Chuck Shute Podcast

Tony Harnell (TNT singer)

April 13, 2021 Tony Harnell Season 3 Episode 124
Chuck Shute Podcast
Tony Harnell (TNT singer)
Show Notes Transcript

Episode 124- Tony Harnell!!! Tony is most known for being the singer of TNT, of which he had a lot of success. However, he has also worked on several other projects including music for Sonic the Hedgehog and a collaboration with Bumblefoot. He is truly a great singer with incredible range and one of the few people to possess a true four octave voice. This was a fun chat talking about Tony’s whole career. 

0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:23 - Pro Skateboarder 
0:02:55 - Singing, Moving to New York & First Band 
0:07:40 - Playing In Bands & Clubs in New York 
0:09:45 - The Jackals, John Tempesta & Mike Varney 
0:12:34 - TNT Demo & Joining the Band & Touring 
0:14:55 - "Last Summer's Evil" & Lyrics 
0:17:14 - "Tell No Tales" Album Success 
0:20:10 - "Intuition" Album 
0:22:10 - Del James & Lyrics on "Realized Fantasies" Album 
0:25:30 - Production & Recording on "Realized Fantasies Album 
0:27:40 - Music Scene Change, Death of 80s Rock & Style 
0:31:10 - Future of TNT & Relationship with Ronnie  
0:33:15 - "Sonic The Hedgehog" Music 
0:35:21 - Tony Harnell & The Wildflowers with Bumblefoot
0:37:35 - Singing TNT Songs Now & Four Octave Voice 
0:39:12 - "Starbreaker" Band & Lyrics 
0:41:45 - " Lovekillers" Record 
0:45:00 - "Echobats" Supergroup Project 
0:45:55 - Living Life As If Each Day Is Your Last 
0:49:45 - Twelve Step & Blueprint on How to Live 
0:51:55 - Vegan and Healthy Living 
0:54:03 - Vocal Training Course 
0:56:35 - Vince Neil Vocals & Desire to Be Better 
0:58:35 - Sebastian Bach Friendship 
0:59:30 - Tony Harnell: Surviving Rock n Roll 
1:00:30 - Writing a Book for Future Release 
1:00:48 - MusiCares
1:02:25 - Wrap Up 

Tony Harnell Website:
https://www.tonyharnell.com

Rock Singer Society Course Website:
https://www.therocksingersociety.com

MusiCares Website:
https://www.grammy.com/musicares

Chuck Shute Website:
http://chuckshute.com

Support the show

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Chuck Shute:

Welcome to the show. My guest today is legendary Tony Hoare Nell. And he is of course he's most known for being the singer of tn T. But as you'll find out today, he's had a lot of other projects, including one with bumblefoot from Guns and Roses fame. So it was really fun to go over his whole career from when he started singing and playing in bands to his global success around the world with TNT, to doing music for video games, and his singing course that he started now. Lots of good stuff with Tony enjoy. Welcome Tony Darnell to the chuck shoot podcast. How are you?

Tony Harnell:

I'm good. Chuck, how are you?

Chuck Shute:

I'm great. It's a beautiful sunny day here in Arizona. We're now Where are you again? I forgot you're like overseas.

Tony Harnell:

I'm in Nashville at the moment where

Chuck Shute:

Nashville okay.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah. So that's that's where I am right now.

Chuck Shute:

Where are you in Europe or something? Or what? I thought you said the times different. There's a time change. Was it just the Nashville two hours? Two hours? Yes. Yeah.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. I was in England last year for for a few months and you know, kind of moving around during COVID. Okay,

Chuck Shute:

so yeah, so I found out a lot about your history. I thought this was really fascinating that you started out doing surfing and skateboarding, in fact, and your dad was a sports photographer. So you he actually got your pick in some skateboarding magazine. So before you had your picture in the rock magazines, you were in skateboarding magazine. That's kind of cool.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, that's true. I actually was, I turned pro, skate. I was a pro skateboarder for about, like a year, you know, I competed for just a little bit. I didn't like competing. So I stopped competing. But so at 15 years old, I was kind of, I did one competition. And then I started to just kind of hang out at the local skate parks and help the younger kids out, you know, and I can't, it was, it was great fun. I knew a lot of the top skaters at the time, and my dad was, um, you know, he, he took to it because of me. And then he just like, took off and became one of the more prominent skate photographers in the 70s. So it's been cool.

Chuck Shute:

Can you still skateboard? Or do you try? Or do you just not even mess with that? Now?

Tony Harnell:

I can. I haven't tried to skate vertical. In many, many years, but I'm intrigued because I do have some friends that are around my age and older who are still skating pools. So it's tempting. Yeah, you know, surfing, is something I just haven't been living. I live near a great beach in a long time. So that's something I definitely want to get back into at some point. Okay.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. So but then it was around this time, you kind of got out of the skating and stuff. And then that's when you started getting into rock music, and Judas Priest and all that good stuff. So I thought this story was really interesting. You were, you're driving around, and you're singing in your car in a story in New York, and I'll let you tell the rest of the story. But this is a really great story of how you joined a band. Was this your first band? I think, right?

