by Michael McCarthy
MM: First of all, congrats on being inducted into the Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That was last Sunday night, right?
CZN: That’s correct.
MM: Cool, cool. And when did you find out you were being inducted?
CZN: Well, we actually were told a few months ago through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that they were interested in having Enuff Z’Nuff inducted into the Hall of Fame. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But evidently, they take a vote through a process of all the constituents and the fans. It’s a little different than it would be in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where that’s mostly done through all the people that run that organization.
MM: Interesting.
CZN: Actually, the fans’ vote means a lot on this Hall of Fame. And they’ve overwhelmingly supported Enuff Z’Nuff. And when I saw the people that were gonna be involved in the camp, I certainly was quite blown away by the amount of great talent that’s out here that hasn’t been recognized throughout the years. And I went to my gang and told them about it, and they were super excited.
MM: Of course.
CZN: And when they mentioned that not only would we be inducted into the Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but we’d also be able to perform and play a couple of songs, that certainly lifted everything for Enuff Z’Nuff. Because, more importantly, you can always say thank you, but the best way to do it is to get out there and play and sing.
MM: Absolutely.
CZN: And it’s exactly what we did, and it was great.
MM: You performed with Donnie Vie at the show, right?
CZN: Absolutely, I called Donnie right away, asked him if he’d be interested in doing this. He hasn’t been in the band in 13 years. He’s basically a solo artist. He takes it easy, and I don’t want the stress and the pressure on him to be overwhelming, but he was totally into it.
MM: That’s awesome.
CZN: He embraced it. And he said, listen, let’s do a couple of songs and bring out Enuff Z’Nuff with you. And we’ll bring out Alex [Kane], who was a part of Enuff Z’Nuff in those early days before we actually had a record deal. And let’s celebrate all the years together that we’ve had making records. And that’s basically what it is. And to give something back to the fans. And at the end of the day, I’m very grateful that we got the opportunity to do that. And not only play in front of the people, but a chance to go shake hands and kiss babies and take pictures and just be able to say to everybody all around the world, thank you very much for all your years of support throughout this. This career of trying to make records and touring around the country. It’s really a special blessing. And I can’t thank the fans enough for what they’ve done for us, because they gave us a run. They basically gave our band a life.
MM: So what songs did you do that night?
CZN: Well, we obviously went back to the catalog. We knew we were only playing a couple of songs like most of the artists were doing. So we just picked out the first two singles that we released, which was “New Thing” and “Fly High Michelle.”
MM: Makes sense.
CZN: And people know those songs. They got a lot of airplay. In those early days, without MTV, we wouldn’t be talking right now, you and I. The powers that be over at that great network embraced our songs and gave us a wonderful opportunity to have a career. And so we went with the first two tracks — the first two singles on the first record. And listen, if we could have, we would have played all night. We had a Brink’s truck full of songs and we all know them. But we did that without a rehearsal, by the way. We just showed up to play because it’s like riding a bicycle. So I think it wasn’t very stressful whatsoever. We all got up on stage, we played, we sang. And at the end of the day, everybody was celebrating.
MM: Cool, cool. So did you actually hang out with Donnie a bit that night?
CZN: Yeah, Donnie and I spent a lot of time together there and it was really nice.
MM: That’s what people like to hear.
CZN: We’ve always had a great kinship. But listen, we dedicated 30 years of our life to each other. And we went through the ups and downs and the peaks and valleys of what a music career has. And for us to still be surviving and playing music is really a miracle and a blessing from the good Lord. So, of course, we got a chance to spend time together. The whole band did. And we talked about the old times and the new times moving forward. And I think it was great. There were some of the great moments for me that night. Besides hanging out with the fans and seeing our family members that came out to support us. To get a chance to cross paths with The Chi-Lites and Disturbed and Head East and some of the other bands that we’re into. I know Bo Diddley, I think, was inducted as well. And also Willie Dixon, who wrote a “Whole Lotta Love” for Led Zeppelin. His family was there as well. So it was nice to be able to cross paths with some of the old greats here in Chicago and celebrate.
