The king of the fist-in-the-air anthem, Stan Bush made his name soundtracking Transformers The Movie and a clutch of Jean Claude Van Damme movies in the 1980s. From 'The Tough' to 'Dare' to 'Fight to Survive', his uplifting songs struck a chord with a generation who remain hooked on his hits. Back with a new album which doesn't stray far from the blueprint, we caught up with Stan to talk about 'Born to Battle', his eighties' success, and plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Transformers The Movie in 2026. Taking the heat; Eamon O'Neill.
Hi Stan, how are you doing today?
Oh, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
We're here to talk about 'Born for Battle'; how does it feel to be releasing a new album this far into your career?
Yeah, it's it's going good. People seem to like it.
You're sticking exactly to what you do best, which is big songs, big anthems, big keyboards, and bigger guitars; you must really enjoy working in that way.
Yeah, I don't think I ever grew out of the '80s! Yeah, I love that kind of music. The melodies from the '80s songs were always awesome. You'd go to the movies and you'd hear whatever it was, and you'd come out of the movie theatre singing the song.
You've had a string of hits from movies, from Transformers to those early Van Damme flicks; how did you get into writing movie anthems?
Well, my writing partner Lenny Macaluso, he and I co-wrote 'The Touch'. You've probably heard this but before, but we originally wrote it for the Stallone movie 'Cobra', and anyway, the record company got it in this animated Transformers movie, and said; "it's an animated movie about robots", and we were like'; "okay..." Anyway, little did we know that it would become a huge worldwide phenomenon. So it was cool. It has worked out great.
Looking on Spotify, the 1997 remix of 'The Touch' alone, has had 23 million streams.
Yeah, right. It is pretty incredible if you think about it.
What did you think when you saw it in the movie in 1986?
It was very cool. I went to the screening, the premiere, and all the people that worked on the movie were there, and it was an exciting time. But it's been it's been nice. It's been fun to be associated with the brand,
You've played a lot of Transformers conventions over the years, haven't you?
Yeah, It's hard to believe, too, that the 40th anniversary of Transformers, the original one, is this coming year.
Is there anything planned to celebrate the movie's 40th anniversary?
Yeah, I'm in touch with Hasbro, and we're supposed to talk next week, actually, to find out what's going on, and we'll figure out what we can do.
Oh, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
We're here to talk about 'Born for Battle'; how does it feel to be releasing a new album this far into your career?
Yeah, it's it's going good. People seem to like it.
You're sticking exactly to what you do best, which is big songs, big anthems, big keyboards, and bigger guitars; you must really enjoy working in that way.
Yeah, I don't think I ever grew out of the '80s! Yeah, I love that kind of music. The melodies from the '80s songs were always awesome. You'd go to the movies and you'd hear whatever it was, and you'd come out of the movie theatre singing the song.
You've had a string of hits from movies, from Transformers to those early Van Damme flicks; how did you get into writing movie anthems?
Well, my writing partner Lenny Macaluso, he and I co-wrote 'The Touch'. You've probably heard this but before, but we originally wrote it for the Stallone movie 'Cobra', and anyway, the record company got it in this animated Transformers movie, and said; "it's an animated movie about robots", and we were like'; "okay..." Anyway, little did we know that it would become a huge worldwide phenomenon. So it was cool. It has worked out great.
Looking on Spotify, the 1997 remix of 'The Touch' alone, has had 23 million streams.
Yeah, right. It is pretty incredible if you think about it.
What did you think when you saw it in the movie in 1986?
It was very cool. I went to the screening, the premiere, and all the people that worked on the movie were there, and it was an exciting time. But it's been it's been nice. It's been fun to be associated with the brand,
You've played a lot of Transformers conventions over the years, haven't you?
Yeah, It's hard to believe, too, that the 40th anniversary of Transformers, the original one, is this coming year.
Is there anything planned to celebrate the movie's 40th anniversary?
Yeah, I'm in touch with Hasbro, and we're supposed to talk next week, actually, to find out what's going on, and we'll figure out what we can do.
We'll come back to that, but back to the present day, and your new album 'Born for Battle' has been four years in the making; you must be some sort of perfectionist!
Oh, I've been accused of that! No, my producer, Holgar Fath, he's my best friend, and also, he's great guitar player and keyboards, all that. He's just the king of the '80s sound. He and I work together really well, and we had a great time making the record. It was over the last four or five years where, it was not done all at once, and sometimes that's a real nice thing, because you can have time to really develop and build the tracks and not have to worry about a clock on the wall.
