Last update: February 14, 2002
(Scroll down for Interview)

Here's the latest update from Jeff....

We (Night Ranger) now have new management, Jim Della Croce, out of Nashville,
a new booking agency, ICM out of New York and L.A.  Our manager also owns a publicity
company, so we should see a heightened level of visibility this year, as well as some TV appearances.  We are planning to work as much as we can this year,
so watch out America and beyond!
(Go here for 2002 Night Ranger tour dates)

Personally, I've just started work on my first film project,
(outside of Nash Bridges type TV stuff) and will be scoring the music for
a documentary about the advent of rock climbing from the '30s to present day.  
It's very exiting for me, and as an avid hiker and California native,
it's almost all about the growth of Yosemite Valley. 

I'm starting my third solo record (rock) and it will be mostly all the songs (and singer)
from the "Jeff Watson Band" in the '70s.  It's the material we were about to get signed
with before I left to start Ranger.  I will soon be up with JeffWatson.com and it should
be lots of fun.  All in all, my spirits are high and I have great hopes for this year!

Thanks, Jeff!

Past Jeff News.....

The picture on the CD has a story behind it....

"The raven's name is Poe. She is the daughter of Edgar and Ellen who have been our
pals for years. Ravens mate for life and after a few months chase away their young.
We were able to feed Poe by hand before she left! The parents are much too wild
for that, but they'll fly in and land right next to us for feeding.
The bear is a 6'4" chainsaw / handcarved redwood on my front deck.
I took the picture from the window in my family room.
 P.S.:  The ravens have been nesting and we expect a baby real soon!!"

Be looking for more solo material from Jeff in the future, as well as more Mother's Army.  
He's currently working on a classic instrumental solo album and along with
Bob Daisley, Joe Lynn Turner and Aynsley Dunbar, another Mother's Army
release will be forthcoming.  Stay tuned for info as it becomes available!

More Past news.....

Jeff also had this to say about some other side projects he's been busy with:
"I've been doing some work with 'Nash Bridges' on C.B.S.  I've placed 6 or 7 songs on the
show and was in the show twice (cast as a guitar player- it was a real stretch!!)
Also, I've been doing some work here at the house in my studio with Don Johnson on some
of his songs. Don's actually a good singer and writes some cool stuff!!"
**Jeff filmed another episode of Nash which aired April 30th.**

The songs that have been on Nash Bridges are:
"Mountain Cathedral" and "Osaka Rocka" from Jeff's solo album, Lone Ranger.
"Anarchy "and "Cradle to the Grave" from Mother's Army.
Plus, Jeff has written 4 other songs with the music director especially for the show.

Night Ranger was part of the "Rock Never Stops" tour with Ted Nugent,
Quiet Riot and Slaughter from July through September 1999 in the states.
They rocked their way through more than 40 cities!

A Conversation with Jeff Watson
June 15, 1998

I  recently had an opportunity to talk with Jeff and get an update on what's going on in his world.....and there's certainly a great deal happening with him right now!  Everything from the release of two records (Night Ranger's "Seven" and Mother's Army's "Fire on the Moon") to touring this summer with Night Ranger and enjoying a family of ravens that have taken a liking to what Jeff has been feeding them!  
Read on and discover what Jeff is currently up to......

Amy:  I really appreciate you taking the time to do this, Jeff. This is going to be a lot of fun for me and I hope it’s fun for you, too.

Jeff:  Absolutely!

Amy:  Well, you’re getting ready to head to Japan later this month, right?

Jeff:  Yeah, we just finished two records. I just finished Mother’s Army - the third record - and "Seven"...

Amy: Right. Well, let’s jump right into "Seven"....

Jeff: Yeah, I was just rehearsing this afternoon, getting ready for the shows. I was just on the phone with Kelly working on the intro tape for the Japanese tour. We’ve gotta rehearse up at Jack’s starting Thursday. Our tour manager and the crew are flying in....I’ve been rehearsing the songs, we’ve been going over the set list and picking out the songs we’re going to take out and the new stuff we’re going to put in.

Amy: Can you tell me any of the new stuff you might be putting in that we can look forward to hearing this summer?

Jeff: Actually, in America, off the new album you’re probably going to see Sign of the Times which is going to be the single for radio....the first song. And you’ll see Panic in Jane in there....and Sea of Love.  On that song, I talked to Brad earlier today...I think we’re going to try and work out some stuff. We’re taking "Eddie’s Comin’ Out Tonight" out of the set and "Night Ranger"...we’ve played them so much and they’re a little dated. We need space also for new material. We’re gonna try and extend "Sea of Love" and try and do some guitar solos...work out some trade-offs at the end of that and stretch that one out a little bit. I think we’re going to put "Coming of Age" in maybe...

Amy: Are you going to keep any of the songs from Neverland in the set?