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, um, well, you know, I've been singing since I was five years old. And music and music and singing, were just always a part of my life. My mother was an opera singer. My aunt sang really well, they actually had a little duo together that had a single out on RCA, I believe, in the 50s. So my mom wrote songs, you know, my grandmother sang. So I just kind of thought, well, singing is no big deal. Okay, so great. So I can sing. You know, who cares? It's not that big a thing. So I went through life, you know, doing my thing and, and as a kid, and singing, and being really into music, I didn't realize till I got older how, how interesting it was that such a young kid would be so into music. I mean, I would sit for hours at 567 years old, and listen to records and sing along and learn them and study them and know who the producer was, you know, but so fast forward and my surfing skateboarding days, and I was getting actually more serious about surfing and wanted to be a pro surfer. And I had, I had finished high school early, and my grandparents, my mom had already moved to New York to pursue her opera career there. And I stayed back in California and with my grandparents, and they sort of gave me an ultimatum and said, Look, you're not going to be a server. So you can stay here and go to college, or you can move to New York with your mom. And for some bizarre reason that I still can't understand. I chose New York. I hate I hated the idea of New York. You know, being a California kid loved the beach and so forth. So it made no sense but I got there and you know, I think I drove my car with my surfboard in it, which was really funny. And my skateboard and I was just this weird California kid a fish out of water skateboarding through the streets of the story. And I have my car. And so you know, 1617 years old driving around the streets of and screaming, you know, not screaming always, but singing loudly to the rocks, rock bands that I loved. And I had a track D track tape player in my car. And that's how that's what I was doing in California I was driving to and from work, I had a little job 16 years old, and to and from the beach. And I just be singing to all these records that I loved. And and so I continued doing that in New York. And it was kind of interesting, because, you know, I lived in an open area in California, you know, you're driving on the freeway and, and then all of a sudden, I'm in this neighborhood with buildings and like all this stuff. And so I guess my voice was echoing off the walls, you know, the buildings and I come to a stop sign one day and these two long haired hoodlums I call them hoodlums, but they just they looked like, you know, black leather, long black hair, you know, and they're like, stop, stop. But I'm like, ah, rolling my window up a drone to lock the door. And they're like, no, no. Have you? Are you the guy that's been singing through the neighborhood? And I'm like, Oh, shit. I didn't know anybody heard me. So, yeah, I said, Yeah, I guess that's me. We have a band where you come Friday and rehearse, you know, to come to our rehearsal place. So I said, Okay. And I'd never been I'd never really been in that rehearsal room, I'd never sung with a band, I'd never sung on a microphone like that, you know. So, there I was on Friday. And it was, however long, that was a couple hours of singing some Zeppelin and some whatever they knew, and and, you know, that was it, the smells, the sounds, the, you know, just the whole energy of it was just wow, I'm, and I had just started college, I got a scholarship at a university in New York, and I was in my first semester. And that interaction, blew my whole college career to let you know, burned into flames. Because by the end of that first semester, I had left that band, joined another band, and was well on my way. And I just said to my parents, you know what I don't want I was at a scholarship and photography. And I just said to them, I don't want to do that. I want to sing. Yeah. And so I said, Okay, yeah, that's great. So

Chuck Shute:

then this is interesting. You played in like, 10 bands, and you recorded demos, you did all these gigs. And you had an interesting strategy. It was like what you said once that you joined a band, and it was it was a good band. And they were, they were playing the clubs that you wanted to be seen in, like, you just you kept upgrading, like you kept going to like, you're like, Okay, I think I want to play in that band, because they're playing in the bigger clubs. And you didn't really stay loyal to any band, which I think is kind of smart. I mean, this isn't like, these are your childhood friends or something. This is just a band that you're joining. And you just kept, I mean, I think that's kind of what you have to do in this business, right?

Tony Harnell:

I mean, let's face it, um, you know, I've been in plenty, plenty of situations in my, in my professional career where people have have not been loyal to me. So look, I mean, it's a business first and foremost, I, I all I wanted, I wasn't thinking in terms of, you know, oh, man, I'm, you know, I'm hurting people along the way. I was just thinking, you know, as I was getting better. I wanted better musicians around me. So whenever those offers came, and I, you know, listened to them and said, Wow, those guys sound definitely better than what I'm doing now. I'm in you know, and there was one band, because he said, you know, if they're playing the clubs, there was one band in particular, that was a downgrade from the band I'd been in previously, but I purposely got on board because they played the best clubs and a great man that a great manager, and I thought, you know, this will be good and it was a great strategy because it was that band that led to a really good band that was right along the lines of what I wanted to do you know, musically and we started to get pretty serious we had some label interest, but it was that band that took me from the band I said that wasn't very good. That led to TNT so actually that decision to go with that not so great band that played the great clubs ended up being two bands later ended up okay it it was a good decision.

Chuck Shute:

Which one was the jackals because that one you were playing like the one Okay,

Tony Harnell:

yeah, the 1000 I left

Chuck Shute:

Okay, the TNT 1000 person clubs. It was a kind of a more of a metal cover band but john 10 pesto was in that band who would later go on to Exodus and Testament and play with Rob Zombie and the Colt. And so that's pretty cool. And you were friends with anthrax at this time too and Metallica?

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, we will we were based that band. The jackals was based based up in in the Bronx, so, so we were buddies with, with the anthrax guys. And this other there was another band up there called black lace that some people might remember they had one record out. And we all played this one club up there, that would just on Friday and Saturday nights would just get packed with 1000 people just wanting to hear metal. And you know, then we started branching out, we opened for overkill in New Jersey one night we and the night that the TNT thing happened was we were playing a metal night at Studio 54. They started having Wednesday night metal in Manhattan. And we played there and after the show backstage, Mike Varney, who you might know who he is, he came backstage, I didn't know who he was at the time, he came backstage with another guy who was managing TNT at the time he was American from Long Island. And they handed me a tape and they said, Here's we're representing a band from Norway. Mike flew out from San Francisco just to do this, by the way. So me being in the jackal somehow, there was this word of mouth. There's this buzz thing. I had no idea. So they came back and gave me the tape. And it was Knights of the new thunder, no vocals on one side of the tape. And the the singer that they fired, he started the band. His vocals were on the other side. And they said take this, listen to it. The band The guitar player heard you. And I still don't know how that somehow a demo of mine made it over there. Wow. And he wants to he wants to know the band. It's not an audition, it's an offer to be in the band. And if you're if you like if you like the music we'd like you to you can rewrite the stuff to fit your voice. But we need you over there. Like within a couple of weeks. I didn't have a passport. So I went home and I shared an apartment with the bass player and jackals. Right. And, and he saw the interaction and I was kind of like, you know, we went back it was like two in the morning after the gig and we're sitting in the in the apartment, you know, and I'm kind of like, I know the tape is in my pocket. I haven't listened to it. And I'm kind of, you know, trying to be cool. And he said, so you get to listen to it. I'm like, well, it's a little awkward. He's like, put it on. So I put it on and the opening riff of Seven Seas comes barreling out of the speakers. And then I'm just trying to play cool in my head. I'm going oh my god, this sounds is exactly what I want to do. But I shouldn't react too much, you know? And I was quiet and then stop playing this thing and, and he says, well, you're gonna go right. And I said, Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess.

