Oni Logan (Lynch Mob, Dio's Disciples) Updates Us On His Future Music Plans

The conversation with Oni Logan covers his musical journey from Argentina to America, his early exposure to music, and his rise to fame with Lynch Mob. Logan discusses his auditions for Rough Cutt, Racer X, and Mark Ferrari's band, leading to his tenure with Lynch Mob. He recounts the creation of their debut album "Wicked Sensation" and the challenges of performing with Lynch's high decibel levels. Logan also talks about his departure from Lynch Mob, forming Violets Demise, and his subsequent move to Europe. He hints at future collaborations with George Lynch and new musical projects, emphasizing his desire for creative growth and experimentation.

00:00 - Intro
00:13 - The Dirt & Interviews
01:45 - Huck Finn Lifestyle & Early Beginnings
05:40 - Johnny Depp & The Kids
08:30 - Learning to Sing & Writing Songs
11:00 - Wendy Dio, Rough Cutt, Racer X & Marc Ferrari
16:05 - George Lynch & Lynch Mob
20:40 - Writing & Recording "Wicked Sensation"
27:35 - Geoff Tate, Tom Keifer & Ronnie James Dio
31:00 - Leaving Lynch Mob & Second Album
36:40 - Violet's Demise
42:28 - Return to Lynch Mob & Solo Career
46:55 - Psychedelics & Expanding Mind
49:55 - Reunion with George Lynch & Future Plans
58:50 -Outro

Oni Logan website:
http://oniloganofficial.com/

Chuck Shute link tree:
https://linktr.ee/chuck_shute

Transcript

Oni Logan: 0:13

Good morning, Chuck,

Chuck Shute: 0:14

good morning. How are you?

Oni Logan: 0:16

I'm good. Thank you very good. Thank

Chuck Shute: 0:20

you so much for doing this. I think there's going to be a lot of people that are interested in hearing what you have to say, right? You haven't done a lot of interviews in the last few years.

Oni Logan: 0:28

I tend to shy away from them. Why

Chuck Shute: 0:32

is that? You seem like you got a good, happy personality?

Oni Logan: 0:35

Uh, well, I don't know. It depends on, sorry, it depends on who's in. Who's the interviewer. I'm not. I've seen lately that most of these guys are out there that are out there for shock factor, shock value. It gets kind of, I don't know, kind of comical to me.

Chuck Shute: 0:56

Oh, really. Like the you talking about, like the Blabbermouth headlines and stuff like that. Well,

Oni Logan: 1:01

you know, interview is that that kind of playoff of that, you know, I because sometimes, just for ratings, you know, the shock value, trying to lift dirt from your past. And I don't, you know, I don't subscribe to that so, so we

Chuck Shute: 1:22

don't look for the dirt, and sometimes the dirt just comes, we're just talking, having a conversation, and the dirt spills out, and we didn't even look for it. So, but yeah,

Oni Logan: 1:31

I believe you. I'm not, I'm not one to shy away from it 100% so you may get some dirt today.

Chuck Shute: 1:38

All right, well, that's a, yeah, it's always I just find, I think people are so interesting. I think your career is so fascinating. And, I mean, just a lot of, I mean, kind of an inspiring story, really, because you're what, you're born in Argentina, you moved to America, and, I mean, you're just this assuming, just the kid that you said they were running doing, like a Huck Finn lifestyle, like running around and fishing and like jumping off bridges and stuff, and then you're playing giant arenas and singing your guts out.

Oni Logan: 2:07

That's basically it. Shall we continue? Yeah, no, that is true. I grew up in, well, my family immigrated from Argentina, Buenos Aires when I was 11 months old. Yeah. We landed in Queens. Year later, my father went to look for some work at a factory in in Stanford, Connecticut, little collar workers, both, both of my parents, very young, and I was introduced to music my mother's Chevy Nova at the age of, I would say five, you know, back then it was am radio and you know, the latest hits that were out back then, I think it was, yeah, around 73 I would say Layla from Eric Clapton, bad finger, no matter what day after day. Gosh, what else there was. There was plenty songs like that back in the am days. So I was around, and I was introduced to that music. And this song that I wasn't able to get the title to came on, and it was my favorite one that I love to listen to while I was in the driving, doing the errands with my mother, it was Stairway to Heaven, but I had to go hum it, because I couldn't get the title. I didn't know the title. So I was five, and I was in the department store of Sears, and I hummed the last few lines of of stairway, you know, and she's buying a stairway to heaven. So he says, I know exactly what you want. So I took this album home, and I put it on, and I had no idea what I was looking at, what I was listening to, and I it scared the shit out of me, to be honest with you, I mean, but that's how it all started for me. You know, not around nine years of age, we moved to South Florida, and yeah, that Huckleberry lifestyle of jean shorts, no shoes, no shirts, swimming in the canals with the alligators going to the ocean the whole bit, you know. So I was pretty much a free will of out there enjoying my life coming up. And you know that trans that translated into going to shows at a very, very early age. My brother, who's seven years older than me, took me to my first show in 1976 now I don't want to date myself, but yeah, I was 12 years old, and that was Peter Frampton comes alive at the Miami baseball stadium. And, yeah, 60 something 1000 people there, you know, shortly after I got to see Aerosmith the rocks tour. So my mom would say, Take him with you. He loves the music. So that's how my, my whole musical career started, you know, at a very early age, um. By 16, I was playing drums in clubs with a forged passport, a forgery that my dad had done on the date of birth. So I was able to get in. And I'd say I was 16. You had to be 18, back then to play in the clubs. And I was playing drums for my brother's band called driver, and, yeah, that translated into a few years of doing that. And during that time, there was this place called the Agora ballroom where all the bands used to play. And back then, I used to see Johnny Depp perform there in a band called the kids. And, you know, I was 17 years of age and and what I had met these two French girls that said, Come on, we have to go. You have to go see Johnny Johnny Johnny. You know, they talked about the johnny johnny johnny, right? They were from Quebec, and there were some dancers. They were dancers that. So I went with them one night, and there he was, you know, before all the hoop, love, Hollywood and all that. And so Ryan