Jeff: In Japan, we’re doing "New York Time", "Neverland" and "Forever All Over Again". In the states, I’m not so sure...we don’t know yet. We have to shorten the show up from Japan. We’ve got to pull something, we don’t know what yet, we haven’t gotten together...we’ll find out by this weekend. Our first show is Sunday night in the states. We’re doing 3 warm-up shows....

Amy: That’s right. You’re doing some shows in California...

Jeff: We’re doing Concord and then we’re doing The Edge in Palo Alto and then up at Petaluma.

Amy: Yeah, a lot of people on the NR mailing list in that area have been making plans for those shows...you should have a good crowd.

Jeff: For me, I like to be well prepared so, I’ve been going through the set and doing a lot of guitar playing, but I’ve been playing constantly anyway for the last year...except for breaking my ribs and my wrist.

Amy: Yeah, I heard about the broken ribs and wrist incidents...glad you’re healthy now!!

Jeff: Yeah, I was going to try and water ski yesterday afternoon...<g>...I drove to Sacramento instead yesterday and saw the water, it was beautiful!

Amy: And you were dying to get out there....

Jeff: Yeah, I might do some skiing on the road. I water ski with Brett Wing...I learned from him and he’s considered like, the best water skiier in the world, overall...he’s in Australia. I taught him how to play guitar and he essentially taught me how to slalom ski!

Amy: That’s a great trade-off!

Jeff: Yeah! I’m not real great, but I got good pretty quickly because I had the best guy in the world teaching me and I gave him guitar lessons. But actually, this year....here’s my thing this year...I’m taking on a tennis racket because Heidi and I play tennis...we play these doubles tournaments together. I’m not real good; she’s real good. So I’m going to take my tennis racket out and see if I can find games on the road.

Amy: That’s good...you have to have some free time when you’re on the road, too.

Jeff: Absolutely! And it’s just such a fun thing to do. Maybe we can find people in cities that wanna play. Call in a local tennis pro, trade him a ticket for a game or something!

Amy: Hah! That’ll work! Well, I have the import of "Seven" and I just love it....I think it’s great. Did you guys attack this new album any differently than Neverland or any of the previous Night Ranger albums?

Jeff: Well, we didn’t have (Ron) Nevison in there so it was more of a studio free-for-all....ah, not a free-for-all but it wasn’t constructed in the same manner that Neverland was. Nevison has a specific way that he works, that he builds a record and uh....this one...we attacked it more like we attack our rehearsals or our demo recordings.

Amy: A lot less structured, then?

Jeff: Well..there’s structure to it...it’s more...experimental and try things out. Because it was self-produced and we did all of our....you know..it was a little freer in the studio. I mean, it’s not better or worse, it was just different. We demoed a lot of the stuff at Jack’s before we cut the record so quite a bit of it we had....uh...almost half of it we had already recorded in some fashion, so we had an idea of structure.  So that when we came to record it again...you know....because I came home and came up with ideas for solos and parts...and we woodshedded. So I think that made a difference.

Amy: During the writing/recording process, how do you and Brad decide who will play which solo?

Jeff: Well, during the writing process, I was DOA. I was not to be found...

Amy: Yeah, it’s noticed on "Seven" that you have no writing credits....

Jeff: I didn’t...I mean... I came back and wrote the Mother’s Army record with Bob and Joe Lynn and then I broke my ribs and then I broke my wrist and I was out of commission completely. Brad was going up to Jack’s and I was laid up and I tell you what.....don’t *ever* break off 3 ribs! They were not just broken, they broke off. Fortunately, I didn’t puncture a lung or my heart and that was the concern. And they don’t wrap them or anything...all they do is tell you don’t laugh, don’t breathe....don’t...

Amy: Don’t move...

Jeff: Yeah...there’s very little you can do. That was unfortunate because I had some real good ideas, but we’ll save them for the next record!

Amy: Yes! Save them for the next record!

Jeff: With regard to the solos...in this case, some of the times when Brad was coming up with the structure of the guitar parts, if it was going to look like it’d be best to have him play those parts live, it would be pragmatic to have me play the solo over them. So on a couple of things we’re going to be doing that and that’s how we structured the record. At other times, it’s just...generally, I follow him. He builds the first half of the solo and then I take it out. Almost always...that’s always been our....

Amy: Yeah, that’s the way you two work together....

Jeff: Yeah! He starts off and builds it to a certain point and I take it from there and take it out. That’s always seemed to work out for us. On the songs where we do individuals, if the style of the song fits his style of playing...after playing together for so damn long, we all obviously know who plays well in certain musical passages. And you know...we’re at the point now, whether I don’t care whether I solo on a song or not because we all have so many outlets to expose our playing.