Chuck Shute:

Because he's thinking this is gonna be good for the jack was like, you were thinking maybe I'll just go over there, record it, and they'll put it out Norway, and then you'll fly home. And then that will be good publicity for you guys.

Tony Harnell:

That that was the plan. So they had a record deal with, with what was at the time polygram Records. Well, now it's universal. And so they have that deal in Norway. And I thought great, I'll get to make my first album with a producer in a nice studio. It'll be the best demo I ever had. And I'll come back and re you know, get back together with my guys. And if that doesn't work out, I made a record. No, I mean, the world is over, you know. So, anyway, I went and made the record and little by little came back to the states and it just, you know, they we finished mixing and kinda then it was going to come out. So it came out in Norway and it went shot up the charts. And then all of a sudden other countries started releasing it, they changed the cover. And it just kind of spread across Europe. And then we went and did a tour at the end of 84 in Norway. And that was crazy, successful, successful. And then um, and then sometime at the end of 84 beginning of 85 we got this crazy phone call from the New York office of Mercury Records polygram from the VP there that wanted to meet with the band and offer us a three album worldwide deal so we took that obviously he picked up nights rereleased it because it hadn't well not rerelease but released it in America with a new cover added. We added a song we changed a few things in the studio to make it more American and and that came out in 85 in the US so it already been out for a while in Norway in Europe.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, and that's a great album. So it's got the seven seas out Good song. And then, you know, the song that I really liked those last summer's evil. It's such a good song. It's so catchy. I love the title. It's a very original idea. Like, you know, there's a lot of songs like love this and love. This is a very like, you just that song title like jumps out to you. And then it's so catchy. One of those lyrics about though, you know, here's

Tony Harnell:

the thing. So when I got over there, I had I kind of was faced with Alright, well, some of these melodies on the choruses are pretty catchy and pretty good. not crazy about some of the titles and the lyrics are kind of kind of, you know, because they're written by the original singer who's Norwegian. Sure. And some of his English lyrics weren't, you know, weren't didn't make sense. But I wasn't a great lyricist, yet, by any means. And some people would say, still not. What I think I think I evolved quite a bit since then. But But you know, so I cringe when I hear that record, I cringe at the lyrics I cringe at every word, you know, but what is it about? It's silly, it's, you know, I was, we were kids. And, you know, oftentimes you hear bands and you and you get sort of direction from labels. And you think, you know, you get this idea in your head that, you know, I was a big fan of the scorpions, and they always have tongue in cheek sec, sexual innuendos, you know, and you think, Oh, that's a cool thing to do. Let's, you know, let's be a bunch of horny guys writing about you know, and in retrospect, I think it a lot of that, even though people love the energy of the music, and that part I love to, but I think the lyrical content is a bit immature, childish, you know, whatever. And, and maybe cheapens the elegance of some of the music. So I kind of wish that oftentimes that I had been in a different frame of mind, you know, when I was when I was working on that stuff, but you know what? It was, I always say to people, music, like a photograph, like like, you know, a haircut, or clothes that you wore, it's a moment in time Hmm. And then it's, you know, it's preserved. And that was you then and what you did, and then you go forward, and you know,

Chuck Shute:

yeah, so the next album, The third album, released 34 years ago today tell no tales. 1987 Yeah. 10,000 lovers in one everyone's a star. How big was this album is I thought I heard you say it was number one. In Norway. It was it was bigger than Michael Jackson some weeks and it was also huge in Japan.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, we were trading number one positions for for weeks with Michael Jackson's that album and I think we kept going like this. Yeah, it was a big album. It was at one point someone told me one in four households in Norway had the album which is pretty funny. Wow. And and we want to we want to Norwegian Grammy Rock Album of the Year for that album. And and also there was a point in time where 10,000 lovers and the record were both sitting at number one for for a period of time over there. So that was the first initial success, and then it came out in America. And it did it did really well. Considering and I say considering because we had some things against this, maybe we did have great management. Okay, well, let me rephrase that we had Okay, management. And the label seemed to be pretty behind us. We did some we did the striper Tour, which was really big arenas across the country. And then we jumped on the Twisted Sister Great White tour, that was fun. And we did we did our own sold out club shows here and there. But before the album really had a, in my opinion, had a chance to, you know, take hold because we were kind of going upward. They kind of they did this to us a couple of times they put us back in the studio make another album. And But no, it did great in the States. It definitely put us on the map MTV player videos a lot. And you know, the the European thing it we were, you know, definitely on our way. We're actually also booked on it on a Motley Crue tour. A little bit before that album came out with in Europe, but for some reason, it was decided again that we needed to be in the studio.

Chuck Shute:

Really, that was that would have been interesting, although maybe you wouldn't have survived tour with Motley Crue that sounds like it's pretty dangerous from what I've heard.

Tony Harnell:

So, I had, I had forged a bit of a friendship with Tommy, oh, really in in 85. And we spent some time in New York City hanging out together and you know, and kind of, you know, would check in with each other when he was out on the theater, a pain tour, and then we just did that we that we eventually last touch. Okay. But just as people do, yeah, sure. But yeah, I think it would have been fine. Oh,

Chuck Shute:

yeah. would have been a blast, I'm sure. But then that next album intuition 88. Did you say that that you think that one sold more? Or owes 89? Okay, that you think that one sold more than in the US than the than Tom hotels? In the US? I

Tony Harnell:

think they were almost they were very much close to being about the same. Okay, but what the reason I think it's sold more worldwide is because we had so much success with it in Japan.

