It seems audiences at Casino Rama can’t get enough of the legendary rock band Foreigner – and the feeling is mutual. For a decade, almost since the beginning stages of the band’s reformation, the group best known for hits like Cold As Ice, Hot Blooded, I Want To Know What Love Is, Urgent and Juke Box Hero has played to sold out shows at the popular central Ontario venue, and for the last half dozen years, has usually played two nights each visit to rapturous full houses.
Foreigner returns Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30 to Casino Rama and long-time saxophone player/guitarist Tom Gimbel can’t wait.
“We think it’s a great tradition. This new version of the band has sort of grown up at Casino Rama. We’re delighted to come back every year. Everybody has been so great to us up there, it’s incredible. And there are a number of venues like that which we return to year after year, which is kind of nice because it means our schedule almost fills itself in,” said Gimbel, who, after founder Mick Jones, is the second-longest tenured member of the band, first joining in 1992 for a fill-in stint, before becoming a permanent member in 1995. Prior to that he was part of Aerosmith’s touring roster from 1989 through to joining Foreigner.
Besides Gimbel, Foreigner is led by the aforementioned Jones, a veteran British musician who brought in two other U.K. musicians (including former King Crimson multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald) alongside three American musicians, most notably vocalist Lou Gramm to create Foreigner in 1976.
After a number of lineup changes and reformations with Gramm, Jones was at an impasse in early 2005 and had a choice of either putting the Foreigner name and music into mothballs or rebuild it from the ground up. He chose the latter, bringing in former Dokken and Dio bassist Jeff Pilson, former Hurricane vocalist Kelly Hansen and later keyboard whiz Michael Bluestein to form the reinvigorated Foreigner lineup, one that performs between 110 and 120 shows around the world, to an increasing fan base with an impressive mix of young and older admirers.
The drum stool has, admittedly, been a bit of a revolving door, with the likes of Jason Bonham and Brian Tichy behind the kit, but since 2012 Chris Frazier has done yeoman’s work there. And for the last few years, owing to some medical issues with Jones, veteran musician Bruce Watson (Rod Stewart) was brought in as sort of a semi-permanent replacement for gigs Jones couldn’t play. He has basically been now added to the band full time.
One of the more amazing aspects of Foreigner’s continued popularity is that it has happened with only one original member of the band – Jones. Gimbel theorizes that this is because the superior musicianship and showmanship of the current band impresses both long and short-term fans, and that the songs themselves, which are now ingrained into popular culture, are performed faithfully and with tireless enthusiasm.
“We like to think of what we do as more of an actual rock show. It’s a real rock and roll event. So for many young people who never really got to see a real rock band back in the heyday, this is one of their only chances. And when we do a show, it’s a real, honest-to-goodness rock show. Our singer Kelly Hansen brings it full force, 12 cylinders blazing and the whole show is full on, full energy. And I think people really want to come and be a part of that. When I think of a nostalgia act, I think of people just getting up there and playing the songs by rote. And Foreigner songs are great enough that they would hold up for something like that. But I believe we are adding that extra ‘umph,’ and maybe that’s a part of why people come to see us 120 times a year,” he said, adding that he feels the band has forged a real relationship with their fans.
“I feel like we’re seeing old friends and we’re making new friends. There’s this positive, uplifting energy at our shows that I think people are looking for. And no one gets hurt; it’s not a ball game where someone has to win and someone has to lose – everybody wins. In this day and age there’s a premium on those sorts of experiences and I think it’s a pretty good value if you come out and have a great night with us.”
Gimbel also believes that the reason for the continued vitality of the band and it’s still growing popularity 39 years after the release of the band’s debut album is that Jones has masterminded the creation of an organization, both onstage and off stage, that works brilliantly together.
“Mick has assembled this bunch of people where everyone has their own special talent or a special gift. And in this band he has seven guys who are all displaying their special gifts. What are you really good at? Where do you shine? Mick finds out and puts everybody in a position where they can shine and give as much as they have to offer,” he said.
“And it’s the same with the infrastructure around the band. I think Mick Jones picks people for the same reason and because everyone has to have a really good sense of humour. If you’re too serious you probably shouldn’t be here. We have a whole band of jokesters and comedians, we don’t have any clunkers and I really do think that has helped bond us together so well.”
And it also gets back to the songs themselves. Foreigner’s set list each night is almost predetermined because there are so many hits that the band pretty much has to play. And even though this means a significant amount of repetition (think about Gimbel playing the incendiary sax solo from urgent 115 times a year for a decade, for example) there is no boredom, no dread about doing Hot Blooded or Dirty White Boy for the gazillionth time.
