Burning Rain Messages in 2002

To all the wonderful Fans of BURNING RAIN who are reading this...

I've seen some of you very recently at the concerts I've been performing with 'MONTROSE'. It's a real thrill to see BURNING RAIN fans at these shows and I thank you deeply for the ongoing support. I will make an effort to post up photos from some of the shows on the BURNING RAIN and/or the Keith St John website. I am planning to record an album of music with Ronnie Montrose under the 'MONTROSE' nemesis which I will take as a milestone in my career, for Ronnie is now indeed as much deserving of legendary axeman status as he ever was and the songs we're writing definitely hold up to the older more inspired and hard rockin' MONTROSE material! Playing along side such a legend is an inspirational and pleasurable experience as I'm sure Doug A. (who is a major guitar legend himself) can tell you these days about his experience of performing along side the legendary singer and performer, Ronnie James Dio.

As far as I know it, when we have the time together, (hopefully sometime in the near future) Doug and I will continue the BURNING RAIN saga with the next record. In the meantime, I plan on writing and singing on a few more recording/album projects, some of which I've mentioned already and some TBA!

In the U.S. It feels like hard rock and heavy metal are once again finally on the rise. I hope this trend continues for then I can keep singing the style of music that I love to record and perform. So let's stick together and rock hard this year!! I will keep you all posted on the latest as it unfolds
.................... faith.......... always.......... keith... UP

As many people are well aware of, DOUG ALDRICH, my partner in BURNING RAIN is currently performing on the "DIO" tour, and is therefore obligated to basically live full time on the road right now. So there's no telling exactly when we will be able to complete the next BURNING RAIN record which has been in progress since fall of 2001! I must say though that I am still quite excited about the songs we've written and the entire direction of the album. There are some very ballsy and hard edged grooves with aggressive tempos as well as a few poppier metal tunes and a couple of amazing ballads too! When the time comes, we will announce who's playing drums on this one but I think your obvious guesses are about as close as mine are right now! The Japan release will still be with Pony Canyon as far as I know and the European release with Z-Records.
By the way...Did anyone know "Cherie Don't Break My Heart" charted number one two weeks in a row at a Berlin Rock Station? (I have the play sheet if anyone wants to see it!) UP

I met RONNIE MONTROSE back in August when he was holding auditions for drummers and vocalists to record a new MONTROSE album for the first time in many years. After hearing me, he didn't bother to "Audition" any other vocalists. The number of people being considered were very few anyway and he said if it hadn't worked out with either me or one other guy from Idaho that he was considering, that he probably would have just made another instrumental album instead. Anyway, with me on board, RONNIE (MONTROSE) got to thinking that he needed a more "Professional" world class rhythm section, and the two of us began inviting players down to "BILL'S PLACE" (a pro-level rehearsal facility in North Hollywood) where we set up for rehearsls and auditions. Many players came down and in fact CHRIS FRAZIER was being considered for the gig at one time as well! But when I invited MR. CHUCK WRIGHT (bassist from QUIET RIOT,etc...) He suggested we ask PAT TORPEY too, so I did and that worked out to be the rhythm section that worked best together with RONNIE and that we would begin pre-production with.

Before "9-11" happened we had around four or five song ideas. But then, we were delayed, as everyone was, And by the Christmas holiday I think between RONNIE coming to my house, me going to his house, and all of us jamming up at "BILL'S PLACE" , we had around twelve rough songs. Then, after the new year, MONTROSE manager Scott Booray (who managed THE STEVE MILLER BAND in it's "HEY DAY" and currenly manages "YNT"), suggested that we all learn songs from the old MONTROSE records (which SAMMY HAGER sang on) and go out and play some live gigs to make some money and help us along while we were making arrangements to record the record. So we all agreed it was a good idea, and began a few rehearsal sessions to work on the old material. Both the rehearsals and the first few shows went really well! The audiences were solid packed fans who had not been able to experience live MONTROSE in that way (with that much quality) since the "HAGER DAYS."

Since then we've played a few more shows, where we are never gone out of los angeles for more than four or five days at a time, including one special appearance at the KEY CLUB for the RANDY CASTILLO benefit, which was listed on line for awhile and may still be at the WWW.KNAC.COM web site. That was a great show in our home town too! In addition that night SLASH, DUFF, and MATT from GUNS N ROSES played some old G-N-R tunes with some guys from BUCK CHERRY, and also jammed on "MAMA KIN" with STEVEN TYLER! STEVE LUKATHER played with KENNY ARNOFF (spelling?) And SIMON PHILLIPS togther on drums. That was a fun jam with a variety of material including some old HENDRIX. (DOUG would have enjoyed seeing that one).

Recently, RONNIE has moved from his home in Sierra Madres to somewhere up north near Sacramento, so once he gets settled we'll continue figuring out when and how we will deliver this record! In the mean time, there are more live dates scheduled for MONTROSE, including a large arena date with "YNT" in August in Northern California, some scattered dates thoughout the next few months at theatre type venues, and THE HOUSE OF BLUES in L.A., Anaheim, and Las Vegas sometime in the Fall! UP

So currently, I am working on a sort of "GUEST SUPERSTAR" album because I cannot stop writing and singing great rock music and because it's something special that I think will be a great experience for everyone involved! What I have done is I've asked several players for guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards to come into the studio with me and create these "ONE TIME ONLY" four piece (sometimes five with keyboards) "combo's" that will write and record songs together for this record. Some of the "COMBO'S" will start by learning a complete track that I've written, recording it, and then writing another track all together in the studio.

Mostly, I want people to be excited about playing with other quality rock players that they've never played or written with before! I think there will surely be a variety of opportunities for majic moments! There is already a bit of hype going around about this project too. Although the "GUEST LIST" isn't comlete yet, the players that have told me they would like to be on this record are so far are:

[ON DRUMS]
Pat Torpey (MR. BIG), Matt Sorum (GUNS N ROSES, THE CULT), Glen Sobel (IMPELLITERI, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES), maybe Chris Frazier and/or Jackie Ramos as well.

[ON BASS]
Chuck Wright, Ian Mayo, Phil Chen (TOTO, etc), Aron Samson (ODEN), and more TBA.

[ON GUITARS]
Myself, Doug, Ronnie Montrose, Gilby Clarke (GUNS N ROSES), and more TBA.

[ON KEYBOARDS]
Myself, Ed Roth, maybe another one or two TBA.

Of course I will be the singer and primary songwriter for this album but will welcome ideas and harmony vocals from anyone involved who would like to contribute!

One track is definitely called "BLIND IN THE LIGHT", another is called "YOU'LL BE MINE", and there are many more. The album will probably be called something like "HOLLYWOOD SUPERSTARS" or something with a similar connotation! I'm considering holding some sort of contest for fans to come up with possible album titles and/or artwork which I may use for the record!

I've had preliminary discussions only with a few select "Record Biz" people for japan, but my demo is almost finished and in the next few weeks I will begin shopping it for a deal! UP

Lastly, I've decided to compile a cd worth of songs that I recorded throughout the Nineties, some of which BURNING RAIN fans may appreciate and make it available over the internet! It will definelty be hard rockin!!

Send me your thoughts!

Peace be with you!! ...KEITH UP