Former NIGHT RANGER member Gary Moon talks about his stunning new
solo album "Still Moon" and his future project with Brad Gillis...

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GARY MOON - Still With The Pack

The material on your new CD "Still Moon" is a collection of songs you
did in the late 80's with a band named THE PACK. Can you tell us
please more details regarding this band?

Gary Moon: "The Pack was Pete Comita, Curley Smith, Gary Moon, Gaylin
Walker, and Steve Isham. The Pack originally was Moonsparks and when
Chris Sparks left, I called Matt Sorum and he turned me onto Curley
and that's how it started. Curley knew Pete from his stint with Cheap
Trick and Gaylin was just some young kid that I found cause I was
looking for a guitar player. Steve Isham of course was in Autograph.
Steve had seen me play in San Diego when I was in 3 Dog Night and
that's kinda how The Pack got together.
The songs never got released cause we couldn't agree on a record deal
with Atlantic Records. After about 4 or 5 offers, it still wasn't
right and by that time, we were running out of money. Then I got a
call from Brad and Kelly form Night Ranger and they wanted to know if
I'd come and do a jam with them. I didn't know who they were at the
time but I thought it might be fun. So we jammed and we hit it off
really well. After the jam, they offered me an equal partnership in
Night Ranger. I needed the money and the magic was there so The Pack
got put on hold. I always believed in the songs on Still Moon and I
knew someday, I'd record them myself or with another band. And as
you know, I did. With Night Ranger we did "Music Box". However,
the "Still Moon" version is the original version."

Can you please give us some "track by track" comments on the songs
of "Still Moon". Just three of four sentences about the history of
each track...

Still - "Still was written about my belief in never giving up. About
my dream of being successful as a songwriter/performer. I put a love
twist on it but really the song was inspired by me telling myself not
to give up."

Heart of Stone - "It's funny a lot of these songs have a lot to do
with what was going on in the music business at the time. Some
artists kinda bow down to record companies and I always tried to keep
my integrity by being stubborn. So I always tried to keep a heart of
stone about it. Don't tell anyone but inside I'm really a softie."

State of the Heart - "A song written by Curley with Pete Comita. It
was written again about how everything could really be a lot better,
if you just had an open heart and an open mind and kept moving
forward towards your dream."

Alayna - ""Alayna" was a song written about a dream. I had this dream
about this girl and I never really saw her face but I had to give her
a name. It was one of those ultimate dreams that you just never
forget."

Music Box - "Another song inspired by a dream. Having a music box
made with an original song on it to give to my lady so that she could
play it while I was gone for months at a time to comfort her. It was
my gift to keep us together."

Call of the Wild - "Pete Comita wrote this with Curley. It was
really based on being a young, wild guy, sowing your oats and
sometimes you just feel like you have to go over the edge a little to
taste the freshness of life. Sometimes this call of the wild comes up
and bites you in the ass though."

Queen of the Damned - "Based off of an Anne Rice book. It was
inspired by the book of that same title. Curley had read it and wrote
the song."

Can't Help Falling in Love - "This was all me. It really is about the
soft heart I was talking about that I have. I believe in love and
when I'm drawn to it, I melt like butter."

Angel's Don't Lie - "Written about a piece of highway between
Monterey to Big Sur in California. A friend of mine told me that the
first time you drive it, it's so beautiful that you'll think an angel
came down and touched your eyes. And when I drove that 28 miles, when
I got there, I truly believed that angels don't lie."

One Love - "God, what a stupid song. It was just a stupid song that I
wrote when I thought that the one that you fall in love with needs to
have the same heart as you do. I've realized since I've written that
song that everyone is an individual and that two hearts really are
better than one. So there's the twist on it."

Love in a Wicked World - "It's about how material things in life can
put blinders on you from seeing things that are more important. As
soon as you give up those material things, you realize there is a lot
more to life than something you can hold in your hand."

As you said, the song "Music Box" did already appear on the "Feeding
Off The Mojo" album you did with NIGHT RANGER. How did the song make
it on the NIGHT RANGER album?

"When I was writing songs for the Mojo record, this was one of the
first songs that Brad & Kelly had heard from me. It was a favorite of
everybody's and we played it live a lot. When we started recording,
we refused to do the record unless the song was on there."

"Still Moon" gets released via your website only. Wasn't there any
label showing interest in the album? I mean the album would be
perfect for the roster of many of European Melodic Rock labels...

"You know, we got so many requests for this CD, just request after
request after request that we decided to just re-release it for the
fans. And basically, we wanted total control over it. We wanted to
keep it in its original form essentially. I didn't want some record
company to repackage it and have it re-recorded or whatever. We
wanted to keep it the way it was envisioned. However, we are still
open to world-wide distribution if the deal is right. But we will
keep independent if that's the way it works out."

Something I am really fascinated of is your voice which shows so many
different styles. I hear Richie Sambora, Billy Idol, Axel Rose, Brian
Johnson, and many others in your voice. How the hell do you do that!?

"Well, before I knew what my true voice was, I had played so many
club shows as a teenager, singing anything from Led Zepplin to James
Brown that I just seasoned my throat to the point that I could sing
like that 24/7 and it never bothers me. It's always been versatile
and strong."

Did you do any changes (remastering, re-recordings) to the original
recordings of the 80's???

"We only remastered the recordings. Other than that, the recording is
the original."

I heard about a Gary Moon song called "Thousand Bridges" and was
surprised it was not included on the "Still Moon" CD. What has
happened to this track?

""Thousand Bridges" is part of a whole string of new songs that I've
been writing for the last 2 years and it will be on my next CD."

I heard you are currently working on a new Brad Gillis album, right?
What can we expect from this album? Classic Melodic Rock stuff as you
did on the NIGHT RANGER album?

"We started to work together and it was going to be a record that was
equal parts Brad and equal parts Gary. We've been so busy with other
projects that it's on hold for now."

Are there any other projects you are currently working on?

"Yes, my "Thousand Bridges" project. I have about 22 songs right now
and of those, I'll pick 11 or 12 of em to put on the CD. I'm
recording right now, as we speak, and my goal is to have this CD
released by the summer. Then I'll start to tour on it."

Interview by Marco Spaeth