A conversation with TNT and Westworld vocalist Tony Harnell

Taking time off from his busy schedule, TNT lead vocalist Tony Harnell called in from Sony Studios in NY to discuss among other things, his career, TNT, his influences, his outlook on life, his Westworld project, and most importantly, TNT's killer new album Transistor.

Thank you Tony for being so humble and down-to-earth, and for sharing your time and your thoughts with us. It was quite an experience.

The House of Shred would like to thank Dennis Clapp from Spitfire Records and Mark Morton from Chipster Entertainment for setting up the interview. Thanks, you guys Rock!!

Now, on to the interview, hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did...
-MetalGod

MetalGod: First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on Transistor, it's a great album.
Tony Harnell: Oh Thank you, Thank you very much.

MG: I've been following your career since I heard Seven Seas a while back. To be honest with you, you're one of my main influences and I'm really a big fan.
TH: Thank you very much, I appreciate that. I saw your review actually...

MG: Oh you did...
TH: It was really good, did you do that?

MG: Yeah, I wrote it myself.
TH: It was really good man, I appreciate that...

MG: Cool, I love the album, I was blown away when I got it. It takes a while to actually...
TH: get into it...

MG: ...yeah, absorb it, but once you do...There's a song that just really sticks to your head, the second song...
TH: Wide Awake?

MG: Yeah, Wide Awake, actually, the other day I was up at 2AM and the song was in my head, it was really cool.
TH: Oh Wow, that's great. Thank You.

MG: Now, what I wanted to do with this interview was to take a more chronological approach, if you don't mind...
TH: OK

MG: Cool, let's get started.
TH: Yeah, go ahead.

MG: I read in an interview somewhere a while back that before you got started in bands, you'd sing along in the car with your friends and they really complimented you on your voice, and this kind of urged you to get started professionally. Is that accurate?
TH: Pretty much, I mean, I was just like a college student, you know, I was seventeen and I was in college kind of early and I didn't really know what I wanted to do, I was kind of following my father's footsteps so I was gonna be a photographer and I had a scholarship for that, and I wasn't really that into it, you know, I was just kind of doing it, cause that's what I was doing. I used to sing to my Rainbow and (Judas) Priest albums, and my friends would be like "Damn, Man," I had this one guy I met in New York, when I first moved to NY from California and he had a little band and he said "Man, you gotta come down and jam with us" and I was like "Yeah, OK," I never did it before. So I went down and you know, I was in a real rehearsal studio with the microphones and the whole thing and a case of beer you know... and man it took about 2 rehearsals and my life changed, it was kind of weird actually how that happened. It was just a couple of times jamming with them and just... you know, everything changed, my whole direction, I just got bit, you know?

MG: And you decided you wanted to sing for a living...
TH: Yeah, it pretty much happened, I quit school soon after that.

MG: Glad you did...(Laughs)
TH: Yeah (Laughs)

MG: Now, your mom is an accomplished Opera singer, right?
TH: Yeah, she quit years ago, but she was touring all the time, and it was a total profession for her up until she was about 40 I guess...

MG: Besides passing on the genes, did you receive any formal training from her? Did she actually sit you down and...
TH: No, no...not at all, cause it was such a different style, you know Rock and Opera are really so totally different. I just kinda learned off the guys I was listening to and I just have this natural ability that when I hear something I can copy it and I don't even need to sing it first, you know? Like if I heard a song on the radio enough times and never sang it before you could put me up and just start playing the music for it and I could sing it exactly like it's supposed to be sung. It just... I just have this recorder in my head somehow. You know it's just a gift and I just was always able to do that from the time I was 5 years old. I would be able to sing things, my grandmother would bring people over to the house and I'd be singing and stuff so, I just remember that from a very early age and then when I decided to do it for real, I sang for about a year in a couple of bands, in clubs, and then I reached a point where I decided to go take some lessons for a little while just to like, sort of get the technique really together, and then I did that and that was it.

MG: And you're actually a vocal instructor too, right?
TH: I was...

MG: ...you were, for a while...
TH: Yeah, just for a short period of time when the band (TNT) broke up in '92. I did that for a little while, it's one of the things that I did. I was teaching, I was teaching, I was doing background vocals, some studio session work, and producing a little bit and just kinda... I did a little solo thing, a little acoustic album...

