The new Hurricane album is out, where did the idea to resurrect the name come from?

Well, for years people have been e mailing and calling , some even begged, but to be honest it was the right time to do it. To do it earlier like in the middle to late nineties we would have been lumped in with a lot of 80's reunion bands and to be honest we didn't want it to be some sort of version of a cheap 80's rehash.

So it's not a nostalgia thing then?

No, we took our time, and Jay and I spoke about it and we would only agree to do it if we found a label who was willing to allow us to have control and do a new record , not demand a bunch of 80's tunes and Frontiers understood that and were willing to let us have that control.

How did you find the songwriting process , did you have to get yourself in a particular state of mind?

No I think it's natural for us. When you do something a lot of yourself comes out in the music plus I think a lot of Hurricane was Jay and myself so it wasn't a problem to continue on even though it's not like the first records, it still has the same song writing focus, the same voice and the same grooves that helped establish the Hurricane sound in the first place.

The new record, even though it is Hurricane it certainly is a little edgier than the previous records, a lot of the eighties feel is gone and replaced with a more modern edge, is this something you were consciously working on when recording?

We wanted to make a more intense or darker record , because in the original Hurricane era there was a lot of pressure to look or conform to a certain specification, this time I think that's why the record came out the way it did, the fact we were in control.

The line up on the new album is a little different than people may remember Hurricane's, no Tony, Robert or Doug, were any of the above considered or approached with a view to playing on this album?

After Slave to the Thrill the label went bankrupt , and that was a major factor in the break up of the band. We were on tour and we literally had no money , no support and couldn't get our record into the stores. To be honest I don't think Doug looked at the band as a permanent place for him to be. Unbeknownst to us, we thought he was committed to us long term. I don't fault Doug for looking out for himself even though we thought he may have hung in a little longer even though ultimately we had nowhere to go. Grunge was coming in, we had no money coming in, no money from album sales even though the record took us a year of our lives to make. Initially we considered getting different people to play and at one point Carlos Cavazo from Quiet Riot was rehearsing with us. It was only ever rehearsal and you know , get together and see if we could work on things but that faded out. We had then chosen Sean Manning back in 1992 and we did do some writing and out of those sessions came 'Heart made of Stone' which is on the new record and when it came time to record this album, we had kept in touch with Sean and Larry (Antonio) over the years and we got on so well together we decided to stick with that line up.

So you borrowed your Unruly Child bassist as well. Actually I was wondering Unruly Child, which you sang on 'Waiting for the Sun' and Hurricane are always the subject of fan adoration, are you fully aware of the impact these albums have had on people?

Well you know , that's hard for me to know because I only get to speak to a small percentage of people. If you look at it logically the people you hear from most are the people who like what you do and buy your records and the majority of people out there don't even know about Hurricane so what we get is a false impression of how good you are .People who like you come up and tell you and those that don't know you pass you by so this positive feedback all the time only comes from a small percentage and invariably that percentage are the ones who like what you do so it's a slightly twisted picture. I appreciate it a lot but I take it with the knowledge that these are only the people that like what I do but what really is more telling is, if 10 million people bought the new Liquifury record then I would be positive that people did like it. It really is hard to see how you are perceived out in the world, but what is more important to Jay and I is making good records that we like without having to try get approval from others. It is nice to be appreciated by people but it's also nice to sell more records.

Sales, record sales ..a pet love of mine, how important are they to you today?

You would always like more people to like your records , then to buy your records and that to translate into a world tour and go out and have fun. In the end you have to make records because you have a need to say what you need to say and regardless of what they are selling. Although we do some records for fun I do this for a living and that reflects on how I feel about how many records I would like to sell. If I gave you a contrast, if I did a record like Pulkas and sold lots and lots and people ate it up it would not be as satisfying for me as Hurricane because it wouldn't be what I need to say.

On the subject of touring , you always looked like a hell of a live band, are you anxious to get out and tour?

Well first off I know the distribution in the USA is going to be incredibly small and there will be a lot more interest for us in Europe, and in Japan however the market for melodic hard rock out there at the moment is really tough. So those things have a direct effect on what you are able to do. They asked us to do the Gods this year and the problem is you get a group of guys together for a few weeks, you rehearse get your gear together and work hard and fly half way around the world for one forty five minute show , it's an impossibility really. We can't tour without the support of a promoter who will take a chance on booking us and I think that's why you don't see a lot of American bands in Europe because it costs a lotta lotta money.