Chuck Shute:

Okay,

Tony Harnell:

it was it was very successful there. It was, from what I again, we had there was a Michael Jackson thing in there with the Japanese. With the Japanese charts, it was dancing around with Michael Jackson someplace at the top of the charts. Yeah, it was so much fun. I mean, so it was like this sight kind of thing of like, you know, explosion in Norway with Telmo tails. And then, you know, doing well in the States and the intuition tour, we had lined our own club and theater tour in the US, and that was sold out did great. And then this Japan thing was insane. I mean, we got this call, you guys are, you know, top 10 in Japan on the pop charts, and we're booking a tour and the tour sold out in 30 minutes. And it was like 75 to 7500 to 10 10,000 cedars, you know, wow. And we got there and was like, you know, it was like a movie. It was like everything, you know, kids at the airport and following us everywhere. And. And so it's really funny looking back, because I think we felt very, very, sort of, I don't know, like deer in the head, you know, deer in the headlights about the whole thing. And I think there was a bit because we were so young, I think there was a bit of a lack of gratitude that went along with it, because we didn't crack the state's open. You know, why yet, and we were so hungry. We're like, this is great. This is a lot of fun. But, you know,

Chuck Shute:

yeah, well, and especially you as an American, you want to crack the states. So then that next record, realized fantasies, they brought in another lyricist. And you said you kind of cringe at some of the lyrics that that you wrote, not necessarily that he wrote, but the other lyricist was Dell James, the Guns and Roses legend. So I mean, tell me what it was. Yeah, tell me I was like working with him because I'm a big fan of Guns and Roses. So anything related to Guns and Roses is amazing to me.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, he's a great, he's a great guy. We still we still, you know, we still say hi to each other on on on Facebook. And I run into him a few times. My buddy bumblefoot, you know, was in Guns and Roses. Yeah. I was in Vegas when they did a residency with with bumblefoot. And, and ran into Dell because he works for Axel.

Chuck Shute:

He's the manager, right? The touring manager for Guns and Roses. Yeah, yeah.

Tony Harnell:

He's like, he's like, kind of the tour manager and axles. Everything, you know, yeah. And we caught up and reminisced about that? No, I mean, they wanted to, I think I was all for it, too. I want to just kind of to get a different perspective. And he wrote with me, you know, to be clear, we sat and wrote the lyrics together. And he, you know, we sort of it was like, you know, it wasn't exactly line by line. Like, I threw a line out here, but it kind of was a little of that was like, you know, he had an idea or I had an idea. And then it was a line and this the most successful song of that. Of that writing session was definitely Lionheart. Yeah, was was a really nice song, it had really cool lyrics that I, I would have never come up with a lot of those lines that were in there. But together, we really once he would throw something, I go, Oh, you know, and then it would entice me to go. So it was good. I think it was very good for my for my lyric writing, in many ways, but there was this thing again, of you guys, because intuition was very spiritual album, I was reading a lot of Eastern philosophy, I was very into Buddhism. My grandmother was sending me she was into that too, and sending me all this stuff. And it was very helpful and very good for me meditation. I wasn't all this, but it was coming through on the intuition album, and they wanted something that was, I guess, a little more accessible to the kids. And see, they loved that in Japan, because it was, you know, they liked that kind of stuff. So I thought, Oh, I guess we have to be sexy, you know. And again, I go back to what I said about the night's album, and I just, it's just not me, I felt uncomfortable. And I listened to some of those songs and and they aren't the ones that Dell worked on with me. They were they were the ones where the label was like, we need more and you know, because he and I just kind of worked for, I don't know a week or two on a few songs just to fill in the kind of you know, the thing and then and then I was I'm back on my own You know, to complete the thing, and some of its good and some of its silly. Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

No, I know you're saying very, very hard record to record. Yeah. It's like the record label wants something, but it's just not you. It'd be like if I'm trying to be howard stern. I love howard stern. By the way, I love everything. I think he's hilarious. But I'm not howard stern. I can't be Howard's there. So me trying to be howard stern would be really awkward. And I think it would probably not feel right. So I see what you're saying. Yeah,

Tony Harnell:

yeah. So yeah, it was it was a weird, it was weird. So. And it was a hard record to do. We had a producer who was not a rock producer. So he really kind of end he wasn't really there much. He was kind of like, you know, on the phone, and then he was like, walk in and go great. And he was gone again, you know. But it took a while to do it frustrated. The guys in the band, because it was the only record that we ever did start to finish in the US. But at one point, the tape machines because we were still recording on on tape, we had two tape machines, as you did back then, with a lot of tracks and usually a slave and a master. And he was recording some guitars for weeks. And he kept he kept tuning and tuning and tuning. And he kept saying to the engineer, something isn't right. Yeah, I don't know what it is. But something is, is is not right. And they'd be like, no, you're fine, you're fine. And finally, one day, he put his guitar down, and he stormed into the control room. And he said, I want those tape machines checked. Well, they checked them. And sure enough, one of the tape machines was like if you look at them being tuned, so the speed of them the speed of one machine to the other, they weren't synced. So if one was if one was spinning it you know, and the music was recorded at a 440. The other one was like slightly sharp of that or flat of that, right. So so he was trying to record overdubs to the master. And it wasn't working. So thankfully, it was from what I recall, it was the slave that machine that was off. So the so the drums and the bass and all that were fine. But he got so frustrated, he said, I'm done. And he, he took the engineer that we had in New York, went back to Norway. And he did all the guitars there. And so I sat in New York waiting for that, and then finish the vocals once the guitarist came.

Chuck Shute:

Wow. And so that album didn't live up to expectations, partly because the music scene was changing, right?

Tony Harnell:

It I think and I don't know the exact day it was released. But from what I recall, it was very, very close to when the when the Nirvana record hit, and Oh, great. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

I think you like Nirvana. Right? You thought it was amazing. You know,

Tony Harnell:

I'm not one of those. You know, I'm not one of those people that said grunge kill dude,

Unknown:

he's rock.

Tony Harnell:

I think 80s rock killed 80s rock and I say it all the time. Sure. And I'm sure I'm sure that blabber mouth will pick that headline up. But, and I say that not not to not to diss the bands or the musicians, they were still great bands, great musicians, etc. But I think the labels you know, in the 70s it was if you think about your favorite hard rock bands, hard rock or metal bands in the 70s you start to you start to look at all of them and you think, okay, there was Zeppelin, there was Aerosmith there was, you know, Ted Nugent, there was kiss their wax habit.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, they're all so different.

Tony Harnell:

Black Sabbath Queen, you know, and so on. They were all very, very different sounding band, right. And then all of a sudden, in the 80s these a&r guys were like, well, let's sign another Def Leppard. And let's get another Bon Jovi and, and another poison, and you know, they were big, so let's get some pretty guys makeup on him. And by the time, you know, you got to like 1989 1990 91, it just was this, there was this late surge around 1990 9192, there was a late surge of all these signings, and honestly, I would open up metal edge magazine, and I would be, we'd be in it. And I couldn't, I couldn't. Because everybody looked the same. And we all have the same clothing designer. Yeah. haircut. So So

Chuck Shute:

yeah, so was the record label and the management kind of pushing you to dress and look a certain way or was that your own choice?