You obviously still enjoy using those types of sounds and having that big production.
Yeah, it's a cool thing. That was one of the '80s things that I really liked, was the arpeggio keyboards, and so we used that on some, and it works well with the crunch guitars. It makes a real fat, big sound.
You actually beat me to it ; you've got a lot of layered guitars going on. The soloing is so on point, and you've got the harmonies as well, but the guitars never outstay their welcome.
Yeah, I remember sometimes back in the day, well, more like the '70s, but you'd have, like, a two minute guitar solo. They'd even have like, a seven minute songs back then on the radio, like 'Stairway to Heaven' or whatnot, but I think a lot of people grew up listening to that kind of stuff, and even the young people. There's been sort of a resurgence of '80s stuff and that kind of music, that style,
Are you sharing guitar duties with your producer?
No, I pretty much let him play. I mean, he's so good. I come up with the parts a lot of times and arrangements, but playing guitar. I've been playing all my life, but singing is the thing that I focus on. There's always guys you can hire that you know can play anything, and it's hard; it's like you have to practice a lot to keep up with all that stuff.
The sound of your voice is what always drives your songs; how do you do it?
Well, it's something I never really had any problem doing. I remember back in the day when I'd sing like a beer commercial or something like that. I really wouldn't let myself get intimidated or fearful or shy; it's just something that always came natural, to sing.
Every song on this album could have been on a movie soundtrack, either today or in the '80s, and one of the tracks people will have heard is 'Invincible'.
Oh, thanks. Yeah, that was one I co wrote with Lenny Macaluso, who I wrote 'The Touch' with. About five songs, I think all together on the album are co-writes with Lenny, but yeah, 'Invincible' is just a killer song. I like what it just says like; all of us, we face challenges in life, and it's like, if you have a lot of confidence, and I think, belief in yourself and so forth, you can you sometimes have this feeling of being invincible. Even the 'Born for Battle' title and the theme of the album is 'battle' - not literally - but just challenges in life. All of us go through stuff and it seems like a battle, and so it's kind of a metaphor.
Oh, I've been accused of that! No, my producer, Holgar Fath, he's my best friend, and also, he's great guitar player and keyboards, all that. He's just the king of the '80s sound. He and I work together really well, and we had a great time making the record. It was over the last four or five years where, it was not done all at once, and sometimes that's a real nice thing, because you can have time to really develop and build the tracks and not have to worry about a clock on the wall.
You obviously still enjoy using those types of sounds and having that big production.
Yeah, it's a cool thing. That was one of the '80s things that I really liked, was the arpeggio keyboards, and so we used that on some, and it works well with the crunch guitars. It makes a real fat, big sound.
You actually beat me to it ; you've got a lot of layered guitars going on. The soloing is so on point, and you've got the harmonies as well, but the guitars never outstay their welcome.
Yeah, I remember sometimes back in the day, well, more like the '70s, but you'd have, like, a two minute guitar solo. They'd even have like, a seven minute songs back then on the radio, like 'Stairway to Heaven' or whatnot, but I think a lot of people grew up listening to that kind of stuff, and even the young people. There's been sort of a resurgence of '80s stuff and that kind of music, that style,
Are you sharing guitar duties with your producer?
No, I pretty much let him play. I mean, he's so good. I come up with the parts a lot of times and arrangements, but playing guitar. I've been playing all my life, but singing is the thing that I focus on. There's always guys you can hire that you know can play anything, and it's hard; it's like you have to practice a lot to keep up with all that stuff.
The sound of your voice is what always drives your songs; how do you do it?
Well, it's something I never really had any problem doing. I remember back in the day when I'd sing like a beer commercial or something like that. I really wouldn't let myself get intimidated or fearful or shy; it's just something that always came natural, to sing.
Every song on this album could have been on a movie soundtrack, either today or in the '80s, and one of the tracks people will have heard is 'Invincible'.
Oh, thanks. Yeah, that was one I co wrote with Lenny Macaluso, who I wrote 'The Touch' with. About five songs, I think all together on the album are co-writes with Lenny, but yeah, 'Invincible' is just a killer song. I like what it just says like; all of us, we face challenges in life, and it's like, if you have a lot of confidence, and I think, belief in yourself and so forth, you can you sometimes have this feeling of being invincible. Even the 'Born for Battle' title and the theme of the album is 'battle' - not literally - but just challenges in life. All of us go through stuff and it seems like a battle, and so it's kind of a metaphor.
