CINDERELLA's TOM KEIFER On Solo Debut: 'The Lyrics Come From A Personal Place Or From Life'

antiMusic's Morley Seaver recently conducted an interview with Tom Keifer, best known as the singer/songwriter/guitarist of the Philadelphia-based blues-rock band CINDERELLA. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

antiMusic: Is [Keifer's debut solo album, "The Way Life Goes"] as much of a personal statement about triumph over adversity as it is about simply great music?

Tom: Well, the lyrics come from a personal place or from life. That's pretty much how I've approached songwriting. I really came up on a lot of great songwriters in the '70s, like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and THE EAGLES. You know, all those bands back then, they were inspired by American roots music, blues, and country and R&B and gospel and it's all about real stuff, everyday life and real things. And certainly, much of these lyrics express things that I've been through or have learned or watched other people go through.

antiMusic: I know you started a solo record back in the '90s but since you have come back successfully from your throat problems, why is the first product out a Tom Keifer solo record instead of CINDERELLA?

Tom: Well, I did start writing and was considering doing a solo record in the '90s and it kept getting put on the back burner. One of the reasons it did was because shortly after I moved to Nashville and was going to start working on my solo record, CINDERELLA reformed and we were given a big record deal with a major record company who was promising all kinds of good things for us. The record never got made and it turned into an ugly court battle and lawsuit. So we were restricted from recording for a number of years during the legal problems and during that time was when I started work on this record and I did it independently of the label. So I've just been working on it slowly. I started cutting the tracks in 2003 and just kind of "when it's finished, it's finished" kind of vibe is how I approached it. And you know, the band, CINDERELLA continued to tour throughout the last 10 years that I've been making this record. And you know, eventually [laughs], I've worked on it so long, I'm going to release it, so there you are. There was no grand plan or anything. I mean, I always had the intention of releasing it at some point and I just worked on it until I was happy with it. So that's kind of the story there. It worked out well timing wise, because right when I'd finished the record and I'd shopped it around to find a label, and I found a great label for it, Merovee Records. The timing of signing with them and them wanting to release this actually coincided with CINDERELLA deciding to take a hiatus this year. We'd toured pretty extensively the last three years. So the timing worked out actually perfectly in that sense.

You can read the entire interview at antiMusic.

"Solid Ground" video: