VWMusic

All images courtesy of Tommy Denander

By Andrew Daly
andrew@vinylwriter.com

Acclaimed session man Tommy Demander’s childhood dream of taking the stage in front of thousands of screaming fans has manifested in ways once thought unimaginable.

As a young wunderkind, Denander knew his calling was to be all things guitar. And as he dug deeper, absorbing the stylings of Ace Frehley, Eddie Van Halen, and Steve Stevens, his desire to make the six-string his career grew.

That desire manifested in droves of passion-fueled sessions with some of the latest and greatest artists in rock music.

In addition, Denander’s original music under his Radioactive moniker further demonstrates the veteran musician’s innate ability to craft memorable songs through inventive guitar stylings and idiosyncratic progressions.

From his home in Sweden, Denander recently caught up with me in running through his earliest days as a young prodigy to his continued odyssey as he moves forward.

Andrew:
What first gravitated you toward the guitar?

Tommy:
My mom and uncle both played guitar and piano, and at age two, there were pictures of me trying to play the piano. When I was five, I borrowed my mom’s big acoustic guitar, and it was just an instant love because I couldn’t stop playing it. My uncle showed me a couple of basic chords, but mostly I did what most kids did then: lay one finger over all strings and move that around. [Laughs].

The strongest memory I have, though, is that I started hearing music in my head, so the songwriting side was there from day one. When I was 7 years old in 1975, I went to a shopping mall with my mom, and next to the shop she was going to was a record store. In the window was a huge KISS poster, an alternate version of their Alive! cover. I truly stood there for ten minutes with my mouth open, and this voice inside kept saying,” Whatever that is, whoever they are… that’s what you’re gonna do with your life.”

I somehow managed to convince my mom to buy Alive! that day and after the first song, I knew that I had found my heroes for life, and here we are almost 50 years later, and it was true. The coolest part is that Ace Frehley was my first guitar hero, and right now, I’m working with him and his first idol Peppy Castro on his next solo album; talk about closing a circle in life.

Andrew:
What non-guitarist most influenced you growing up, and how is that best reflected in your music?

Tommy:
Great question. I’m a total sucker for great drummers and think I was one in a previous life. So, drummers totally influenced me, and the most important ways, first of all, to understand rhythm and where the groove lives in each song, but also the importance of the way you play drums in arranging and writing music. I loved the drummers in my first favorite bands like Peter Criss, Ian Paice, Mick Tucker, etc. But when I heard Jeff Porcaro with Toto in 1978 and the same week the first Van Halen record, it was game over on so many levels.

Andrew:
Some of your earliest origins were with ATC, right? Walk me through how you became involved.

Tommy:
I started to play in bands with my best friends when I was 9 and played school dances when I was 10. I loved everything about the recording process and got my own 4-track studio at home, but also started playing on friends’ demos. In January of 1983, on a Monday morning, I was supposed to take the bus to school but for some very strange reason again heard that voice in my head saying,” You need to skip school today and take the other bus into Stockholm city.” Even on the bus, I kept asking myself, “What will I even do once I get into town?”

So, I ended up at this store where a lot of young rock fans would hang out and watch VHS videos of rare stuff because the guy who worked there had some deep connections. This was long before the internet and YouTube for you kids out there. My friend who ran the place was busy unpacking new stuff, so I stood there next to this guy, watching some pretty crappy videos, and we started talking a bit. Soon after, one of his friends showed up and said that Whitesnake was coming to Stockholm in a couple of hours, and he knew what hotel they were staying at.

Somehow I was invited along, and while walking the 15 minutes from the store to the hotel, that new guy asked the guy I had been talking to,” So have you found a lead guitarist yet?” Turns out he played in a hard rock band, and after one short audition a week later, I was the new lead guitarist in ATC. If I had gone to school that day, I wouldn’t have gotten signed to Polygram at 14 and gotten my foot into the big world of music, including doing studio sessions. It was meant to be, for sure.

And we did end up hanging with Whitesnake for a couple of amazing hours, also. [Laughs].

Andrew:
What are your memories of recording Cut in Ice?

Tommy:
Since I was already writing a lot of songs and doing demos in my little studio, I ended up writing some of the new stuff for ATC. We managed to get a great manager and recorded a professional demo of two songs, one being one of my songs. That got us the deal with Polygram, and the absolutely biggest dream of my young life was coming true… to record an album. We did it in a small but cool studio where three wonderful Italians were running, and I had just gotten a Rockman Amp that I used for all my parts; the rhythm guitarist used an old Marshall.

