It’s always a pleasure to interview the charismatic Ted Poley. Invariably happy and with an awesome sense of humour, the Danger Danger lead singer extensively answered all the questions I had in store for him about the recently released Poley/Rivera album ‘Only Human’, and of course the long-awaited yet-to-see-the light new D2 album. Perpetually as close as he can get to his fans, it is no wonder why he has been hailed as one of the top live entertainers in the industry. Let’s hear from him.

Firstly I must say how great you were with Danger Danger at Firefest V.

Thank you so much!

Most people I’ve spoken to agree you were without a shadow of a doubt the best band on the bill.

That’s so nice of you. We had fun. We have a lot of fans that love us and I think they make the show great. Honestly, when Danger Danger shows up, it’s a party. We feed off the fans and we are so grateful because the fans love Danger Danger, so it makes the show so much better. I don’t know why, but we have been given this privilege and we’re thankful for it. We of course rehearse and do our best, but most of the battle is won by showing up. They just love to see Steve, Bruno, my face… When we come out everyone starts smiling and we all start drinking and it’s a fun time. It’s more of a party with our friends, really, than playing a regular concert. We’re very interactive with our fans.

How do you rank the interaction with the audience at live gigs? Would you agree that it is as important as the actual singing/performing?

Well, number one is always the singing because if you have a bad vocal performance, you can’t get past that, but I find that I do things that are never calculated, things that I would have loved when I used to go to concerts. I’ve been performing since I was four years old giving piano recitals, so music has been my whole life. I’ve been going to concerts since I was a little kid and all of the things that would have thrilled me, like have a performer come to the audience and sing to me, or taken my camera from me in the front row and taken some close-up pictures of the band’s faces and handed it back to me. The things that I do are things that I wish somebody would have done for me when going to concerts. And that’s the kind of stuff I do: I take the camera off somebody’s hands and the look on their face immediately is ‘Oh no, I’ve been conned, I’m never going to get my camera back!’ But then I go and take a picture of Steve West’s face from 2ft away and the best thing I love is to take a picture of their stunned expression just before I hand the camera back to the person. They’re always extremely relieved to get their camera back, but then they got something so special that had somebody done that for me when I was a kid, I would just have thought ‘that was the coolest thing’. So it’s not that I’m planning things, but it really stands from the fact that I’m really enjoying myself and I want everybody to have special things.

You have to remember who you’ve taken the camera from, though!

That’s true! It was very funny once in Japan, because I couldn’t see very well (as I’m coming into my older age now, I think I need some glasses!) and had the lights in my eyes, so I gave the camera to the wrong person! But they were very honest and handed the camera back to the owner. I do lots of fun things. Anybody that’s been to a Danger Danger show knows that you can’t keep me on stage. I love to come out and sing in the audience and I guess it looks very funny to people because I’m so short that when I go to the crowd most people don’t know where I’ve been because I’m not on stage, they hear me singing but they certainly can’t see my head over most normal-sized people! They think I’m so tall on stage and then I get down there and I disappear!

In our last interview, you were telling me how excited you were about the then forthcoming album with Vic Rivera, but it was taking some time as you were both busy with other projects. Finally, Poley/Rivera’s debut ‘Only Human’ is out. Tell me about the material on it.

Just between you and me and everybody, did you like it? Have you heard it?

Yeah, I loved it!

Then, let’s keep that public! Thank you very much. I love Vic, he’s my brother, my musical partner, he’s a genious and he did a really nice job. It was he and I against the world with a little help from certain cherished friends to really get that thing done. In the end many labels were interested and it did eventually come out, but when we made it we couldn’t care less if anybody was going to sign it. We did what we wanted to do but I was very happy they signed it in the end. I’m so happy with it. We did it all by ourselves. Vic did an amazing job. I’m specially proud of that record. It’s going to be very rare and hard to get because it wasn’t distributed very well.

I know and we’ll touch on that in a bit. I find there is great quality melodic material with catchy tracks such as ‘Top Of The World’, probably my favourite, and ‘Did We Just Have A Moment?’

