"It’s an intense record. It’s an intense world we’re living in." ~ Jimmy Kunes
Jimmy Kunes is a man on the move. He's just finished up with one of his "Freed Live" tributes to Free (and some Bad Company) at B.B. King's in New York City as he heads out the door for Europe with Cactus for some shows before he'll return to oversee the release of his killer new project, National Wrecking Company. Before he jumped on a plane for Italy we had a chance to get a preview for the album, and to catch up on all the dizzying details!
National Wrecking Company is one of those rare records that sounds like you know it the minute you hear it. The songs, melodies, and riffs are classic hard rock, but there's also a definite sense that they've captured the times we're living in, and there's a great sense of urgency to the material. It's a record that deserves to be heard. That's where we started the conversation:
This is real classic hard rock with a modern sound, did you write with an agenda to sound that way or is it more organic? Tell me about the band and how this record came together.
Jimmy Kunes: "Funny you should ask a question that was right on the tip of my mind, so to speak.
"Randy (Pratt) had started to assemble very strong hooks, riffs and grooves along with one of his drummers, Neil Cicione and TC Toliver (Plasmatics). He had me in mind to check out a few of these ideas that were then arranged into songs by our engineer/ producer JZ Burrell.
"I was knocked out by how original and utterly exciting they sounded and immediately came up with lyrics, subject matter and imagery for the songs. It all happened quite rapidly.
"So, I took in my lyric drafts and started laying vocals down.
"They had also been quite prolific in keeping the ideas churning and would hit me with a new one after I'd finished a vocal. I would come up with a root idea on the spot and elaborate on that, go out to the vocal booth and build it up from there. I was right on my game but the songs were so hooky, catchy and crafted so well that it all just seemed to glow and flow very easily. More often than not we would finish off 2 songs in a day's work. Very satisfying.
"So yes it was a very organic, fresh way of approaching writing lyrics and laying vocals down for me."
