Bridge 4 – TK Rolling Rock Interview

 

In an age of hairspray and larger than life antics, one band stood out above the rest. They were self-proclaimed as “lewd, crude, and socially unacceptable”. They reached the highest peaks and eventually were replaced on the top of the mountain as a new sound remade the airwaves. They tried to stumble on as membership in their ranks constantly shifted until they finally realized the writing was on the (bathroom?) wall and packed it in. 

For years it seemed a reunion was next to impossible due to the hard feelings between the various band members, but pigs it seems truly can fly and The Scene is returning to active duty. Perhaps now though they’re “older, wiser, and socially questionable”. Lead singer TK Grace has seen the highs and lows and is prepared to discuss what he calls “water under the bridge”.

 

RR – TK, It’s been a long time in the making. What do you say to those people who said that this reunion tour should never happen?

TK – Ah man, you know… We’re just so blessed to be at this point in our careers and I just love these guys so much that it doesn’t matter what these other people think. The fans spoke man, they said “we love you guys, come on back” and those are the people we’re listening to. I love the fans man, they are the ones who keep us coming back, they bought the albums so they deserve the Scene the way it’s supposed to be.

RR – Why reunite now? Is it just because your 40th anniversary came up?

TK – Well, you know that 40th anniversary is for the band Crime Scene, right? And that doesn’t feel… like for Kyng and myself, that doesn’t feel like when the band truly started. I mean Gil was there then, you know, he really started Crime Scene, but we didn’t become a band until Kyng joined right… We became The Scene at that point and then we jumped into the stratosphere. 

RR – You have had some relationship issues with Kyng Mobb before, was there any difficulty in agreeing to play on the same stage again?

TK – Man, Kyng is like… I love that guy, but we’re like brother’s man. I love him like a brother. So it means we fight and shit, but we always come back together. He had to do his thing and I needed to do my thing, but he is such a brilliant guitarist and he means so much to this band, that when he came to me and said that he was ready to do it again, it just made so much of the hurt fall away, you know? We just sat down and talked man, for like, a long time. We just were together… And we haven’t done that in so many years. So I said yeah, let’s do this shit again.

RR – Tell me about the show, anything special?

TK – It’s based on the older shows right… We got together and we talked about our favorite elements from past tours. Kyng loves the stage extrusions that allow him to walk into the audience for solos, Gilly loves the piano that comes out near the back of the arena that we used on the Scene of the Crime tour. And Sticks man, we got Sticks a big riser that has lights and pyro and all sorts of shit. We’re pulling out all the stops for the fans. They are gonna be so into this thing, they’re just going to eat it up.

RR – I understand you tried to get Rod back on bass but wound up going with Jerry Amber instead. Is Jerry clean now?

TK – I love Jerry man, but shit, he got so rough in those days. It was so hard to watch him as he just wasted away. He had more experience than us, right, but he just got hooked and it completely messed him up. I was so sad when we had to fire him, it was like losing a part of the family because we all loved him, but it was so great to have Rod back you know? But like Rod, he left originally because he couldn’t take the road, it just eats you up sometimes right, so Rod didn’t think he could handle the size of this tour.. So Nigel, our manager, reached out to Jerry and he said he was clean and ready to go. He’s really gotten into a lot of that new age stuff, you know the crystals and stuff… So he’s a different guy now to be with. I just want it to be great, and Jerry being back is great, you know?

RR – You mentioned Nigel Rodgers your manager, but he isn’t out on the road with you is he?

TK – Nigel had some problems with cancer right, and he fought it and he seems to be winning right now, but he didn’t think he could be out on the road with us for this one. It hurts him, you can see it when you talk to him, he just wants to be out there with us, supporting us, he was really like that sixth member you know, that guy who was just there for us all the time.

RR – You’ve got Darnell Devereaux out with you now, but he doesn’t have the same experience does he?

TK – Darnell is a great guy, he is just so sweet, I love him you know. But he is a little more “by the book” than Nigel is. And that is just because of where he comes from. He hasn’t really been out on the road before, he used to be in the office, right… So now he’s out on the road and he has to learn what it’s like to hang with The Scene! I mean, I’m Just glad it isn’t the old days right, with all the drugs and girls, the drinking, all that shit.

RR – I understand that most of the band is sober now, correct?

TK – Well, you know, Jerry obviously had to clean up, right? Or else he was gonna be dead. Kyng has just been talking to his daughter right, it’s been a lot of years since they talked and for her, he had to stop drinking to be a part of her life. I stopped drinking and doing drugs a while ago, it was just hurting my voice too much… Gilly, well, he tries, right. He wants so badly to stop drinking. He really could tie one on, but he is working hard right now to put those demons away. And Sticks, he is in such great shape man, he is probably in the best shape of all of us. He never really had a big problem with drinking, he just doesn’t do it much anymore. And he isn’t doing it on the road to support Gil and Kyng really. So we expect a pretty clean tour bus. Well, except for the ladies, that’s when it’ll get dirty, you know…

RR – Currently the tour is booked for North America only, any chance you get over to Europe or Japan?

TK – Ah man, I love Europe, it’s the shit you know. We had great times in Europe. I think we want to see how things go over here first before we head over there. Nigel really wants us to do England right, because that is where he is from. But I think he wants some more time to recuperate before we head over so he can be with us. Japan is for sure, we are totally doing it, we just don’t know when. But The Scene was so big in Japan that there is no way we couldn’t head back there. There was talk at one point of us reuniting for Japan only, but then we saw that there was so much interest in us all over the world, right? That was so cool, I love that. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to have so many people who want to see us perform.

