38 Special: Rockin’ Into the Future (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from Part One…

The band’s peak began and sustained once you started writing with Jim Peterik. How did that relationship come about?

Our label at the time was A&M Records; they’re very artist oriented. That’s why we went with them, because they would have patience. They’d have an A&R [Artists and Repertoire] department that would try to help you out, bring you material.

John Kalodner had resurrected the career of Aerosmith and several other bands. Well, the band Survivor – who no one had heard of yet – had done an album, and they had a song called “Rockin’ Into the Night” that they didn’t put on their album. But John said, “This song, it’s got some legs. It might have some potential. Do you think that 38 Special might be willing to try it out?”

At that point, we’d already had the record execs fly out to the studio. They would take us to dinner and all that: “Hey, great to see you!” And then they’d fly back to L.A. and we’d get the call to our manager: they “don’t hear a single.”

And I said to Donnie, “Whatever it takes at this point, because we’re going to lose this record deal if we’re not delivering.” And it was Donnie who made a suggestion that I sing a few songs. It was that kind of thing where it doesn’t matter who carries the ball as long as we’re winning as a team. And so Donnie said, “Why don’t you try?”

We were desperate, so we went to the studio and put “Rockin’ Into the Night” together, and it worked out enough. It was a Top 40 song; it didn’t change our life or anything. But it did open the door to radio a little bit. So that was the beginning of a little road to success.

And then our manager said, “Would you like to write with Jim Peterik, the guy who wrote ‘Rockin’ Into the Night’?” Sure! We flew up to Chicago. Jeff Carlisi and I had several ideas we brought to him.

We didn’t realize he was the 17 year old who wrote a #1 hit, “Vehicle” by Ides of March. I was in high school or something when that came out. But we soon realized this guy was the real deal; he’d already had a long career.

Anyway, we sat at the breakfast table staring at each other, and Jim asked us, “What’s going on with your lives?” I was going through a bad time in a marriage relationship. I had been thinking, “What is it about people that can’t seem to tolerate their differences? They try to change the other one or keep them under their thumb, or they’re jealous of what they’re trying.” I had my little notebook of song lines and titles, and I had written down a title.

So I said to Jim, “What do you think about this title: ‘Hold on Loosely.’”

And he said, “…But don’t let go.” And that’s the first thing that came out. I thought it was an absolutely perfect couplet for that piece of advice. And we were off to the races. Two hours later, we had written our first song together, and it turned out to be the biggest anthemic song of this band’s career. Two hours later!

We wrote a lot of other songs while we were there. But that one, the very first one, was magic. We found the chemistry with him, the three of us.

Does that songwriting partnership continue to this day?

Yes! I was just at his house about a month ago. We’ve got some new songs. The chemistry is still there all these years later. We sat around, went to dinner and had a lot of laughs. We were cranking them out; we’ve got some good stuff coming up here.

We’re putting together a legacy package for our 50th anniversary next year. It’s going to be a box set with one CD of all the hit songs over the years, and then the other CD has new songs and some previously unreleased ones.

I’ve been touring like an animal all these years, and Jim was the one who said, “You’re an artist, you’re a writer. You’ve got to keep at it.” I brought him these ideas; really rocking stuff. We took a little nod back to the old style. We decided, “We’re just going to do what we do. So there’s a little nod to all the melodies and all the great choruses and good bridges and all the good songwriting through the years. And I’m really happy with the songs.

What will the shows on this tour be like?

We’ve lined up all these songs; we bang them up against each other. We take the audience for a ride. We start with an explosive opening, and we keep climbing and climbing. We’ve always gone after it like a football team: we’re out there to win. And when we were an opening band, god help who had to follow you because we were going to throw down. We were going to put everything we got. It means everything to us. And we still go out there like a team, to win.

Years from now, when people talk about the band, how would you like 38 Special to be remembered?

As guys that gave 110%. We always have tried to be the best at what we do. You’ve gotta think you are the best band in the world; that’s what your attitude has to be, and that’s how we always approach it.

It’s funny. We’ll play some of these big fairground grandstands. There’ll be 10,000 people out there. And [in the audience] you’ll see a guy probably my age, and he’s letting himself get old. He brought his wife to the fair, and he’s sitting there with his arms folded.

I’m playing to that guy. I’m gonna transform that guy.

And at the end, that guy is standing up, clapping. And it’s inspiring to him. He thinks, “I know that guy’s my age. If he can do that, I got plenty of life left in me.” Those guys, those naysayers? I play to them. I want to transform them.