Bryan Adams’s Canadian tour started in Kamloops, B.C., on Sept. 11 and ends in St. John’s, on Oct. 15.Red Umbrella P.R./Supplied
In 1984, a 25-year-old Bryan Adams released his blockbuster album Reckless. Among the songs was Kids Wanna Rock. More than 40 years later, the kids no longer do; everywhere you go, pop, hip hop and country are the genres now in fashion.
It is fitting, then, that Adams’s just released 16th studio album is called Roll With The Punches. It’s a rock ’n’ roll record. He fights the good fight, but what happens to a superstar artist when mass audiences no longer are picking up on what they’re putting down?
Adams spoke to The Globe and Mail on a video call.
Bryan Adams’s 16th studio album is a rock ’n’ roll record called Roll With The Punches.Red Umbrella P.R./Supplied
You’re booked on a North American tour of arenas this month and next. Do you ever worry about filling the rooms?
It’s not something at the forefront of my thoughts. Before you book a tour, there’s a lot of strategy that goes into it. You speak to the promoter, you speak to the agent and you have to align it right. We have the Sheepdogs opening in Canada and Pat Benatar in the United States. Joan Jett opened on the last tour. Having those kind of acts makes it a more exciting prospect for people who are spending money on a ticket.
It’s more competitive now, isn’t it?
Let’s face it, there are so many big, big events, with Oasis and Coldplay. That sucks the prospect of other people getting out there. Some shows struggle because of the saturation.
Your new album starts off hard and fast with a couple of rockers …
Why not?
… but you also have the ballad Life is Beautiful, which I can imagine playing over the end credits of a film, a love story. Other than writing for a musical, which you’ve done, do you ever write a song with that kind of placement in mind?
I don’t. You can’t worry about all that. All you worry about is whether these songs are things that you like. The rest of it is a big question mark. I can’t be worried about whether I’m going to get played. It would drive me nuts.
Do you write with your live show in mind?
There are certain songs that you think might open the show, sure. Or it could be an interesting closer. But, in the end, you try to design your songs in a way that you can play them live with a band and that will be true to the record. It’s gotta be music that you dig. I don’t put a record out until I have the songs to check those boxes.
What about the album’s balance and cohesiveness?
Sure. Often a song comes along, like Roll With The Punches, and it becomes the cornerstone song for the album. You just have to build upon that.
Bryan Adams during the closing ceremonies of the Invictus Games in Toronto, September, 2017.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
What are some other examples of your cornerstone songs?
I’ve done it many times. Cuts Like a Knife, 18 til I Die, Into the Fire. There’s always a song that sets the tone for the record.
A few songs on the album are directing the listener, often with the second-person pronoun “you.” Be the Reason is one of what I might call an encouragement song. Was that intentional?
I can’t explain it. You go with the flow. A lot of it’s in first person though. There are songs on different topics, sometimes nostalgia, which I like to do. But the song Be the Reason is about being decent, about giving something back. The line “be the reason someone smiles” is such a nice sentiment.
Bryan Adams talks CanCon and Summer of ‘69 at the inaugural Departure music conference
What’s behind Roll With The Punches, the title song?
It came out of the whole independence thing that’s happened to me in the last few years.
You’re talking about being free of a major label and releasing this album on your own Bad Records label.
Yeah. Being free of record labels and being free of management. Rolling with the punches, seeing what’s going to happen. It was a good inspiration, to be honest.
Rock music isn’t nearly as popular as it once was. How is it going for you, rolling with that punch?
Don’t tell Oasis that. [Laughs.] Listen, I know how to make the music that I make. I’m not going to follow a trend. I like making the records I make, always have. This is my 16th album. I’d be super lucky to get any attention on it. But let’s see what happens. Some of it might fly. If it doesn’t, that’s just the way it is.
Bryan Adams’s Canadian tour started in Kamloops, B.C., on Sept. 11; and ends in St. John’s, Oct. 15.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