What you just named, that’s the direction, because we have a few darker songs. I have to keep Vic very happy so I end up with the happier songs, because when he gets in a bad mood he gives me a song that’s really heavy and in minor keys, and I need things in major keys because I’m the happy smile guy. Poley/Rivera is about those songs you just mentioned, which are more the upbeat thing and my style, I really like that. The new record is, believe it or not, already under production and it’s very much taking it from that point forward and from that direction, the happier rockier stuff that I’m mostly known for.

Then there are songs with some heavy guitars like ‘N.W.S.’.

Exactly, ‘No Way Situation’. Again, Vic was in a mood that day or that week and tuned down. It’s a very interesting song and it’s very hard to write a very melodic chorus to a very melodic sound and I feel we’ve achieved that. With that said, we’ve learned how to focus ourselves and in which direction to focus. I love that song. There’ll always be heavy elements to our stuff but I think that one will probably be as heavy as I want to personally go with Poley/Rivera. The future holds more of the stuff you like!

What is the fan response so far?

They will never tell me to my face if they don’t like it! All the emails I’ve been getting are very positive. All I can say is that I get so many requests for it that I wish I had it on my own label so I can have access and sell them. I apologise upfront to the fans because if you go to www.tedpoley.com, which will be refurbished and updated soon, you can get other stuff but not this CD. I don’t own the rights to it and I’d have to buy them from the companies just like any other distributor and I can’t afford to give my fans as good a deal as other distributors that can get them cheaper because they are real record companies. So instead of ripping off my fans I just don’t make it available and I appreciate their support and hope that they do buy it from other mail order places.

Tell me, what is the situation with that? You said you encountered some challenges with a record label. Who is distributing it? What is the current situation?

You are very politically correct with that: challenges, and that is as far as I’ll go with it, only because we took a chance with a new label and it didn’t work out.

Is that AngelMilk Records?

I don’t want to name names. It’s pretty obvious who it is, but I don’t want to place blame on anybody. Let’s just say that we’ve been very happy to have been given the opportunity to put it out. They certainly paid us very well (we’re well out of debt and building a nice new studio for the next one), so I do thank them for everything. There is no hard feelings and I feel that any new label is always a risk. We took a risk by choosing a new label but they did well by us up to the point of distribution. Being positive, not negative, I only say I wished it would have had a wider distribution and more promotion. So I like to remain positive these days and am looking forward to the new Poley/Rivera rather than the past of deals. I hate deals, I like making music. Right now I’m writing and singing and doing things that I like to do, so I’m going to stick with that and worry about making deals after we’re done with the fun stuff.

Your last album ‘Smile’ was on Frontiers. Why did you not release this one with them? They’re a very good label.

We probably could have, but there was miscommunication on both parts. I thought that I had submitted it to them and that they had passed on it, so I offered it elsewhere. But they really hadn’t passed on it and they liked it. It was sort of my mistake, but they’re one label that I would love to consider for the next one. I am signed as a solo artist to Frontiers, and they did a great job on ‘Smile’ and the new Danger Danger album is signed to Frontiers. I must say they’ve shown themselves to be the biggest and among the best and certainly the big dogs out there. I am certain they will be among the first people to hear the new Poley/Rivera.

How did you contribute in terms of writing for this album?

We did it whilst we were doing other things. It took about three years and Vic did a lot of the writing. I did very little, but some, and then I influenced it by what I do and my singing. Basically, Vic comes up with a lot of the ideas, which as I told you in some cases are heavy and in some cases are happy, depending on his mood. He can play all the instruments and he has a great knowledge of what he wants and we co-produced it. In the end it’s very much a product of both of us, we’re like proud parents. But as far as the song writing goes pretty much he’ll come up with an idea and I’d start jumping up and down and I go ‘Oh, that’s great. I can’t wait to sing that’ and then we go on to the next song.

You said you’re working already on the second Poley/Rivera album.

Yes, I know everybody always says ‘Wait til you hear this. It’s gonna be the best one yet!’ but it really is! We’re building a new studio, thanks to, believe it or not, the success of the first one that enabled us to upgrade our studio to as professional as you can get! And not only will the next one sound better, but we already have three complete new songs that I think you’ll love. After singing on this new Danger Danger record, I can probably sing better than I ever have. Bruno beat that shit out of me in the studio and it really made me sing. People are gonna love the D2 CD. Bruno Ravel accepts nothing less than perfection, so I’m in fine form. Thank you, Mr Ravel!

