On the documentary then, was there any unseen footage in there that you guys, like, wow, I haven't seen that clip for years. There's tons. There's tons. Oh, really? I'm a hoarder. He's a hoarder.
I mean, he had he had more stuff hidden. Things that I didn't know Yeah. That I forgot. And songs like Living on a Prayer, whose idea was it to have that massive chorus? When we wrote it, we didn't have a a single note or a word or anything. We walked into a room together and just start banging around and, know, the writing of it was one thing. But when we went into the room and developed the baseline and Tico put a beat behind it, that's when it really came to life. When I mentioned I was interviewing you today, all of my followers, they just wanna know, will you be working with Richie again in the future, do you think? Well, it's been 11 years. I'm waiting for the phone to ring. So yes. Where are you now with your voice? Because you had the surgery and I'm at Absolut Radio.
Now, it's just getting back
to tour shape. And have you got a time frame for that? Are you leaving it open? It's up to God.
Please welcome
John, David, and Tico. Hey. Hey. Hey. Good morning. Good morning, Leon. How are you all? Very well. Thank you. Now you've got a new docuseries coming out called Thank You, Goodnight, the Bon Jovi Story, out on April 26th. What was it like making this series? You know, when they say that you, you pass and you see your life flash before your eyes, this was my life flashing before my eyes, but we're not dead. So it was,
it it it was quite nice to see it.
Yeah. It it must it sorry. Sorry about that. Messed up your records. Though, we'll we'll wipe that down, I'll
have. We'll come back to the records.
So, obviously, you're watching the the the docu series. Have you seen the final product, the final four of it since? The almost final product. I think maybe 4 or 5 months ago, we all sat in a room together and watched a rough cut. And how did you feel watching it? We've done a hell of a lot of work in the last 40 years. You know, a lot of lots happened. Was that every incarnation of the band watching that together? Richie came over my house
and watched the first three episodes with me. Yeah. And how was it watching it with Richie? Good. Same as it was with everyone else. You know, like I said, a lot has
a lot has happened. And, of course, you've been working on a new album. And you cover everything in this documentary from the current status of the band
to the very, very beginnings
when you were,
you know, performing on your own and you had Runaways as a hit single
before you formulated the band. Yeah. Which is really interesting to watch how that all came about. I was in caveman times.
Yes. What was it like, formulating the band after a hit single? I mean, how did you get these guys together? Thought that we'd be, you know, maybe 3 or 4 weeks to take advantage of the airplane.
And and that it, you know because Tico, for instance, was in a recording act that was on the road.
I didn't anticipate his
being able to leave a band that was, you know,
having hit records on the radio
and going back to nothingness,
you know. So, Tika, how did you feel about, taking that jump? You know, I walked in with Jim with with
David and and Johnny.
And, I just had a feeling gut feeling. I said, well, this is worth taking a chance over.
And
You were right. Subsequently.
Yeah. Something tells me that that was a good decision. Yeah. And, of course, you were already playing in a band with with John already, weren't you? Yeah. First, you know, like in the documentary since, you know, we were 17 years old. Yeah. So you had that history going right back, which is great. And then you had your first two albums, Bon Jovi and 7,800
degrees Fahrenheit.
And then, of course, the album that well, I brought it in today, the album that literally changed my life.
I I got into
Bon Jovi and rock music as a result of Slippery When Wet.
And it changed your life in a in a rather dramatic way. How did you go from those first two albums to that next level, which was a massive jump? How did you create these songs that were so huge? You really don't know how you create anything. I mean, it sort of happens. Right? I mean, we'd we had done 2 other records prior. We went to a different place with a different producer.
We had a couple of albums and a couple of years experience on the road.
We took all of that to
Vancouver, Canada, which was an unknown place,
really,
as far
as record making was concerned.
And and
everything this confluence of different people that came together and 1 and 1 made 10.
You know, Bruce Fairburn really became Bruce Fairburn after Slippery.
And Bob Rock was just
a salaried engineer who went on to, of course, to Metallica's Black Album and some of the the great rock and roll records.
But these guys were
all like us, you know, just coming into their own. And songs like Living on a Prayer. I mean, how did you get whose idea was it to have that massive chorus with the woes and There there was there was the 3 of us. You know, I I co wrote that with Richie and a guy named Desmond. But
when we wrote it, we didn't have a a single note or a word or anything. We walked into a room together and just start banging around and
talking about story lines. And,
you know, it it it turned into the record that it is when we, the band,
went in and and worked it up. You know, the writing of it was one thing, but because it was very simplistic.
We had the melody, the lyric, the chord changes. Yes. But when we went into the room and developed the bass line and Tico put a beat behind it, that's when it really came to life. It came pretty easy. I mean, that was one of our easier records
as was our new one here. But,
it it's the the point being is when it gets that easy, it's good.
That is Yeah. That is true. Yeah. I've often discovered that when viewing bands that it's the the songs that, created the quickest that turn out to be the best. Yeah. Oddly enough. It's like the path of least resistance. You know? You're not working in it and working it and working it and working it. Usually, those ones are not as good. And we Well, they can be, but you have to but if you're over thinking it, you know, you you become victim to that. Okay. Too much.
That was that was sort of the problem with technology is there was too many tracks. You could add everything.
So we had to teach you how to not add everything.
How do you find that today with today's technology? That's the point. It's, you know, you could have a 199 tracks on a record because it's it's there's it's not tape. It's digital. Right?
When there was 24 track analog, it was just
boom, chop, boom, chop.
Good. Move on. You know? Do you prefer the analog era? That was a different sound, but it was also
time consuming.
