Jerry Dixon | Warrant | February 2004 |

 

 

News just came out that there is a new singer in Warrant since Jani Lane left..
I got to talk to Jerry Dixon real quick about the line-up change..
and the projects lined up for this year..
He seems pretty pumped about it and is ready to prove Warrant still has what it takes..

 

J - Hi there Jerry.. this is gonna be short and sweet.. and just getting to the "new" news..What happened w/Jani?

Jerry - Ok.. well he just decided to do his own thing, basically in a nutshell.. ya know and it really wasn't very shocking to us, he had done his solo record, he just has been itching to do his stuff for the last few years..and we got done  with the Whitesnake tour and he wanted to do some more solo shows and we wanted to play Warrant shows, and basically.. maybe we will hook up when he gets this out of his system..

 

J - Right.. are you guys on speaking terms?

Jerry - Ahh.. ya everything is cool.. cool as it can be, its kinda like a divorce, you try and be civil and not hurt anyone's feelings, but we wish him the best of luck, but its something that has been going on for a long time, and finally it happened, ya know..

 

J - And what made you guys decide to go on as Warrant and not changing the name.. or waiting till he's done doing his solo stuff?

Jerry - Well this is what we do, basically me and Eric started warrant and then we got Jani in the band, so its kinda our band anyways.. the whole time, and there is no stopping for us.. its kinda like our gig..and our job and what we do, what we wanna do. its kinda hard when somebody doesn't want to be there.. you don't want them to be there.. go do your own thing.. ya know.. but we try and leave the door open and maybe one day rectify everything. but were excited we have a new singer named Jamie.. believe it or not..hahaha.. how weird is that.. hahah.. but ya its cool.. he fits right in.

 

J - How did you guys go about finding a new singer? did you have a bunch of try outs?

Jerry - No, he's the only guy that tried out, we've known him for a long time and it kinda hit us in the head that wow.. he would be really good for us and he lives in Portland.. so we flew him down, we jammed for a few hours, he sounded good to everybody and that was it. he fit right in.

 

J - Is he still playing with Black n Blue?

Jerry - No he's not actually he's finishing a record with them, I don't think they were gonna tour though, they got a record company a few months ago.. so he's gonna finish that up.. and move back down to L.A.. where we live.. and start writing for the new warrant record and were going to be tour a lot.. and trying to rebuild.. its always hard when you loose your singer. so we'll see, I'm sure we will have a lot of people who will did it, and a lot that wont.. we really got back to what warrant started out doing.. we are doing all the songs off the first 2 records..

 

J - Ya I was gonna say, what kind of set list is it?

Jerry - Ya we really dug into the well, and on the website www.warrantweb.net we asked a lot of people what they would like to hear.. and the set list is actually on the website if you interested in checking it out.. but ya we are mostly concentrating on the first 2 records..but its cool cause its kinda new for us, cause a lot of those songs we haven't played in 10 years.

 

J - And now you guys are going straight out on the road.. well at least these couple Florida shows.. but now I hear the show in St.Pete Florida is cancelled..

Jerry - Ya that got rescheduled.. see what we did is we have the bike week show and we wanted to add shows to it since we were down there..but it was on and off.. and there just wasn't enough time to promote it, so we should be coming back probably in April to do another run down there..

 

J - Ya they are running ads here for that show.. and using pictures of the totally wrong line-up .. its pretty funny..

Jerry - Ya I know, its going to take a while.. to make the transition..

 

J - And as far the set-list will Jamie be sticking to the original format of the song, or changing it to fit him?

Jerry - We are doing them exactly like they are on the record, and ya know after a while you kinda loose prospective of what people listen to and what they remember of your band.. cause we always wanted to try to do new stuff.. and 90% of the crowd are into the first 2 records..and that's what they wanna hear.. ya know.so its something we've wanted to do for a long time.. so its just like the record.. and we sometimes strayed away when we did those songs.. we re-wrote them or did them different..

 

J - But its gotta be hard to be playing these songs for this long too..

Jerry - Ya ya.. it is.. hahaha.. you wanna change it.. but the best thing to do is the more obscure stuff off the old albums.

 

J - And how about Joey coming back?

Jerry - Ya ya.. its great to have Joey back he's rad.. its awesome to have him back..

 

J - How did that come about.. did he not get along w/Jani?

Jerry - No they didn't get along to well and I think that's part of the reason he left... but ya we've always kept in touch with him, and its just started out friendly, he just wanted to come out and jam, and we were actually trying other guitar players out and what not.. and he just had a blast and we had a blast.. and we thought this could be cool.. it could be a lot of fun.. and it just worked out, its one of those weird things, we didn't plan it.. ok lets go get Joey back.. we've always been  friends and had talked about getting together and jamming for a long time.. and now seemed like the right time..and we've had a few guitar players.. but to get back that sound.. its weird.

 

J - Ya I think its great..

Jerry - Ya you wouldn't think a guitar player would make such a difference.. but it really does.. I'm really surprised he did.. and its all the stuff he plays.. no one can play it like that..

 

J - How about your drummer... the last drummer was really from Janis solo record right?

Jerry - Well we had "the Sack" with us.. and Jani fired him for no reason..

 

J - And now you have him back right?

Jerry - Ya about 8 months ago.. we thought ya.. lets just get Mike back.. cause we always liked him.. we really don't know what happened.. so we gave him his job back.

 

J - So do you guys ever think about Steven Sweet.. getting him back..

Jerry - Ya.. we've talked to Steven.. and someday.. you never know.. he has things going on right now.. at this point, so he is not able to do anything right now, but that would be...

 

J - So you pretty much leave all your doors open.. so anyone can come back..

Jerry - Ya its something that I've learned.. you just cant talk shit.. cause someday you'll end up being back in the same room w/the guys.. one way or another...

 

J - So what do you have planned for the rest of 2004?

Jerry - We are just gonna tour.. we are up for the Cinderella tour this summer.. and have dates being booked right now..

 

J - Really? will it be just you guys and Cinderella?

Jerry - I don't know.. we are just are on the list of bands to talk to.. so we'll see, and if we don't do that.. we will just go out and do it ourselves, with some other band.. but its all new to us, and we're just trying to pull it together and book as much as we can right now..

 

J - So you do have planned to record w/Jamie..

Jerry - Ya we actually already recorded one song that we will be playing live..

 

J - What's it called..

Jerry - "Good Times"..

 

J - Wow.. you guys are moving along pretty quick..

Jerry - Well like I said.. it really wasn't a shock to anyone..its like ok.. go do your thing lane.. sick of talking about it.. just go do it.. enjoy yourself.. and let us go..

 

J - Ya he seems to be quiet a mess the last few years..

Jerry - He's a very nice guy.. just has a situation to deal with.. and it brings everybody down.. and we are tired of being held captive of that.. we wanna get the shit back together..

 

J - Well that's about it.. you answered most the stuff before I could ask.. is there anything else going on.. side projects..etc?

Jerry - No not really.. just doing the Warrant thing right now, I was working on a record, but now its kinda on hold... actually the new song is one I was gonna do with my stuff..

 

J - Is it solo stuff ?

Jerry - Ya.. so hopefully a lot of it will be good to use w/Warrant.. so ya we will be writing, we have a lot to prove, its a big step.. we know its gonna be tough to replace Jani.. but we are just trying to man up and blow people away..

 

J - ok..well cool.. good luck..

Jerry - Well thanks hope you can come down to the Daytona show..