The album opens with 'The Sound of Victory', which, again, is what I mentioned; the arpeggios, the power chords, and it's straight and there's no subtleties.
Oh, thank you. Yeah. I thought that was a good opener. It just like, you said, just boom, right out of the box, and it's a really good opener. Some of the better songs. I had to decide on what the order would be of the tracks, and that's not easy. I went through, listened a bunch of times, and I love those second, third, fourth songs. They are just killer, and it made it all work, to me. Later in the album there's some real different kind of stuff. Like, you have those couple of songs where you're contemplating life and why we're here, that kind of thing. I think it's important to think about stuff like that, and be in touch with what we're about.
It's interesting you talk about the sequencing, because the album is very top loaded with all the anthems, and then towards the end you've got a couple of ballads, and probably the most understated track is the closer; 'The Reason for Everything'.
Yeah, it's totally different. And I like what it says too. I don't profess to have any special knowledge about anything, but it's just you wonder about stuff, and it's important, I think, sometimes to think about what it really means; life. But I don't know, I've been very blessed, and I'm kind of as an optimist. I think you can tell because I really think that each of us has unbelievable possibilities and abilities that we have, and we don't even know what we're capable of. We owe it all to the higher power and so forth, but I'm just saying life is a blessing, and it's not always easy to feel that way in the middle of whatever.
One of the standouts is 'Heart of a Lion, which is kind of more mid-paced track which brings the energy down just a little.
Okay, we'll back up just a second, and this last year, the movie 'The Last Kumite' was released, and two songs from the album - 'Running the Gauntlet' and 'No Surrender' - that had the video with the footage from the movie - were in 'The Last Kumite'. Then, then the sequel to that movie 'Lion Fist' comes out in '26, in the spring, and so 'Heart of a Lion' is going to be in that movie. It'll come out as a single when the movie comes out. That's the story behind that, but those films and those songs go back to the Van Damme movie, where the martial arts came in. You can hear in the 'Bloodsport' song 'Fight to Survive'; [chants] "kumite! Kumite!" To think, I didn't even know what kumite meant then!
I'm glad you mentioned 'Fight to Survive'; that's some impressive singing on that one.
I don't know if I can hit that note anymore. It's a high E! To be honest, I was a hired singer on those songs for those films. There were three in 'Bloodsport', and three in 'Kickboxer'; one of which was 'Never Surrender' by Lenny Macaluso. So yeah, I was just a hired singer, but those songs sort of resonated with me in a big way, and it just really worked. I've met John Claude Van Damme. He's a nice guy, and I saw him a couple years later in a bar I was playing in, and the security guys were giving him a hard time, and I walked over and I said; "let this guy in". Anyway, he came over and thanked me after that. It's cool stuff.
Is it strange for you to be so heavily associated with these massive '80s movie franchises?
It's been a cool ride. I've been very fortunate. There was one other little story I have. I was at a Transformers convention and I was backstage, and Mark Wahlberg comes walking by backstage, and I said; "you've got the touch!", and he turns around and says; "how did I do?" He was talking about the movie, 'Boogie Nights', and I said it was great. Anyway, he comes over a couple minutes later with his phone, and we start singing together like a couple of drunk guys, and he put it on his Facebook, and it's had like a million views. He's a nice guy. Stuff like that happens once in a while.
Oh, thank you. Yeah. I thought that was a good opener. It just like, you said, just boom, right out of the box, and it's a really good opener. Some of the better songs. I had to decide on what the order would be of the tracks, and that's not easy. I went through, listened a bunch of times, and I love those second, third, fourth songs. They are just killer, and it made it all work, to me. Later in the album there's some real different kind of stuff. Like, you have those couple of songs where you're contemplating life and why we're here, that kind of thing. I think it's important to think about stuff like that, and be in touch with what we're about.
It's interesting you talk about the sequencing, because the album is very top loaded with all the anthems, and then towards the end you've got a couple of ballads, and probably the most understated track is the closer; 'The Reason for Everything'.