MM: I know you have a couple of new guitarists in the band right now, Jason Camino and Luis Kalil. How did you hook up with them?
CZN: Well, Jason Camino’s been with Enuff Z’Nuff for quite a long time now. Jason Camino used to be the guitar player in a band called the Nelsons. And we pillaged him years ago. He’s been playing with us for quite a long time. As a matter of fact, Jason’s on the last couple of records. He’s on Finer Than Sin, and he’s also on the new record, Xtra Cherries. So I think that’s kind of nice that we’ve had him participate with the band for quite a few years now. And then Luis Kalil has been with the band now for a couple of years. He came out and toured with us a few years ago with another band and we just seemed to really love his sense of balance on guitar. Great singer, wonderful guitar player, super smart, a protegé, you know? He came from Brazil. And he’s just a Brink’s truck full of talent and he’s just a wonderful guy to deal with every day. And he joined the band and he’s on the new record as well. And then our drummer, of course, his name is Brent Arsement. And I met Brent when he used to play in a band called White Lion. He was in Mike Tramp’s White Lion for quite a long time. And we were able to pillage him and bamboozle him into coming into the band and playing these songs every single night. And what a fabulous singer and a great songwriter he is as well. And a great piano player. And I remember meeting him 20 years ago when he was living with Dennis Rodman from the Chicago Bulls.
MM: Wow, that’s pretty interesting.
CZN: And now here he is playing in Enuff Z’Nuff. So it’s funny, careful what you wish for.
MM: I believe next year will be the 10th anniversary of you being the lead singer of Enuff Z’Nuff. When you started doing lead vocals, did you anticipate doing it long-term or were you initially just gonna do it until you found someone else?
CZN: No, I’ve always sang in the band. Donnie always encouraged me to sing on the songs. And if you listen to the Enuff Z’Nuff catalog of material, there are some records I’m singing.
MM: Oh, I know, you were singing lead on a couple of songs on every album for quite some time.
CZN: Obviously, I’m singing every single song with him on all the records, but there’s a couple on every single record that he’d want me to sing lead vocals on. It was all encouraged by Donnie in the early days, wanting me to sing these songs. And when I was writing the songs, I’ve always come up with a melody line or a lyric. Even when Donnie was in the band, it was always what I call a nice collaboration. We worked well together. And it wasn’t like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant where Page comes up with guitar parts and a nice riff, and then Robert just writes all the lyrics and melody lines.
MM: You had a different dynamic?
CZN: It worked different ways. There’s all kinds of different components that come to writing songs. And so when Donnie finally said he couldn’t do it anymore because he’s a little disillusioned by the music business and he had some health issues that were going on, I had no choice. Johnny Monaco was actually singing a lot of the songs. He’s a fabulous singer and a great guitar player as well. But he couldn’t do it during that time because he had some issues with his hands. And he said he needed time. His doctor told him he needed time off. We had a bunch of dates on the books. And I just thought, I gotta keep the choo-choo train moving forward. And my mother always said, “Son, you should just go out and sing the songs. You’ve got a beautiful voice.” But Donnie encouraged it, too. He said, if you’re gonna go out and sing these songs and continue Enuff Z’Nuff, you should front the band. At least people know when you walk up on stage, that’s Enuff Z’Nuff. And because Monaco couldn’t do it anymore, I just took over and I called Tony Fennell from Ultravox, asked him if he’d be interested in coming down and playing the songs. He’d always been a huge fan of the band and a great friend of mine. And we went to rehearsals and started working. And I got Daniel Benjamin Hill from Chicago to play some drums. He was doing session work with me over at Stonecutter Studio in Chicago. Fabulous guy. I just love being around him and I love his playing. Solid as a rock. And, of course, we had Tory in the band at the time, too. So we just found ourselves with a nice little opportunity to go out and make music and continue the trajectory of moving Enuff Z’Nuff forward. And here we are. It’s been over 10 years, actually. I think it’s going on almost a dozen. Donnie has been out of the band for 13 years. So Monaco did a couple of years and I took over from there. And I think Enuff Z’Nuff with me as the front man has now put out about seven or eight studio records. So that’s pretty significant in this day and age, if you ask me.