You know, if you wanna see a part and move to another part, you had to cut tape. Yeah. We had to go out from Now they hit a button. And they go, oh, let's just see what it is. It's something that takes, yeah, something that takes minutes, you know, took hours then. Right. And literally cutting up with a knife. Yeah. Yeah. Real Yeah. Real things, not zeros and ones. Sometimes you lose some good stuff because they did a lousy job. Right. So
on to the documentary then,
You do talk in detail about your voice.
Yes. And where are you now with your voice? Because you had the surgery and I'm an absolute radio.
You know, what you see in the film was was shot a year and 2 years ago.
And and I did have a major
surgery, which was much to my surprise too. But,
the
progress
and the process
have been continual,
and and I'm I'm far along,
you know, was more than capable of singing on the record and singing on a daily basis. And this early morning of
the on on today, this Wednesday, I mean, my voice sounds pretty good for this time of Yeah. It does. I mean, it's good. It's good. Now it's just getting back to
tour shape. Yes.
And have you got a time frame for that? Are you leaving it open? It's up to god to ask him.
You know, because that's really what it comes down to. When you think about your
vocal cords, which probably the listener would never know, consider the size of your thumbnail.
That that's as big as your chords are.
Yeah. You mentioned the documentary, you know, sports players have, an arm or a limb Yeah. And your whole world revolves around this tiny space here. And yours too.
The same thing. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's what it was. It was much to my surprise that all this happened, but
that's the rehab process now. But it was good enough shape to make this new album? Oh, it's good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which I've heard, one of the singles, legendary. What was the inspiration for that song? Oh, I think you get to a certain place in life when you're reflecting,
in in as the lyrics says, I've got what I want because I got what I need, a fistful of friends that'll stand up for me.
That reflected what was happening with the surgery and where we are in our careers. And, you know, that's why I think the song's resonating as people find that lyric to be their own, much like our other songs where there's
something like Livin' on a Prayer or It's My Life. Those characters become your story,
and these storylines become your story. So what was it like making this new album, guys? Was it good to come back together and
Again, this was an easy one. This flowed together, the fact that we got together in Nashville.
We've done we've worked there before. The fact that it came together and just flowed
is a testament to the songs. I mean, I don't usually listen to lyrics. I had to call John and tell him how great the lyrics was because,
really, it was good. Right. And it had and had the energy of everybody being in one room looking at each other and banging it out.
And that collective energy, you know, you feel that in the spirit of that song, a legendary in the whole record. Because we're in there and just like Tigo saying it was easy, but we're looking at each other and just banging through it all. It was really fun. Yeah. A fun record to make. I mean, you're a tight unit now and I mean, everything is covered in the documentary. And when I mentioned I was interviewing you today, all of my followers, they just wanna know, will you be working with Richie again in the future, do you think? Well, it's been 11 years I'm waiting for the phone to ring. So who
knows what the future holds? I I mean, obviously, you're in touch with him. You saw the documentary together, but it is not at that particular stage of discussing music. You you have to just understand that, you know, there was never a fighter falling out. He quit the band 11 years ago in the middle of the night, and,
there's no animis because being in a rock band is glorious as as it sounds. It's hard
work. And,
and, you know, he decided that being on the road with us wasn't for him and just didn't
show up anymore. That's really what happened. So I mean, if anybody wants more details on that, they just need to see the program because it is covered in detail. Yeah. And he does apologize for the way he did it as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. There's no animus. Just to be clear with all our listeners, there's
there's we never had a fight. There's no animus. He came to see the doc, you know. It's it's all good. And I think that's a positive note to Sure. To talk about there.
So the docuseries is 4 parts and it's absolutely fascinating. So it's kind of interspersed between the timeline from the beginning, the 40 years. Actually, it goes before the 40 years when you were on your own. Right. But cut up with bits from 2022 as well, doesn't it? Yes. It goes right till,
I guess,
late 23 at the very end, right, when you think about where we were at the time. We've been shooting for over
2 years with the director. His name is Gautam Chopra. You may know his dad, Deepak Chopra. And and he captured the the essence of what was going on in current day
while also capturing the history of the band over these 40 years. His access was unlimited,
and we trusted him to
to to tell the story.
And and he really delivered on the on the promise that he would. Was there any unseen footage in there that you guys, like, wow, I haven't seen that clip for years or There's tons there's tons. Oh, really? Who knew? Yeah.
I I always thought the beat the Beatles always had incredible documentaries. And then when I saw this one, I went, oh, we got a lot of material.
No. And, honestly, just to see that stuff that was actually archived.
John,
his his I'm a hoarder. He's a hoarder.
I mean, he had he had more stuff hidden. I have that. I don't think he even is. Yeah. It was Things that I didn't know. Yeah. That I forgot. Completely forgot. There's clips of you going through hours and hours of cassette tapes, videotapes.
Yeah. And to have had all those cassette tapes, to have
the cassette of me writing Runaway. I mean, who knew? Or the the the original piece of scrap paper that you're writing Better Roses on or to, you know, all of these kind of things, we had no clue.
Are you gonna release any of that stuff? Yeah. There's probably 30 songs that we found because we we've always known that we write 30 on
so many of our albums. We'll write 30 to get 10.
And,
so there's a treasure trove of material.
But there's some really good songs that, in retrospect, they go, how did that not make the record? Yeah.
Well, I mean, I just can't wait for everybody to watch this docuseries
because I thought it was fascinating. Oh, thank you. We also can't wait to hear the new album. And thank you for coming in, Bon Jovi. Amen. Alright. Thanks, baby. Thanks, Leonie. Thank you.