Cinderella become 1986’s rock sensation

Cinderella成為了1986年的搖滾明星

By Paul Gallotta

作者?Paul Gallotta

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*原文刊登于《Circus》雜志，1986年12月刊，42-45頁

*翻譯：up主 / 微博@堆堆帶我飛

The scene was like an outtake from Life’s Most Embarrassing Moments. The location was an anonymous closet-sized bar in North Jersey. The Priscilla Harriet band were hacksawing their way through the standard Scorpions-AC/DC-Judas Priest covers to a half-empty house when the vocalist drew the proceedings to a screeching halt in mid-song and demanded that the musicians turn down their amps so she could hear hear herself through her monitor better. The guitarist, a lanky youth with shoulder length black hair, complied, and shot the chanteuse a sideways look that told her they wouldn’t be sharing the same stage much longer.

仿佛電視劇《尷尬時刻》中的一幕，在北澤西某家不知名的小酒吧里，Priscilla Harriet樂隊正在稀稀拉拉的觀眾面前像平常一樣表演Scorpions、AC/DC和Judas Priest的歌曲翻唱，這時，主唱突然中斷了演唱，并且要求樂手們把樂器聲音調(diào)低，因為這樣她才能更好地聽到自己的聲音。樂隊的吉他手——一個留著及肩黑發(fā)的瘦長青年——照做了，但從眼角斜睨了主唱一眼，告訴她他們不會在同一個舞臺上待太久了。

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After that set,?aspiring axe-hero Tom Keifer turned to bassist Eric Brittingham and asked him if he thought it was worth it.?The blond string thumper,?who had been friends with Keifer since the two first played together in Saints in Hell the year before,?shook his head negative.?That night,a rock&roll fable named Cinderella was born.

這段風(fēng)波之后，滿懷抱負但慘遭開除的反叛英雄Tom Keifer找到了貝斯手Eric Brittingham，問他覺得自己這樣做是否值得。自從去年在Saints in Hell樂隊中合作以后，兩人始終維持著友誼。此時這位金發(fā)樂手搖了搖頭。就在這一晚，一個日后將成為搖滾傳奇的名字——Cinderella誕生了。

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Three-and-a-half years later,?Tom Keifer can reflect upon the incident and still manage a lopsided smile.?It’s easy to find humor in awkward situations when your debut album,?which your own record company wasn’t sure would ever see the light of day,?has gone gold (500000 units sold) after being on the charts for less than three months.?But back then,a sense of humor was about all he could afford.

過了三年半的時間，當(dāng)Tom Keifer回想起這件事時仍然能夠勉強保持微笑。當(dāng)公司對你的首張專輯的前途充滿懷疑，而它卻在登上榜單還不足三個月的時間里就已經(jīng)達到了黃金銷量（50萬張）時，你可以輕松地在尷尬境地中發(fā)現(xiàn)幽默之處。但回想那時，幽默感卻是他唯一付得起的東西。?

“The whole situation sucked,”is how Keifer diplomatically assesses the scenario.”We were playing for six nights in a row and at the end of the week,we didn’t have enough money to buy a doughnut.Then she pulls that.It was the most unprofessional thing I’d ever seen.I told Eric then and there that we weren’t going to make a living by playing covers.He agreed,so we decided to step over the line and do our own material.”

“整個情況糟糕透了?！盞eifer這樣評價這次沖突。“我們連續(xù)演了六個晚上，結(jié)果到這一周結(jié)束的時候，我們甚至連一個甜甜圈都買不起。然后她做了這種事。我從來沒見過這么沒有職業(yè)精神的事。當(dāng)時我就告訴Eric，我們不能一直靠翻唱來謀生。他同意我的說法，于是我們決定跨出那條界線，開始做我們自己的音樂?！?/p>

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The two drafted battle plans for obtaining a recording contract and began holding auditions,eventually turning up guitarist Mike Schermick and drummer Tony Destra.Keifer began writing and the foursome commenced with the slow,arduous process of building a following.They worked the Marylan-New Jersey-Pennsylvania bar circuit and sent out demos to all the record companies and anyone else they thought could help--including Kiss’Gene Simmons,producer for fledgling bands like Keel and the precontract Van Halen.

為了拿到唱片合約，兩人制定了作戰(zhàn)計劃，并且開始招納樂手，最后吉他手Mike Schermick和鼓手Tony Destra出現(xiàn)了。Keifer開始創(chuàng)作，四個人也緩慢而艱難地培養(yǎng)著自己的追隨者。他們在馬里蘭、新澤西和賓夕法尼亞的酒吧之間巡回演出，把樣帶寄給所有唱片公司和一切可能起到幫助的人，其中就包括Kiss樂隊的Gene Simmons，他同時也是Keel等新興樂隊和Van Halen樂隊的制作人。

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“He helped us a lot,”recalls Keifer.”He tried to get a deal together for us and he gave us a lot of really good advice.But we still came up empty-handed.”