RR – Has age changed the way you have to perform?

TK – I work really hard to take care of my body and my voice, you know? It’s so important, right, it’s just everything that I am. But there is definitely less running around on the stage now. But we are all so good at what we do now and we know these songs right, they are just a part of us. A part of the legacy.

RR – Gil Jupiter is the main songwriter and he started the band, yet you are known as the face of the band, how does that work?

TK – Man, Gil’s songs are great. I love his songs, he just always had that feel for what was hot at the time and nobody writes a chorus like that guy. Crime Scene was the early days man, it was the days when we didn’t know what we wanted to be, when we didn’t realize that we could be something special, once we got Kyng in and became The Scene, we all realized that we were trying to be different, and not the same as everyone else. So Gil really stepped up with his songwriting then. Me though, I always looked at myself as the mouth, right? Gil is the voice, but I’m the mouth and so if it weren’t for him, then I wouldn’t be in the place I am right now. But he lets me take the lead on these things, right, and I love him for it.

RR – What is the hardest thing about doing a reunion like this?

TK – It’s the stress man. We aren’t young like we used to be, so we want to make the show the best we can and we have to channel our younger selves to make it better than ever, right? People are expecting so much and they’re paying so much for tickets and I love them for being willing to do that you know? I love that people have such high expectations of us because it means they really care. But yeah, it’s the stress of trying to give everybody what they want and be the band we used to be… be better than we used to be.

RR – What is the best thing about doing this now versus back in the day?

TK – Ah man, that’s a hard one man. I mean, obviously we are clean and sober now pretty much, that is a big change, right… Uh, I think that the respect is a lot different now, people seem to give us more respect now than they used to and that’s cool. I love that. Back in the day we were huge right, and then we kind of fell apart, this is really the chance to go back out on top. I’m not saying I know what’s going to happen and if we’ll do anything else after this, but you know, the opportunity to do this all over again is just… I love it, you know?

RR – How has your voice held up over the years? Your style changed a lot while you were away from The Scene.

TK – It’s all about the way you treat your voice, right? At one point I realized that I wasn’t really singing properly you know, I was just doing what I thought was singing. And so when I left The Scene, I figured that I should learn how to use my voice properly and I started taking lessons with this guy and he showed me so much stuff, and it has really made such a huge difference in the way I sing. I just understand things so much more now and I think it has made me a better singer. I’ll never be able to do it exactly like it was originally, but I know that my voice will be able to hold up over the length of the tour. After Scene of the Crime, we tried so hard to make a new album, but my voice just wasn’t holding up, you know, and that is when I left The Scene to kind of focus on my own stuff.

RR – So if The Scene doesn’t work out, can we expect a return to Grace?

TK – I don’t think so man, I mean, when we reformed The Scene without Kyng, you know that was hard right, and then when that kind of fell apart and we went our separate ways I thought that Grace was going to be the way to forget all about The Scene, but it really wasn’t. It was me trying to get back the same feelings that I had with The Scene in the early days. And you know, I realized now that those days are gone and we have to really focus on the future so I think that if The Scene’s destiny is to end, then I just think I’ll do solo records with some buddies right. I don’t think I will ever form another band again. Those days are over I think, but right now it’s all about The Scene, that’s my focus at this point.

RR – I know you’ve talked a lot about your second tour of duty in The Scene before, but did that come up when you talked to Kyng about this reunion?

TK – Yeah man, of course. Kyng didn’t really want to be a part of that back then, he thought that what he was doing was the right thing and you know, it was for him at the time. It wasn’t that he was hurt about it, it was more that I was hurt that he didn’t want to join, because I love these guys. We had some great guys in that version, but it wasn’t real you know. It was like us trying to make magic where nothing exists. We could play the shit out of those songs but the magic wasn’t there, right?

RR – Back to the tour, you are starting and ending in LA. Is there a reason for that?

TK – You know we’re the Kings of the Strip man! (laughs) LA is our home and we owe it that much. If this is the end of The Scene, then I want to do it right… I want to finish where we started, you know? The support for us in LA has been phenomenal right from the start and as much as I love all of our fans, there will always be a special place in my heart for what LA has given us. So it just felt right, you know, Kyng and I talked a lot about it, whether we should start the tour in LA or end the tour in LA, and it just seemed like the best thing to do both.

RR – Which song are you most excited about playing live?

TK – All of them! I love these songs as they gave us our careers. I love that the fans latched on to our songs and have kept listening to them, right? So many other bands don’t have that same kind of interest later on in their careers, but for us, shit, it’s just so special. So when I look at the songs, I don’t think about it as a chore playing these songs again, I look at it as a gift. So when that first note hits, I’m in the zone, ready to give it my all and kick some ass, you know?

RR– Any last words on the reunion?

TK – I’m just so excited you know. I’m so blessed to be able to play with these guys again and to get out there and make some money and make the fans happy. I love music and I love touring, and it doesn’t get much bigger than this tour so it’s going to be a hell of a ride, right? Everybody is playing so tight, it doesn’t even sound like we’ve had any time away from each other. We just settled into the groove and got back to work. I want so much for this to be the future you know, just playing together and being together like brothers man. I couldn’t have asked for any more at this stage of my career.

RR – Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us TK, good luck on the reunion.

TK – Ah man, thank you so much you know. I love you guys and the way you’ve been there for us throughout our career. It means so much you know? And the rest of the guys feel the same way so it’s great to be able to talk to you.

The Scene Reunion tour begins in LA and carries on throughout North America for the better part of a year, eventually finishing back in LA.