I have pretty strong memories of the whole recording, but the funniest one is that the guy who had that store where I first met the rhythm guitarist ended up being our bass player. He wasn’t a great player, and the nerves totally got the best of him, so before each new song, he had to run to the toilet and scream through the door,” One of you guys can do the bass on this song.” So, I did about half of the album and the other guitarist the rest except one or two that the poor guy actually played on. [Laughs].

The album got decent reviews, but somehow, all major music and pop magazines raved about this little kid who played like Eddie Van Halen, and my name spread. That’s also how I got into the studio musician world at such a young age, Michael Jackson had just released Thriller, and lots of pop artists wanted a solo like Eddie’s on “Beat It.”

Andrew:
From there, how did Radioactive form?

Tommy:
After ATC, I felt that the whole rock star thing was too shallow and not right for me. I had already started doing a lot of studio work for various artists and producers, and the whole concept of getting to play new music with new people and in kinds of styles all the time was perfect for me. So, most of the coming years were spent in the studio world, but I did join various bands also; sadly, the same thing kept happening where I was the driving force who worked a lot harder than the rest of the people in each band, and I ended up quitting.

In 1989 I got together with a singer I had known since we were very young and often did sessions with also; we wanted to start a really serious band with hand-picked people who would all work hard, have the right talent, and maybe have a proper shot of something big finally. It all started great; I wrote most of the music, we got a manager who was a dear old friend with strong connections, RCA in America was interested in signing us, and our manager was close friends with Alice Cooper, who said, “OK” to singing on the album. We played a big festival and got stunning reviews in the big papers and so on, but in late 1990 once again, the other members started fucking things up with childish bullshit, talking behind the back, and the same old patterns appeared. That was it for me, and I just quit, got all my gear, and told them that I’m keeping my music. They tried a couple of other guitarists, but things fell apart fast for them.

I had become friends with the guys in TOTO, and when they played a festival in Sweden during the summer of 1991, I asked them if they would play on my album if I got a solo deal, and they all said, “Yes.” So, I got signed to Sony, and in October of 1991, I flew to L.A. and recorded the first Radioactive album with Jeff Porcaro, Mike Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, and David Paich as my backing band. I was 23 years old and producing these guys. [Laughs]. When I got home, things turned out really bad between me and Sony, so I bought the master tapes from them, and after ten long but pretty cool years, the first album was finally released but now had more than 30 big names, including Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, Joseph Williams, David Foster, Fee Waybill, Jason Scheff, etc.

Andrew:
Radioactive has been a solo project, but was there ever any thought to having it be a full band instead?

Tommy:
It started as a solo project under my name, but when I signed with MTM, they gave me the good advice of coming up with a band name because it’s easier to sell, and I loved it because I was still more about being in the background. One of my favorite albums growing up was Airplay by David Foster and Jay Graydon. That name, of course, meant that they were hoping for a lot of radio airplay. So, I was looking through various albums to get inspired for a name and saw the opening song on Gene Simmons’s solo album from 1978, “Radioactive.” Not only is it a cool name with many layers of being dangerous, glowing, interesting, and whatever, but I also like the Airplay play with the words ” Radi active.”

Andrew:
With Radioactive’s latest release XXX, what would you say the progression is?

Tommy:
In my head, it was only meant to be that first album because it took ten years to make and felt like an almost impossible once-in-a-lifetime event. But it sold so well all over the world that, of course, the label wanted a follow-up. [Laughs]. At first, I said, “No,” but they convinced me that it would be stupid to start over with a new name from scratch again. Luckily I have become friends with many well-known singers and musicians, so it’s been fairly easy to get people involved in them all. But I always tried to make each one sound unique.

It’s been seven years since the last one, called F4UR, and a lot has happened in my life during these years. I became a father to the most amazing girl, which changed my view on a lot in life. And for the past ten years, I’ve worked on the biggest albums of my career with legends like Mutt Lange, Alice Cooper, Desmond Child, Hollywood Vampires, Bob Ezrin, and so on. My knowledge, taste, and studio have developed a lot also.

When Frontiers came and asked if I wanted to sign with them for four new Radioactive albums in 8 years, it was the perfect timing. I also love the time frame because I need to deliver them faster and stay in that world more. So, I knew that I wanted an album with fewer keyboards, more guitar-driven, and also a more mature classic rock album. Thanks to working with the incredible Olle Romö, who has been Mutt’s partner in crime for some 30 years, and of course also the indescribable help from my very dear friend and, in so many ways, mentor Mutt Lange himself, I was able to make a strong product.