Do you know when you will be releasing the second Poley/Rivera album?

Actually no. We’re going to take our time because we’re building the new studio so this will be the first CD coming out of it. I’d like to say we’re going to do it quickly, but then there’s always the growing pains and the surprises of a new studio décor that don’t have anything to do with the studio or the music, like computer issues. But honestly we’d like to have it out much quicker than the last one, I’d say seven or eight months. From beginning to end that’s about normal. The recording part might take one month or two but we do the real work planning ahead of time writing the song, and hopefully you will like it!

Aside from playing Z-Rock with Vic in May, you are doing one show in Canada and another one in Philadelphia (with Eric Martin on the bill) in August, but are there any plans for a full Poley/Rivera tour?

Not so much a Poley/Rivera tour because if we came as a Poley/Rivera and we played everything that we’ve released so far, it’d be a half hour show. So our intention is to get festivals, something like 45 minute sets. But I’d play anytime. I always like to play some of the popular stuff from my own career. I think if I didn’t sing something like ‘Beat The Bullet’, ‘Bang Bang’ or ‘Monkey Business’ they wouldn’t let me leave the building alive! So all of my bands always have to learn what I call the ‘Ted classics’. The non Danger Danger shows are basically Ted Poley, and I like to involve Vic in whatever I do. But in some countries such as Brazil or Peru I’m forced to use local bands because the cost of hotels and flights makes it expensive to bring my US band, that I love. Poley/Rivera is not widely known but the name Ted Poley, good or bad, is as known as it ever was. If I advertise it as Ted Poley the fans come knowing they’re going to hear lots of fun Danger Danger and have a good time. I get to play a few solo songs so that people have time to go get a beer and go to the bathroom, and then when they come back we move back and forth from Poley/Rivera because we want to play songs that we love and that people who know the songs love. Like you say, we have Canada, US and I’m actually working on a few other things. But it’s tough because I don’t know the Danger Danger schedule yet and that is my priority and don’t wanna mess with that. They’re still locked in the studio finishing the new CD and we are playing Rocklahoma, which I’m very excited about. But as far as building a schedule it’s too premature for that, so I don’t want to book too much because I don’t want to start cancelling things. I have to defer to their schedule and as soon as they know what they are doing more clearly, I will be able to fill in those blanks. But I must say that I’m so proud of my guys: Vic Rivera, Eddie Campbell (who a lot of people know from Crunch), Doug O’Dell from Crunch and Ed Faust on drums. I know a lot of the fans know these guys from Adriangale and Crunch. So when you come to see us live you are really gonna be happy. It’s not just a Ted Poley show. The musicianship is off the hook. These guys are some of the top guys in our field and we really enjoy what we are doing.

Talking about Danger Danger now, you said you have no schedule yet, but do you know when the album is going to be finished and released?

Well, I just know that if it’s not released soon, Frontiers are going to start sending hit men on all of us! We’re very late because Steve and Bruno are perfectionists and that’s why they always get high scores and good reviews. Hopefully that trend will continue with this CD. They’ve been working their asses off for a long time. I actually started my vocals last October and there was already music before that. We’ve been recording for a long time. Bruno is great and I can tell you that it will be worth the wait. I’m sorry it’s a little bit later than it’s supposed to, but I think the fans always know with Danger Danger, it’s coming, but you can’t always count on a deadline. And that’s part of our corkiness, that’s what make you love us! But when it comes out, I guarantee that this is a CD that the fans will love. It is not something experimental at all, although it is really cutting-edge in certain ways for Danger Danger. It doesn’t sound dated at all and it’s everything you love about Danger Danger. We didn’t go all grunch or whatever is popular these days! I’m so happy with the CD. The bruises and the beatings by Bruno were absolutely worth it because he made me sing better than I am!

Have you all been together in the studio at the same time?

They live in Long Island, New York, and I live in Pennsylvania. The studio where I’m recording the vocals is Bruno’s studio, which is a professional studio located in his home. So when I do my vocals I have to get up for about 4am and take the bus from my small Pennsylvania town directly to New York, which is about two hours to Port Authority, walk the 6 or 7 blocks to Madison Square Garden, get on a train to Bruno’s and then he’d pick me up at the train station. Then I would sing and make the same commute back home that day. So it was roughly 7 hours commute to do about 3 hours of singing, but it was worth it. I’m not bitching about it as it gave me time to review the songs on the way home. And I love my fans so much I would commute further than that any day!

