You know those movies where the hero has *insert time here* to detonate a bomb before it self destructs? That’s how I felt last week interviewing melodic rock icon Robert Tepper. We had exactly 30 minutes to discuss a career that spans well over 40 years. In classic 80s montage fashion, I imagined any number of Tepper penned anthems playing in the background of our lively conversation, most notably “No Easy Way Out”, which was featured on the Rocky IV soundtrack. I’m sure you’ll hear the same while reading this exclusive interview, in which we discuss Tepper’s upcoming album, Feels Like Monday, his partnership with Benny Mardones, and of course, Balboa vs. Drago.
Greetings Robert and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Robert Tepper: I’m doing OK! Feeling excited about everything. I’ve got a good attitude about everything right now.
And for good reason! Your new record, Feels Like Monday, comes out on July 30. While you’ve always been involved in music, this is the first time you’ve been releasing albums regularly since the 80s. What led to your return to making albums?
RT: Fucking confidence man! Come on! You’re getting older. You got songs. They’re not real unless they’re out in the world. When the songs are in the world and people are listening to them, then they’re real. I just got really inspired and said, “You know what? I know how to engineer. I know how to play. I know how to do write. Let me do this!” Let me put out as much as I possibly can before they put dirt on my face *laughs*.
When your last album (2019’s Better Than the Rest) came out, I’m sure I’m speaking on behalf of a lot of melodic rock fans when I say it came out of nowhere. Our first reaction was, “Wow, Robert Tepper’s still here making records!” And our second reaction was, “Wow, this sounds just like the 80s albums! This rules! We wanna hear more of this.”
RT: *laughs* I will tell you, the new record is not that. You have to realize with Better Than the Rest, everything you just said was the intention of that record. Think about it. When was the last time I put out an 80s type record? No Rest for the Wounded Heart (1996). The timing felt right. I took the elements of what I loved about that period and poured my heart into those songs. The same thing happened with these. Feels Like Monday is a collection. I don’t know if it’s my drugs or whatever it is, but I’m writing a lot.
This collection does have something to do with COVID. My son’s a writer. He wrote a book called Between the Records. It’s actually his third novel. It’s about a father who’s a rock n’ roller, has a drug problem. He and his brother have a band. It’s highlighting those bands in the 90s and talking about the past and stuff like that. We were supposed to do this show in L.A. COVID comes and kills everything. I’m supposed to do this show with my kids, didn’t happen. I was supposed to play some songs from Better Than the Rest. COVID comes, tour gets cancelled, but my creativity didn’t stop. I had some of these songs, but I had time to record them and mix them and play them.
There’s 15 songs on this record. I swore I would never do that. I’m a 10 and 11 type of guy. My first record has 9. I think my second has 11. I always feel people are like, “Really dude? We’re listening to THAT many songs?! Not cool!” *laughs* Everybody got stuck at my house. Julian and I, my son, and my other kids, were like, “Hey dad! Can we record?” I said, “Yeah, if you take the couch out of here, set up the drums, and start miking, I will help you.” Julian and I did a duet and it’s on that new record. Also on the record is a song called “Looking for the Love”, which is one of the last songs Benny (Mardones) and I wrote together. Benny, of course, who I wrote “Into the Night” with. So there’s a lot of history and a lot of meaning to this collection of songs, but it’s not Better Than the Rest.
Are there any underlying themes on this record, whether they be lyrically or musically?
RT: Things got a little dark. We were scared. There’s no doubt about it. “Cold Gray Morning” is on there, which I think is me at my lowest. “I was bankrupt when the sun came up. I was holding on to everything but you.” I’m not the most positive person you’re gonna meet, but the lyrics are a bit intended. There’s lighter ones like “Ain’t No Rules for a Pretty Girl”, but there’s also “Feels Like Monday”. Where was this tune? It was on my hard drive begging to be finished. I think McCartney said, “Everybody’s got 50 songs on their phone.” *laughs* I do write a lot, but I really try to finish what I start. If it’s not happening, I’ll forget it and I’ll write it off. There’s still a whole rock record on my computer *laughs*. Chris Cameron and I have been writing a new record too. I guess what I’m telling you is I still feel pretty inspired.
What is your songwriting process like? Do you find yourself starting with a guitar riff, a melody, a lyric, or sometimes is it a combination of all three?
