ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 Cover Issue 24 | Page 20

PAGE 20 ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 Hello Frédéric and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats on your release the “The Heart Of L.A” album. How did you pick the tracks for this best of compilation album and how do these tracks differ from the past releases? Thank you very much Tom. I think this new AOR album “The Heart Of L.A” is the very best you can get in the Aor/ Melodic Rock style. I’ve carefully selected 16 tracks (including 2 bonus tracks) with the best singers of the genre and I’ve remastered them, so now they sound better than ever ! I’ve chose only the best tracks, that could all have been hit songs in the 80’s. No fillers in this album! Just sheer quality with incredible guitar solos and vocal performances your ears won’t believe. If you owned one of the 15 previous AOR albums, you will get only the best tracks in “The Heart Of L.A” and you’ll never want to skip any songs. If you were not familiar with the all star AOR project, now is the chance to discover the finest melodies, lyrics and singers you can imagine! Please name some of the tracks and who they feature. There are so many, the task is almost impossible. You’ve got 15 different singers who are legends in this style of mu- sic. For example you’ve got Jesse Damon (From Silent Rage and who worked with Kiss) singing “Angels Never Sleep. You’ve got the last song the great Fergie Frederiksen (From Toto) ever recorded and without a doubt one of his finest performance in “Deep Whirlpool”. And What about Kevin Chalfant (The Storm, Journey, Shooting Star) singing “One Foot In Heaven”, you’ll be blown away by his performance. But let’s not forget top singers like Steve Overland (FM), Bill Champlin (Chicago), the girls from Chasing Violets (considered as the cream of female Aor) singing maybe one of the best track of the album called “The Main Attraction”, David Forbes (Boulevard), Jim Jidhed (Alien), Chris Ousey (Heartland), Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot) and so many other great names. Never in the same album so many stars were featured! A dream came true! You live in France now but didn’t you stay in the West Coast in USA? Please tell us about that. I live between Paris and London now but my roots are American. I lived in L.A. for more than 10 years and I travel to the USA several times a year. The American way of life and the music scene are my biggest influences. I recorded most of my albums in Los Angeles and hope to do many more in the future in my favorite country in the world! How did you make all the connections to the artist you work with, any cool stories?