Yeah, it's totally different. And I like what it says too. I don't profess to have any special knowledge about anything, but it's just you wonder about stuff, and it's important, I think, sometimes to think about what it really means; life. But I don't know, I've been very blessed, and I'm kind of as an optimist. I think you can tell because I really think that each of us has unbelievable possibilities and abilities that we have, and we don't even know what we're capable of. We owe it all to the higher power and so forth, but I'm just saying life is a blessing, and it's not always easy to feel that way in the middle of whatever.
One of the standouts is 'Heart of a Lion, which is kind of more mid-paced track which brings the energy down just a little.
Okay, we'll back up just a second, and this last year, the movie 'The Last Kumite' was released, and two songs from the album - 'Running the Gauntlet' and 'No Surrender' - that had the video with the footage from the movie - were in 'The Last Kumite'. Then, then the sequel to that movie 'Lion Fist' comes out in '26, in the spring, and so 'Heart of a Lion' is going to be in that movie. It'll come out as a single when the movie comes out. That's the story behind that, but those films and those songs go back to the Van Damme movie, where the martial arts came in. You can hear in the 'Bloodsport' song 'Fight to Survive'; [chants] "kumite! Kumite!" To think, I didn't even know what kumite meant then!
I'm glad you mentioned 'Fight to Survive'; that's some impressive singing on that one.
I don't know if I can hit that note anymore. It's a high E! To be honest, I was a hired singer on those songs for those films. There were three in 'Bloodsport', and three in 'Kickboxer'; one of which was 'Never Surrender' by Lenny Macaluso. So yeah, I was just a hired singer, but those songs sort of resonated with me in a big way, and it just really worked. I've met John Claude Van Damme. He's a nice guy, and I saw him a couple years later in a bar I was playing in, and the security guys were giving him a hard time, and I walked over and I said; "let this guy in". Anyway, he came over and thanked me after that. It's cool stuff.
Is it strange for you to be so heavily associated with these massive '80s movie franchises?
It's been a cool ride. I've been very fortunate. There was one other little story I have. I was at a Transformers convention and I was backstage, and Mark Wahlberg comes walking by backstage, and I said; "you've got the touch!", and he turns around and says; "how did I do?" He was talking about the movie, 'Boogie Nights', and I said it was great. Anyway, he comes over a couple minutes later with his phone, and we start singing together like a couple of drunk guys, and he put it on his Facebook, and it's had like a million views. He's a nice guy. Stuff like that happens once in a while.
When Transformers The Movie hit the cinemas in 1986, it was a commercial flop, but it then took on this massive life afterwards; did you realise at the time that it was going to become something that would actually overarch your entire career?
Yeah, really, I didn't have any idea. It's funny because it was in the later '90s that they started having the first BotCon [conventions]. I remember the Transformers convention was in Rochester, New York, and myself and Vince DiCola [composer, Transformers the Movie], we went there, and we did a few songs, sort of unplugged or whatever, and it was really cool. The people were awesome and it started this thing, and then they sprang up all over the place, these conventions like that. I've been to several of them, and I've got to say that the people are amazing, and it's very humbling to hear stuff. They say how 'The Touch' or 'Dare' had a big impact on their childhood, or how that maybe turned them around when they were in a rough place in their life, and it's like,; "wow". It's so humbling to hear that kind of thing. I'm glad to have some kind of positive message to go out there, and it's made me feel really, really worthwhile at something.
Where 'The Touch' appears in Transformers the Movie is such an uplifting moment, and I can't imagine it in Cobra now, at all.
Yeah, it's one of those things that just happen for a reason, I guess. But I'm very, very grateful for everything and to everybody about all this. It's really cool to be able to still be making music after all this time.
Back to the new album, and I really like the ballad 'Prisoner of the Heart'; it's got a real classic AOR sound.
Yeah, that's a cool one. That's the only love song on the album. It has an '80s vibe and it's pretty cool. I like it, yeah. Some of the songs are sort of different, but one of the things I was going to say was I like surprises musically, where you hear a key change just out of nowhere. It's all of a sudden; "whoa, where did that come from?!" I think that helps keep it interesting so it's not so predictable.
It's unsettling for the listener, in the right sort of way.
Oh, that's nice., thank you. I's hard to be sort of original and just sometimes it seems like everything's been done. I try to just experiment, and it's also it's hard to come up with something that you think you know is going to work. When you're sitting by yourself with a guitar, it's like; "okay, I like this melody and this little chord thing", and so you keep working it. and then you find some other part that goes with that and before long you have a song. The lyrics are always the hard part.