Chuck Shute: 6:09

foresight there at that point too. Then, because I think he told me that he knew Johnny Depp before he became a movie star. He had seen him in the music scene. So is this around the same time? Yeah,

Oni Logan: 6:21

those guys would come through, those guys would come through and play. But are you talking about being in the same band?

Chuck Shute: 6:31

Well, I just thought that scene is that, like, That's Brian Forsythe of kids. Like, was it? Yeah,

Oni Logan: 6:41

absolutely, they were playing at that at the gore ballroom back then as well. So he was around at that time. Yeah, he would have run it. Ran into him at that time as well. Yeah, yeah. He took over Mitch Perry's place. He was in a band called the kids. So I saw Johnny with the band called The kids, and Mitch Perry was in there before that, but then Mitch had left to to New York to do a few recordings.

Chuck Shute: 7:10

I think of Johnny Depp as a guitar player back then. Were you pretty amazed?

Oni Logan: 7:15

Well, I, I only saw him as a musician. You know, he was up there doing his thing. You know, he had this new wave haircut and this dangling earring. And, you know, all the girls were on his side. So you knew something was happening there already, before the whole Hollywood hoopla. And then, you know, of course, you know, I would hear later that they had moved to, they went to LA, you know, whatever it was a year or something like when I was 18, or something like that, and that they moved to LA and they tried to make it as a band, and that didn't, you know, that didn't lead into anything, but he ended up meeting up Nicholas's Cage's Nicholas Cage, and became friends with him. And Nicholas introduced him to his, uh, agent, and then that's how that started, right? But, yeah, he was a musician

Chuck Shute: 8:06

at first. He was back in the musician right now, he's playing with Alice Cooper and stuff, which is

Oni Logan: 8:11

wonderful, wonderful for him. I'm glad that that happened to him, for him, as a matter of fact, because that's where he started. That's where he that's what he wanted to be, you know, the whole actor thing just turned into being that just by by fault, by default, basically.

Chuck Shute: 8:28

But so back to you. So how did you you never played in cover bands, so you learned how to write lyrics and stuff. How did you learn how to sing? Though? Did you take lessons or you just self taught?

Oni Logan: 8:39

No, I just was doing it on my own. I just love, you know, the the idea of singing. And I loved singers out there, anywhere from Paul Rogers to Rod Stewart, you know, you know, Robert Plant, of course. I just, you know, love the idea of just, you know, getting up there and, you know, singing, you know, some, some, some songs. You know, how it translated for me was just by putting the needle down on the LP and singing along with these fellas. So Rod Stewart's, Beck's, you know, the Beck album, the first album, Rock me, plimsl, Plimsoll, you know, all that stuff, as well as Rod Stewart, well, I just mentioned that, but as well as Paul Rogers albums and stuff like that, and did other bad company albums. And it just happened that I just had a natural feel for it and a natural, natural voice for it. So I just continued doing it as as just, just to do it as fun. And it came about the time when we couldn't find a singer for the band. My brother decided to stop singing. And we wanted to get a lead singer, so we looked around for a year and we couldn't find anybody. So my brother said, Just get up to the microphone and just start doing your thing, because it'll be easier to find a drummer than to sing. So that's how that all started. So I, shortly after that, was asked to join a band called Diamond rose. They were an original band in South Florida, and so I had to put pen to paper right away and learn this thing, this new deal about writing your own song. So I started deeply getting into that, and did some shows with them. And then shortly after that, this band called defiance asked me to join and another original act, and quite good, quite good, of banned, and I think ultimately, we would have probably done something if I had not gone to California. But that's another story. But yeah, the calling from California was a whole other thing for an audition for what would it happen was some young woman by the name of Beth Nussbaum from from a magazine called Roxy magazine, had been in Florida, and she was the editor for that magazine. And she said, Can I tape you on this VHS tape? I said, Sure. So that tape landed in California, in to Wendy deals office, and I got a call, a surprise call, this windy deal on the other line. Okay, so I picked it up, and she said, listen, um, our rough cut is going to be auditioning singers, and we'd like to fly you out. So I did. So here I am arriving in California and being picked up by limo, palm trees everywhere. So it was very, very cool. I got there, met Paul Shortino, first rock guy, vocalist that I met. Well, let me back up. That's the second guy. The first guy was Ronnie James deal.

