonderful, kind hearted soul and I was so happy to have spent the day with her. We really did bond and there is nothing I could say about her that is negative. I\u2019ve loved her ever since that day.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Lita, what was the turning point that made you want to be a musician in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, I didn\u2019t really have one. I always wanted to play guitar and it was never something where I really had a turning point. I had played guitar for two years prior to going to my first rock concert which I guess I could say was my turning point.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

What was your first rock concert?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was Black Sabbath. I think it was 1971 because I was 13. It was ferocious. I walked into Long Beach Arena in California and saw Black Sabbath playing and I said, \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to do with my life. This is it. This is what I want to be.\u201d I wanted to make people feel the way that audience was feeling that night when Black Sabbath was on stage.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

If you could play for any band for just one night who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh boy. Probably the Rolling Stones. I just love Mick Jagger. I\u2019m a huge Jagger fan. I would love to see how they conduct a show. I mean, they know each other so well they just look at each other and they know what\u2019s coming next. I would just love to just go on stage with them.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

If Hollywood was to make a movie on your life, who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know in the Runaways movie they picked Scout Taylor Compton and she was amazing. I didn\u2019t actually see the movie but I love Scout. I got to meet her and talk to her about the film and she filled me in on a lot of what the film was about and how they worked through it. I just loved her as human being. If it wasn\u2019t Scout, I really don\u2019t know. We\u2019d have to hold auditions [laughs].<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

\"runaways-lita-ford-hamer\"Looking back on your releases, when album do you feel best encapsulates everything that Lita Ford is all about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

They all do to. It would be easier to answer which one doesn\u2019t to be honest. They all do except for the Wicked Wonderland record. That was an album that was done as a project by my ex-husband. That would be the only one that I would say is not really a true Lita record and it doesn\u2019t capture the real me. I\u2019m sure my fans would agree just by listening to the music that you can tell that it\u2019s not a Lita record.<\/p>\n

======================================<\/p>\n

That\u2019s funny because that\u2019s the only album of yours that I don\u2019t have.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] That\u2019s funny. That\u2019s great. That\u2019s going in the book [laughs]. I actually had a bunch of them in storage. I had a huge storage locker full of these damned records and CDs and I threw them all away. Just tossed them [laughs].<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Lita, is there anything that you wish you would\u2019ve done differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nobody\u2019s life is perfect. I guess there are people that have better luck than others but nobody ever does everything 100% right. We all have those things that we wish we would\u2019ve done differently. Is there one that sticks out in particular? No. I have had my share of good and I\u2019ve had my share of bad.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Do you remember your first tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah. Our first tour ever was with The Ramones. We did three months with The Ramones in the US and it was brutal. I hadn\u2019t even gotten my high school diploma yet. We were out playing to punk audiences. We had to bring Jackie\u2019s mom with us because we were underage and there were a lot of venues we weren\u2019t allowed to play in without adult supervision. We couldn\u2019t play certain venues if they served alcohol there. We were so young [laugh].<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Of all the tours you\u2019ve done, which tour do you feel like was the time of your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This last tour was amazing. We are just kicking ass and coming back into the music industry after being gone for so long is just awesome. I\u2019m just so happy that the fans are still here and a whole new generation of fans too.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

\"\"That must rock your world to now see a third generation of Lita Ford fans out there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really does. Sometimes I\u2019ll up on stage and I\u2019ll look out into the audience and I\u2019ll see kids on their father\u2019s shoulders or squished up at the front of the stage and I can look into their eyes and I know what they\u2019re feeling. I know what they\u2019re feeling because I\u2019ve been in their shoes before. It\u2019s so awesome to watch them watch me and I get it. I know the excitement and it\u2019s such a cool thing to watch. I\u2019m glad I\u2019m around to see that and I\u2019m glad to be one of the only women in rock to inspire our next generation. I never had that when I was a kid growing up. I didn\u2019t have any women role models to look up to that were my super heroes. My super heroes were guys like Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix. I didn\u2019t have a Lita Ford or a Joan Jett or anybody like that.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

What a great message to be delivering to the young people, especially the young girls in your crowd. I mean, not only are you doing but you\u2019re doing it as a grown up and that\u2019s extra cool for them to see. This idea that you can ever be too old to rock seems to get proven wrong more and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah. It\u2019s pretty retarded [laughs]. I mean, look at Mick Jagger. How old is he? 70-something? Holy shit. I mean, that guy is going to die on stage and what a way to go. Dying is inevitable. Getting old is inevitable. We all get old and we\u2019re going to die. I don\u2019t know who these people think they are when they say, \u201cOh, you\u2019re too old to rock n\u2019 roll.\u201d That\u2019s like saying, \u201cGirls don\u2019t play guitar.\u201d It\u2019s in that same mentality. Rock n\u2019 Roll keeps me going and it keeps me young.<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Is it as fun now as it\u2019s ever been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For me it is. I hate not being on the go. I have to be on the go and I have to keep moving. When you come off the road after having been gone a while, you just pace. You\u2019re in go mode and then all of the sudden everything stops and you come home and you just pace around. It takes a good week to just wind down and realize that you\u2019re not going anywhere right then and there. I can\u2019t even sit down [laughs].<\/p>\n

===============================================<\/p>\n

Lita, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. It\u2019s been a real honor and I can\u2019t say enough how great it is to have you back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks so much Don.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For well over 30 years, Lita Ford has been a staple in the hard rock and metal world. From her work in the legendary Runaways to her successful career as a solo artist, Lita Ford has lead rocky, turbulent life. After a lengthy hiatus, becoming a mother, and surviving and escaping an abusive marriage, Lita has made a comeback to the music world only to find that her fans hadn\u2019t gone anywhere and welcomed her back with opened arms. I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[949,1054],"class_list":["post-12034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-lita-ford","tag-the-runaways"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}