MG: Morning Wood...
TH: Yeah, so I was just kinda bouncing around doing different things there for a while. But I'm not a natural at teaching, I mean, it was OK and I think I was able to get some good work done with some people that I was working with but...I'm not...I don't have the patience for it. (Laughs)

MG: I hear ya (Laughs) Who's your biggest musical influence?
TH: Yeah, that's an interesting question, I've decided over the years, I used to say a lot of different people and I realized something probably over the last 3 or 4 years. Because you know, when I grew up, the great thing about my mom was that she was an Opera singer but she loved good Pop music so I was always exposed to really good stuff like The Beatles from an early age and my aunt was like more into the Rock stuff so my mom was listening to The Beatles and my aunt was like pulling me aside and making me listen to Led Zeppelin records, you know? So, from pretty early, I got some good influences but I remember thinking that there's been one consistent thing throughout my whole life and that's been... like there's a couple of albums that I always go to that mean a lot to me and I would say that those were like the late, late Beatle albums like Let it be and Abbey Road, cause I heard those a lot when I was like old enough to appreciate them when I was about... I don't even know, I was pretty young, you know, 'cause it was when they were out and I always go back to those and I always go back to Paul McCartney and I've realized that he's probably my biggest influence and I think as a singer that he's really really underrated because most people think of his songwriting but if you really listen to all the Beatles records and even the Wings stuff that he did and you listen to the versatility in his voice and all the different things he was able to do as a singer, he's incredible and then his bass playing is like unbelievable so I think he's probably, in my opinion, like the most talented, well-rounded Rock musician probably ever.

MG: Yeah, you look up "melody" in the dictionary and you see his picture...(laughs) its great.
TH: Yeah, it's just you know, the beauty of his voice and his ability to scream and then sing so pretty, crystal clear... So I would say him, and then there's some off shoots, you know, over the years obviously I've been influenced by a lot of different people but I would put him at the top of the list and then there's a whole bunch of people that trickle down from there.

MG: Great... How did you hook up with Ronni and TNT?
TH: Mmm... Well, it's such an old story but you know, basically, I'll make it quick. They had a manager in New York in 1984 and I was kicking around in a club band and one night we were playing in New York City and these 2 guys came backstage one of them was actually Mike Varney (Founder of Shrapnel Records and fellow shred lover. He discovered such talents as Yngwie, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, etc...) I think and they came backstage and they told me about this band they had in Norway and they gave me a tape and I went home and listened to it and I was totally blown away and they said "Well you can be on a plane tomorrow if you're interested 'cause they need somebody fast" and they (TNT) had already gotten a demo tape of mine from somebody... I don't even know how they got it, but they got it. And I... you know, basically, within a week I was over there and recorded the first album Knights (of New Thunder).

MG: Went down and made some magic...
TH: Yeah, I went over there and had about three days to re-write all the "really, really" bad English lyrics and make them just "real" bad and not "really, really" bad...

MG: (Laughs) That was actually my next question. Did you revamp the lyrics completely?
TH: On the first album you mean? Yeah, I did for the most part. I left a few things... you know, like Seven Seas, I think the chorus was mostly written... but I had to rewrite a lot of verse stuff on most of the songs. There were a lot of verse lyrics to rewrite but I really couldn't do much, I did as much as I could, I rewrote some melodies... so I kinda made them my own the best that I could while still retaining the basic songs. And I think that you really see a big jump when you hear Tell No Tales because that's the first album that Ronni and I sat down together for the first time and wrote, you know, all the songs pretty much. So you hear like the real style ... writing style develop between Ronni and myself on Tell No Tales.

MG: Definitely... Now, Eddie, the song is a favorite among the diehards...
TH: Yeah...(sighs)

MG: Were those your lyrics as well?
TH: No. I don't lay any claim to those lyrics whatsoever. Those were actually left pretty much intact and it wasn't even going to be on Knights, it was a fluky last minute thing and the only reason we did it is because we happened to have all the music recorded already from the 1st album they did with the old singer in Norwegian. So I just took what they gave me and I sort of made the song my own, but I left those lyrics there which I think are probably less than acceptable in many ways. (laughs)

MG: I take it its not one of your favorites...
TH: Not one of my favorites... Nope...