MM: Absolutely. Now, you have quite a few special guests on the new album. You have Steve Brown on “No Cold Feeling,” who wrote the song with you. When did you guys write that one and how did it come about?
CZN: Steve basically wrote the song. He sent it to me and said, “I’ve got an idea. I want to put this project together. I want to call it One Brown’s Enuff. Let me send you a song.” And he sent me a rough draft of it. And he says, “Do your thing to it.” And that’s what I did. I just changed a few lyrics. And I left pretty much everything else in tact. The guy’s a great songwriter. Wonderful guitar player. I put some guitars on there, played bass on it. And then had Daxx Nielsen from Cheap Trick play drums. And from there, we knew we had something that was really nice. And then when I listened to the whole album after it was all recorded, I said, this is something that’s gotta be right up in the front of the record. It really sets the tone. It brings back old memories of Cheap Trick and their first album. It had that kind of vibe to it. It was up-tempo. It felt good. It was a sing-along song. And it’s a real celebratory track that I’m real proud of. And it starts the record off just the right way.
MM: You have Stephen Adler on “Zillion Miles Away” and Gunnar Nelson on “Star Star.” When were those tracks recorded?
CZN: Well, the first thing was Stephen Adler. He came down here to my house. He used to live over here in Blue Island, Illinois with me. He was cleaning up and getting himself off of all the extracurricular activities. He came to Blue Island and lived with me for about a month. It was a wonderful time having him at this beautiful place of mine. All we would do is watch cartoons all day. Family Guy and South Park. Nobody would touch the TV here. It was just cartoons all day and night. It drove me crazy. But he’s just a charming gentleman. By the way, he’s a pretty good chef, too. He knows how to take a can of Chef Boyardee, throw it in a pan and throw a whole stick of Land O’Lakes butter in there and just let it soak for about a half an hour and then pass on a loaf of white bread.
MM: Gourmet.
CZN: Yes, gosh, so funny. And then of course, music-wise, we’d sit at the house here and listen to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Queen and Mott the Hoople and Cheap Trick. He’s a big fan of different kinds of groups and music. But during my days at the house here slash studio, I’d get him to play drums on a bunch of stuff because we’d have sessions coming in here. I was producing a Brink’s truck full of bands. And they would be tickled pink to walk in here to record their records and meet Stephen Adler from Guns N’ Roses.
MM: Sure.
CZN: During the mornings, he would play drums and I’d record all the stuff he was playing. And he has his own swing, his own timber. And I just kept all that stuff and I just wrote songs around it. And that song, “Zillion Miles Away,” was an old song that Donnie and I wrote years ago. And I just went back in the studio and I pretty much played it to Stephen’s drumming and redid the song. It was that simple.
MM: Nice.
CZN: Yeah, we finished it up. We had a little masterpiece right there. The record company said, we’re gonna put it on the CD. We won’t put it on the record because it’s too long. I think it was too much time for vinyl so we wouldn’t be able to add that onto the vinyl. But they said they’d put it on the CD because you can have more time. And I got a chance to celebrate Stephen once again with the fans.
MM: He’s always great.
CZN: He’s played on a few Enuff Z’Nuff albums and people are blown away by it because as soon as you hear the drums, you go, that’s Stephen Adler. He’s got his own little swing. There’s nobody out there like him. He’s really a special drummer and a wonderful friend.
MM: How did the Gunnar Nelson collaboration come about?
