This week's Philly EDGE cover story.
-ED

Band for all seasons
Bon Jovi out to prove they can still rock

By Ryan Alan
Philly EDGE Correspondent

Jon Bon Jovi glances out across the river behind his New Jersey home, remarking on the arrival of a new season. He apologizes for breaking from his musical conversation to notice Mother Nature.
No problem. It seems always to be a new season for the musician and his band, Bon Jovi.
Matters of life and career seem to have intersected at a good place for the musicians. The heavy lifting and dues paying seem to be behind them. In one sense, the pressure is off.
"We are here to enjoy it mentally and physically. It's really great. We're not a burned out band. We're playing better than we ever have," assures Bon Jovi.
They're also enjoying the newfound success of a generation of people going back into the group's album catalogue to check out what has come before.
New listeners hear a song like the title track of the band’s new album, "Have A Nice Day," and, he says, they are asking, "Who are you and where did you come from?”
“Parents can tell their teen-agers 'I dig Bon Jovi too.' "
Teens just getting into rock are finding the group has had many albums, much like other generations who re-discovered Santana or Aerosmith or another group, he says.
It's a fortunate position in which to be in, Bon Jovi says, as the band embarks on another long, worldwide tour. The trek brings the veteran band to Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center, Dec. 2 and 3; then a return to the region for three gigs in four days at Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, Dec. 19, 21 and 22; and back again Feb. 4 for a concert in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
He believes the group can continue as long as it wants to. "We're beyond the point of breaking up because we are not relying on it. We've grown up together and we have other outlets. Nobody can get frustrated. If we get tired of touring, we pull the plug and we go do something else."
He is convinced the outside efforts of each musician have made the band stronger.
His involvement in movie-making, for example, has helped him become a more consistent storyteller, he says.
"It took me a long time to realize that, but I think I can honestly say that now. I am able to say a lot more with a whisper than a scream. I'm utilizing all the tricks I learned with movies... I was making stadiums feel intimate," he adds.
In movie making, if you don't explicitly tell your viewers what your story is, you're going to lose them, Bon Jovi says. He employs that imagery in his songwriting.
Jon tries to embrace every activity with enthusiasm.
"I know what it's like to be up, and down. I'm here to enjoy the moment," he says. "I'm really genuinely excited when I go out to play (with the band). This tour is not nostalgia, it's not about the past. This is a great continuation from artists who have grown and grown up in public."
"We’re always evolving and changing," says keyboardist David Bryan.
"It feels as big as we’ve ever been," adds guitarist Richie Sambora, who says he still shakes his head in amazement at the accomplishments of the band.
"Guys like us, we’re a bunch of kids from New Jersey. Now we’re one of the biggest bands on earth. And it’s a wild thing," he says.
Sambora believes that, while more new bands will be making a dent in the touring business, there are only a few that can still fill stadiums.
And, he adds, there are some groups who are able to transcend trends. "We’ve been lucky enough to be one of those bands. The way we do that is just to be ourselves," he explains.
Jon says what keeps it fun is the reality that the band members are friends. "If we didn’t have that, it wouldn’t be worth doing," he says. "We’re each other’s best friends. I couldn’t imagine it as just a cold-hearted business."
In a sense, they have two families says Sambora. "And one of them is this band," he says. "We’ve probably spent more time with this particular family than we spent with our own family."
One of the reasons people still come to see Bon Jovi, he suggests, is because of the camaraderie they share.
"We’re a band of brothers. We’re out there. We’re still doing it," Sambora says. "We are a band, I think, that we’re damned if we did and damned if we didn’t at one point, you know? We survived all this, you know, crap, this hair band criticism stuff. We did it by just going out there and working hard, and making good music and staying together. I think people want to see people stay together. I mean, we still like each other. It’s pretty unbelievable after 22 years."
Jon Bon Jovi feels that friendship is reflected in the music. "In a weird sort of way, we’re that garage band every kid had. We were just the average guys who hung out at the mall who made good," he says.
One of the reasons, suggests Bryan, is the group does not take the opportunity to take the stage for granted.
"We’ve been in this game since we were kids, Then we got into the band and there’s a certain respect when you walk up on that stage," Bryan says.
It’s about being fully aware, he explains.
"So many bands, kids, go up there drunk,” says Bryan. “We respect the stage so much that you go up there and you do what you’re put on this earth to do: you play, you entertain, and that’s what you do. And the show goes on. You make life coexist with that."
The "Have A Nice Day" album takes a look at how life exists in 2005.
"I think the main part of this record is culled from personal freedom. I think that’s a real big, big part of this record; having your own voice," says Sambora. "It’s about standing up for yourself and having your own voice in the world."
For the band, there is still joy in the creative process. "Going out and writing a song makes you happy. When you write a great song, there’s nothing like that," says Sambora.
"Jon and I are really good at writing songs that people can say, ‘This is our song,’ and we’re essentially writing about ourselves, and writing about our own experiences."
It’s still very much a learning experience for Bon Jovi.
"You walk into a songwriting session and you’re trying to do something different, and trying to evolve and trying to learn something new," says Sambora. "And there’s always things to learn if you keep your eyes open. So, we’ve been a band that has kept our eyes open."
Jon: "You set out with a certain framework with certain records. Sometimes you achieve what you want, sometimes you don't.
"Our songs have touched people the way that music touches people's lives. We were fortunate to have our lives touched by music and now to be able to touch other people's lives."
The greatest reward he receives, he adds, is when he writes a song and knows it will be there forever. "I think that’s the greatest high. I don’t need the roar of the crowd to boost my ego. But I enjoy myself immensely on stage," Jon says. "This is not a band where you go to the concert and you know one or two songs that are currently hits. This is a band that has had a lot of hits for a lot of years."
There’s always an excitement when a band can play new material live too, says Sambora.
"We’re just thrilled about this new record. Any time that you get to play the new songs off the new record you get really excited about it," he explains.
Bryan: "It’s really great to play some of the classics, and it’s really great to play the new songs. It’s an honor to walk up on that stage and people still dig you, to tell you the truth."
Once you come to see this band live, if you were a doubter you will be converted, Sambora predicts. "You come and see us play live, you go ‘Wow! Now I get it!’ Whatever misconceptions that were misconstrued about this band at any point in time, now are cleared up by coming to see us play live. After all these years, if we haven’t learned how to be a great rock’n’roll band, well then something’s messed up.
"You’re going to see a lot of heart and see a lot of soul there. People are going to see us going out there and really trying to do something different, and doing something good. And that’s what I think this band has been based on for a lot of years."