I had been writing in two or three different directions for a possible Radioactive album during the last few years, so I had some stuff to start from. This time I decided to play most instruments myself except the drums, but as always was blessed with having fantastic singers like Robin McAuley, Robbie LaBlanc, Jerome Mazza, Clif Magness, Daniel Byrne, and Christian Ingebrigtsen on lead. And Mutt, Andreas Carlsson, and Tommy Henriksen are on backing vocals, so that helps to say the least. I’m now pretty far into writing for the next one, and I think the long-time fans will really dig where I’m going with it.

Andrew:
Going back a bit now. You played guitar on several tracks for Paul Stanley‘s Live To Win album. How did you come to work with Paul?

Tommy:
That’s by far one of the greatest albums ever for me. I became a die-hard KISS fan in 1975, which is why working with Paul on that album was pure magic. One of my oldest and dearest friends is the great Andreas Carlsson from the mega-hit machine Cheiron. He has sold over 150 million albums as a hit writer for Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, Def Leppard, Britney Spears, etc. I was in L.A. on vacation with my girlfriend, and Andreas heard I was there, so he called and asked if I could help him with guitars for a couple of pop artists. He said,” Of course, we need to get you on the Paul Stanley album too.” I told him right away, “If you say those words and it doesn’t end up happening, I’ll hurt you.” [Laughs].

So, a few days later, I borrowed gear from a dear friend at Guitar Center, and we did the pop songs first before doing” Wake Up Screaming” for Paul. Paul liked it so much that he asked if I could come back and do the title song also, which we did at Desmond Child’s studio, which I think is the first time I met Desmond, who has also become a dear friend after.

The only regret I have is that I used borrowed equipment, and the guitar was amazing, but the amp was only OK, so they had to redo most of the rhythm guitars with the guy who did most of the album. But at least I’m on the album, and on both songs, I do a cool Ace Frehley trick which felt perfect for many reasons. You turn the volume down on the neck pickup and use the toggle switch to make this stutter effect. On” Wake Up Screaming,” it fit so well that they made the whole breakdown after the solo around it.

Andrew:
As I understand it, you played a significant role in Alice Cooper’s 2017 album Paranormal. How did you become involved, and what do you recall regarding the sessions?

Tommy:
Alice also holds one of the most special places in my soul, again, for several reasons. In the mid-’80s, I always told people that my dream would be to write for Alice; he was the only artist I felt this way about. I have demos called” Alice01″ from then, and the ballad I wrote for the band right before I did Radioactive was called” Alice Ballad” as well. It was the song he was supposed to record with us.

My friend Eric Singer played with Alice for years before staying only with KISS, so some twelve or fourteen years ago, he introduced me to Alice after a show in Sweden and said,” You guys should write together,” and we almost did. In 2010 I was in Nashville for work, and Desmond Child called because they had sold their house and had a small party with friends, so I went over. A few before this, I had written a really great song for Alice’s forthcoming album with Bob Ezrin’s cousin Jeremy Rubolino who is a multi-platinum Grammy-winning string arranger. He sent it to Bob, who really liked it, but it wasn’t right for the Welcome 2 My Nightmare album they were doing.

So, I’m sitting in Desmond’s kitchen with him when Bob Ezrin walks in; it turns out he lives next door. [Laughs]. I was a bit star-struck, which is rare, but I’m sitting between two of the biggest reasons I love music, who wrote and produced some of the biggest songs of my life. I introduced myself as, “The guy who wrote the song with your cousin,” which he was happy about. So, Bob says to Desmond,” We need to solve the problem with the last song now, or it might not make it on the album.” Desmond almost yells,” Oh, Tommy here can get the guitars done; he has saved my ass on so many albums before.”

I’m sitting there with a feeling of being in a very weird dream. Did Desmond Child just tell Bob Ezrin that I need to save their song for Alice Cooper by playing guitars on it? So, four days later, I’m back in Sweden with Bob on a video call, getting the files and coming up with exactly what the song needed. It went from almost not making it to being the opening track and the most loved song on the album,” I Am Made of You.” I was in heaven because I was finally on an album with Alice. Some years later, I got a very lovely email from Bob saying,” We are starting a new Alice Cooper album, do you wanna try to write for it?” I immediately thought, “Bingo!” [Laughs].

The dream was about to become a reality; I wrote a killer song the same day and sent a full production demo. And then I wrote two really strong songs per day for the next five days and sent top-class demos of all. Bob was pretty impressed, I think, and sent them all to Alice, who called him up and said, “Well, we have the whole album, in my opinion.” So, they flew me to Nashville a few times shortly after, and the three of us spent a week per trip working on the songs plus writing more. I wrote 35 songs for the album, and six were recorded during the actual session. Five ended up on Paranormal, and the last one is on his latest album, Detroit Stories.