MG: This is a question I've always wanted to ask you. I remember during the Tell No Tales era, you and Ronni did a (MTV) Headbanger's Ball, as a matter of fact I think I still have that on tape somewhere...
TH: Okay...(laughs)

MG: ...the host (Blackie Lawless) asked you and Ronni where you guys met and you guys said something like "at a lingerie shop" or "women's underwear" or something like that...
TH: Oh really...

MG: Do you remember that?
TH: No...

MG: It was Ronni that actually said it and you kind of like started laughing and I'm going... OK... So I was going to ask you if there was any truth to that... or where that came from...
TH: I don't know...(laughs)

MG: ...or was Ronni just being a goofball? (laughs)...
TH: I think he was just being a goofball... Yeah, I don't think Ronni's ever been in a lingerie shop unless he was shopping for himself, you know, maybe he's got something going on the side that I don't know about...(laughs) No I don't... I think he was just trying to be clever, or something...

MG: Yeah that's what I thought, you know I must have been about 14 years old and I'm watching this thing at like 2 AM or so and it's like my favorite singer's on and you guys come out with that stuff , it was pretty funny...
TH: Well, I don't think it's true...(laughs)

MG: Good! Now, this is a question about Tell No Tales the song...
TH: Uh-huh...

MG: ...was there any glass left unshattered in the studio after recording the vocals?
TH: Ha! (laughs) That's funny!

MG: Great vocals on that, man...
TH: Oh thank you, I don't really know how to answer that... it was actually the last song I recorded for the album, I remember that and remember it was pretty much one take...

MG: Really?
TH: Yeah. I remember just being, you know, happy that I was on the last song and I saved it for last so I could just totally blow it out, you know... and I went into the studio very pumped up and just... they started recording and... Go! And I think after the first take it was like, OK let's fix this one word or something or two words and that was pretty much the whole thing so I got it in basically about the length of the song. That was a really fun one to just get done real fast.

MG: Get some aggressions out...
TH: Yeah, yeah...

MG: Now, the lyrics to "Child's Play" can be interpreted in various ways and they still stand out in my mind. What inspired you to write this song?
TH: Mmm... I think it was just my...I always, specially when I was younger I always had a deep fear and very big concern about nuclear weapons and I've always felt very opposed to military buildup and that whole kind of mentality of needing more weapons to deter war. And I've never believed in it, I've always thought it was a load of shit, cause I think that if you have the weapons that eventually you're gonna use them... so I just don't believe in that, it just goes against everything I believe to the core. So I was just saying my part and how I felt about basically the state of things and I think that was kind of at the end of the Reagan era or the beginning of the Bush era or something... I don't even remember, I guess Bush was president... I don't know. And I wasn't a real fan, you know? So I was just voicing my little political thing there.

MG: Yeah, the song touches you... It's a great song.
TH: Thank you...

MG: During, or maybe after the Tell No Tales era, would you say that's when TNT were the most popular in the US?
TH: Mmm... Yeah I would say so, that was the album that was definitely the peak. Unfortunately, because we really thought we were going places from that point on.

MG: I agree.
TH: Unfortunately, the record company just kind of pulled the rug out from under us and, you know, we were at a label, at the time that had a lot of bands that were very big so we were kind of competing with the biggest. We were on Mercury, so we were competing with Def Leppard who was the biggest of the biggest and then we were competing with Bon Jovi which was second to Def Leppard and then you had the Scorpions and then you had Cinderella and then you had all the others so we kind of got lost in there someplace. It's a real shame.

MG: It is...it is a shame...
TH: I think a lot of the other labels that were watching things at the time could not believe what was happening with us and they always thought we were a really good band. I think that's why Atlantic picked us up so quickly when we left Polygram in '89. It was an immediate deal, it was like two days from when we left Polygram and we had this great deal with Atlantic, like a couple of days later. But that didn't work out either... So... whatever (laughs).

MG: That kind of ties into my next question because I thought the band was bound for greatness. You were a can't miss. You had one of the greatest guitar players and hands down the best vocalist for the genre, you know? And while success came, the superstardom which many had envisioned for you never did... It's just... It's a shame.
TH: Yeah, we just had some bad luck there. But you know, the way I look at is... a lot of people could get really deep into that sort of regret and start thinking really badly about that, but I look at it more like... I mean obviously things could have gone differently, but I look at it also in the way of... Hey, I would say that probably we did better than 90 percent or more of most of the musicians out there that start recording and want to be stars and everything and I think we reached a level that most people never even get close to. So, I'm really happy with that and I'm grateful for it and, you know, if we have success again either as TNT or me personally then I'll be happy with that.

MG: That's great, man. Judging by its quality, Transistor should definitely bring you success, it's a great album...
TH: Thank you...

MG: ...because it just has great songs...we're crossing our fingers and rooting for you...so hopefully...
TH: Yeah, we're hoping. It's tough when you're on an independent record company, but... we'll see what happens, it's early in the game, the record hasn't been out long, so we're just trying to get something to happen and we're just, you know, seeing how things go.

MG: So, what's your take on the music industry? I think you may have partially answered that...
TH: You mean right now?

MG: Right now...
TH: Hmm... I think there's good and bad just like there's always been, I don't think its any different than it used to be, I think the biggest difference is just that there's more ways of promoting things now and that MTV has taken over to such a degree that I would say that the negative would be that there's not really enough music happening and that there's this big trend towards the pop thing. But you know, that's always going to be there and I think it's just a matter of people getting sick of it and then music will come back around again, I mean real good music. But I mean, there's a lot of good stuff out there, I don't totally down the 90's like a lot of 80's guys do. I actually really liked a lot of music in the 90's and I got a lot out of it. I was, I think, very positively influenced by a lot of the 90's music. A lot of it was crap, but I really liked a lot of it and I think that some things happened in the 90's that were very good for music in general and for hard rock.

MG: I agree and actually in my review of your new record, which we'll be talking about more in depth soon, I say that you guys have come full circle, blending your original 80's sound with some of the 90's sound without going over the top and actually taking it to the new millennium. Which is actually great because you guys didn't go in the studio and make Tell No Tales all over again. Funny that you mentioned Def Leppard but they've recorded Hysteria 3 times you know? I mean, they just released it again this year (Euphoria).
TH: And that's fine for them, I mean, whatever... whatever they wanna do. I mean, people criticize us sometimes for what we do, but I don't make music for other people, I know that sounds really bad, but I really make it for myself, because if I don't enjoy it, then no one else is going to enjoy it. I mean, if I'm miserable doing something and somebody says "Hey man, that's really good" then I'll be sort of like, well thanks, but you know, whatever. I mean, if it doesn't mean anything to me, then it doesn't matter. But the point I'm trying to make is that I think that you have to be honest as an artist and I think that if I really dig what I'm doing, there's a good chance that a lot of other people will too, because it's honest. And that's the only thing I can do. And I will totally refute any attempt to say that we sold out or that we're trying to do this or do that or be trendy or any of that crap...

MG: Some of the fans, especially on-line fans have been accusing you of that...
TH: Yeah...You know what? They don't know me... There was one guy that wrote a letter into one of the websites saying that because I said "Fuck" on a song, that it didn't sound like... what did he say?...He said that's not me, I think he said "That's not you, Tony." Now, I don't know this guy, I've never met him in my life and I wondered how he could say that without knowing me. But you know what? Like I say, you can't please everybody and I'm not here to try to do that and I'm sorry if there's some fans that don't like the record. All I can say is don't buy it, don't listen to it, and, certainly don't talk about it on a website. If you don't like it, why are you on a website bitchin' about it, you know? Just don't listen to it and talk about something else. But apparently, there's a lot of people out there who have no life so all they've got time for is sitting on their computers all night long bitchin' about somebody's record. I just think it's a waste of time.