CZN: My guitar player, Jason Camino, called me on the phone. He says, “Hey, we finished the track. It sounds really good.” He did the guitars in Wisconsin over at his studio. And I said, it sounds great. He goes,”Man, we should reach out to Gunnar and Matthew, the Nelsons.” And obviously my relationship with the Nelsons goes back to in the early 1990s when we toured together. We did a stadium tour or shed tour, I should say, with Nelson. We were following around Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row during that time and playing all these beautiful arenas. And I said, you know, that’d be a wonderful idea. I should give him a call. And when I called him, I talked to Matthew for a little while, who we’ve always got along with just charmingly. And Gunnar said, I’d be honored to play guitar on a song. Send me the track. And so I sent The Rolling Stones’ “Starfucker” song to him and he put the slide guitar down. I couldn’t ask for a better cat to play slide guitar on that track. It just sounded fantastic. And it really brought that middle section to life. And so I’m real proud of that because that’s a Rolling Stones song that they don’t play live in concert, unfortunately. And it’s probably one of the grittiest, most promiscuous lyrics that Mick Jagger’s ever written. Jagger and Richards both gave us permission to put the song on the record. That was icing on the cake there. And of course, you can’t go wrong when you got the Nelsons and Enuff Z’Nuff together, two bands that have always surrounded ourselves with great melody lines and wonderful songs.
MM: Yeah, definitely. And you have the brilliant Steve Stevens on “Magnificent.” How did that one come about?
CZN: There’s a miracle right there from above. I’ll tell you, I got an Instagram message from Steve. He heard us on Little Stevens’ Garage Radio. Little Steven always plays Enuff Z’Nuff on his wonderful show. And he goes, “I heard the song and it really brought back memories, Chip.” Because Steve Stevens and Enuff Z’Nuff go back from the early days. In fact, I used to play with Steve on early demos that he did back when he was living in New York. So he goes, “You guys doing anything?” I said, we’re making a record right now as a matter of fact. He knew Donnie wasn’t in the band, but the relationship has still stayed intact throughout the years. We’d cross paths when Enuff Z’Nuff was on these festival dates. So I said, yeah, “I’m recording a record right now. It’s called Xtra Cherries. Can I send you a track?” And I didn’t hear anything for about 15, 20 minutes. I said, obviously he’s too busy. He’s a big rock star. And lo and behold, he sent me a message back. “Chip, send me some stuff.” So I sent him a few tracks and one of them was “Magnificent.” His exact message back to me was, “This is solid as a rock. What a great song. I’d love to play on it. Cause I’ll put some leads and I’ll put some solos on there as well.” And basically, Steve Stevens arranged it. He had so many great ideas when he heard the song. He says, “After the guitar solo, why don’t we drop everything out and just have the bass and the vocal and the drums in there.” And everything he told me and suggested, I took to heart. And we came up with a great rock and roll track. One of the heavier songs on the record, a real wonderful interpretation of what Enuff Z’Nuff is all about. Steve Stevens brought it all. I got to give him all the credit. He brought it all to life.
MM: Nice. And he’s really busy now with Billy Idol again.
CZN: He’s got other sessions that he’s doing as well. He’s a six trick pony. He writes songs, he plays guitar, he comes up with great melody lines. He’s a wonderful producer, great arranger. I can’t say enough about what he’s left in the music business. He’s one of the quintessential rock stars of my generation.
MM: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I remember he was on Vince Neil’s first album when Vince Neil was out of Motley Crue and that album was so good. And I’m sure most of the reason why is Steve Stevens.
CZN: Yeah, he came in and wrote all those songs with Vince Neil. And they got a couple of awards on the MTV Awards, I remember that. And that was a great band. They went out and toured. I went and saw them over at Cabaret Metro in Chicago, Joe Shanahan’s place, wonderful venue. And they sold it out, 1200 seat venue, and they played all those songs off the Exposed record. People were very excited about it. Steve was just charming. He had 30 or 40 trim just smothering him like a bum on a surf and turf. Women just loved that cat beyond belief. And the band was on fire that night. And it didn’t last long for one reason or another. The music business at that time changed a lot because hard rock was taking a backseat to grunge. So you had Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and of course Nirvana, all those big bands. And they were good bands, too, by the way. So it was a weird time during that moment in the music industry where a lot of rock bands had to take a backseat to the grunge movement. But they’ve all seemed to survive and move on. And Steve is back with Billy Idol and Vince is back with Motley Crue and everybody’s still making music. So it’s a real blessing.