Tony Harnell:

Well, by the time that era came along, I think everybody was I mean, by the time the the realized fantasies record came along, we were we were trying to be everybody was trying to be current. So, um, the clothes got a little different. The hair got a little less layered. You know, thing, things changed a bit, but I don't know it was it was just a weird time we didn't we didn't enjoy making the record the only the only shows we did for that album were more sold out another sold out Japanese tour and a couple shows in Europe. And, and then we just were all just, we were we were disenchanted with the whole thing and we just kind of needed a break. Yeah, Bernie went, Ronnie went and made a couple of records with he put a prog band together with now very well known Norwegian singer named Bjorn. And that's what that was called vagabond. And he did three really good records with them. I did an acoustic album for polygram for universal. That did I didn't do. I mean, it was it came out really basically in Japan, and, and then I just sort of like, really revamped my thinking and started just really writing a lot and getting into other kinds of music and exploring. And little by little, we made our way back together. In the middle, you know, mid, yeah, so we were really only apart for a few years. And

Chuck Shute:

then you said two of your favorite albums from TNT. 2004 is my religion and 2005 all the way to the sun. They are not available in the US, but hopefully soon anywhere.

Unknown:

They're not No, they're

Chuck Shute:

not available anywhere. Okay, well, geez. Yeah. So, but you're hoping they'll be available soon.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, the label that put them out into my religion was was probably the most successful album sales wise and chart wise that we had in a very long time at the at the time it came out. And, you know, we but but unfortunately, the label that put it out in Europe went bankrupt. So, so so it's not hard for us to put it all back together and get it, you know, get it released. Again, we just have to do it.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, so new releases from TNT, I mean, new old releases from TNT, will there ever be a current new release from TNT or any shows and that because you've kind of been on again, off again, with the band. So I mean, maybe there's nothing planned, but never say never, or?

Tony Harnell:

Yeah.... Ronnie and I, contrary to popular belief, we talk often.... Sometimes we just hop on, he loves FaceTime. Ronnie's not a big technology guy, but he like really loves FaceTime video. And it's kind of annoying, because I love him. But he'll call me like early in the morning, because he's an overseas, and early in the morning here, and I'd like the video chat. And I'm in bed, but, but I love the guy. And and we have a great, you know, we're gonna be whatever happens, like, we'll be on a beach someplace, you know, when we're in our 70s, you know, laughing and hanging out. So

Chuck Shute:

that's great,

Tony Harnell:

but most of most of the things that that pushed us apart. Again, contrary to popular belief are business related. I'll just leave it at that. So never say never is a good way to put it. And there might be a time and a place.

Chuck Shute:

Sure, absolutely....So besides TNT that you've done, I can't believe this is amazing how much other music and projects you have done, but one of the big ones was the Sonic the Hedgehog stuff. That's got to be is that not like the most lucrative gig that you can get recording music right now? Or no,

Tony Harnell:

it's not lucrative. It's not because I did it. I did it as a buyout. And it haunts me all the time. Because for some reason, the way Spotify works, yeah, most of the TNT stuff, all the TNT stuff. And most of the music I've I've recorded, my name is not connected to it. So on my personal Spotify, I just have a few random singles that I put out myself. The star breaker stuff, maybe, and, and the sonic thing. And so I have this crazy, insane number of streams and fans every month that has millio relation, no relationship whatsoever to my sort of success with tea and tea, you know? And it's all Sonic. Well,

Chuck Shute:

those songs are so catchy. Now, you didn't write those, did you?

Tony Harnell:

I did not. Yeah, I was hired. Initially. I think it was around 2000 or 2001. When I initially went into studio to do that, and I did I believe three songs that first session, and then I did another round several years later both with with Ted Paul had Paul Yeah, who I believe wrote or co wrote those. Okay, so yeah, looking at them now. I sort of see these crazy stream numbers and you know, all the success and I just kind of go you know, I should I made a better deal, but I honestly I've never been into video games. I don't know anything about them. To me it just, it feels like something more to get something else to get addicted to keep me in a dark room for many hours and with these phones we have these days. That's the last thing I need. Sure.

Chuck Shute:

So some totally different from TNT or the sonic stuff was this. You kind of alluded to it earlier with the project we had with bumblefoot it's Tony her now on the wild flowers featuring bumblefoot this is like really cool acoustic zeplin sounding folk rock. Or how would you describe it? No,

Tony Harnell:

that's pretty good. Um, I think it had kind of a modern at the time modern because it was it came out in 2013. Yeah, yeah, we were actually recording it. And we were close to being done with it. And I went to Nam, in I guess it was early 2012. And I met Ron. And he actually had met him for the second time because he reminded me or maybe I don't remember which way it went. But he was a big TNT fan, he reminded me that he actually auditioned for a solo band, I was going to put together the 90s after TNT had a break. And he didn't make a cut. Nobody did I ended up not putting a band together. Okay, so, but you know, he was amazing. And so fast forward, we ran into each other at Nam. And we hit it off. And we started to talk a lot and get together. And I was working on this acoustic thing. And I just said, you know, this thing's mostly done. But why don't we write a song together? And then maybe I'll just send you all the tracks and you can just put some some nice guitar across the whole the whole thing. So he said, Sure. And we wrote a song called burning daylight, which is, there's a video for it on on my official YouTube channel. And it just turned out great. You know, it's one of the favorites. One of my favorite projects, for sure. It was a crowdfunded project, the only one I've ever done, it was super successful. And a lot of fun to do.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I was gonna say is that more of that? Yeah, is that that's got to be really refreshing as an artist to be able to do something totally different. Because you probably get burned out on doing all TNT. I mean, it's nice to have a little something totally different. That's got to be really energizing, I would think to do something that sounds totally different.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, I mean, I get really bored. Um, you know, I hear here's what it is for me. I don't listen to the TNT albums. Unless I'm preparing to play them live. And, um, you know, like any artist, I'm, I'm, I'm tired of it, you know, and, and there's this huge pressure when I go out live to like, sing like the record, you know, even though I'm 58 years old. And

Chuck Shute:

is it harder to sing that way now? Well, it

Tony Harnell:

takes more rev up time, you know, takes more, you know, I'm also a vocal coach. So that's been a passion of mine for many years. And so so it's it just takes more

Chuck Shute:

you know, as you Yeah. Aren't you recognized as one of the few people that has a four octane? What is their first octane octave voice? That would be cool for octave voice which is like it's really rare something right I don't know a lot about but I just know you have a very amazing range and you I'm assuming you still have most of that right? Because he's

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, yeah, it just it just takes more time for me to rev up to what I need to do to to you know, to do the TNT stuff but what I was gonna say was when I get on stage, regardless of how I feel about that, you know about the music when I see people in the audience smiling and reacting to the songs like just when they hear the opening riff then I just you know, did it feels amazing yeah did and then I just like look over at Ronnie and I go look we did look at we look what we what we accomplished you know Yeah, years ago.

Chuck Shute:

That's amazing. Another project you did a star breaker this is I listened to so there was an element 2008 called I think it was loves dying wish the most popular song was on Spotify, according to his says a building a wall and it's got this piano intro that's just beautiful. And then it gets really heavy. And that's really cool. And then the dysphoria dysphoria album, that's one of the coolest album covers I've ever seen. It's got this star with a rose on fire. And you said it was very personal songs for you. The lyrics are really heavy like you wrote about what you were going through. What were you going through at the time that was so heavy?

Tony Harnell:

Well, I can't get into a lot of detail about it, but it was it was a very it's so funny because Having a little having a couple of years, since I put that out my view of the record the lyrics, and the whole thing is very different than it was at the time. Let's just say that I don't feel that I was writing from, from, from a completely honest place when I wrote that record, but, but I think I was, well, emotionally I

Chuck Shute:

was okay.

Tony Harnell:

But mentally, I think that I was, you know, just in such a strange frame of mind. First of all, I, I was very newly sober. I have over three years of sobriety now, but congrats on

Chuck Shute:

that, by the way,

Tony Harnell:

thank thank you. But I was just freshly in recovery. And I had this record to do thank God I did, because it really helped me sort of, you know, have something important to do. And so I was basically, you know, just, you know, focused on my recovery and making that record. Um, but yeah, I came out of a really difficult and life altering relationship that, you know, yeah, and so, so that the lyrics there were somewhat reflective of the, of the recovery, blended and blended in with with the relationship and some other things, but there's just a lot of stuff on there that is, just, you know, if I had let's put it this way, if I was going to write about that, a lot of those things today, the approach, and the energy would be very different.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. So is that kind of how you feel like the love killer stuff, that's another has, like kind of piano stuff, like, set me free. It almost sounds almost like kind of like religious or gospel, but it's kind of a sad, but also uplifting. And I don't mean, as it just seems very spiritual, like, Is that another kind of emotional, written song? The band stuff?

Tony Harnell:

You know, I made, I made a couple and this is this is probably a very unpopular thing to say, but I made I made a couple of records in 2019. You know, for the, for the wrong reasons. And and for the right reasons and the wrong reasons. I mean, this is what we do. I'm a recording artist. So I make record, I make records. And, and that's part of my income, you know, sure. And, but that record in particular, was something that, you know, I, I kind of got, I guess, talked into it. And I think there are some good tracks on it. I did not write most of that material. And I feel like it what it was, was it was writers, and they're all really talented. All of them. everybody involved in love killers was was extremely talent, especially Alessandro Delvecchio, the producer, a great, great guy, super talented guy. But the record label sort of wrestled me into this kind of, you know, we want to we envision you making a certain record, and we love your songwriting, but we want to try something different. And I, I just want I, you know, I wanted to keep working, it was important for me and recovery, just to you know, keep working, keep making records. And I thought, okay, you know, and the song started to come in. And, you know, I was a little disappointed. It was writers trying to write TNT ish songs. And that's just not possible. You know, um, you know, I don't think they, I mean, I think there's some good stuff on there. And I think that a lot of people really like that record. So I have to be a little bit gentle with my, you know, for sure. But let what I learned from to 2019 was that going forward, I want to make music that is from my heart, whatever that is. So if someday that means a TNT thing. That music for the most part has always been very honest. Yeah. When I get when I get together and work with Ronnie, I feel like the stuff that we put out is always very onpoint and very honest, for the time that we're in, you know, but I'm not going to be making records anymore. Unless I love the project. But I don't want to make records just for just for money. Or, you know, the biggest problem with the star breaker thing is that is that Magnus doesn't tour and I went Yeah, and I want to I want to play live shows. And so we have three great records that I can't go out and perform live with, you know, with him, which is a shame because I think star breaker and a lot of people think star breaker would have been a great you know, European festival. So you know, what about that?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, what about eco bats are you that's this kind of a supergroup with Joel Hoekstra and James lomenzo.

Tony Harnell:

I think that because of everybody's busy schedule, it was, it's probably safe to look at it as a one off. But it was, it was just something we started talking about a while back. And the, you know, the pandemic hit, and we have one of the, we have that song finished, it just needed to be mixed in some details and needed to be added to it. So I went to the guys and said, we have this track, let's just put it out and have fun, you know, for fun. And, and we did a fun video and got it out there. And it got a great response. And so we'll see. No, you know, that that could always continue at some point. But yeah,

Chuck Shute:

yeah. So it sounds like, um, you know, you had some interesting advice, I heard you say that, I don't know if this is for music, or just life in general, but live your life, as you truly don't care what other people think about you. I mean, as long as you're living in an ethical way, like, that's it. Can you explain that a little bit more, though? I mean, because you kind of have to care if it's music, right? Because if it's meant for an audience,

Tony Harnell:

I think what I really mean is live your well. I mean, there's two ways of looking at it. You know, one way to look at it is live your life as though everybody's watching you. That's a very interesting perspective, you know. So that's, that's kind of my way of, you know, of feeling. I don't know, I think that I think that keeps people honest, when you look at it that way, you know, from that? Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

Well, I remember my teachers used to say, like, when I was a kid, like, you know, you're supposed to act like your parents are always watching you. Yeah. And that kind of messes with your head a little bit as a kid, especially as a teenager.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, that's maybe a little strong. Okay, it might be a little might be a little much, but but, you know, the, but the other thing that I said about living as I'd like to rephrase that, and say, maybe live like each day is your last, but ethically, and, you know, meaning, I guess, I have found over the years, that time can get wasted very easily. And now. Yeah. So now that we have social media, and, you know, these damn devices that just sucked so much of our time, it's easy to get to go down a rabbit hole all sudden, you, you know, you're watching a great band on YouTube. And then, you know, two hours later, you've watched like, you know, all these bands and all these, you know, different things.