RT: I feel you have to be in the room to get visited. How does Bob Dylan write all those goddamn songs? I’ve had friends who have played on sessions with Dylan. He’ll go, “OK, wait a minute.” And he’ll just start writing. There was a ballad on the last record and it just came out. This is what you do. It ain’t gonna happen if you don’t sit down here. Chris and I just spent the weekend writing, and we got 3 things finished. How does that happen? Does it get easier? I don’t know if it gets easier. It gets more important. You don’t go down as many bad roads as you used to. That part of it is enjoyable, the creative process. Watching it turn into a record is still something that thrills me. Now I’m committed to doing these listening rooms, so I’m doing some shows here and in the Midwest. There’s a lot of good stuff going on.
How did the title Feels Like Monday come about?
RT: Because it was such a magical song, I swear to God I don’t remember writing the whole thing. If you look over here, I’m in my studio. *points* I have a looper over there. I was figuring out how it works and I came up with this guitar thing. I don’t remember taking it from the looper and making a session. I was going through some hard drives and one said, “Feels Like Monday”. I said, “What the hell is this?” I double click it and this song comes out. The lyric was like when I have that feeling of this is the feeling I was trying to convey. I started working on it and mixing it, massaging it. I had a couple of vocal passages. I did a comp. The guitars were pretty cool, and all of a sudden this thing starts to come to life.
There was something about “Feels Like Monday”. I don’t know when you grew up, but I remember school on Monday, back on Monday after a weekend of maybe playing in clubs, maybe being 15 and hanging on street corners. There was always this dread on Monday. There was always this feeling. “Feels Like Monday” is about how the things you thought were important are not that important, but there’s that haunted feeling of you should be somewhere or you should be doing something. It’s the worst day of the week. I live my own life, and it’s almost like you’re a bit of a rebel, “Feels Like Monday”. Fuck you Monday! You’re waking up, and maybe it feels like the world ain’t happening, but it is. That kind of thing.
I totally feel where you’re coming from, and I think everyone can relate to it. Whether you’re a kid going to sleep on a Sunday night, thinking to yourself, “Oh no, school.”, or an adult dreading that 9 to 5 grind.
RT: Right! I remember that feeling of not being ready for Monday. It’s coming. And there’s something due or something I’m supposed to be doing that I’m not doing. There was this sense of failure about the day *laughs*. That feeling has stayed with me. It’s kind of funny how that works.
There’s so many people who have their own story of when they first heard your music, whether it be “No Easy Way Out” or what have you. My introduction came unintentionally at a very young age. To give some background, I’m 23. So when I was about 5 or 6 years old, I’d be laying in bed, up later than I should’ve, flipping through the TV. In between The 700 Club and Girls Gone Wild ads would be the Time Life Classic Soft Rock infomercial. And I remember this brief clip of a guy singing this song in a phonebooth. Even as a little kid it stuck with me. Well I grew up to find out it was none other than your good friend and partner, Benny Mardones. When did you two first meet and what was it like working together?
RT: We used to call ourselves the toxic twins. We were experimenting with tons of drugs at the time. Benny had an apartment up on 159th Street. I was pretty green. He was a little more experienced. He had Thank God for Girls (1978) out, which was on Private Stock. It was a small indie label. He had somewhat of a following. (Casablanca Records founder) Neil Bogart brought him into a vocal lesson that I had. I saw Benny and thought, “Who the hell is this?” They came in wearing fur coats, all rocked out, getting ready for Benny’s next record. This record was gonna go on Polygram. Stu Fine, the A&R guy, after Benny and Neil left, asked me, “Do you wanna write with that guy?” Come on man!
I had one song cut that was a Top 20 hit with Paul Anka. Now Paul Anka marked the end of an era, but he did this song called “This is Love” that I wrote with this girl Madeline Sunshine. I’m here taking a voice lesson off this guy, Benny comes in, and I’m like, “Yeah, I guess so!” “Well here’s his number. I’ll talk to him.” I call Benny and he’s like, “Whaddaya doin’ Bobby?!” I went up there to hang out and we hit it off. I come from this east coast R&B thing with some rock. We start playing and jamming and staying up on all sorts of synthetics, going for days. Finally, we found some back and forth and we came up with this tune.
It’s not easy for me. I’m feeling him out like, “How do I write with this guy?” But we come up with “Into the Night”, “Mighta Been Love”, and “Too Young”: 3 songs that are on the record. I’m playing bass on the cuts and we go out on tour. All of a sudden, Benny and I are the toxic twins for real! We’re killing ourselves on a daily basis. Finally, we implode like everybody does. I say to myself, “If I’m gonna kill myself, I’m gonna do it for myself.” I go lock myself into a room and start writing stuff like “No Easy Way Out”, “If That’s What You Call Lovin'”, “Sole Survivor”. Then my album starts to take shape and form.