MM: Now I have to ask you about the song “Shine” because you have Neal Schon and Robert Fleischman of Journey fame both on that. And I can’t remember the last time the two of them would have worked on a song together.
CZN: Yeah, they wrote some great stuff in those early days and those songs are timeless and they’ve done very well for them. But on that song, we wrote with Neal Schon and Donnie and myself in the Chicago Recording Company that was in downtown Chicago. The building is no longer there. They’ve torn it down. It’s a restaurant now or something. But it housed so much music back in the old days. Bands would come through from all around the whole world and record records there. Everybody from Queen to Michael Jackman to, of course, Pearl Jam, did a bunch of records there. And I’d be talking all day if I went through the discography of all the bands that have made records over at Chicago Recording Company.
MM: Sure.
CZN: It just so happens I was in the studio there doing a record called the Cyclops Blues Band. It’s probably on Spotify and all the different social media networks, too. But that was a great record because it features musicians from different bands like the Tubes and Journey and Sly and the Family Stone, Europe. All these guys playing on this blues record. And I was producing with a guy named Dave Denny. Herbie Herbert, our manager at the time, who managed Journey as well, set the whole thing up. And we had a few hours off and he asked Neal if he would be so kind as to want to record with Enuff Z’Nuff. And Neal’s always been a big Enuff Z’Nuff fan as we are his. And so we went in the studio. We worked with a guy named Chris Steinmetz who owns a studio here in Chicago called Stonecutter Studio. And in a couple of hours, we laid down one song. I think we had two takes of it. No vocals – it was just the music. And we finished it up and it sat on a hard drive for 30 years, honest to God.
MM: What prompted you to revisit it now?
CZN: I was making this record and our record company, Cleopatra Records, the president, Brian Pereira said, Chip, you should get some musicians to play on it to help elevate the band’s perception. And I already had a few guys on the record from Cheap Trick and, of course, Steve Stevens and Steve Brown from Trixter. I said, if I could find that song that I did with Neal all those years ago, it could be really special. And we ended up finding it after going for weeks through all the hard drives and all the two-inch tapes that we had in the studio. And when we found it, the bulb went off in my head. I said, why don’t I call Robert Fleischman, who wrote a lot of those early songs for Journey and used to be with Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and get him to sing on the record. And it just so happens that months before this, I was in Wisconsin playing bass on Robert Fleischman’s new solo record, which is called Emotional Atlas. And so it was a perfect time for me to call him and ask him for a favor. And he was beyond belief excited because he’s always had nothing but respect for the Journey guys and their legacy. He loves the songs that he co-wrote with those cats. And he says, “Chip, where are you recording?” I said, “I’m recording here in Blue Island in my hometown.” He goes, “I’ll fly out tomorrow” and he flew out here to Chicago. I picked him up at the airport. And it was maybe an hour that he was in the studio. That’s how fast he put that together.
(Editor’s note: I debated whether or not I should include the R & R Hall of Fame concert video above since it’s a fan made video, not a professional or official release. But it was a historic moment and I think a lot of fans would like to see it so I decided to post it as you can see. Cheers!)
MM: Nice.
CZN: He wrote a wonderful lyric and a beautiful melody line. And then we both sing on the chorus together. And I took him back to the airport. I didn’t wanna put it anywhere on the record too early because I’m singing all the songs. It’s an Enuff Z’Nuff record, but I wanted to celebrate that collaboration. So it’s the last song on the record. It’s called “Shine” and it features Robert Fleischman, myself, along with Donnie Vie. And of course, Neal Schon, the great Journey guitar player. And by the way, the song is recorded live in the studio. No overdubs, no outtakes, no nothing. That’s the band playing the song one time and that’s it. That’s how records used to be made a long time ago. It’s not like that anymore. So that’s the special thing about that. It’s not a Pro Tools to death record. It’s basically the band in the studio recording the whole song live in one take. And then of course, Robert singing with myself over the choruses.