Chuck Shute: 12:04

It's amazing, but so,

Oni Logan: 12:07

so here I am in California, and Paul said, let's, let's go out to dinner, and tomorrow you're audition. So I auditioned. Didn't get the band The the gig and but they were set on this cat from Shark Island. I think his name was Richard black, yeah, that's right. They were set on him, right, right, right. So they were set on him. They told me, Listen, you were talking to Richard black and and so forth. And I think they might have done something small with them. But then that turned shortly quickly into jailhouse, which Rough Cut disbanded. And so that was, that was my first introduction. Shortly after that, I get a call from racerx, which was the highly technical band that we all know about, Paul Gilbert and Bruce bouillier, but Paul had just left, and they brought this cat in the Chris Arvon, so anyways, I went back to Florida. Didn't get the rough cut gig, but I got shortly after that, I got a call from racerx, and so I flew out for that. They had gotten this guitar player. Chris arvan, I went down to the rehearsal room, and, man, I was blown away by, you know, the technicality of what these guys had. And Scott Travis on drums was, it was, it was heavy, you know. And I think possibly why I was offered the gig, you know, John alvaretti, another main person in my life that had got me to point A to point B, you know, I just thought that there was no room for me in that I don't know, as a vocalist. So, I mean, I just thought that, I thought it were just too musical for me, and I wanted to just simplify, have simple songs, but, you know, at with an edge.

Chuck Shute: 14:03

So was that when you went to mark Ferrari's band, yeah, at

Oni Logan: 14:07

the same time, while I was out there, Wendy had told Mark about me because she said, You know, I don't know why Rough Cut didn't choose, you know, I really enjoyed your, you know, your audition. I thought you were the guy. But I'll tell you what, I'm going to keep in touch with you. So Wendy had brought up my name to mark because Mark was looking for a singer. So while I was out there, I get a call shortly after that, from Mark Ferrari from peel, and he mentioned, listen, I'm putting a new band together, and I'd like for you to come out and check it out. So here we are again being flown out to Florida, I mean, to California, and I'm hitting it with Mark and these new guys from all around, all different bands that have done a little something or another. Eric Gammons came from. My Pete, Pete ways wasted and a few other the drummer came from some other band I don't remember, but anyway, so he offered me the gig. So I found myself flying back out and living with mark off of poinsettia right across the street from Rock and Roll Ralph's, where everybody used to go shopping. All the musicians there on Sunset. And, yeah, we roomed up for for a year and a half, got a deal on MCA. You know, those times were great, you know. And I mean, everything was new. Hanging out with Mark was great. Hanging out with these young, you know, with the young fellas was great, doing the deal, you know, going to the rainbow when everything was still just, you know, vibing, you know, there was a heavy vibe in the air of of goodness, of fun. And so we had, you know, collected some songs together, and got, had gotten signed to MCA Records. And that's when George Lynch came around by, you know, just by by the mere chance of John already saying, hey, look, this is the guy you want to get in touch with.

Chuck Shute: 16:18

So basically, within a period of what, like a year or two, you had offers to try out for rough cut Racer X mark Ferrari's band and lynch mob. This was all like, within a very short period, right within

Oni Logan: 16:31

here, basically it was just like one thing after another, and it was just happening so fast, which was, which was surprising, it, but I was, I welcomed it, you know, so it would just, it just had it was just meant to be that way. It's

Chuck Shute: 16:46

crazy because you started off as a drummer and then fell into singing. It's not like you knew at a young age that you had this talent, because when I listened to you sing on lynch mob and stuff, I mean, it blows me away, like your range and everything, and it's like, you're such a good singer, I could see why all these bands were going after you, but you didn't. Do you not figure that out yourself at that point? It took a little longer. Or did you get better?

Oni Logan: 17:12

Yeah. I mean, I got better by doing you know, and just by listening to these singers that I love so much, you know. And you know, emulating them a bit, until I found my style, my own zip code, which I tend to call it, you know, I tend to call singers that I can identify right away, having their own zip code. So I always aspired to try to get that, to find that, as well as being a lyricist and trying to, you know, come in from a different angle, not your usual angle, or something that you've already heard before from a lyricist. So, you know, it just by doing. It was just by doing, just like digging deep, you know what I mean, trying to translate the what I was saying in the lyrical content. So that's how it came to be, that that it just progressed and got better and better with time, I think probably possibly right now is my best time as far as connecting my lyric with my soul and being able to do the right phrasing for that right lyric, particular lyric, you know, yeah,

Chuck Shute: 18:22

so when Lynch calls you, does he have to convince you and sell you because you're already in this band with Mark Ferrari. I mean, did you feel like any sense of obligation to stay with Mark Ferrari, or did he understand like, No, you got to take this opportunity, because this is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

Oni Logan: 18:39

I would say that would be it. He says, You need to be with us, man, this is, this is the, you know, this is the right platform for you to jump off of, you know, I'm giving it to you on a plate, you know, of course, the money that, you know, twisting my arm with the money of it, it helped, you know. But so, you know? I mean, I had to, like, wait out. It was very simple and easy for me, you know. I mean, you know, try to make it with this baby band, with the New Deal, or have joined a platform, join a guitarist who was at the pinnacle of his career, at the pinnacle of his popularity in Japan and worldwide. I mean, you gotta understand, this guy was a mega rock star in Japan, you know, as well as here, everybody wanted to know what he was going to do next, coming from, what is it? Back back up the live album, the last thing they had done, so I it was a no brainer for me. You know what I mean? I said to myself, well, you know, you have this great platform that you can try Jack trijet from and and try to do something. Okay with with this and, and it just, I just made a decision, you know, of course, that didn't, it wasn't very likely, taken from Al teller, from MCA, or the band themselves. You know, I felt like I broke some hearts there, and I broke, you know, I left with a broken heart too. But I had to do this. I had to take this opportunity for myself, because it was a matter of, yeah, having that, you know, being introduced to the masses at a quicker speed. So I did my best with that. And so given that opportunity, I said, Yeah, let's, I'm all in. Let's do it. Yeah, and

Chuck Shute: 20:41

that you made an amazing album. That first album, wicked sensation, was great. So you wrote and recorded that in like, an industrial kind of building that was used, being used as a church or something,

Oni Logan: 20:52

that's right, I was a Christian Science church. It shortly became something else i We experimented in there, writing songs. I experimented as well in the writing there. It turned into something differently, different in there. I made it my own. As far as you know, we made we came in there and set up the whole band, the PA and everything, put an eight track in there, half inch tape, and we just started coming up with the material. But, you know, to back up from that, you know, George and I started off writing together when he would come over to the apartment that they had set me up in. So we had a, you know, we had a little foundation. We had gone to this gentleman's house by the name of Danny Poole, on top of a hill, this huge White House and on in Scottsdale,

Chuck Shute: 21:50

and, oh, Arizona, that's where I am now. Okay,

Oni Logan: 21:54

so 1989 they, they set me up right by the princess Hotel, which, yeah, there was nothing there, right? And it was like an oasis. I mean, I could have well, very well been in Morocco or something. So it was a perfect setting for me to write these lyrics and do these songs with George. You know, you can hear it on dance of the dogs, you know, you got that Marrakesh kind of vibe. You can hear it on she's so evil, you know, and so forth, so, but so it was a perfect setting for us to do this writing for this album. Like I said, George was on fire at at his pinnacle, and what he was giving me, introducing to me. So here we are in the studio at Danny Poole's place up on the mountain, and we're recording this little demo with Mick. And so here's George in the garage. He goes, Hey, man, I got this new idea. Check this out. Come on in here. So he busts out wicked sensation. So I'm going, Holy shit, you know, I've just been given, you know, the the keys to the kingdom here, because he's just every riff that he was introducing to me was, you know, it was, it was, it was a gem, you know. So I had great stuff to work with and, and that's, that's how that magic of that album transpired and became, you know, one of these albums that you can still put on and listen to today. You know, whether it be the production sound of it, the writing, the performance. It was a great time to be in that situation with George and Mick,

Chuck Shute: 23:38

yeah. So Max Norman was the producer? What did he add to the production? In terms of, did he help with the arranging at all? Was it more just sonically, he added things, or,

Oni Logan: 23:51

I think his role was more Sonic. In the sonic department, as the recorder and mixer of the album, which, hands down, he did a fantastic job. He did have an involvement on a writing credit with writing credit with river of love. So hats off to max Norman on that. But he was very instrumental in making and creating a sound for us, taking it, be it via the drum track sound being recorded one on one with the PA. So what you would do is Mike the PA from a distance in this huge room, like a basketball courtroom. And that's what Mick was working with. You know, George had, you know, whatever he wanted. We had an endless budget, um, and it was, you know, his, his job was to get the sound of the band and also create a sound for the band. And he did that because we just wanted it to sound live, you know. And. And gutsy, and have a lot of punch. And so that's what he gave us. That's what he got for us. I mean, the guy was fantastic. I mean, most mixers, you know, you would think, you know, they like to mix very low, you know, he would throw them up on the 740 sevens, and, you know, crank it up and, you know, get a vibe and move with it, and then bring it down. You know, it was total rock and roll. Max Norman, yeah,

Chuck Shute: 25:24

wow, that's cool. So, and then Anthony Esposito, the bass player on this album, I'm told that you were the one that pushed for him to play bass. Did George want someone else? Or what was the story there?

Oni Logan: 25:38

No, I pushed for Anthony. We had auditioned quite a few bass players out there. We flew out quite a few, some that are known, some that weren't known. Anthony on a spectrum wasn't known that much, but I discovered his his package, his demo that he sent in, and I don't know it was something that I kind of, I kind of gravitated towards, what, what, what you know is, you know, audition tape was, I talked to him on the phone, and then we had him out, we brought him out. And the thing that I connected with Anthony was that he enjoyed the stuff from the UK. He enjoyed the stuff that was, you know, a little bit more edgier from New York. And I, I gravitated towards that because I knew with Anthony having we're a bit younger than the other two fellas. You know, I think whatever, by 10 or 11 years. And I thought that possibly, and he had some great, you know, creative ideas as to how we can move this band in a in keeping the direction of rock and what George and Mick are known for, but maybe veering it a little bit away, where it's a little bit more interesting, and bringing a little bit more psychedelic sound to it, a little bit more of a UK, New York vibe, edgier vibe to it. So that's how I connected with Anthony on that. And I pulled for him for those reasons, because every other bass player were, you know, pretty much, you know, still, you know, la kind of, let's, you know, let's rock, kind of, you know, kind of guys

Chuck Shute: 27:31

Gotcha. So then you guys do tours with Queens, right? And Cinderella and Tom Kiefer. Did you learn things from those tours, because you're still relatively new at singing at this point. I mean, did you get tips from Jeff Tate and Tom Kiefer in terms of stage moves or vocal tips, or any of those kinds of things?

Oni Logan: 27:53

Well, I'll tell you, Tom Kiefer was an absolute great guy, professional every night that he you know, those guys sounded dynamite every night. Cinderella was, you know, King in my eyes. As far as him giving me any tips, I really didn't look towards him to that for that, when I would say hi to him before they would go on stage, he would have a beard. He goes, I'm just getting ready for them, you know. And so he was, they were great, great guys. As far as Jeff Tate, those guys were like a machine on the European tour. I appreciated what they did. He used to, he used to be do some funny stuff, like he'd come by the dressing room and sing river of love, the chorus to river of love with his operatic voice. So it sounded a little funny, but he never sat with me to give me any tips. You know, the main the person that did that with me who was like the master that I looked up to, was the great Ronnie James deal, who I met in 88 in Florida at West Palm Beach auditorium. I met him. I had the chance of meeting him. And, you know, I went backstage and talked to him about the voice, and this is before I made that full commitment to moving out to LA. We talked about the voice, and for a good hour, he gave me his time so graciously. And he said, Why don't you come over, you know, meet us at the the bar at the Hilton. So okay, so I went there next and we talked some more. He says, So what are you going to do? And I said, Well, I'd like to be a recording artist, and I'd like to tour the world. And he says, Well, that means that you'll have to move to California, because it'll it's easier, you know, to get that done. So I said, Well, I don't know anybody in California. He says, what do we do now? So he gave me his number, and shortly after becoming, you know, the singer. For, you know, Ferrari and Wendy was managing the band, of course, so that helped. We, we struck up a relationship to the point where we became assembly, years, you know, up until, yeah, well, that would

Chuck Shute: 30:20

make sense that why? Then how you would love being his disciples. As far

Oni Logan: 30:24

as voice, he he definitely, when I was recording the demo for Ferrari, he just killed me. He simply killed me. He says, you know, just a little hard at me, little harder, little harder, you know what I mean? So he got the best out of me. So I think, I think he served his role as, as, as, yeah, as as a master of guiding me in different places and giving me good tips. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 30:58

that's cool. So then you ended up leaving after the first album with lynch mob, from what I understand, it wasn't, didn't sound like a lot of drama, just that you were younger at the time. You know, they were older, and it was just tough for you to kind of handle the dynamics of being in a band. And it was maybe overwhelming to be on stage in front of that big of a crowd, that young. Is that what it was?

Oni Logan: 31:22

Yeah. I mean, I had some problems during the tour where, you know, it was just, it was just so hard for me to get above George's wattage of decibels that he was trans putting out, you know what I mean, to the point where I'd walk over to the side of the stage and my whole brain would rattle, you know, is it was, it was something fierce. So he didn't have much mercy on on me back then, over time and over the years, he he's become quite, quite, you know, you know, accommodate quite a bit, but I think that ultimately, I just possibly wasn't taking care of myself the way I should have. I mean, I've gotten it so quick, it's so fast, that I was enjoying the ride and wasn't getting enough rest out there. And, you know, doing all the, you know, rock star things that one does, so that tended to, you know, have wear and tear on me. So in the end, we had a meeting, and I never got a, you know, a notice or letter being fired. We had a meeting, and we talked about it, but I knew, for me at that time, I was like, Well, I'm sort of, I'm, I feel like I'm, you know, being cornered here. So I decided to respectfully leave. And so I did, and shortly after, I got, you know, a deal with Atlantic Records for this new project that I wanted to do, violets, demise. But again, I'm sorry I lost my train of thought. So your question, yeah,

Chuck Shute: 33:15

I know, just so interesting too, because when you look at like the lynch mob history, you're kind of in and out of the band several so it's just interesting. Because I don't, I don't know how that goes. Like, is it a thing? I don't assume that it's like, this dramatic, like, you're fired, or I quit, and then, like, they call you back. I think, is it more just of a casual thing? Like, Hey, do you want to join on this tour or this album, and then you kind of just do it whatever fits your schedule. Or how does that work, that you're in and out so frequently. Well,

Oni Logan: 33:43

let me back up again. I mean, for the second album, they snuck me into the studio. Good night. LA studio with Keith Olson. Um, they snuck we got a call, and I was being managed by, like I said, I had already a deal with Atlantic Records. I'm working with Rowan Robertson, who is the kid whiz wonder guitar player, bless his heart, and we get a nice, nice deal on Atlantic Records. We're writing. We're in a rehearsal room with top musicians writing, and we get a call from Good night LA, this is Pete Olson. We'd like to bring oni in to have a listen. So Wendy and I went to the studio, and this is all going on behind Robert Mason's back. I mean, you know, but you know, I you know that I had to go have a listen. So I went in, and I sat there, and then automatically, I heard a voice. But I said, Damn, this sounds like Glenn Hughes singing. So I said, Keith, who's singing? Oh, this is Glenn doing all the guide vocals for the album. I said, this is Glenn Hughes, right. So I. So here I am hearing Glenn, who sounded fantastic on this song. I think it what might have been. Yeah, it was tangled in the web, which would be their, their next single for that second album. And and so I hear this voice, and I said, Well, you know, are, is there any room for any writing in here? And you know, Keith said, no, no, no, the song's already written. It's a done deal, but we'd like to for you to sing on the whole album. So you know, as much as I love that band, I felt that the the sound was gone. The lynch mob to me was the moodiness, the darkness, the psychedelic of what I wanted to transpose in that in that record, in that out that band, the heaviness once I heard the saxophone or whatever it was on tangled in the web, I said, you know, I it's just not appealing to me. It wasn't, it wasn't lynch mob to me anymore. It was a producer's band, and that's what it was. I thought, I think they lost their direction, their Eagle, their Eagle lies, what they lost, and that was me. So, so that so that was that. I mean, they they did well, and they toured, but life was, music was evolving and changing, right?