Chuck Shute:

Well, that doesn't sound like a waste of time. I do that all the time. Well, yeah. I know. You're saying Yeah,

Unknown:

yeah. Well, so I think, yeah,

Chuck Shute:

go on. Sorry. No, I

Tony Harnell:

just think that, um, I think that we live in a world that is filled with distractions. And I just think that what the fight is, for me every day is just grounding myself and keep, keep bringing myself back to, to center myself, because I'm trying to be centered as often as I can throughout the day. There just is so much going on now, so much information so much, you know, in this pandemic, I think that not enough talk, at least in our community, about mental health and how this pandemic has affected people. And for me being in recovery, and having all of this go on and sort of, you know, relationships and how to manage all of this. This stuff. It's, it's easy to paint a pretty picture on social media, which I honestly don't even bother trying to do. I, I kind of just try to be interesting. It's not easy when there's not a lot going on. If you're on tour, you just post tour stuff all the time. And it's great. Sure, yeah. But I tried. I tried to be creative with it and have fun with it. But um, but you know, it's not reality. And I think I think that it would be nice for us to have some kind of a, I don't know, just a general acknowledgement of Hey, are you doing okay out there? You know, are you okay? Like, that's what I feel like saying sometimes to people is, is everybody Oh, right. You know, cuz most people won't say if they're not, but yeah, I guess I get a sense that, sure. Some people are doing great during this pandemic. Some people have had, you know, babies and new jobs and all kinds of Yeah, I've been very, you know, very creative and prolific. But that's not not the picture for everybody. So, yeah,

Chuck Shute:

so with your sobriety. So you said three years, you must have some clarity on that. I've always wondered this like, and I don't know if this is different or the same for everyone in recovery, but do they kind of preacher or do they? Or do you think like, when you after you go through recovery, you're like, Oh, I think everybody is Should should go 100% sober, like everybody should be that way, or do you think some people can drink responsibly throughout their life? Because we'll see, there's a big misconception about what sobriety actually is, and what recovery is,

Tony Harnell:

um, you know, there's, we have this 12 step program, right? All that really is, is it's a blueprint for how to live. And and it's not it's not, it's not crazy. It's not it doesn't have to be religious, if you're not religious, there are lots of atheists and agnostics that are on in the 12 step program, you apply it how you see fit for your life. But no, what I would say is, when I went started to go to meetings, my observation was everybody could use those 12 steps. And that didn't necessarily mean that they didn't have to drink. It meant that those 12 steps were really great tools to guide one through a really awesome life. And that in many ways, people in recovery, I think, come out, kind of ahead of the pack and uncertain, and I'm not talking again, about the drinking, Cecil Brown, you're not drinking is only the first little tip of the iceberg about sobriety. So what sobriety really is, is learning how to live better, to be a better person, to To be honest, and truthful to yourself and others, etc, etc, etc. And, and I think and be accountable. And that's the main reason why I chose to be public about it is I thought maybe I could help other people. And by being being public about it, it would, I'd be held accountable, you know, Yeah, true. Yeah. And it's, and it is one day at a time. So I'm not here to say I'll never do it again. Right. I can't say that. But I can say today, I'm not doing it. Yeah. You know, and you're also

Chuck Shute:

you've also gone vegan. And did I say to hear you say gluten free to eat very healthy. In fact, you were kind of like a health coach for a little while. And you're really into that? Well, I

Tony Harnell:

do. I do you have, I got interested in my when my mother, right when my mother was was sort of declining fast from breast cancer. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the beginning of 2009. And had my surgery, like march, march 10, I believe, and then she passed away, late April. And God the anniversary is coming up for that. And between those two things, and then in a couple years later, I we TNT lost our longtime keyboard player at 40. He was only 44. And he passed from melanoma. And he went really fast and really hard. And I just thought, I got to learn about more. I've always been interested in health. It's always fascinated me. I've always kind of studied it, you know, in my own way, but I decided to get serious about it. And I I actually did a year, a year long course, and paid a good amount of money for it and got certified as a health coach. So I am a certified health coach. I don't really use it. I may write a book at some point. But I experiment with different diets and I have been experimenting with vegan. I'm not this will probably really upset a lot of vegans out I think it's a great way to it's a great way to live. It's definitely better for the planet. No doubt about that. It may not be for everybody. I'm not one of these hardcore militant vegans. That's like, you know, that's just not me. Yeah. I had some I had some things about being vegan that I didn't really like a lot. So I'm I'm experimenting now I don't think I'm ever going to go back to eating meat. But, but I am experimenting with being more vegetarian. So like eggs.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. So tell me about this vocal training course that you do. It's I think it's called the fundamental fundamentals of rock singing. And you have like, it's like a private face group, Facebook group and you do actually like one on one coaching with people that teach them how to sing like you. Well, it's

Tony Harnell:

a lot more than that. What it is, is it's a full course course. Right? Yeah, that actually that you that you buy, and you sign up for and it sits in a in a beautiful platform. And it is basically a six part course with over 80 videos that include warm ups and all sorts of different things. It took a long time to put it together with the help of a very, very talented team. And we did it during COVID again, because it's like I've been wanting to do it but I wanted to do it right and until I could do it right I didn't want to do it so it's actually called the rock singer society. That's that's kind of the over overview name of it. Okay, there's a website for that people can go to the rock singer society calm And they can,

Unknown:

I'll put that in the notes a little bit.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, they can see a little bit about it. There's a button where they can book a call directly with me. And I can tell them about the course and how much it is and how it works, you know, and I do do one on ones as well. But I will say that the course from what I've seen with all the people that are on it now, it's the most effective thing I've ever done. I'm seeing people just, you know, the growth and the things I'm watching are mind boggling, you know, so

Chuck Shute:

with your voice in that range, that amazing range. I mean, some of that is just innate, though, right? Like you're born, not everyone's born with that.