How is your relationship with the members of D2? Is there still some animosity over all the court dealings? Do you see much of them aside from ‘work’?

Unfortunately I don’t see much of them aside from work. Maybe I delude myself into thinking it’s the physical distance between us, but after all we’ve been through, I really love the guys. I think at best they probably tolerate me, I’m not gonna lie to myself or anybody else. I don’t know if they can ever get over the stuff I did to do them. But I’m a happy guy in general in life and I can honestly say that when we’re together we make each other laugh, we tell stories and it’s just like the old days. And when we’re apart we just get on with whatever we’re doing separately. When we go to another country usually I even fly from different airports, so I don’t see them til I get there and when we’re together we have a fun time. Otherwise we don’t really socialise too much outside of it, but we’re like family business partners who have an awful lot of fun at work!

Will you be playing any new songs from the new D2 album when you play in Rocklahoma in July?

That’s a tough one because who knows? If the album is not out, I doubt it. But I would love to because there are a couple of songs there that are so good – well, all of them are so good, but there are a couple of them that are my favourite ever. However, there are so many bands, we’ll probably get a very limited time. We’re on the main stage and fairly close to the headliners, I’m sure at a time that would be at a premium and we want to get as many crowd pleasers as we can.

Have you been rehearsing for that?

No, no. Once again, their full concentration is on the new album. They’re so focused right now that live is the last of it and as we get closer to the show that’s when we’ll get it together and rehearse. Don’t forget our guitar player, Rob Marcello, is located nowhere near us. He’s in Ohio, so it’s a flight to rehearsal, which means our rehearsals have to be more intensive. But after 20 years of playing these things, what you see on stage is not rehearsed, it’s Danger Danger, so what happens, happens. We are not Dream Theatre, which is one of my favourite bands. But I know these guys and I know every move they are going to make musically, and as long as I remember my words, my rehearsal is pretty much while the show is going on!

Do you have a name for the new Danger Danger album?

I am actually barred from giving out any specific information on this CD until such time as my glorious record company Frontiers and my two wonderful but potentially violent partners decide. But there is a name and it’s very cool. We’ve taken the photos for the cover, it has good art and it really has a cool package, but I can’t release any specific details otherwise they’ll lock me in the Ted Poley room and beat me! Now I know better and know how to shut the fuck up and we all get along better!

Moving on now to Pleasure Dome, on our last interview you mentioned you probably wouldn’t promote the new album. It’s released on Escape Music and you had been working on it since 2004 with Ed Avila on bass and drummer John Mummel, both ex-Shotgun Symphony.

Yeah, I’ll promote it. Most people thought the cover sucked. I’ve never seen the cover because it wasn’t my band and I didn’t care. It was a bunch of my friends and I did it because I love it, we just had a great time together and it wasn’t for money. Escape put it out so it got some high profile and high visibility. Before it ever came out people were making fun of that because of the cover and that’s so stupid! Then once it came out I haven’t seen a negative comment. The funny thing was I got some of the best reviews in countries that traditionally are not into my softer side, such as Germany. They loved the CD. And the fans loved it. I wanted to do it because it was different from anything I ever did and it gave me a chance almost to be a little heavier and to write whatever I wanted with these guys. After Escape took it over they did a treatment on it, they made the drums sound amazing and they made it sound so good that I actually really like the CD, so I’ll promote it. I don’t even make any money out of it and I’m telling you if you want something interesting and you’re a Ted Poley fan, or not, check it out. But if you like it, please buy it because I do like very few labels, but I do like Escape Records. I wish them all the best and I’ll probably have something come out on that label eventually. I think you will be surprised and see another side of me and a different temper to my voice, so I am glad I did it. I liked having an opportunity to write. Although a lot of the music was finished, I got a chance to do all of the melody lines and very much change the songs completely. It’s one of my most interesting things and if you get into it, there are some parts you’ll really like.

There is also a Liberty N’Justice new record in the making with other artists such as CJ Snare, Bill Leverty, Kerri Kelli, Jerry Dixon (Warrant), Pete Lesperance (ex Harem Scarem). What information on the release can you share with us?

