TOM KEIFER Says 'Country Influence' In His Music Comes From Listening To THE ROLLING STONES, Not From Living In Nashville

CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer has confirmed to AntiHero Magazine that he has commenced writing material for the follow-up to his debut solo album, 2013's "The Way Life Goes". "There has definitely been some song ideas, gathering or collecting," he said. "Once 'The Way Life Goes' was released and the many years that we had spent creating that, we started touring with the new band and kind of entered that season of refilling the well with experiences of life and my inner emotions, traveling, and being out there just living life, and that is when the songs come. So yeah, there has been a lot of really cool song ideas that have been piling up. I am hoping to be in the studio by the end of next year and working on a follow-up."

Asked if the fact that he is residing these days in Nashville will play a significant part in how his next album will shape up in terms of the sound and style, Tom said: "Well, I think 'The Way Life Goes' is mostly hard rock. Maybe three things that are a little more organic acoustic kind of thing, and the rest are in the vein and not a whole lot different from what I wrote on [CINDERELLA's] 'Heartbreak Station' or 'Coming Home' on 'Long Cold Winter'. There has always been a little bit of that country flavor that I got from THE [ROLLING] STONES, really, and not from being in Nashville. [Laughs] Any country influence here, take it from me, did not come from living in Nashville. It came from listening to THE STONES as a kid. I have always had a little bit of that in the sound, and there is certainly some of that on 'The Way Life Goes'. For the most part, all of the records that I have been involved with are hard rock/blues-influenced mainly. That is the road that I will continue down. I always try in terms of instrumentation to do something fresh and, for lack of a better word, contemporary. It will always be in that vein of music."

Keifer released an expanded compilation of "The Way Life Goes" on October 20 via Cleopatra Records. The original 2013 album was remastered by Richard Dodd (KINGS OF LEON, JASON ALDEAN, LADY ANTEBELLUM) and contains two brand new studio tracks recorded in Nashville by three-time Grammy Award winner Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton) with Keifer and his bandmates (Tony Higbee, Billy Mercer, Paul Simmons, Paul Taylor, Savannah Keifer and Kendra Chantelle). Fans finally got to hear the long-awaited studio recording of THE BEATLES' "With A Little Help From My Friends", which Keifer performs at all of his concerts, plus a powerful new take on the CINDERELLA classic "Nobody's Fool", newly recorded as a duet with Lzzy Hale of HALESTORM.