“他幫了我們很多，”Keifer回憶道，“他試圖幫我們拿下一份合約，也給了我們很多寶貴的建議?？勺詈笪覀冞€是空手而歸。”

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The quartet carried on,thrashing around the local bars at night and working at demos and no-future jobs by day,until their big break came in the form of a then little-known singer whose Jersey-based band had gone the same route two years earlier.

四個人繼續(xù)前行。晚上在各地的酒吧之間兜兜轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，白天忙著制作樣帶和毫無前途的工作，就這樣日復(fù)一日。直到一個名氣不大的歌手從天而降，為他們帶來了重大的轉(zhuǎn)機，這位歌手所在的新澤西樂隊在兩年之前也經(jīng)歷著與他們相同的窘境。

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“We had heard that Jon Bon Jovi was in the audience on night while we were playing at The Empire in Philly,”recollects Keifer.”He was in town recording 7800°Fahrenheit?at the Wherehouse,and we thought,ya know,cool.We played our set and afterwards he came backstage and said,‘I really liked you guys,I heard a couple of hits,good luck.’We hung out with his band for a little while and then they left.I thought that was it.”

“有一天晚上，我們在費城帝國搖滾俱樂部演出時聽說Jon Bon Jovi正在觀眾中間?！盞eifer回憶道，“他當(dāng)時正在城里的Wherehouse錄音室錄制《7800°Fahrenheit》。我們想，酷啊。我們表演了自己的歌，結(jié)束以后他來到后臺，他說，‘我真的很喜歡你們，我剛才聽到的幾首歌很棒，祝你們好運?！髞砦覀兒退臉逢犚黄鸪鋈ネ媪藥状危缓笏麄兓厝チ?。我以為就這樣結(jié)束了?！?/p>

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But it wasn’t.Jon went to Derek Schulman,the A&R man at PolyGram who had signed him,and told him that Cinderella warranted closer scrutiny.The two returned to check out the band,but Schulman came back with mixed feelings.

但這沒有結(jié)束。Jon找到了簽下自己的PolyGram公司A&R人員Derek Schulman，告訴他這個叫做Cinderella的樂隊值得他去深入了解。兩人返回費城去考察樂隊，但Schulman對他們的感情十分復(fù)雜。

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“We did get signed,to something called a six-month development option contract,”explains Keifer.”It was a full record deal that didn’t go into effect until a six-month period was up,at which time the record company would decide if they wanted it to go into effect.”

“我們的確拿到了合同，但那是一份六個月期限的期權(quán)合同，”Keifer解釋說，“唱片公司可以提供一份完整的唱片合約，這份合約必須在六個月的期限結(jié)束以后才能生效，到那時合約是否生效要由唱片公司來決定。”

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It seems that Schulman was suitably impressed with Keifer and Brittingham,but felt that Schermick and Destra were somewhat lacking.

Schulman似乎對Keifer和Brittingham印象深刻，但同時認為Schermick和Destra有所欠缺。

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“Eric and I had noticed what he was talking about,and we were on [Schermick and Destra] about it,but they were’t working at it.They couldn’t get it together,so it was either replace them or let them hold us back.”

“Eric和我注意到了他的意思。我們（Schermick和?Destra）討論了這個問題，但他們并沒有努力改變。他們無法振作起來，所以要么把他們換下去，要么讓他們拖住樂隊?！?/p>

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The guitarist and drummer were out--auditions were again held,this time yielding guitarist Jeff LaBar (who had previously been in a band which opened for Cinderella) and drummer Jim Drnc (pronounced darick).

失去了吉他手和鼓手——又一次開始招納樂手。這次選出了吉他手Jeff LaBar（他此前曾經(jīng)是一個為Cinderella開場的樂隊的成員）和鼓手Jim Drnc（讀作darick）。

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“Everything looked pretty good until we got into the studio,”claims Keifer.”Andy [Johns],our producer,said that Drnc wasn’t cutting it and that we’d have to replace him.We thought he was wrong and we fought with him over it,but he eventually proved it to us ,so we had to get a session drummer [Jody Cortez] to finish the album.”

“看起來一切似乎都很好，一直到我們走進錄音室，”Keifer說，“Andy（Johns）是我們的制作人，他說Drnc不行，要求我們把他換掉。我們認為他錯了，并且為此與他爭執(zhí)，但最后他向我們證明了他是對的，所以我們不得不找了一個臨時鼓手（Jody Cortez）來錄完專輯?！?/p>

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After Night Songs?was completed,a third round of auditions were held,this time turning up drummer Fred Coury.

樂隊在錄完《Night Songs》以后又開展了第三輪面試，終于選出了鼓手Fred Coury。

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“Fred had substituted for Randy Castillo in Ozzy’s band for a while when Randy had a broken foot.Someone who knew Ozzy turned him onto us through a secretary at PolyGram,”elaborates the Springfield,Pennsylvania-born frontman.

