Stan Bush: Soundtrack Superstars On The Sunset Strip

Stan Bush: Soundtrack Superstars On The Sunset Strip

Stan Bush is an AOR legend, very well known for iconic songs such as The Touch and Never Surrender in the 80’s.  His music has been heard in motions pictures such as Transformers: The Movie, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, The Wraith, Boogie Nights, and more!  Even as the 80’s went away, Stan Bush continued to persevere, releasing quite a few solo albums including last year’s powerhouse Change The World magnum opus.

Recently Stan Bush and his band made a rare live appearance in Los Angeles, co-headlining Soundtrack Superstars with Robert Tepper at the world famous Whisky A Go Go.  Prior to his fantastic set where Stan Bush and his band performed all the movie hits as well as songs from Change The World, we caught up with the prolific singer backstage at The Whisky.  In this interview, we discuss The Touch and the Transformers connection, singing on Facebook with actor Mark Wahlberg, selections from the almighty Change The World, and a whole lot more melodic rock treasures from the past, present and future!  Read on…

How did you become involved with the Soundtrack Superstars show with Robert Tepper here at the Whisky?
The guy from The Whisky emailed me and asked me if I wanted to play. He was thinking about doing an 80’s soundtrack kind of thing with myself and Robert Tepper. So I said “Yeah, cool!”

Is this your first time playing The Whisky?
No. I played here back in the 80’s.

What are you looking forward to the most about this show tonight at The Whisky?
It’ll be great playing with my band. We’ve rehearsed a few times. My producer Holger Fath is the guitar player – he’s great. He’s from Germany. We’ve worked together a number of years – he’s my best friend. It should be really fun.

What has it been like to revisit these soundtrack songs that you’ve done in these various movies?
It’s cool. Like I say, I kinda never left the 80’s. When the early 90’s happened, rock kind of changed and went to the grunge thing. And the 80’s rock thing that I do sort of went away – mostly in the States. But in Europe and Japan it kind of kept alive – so I mostly did business over there – kept doing records and touring and what not. It’s all good – it kind of kept me alive in terms of the creative thing, making records and touring.

What do you remember the most about making The Touch, and did you ever dream that the song would have such a lasting legacy for you?
No, actually I had no idea. Lenny Macaluso and I – we co-wrote The Touch. We found out from the record label it was going to be in the Transformers movie – an animated movie about robots – and we’re like “what?” Little did we know it was actually very cool. They used that song really well. Since then, of course the Transformers phenomenon has turned into a really big thing all over the world. I always kind of say this, but it seems like more people know that song than may know me. That song is bigger than me, in the way of me being known.

What did you think of the other movies your various songs have been in – such as The Wraith and Kickboxer?
The Wraith with Charlie Sheen – I don’t know how well it did. And of course with Kickboxer and the one before that – Bloodsport with Jean-Claude Van Damme – had three songs in each of those. So that’s another thing-  that they seemed like it had a cult following. I understand people still, they are like “Wow” they love those songs. Never Surrender is on the new album (Change The World) – we re-recorded that one. People wanted me to do On My Own Alone from Bloodsport – I’m thinking about doing that one day,

Late last year you released a new album entitled Change The World. Is there any overall story or concept behind that album title and song?
Not per say. It’s about being motivated from within to feel like making a difference in the world. Sometimes you feel like you can only do so much, but we can really do a lot if everyone sort of comes together. The song is sort of about that – stand together as one. It’s more of a unity thing. It’s not really about fighting so much as it is about coming together as people – all of us – and making a difference.

Select any other song from Change The World and what inspired the lyrics for you.
Another one that really means a lot is Born To Win. Again, it’s kind of the thing – people tell me that my stuff is motivational rock. I sort of fell into that with The Touch. The Touch really began that trajectory. My theory is each of us has a lot more power than we realize. We kind of make our own reality. If you have a positive attitude and really go for stuff, we can do a lot. It’s about going for it and believing in yourself. Good stuff!

Would you like to do Soundtrack Superstars as a full on tour with Robert Tepper?
I like Robert. We knew each other back in the 80’s and 90’s. We wrote together a bit in the 90’s – he’s a good guy. I’d be open to doing more shows, but right now, this is the only one that we have together. I am doing a show in the UK in August – it’s a Transformers convention over there. TFNation!

Do you think you’ll be doing Transformers Conventions for the rest of your living days and how do you feel about that?
(Laughs) Yeah, I think so. I love it! This past year, Hasbro Toys had the first ever HASCONN Convention and we performed at that. It was cool! Backstage Mark Wahlberg comes walking by and I’m like “You’ve got The Touch!” And he turns around and “How did I do on Boogie Nights?” And I said “It was great!” And a couple minutes later he comes over and we start singing together and he’s videoing on his phone. And he put it on his Facebook page. It was awesome! “You’ve got The Touch!” We looked like a couple of drunk guys. He’s a good guy – I like him.

And last question – do you have any messages for your fans who may be reading this now?
Well, I just appreciate all of their support. It’s just awesome to have people that like what I do. And it makes me feel really positive about everything. And I should say, if people want to find out what’s happening with me, its stanbush.com.

(Interview and Photo by Ken Morton)

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