MM: Gotcha. Now the album opens with a ballad, a cover of a song called “Heartbeat.” I think artist’s name is Jobriath, right? How did that come about? The only reason I knew it was a cover was because about 20, 25 years ago, Def Leppard did a version of that.
CZN: Yeah, I didn’t know about that until later on. I was reading a story about Jobriath years ago. A wonderful artist. Clive Davis turned him down. He thought that he was a little bit too flamboyant, but one of his partners ended up signing the band, put millions of dollars into the record, and did a vigorous retail and marketing campaign. But it was early seventies. He just didn’t get the love that he deserved. It was a wonderful album with great musicians, but in that day and age, artists that were a little bit flamboyant and colorful were not taken serious. And the record just slipped through the cracks. And a year or two later after the record was out, he ended up committing suicide.
MM: Oh, geez, I didn’t know that.
CZN: It was a touching story about a hardworking artist who just didn’t get a chance to make the fourth quarter. And I love the track and it’s about hope and love and just trying to find your place in the world. And I said, I want to try to sing the song. And I went in there with just a piano and it was a a capella. I didn’t want to do a lot of instruments. I want to do a different version of it. And it was just one or two takes. I didn’t go crazy. I just wanted to see how it would feel. And we had tears in our eyes in the studio. It was just really touching how we put together something that was so organic and pure and real. And I said to the record company, “I want this to be the first song on the record. I want to open up with this track.” To show a different side of what we’re all about. I think that we captured that magic here in Chicago.
MM: And it’s different to open an album with a ballad. You don’t expect it. So it really catches your attention.
CZN: Yes. I agree with you on that. And I would love to hear the Def Leppard version of that song. Def Leppard obviously knows about a good song. They’ve been writing them for the last 30, 40 years.
MM: You do a new version of “Sanibel Island” on Xtra Cherries. What inspired you to bring that one back?
CZN: It’s one of my favorite places to go visit, to be honest with you, buddy. I’ve always loved that part of the world. It’s right by Captiva, which is right off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. You have to go over the bridge to get there. It’s a small little island. It’s just gorgeous. And I remember when Donnie left the band for the first time back in the early 2000s, he was in Los Angeles doing a solo record. And I was writing songs on my own. And I brought that one down to him when I went to play bass on his solo record. He put together a wonderful synopsis of what he thought Sanibel Island would be because he’s never visited the island. But I told him tons of stories about it. And we recorded that song for the Welcome to Blue Island record. And we were down on our luck. And, of course, Donnie split after that. And we didn’t get to really give it much of a chance. And it just sat there. And I just thought, that’s a song that I really believe has some gas in the tank. And I just went back in the studio and I got Daxx Neilson from Cheap Trick to come play drums on it. We just bashed it out in one or two takes. I got a good friend of mine from Indianapolis to come down and play on some piano on the track. His name was Joel Norman. Wonderful musician, guitar player, singer, songwriter, piano player. I said, “I’m doing an Enuff Z’Nuff album. I’d like you to play some piano on it.” And he goes, “Chip, I’d be honored to.” And I think he changed the whole aesthetic of that song by his beautiful piano playing. And it captured the magic that I heard in my head when I first wrote the song years ago before I even showed Donnie. And I was hoping that perhaps it’d get a second chance at another life.
MM: I think that your new version is definitely the better one. The chorus just grabs you more. It’s a bit catchier and the piano was a nice touch.
CZN: Well, thank you. I appreciate this. “Sanibel Island waits / We’re gonna have a ball / Women are half your age / Swimming in alcohol.” That’s pretty much sums it all up right there. There you go.
MM: There you go. So what instrument do you usually use when you write a song?
