INTERVIEW: Foreigner keyboardist Michael Bluestein talks about band’s farewell tour, Mick Jones, and more

Foreigner has decided to call it quits and is currently on their final tour aptly billed as The Historic Farewell Tour which began on July 6th in Alpharetta, Georgia. This leg of the tour goes until October 2023 with Canadian classic rockers Loverboy opening the shows. Foreigner will continue to tour until the end of 2024 and will include other countries, yet to be announced.

Mick Jones, who turns 79 in December, is the only original member remaining in Foreigner. But don’t expect to see Jones on tour as health issues have sidelined him for most shows in recent years. Jones started Foreigner in 1976 along with Lou Gramm (vocals), Dennis Elliott (drums), Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ian McDonald (multi-instrumentalist), and Ed Gagliardi (bass).

For the past 47 years, Foreigner released several albums and has toured all over the world. Their songs have become part of the soundtracks to many generations with such hits as I Want to Know What Love Is, Waiting for A Girl Like You, Hot Blooded, Urgent, Feels Like the First Time, I Don’t Want to Live Without You, Say You Will, Cold as Ice, Dirty White Boy, Head Games, Juke Box Hero, and more!

Throughout the years, Foreigner underwent several member changes. In 2004, after taking some time off, Jones rebooted Foreigner and acquired vocalist Kelly Hansen (Hurricane) in 2005. Along with Hansen, and after several member changes, the current Foreigner line-up consists of bassist Jeff Pilson (Dokken), keyboardist Michael Bluestein (Roger Hodgson, Boz Skaggs, Enrique Iglesias), drummer Chris Frazier, and guitarists Bruce Watson and Luis Maldonado.

Music Life Magazine caught up with Bluestein last Friday, ahead of the band’s only Canadian date on this leg of the tour. They will be playing Budweiser Stage in Toronto on July 25 and just across the border at Darien Lake on July 28.

Read what Bleustein had to say about the farewell tour, Jones, his music, and more:

Joel: You guys are currently on your farewell tour. Foreigner started back in 1976 and 47 years later, you guys are doing a farewell tour which started a couple of weeks ago, on July 6, and it goes until October in the US. My first question is, why now? Why a farewell tour?

Michael: Well, good question. I think that there’s a sense, particularly with Kelly [Hansen], our vocalist, that it’s getting increasingly more difficult to sing these tunes. I mean, they’re stratospherically, high tenor songs, and for a guy that’s 62 years old and has been doing it straight for 18 years, I think it’s getting more challenging. He’s still killing it, and he still sounds great, but he kind of has the idea of going out on top as they say, while the form is still really good and there isn’t too much degradation of the performance, keeping the level at that high level. We’ve been at it for a while. We’ve all been grinding it out, I joined in 2008 and I’ve been going 15 years and [playing] 90 to 100 shows a year, and I think everyone’s sort of feeling like, okay, maybe it’s time to be home a little more and spend more time with the families and have more of a “normal day-to-day existence”, you know?

Joel: I know prior to joining Foreigner, you had a solo career. Yeah. You released some jazz albums, and worked with some big names like Boz Skaggs, Roger Hodgson, and Enrique Iglesias.

Michael: Yep.

Joel: Was all that put on hold when you joined Foreigner?

Michael: Well, yeah, our touring schedule is a full-time job pretty much, that doesn’t leave as much time for lots of touring with other artists. Although when I did play with Roger Hodgson back in 2009, I had already joined Foreigner at that point, but we were on a break in the winter, and it just coincided that I could get down there to South America on a tour with him during a time when Foreigner was off. But since then the band has just been working so much that touring-wise, it’s been my main gig, you know?

Joel: Once this farewell tour is all over, which will be at the end of 2024, are you going to get back into doing your own stuff again and getting back to what you did before? Or do you want to pursue other things?

Michael: Absolutely, yeah, I think there’ll be a lot more time for that stuff, to explore creative projects in the studio and collaborations with lots of people around LA and around the world. So, yeah, it’ll open up some more time for other pursuits, other collaborations, other local gigs, local and international studio work, composing all the stuff that I like to do.

Joel: So how is the tour going so far? I know you’re only a couple of weeks into it.

Michael: It’s going great. The crowds have been awesome. We’re with Loverboy, speaking of Canada. They’ve been a great opener for us. And those guys are just great dudes, I’ve got to know them a little more personally too. Really friendly, cool guys, and the backstage vibe has been really positive and fun. I got to go out to dinner with a couple of them the other night – Ken [“Spider” Sinnaeve], the bass player, and Paul [Dean], the guitarist. They’re putting on a great show, getting the crowd hyped up, and by the time we get on, it’s been just solid crowds. It’s been like around 10, 11, 12,000 people pretty much every night, close to sold out or sold out, so fantastic. I mean, it’s been hot!

Joel: That brings me to my next question. I’m looking at the tour schedule and there’s only one Canadian date.

Michael: Yeah, just Toronto, right? On the 24th.

Joel: Why is that?

Michael: Well, it takes a while to get to all the spots and we’re, I guess, hitting mostly the US dates on this tour, but I would suspect there’s going to be more Canada as part of the farewell probably next year, I would imagine. I haven’t seen that stuff on the schedule, but I’ve got to figure that we’re going to be getting up there too for the farewell stuff.

Joel: From what I understand, this leg of the tour goes till October and then next year you’re heading overseas?

Michael: I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anything about overseas yet. I’ve been hearing rumors about it, but I have not seen anything firm in the schedule for overseas yet. I would imagine the idea is to get as many places as we can on the farewell tour. So I hope we get over there. We always love going overseas. We love going to Europe, Germany, France, [and] Switzerland. We’ve had some great shows and great tours over there.

Joel: Mick Jones is the only original member, and I know his health hasn’t been all that great, and that’s prevented him from playing a lot of shows in recent years. Are there any plans for him to play any of the shows, or is that a day-to-day thing for him?

Michael: Right now we don’t know. I mean, it’s sort of a week-to-week, day-to-day doctor’s orders kind of thing. His doctor has to sign off on it. And the travel portion of things, the heat portion of things, the grind of the road, and all that it entails is something that he has to tread lightly with. So right now, I’m not sure when he will be out.  We’re rolling through New York on the tour, I’m hoping we get to see him there. But time will tell and again, it’s just under the doctor’s guidance.

Joel: Let’s talk a bit about you. You play keyboards. When did you get into playing keyboards?

Michael: Well, I started when I was nine years old on piano, and just learned a lot, which really started with classical music and reading music and the more traditional route. But then I was always listening to pop music and rock growing up too, so I was learning that stuff as I went along. Getting into high school was definitely starting to get the jazz interest and checking out bands like Steely Dan and Weather Report and Herbie Hancock and kind of more progressive and funk jazz stuff. And then when I went to Berkeley Music School in Boston, I majored in jazz piano for a while and was really focusing in on that, which I think has been a great foundation for me. But I’ve always been just interested in so many different styles and always just kind of gone where the opportunities led me. And so as long as the music’s good and inspiring and fun, whether that has been jazz or R&B, soul or rock. So being in Foreigner felt like home too, because [of their] great songs and great keyboard parts. Just great music, you know?

Joel: Absolutely! So, how did it come about with you joining Foreigner?

Michael: So back in early 2008, I ran into a friend of mine named Paul Mirkovich, who was playing keys with Foreigner at the time. And he was only able to join as a temporary solution for the band, and basically told the guys, “I’ll fill in for a while, but I’ll need to leave after maybe a year or so, but I will help you find a replacement for myself.” So I ran into him at a music convention in Anaheim called NAMM, National Association of Music Merchants, because I know it’s a great convention, kind of just great for all the new gear and everything, but also networking and hanging out with a lot of musicians and vendors and stuff. So I ran into him there and it was just good timing because he and I had worked together before and he needed, as I said, he was needing to find a replacement for himself. And when he ran into me, he said, “Oh, good to see you again. I think actually you might be really good for this gig,” and brought me in for an audition. I was with Enrique Iglesias at the time, but when I got the gig with Foreigner, I put in my notice with Enrique. And that was 2008.

Joel: Were you a fan of the band prior to that?

Michael: Oh, absolutely. Growing up in the ’70s, that stuff was on the radio in heavy rotation all the time in the late ’70s. Cold As Ice, Hot Blooded, Feels Like the First Time, Long, Long Way From Home, that was the soundtrack of my youth, really.

Joel: Mick Jones was the only original member when you joined Foreigner, and at that point, Kelly Hansen had been singing as Foreigner‘s lead vocalist for three years. Did it feel like you were joining Foreigner? Was it kind of a weird feeling joining because these guys have a huge history, with a lot of hits, yet it wasn’t the same band you grew up on and I grew up on? What were your thoughts at that point?

Michael: Yeah, I see what you’re saying. I think it’s funny, it’s really just the songs are the unifying factor. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into people that said, “Oh, you guys do that song too? I didn’t know that was Foreigner.” People will come to a show and there’s so many more songs that are hits that they even knew existed, you know? It’s just like, wow. The whole set. They know all of them. So I guess my point is that I think that music, there’ve been personnel changes in bands forever. And it’s the music and the songs that transcends all the individual people. I mean, it’s sort of at the end of the day, these tunes are a part of the fabric of everyone’s memories, and people still want to hear these songs performed well. And Kelly’s been killing it now, as I said, vocally for 18 years with the band now. We actually have done some reunion shows with Lou [Gramm] and Al Greenwood and Rick Wills, and Dennis Elliott. Actually, we filmed a live DVD where those guys are on there too. So we’ve done some collaborations with the original members, and Al and Rick actually come out periodically, probably two, three times a year, come out and join us and sit in and hang out. And the vibes are great. So it’s nice, we still have some contact with those guys, which is great.

Joel: The band is great and Kelly Hansen is a great frontman, full of energy and a great voice. He’s brought a lot to the band and to the shows and obviously, the fans still love the music and you guys still draw to this day.

Michael: Yeah, it’s true.

Joel: To close this off, what’s your favorite Foreigner song to play?

Michael: That would be Long, Long Way From Home. I love that one.

Joel: Okay, well I’ll let you go at this point then. Thank you for your time.

Michael: Absolutely, Joel.

Joel: I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on Tuesday in Toronto. All the best to you.

Michael: Right on, man. You too.

Joel: All right. Thanks a lot.

Michael: All right. Bye-bye.

Check out this podcast interview our good friend Shane Christopher Neal did recently with Michael Bluestein.

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