Foreigner leader Mick Jones revealed that he’s sitting on roughly an album’s worth of songs written with original frontman, Lou Gramm. Last summer and fall, at various gigs, Jones welcomed Gramm and the surviving early members of Foreigner onstage in celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary. He spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock and talked about the unreleased songs with Gramm: “There’s about 10 or 12 (tracks), which I’ve been listening to. I don’t quite know when we’re going to have a chance to do that, but it wouldn’t be before the fall. I’m aware that they’re there, but I think we have to concentrate on one thing at a time. You know, otherwise the projects… it’s not good to be thinking of three or four different things at once.”
Back on October 6th and 7th, the original members of Foreigner reunited at Pleasant, Michigan’s Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort to film and record a 40th anniversary CD and DVD. Mick Jones explained that the past and current members feel almost like an extended family, saying, “It’s really nice and great. It sort of completes the circle almost. It’s a great feeling and the fans love it. We love it. It’s amazing — Kelly (Hansen) and Lou Gramm hit it off like a house on fire. They love it. I was holding my breath for a minute there, because in other conditions, it could be a touchy subject. But it hasn’t been at all — it’s been the opposite.”
Back in 2013, just prior to Mick Jones and Lou Gramm’s initial reunion during their induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Jones said in an interview how it brought him and Gramm back into a good place again: “Y’know, just having talked to Lou a few times in the last weeks; what I’m glad about is that we’re talking. And there is a basis for more understanding. Y’know, we were talking the other day about our kids, kids that — I haven’t seen two of Lou’s kids, because they were born pretty much the year that we broke up. And I’m looking forward to that. And he was asking about all of my children — y’know, they all grew up, they were on the road, the kids, y’know, we used to have… it was a family thing. And just hearing his voice again, it was very emotional, y’know?”
Coming on April 27th is Foreigner’s new live CD/DVD collection, Foreigner With The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. The set, which was recorded last May in Lucerne, Switzerland, features 14 tracks on the CD and three more on the DVD.
This summer, Foreigner will be on tour with Whitesnake and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening.
The new Foreigner musical built around the band’s legendary catalogue will open this summer in Calgary, Alberta. The production, called Jukebox Hero after Foreigner’s 1981 classic, will open first in Calgary, running from August 10th through 12th at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, before hitting Edmonton on August 16th through 19th at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