Did you find that being so associated with the '80s and with synthesised sounds, that once the '90s came along, all of a sudden you couldn't get arrested?
That's exactly what happened. The way you just put it, you nailed it. Yeah, it was lean times. I mean the '80s literally imploded, '80s music. I was fortunate in a way, because I had had a little success in places like Germany and England and Japan, so I was able to keep going and doing what I did with these small foreign deals, and so I'd still be able to make a low budget record, and keep doing what I did. It seemed like in the 2000s there began to be a resurgence of melodic rock, if you will, but yeah, it was hard to try to be true to who you are. There was this whole sea change that happened, and with that they had the grunge thing, you know, with Kurt Cobain and those kind of bands and the Seattle thing and all that. It's good stuff, but way different than what I was doing before. One of the things I did in the '90s was I got into an acoustic period, and I was doing a little bit more tours like Don Henley style songs. I did some nice stuff back then too, but I got away from the power rock thing a bit.
Every song on the album does feel like it could fit into a soundtrack, even in their titles like 'Freedom', 'No Surrender', and 'Brothers in Arms'.
That's an interesting perception there. Yeah, you really have something there. You're onto something. I think I always have been about the big statement, It's kind of the whole M.O of the '80s, the movie song or whatever, because you wanted to have the big anthem that people are going to remember, and it's been kind of the way I work. I like to do the '80s choruses, they are the best! When you go to the movies and you hear some songs and then you'd walk out of the movies theatre singing the song, I mean, name any movie from the '80s, like 'Back to the Future', or 'Top Gun', you know, and as well as, of course, 'Eye of the Tiger' [as featured in 'Rocky III'] is the all-time great anthem. I think everybody loves that song. It's just one of those that gets you, you know, when the underdog wins in the end. It goes back to overcoming against all the odds, that kind of thing.
Yeah, really, I didn't have any idea. It's funny because it was in the later '90s that they started having the first BotCon [conventions]. I remember the Transformers convention was in Rochester, New York, and myself and Vince DiCola [composer, Transformers the Movie], we went there, and we did a few songs, sort of unplugged or whatever, and it was really cool. The people were awesome and it started this thing, and then they sprang up all over the place, these conventions like that. I've been to several of them, and I've got to say that the people are amazing, and it's very humbling to hear stuff. They say how 'The Touch' or 'Dare' had a big impact on their childhood, or how that maybe turned them around when they were in a rough place in their life, and it's like,; "wow". It's so humbling to hear that kind of thing. I'm glad to have some kind of positive message to go out there, and it's made me feel really, really worthwhile at something.
Where 'The Touch' appears in Transformers the Movie is such an uplifting moment, and I can't imagine it in Cobra now, at all.
Yeah, it's one of those things that just happen for a reason, I guess. But I'm very, very grateful for everything and to everybody about all this. It's really cool to be able to still be making music after all this time.
Back to the new album, and I really like the ballad 'Prisoner of the Heart'; it's got a real classic AOR sound.
Yeah, that's a cool one. That's the only love song on the album. It has an '80s vibe and it's pretty cool. I like it, yeah. Some of the songs are sort of different, but one of the things I was going to say was I like surprises musically, where you hear a key change just out of nowhere. It's all of a sudden; "whoa, where did that come from?!" I think that helps keep it interesting so it's not so predictable.
It's unsettling for the listener, in the right sort of way.
Oh, that's nice., thank you. I's hard to be sort of original and just sometimes it seems like everything's been done. I try to just experiment, and it's also it's hard to come up with something that you think you know is going to work. When you're sitting by yourself with a guitar, it's like; "okay, I like this melody and this little chord thing", and so you keep working it. and then you find some other part that goes with that and before long you have a song. The lyrics are always the hard part.
Did you find that being so associated with the '80s and with synthesised sounds, that once the '90s came along, all of a sudden you couldn't get arrested?
That's exactly what happened. The way you just put it, you nailed it. Yeah, it was lean times. I mean the '80s literally imploded, '80s music. I was fortunate in a way, because I had had a little success in places like Germany and England and Japan, so I was able to keep going and doing what I did with these small foreign deals, and so I'd still be able to make a low budget record, and keep doing what I did. It seemed like in the 2000s there began to be a resurgence of melodic rock, if you will, but yeah, it was hard to try to be true to who you are. There was this whole sea change that happened, and with that they had the grunge thing, you know, with Kurt Cobain and those kind of bands and the Seattle thing and all that. It's good stuff, but way different than what I was doing before. One of the things I did in the '90s was I got into an acoustic period, and I was doing a little bit more tours like Don Henley style songs. I did some nice stuff back then too, but I got away from the power rock thing a bit.