Amy: Right...and the acoustic....the acoustic is a little bit heavier-hitting on "Seven". It seems to be much more prominent on several of the songs..."Panic in Jane", "Peace Sign", "Mother Mayhem" - which is my personal favorite. <G>

Jeff: Actually, we were thinking about doing that, but we’re not going to do an acoustic set on the road this year, I don’t believe. I think we’re just gonna rock straight through. We did the acoustic set so much in the last couple years that I think we’re just going to play it straight through. But that can always change. Things always change...you never know!

Amy: Are you doing most of the acoustic guitar in those songs?

Jeff: Actually on the song, "Mother Mayhem" , the guy that wrote it with Jack came in and re-played the intro.

Amy: Right. Pat McDonald....

Jeff: Pat McDonald, yeah, which was real cool because he had a real feel for his own song. When they cut the songs, Jack would cut some of the acoustics and I went in and replaced them and enhanced them. I also played over a couple of the ones that Brad had done. On "Crazy World", that’s Brad playing acoustic...and then that’s me playing acoustic on "Panic in Jane"...and we did all kinds of additional parts, I mean....to try and microscopically separate it...that’d be tough! But yeah, we all did a lot of playing of all kinds of different stuff....I don’t know if I did any slide on this record but...electric 12 string stuff and we matched all the rhythm parts...the acoustic parts were doubled. We even kept Jack on...I forget which song it was...Jack played acoustic guitar on it.

Amy: I was wondering if he was playing on "When I Call on You"...

Jeff: I played all that.

Amy: Well, you were talking about the outlets that you have....everybody has other outlets and like you mentioned, one of yours is "Mother’s Army". You have a new CD out.. "Fire on the Moon" .

Jeff: Yeah, have you heard it?

Amy: I’ve heard a couple of tracks...I don’t have it yet...it’s on order...I hope to get it soon!

Jeff: That is...I mean, I’m really, really jazzed over that record. I don’t know if it’s going to ever do anything with regard to commercial success, but it’s one of the best records I’ve made.

Amy: You’re really pleased with that, then...how that’s turned out?

Jeff: Really pleased with it. The ensemble....it’s just such amazing playing. I mean, I’m really lucky to be in two bands. I have a great pop band, which is Night Ranger and I have this hard rock band - Mother’s Army. Aynsley Dunbar is the drummer now...

Amy: Oh, Aynsley Dunbar - great! Old Journey member...

Jeff: Yeah....

Amy: Are you going to continue with them...put out some more CD’s?

Jeff: I sure hope so. As long as there’s interest, we keep writing. Bob and I love to write that stuff and we take more of a social commentary than we do in Night Ranger. Mother’s Army is more social...more earth-conscious, I guess. Bob and Joe are real clinicians of a better place to live and wanting people to get along and all....

Amy: More positive messages in the songs...

Jeff: Absolutely. So I think you’ll find a lot of that on "Fire on the Moon". It’s a lot harder record than the second album - the Planet Earth album.

Amy: Now, you’ve worked with a lot of other artists...

Jeff: Oh yeah...all kinds...

Amy: Do you feel that working with a diverse group of people brings out a different style of playing for you?

Jeff: Yeah! I think if you have only one style of playing, you’re not going to get to play with a diverse bunch of people because when I go in...for example; when I go to play on Chris’s (Isaak) albums....he requires a different type of playing...much more laid-back, much less featured, but also real catchy and they have to all be hooks on their own. Or I just go in and I correct Chris’s playing. <laughter>  Anyway...he’s great...they’re a fun bunch of people! I also go in and do studio sessions around here with just 12-string layering pieces or finger picking stuff and it makes me more driven to expand my horizons as a guitar player. There are just so many things you can do.

Amy: Keeps you creative...and branching out...

Jeff: Yeah, it really does. I get called all the time to go in and do solos on things...I’ve been doing that for so long...

Amy: And you have your solo work, too.... "Lone Ranger" and "Around the Sun"...

Jeff: Yes, I do. And I just started a third one....

Amy: Great!

Jeff: ..which is...mostly a classical approach on steel string. Then I’m going to get, you know, the cello players and the violins and a trumpet player buddy of mine. Maybe put some vocals on a couple....it’s very cool....

Amy: So another branch there...into a different area...

Jeff: Yeah, I think this will be more like the acoustic stuff in the middle of "Lone Ranger"...but it’s better. The guitar playing is all finger picked. The degree of difficulty is very high for me..recording it has been a chore.

Amy: So this is a real challenge for you?

Jeff: Performance-wise, it’s a challenge...the songs are composed and they’re just beautiful. I’ve worked on them for a long time and everybody loves them...they keep going, "Please record this stuff" because I’ve gone out and played it live at benefits. I go up by myself with just a guitar and I play for these crowds and people just love it. So... I tried to and I had to have a great engineer come in - Mark Needham came in, who I’ve worked with on Chris Isaak’s stuff and he helped me get some of the performances down. I’ve got 4 or 5 down and now I have to leave so.....I’ll tackle that in the fall.