“I can only speak for myself but I think there is a real and genuine love for the songs. I don’t have any problem playing any of these songs because I genuinely love them. I am not playing a single song I am not crazy about; every one of these songs I am crazy about, so that makes it really easy,” Gimbel said, likening it to how a competitive swimmer loves swimming and being in the water, and gets amped up for their two-hour training session in the pool.
“As soon as they jump in the pool, all that excitement and energy gets released. And listen, we’re all season veteran musicians and performers. We have been doing this from the day we were tiny kids. So that sense of putting on a top-flight performance is ingrained in you like a thoroughbred race horse. And we have a renowned band leader at the helm who also still gets excited and energized to play these songs – and he’s been doing it for 40 years. So we just follow his lead.”
Gimbel also talked to Music Life Magazine about the recent deaths of a number of iconic figures from the music world, including Glenn Frey, David Bowie and Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire. At the time of the conversation, which was in the morning California time, he had not heard of the passing of producing legend Sir George Martin.
“He’s one of our heroes just like the Beatles themselves are. Without him, I don’t think we would have had the Beatles the way we remember them; so much of their sound, so many of the ideas and arrangements were because of him. I know The Beatles were a big part of Mick’s existence and his inspiration. One of his first gigs when he was living and playing in France was opening for the Beatles,” Gimbel said.
“It’s been a pretty sad time of late and the list of people we’re losing is getting longer to an inordinate degree. It’s out of control, when you think of Maurice White and Glenn Frey, Lemmy and David Bowie. We toured with [Eagles co-founder] Don Felder and we heard a lot about Glenn and came to really admire him. The Eagles are such an important and cool piece of American music history.
“And I know Bowie was a huge influence on so many people. When I was learning how to play, some of the first songs my band learned were Suffragette City and Jean Genie. And later on I loved what he did with the horns. Horn players are huge Bowie fans, me included. He had this great baritone sax solo on Blue Jean – it’s baritone sax gone wild.”
Foreigner was formed in 1976 and the band’s first album came out the following year, meaning there is going to be some sort of 40th anniversary commemoration at some point in 2017. Gimbel knows Jones and the Foreigner brain trust are thinking about what to do, including possibly incorporating the surviving original members, Gramm, McDonald, drummer Dennis Elliott and keyboardist Al Greenwood, into the mix.
“I think there are some neat little ideas and possible surprises that management is kicking around. Of course Mick has to make up his mind as to what feels right and at that point we will fall in behind whatever he wants to do. It’s such a treat when Dennis Elliott sits in with us sometimes when we play in Florida. And I was there in 2013 when Mick and Lou reunited for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, so they are chatting. I don’t think Lou wants to tour the way we do now, but there is nothing to say people may not pop up onstage during the course of a night,” he said.
Gimbel said he and his bandmates are always tickled to see so many younger fans at Foreigner shows. He is also thrilled to hear that a growing number of so-called ‘millennials’ are embracing vinyl and seeing music as something of great value again, very much as he did as a young music lover.
“I love that idea of kids seeking out vinyl. I have heard that many of them are not so interested in CDs or Mp3s or streaming, but they want records. So this idea of them rooting around in attics or basements in their homes and finding Foreigner albums is just wonderful. I love hearing about that. I think Ozzy Osbourne once said that most of the kids who come to his shows and want autographs are bringing vinyl to sign. I think it’s because people want to hold it in their hands. When you are just pushing play on a streaming thing, it’s not yours, there’s no emotional attachment,” he explained.
“Although it still sounds like a bit of a fantasy to us old guys that vinyl is making a comeback, I had someone tell me that their teenager goes and visits their friend’s house and they carry their albums back and forth under their arms just like we did. Listen, I went into the basement as a kid and I found old 78s of my parents. And it was things like Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, and all of those influenced the musician I am today. I believe it’s still a tradition that has been handed down through the ages. It makes me feel good to hear that it’s happening more and more with the younger generation.”
And of course it’s not fantasy that a number of generations are still enamoured with the music of Foreigner and thousands of those people will be flocking to Casino Rama once again to see their Juke Box Heroes in action again in late April.
For tickets or information about the shows, visit https://www.casinorama.com/Live/Artist/Foreigner.aspx
For information about the band, visit http://www.foreigneronline.com/
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
