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Q’s With Ann Wilson: Revolution Starts Now
– Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson has been rocking hard almost half a century, holding her own with Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, Ian Hunter and Black Sabbath. Drawing equally on the same forged sword of Led Zeppelin’s hard edge blues and pastoral folk, she and sister Nancy emerged with Heart, 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, as the golden age of arena rock dawned. “Barracuda,” “Crazy On You,” “Kick It Out,” “Magic Man,” “Bebe Le Strange,” “Little Queen” and “Straight On” gave as good as it got on ’70s and ’80s FM AOR radio.
And Wilson still gives as good as she gets. Having stunned the world with her “Stairway To Heaven” on the Kennedy Center Honors for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, she’s spent the quarantine releasing a string of songs built around her throbbing power alto. Starting with a storming take on Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now,” the bluesy retro-pop “Tender Heart” and the pounding “Hammer,” her sense of delivery remains immediate and uncompromising.
With her 2020 derailed by the COVID quarantine, the full-tilt rocker remains as at home with grunge godchildren Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Foo Fighters as she is rocking her own velvet, lace, leather and poet blouse femininity. Now 70, she’s as outspoken and true as when she was the Valkyrie warrior gypsy goddess who created meaningful space for women in the heavy metal/rock vortex.
Pollstar: These have been strange times.
Ann Wilson: We were supposed to go out in April (of last year) and getting done in the fall. But, of course, none of that happened. We’ve been getting offers for 2021, but they’re all conditional and there are so many unknowns.
And if you’re going to Canada, you have to sit there for two weeks in quarantine – your whole group of 30 and pay everyone. We have to take it a day at a time now. Nobody can predict what’s ahead, and that’s the way it is. There’s this sense of “How are all these things going to work out?” But really, I think, we just need to accept we can’t know.
People really miss live, don’t you think?
Because I think people need music, I think it brings people together beyond even their differences, so yes. After everything we’ve seen, I do think that talk doesn’t seem to be doing any good. I think talk incites more anger, more hatefulness – and that’s where music helps, where action helps.
You recorded Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now.” It’s your first music in a few years. Something tells me that might’ve been intentional.
I felt it was timely. I’ve liked that song for a long time. I’ve liked Steve’s version for a very long time. Then when we got into this election year, I thought about where we are and what we need going forward.
I chose the song as an anthem, of a revolution for love. It’s an incitement to think higher thoughts, to reach for better things – instead of “I’m going to run into your car on the freeway, because you disagree with me.” That’s the lowest.
The ideas (in the song) are really pretty simple. They’re basic and not too much to ask for. What the song is talking about are things every one of us should have, should do… should give each other. To me, the revolution is about love.
Richard Creamer / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images – Crazy On You
Ann Wilson and sister Nancy Wilson with Heart in 1977, when the band was on top of the world with multiple hits.
That sounds kinda hippie.
Well, when I was young, long hair was considered to be cool. If you were older and looked like anyone of that era, Democrat or Republican, you were not cool. Now, this is way deeper, way more into the reality of how we live… I drive down my own street; it was all Trump signs. You realize you don’t know how a person you don’t agree with will respond. It’s not civil discourse a lot of times.
It’s amazing how polarized America’s become.
Like so many people living through two terms of Obama, I was living in this bubble of thinking how much we’d evolved and grown, what we believed as teenagers had taken root. We had this dream the world had turned.
Then suddenly, it was “WHAT?” There are so many people who have this rage. I had no idea. Then watching over the last few years, it got crazier and crazier; all these unimaginable things were happening. The way women have been insulted is becoming a factor – and there are wives and partners of these men who think they “don’t want to upset him.” But by being complacent, it’s a big factor in this macho behavior.
You’ve always sort of flown into the macho behavior. When rock was a total sausage fest, Heart was a place where women ruled – and ruled as women. Does it worry you any about being outspoken?
The people who like Heart aren’t all Democrats. (laughter) There are a lot of heartland people with a lot of points of view… and I know that. I also know I don’t wanna get blown away by someone for singing a song.
You believe there are commonalities. You know you’re covered by the Constitution, but you’re not safe from weirdos 24/7. So you know that, too.
A percentage of people on social media are saying, “Well, goodbye to you” or “I’m never buying another one of your records or coming to see you.” It’s very much the idea of Shut Up and Sing. But I don’t know where this attitude of artists, musicians, actors aren’t entitled to have an opinion. We don’t get to have that right? That’s not real.
A lot of “rock” fans seem to lean conservative.
The blue collar people who love Trump don’t understand that he doesn’t love them. They don’t see that. And it’s so sad, because those working people deserve better.
Should I ask about “Revolution” as a song that crosses genres, genders…
My hope for the song has been that it might show people a way that leads us to a somewhat better place. Some people have said, “She doesn’t get the message of this song.” They think Steve Earle is a good ole country boy, and that’s not a reality that could co-exist.
You know, “He’s a red state and Ann Wilson is blue.” But that’s so entitled to “know” what he’s about or thinking, as well as being wrong. (laughter) Ultimately, it’s a message of peace, hope, unity. That was what the message was, and it’s a good message right now.
You really believe that!
Besides, I want people who want to engage to make the world better! I don’t want to consider the dark side; I won’t go there. But the magic really exists outside our comfort zones.
Your native habitat is the road, but that was out last year. So you recorded a handful of singles.
We rented a tour bus. Bit the bullet. It took us two weeks, because I’m down here in Florida. The musicians we wanted were in Seattle; so we went to LA, then onto San Francisco for business meetings and finally Seattle.
We were all wearing masks, except me in the iso booth. It hampered the creativity a little, but we got very fluent in reading people’s eyes, seeing the passion. We focused on having the band in the room. Making music together, everyone was excited. And it ended up being so much fun.
Really?
They were the most fun sessions since the very beginning of Heart. Dreamboat Annie, Magazine, Little Queen, those albums. It was all so new then, and so much about the songs and the sound we were creating was being formed.
I’ve got “red light fever” that I’ve developed over the years.
Live is my thing. I live to sing live, in the moment, to the people. That red light is something that hampers me.
You pretty much define that live seek-and-destroy vocal thing. Your dynamics, the way you frame up a song, just dismantle the emotions… To think you do it night after night.
I have put a lot of miles on since 1970. Maybe a million miles or so for the years we were really going hard.
But I’ve always taken good care of my voice. I take a lot of vitamin C and drink a lot of water. You have to.
Anything else?
On tour, to sing a big rock set, it really beats your throat up! I discovered giant doses of arnica truly help. It’s good with bruising and sprains, and that’s what a big rock set does if you’re really doing it.
Awesome. So you’re not slowing down, you’re just gonna keep rocking, aren’t you?
That’s the real thing. My life’s calling, if you’re going to boil it down to one thing, yes, that’s probably it. Simple and basic and authentic, right? To me, that’s great.