Every song on the album does feel like it could fit into a soundtrack, even in their titles like 'Freedom', 'No Surrender', and 'Brothers in Arms'.
That's an interesting perception there. Yeah, you really have something there. You're onto something. I think I always have been about the big statement, It's kind of the whole M.O of the '80s, the movie song or whatever, because you wanted to have the big anthem that people are going to remember, and it's been kind of the way I work. I like to do the '80s choruses, they are the best! When you go to the movies and you hear some songs and then you'd walk out of the movies theatre singing the song, I mean, name any movie from the '80s, like 'Back to the Future', or 'Top Gun', you know, and as well as, of course, 'Eye of the Tiger' [as featured in 'Rocky III'] is the all-time great anthem. I think everybody loves that song. It's just one of those that gets you, you know, when the underdog wins in the end. It goes back to overcoming against all the odds, that kind of thing.
When singing those high notes - in 'Dare' for example, how many passes do you, or did you have to do in the studio?
That's a good question. It is really hard to sing consistently in tune when it's really high like that. One of the things I've been compared to sometimes is Sammy Hager, who's got that like that - "that's what dreams are made of", that song [Van Halen's 'Dreams']. I love that stuff, but yeah, it's challenging to sing well, and especially when you're that high up. But I've been kind of blessed. One of the things I think helps me is I never had to do extended tours. A lot of singers, a lot of guys from the '80s that used to sing high had to go on tour for months and years, it's hard to keep those notes, and they start to go away after a while.
You're more of a studio guy, aren't you?
Yeah, in a way. I do shows in Southern California, cover gigs and things. We've had for years, a Zeppelin cover band and we do acoustic, unplugged Zeppelin kind of stuff, just doing all the great songs. We're not going to do any songs that everybody in the band doesn't love. It's been fun. It's been a good ride.
Going back to singing those high notes again, and in 'Dare' you sing a high harmony on that chorus, don't you?
Yeah, usually the one above it is falsetto, but you can double it or whatever and make it stronger. That's with all the choruses, really. You can use multi-tracking, but I do my own background vocals. It's funny, I did commercials for cars and beer and other stuff back in the day, and sometimes they'd write us a piece or a song, but it was, like, really low.; "sound like that, down there". It's like; "I can't sound like that, down there!", you have to be up in the higher register. But it's been fun. I mean, I did some album vocals too, like I sang on Alice Cooper and some other records.
Which Alice Cooper album did you sing on?
What's the one with 'Centipede' and all that? Was that the one after 'Wayne's World', or around that time?
That's 'Dangerous Tonight'. It's on 'Hey Stoopid!'
Yeah, that is it. He had like, live rattlesnakes in the studio, in a cage, of course, but I guess to record them. But if you talk to him, he's like a normal guy. He's not like a crazy. I think it's just probably like Ozzy; it's like a persona. I was just one of the main guys in L.A. back then, and they'd call me for this and that; Toyota and Coors and other things, but I sang on so much stuff I don't even remember half of it.
You've achieved so much in your career, is there anything you would like to achieve, or someone you'd like to work with?
I've always been a huge fan of Don Henley, his music. He's just a great song writer and singer, and back in the '90s, I actually did audition for Foreigner at one point, and I worked with couple of guys from Journey when Journey broke up. There's a bunch of things like that. I won an Emmy, of course you probably knew that, and I had a song in the Olympics in 1996; a song called 'Capture the Dream', so I don't know. It's funny because you meet these people and they're all really nice. I remember Tom Petty. I knew him since like, eighth grade. We were in the same hometown, Gainesville, Florida, and I didn't know it at the time - nobody did - but he really became a huge star, and he never compromised his integrity either. His songs are really great, and he's a prolific writer. I was really sorry to see him go, but that's been the case with a lot of folks; it's just part of life.
Are you going to be doing any touring to promote 'Born for Battle'?
Yeah, I think I'll probably be doing shows coming up in this coming year because of the Transformers anniversary. I'd love to come back to Europe. I have some guys in the U.K. that I've worked with doing live stuff before, and those guys are great. It's a nice thing about being a solo artist; you can just put me with some other good guys that can play and put a band together as an instant band. Just add water! Perfect!
