EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
BUENOS AIRES, MARCH 2012
By Adriana Rubio
Photographs By Fernando Serani
Photographs By Fernando Serani
JON JOYCE – ROBBIE WYCKOFF
AND THE LENNONS
MARK - KIPP - PAT
The extraordinary new presentation of The Wall is by far the purest masterpiece ever created. The feelings of loss, suffering and abandonment that were at the center of Roger Waters’ original “The Wall” storyline are still present. But the significance of it as a whole has now been extended to a more deep assertion on the consequences caused by religions, war, politics and business-trade. It also shows how all this together impacted on people’s lives for centuries. Corporate logos and religious symbols reveal most of the human kind conflicts. It doesn’t matter if you’re not familiar with the 1979 Pink Floyd double album or the Alan Parker-directed movie. The message is clear enough and is the kind of spectacle that you can’t miss. The Wall is more like a fine-arts-theatrical production than an average rock concert.
Apart from the stunning show created by Roger Waters, we must highlight the marvelous work Waters’ musicians and singers are doing on this new The Wall. They are contributing to it in a very professional and artistic way. This blog thanks The Wall Tour Singers for their time and words for the enjoyment of you all!
Jon Joyce entered into the Pink Floyd world in 1979 to record backing vocals for the song “Goodbye Blue Sky” at the Producers Workshop in Hollywood. Joyce along with Jim Haas, Stan Farber and Joe Chemay were the chosen singers for the 1980-81 original The Wall live performances. Thirty two years later Jon Joyce is still part of Roger Waters’ The Wall phenomenal creation. Joyce has contributed greatly to this new musical chapter from the very beginning. He’s been in charge of selecting the male chorus for the tour: The Lennons from the band “Venice” -Mark, Kipp and Pat- and the lead vocalist to sing David Gilmour’s parts: Robbie Wyckoff.
ABOUT THE AUDITIONS:
“Roger called me looking for singers for The Wall. He always has singers for his own albums and tours, but he didn’t have singers for this particular project which is Roger’s biggest message to the world. And the first band I thought of was “Venice”! I had a Beach Boys concept in mind for this, and I knew these guys would sound brilliantly. But we needed to find the lead vocalist. I called Robbie and we worked over the telephone first and through e-mails with mp3 demo files. And it’s so strange because there’re no instruments, just him a capella singing “Hey You”! And they then laid it over the original track. I sent it to Roger and he said “I like this guy!” (Jon Joyce).
“Roger came to LA to meet with us. Jon picked him up at the airport and we all met at Mark’s brother house, Michael. It was so weird, you know… (Laughs) we were playing guitar in a room with Roger, talking and sharing thoughts. He also brought a DVD that only belongs to him of the 1980 show”. (Kipp Lennon)
“I don’t think any of us can ever imagine how all this was going to change our lives, that it was going to be great in so many levels. Even though we knew Pink Floyd music and The Wall concept, you know… it’s just that we had no idea how close we would get with everybody in the band. We are very happy” (Mark Lennon)
ABOUT CONTRIBUTING TO ROGERS’ SONGS:
“Once Roger makes up his mind, he quickly moves on to something else. In rehearsals, we had to help him get a new ending for “Goodbye Blue Sky” to make it longer. So there’s something we had to contribute to The Wall. Then Roger wrote a new song and we had to come up with ideas for the background vocals. It’s still his song, but we feel that we really are part of it”. (Kipp Lennon)
“It was great that he actually came up to us saying…”What do you guys think we should do with these harmonies?”… And we immediately got the message. It was something like “I need your help guys, I wanna get this right”. And when we sing it every night… Oh! It’s a beautiful time for us”. (Pat Lennon).
ABOUT THE LYRICS:
“On a personal level The Wall is very important to me. Roger’s songs like “Mother”… It touches me deeply, it’s so special. Maybe it’s because my mother died 3 years ago and I think of her a lot, it’s so meaningful. And it happens the same with Comfortably Numb… singing those lyrics that Roger wrote… you just think what a genius he is, what a great lyricist he is! His lyrics never get old and I’m never tired of singing them. I feel totally connected with the songs and the audience. I put my heart entirely on this”. (Robbie Wyckoff)
“When you look at the audience all over the world on this tour, you see all kinds of people… different ages singing along… identifying the songs… it’s so moving, and even though we didn’t write the lyrics, we feel them. We are just lucky to be part of Roger’s tour; we are giving it to people” (Kipp Lennon)
ABOUT BEING A SINGER:
“Speaking for the three of us, we are family. We’ve been actually singing together for years. We’ve been in a band working together for 31 years. Singing is absolutely a huge part of our lives. We just can’t imagine a life with no singing. (Pat Lennon)
“We don’t have to worry about carrying a guitar case” (Laughs!!!) (Mark Lennon-the funniest guy in the band!)
“The only thing that worries a singer is getting a bad cold while touring. For the backing vocals it wouldn’t be a big problem if one of us gets sick because there’s still a group together, but for Robbie is a totally different thing” (Kipp Lennon)
“I have to take good care of my voice. If a guitar string breaks, you just change it. But your voice… it’s something you can’t fix that easy”. (Robbie Wyckoff)
Robbie Wyckoff is a Los Angeles-based session singer and recording artist whose outstanding voice can be heard on a vast number of movie soundtracks, TV shows, hit records and national jingles. After the recording of “Hey You”, Robbie travelled to New York to audition for The Wall.
ROBBIE’S PROJECTS:
He re-released “Lose Control”, a ten tracks album now available at CD-Baby site:
Before embarking on the 2012 leg of “The Wall” Tour, Robbie was busy in the studio recording and mixing new tunes for his “Big Band” album entitled “Steppin Out”. For more information on Robbie, just feel free to visit his official website at:
THE LENNONS/VENICE BAND was formed in 1977 by cousins Michael and Kipp Lennon in Venice, CA. In 1978 Michael’s brother Mark joined the band, followed by Kipp’s brother Pat Lennon in 1980. VENICE’s been active in the music field for so many years to the present days recording studio albums, performing live gigs locally and touring. They’ve been featured on famous TV shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and E! Entertainment among many others. Venice band members have performed and/or recorded with a big number of artists, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Cher, Phil Collins and Ozzy Osbourne, to mention a few. For more information on VENICE, feel free to visit the official website at:
MARK “MARKY” LENNON
Marky’s been singing professionally since the age of 14. He is one of the lead vocalists in the band "Venice" and has recorded albums both with "Venice", and as a solo artist. Marky is also a well known painter-designer artist. Also, Mark Lennon's solo abums "The Demo Sessions", "Christmas In The Groove" & "Dance or Cry" ara available at cdbaby site:
For more information on Marky Lennon, feel free to visit his official website at:
For more information on Marky Lennon, feel free to visit his official website at:
THANK YOU SINGERS!
