December 26, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Firehouse Legend Bill Leverty Releases Classic Rock Covers CD ‘Drive’


Much to the excitement of hard rock fans around the globe, Firehouse legend Bill Leverty has released a fantastic new CD of classic rock covers – guaranteed to thrill even the hardest of rockers! Covers include songs from bands and artists such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Little Feat, The Ohio Players, Three Dog Night, Eric Clapton, Edgar Winter, The Guess Who, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and Rare Earth.

Says Bill, “These songs were all very personal. In choosing these songs to cover, each had to be a song that I loved before I started playing guitar, that I still love today, a song that hadn’t been covered to death in the genre, and a song that I thought I could put my own spin on, while still staying true to the original recordings. That narrowed it down to these ten songs.”

Hailing from Richmond, VA, Bill Leverty and Firehouse first gained recognition in 1991 when they won the ‘Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist’ from the American Music Awards. Signed to Epic Records, Firehouse would go on to release several hit songs throughout the ’90s such as “Don’t Treat Me Bad”, “Love Of A Lifetime”, “All She Wrote” and “Reach The Sky”, to name a few. The band sold over 2 million copies of their debut album ‘Firehouse’, and sold close to a million copies of their second album ‘Hold Your Fire’ in the US alone. For their 3rd release the band secured the production chores of famed producer Ron Nevison (Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Damn Yankees, UFO, etc). ‘Firehouse 3’ went on to be another big seller, especially in Asia. Their next release ‘Good Acoustics’, the first of several albums produced by Bill Leverty, won them a Gold record in several countries. Firehouse would go on to release 5 more well-received critically acclaimed albums as well as successful world tours throughout the 2000’s. The band to this day continues to tour playing their back catalog of hits to cheering fans everywhere and has sold over 6 million units worldwide!

In the mid-2000’s Bill Leverty released several musically diverse solo albums ‘Wanderlust’ (2004), ‘Southern Exposure’ (2007) and ‘Deep South’ (2009). Which leads us to ‘Drive’, Bill’s new covers CD.

Tracks include:
“Fortunate Son” – CCR
“Spanish Moon” – Little Feat
“Free Ride” – Edgar Winter
“One” – Three Dog Night
“I Shot The Sheriff” – Eric Clapton
“Fire” – The Ohio Players
“No Time” – The Guess Who
“Jesus Children Of America” – Stevie Wonder
“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” – Steely Dan
“I Just Want To Celebrate” – Rare Earth

In a recent interview with Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited, Bill explains the exciting rock guitar sound he has created on the album’s recordings, “It all starts with my C.R. Alsip guitar. C.R. Alsip guitars are made right outside of Wichita, KS. Mine is a neck-through-body guitar. It’s hard rock maple with mahogany sides. This wood combination, along with some other very unique design elements, makes the guitar very solid and it has a very favorable tone. I used the bridge pickups, which are Billy Gibbon’s Pearly Gates pickups by Seymour Duncan, on this one. I plugged the guitar straight into my Splawn Quick Rod 100 for a stereo pair of rhythm tracks and into my Fractal Audio Axe FX II for another stereo pair.”

In closing Bill has this to impart to his fans and listeners, “I really want to thank all the people who have supported my career and made it possible for me to be able to work full time in the music business for over 25 years. It’s been a great ride so far. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep this train rolling for another 50 years. Hope to see you down the road!!”

Check out the recent interview Bill did with Guitar World magazine:
http://www.guitarworld.com/drive-firehouse-guitarist-bill-leverty-discusses-new-album-classic-cover-songs

To Purchase Bill Leverty’s ‘Drive’ dowload: http://www.amazon.com/Drive/dp/B00BFXLDYS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1363630842&sr=1-1&keywords=Bill+Leverty%2C+Drive
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/drive/id602634728++

Source:http://www.leverty.com/