Before I let you go, you said at the start of the interview that something is happening with the 40th anniversary of Transformers The Movie; what can you tell us?
I think it'll be events around the country where they play the movie, the original movie, and there'll be a concert with myself, and maybe Vince DiCola. We have to work all that out, and we're supposed to have a conference call with Hasbro next week, so I should know more by then. But yeah, just tell everybody, I guess to check the my website, stanbush.com, and hopefully I'll be seeing you guys, and I appreciate all the support.
'Born to Battle' is available now. Get it from Stan Bush's Official site.
That's a good question. It is really hard to sing consistently in tune when it's really high like that. One of the things I've been compared to sometimes is Sammy Hager, who's got that like that - "that's what dreams are made of", that song [Van Halen's 'Dreams']. I love that stuff, but yeah, it's challenging to sing well, and especially when you're that high up. But I've been kind of blessed. One of the things I think helps me is I never had to do extended tours. A lot of singers, a lot of guys from the '80s that used to sing high had to go on tour for months and years, it's hard to keep those notes, and they start to go away after a while.
You're more of a studio guy, aren't you?
Yeah, in a way. I do shows in Southern California, cover gigs and things. We've had for years, a Zeppelin cover band and we do acoustic, unplugged Zeppelin kind of stuff, just doing all the great songs. We're not going to do any songs that everybody in the band doesn't love. It's been fun. It's been a good ride.
Going back to singing those high notes again, and in 'Dare' you sing a high harmony on that chorus, don't you?
Yeah, usually the one above it is falsetto, but you can double it or whatever and make it stronger. That's with all the choruses, really. You can use multi-tracking, but I do my own background vocals. It's funny, I did commercials for cars and beer and other stuff back in the day, and sometimes they'd write us a piece or a song, but it was, like, really low.; "sound like that, down there". It's like; "I can't sound like that, down there!", you have to be up in the higher register. But it's been fun. I mean, I did some album vocals too, like I sang on Alice Cooper and some other records.
Which Alice Cooper album did you sing on?
What's the one with 'Centipede' and all that? Was that the one after 'Wayne's World', or around that time?
That's 'Dangerous Tonight'. It's on 'Hey Stoopid!'
Yeah, that is it. He had like, live rattlesnakes in the studio, in a cage, of course, but I guess to record them. But if you talk to him, he's like a normal guy. He's not like a crazy. I think it's just probably like Ozzy; it's like a persona. I was just one of the main guys in L.A. back then, and they'd call me for this and that; Toyota and Coors and other things, but I sang on so much stuff I don't even remember half of it.
You've achieved so much in your career, is there anything you would like to achieve, or someone you'd like to work with?
I've always been a huge fan of Don Henley, his music. He's just a great song writer and singer, and back in the '90s, I actually did audition for Foreigner at one point, and I worked with couple of guys from Journey when Journey broke up. There's a bunch of things like that. I won an Emmy, of course you probably knew that, and I had a song in the Olympics in 1996; a song called 'Capture the Dream', so I don't know. It's funny because you meet these people and they're all really nice. I remember Tom Petty. I knew him since like, eighth grade. We were in the same hometown, Gainesville, Florida, and I didn't know it at the time - nobody did - but he really became a huge star, and he never compromised his integrity either. His songs are really great, and he's a prolific writer. I was really sorry to see him go, but that's been the case with a lot of folks; it's just part of life.
Are you going to be doing any touring to promote 'Born for Battle'?
Yeah, I think I'll probably be doing shows coming up in this coming year because of the Transformers anniversary. I'd love to come back to Europe. I have some guys in the U.K. that I've worked with doing live stuff before, and those guys are great. It's a nice thing about being a solo artist; you can just put me with some other good guys that can play and put a band together as an instant band. Just add water! Perfect!
Before I let you go, you said at the start of the interview that something is happening with the 40th anniversary of Transformers The Movie; what can you tell us?
I think it'll be events around the country where they play the movie, the original movie, and there'll be a concert with myself, and maybe Vince DiCola. We have to work all that out, and we're supposed to have a conference call with Hasbro next week, so I should know more by then. But yeah, just tell everybody, I guess to check the my website, stanbush.com, and hopefully I'll be seeing you guys, and I appreciate all the support.
'Born to Battle' is available now. Get it from Stan Bush's Official site.
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