Me and Tommy Henriksen were even given co-producer credits, and I also play guitar on all other songs, including the ones with the original Alice Cooper Band. My songs were the two singles; three of the songs have been played live, including one of them, several hundred times now. The album was Alice’s biggest chart success in 39 years, and my lifelong dream had finally come full circle.

Andrew:
You mentioned Detroit Stories. Will we see you teaming up with Bob Ezrin and Alice Cooper again in the future?

Tommy:
The song” Shut Up And Rock” was from the Paranormal sessions, but I also did additional keyboards on some other songs on Detroit Stories. I have done some cool stuff with Alice that hasn’t been released yet, and I have no idea what the plans are. But if asked, I’m there in a heartbeat for these beautiful people.

Andrew:
Give me the rundown on working with The Hollywood Vampires on their 2019 album Rise.

Tommy:
It happened very naturally because Tommy Henriksen and I have become very close friends and musical partners in many ways after doing Paranormal together. So, when it was decided that he and Depp would be in charge of this album, I helped out with songwriting and playing in every way possible for them.

I am an” honorary member” of the band, which Alice told me that anyone who has played with them live automatically becomes. I’ve done two very cool gigs with them in Phoenix and Los Angeles. They also performed” Welcome To Bushwackers” on a couple of very cool tours. I’ve been to a few Alice shows and one Vampires where they play songs I co-wrote, and it’s a surreal feeling to stand there hearing music I wrote in my little studio.

Andrew:
On the subject of “Welcome to Bushwackers,” dive into working with Jeff Beck on the track.

Tommy:
I sometimes just look at the credits on that song and shake my head. [Laughs]. I wrote the music for this one but for Paranormal, actually. Bob Ezrin asked if I could write a Stray Cats-style rockabilly song, something I have done a few times before, and I like that music. We all liked the idea, but it didn’t fit the album. So, when Tommy Henriksen and Johnny Depp started working on the second Hollywood Vampires album, I put together a folder of ideas and sent them, this being one of them. Johnny had a lyric idea about an event in his life, and they finished the song.

I can’t remember if I played any solos on it first, but Depp and Joe Perry play rhythm guitars on it. And Alice has wanted Jeff Beck to play on one of his albums for many years, and now it finally happened. Me and Alice also recorded a cool intro that was never used; I recorded two acoustic guitars that were drunk-bar-band, sloppy on a blues with Alice playing the harmonica. It was removed right before going to mastering. I saw Beck and Depp live here in Stockholm a month ago, which was amazing.

Andrew:
What sort of supporting role did you play with Deep Purple when working with them on their album Infinite? 

Tommy:
I have dear Bob Ezrin to thank for many milestones in life, and this is one of them. He produced Deep Purple’s latest albums, including Infinite, and they needed to re-record Ian Gillan’s vocals on one of the songs plus add some additional keyboards with Don Airey. They had two days off in Stockholm before the show, and Bob knew that I worked at the biggest studio in Sweden at the time. So, he simply asked if I could record this together with Roger Glover. It was another one of those nights where you go to bed, and your brain is on a rollercoaster ride with emotions.

The recordings went great. Ian loved singing in the studio, and everyone was very happy. Still, the craziest and by far most surreal moment of my whole career was when Roger said,” There’s a little guitar part missing on this song also, and Bob says that you’re a great guitarist, so can we fix that as well?” I was so stunned that I just looked at him and mumbled,” But..you can play guitar also, right? Why don’t you do it?”

It just felt that a band like this should keep things within the band. But he very kindly insisted, so I walked over to my studio room and grabbed my guitar and Kemper amp. I know that Steve Morse uses Engl amps, and I have some great profiles of them in the Kemper, so it really took me two minutes to copy his sound to perfection. The missing part was one chord. Just one chord ringing out. So, I dubbed it on three first takes, and it sounded perfect. Roger gave thumbs up, and I took my gear back while thinking,” Did I just play one guitar chord on a Deep Purple album?” [Laughs].

Andrew:
Circling back to Alice Cooper, have you ever been considered for his live band? 

Tommy:
I’m absolutely sure that I would’ve been at some point if I was a touring musician in good shape. [Laughs]. I’m your typical studio musician who loves that world, even if I have toured the whole world a few times with some very cool artists. It’s such a different lifestyle to be a hired gun behind artists like Alice, and I knew at an early age that the studio is my home where I play, write, and produce.

Andrew:
When Nita Strauss left Alice’s band, were you considered in addition to Kane Roberts?