Tony Harnell:

No, I mean, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say that everybody that takes my course is gonna sing like me, but I will say that they will sing better sing better. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's very much based on healthy singing. Okay, one of the things people say to me often is, how do you know you still have your voice, you know, I, sometimes if I'm, if it's a down year, I'll just put a few songs out, like I did this year. And last year, just to kind of I'm here. Even if they don't do a lot, just to kind of little nod to my fan base, and say, I'm here. I can still saying, you know, everything's okay. But people always say to me, you know, the main thing I want to do, they say to me is keep my voice when I get older. And yeah, but you know, and that's, that's kind of the one of the main emphasis, emphasis is on the course is healthy singing. And I so I teach people how to keep their voice, how to use it better, how to expand their range, how to breathe properly, etc, etc.

Chuck Shute:

I am a big Motley Crue fan. Do you think you can help Vince Neil? Because I feel like I've seen him live recently.. it seems like his voice- he's struggling but I know, he could probably do better. Like maybe he could take this course. Is that a crazy idea?

Tony Harnell:

I think I could help him. And he actually is is a Nashville. So you know?

Chuck Shute:

Oh, yes. Yeah, that's right.

Tony Harnell:

Yeah. I mean, here's what I see. I see a lot of older singers, who I feel could be could be singing better than they are. But more than half actually, the majority of what it takes to get better, is not something like my course. That's just the tool. Okay, thing that's actually going to make somebody better is do they want to? Do they want to get better? And do they want to work- a program or work with a coach or whatever the case may be? And a lot of singers, if they're happy where they are, and they're making a lot of money as somebody like he is? What's the what's the motivation? I mean, my motivation would be to be great.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Because like all the there's a lot of people talking shit about Vince. And when that'd be awesome if he like took your course or worked with you and just came out and just kicked ass at this. When the Motley Crue tour if it ever happens, if it does happen, like when that'd be cool to see. I mean, cuz I heard he was like losing weight and stuff. And so I don't know, I think I just be another piece of the puzzle of he really got his voice in shape.

Tony Harnell:

I don't know Vince well, but I like him. I had some very, very brief interactions with him. Way, way, way back. Yeah, you know, um, but you know, I think he'll be just fine. Okay.

Chuck Shute:

Are you friends with Sebastian Bach? Are you still friends with him too? Or is that more just like, so? We

Unknown:

haven't we haven't?

Tony Harnell:

We haven't spoken in a long time. But that that happens in this business. Yeah. Not the greatest with keeping and, you know, keeping in touch with people. And, you know, I don't have a big arsenal of famous people in my phone. You know, I have a few select people that I that I stay in touch with because I like them. Um, you know, and, and so, I've met a lot of people along, you know, along the path, but, you know, tell me about Austin's greats about his great Oh, I

Chuck Shute:

love it. Yeah, I'm, Yeah, I was gonna say if you see him Tell him I'm coming for him because I want him on my show at some point. But love his.

Tony Harnell:

I love his cameo. videos. Yeah, Instagram page. That's just yeah, classic stuff right there. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

he'd be a great guest for sure. Tell me about Tony Darnell, surviving rock and roll. is they making a documentary on your life?

Unknown:

Really?

Chuck Shute:

I don't know. I see this. I saw this thing on IMDB, is it? You're not part of this. You don't know anything about it? You never heard of that.

Tony Harnell:

Now I'm gonna have to go look and see what that is. I don't know. Maybe it's just

Chuck Shute:

there. Maybe it's a BS. I

Unknown:

don't know.

Tony Harnell:

There was an idea. a filmmaker and I were discussing something years ago. Never really. We never really received it but wow, okay, I don't know were asking me a question like in general but no, no, I

Chuck Shute:

thought I saw this was I was looking at, you know, I was looking at people like, you know, look up your Wikipedia and then, you know, I look up to see if you've had any songs and like movies and TV and on your name there's a thing that says Tony Hoare now surviving rock and roll like coming soon. I was like, What is this? I don't heard about this. So if you don't know about it, maybe it's just misinformation. It's very possible to go

Tony Harnell:

have a look when we hang up.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, for sure. So I but then you were talking about maybe writing a book though at some point. Maybe fiction loosely based on your life?

Tony Harnell:

Yeah, in fact, I'm reading a book, if I can find it here. I can't find it. But yeah, I'm actually reading a couple of books right now about writing, I want to write a great.... I Yeah. It's awesom for them... It's not really wou dn't be right for me. Sure. See, I want to write something that's started writing one years ago, and I have a bunch of pages really kind of, since I'm ot that famous, I want to write written. But I really want it be great. So I'm kind of reading omething that would interest people on a broader spectrum Rob Halford's book. And I'm reading a book about writing not just Tony Harnell fan. memoirs, and some other things.

Chuck Shute:

Have you read the dirt? Okay.

Tony Harnell:

We want it to be kind of a cool story about a rock singer that you know, whatever. And just kind of and it may, it may turn out that once I finish it, I go, this is really boring.

Chuck Shute:

That's funny. Well, I look forward toit, I think t sounds really interesting. Well, I like to end each episode with a charity or nonprofit or somebody something that you'd like to support or tell people to donate if they have a few extra dollars laying around.

Tony Harnell:

I would love to support music hears I think they are an incredible organization, they have helped so many people that I know, including myself at the beginning of the pandemic. Um, so yeah, definitely for anybody that that knows about them. They know how great their work is. And if you don't know,

Chuck Shute:

go to their website and check them out. I'll put that in the notes as well. So thank you so much, Tony. This has been really fun. I learned a lot about you.

Tony Harnell:

Thank you check.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye. So much music Tony has recorded you can listen to a lot of it on Spotify and decide for yourself what you like. I look forward to those other TNT albums being released someday, and maybe seeing TMT perform in the future as well. Check the notes of this podcast for all the links we discussed. Tony singing course has charity, my website with all my stuff is in there as well. And if you enjoyed this episode, tell a friend and make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don't miss any future episodes. If you'd like this one you'll really like some of the ones I have lined up. Should be a lot of fun. So thank you for taking the time to listen to the show. I really appreciate it. Have a great day. And remember to shoot for the moon.