Gary James' Interview With
Kane Roberts



Are you tired of guys in bands that look like girls? Are you tired of bands that try to look tough? Maybe you're ready for the real thing. Maybe you're ready for Kane Roberts.

Q - In practically every review of your album ("Kane Roberts" - MCA Records) the reviewer will compare your appearance to Sylvester Stallone's character Rambo. Does that kind of a thing bother you?

A - For me its just an example of people looking at me and not being able to figure it out. Everybody else seems to get their image by the clothes they wear of how much hair spray or makeup they use. And then there are those who just have something happening. My look is a flesh and blood version of everything I feel about Rock 'n' Roll. When somebody says to me, "Kane, what are you going to wear tonight?", it doesn't really matter to me because I am my costume. That's one of the reasons why I think my band represents something different. There's another guy in the band, Steve Steele from Syracuse, New York, who's into the same thing. That's why we hit it off. That to me is a good reason for things to happen, if people have reality on their side instead of just a marketing idea or something that they're trying to invent. It even applies to our drummer, Victor Ruzzo. I mean, he's a real aggressive, crazy drummer and he's a real aggressive, crazy guy.

Q - How old were you when you started lifting weights?

A - I would say somewhere in my early twenties.

Q - Were you athletic in high school?

A - No. I was definitely not what you'd call an athletic type. I was more into guitar and what sort of new sensation or rush I could cop that day. It's just at one point, the whole thing of drugs left my life and I ended up adding body building or weight lifting or just getting big to all that.

Q - Who turned you on to weight lifting?

A - Just a friend of mine who had some dumb bells at his apartment and I just started messing around with them.

Q - Have you ever hurt your hand or fingers when you've been lifting and how does that affect your playing?

A - You gotta realize that getting to be good on guitar is a gradual process. Getting to be good at lifting weights or anything is a gradual process. As time went on and the rest of me got strong, my hands did as well and I was always playing guitar, two to three hours a day through all of it. So, it never really affected me in a bad way.

Q - You went to college, didn't you?

A - I went to a place called New England Conservatory Of Music. I studied Classical music there. I had a guitar teacher who was a Classical guitarist. He gave me a lot of Classical exercises that required using all your fingers. I learned then with all my fingers as well as the guitar pick. I ended up developing some strange techniques. That was a two or three year stint. I didn't feel any need to graduate from there because all they were grooming you for was to be a teacher. In Rock 'n' Roll, who needs a diploma?

Q - Who's your all-time favorite guitarist?

A - If there's one all-time guy it's got to be the guitarist that plays with Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page just invented a whole style and a whole form of music. People have gone a lot further with it. My contemporary favorites, Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert. Guys like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck did something that led to where we are today. The man to me who started off real Heavy Metal rhythm guitar playing is Jimmy Page.

Q - In the music business you always hear, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Or, "It's not talent that decides your future, it's luck." From your experiences, what is the deciding factor?

A - The expected answer is probably the right one. It's a combination of each. When people say you make your own luck, it goes back to my theory. You've got to be ready. If you can stack the deck as high as you can, then when your opportunity comes up to play in front of the right people and you're ready, you put those three things together, then you're going to get somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, the business is only made up of survivors, the people that stay in there and keep doing it. See, I have no choice. This is my life. This is the one I chose, win, lose or draw. I just can't accept defeat. That's the way it is. That's the way it is for anybody who wants to get into Rock 'n' Roll.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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