Tommy:
No, not in any way. I did see the very last show she did with Alice because it was here in Sweden and I took the family and a dear friend for a whole day of music. Before my daughter was born seven years ago, I traveled a minimum of two times a month around the world for 15 years. Mainly to work on albums, write, and some touring as well.

I’m so happy I got to do that, and my girlfriend of 19 years accepted it, but as soon as she got pregnant, I canceled everything right away. I was booked for three full years of big work around the world, but I just went to my computer and emailed everyone, told them I was gonna be a dad, and my traveling days were over. I haven’t missed it for a day, and being a dad also tops everything in life by a million miles. I’ve been home to see her grow up, be the best daddy possible, and build a bond that is more dear than anything else.

Andrew:
I wanted to hit on your ongoing work with Ace Frehley. What sort of role are you playing?

Tommy:
Talk about the ultimate circle closing in life. I also told Ace that and explained how he was my first guitar hero and that KISS is why I have this job. My soul brother Peppy Castro lived close to Ace when they were young, and he was Ace’s first idol. So, they have talked for years about doing something real together, and for some lovely reason, I’ve been on that” wish list” for Peppy as well.

So, magic planned it that the three of us got together and have written a bunch of really cool songs. Ace is recording the album right now, but I have no idea at all how many songs he will do and if they will keep any of the things I’ve played on them. I know that they have recorded a few songs we did already, and if it ends up being one song I co-wrote on an Ace Frehley album, then I’ve still won the jackpot.

Andrew:
Are you still using VGS Guitars? If so, tell us more about your signature model.

Tommy:
I still have my three signature models, and I play the red one with Evertune and True Temperament almost every day in the studio. I got it ten or eleven years ago, and I haven’t done a single thing to it, no service at all. I just clean it and change strings every eight to ten weeks because I use the coated Elixir strings. My first model had a Smaller Floyd Rose and regular frets; it just became a top-level guitar on the first try for us, with raving reviews in many big magazines. That opened the door to the offer from Evertune to become the first player in the world to have it on a guitar on the market. I ended up being in their first video about it, and I also came up with the idea of combining Evertune with True Temperament frets for the model, which was the first guitar in the world as well. A guitar that never goes out of tune and has 100% perfect intonation.

It got stunning reviews and ended up on the cover of several leading guitar magazines. It was crystal clear to me that this is the biggest revolution since the Floyd Rose for the guitar, but it was a strange uphill battle to make people understand these systems’ brilliance and get other guitar companies to follow them later. The red model sold very well, more than most signature models at the time, and after eight years, the boom hit globally. And now every major brand is putting Evertune on their guitars, and some are smart enough to do the frets as well. I have pictures of everyone from Alan Holdsworth, Tommy Emanuel, and Mutt Lange to Dean Parks, Wyclef Jean, and one of the guys in Saxon playing it, which is also pretty surreal.

Andrew:
Evertune aside, tell me more about True Temperament.

Tommy:
I was close friends from the start with the whole team behind Evertune, including Cosmos Lyles, who invented it. So, the timing of my signature guitar for a strong company like VGS and Gewa made it a natural thing to ask me to become the first one to use it. On the flight back to Sweden from L.A., it just hit me hard that if we combined it with the Swedish invention True Temperament, then it would be the most groundbreaking guitar ever.

I had already managed to make the exclusive deal between Gewa and Evertune and now had to do the same with True Temperament. Those guys were not very good business-minded people, unlike the Evertune folks, and Gewa didn’t understand why we needed both systems at first, so I had to fight a bit to make it all come together. A guitar with both systems is out of this world. Simple as that. But to this day, True Temperament is not run by smart enough people, which is why it’s not very well known among players, and Evertune is.

Andrew:
What’s next on your docket, Tommy? 

Tommy:
I’ve never felt more balanced and happy about life than right now. Each year keeps bringing more and more fun and big projects. I’m pretty booked for at least the next six or seven years with stuff already. This is again one of those years where I am involved in a large number of releases – 50-70 albums – as a songwriter, musician, mixer, masterer, producer, and even doing artwork.

Besides Ace and some other high-profile releases, there will be one that is far above pretty all I’ve done in the past but that I can’t talk about yet. And I’m producing an album for a great Canadian guy right now that will feature some pretty big legends as well. Work looks great, but daddy life is amazing, so I just can’t complain.

On a more spiritual level, I am angry and upset over how extremely stupid humanity has gotten. Politicians are pure egoistic devils. The war against Ukraine is horrible, and the climate is one that we will suffer from for decades. I wish we could hit a giant reset button and return to a more loving planet. I hope the aliens will land soon and get shit back in order.

– Andrew Daly (@vwmusicrocks) is the Editor-in-Chief for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at andrew@vinylwriter.com