MG: I agree. And personally, I couldn't see you singing something that's not in your heart because of your emotive vocals...
TH: Exactly. Of course, I've never said "Fuck" on a record that's true, but I didn't say it this time because I was trying to be cool, it's just that it fit the lyric at the time, it was a very "off the cuff" song, it was a very kind of "stream of consciousness" lyric, and it was an angry song and it just kind of, you know fit right in there. It was nothing, except... BELIEVE ME, I say "Fuck" and "Shit" all the time when I'm pissed off, so it is part of me, part of my vocabulary and whatever... If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to listen to it. (Laughs)

MG: Limit your creative output!!! (Laughs)
TH: Yeah...But, I don't understand these people that sit in these chat rooms or that are writing these things all the time. I don't get what the point is, you know? I mean, if all you wanna do is just get on there and argue about stuff, I just think it's like, an incredible waste of time and energy and they could probably be using their time in a much more positive way, you know?

MG: There's only a couple of people that actually come in and stir the pot, and then it turns into a ridiculously childish war of e-mails. It just really is a waste of time and most people would agree. But like I said, it's just the same couple of people...they should be using their energy for something more positive.
TH: I would think so...

MG: That's what I think...
TH: I totally agree with you, but you know, I mean, there's always going to be those people in the world and I feel sorry for them, because they're probably going to have really miserable lives I would think, you know?

MG: The positives FAR outnumber the negatives though. I mean, from what I've seen...
TH: That's what I've heard so I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about that...

MG: A lot of people love you...
TH: I know...

MG: ...as a band, and as a singer, and you've brought a lot of joy. I mean, personally speaking, you guys (TNT) played the soundtrack to my high school life.
TH: Thank you (laughs)

MG: That's all I've ever loved, music, especially TNT, so you've brought a lot of joy through your music. And I don't know you, I'm not speaking about your character, this is just strictly music here. From what I've read about you, I know that you're intelligent and that you have concerns about issues in the world, and political issues and I get that from your liner notes, e-mails and lyrics, but I don't really know you, so the only thing I can really talk about is the music, and the music has brought joy to my life and that's all I can really say.
TH: Thank you very much... 'cause that's all that matters to me... That's icing on the cake, like I said I do music for me, but when I hear that, it makes me feel great, because it makes me feel like wow, if somebody is touched by something that I like, that I did, that I'm proud of, then that makes it all that much better. But you know, I remember seeing an interview recently, you know those Behind the music specials on VH1? They had one with Jefferson Starship and the guitar player was talking about how when they went really commercial pop in the 80's and they started doing all those really cheesy songs, he was talking about how much he hated, you know, what they were doing. And they were selling more records than ever with "We built this city" and all that crap, you know? But he hated it, he hated it. So there you have a situation that I would never want to be in, where people are saying, "You're great, you're great" but I'm sitting there going, I fuckin' hate this, you know? So, I'd rather sit here feeling jovial about my latest album, which I do, I love... I mean I truly really, really like Transistor a lot and I'm really super proud of the songs, I'm very proud of the vocals, I'm really proud of my lyrics on it. I'm just really happy with it. So, to me, if people like it, that makes me really, really happy. If people don't like it, it's never gonna shake...it's not gonna shake my feeling about the record at all, I don't care how much they piss and moan. It's always going to be, in my mind, something I'm proud of, so... and the same thing with Firefly, there's about... I don't think we finished that record, I think it's an unfinished album, but I think there's about 5 or 6 songs on that album that I think are great...

MG: Month Of Sundays, Daisy Jane, Firefly, Soldier...
TH: Yeah, you know... there's some stuff on there I'm really proud of and that'll never shake, no matter what people say, or what they think, it doesn't matter, you know (laughs). I'm trying to make that clear as much as I can so that they can just... I mean, they can write all the nasty stuff they want, I'm not going to listen to it. So, that's not going to change me, I'll go broke staying honest.

MG: (Laughs)
TH: I will, I will go broke staying honest as a musician, and that's just my...

MG: There's very few people who would actually do that...
TH: But I won't actually, probably the opposite will happen, you know? 'Cause I have to stay honest, and I think that eventually if you stay totally honest, then your time is gonna come. I think when you fake it, you're cheating everybody, including yourself.

MG: People see right through that too...
TH: Sometimes...

MG: Eventually...
TH: Yeah, they do... I think so...yeah.

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