Amy: One of the differences between your solo albums is the vocals on "Around the Sun". Including some vocals by you! You have a very good voice, why didn’t you perform all the vocals? Why did you choose to bring in some guest performers?

Jeff: Well, I think when you’ve got a friend like Steve Walsh that can come in and sing the way he does...! <laughter> The song, "Around the Sun" was about my father....and Steve just interpreted it so well. Actually, he called me at one point and wanted to do it as a Kansas song. I wasn’t sure if it was coming out in America or not so we had to put that off. I don’t know....I’ve done some other stuff in the studio that Mike Varney from Shrapnel wants me to release on an album. It’s more like Alan Parsons Project stuff where I sing everything....I don’t know...I just don’t see myself as a singer. I like being behind the scenes a little bit. I don’t like all the attention, to be honest with you....

Amy: Well, you get a lot of attention with being a guitar player...

Jeff: Yeah, but I like having a singer out there. I like supporting everybody...

Amy: And you were doing backing vocals with Night Ranger last year....

Jeff: Oh yeah, I’m doing a lot of singing. You know...that’s actually due to necessity because on the last record as well as the new one....and we haven’t found this out yet, but we’ve been practicing to see how the vocals stack up...but there’s a little more vocal responsibility with the last two records. We have to spread it around and that will come out at rehearsal. We’re all obligated to be singing because of what we put on the record.

Amy: Jeff, you’ve achieved a great deal of success in the music industry. Looking back on your career...I know you’re career is far from over...but looking back thus far; in your opinion, what is the key to success and longevity in the music business?

Jeff: Liking what you do...liking what you hear yourself play or sing, I think. It helps a lot. And then wanting other people to hear it....and then if you get positive feedback...it’s really...it’s better than drugs because you’re touching people with something that just came out of you. It’s hard to explain, but if you write a song...like "Around the Sun"...and everybody that heard it went, "God, it’s just so cool"...and it just touched people...that’s a great feeling! The business part of the music business is the most frustrating side of it. If you split it into two things - the music and the business - the music side is just wonderful because it’s all about emotion. The business side, however, is where you get into the political games and the fighting between record companies...you know...and that stuff...that’s what sucks the life out of you a little bit. It’s that balance that keeps you going. Every now and then just to get a little bit of optimism, a little bit of good news...I find really, really helps.

Amy: It encourages you and.....

Jeff: Yeah! In fact, hearing about this webpage...that really perked me up! I went, "That’s so great!" The people...you know, they still care about this kind of thing!

Amy: Yes, they do, Jeff...I mean....I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the webpage....and Kyle’s Night Ranger mailing list has several hundred subscribers....all of them really jazzed to see you guys back out on the road...and excited about "Seven"...

Jeff: That’s really cool.

Amy: Yeah, and you guys are so good about coming out after the gigs...and you have to know the fans really, really appreciate that...

Jeff: Oh yeah...that’s good!

Amy: That means a lot to the fans. Is there a reason you make that extra effort?

Jeff: You know what...I find myself hanging with real normal people in my life. I don’t hang around other rock stars much. I hang around water ski buddies, the guys I’ve grown up with. I hang around with the road crew guys because I’ve worked my whole life and I really relate more to hard work and that than I do hanging around rock stars...although I have lots of friends who are and movie stars and all that stuff....I generally fall back to hanging around normal folks ‘cause that’s what I think of myself. You know? I mean, I come from Sacramento; I’m just a normal guy and I hang around normal people! I find that to be a lot of fun because there’s nothing more boring to me than a room full of people all talking about themselves.

Amy: Well, I’ve got to ask you one more question....I have to toss a superficial question in here..<laughter> The fans, especially the female fans, have noticed that you look a lot different in the 90’s...specifically: Have you been into weight training? <g>

Jeff: No but I do push-ups....and water skiing. Water skiing kicks my butt! I do push-ups every day and I play my guitar. And I’m trying to get back into water skiing but nobody wants me to!

Amy: Yeah! Just be careful! <laughter>

Jeff: But the day I hurt myself, I was skiing *good*!! <laughter>

Amy: Well, thanks, Jeff....

Jeff: You’re welcome, Amy!

Amy: I really appreciate this....it was great to talk to you....

Jeff: It was nice talking to you!

Amy: And we look forward to seeing you this summer!

Jeff: We’ll see ya on the road!

Editors note:  
Thanks to Ger, Jen and Helen
Special thanks to Kyle and Elizabeth
Extra-special thanks to Ged and....
The biggest thanks of all to Jeff for his time, willingness,
interest, generosity and great stories.