You know a lot of American bands pay the European fans lip service , oh yeah we're coming over, we'll play anywhere when in fact a lot of the time it seems like it's just hassle for them and the really couldn't be bothered

I've heard that before and I think it's a misrepresentation . The bottom line is for anyone in the rock world , playing live is what they want to do most. If they are not coming over to tour there has to be a reason, it is however a really complicated issue. You just can't pack up and head off to Europe to play live and forsake your responsibilities at home. If I was eighteen with only $200 a month of bills then okay I'll up and go. It really revolves around money , they have to make money, the bills have to be paid, hotels , buses, crew etc. so yes it does become a lot of trouble to go half way round the world to play, and that's a huge undertaking for a band that may sell ten to twenty thousand copies on a small label . If it was the eighties where we had management deals, merchandising advances and tour support and all the things that go with a major label deal and the genre was the prime seller of the era , then that's a different story but its' not. I know it's tough for fans to take it in but that's the way it works. We would love to do it but perhaps the best way is a three or four band bill….it's complicated and has nothing to do with music and that sucks! It's not like I have promoters calling me and I have no clue who to call over there.

On the subject of fans , and what they expect, Hurricane have a new record coming out and when some hear it they go, man that's not what I expected to hear, that's not what Hurricane are about?

Well Jay and I are who decides what Hurricane is about, secondly it's impossible to try put myself in the head of some fifteen year old boy in Germany or a twelve year old girl in the North of England to see what either thinks Hurricane is or isn't. I think we have to be the determining factor in what Hurricane is about and hope if they understand what we were in the first place that we are more than dunderheads that just play two chords and that we have a larger musical interest and we want to grow.

The fact that you are involved with Hurricane, Unruly Child and Stuart Smith ..

Well let me interrupt you there , I just did the one record with Unruly Child and to be honest I don't believe there will be another although that would be up to Bruce Gowdy, he's the driving force. He may be doing something with Guy Allison for Frontiers but other than that he's busy doing production and stuff. I sang on the first Heaven and Earth, four songs, but that record was a conglomorate of a bunch of different people but the 'Windows to the World' has it's own identity and Kelly Keeling sings in that band now so I'm no longer part of those projects at this moment in time. Stuart asked me to be involved on the second record and basically be part of a solid line up or a band. He and I spoke and I told him he needed to find somebody who could see it through all the way in as much as whatever touring he was going to do, I just didn't have the energy or time at that point. Stuart is really the leader of Heaven and Earth and I preferred top be in a position whereby I was in control and going in a direction that I wanted to go in.

Well I guess that answers what was going to be my question. Is there anything else you are involved with , is Hurricane your full time band or do you have fingers in other pies so to speak?

Well I'm helping out Michael Guy with the Bourgeois Pigs record, doing some production and some backgrounds and stuff, he lives close by so that's Cool. Richard Black is the singer in that band and he's cool.

They're still playing the Gods, want to come and sing backing vocals?

KH : Hahahahaha….. that wouldn't be good , I'm over qualified for the job..hahaha….it would be fun and Mike and I talk and he goes , hey come over and sing ona couple of songs and I'm like …..well ….naah…you know

So as regards a full time band it's Hurricane then?

Well Jay and I are basically waiting to see. We can't drop everything else and pursue Hurricane if nobody cares. If the record sells 100 copies then what are we doing? We'll see how it goes, it wasn't just a one record deal but we'll have to see how things go and then decide.

So what are your expectations for the album?

If we get a good response , I understand we had a difficulty getting licenced in Japan, not because it's Hurricane, but just that it's hard for rock music in Japan right now and that's disappointing. It would be nice that there could be major label interested for the states, that would be the ultimate surprise.

Do Spitfire etc. qualify as major labels these days?

Spitfire ….no way…EMI or Warners or Atlantic or something

Do you still have Kalodner's number then?

Oh yeah , but he got burnt real bad with Ratt and Great White and it's funny if it worked out it would have been a huge feather in his cap. I gotta hand it to him though, he likes what he likes and he's been like that for twenty years. Being in that business, I gotta applaud him, most A&R guys keep their jobs by not making decisions, if you don't make a decision, you don't lose money and fail, but if you take a chance you could lose money and be fired. You know I worked with CC De Ville for a while and the thing is we never had a break, there was always somebody breathing down your neck looking for another record in the vein of what you did last time especially if you have sold 12 or 15 million records, they want more of the same, exactly the same and that's really frustrating for a creative person who wants to show we can do and that was the great thing with Frontiers, they had very little input, they let us do what we wanted to do. They had seen the work we did in Unruly Child and our track records in general and I think it was a calculated risk that we would come up with a good record.

Eleven tracks on the album, any extras sitting around?

The Japanese version will have an extra track,. There are always other ideas but usually making a record you concentrate on moving quickly so sometimes stuff doesn't get finished or gets left out for whatever reason, too many ballads, to many rockers, whatever but there is extra tracks. They may appear in one form or another, maybe on the next record, who knows.

So finally, the original Hurricane albums are getting harder and harder to get - are there any plans for them to be reissued?

Well I talked to Capitol about it , but like any large corporation things move very slowly with them. One thing they are insistent upon is that they are reissued in their original format , no bonus tracks or such like. As Capitol own the masters I don't think it will be anytime soon but I'll keep banging on the door in the hope of getting the go ahead, some of those records especially the ep are really hard to get. I'd like to get them out but only time will tell.