Chuck Shute: 36:37

Well, yeah, so let's so you end up like you said. You're doing this violets demise, which is now re released. I think it's under the title, Logan Robertson. And I listen to some of this. This is cool. I mean, this sounds like Allison chains, because you've got Dave Jordan, who produced Allison chains, and it's cool. I mean, it's too bad it never got a proper release, because I think this could have been huge for you. I think this could have been, you guys could have been the next house and changed. It's kind of weird that they the studio, or whatever, the record labels shelved it. I don't really understand why they would do that.

Oni Logan: 37:11

Thanks very much. Chuck, yeah, we put that was a labor of love. I mean, what we did with violence demise is that we had the time to create art. So I call it Rock Art, rock you know, or rock art. I wanted to do something different, away, keeping it heavy, keeping it psychedelic, keeping it you know, yeah, more in that unknown area of the unseen area of Sonics and Sonic Adventure. So what we tried to do is build a landscape for me to do what I thought was maybe poetry on there, or the experiences that I was having by traveling and trying to do something like, you know, a piece of music, like a piece of music, but like an art sense to it. So, like I said, we had the budget, and we we had Dave Jordan, who loved the band. I mean, he wanted to do this right from the start. Once he came into rehearsal, he was like, I'm in on this. And he had just finished dirt with Allison chains. And, you know, he had prior history with chili peppers, mother's milk, Jane's Addiction, so forth. And we were in that time. We were in, you know, we, I was coming out of lynch mob rowing at a Dio, you know, and we had to adapt a little bit to this changing of the sound. You know, there was a changing up the guards at the Music stylistically. So I thought, what I want to do with what I had wanted to do with Linch mob I'll do in Violet's demise. So so I had a perfect open palette to do what I wanted to do. The songs were constructed over a two year period. We did nothing but come up with riff after rift in the rehearsal room. Re record on these, you know, on the eight track, find the right musicians. We had a young Scott Coogan who was barely 21 we had Spencer Campbell, who had played with, you know, Sheryl Crow and so forth, and all these people. And so the thing is, is that we did this recording the Atlantic, listened to it, and they go, we don't, we don't hear a single so we went back to try to appease them. And yeah, we recorded two, three tracks, and we thought that we that was the best that we could do without getting too horny or whatever you might reason with. And so we handed those over, and they said, Okay, right, we got what we what we want. And. That time, Atlantic was changing president of the company, and we ultimately got lost in the shuffle. We had no pull. Our ANR guy didn't have any more didn't have the pull to get us through the gate of getting it released, which was a heartbreak, a big heartbreak, after putting all that time in. But as you mentioned, it is a very cool album, sonically, musically, I think it's so diverse and different from what what everybody else, my colleagues or peers were doing, if it would have just gotten a chance, I think we could have been, we could have had a good chance of maybe, you know, touching, you know, touching base with the rest of those cats like Alice and chains and the sound gardens, you know,

Chuck Shute: 40:55

yeah, well, because a lot of bands are not single bands, they're album bands. And, I mean, you got to look at the whole album, and maybe it could have been the second or third where you hit that crazy single. I mean, they got to give band time to grow. But I guess that back then, that wasn't the thought. The thought was, we need hit songs right now,

Oni Logan: 41:14

you're absolutely right. Yeah, they were, you know, the business was changing. You know, they they wanted to hear what they thought would be a single that they could get behind. And, you know, at that time, you know, there were bands putting out singles like Mr. Big, but you know, we weren't that type of band. You know, you're absolutely right, given the sorry,

Chuck Shute: 41:37

it's not even it wasn't a pop band. It was more of a, I think would have appealed to album buyers such as myself. I didn't. I didn't usually buy albums based on the single. It was more the whole band and the feel and the vibe and the whole album. So

Oni Logan: 41:52

absolutely right. We had some room for to to to to do that, you know, if, we would have gotten a chance. But so that was a big, big heartbreak, Violets the mic, but it's out there as as a bootleg these days. It didn't get re released, but at some point it will have its due and get a proper re release. We're just waiting for some time to go by so we can get the the licensing rights.

Chuck Shute: 42:20

Gotcha, yeah, I think you can hear it on people can hear it on YouTube. But so after that, then you took a hiatus, and you moved to Switzerland. Is that where you still live?