They have some really great singers and at least one super big name they’re working on and if they get it, people will be blown away. My brother Vic Rivera is actually in charge of mixing a lot of it. We love Harem Scarem and Vic worships those guys and they became friends. He was so excited because they did one of the songs that he wrote. I heard it and it’s awesome. I did one and if they still keep the title track the same, it should be this one. I think the album will be out fairly soon because I know Vic is working his ass off on it and that’s the last thing in line before we start the actual recording of the new Poley/Rivera. I know Vic is going to do a great job on that. The names on that are great, one after another. I’m excited and very happy to be part of it.

In September last year you played with Danger Danger’s original guitar player Andy Timmons in Brazil. How was the experience?

It was so cool! I’ve been very lucky in Brazil and I’ve been there four separate times, the last one with Andy. I’ve been building it, doing some solo shows playing some Danger Danger songs and having a great time. They rock so hard down in South America. It was just wonderful! When I was given the first chance to go down there the shows sold out. The fans are so great, everybody is beautiful and the food is the best in the world. I still do the tours where you sleep in the van, don’t get me wrong, but this is more of those luxurious jacuzzi suite kind of tour and they treat me well. The second time I went down I did shows with Firehouse. Then I went down again and I have a really great permanent Brazilian band, great players that look cool and are younger than me – isn’t everybody?! Every time I go there they make me sound great. Last time I went there I wanted to do something special. They love vocalists and guitars down there, and one of their favourite guitar heroes is Andy Timmons. He gets respect from everywhere. He’s great, one of the top guitar players in the world. I never in a million years thought he’d play these songs and one day there was a fan at one of his guitar clinics in South America who asked him ‘Andy, why don’t you ever play with Ted?’. And Andy said ‘Because he never asked me’. He actually played a lead on a song he co-wrote on ‘Collateral Damage’. Then when I was in Brazil this guy comes up to me and told me he talked to Andy. So because of this really cool Brazilian fan, I contacted Andy and he said he’d love to do it. Originally the idea was to get his band down there but then there was all sort of economic things that happened in the world and it became cost prohibitive. But he’s such a nice guy and we didn’t want to disappoint the fans, so we cut it from five shows down just to one, but we did it, we had a great time and the fans loved it. Personally Andy and I had a wonderful time in Copacabana and at the churrasquerias. It was like a paid vacation! I have so many friends now in Brazil. It was magic playing with Andy. One of the highlights was just to watch him play. I wished he would do it again for another special gig. It’s not something he’d want to do every day, but I think he had some fun too.

Is there anyone you would you like to work with in the near future?

I’ve been blessed because I’ve had so many great people that I’ve worked with. I have a few idols out there and I am really looking forward to Z-Rock because one of my all time heroes is John Waite and they just added Dan Reed, who is another one of my absolute heroes. I worship these guys and to top it all off Wig Wam is my favourite new band. But John Waite is one of my all time heroes, so to do that gig and even have my name on the same poster is great. I’ll get to watch it and then my life will be complete! But maybe Paul Stanley, who I worship, and the chicks from Heart, but that will never happen! I’m happy to work with anybody that would like to work with me. If I could make a big pile with me, the chicks from Heart and Paul Stanley, that would be a big party, eh?

What do you dedicate your free time to when it’s not to music-related activities?

I’ve been doing so many music projects that I don’t have too much spare time, also because I own an antique business. Now with the recession, there’s more to buy and it’s harder to sell. I hate my day job because my boss is an asshole and my employee is lazy! I have a hard time with myself! Honestly, there are some days when I totally understand why Danger Danger fired me! I pretty much fight with myself all day to get my real job done so I can afford the luxury of the studio time. I appreciate everything and want to thank all the fans, because when I’m playing for you guys, that’s another day I’m not selling crap!

Finally, do you have any messages for your fans?

It’s always the same: thank you so much for letting me keep doing what I’m doing and living my dream, which started literally as a little kid. Of course they know it because I’m always out there and I’d do anything for anybody. I spend my life thinking of the next way to get out there and be with them. I’m working on some things now so I’ll see everybody soon out there. My brother Vic says hi and thank you from him too. You’ll be hearing from all of us and of course, thank you so much, Mónica!

No, thank YOU, Ted!