Years later down the line, Benny and I did some live shows together and hung out, but we were both in L.A. Whatever fences needed mending were mended, and then he got sick. It was horrible. Such a brave soul. It was so hard form him. (Parkinson’s disease) is such a debilitating thing, especially for a singer. It eats your voice and muscle control away, but we managed to get together because we could laugh. Benny and I would laugh our asses off. We lived up in Woodstock for a while. We’d watch football and brought up our kids together. He was like an older brother to me, but not that much older. We were pretty crazy. Towards the end, we were getting together and writing songs. “Looking for the Love” comes out, along with 3 or 4 other songs. That was the best of them. He put them on a record, the last record he did, but I put “Looking for the Love” on this record. I’m excited for people to hear it.
After working with Benny and other artists, at what point did you say to yourself, “This isn’t for X, Y, or Z. This is for me.”
RT: That happened after Benny and I went through a really down period in Florida. We both almost died, him almost more than me. It was like the lost weekend. We were down there for a while. Things were pretty dark and pretty horrible. I had come back and worked on getting sober. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I knew that I needed to focus on what I was doing. And I didn’t know what that looked like. I did “I’m Looking Through You” by The Beatles and Capitol Records put up some money for me. I had “Sole Survivor”. “No Easy Way Out” was not written yet.
It wasn’t a “fuck you” to Benny, but more like, “I ain’t doing that anymore.” He had the world by the balls. He really did. This was before Journey, before any of these guys. He was too self destructive to make it happen. I was right there with him. I asked myself, “Is this really what I want?” It wasn’t. I dove into writing. My friend Guy Marhsall helped me. I’m still friends with him. And Benny, up until the end, we laughed our asses off. Remember the time we had, lucky to be alive stories. I go, “Remember the time…” *laughs* we had this red Cadillac that my first wife’s grandfather had. We had it up in New York and it had a siren on it. Benny and I had too NYPD hats and we’d pull cars over on the highway *laughs*. It was a nightmare. One time this cop caught us and it went downhill from there.
But we’d finish the story and say “lucky to be alive”. It was a lot of that. We were close, really close. One time I said, “Benny, thank you man. You dragged me into this business. You almost killed me, but I’m really glad you did this.” He goes, “Am I gonna die or something? Why are you talking like that?” *laughs* “Shut the fuck up man!” There was a lot of that. We would just laugh and that’s what kept us tight. We could both be funny with each other.
So you’re working on your solo repertoire when all of a sudden comes “No Easy Way Out”. How did that song catch Sylvester Stallone’s attention and at what moment during the song’s rise did you realize your life had changed forever?
RT: The song was not written for the movie. It was for my first record. Stallone must’ve had a meeting with them. I knew nothing about him looking for music for his new movie, Rocky IV. He had Survivor, me, James Brown. It was a real cast of characters on that album. He fell in love with that tune and you can see it. I didn’t know what it was gonna be. We got to Westwood for the opening and I’m thinking, “Maybe it’s gonna be on the radio in the background or he’ll be making love to it or training to it. Who knows?” 3 intros later, and the whole song down to the fade. “Well there’s the video!” That was something. I knew it was gonna be something else.
While you’re best known as a solo artist, were there ever any bands that you almost ended up singing for?
RT: Mike + the Mechanics wanted to audition me. My manager was friendly with Mike Rutherford’s wife. They were considering me, but they fucked up and got Paul Carrack. How could they do that? *laughs* He was awesome. I also did a remake record with Iron Butterfly, which is an interesting story. That led to the MTM album with “Another Place, Another Time” and those songs that people in Europe still love to hear.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
RT: Right now, I would love to have Greg Kurstin, who produces Adele and Foo Fighters, at my disposal. “Here’s a new song Greg. Come on man. Let’s go in and cut it. Your guy is gonna mix it.” I’d love for somebody at that level to step in and make a record, even one record. I know Greg. He’s a great guy, but he ain’t producing 72 year old rockstars *laughs*.
What are your plans for the rest of 2022?
RT: Touring, promoting, video out, new record out, working on another new record, listening rooms. It’s looking like I’m gonna do “No Easy Way Out” with an orchestra in France. We’re not positive, but it’s looking good for November. That’s pretty busy right there! Chris Cameron has been handling the guitar duties, band duties, and managerial duties. He’s killing it. I did 4 of these today! Haven’t done that in a while *laughs*!
The new Robert Tepper album, Feels Like Monday, comes out Saturday, July 30. For more information on Tepper, visit www.robertteppermusic.com.