CZN: Most of the time it’s guitar. And once in a while, I’ll get over and tinker around on a piano a little bit. I’m not a piano player, but I definitely know the chords and I’ll find something that moves me. It’s a lot of options when you’re writing on piano as opposed to a guitar. But I’ve even written on the bass, too. But most of the songs throughout my career have been written on guitar and electric guitar, acoustic guitar. I’ll just go in the studio and come up with a click to keep everything in time and just put down my idea and then build from there.
MM: Gotcha, gotcha. Do you generally still prefer a bass though?
CZN: Well, I am a bass player. That’s my instrument. Yeah. I like both to be honest, but I love the bass because I grew up listening to guys like Paul McCartney and Geezer Butler and Geddy Lee and John Deacon from Queen and Overend Watts from Mott the Hoople. So many great bass players that I love. There’s a Brink’s Truck full of great bass players out there. I’m more of an old school guy. I just love those older songs that have resonated and left an indelible mark. And that’s what I do. I play bass guitar. I’m known as a bass guitar player, singer. But more importantly, it’s all about playing for the song. And bass is real important when it comes to music. It’s the foundation of everything. And I don’t just play rock either. If you look at my discography, from playing with Crucial Conflict or Kanye West, Malik Yusef, or early Twista. I’ve played on a lot of hip hop records as well. No one really talks about that, but I’m real proud of it, that I can do different kinds of music. And that’s what shaped me as a musician. To be diversified and listen to all different styles and find the love of what I do for a living in those songs.
MM: And you played with Missing Persons before, right?
CZN: Oh yeah. It’s funny you bring that up because not a lot of people know that I’ve played with Missing Persons and the London Quireboys and Cyclops Blues Band. And there’s others out there. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but I’ve played on plenty of records, hundreds of records. And I’ve played with quite a few bands and toured around the country with a lot of musicians. So I’ve had an illustrious career up to this point. I’m grateful. And I still feel there’s some gas in the tank and I have some more music in me and I want to share it with everybody out there.
MM: You were on Frontiers Records for several albums, but I know you’re on Cleopatra now. Why the change?
CZN: Well, yeah, Frontiers was nice. We had Derek Schulman at the time, who signed Enuff Z’Nuff in the early days over at Atlantic Records. Derek was responsible for giving us a career. And it just so happens that he was working over at Frontiers. We ended up doing a deal with him for an old catalog record we had that was never released. And it was called Clown’s Lounge. And then Derek left the label and the powers that be there wanted to continue the relationship with us. But during that time, Cleopatra was picking up our old back catalog and putting it out. And we thought maybe it’d be in our best interest to go back to Cleopatra records. We thought we’d consolidate. We finished our contractual obligation with Frontiers. We appreciate everything they’ve done for us. They’re a good label, over in Italy. I have nothing but respect for those cats. Xtra Cherries is the first new record that we’ve put together with Cleopatra records. And there’s many more down the line, I have a feeling. And I think that we’ll be able to manipulate and move our catalog around much easier just being with one label.
MM: Just let me ask you one last question. When we talked before, you had said you were working on a book that you had been working on for a few years. Are you still working on that at all?
CZN: Right now it’s a work in progress. Basically, the book is pretty much done but there are a few more stories that need to be added to it. A couple of more chapters. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys and ups and downs. And I wanna make sure that I put this book together where it chronologically puts the stories in perspective and it exposes all the warts, scars and tattoos of what Enuff Z’Nuff is all about.
MM: Well, I look forward to reading it someday.
CZN: Thank you very much for asking about that. I do want a lot of fans around the country to ask about that book and I hope to have something ready to go for people soon.
MM: Well, I believe that covers all my questions. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about?
CZN: I’m done, just that I appreciate you wanting to talk to me. Shout out to my label, Cleopatra Records for a wonderful job they’re doing on the Xtra Cherries record. My publicist, Amanda over ABC PR, she’s terrific. Brian and Tim and Matt at the label have been more than loving to the group. And to anybody that reads this, if you’re playing music or you’re doing art, don’t stop. Don’t take no for an answer. Keep moving forward and may God bless us all.
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