Oni Logan: 42:30

No, I don't live up in the mountains anymore. I don't live up in the in the up there in the Alps, but I did move. The music was changing. I had gone back shortly with, with George, for for for a tour opening up for deal. I believe that was 2001 2002 we had Chuck Garret gambas, he's in visto Blanco now. And we had, of course, Jimmy Deanda. And we did a run. And then, you know, music was changing. You know, we were playing smaller places, smaller venues, smaller clubs. I felt that, I felt that, wow, this is sort of miserable to go to Oregon and play in a church, a holy church out in the woods, which has become a heathen, mystic place of a venue. So I just thought that it was just getting kind of just strange for me. The whole scene, everybody was, you know, the element of the music was changing very rapidly. So I decided, well, you know, I'll go to Europe. So I did, and I moved up in the pre Alps. And shortly after, I had been contacted by a producer by the name Michael boss, and he just produced the the Michael Shanker album that's coming out, where we're out right now. Um, he said, Listen, I know that I heard that you're here in Europe, and I'd like to work with you, and let's, let's do an album together. So that's what we did. And but I was sitting on a hill, and I was singing, you know, with my acoustic and I was up in the pre ops and looking at this beautiful, you know, wondrous place. And I took on a whole different role of more singer songwriter on this particular album, Stranger in foreign land. And you know, I just followed my heart with anything that I do. As far as music, I just follow my heart and follow my soul where I'm at in that moment in time. You know, I don't like to stay in one place musically, because there's growth, and we should as, you know, I never got into this for the money, you know. I got into it because I love music, and I have the deep respect for the music, and I love when I can grow. As a musician, as a listener, and put out something that resonates with my heart and my soul. So I did this album, which was a bit stripped back, just singer songwriter. I wrote all the songs on an acoustic and a tape recorder, and we had all these musicians perform on it. We had Steve Lukather on it, a lot of top cats from Germany on it, and we released it. We got a licensing deal, distribution deal, we released it. And I got, you know, really, I got slayed over it because, Oh, what happened to his voice? You know? What happened to his voice? You know, he doesn't sing the same, you know? Well, I was just kicking back, man, I was laying back. It never went away. It's just, I would just do following my heart, man. And, you know, to this day, I listened to a lot of singer songwriters, you know, you know, Jackson Brown, you know, I listened to the Allman Brothers. I grew up on all this stuff being a South Florida kid. You know, the South Florida brought, you know, all these guys that were, you know, classic rock guys, which I which I love, yeah.

Chuck Shute: 46:08

So you're proud of that album. I mean, even though maybe some of the fans didn't appreciate it, you had fun with it.

Oni Logan: 46:15

I did, you know, like I said, I was by myself having a j2 100 acoustic tape recorder, and I had my own little studio, and my visual outside was pine trees and mountains, you know. So in I was, I was also creating a family, you know what? I mean. I had my first daughter. It was, there was a lot of love going on in my in my life, you know, and I was sort of settling down because, you know, after, you know, a wild ride with the lynch mob and the experimental side of being dialed summarized. And I was still, I was not a drug addict, but I was a drug artist. So I was sort of like a chemist that utilized certain things to expand my mind. So, oh, really,

Chuck Shute: 47:07

I just had a right before you actually just interviewed the psychologist who's doing all this research with psychedelics and how, you know, psychedelics can help treat addiction and all these things. So is that, were you using psychedelics? Is that were talking about or

Oni Logan: 47:21

I was I did. I did in lynch mob, and I did in Violet's demise. And like I said, it was more of like being a chemist and trying to take something from the outside and draw it into me that I wouldn't have thought about being in just the conscious normal state, so letting my inhibitions go wild a little bit outside of the box, allowed me to come up with some of the harmonies in lynch mob, like unhealth child, or even the vibe, the vibration of it. You know, having that, experimenting with those outside psychedelic things, tabs, allowed me to transfuse that fabric into lynch mob and also into Violet's demise. I used to do a lot of camping and violets demise. I used to do quite a bit of mushroom taking in in violets demise. And so I got into it as a way to find myself in a hole and to make me solid. You know, beyond the alcohol, I left the alcohol and I went that

Chuck Shute: 48:39

way. Yeah. I mean, that could be, that's what this guy's talking about,

Oni Logan: 48:43

like. So in a sense, used it was a healer. For me, yeah, it's he's

Chuck Shute: 48:46

talking about, I mean, this guy's a psychiatrist, and he's using psilocybin to help treat us addiction to smoking, addiction to alcohol, and PTSD all sorts of things. It's really interesting research. You still there? Hello. Oh, hello.

Oni Logan: 49:15

Sorry, we lost each other.

Chuck Shute: 49:16

Oh, well, yeah, I think you're back. Okay. Lost her for a second, but no worries. Yeah, so then, so when did you join the raiding the rock vault thing? Because that that's in Vegas, right? So, like the you had to move to Vegas at some point.

Oni Logan: 49:35

No, I never moved to Vegas. I just stayed with a friend. You know, we they contacted me, and I decided to come out and do that for a couple of months. And that was that basically

Chuck Shute: 49:51

Okay. So then, and then you did Dios disciples. And what is so? What are you working on now, I'm sure that's what everybody wants to know. Are you doing another solo record? Or I. Because lynch mob is they got a different singer now, and I think they're wrapping up the they're done, right? Unless you're going to join it for a finale or something,

Oni Logan: 50:10

the final ride. I, you know, I don't know much about it. All I know is that George seems to be happy, and we have texted, you know in the past about maybe doing another album together, not under the lynch mob moniker, but under just, you know, Lynch and Logan, because that is the essence and the core of the lynch mob sound. So, so at some point, I think we'll, we'll get to it before we turn to dust.

Chuck Shute: 50:44

Wow, that's exciting for fans to hear. I'm sure they would love to hear that, even if it's not called lynch mob. Lynch Logan, I think that sounds better. That gives you a little bit more credence in the in the process. So it's not just his project. It's like you're half of it is what you're saying. So yeah, with the but when he was with the lynch Logan, it would be more of a joint effort, as opposed to just you're a hired gun on George Lynch's project or something. So you'd have more of a say in the songwriting and such.

Oni Logan: 51:11

Here we go. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 51:13

yeah. So, I mean, you would, you would have more of a this is more of a collaboration between the two of you, and not just you're a hired gun for George Lynch's band,

Oni Logan: 51:23

that's right, it would be, yeah, a celebration of what we had done in the past and something new that we could leave the fans with. If it should be a last venture together, I would look forward to it. We'll see if. We'll see if it happens, you know,

Chuck Shute: 51:42

yeah, is there anything else you have in the works, any other projects that you're working on?

Oni Logan: 51:48

Well, I'd like to put something together. I'm at the moment seeking different musicians, you know, interesting musicians that will do something that that's a little bit outside of the box. Oh, is

Chuck Shute: 52:02

that all you can say about that? Or no? Yeah,

Oni Logan: 52:05

no. I mean, they, they're, they're hell, they're great musicians. So something out of the box, meaning experimenting with rhythms, having the guitarist being able to really stretch, having a bass player that can really play fluidly. So it's going to be not your usual thing that you probably hear me doing or expect me to do. It'll be something that is going to be adventurous. I think at this point in time in my life, I have to allow myself to have that, you know, if I don't, there's not going to be any growth. I become, I become bored rather quickly if I stay in the main route of what everybody expects me to do. And I hope that people will come along for the ride, you know, and accept that we all have to grow. You know, I'm I've found giant leaps in the past two years, self wise, individually here, and I know that it's here too as well, that my my longing, my thirst for creative adventure, has never been so high in its pinnacle, what I want to do than now in my life right now?

Chuck Shute: 53:26

Oh, that's exciting to hear. I'm excited to hear it. I love all sorts of different styles of music. So anything that you're going to do, I think will be great. And because, you know, you're older too, you're not you're not 20 years old, and so you just can't do the same thing for your whole life. You want to grow as a person and musically. Yeah. So, I mean, we can wrap this up, but I don't think there's too much more to discuss. But yeah, I was just saying so with this project with George Lynch, this would be more of a joint effort between the two of you, rather than you just kind of being signed on as a hired gun.

Oni Logan: 54:00

Well, I never was signed on in the first place as a hired gun. We were always 5050, in partnership as far as as far as the money and also on a creative level. So that has always remained right from the beginning. That's why we don't you, you'll see me not go out on tour, because that is the deal that we started with, and that's the deal that we normally do when I'm with him, you know, I understand that, you know that, that he has a need to to, you know, go out and make it favorable for him. So that's why, that's why we're probably not working together right now? Well, that is why we're not working together, because it's he'd rather favor playing, paying some some fellas a fee instead of sharing the loot.

Chuck Shute: 54:53

Gotcha. So that. But so then, why wouldn't this just be under the lynch mob moniker? Why call it Logan and Lynch. George, because

Oni Logan: 55:01

I think that's the true essence and the core of lynch mob. And ultimately, the brand lynch mob is owned by George Lynch which doesn't favor me at all after doing so many years, so many miles and years promoting his brand and name, it leads me to, you know, I mean, I worked all those years and spent all those miles building his brand, so it doesn't do me any favors, but, you know, it is what it is, you know, it's his name, and I accept it, and that's the way that it goes. But it doesn't favor me when I say I wanted, like to go out and do dates talking to an agent under oni. Logan, oh, oni, it would be great if you could just use the lynch mob name, because you have history. And the promoters know this brand name, and they know that this, this brand name, will bring in clientele,

Chuck Shute: 56:05

so so that, and you've also got this other project that you can't disclose yet, but this is going to be a departure from all that, though,

Oni Logan: 56:13

absolutely, this new departure will be, this new idea of recording will be with some really good musicians that are little bit out of the box. And when I say this, I say this as a positive working around rhythms, polyrhythms and so forth, and being able to stretch vocally into areas that I haven't done before. You know, we're all growing. And as music lovers, we become, you know, our our ears become more expansive, and we tend to draw in from different areas of different cultures, different music that just so widely out there. You know, I'm a big fan of listening to all types of music. And so like, you know, I'm no longer 20, I'm no longer 30, I'm no longer 40,

Chuck Shute: 57:09

right? So when is this new project coming out? Do you have a release date or No,

Oni Logan: 57:14

I don't have a release date. I'm just talking to a few musicians right now, and they're all rather well known, and they know my history in rock, you know, sometimes they go, Oh, he's a meddler, you know? But it's not true, because, you know, I can sing the blues. I can cut up the rug with soul music. I'm pretty versatile as far as my voice works. So there's been an acceptance from their side, which is nice to know that they're willing to work with me. So I won't name the musicians right now because I'd like to for it to become into fruition before it before I announce anything? Okay,

Chuck Shute: 58:01

cool. So you got that project. You got the collaboration with George Lynch. Anything else on the horizon?

Oni Logan: 58:08

Well, nothing on the horizon. I did an album. I did release an EP last year. It was called the cosmic trust sessions. You can find that at oni, Logan official.com that's available for purchase. It's a four song EP. You can check me out on my all my socials, and you'll be queued in as to what's the latest.

Chuck Shute: 58:32

Okay, well, thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it.

Oni Logan: 58:35

Thank you, Chuck. I appreciate it. Nice talking to you.

Chuck Shute: 58:38

Yeah, you too sorry for the technical difficulties, but I think we got past it.

Oni Logan: 58:44

We got past it, and sorry about that too as well.

Chuck Shute: 58:47

Okay. Well, thanks so much. We'll be in touch.

Oni Logan: 58:50

Take it easy. Okay, bye. Bye.