Though best known for his work as an original member of seminal 80’s rock band Dokken, Jeff has played bass and sung with a host of groups including rockers Dio and MSG, and his own bands War and Peace and Lynch/Pilson. Jeff also had a principal role, along with band mate Jason Bonham, in the 2001 Warner Brothers film Rock Star, alongside actors Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. Pilson now shares the stage with his bandmates in the iconic band known to music fans around the world as Foreigner. We recently had the chance to catch up with him backstage before a massive show in Washington. (You can also enter to win a signed Breedlove bass until the end of September, 2018.)
Breedlove: We are here in Vancouver, Washington with Jeff Pilson from Foreigner. Just north of Portland, Oregon. Hanging out backstage. Jeff, you guys are moments away from playing a big show here, at a killer venue. This place is packed. The crowd is fired up. Tell me a little bit about this tour?
Jeff Pilson: The tour has been amazing. It is in conjunction with White Snake, what can I say? They're great every night. Awesome songs. The band is wonderful. The evening opens with Jason Bonham doing a Led Zeppelin evening, which is terrific. They do Led Zeppelin as good as Led Zeppelin in their heyday. So it's an amazing night for everyone. It really is.
Breedlove: Where's this tour taking you? What's the full scope of your travels?
Jeff Pilson: We’re almost done with this tour. Tomorrow we have a show in Murphys California. Then after that, we have two more shows left, San Diego and L.A. then, we go off to Sturgis where we're going to do a show with the original lineup of Foreigner. Both bands together, it's really cool. We did this last Autumn in northern Michigan and it was amazing.
Breedlove: What is Sturgis like?
Jeff Pilson: Sturgis is like a wild, crazy biker rally. It's just crazy, what can I tell you? It's really fun, because there are so many people and it's a great place to perform. That's very much a key audience for Foreigner is the biker audience. So, it's going to be an entertaining show.
Breedlove: Before we started this interview, you were telling me about some of the classical recordings and performances you have been doing. Can you tell me more?
Jeff Pilson: We did a record called Foreigner with the 21st Century Orchestra and Choir. It was recorded in Lucerne, Switzerland a year ago May.
In that show, we played with a full orchestra and choir. Great arrangements of all the songs, and in it, we did an acoustic set within that of several songs. I played the Breedlove acoustic bass, and that thing … you don't have to do anything to it when you record it. It is perfect as is. You barely need to re-EQ it or anything; it's just a great sounding acoustic instrument.
It's really amazing, I feel like I struck gold with all the Breedlove stuff, because Bruce our guitar player plays the Bedell guitars in the acoustic format. They all just sound so great together.
Breedlove: Do you record quite a bit these days?
Jeff Pilson: Well, I do, and I also-we do studio recordings, and last year we had a record called Foreigner 40 which is 40 hits in 40 years.
We did a remake of the song called “I Don't Wanna Live Without You”, which was a song from about 1989. But on the song, we did a whole different arrangement, and I played the fret-less acoustic on that one. It came out unbelievable. Just unbelievable, and people have to hear it. The mixer really featured the bass in the mix. It came out absolutely stellar.
Breedlove: When you're playing with a fret-less as opposed to a fretted bass, what is the added bonus? What is the difference that you hear?
Jeff Pilson: Well, with a fret-less, you get the movement between the notes and the slides are all just-it's pure sex.
Breedlove: Totally smooth.
Jeff Pilson: Yeah, I adore fret-less basses, sounds great, feels right. It's even all the way up and down the neck. It's the perfect instrument. It really is.
Breedlove: You guys are going to head to Australia soon, right?
Jeff Pilson: Yes. We're gonna do the orchestral stuff. So I'll be playing the Breedlove over there. The bass on all the acoustic versions that we do with the orchestra there. It's going to be amazing.
Breedlove: Which venues will you be playing?
Jeff Pilson: Well, we're doing a major tour. But, we are doing the Sydney Opera House.
Breedlove: No way! Okay, that begs my last question. You've played all these fantastic places and venues. Any places that really stick out as your absolute favorite or pinnacle of your career?
Jeff Pilson: Of all the places we ever played? Wow! That's a real tough one. Well, we got to do an acoustic show at Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago. The Breedlove played there as well. That was a spectacular show. Hard to beat.
It was one of those things where just the sound of the room is so spectacular. You could see and hear why it's as famous a venue as it is. It just sounds amazing.
We also played Royal Albert Hall a couple of months ago, which was pretty spectacular. That was an electric show, but that was really cool.
Breedlove: It has to be phenomenal when you're playing and you feel this massive symphony playing with you?
Jeff Pilson: Oh yeah. Actually, at Royal Albert Hall it was just purely an electric show. There was no orchestra at that, but when we have the orchestra, it's pretty phenomenal.
Breedlove: Well, we really appreciate your time. We know you have a show to play in a few hours. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us and we look forward to the show tonight!
Jeff Pilson: You guys are the best. I tell people all the time about how great this company is, and the quality of workmanship, the passion that you guys have about quality instruments, really-for people that love the instruments like myself, like all the guys in our band and all the people I know that's a big thing. It really is. The wood you guys use, the craftsmanship, to the ease of playing of everything; I'm just such a huge fan.
Breedlove: Well, we love producing the finest sounding instruments and being able to see and hear them in the hands of such a talent, like yourself, makes it all worth it.
Jeff Pilson: Well thank you, man. It's just an honor and a pleasure.