“Ozzy樂隊的Randy Castillo腳受傷的時候，F(xiàn)red曾經(jīng)頂替過他一段時間。有一個認識Ozzy的人通過一位PolyGram公司的文員把他介紹給了我們?！边@位來自賓夕法尼亞州斯普林菲爾德的主唱這樣解釋道。

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With the line-up finally stabilized,PolyGram agreed to release Night Songs,but their method of promotion and choice for a lead-off single left the band somewhat uneasy.

隨著樂隊陣容的確定，PolyGram公司終于同意發(fā)行《Night Songs》，但公司的推廣方式和對于首單的選擇都讓樂隊感到有些不安。

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“Their intent was to break us without any airplay at all,”notes Keifer.“What with the radio not playing metal and all,it didn’t look too good.They wanted to break us through touring and videos.They decided our first single was going to be ‘Shake Me’.”

“他們完全不打算通過電臺來推廣，”Keifer指出，“我們的歌如果由那些從不播放金屬樂的電臺來播放聽起來效果不會太好。他們想通過巡演和音樂視頻的方式來推廣。他們選擇《Shake Me》作為我們的首單?！?/p>

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While possessing a strong hook and a great chorus,”Shake Me”?seemed a highly unlikely candidate for a 45.With raunchy lyrics that would send most radio programmers scrambling for the Tylenol and a pair of scissors,it seemed an unwise choice.

盡管《Shake Me》兼具強力的副歌和優(yōu)秀的和聲，這首歌卻似乎不可能取得45以上的成績。其放蕩的歌詞恐怕會使大半電臺主持人頭痛難忍，因此選擇這首歌作為首單可能不太明智。

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“I didn’t think that any radio stations would play it,”confesses the singer.”Much to my surprise,a few of them did.And it always gets a strong response when we do it live.Apparently it caught on,which surprised us.”

“我覺得沒有一個電臺愿意播放它，”這位歌手坦白道，“然而事實上竟然真的有幾家電臺播放了它，這令我非常驚訝。我們在現(xiàn)場表演這首歌時總會得到熱烈的回應(yīng)，顯然它流行起來了，我們深感意外?！?/p>

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The startling speed with which?Night Songs?has leap-frogged up the charts wasn’t expected either.In less then three months,the album has jumped into the Top 15 on Billboard’s charts,and at press time,was zeroing in on platinum.

同樣出乎意料的是，《Night Songs》以驚人的速度躍居排行榜前列。在不到三個月的時間里，這張專輯已經(jīng)進入了公告牌排行榜的前15名之內(nèi)，目前正在沖擊白金銷量。

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A package tour with Japanese rockers Loudness and West Coast upstarts Poison (who,ironically enough,were formed around the same time and in the same state as Cinderella) proved successful and helped set the band up for their first major cross-country sweep,opening for David Lee Roth.

樂隊此前與日本搖滾樂隊Loudness和西海岸新星樂隊Poison（極具諷刺意味的是，這支樂隊差不多與Cinderella同時同地成立）聯(lián)合巡演取得了成功，這也為他們接下來的第一次大型跨國巡演奠定了基礎(chǔ)，在這次巡演中他們?yōu)镈avid Lee Roth暖場。

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“The tour with Dave is going really well,”Keifer allows.”We haven’t had any trouble adapting to the bigger places that we’re playing. The tour with Loudness and Poison helped us clear that. It was a good stepping stone,but this is exactly what I wanted to do in the first place.”

“與Dave一起的巡演進行得十分順利，”Keifer說，“我們很快適應(yīng)了更大的舞臺。與Loudness和Poison一起巡演的過程幫助我們做好了準備。這是一個很好的起步機會，不過對我來說，這正是我從一開始就想做的”

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With the present looking fairly secure,many of the band’s new-found supporters are eagerly looking to the future and the follow-up to Night Songs.?Tentatively scheduled to be recorded in June, with Andy Johns again producing, Keifer claims the album will be”the same, but different.”

在樂隊目前穩(wěn)定的發(fā)展前景下，許多新粉絲都熱切地期待著未來和《Night Songs》的續(xù)作。下一張專輯將在明年6月開始錄制，仍然由Andy Johns擔(dān)任制作人，Keifer稱與上一張相比，這張專輯“保持著原來的風(fēng)味，但又完全不同”。

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“For the first album, we had to choose from over 60 songs I’d written, so we still have a lot of good old materials. Plus I’ve been writting and we’ve got some really good new stuff. We’ve all learned a lot about writing from Andy Johns, so the newer stuff might be more sohpisticated melodywise. Who knows? We may even do a blues song that I’m working on. But at this point, I’m more concerned with what I’m doing now,”?concluded Keifer. ”We’ve still got a few miles left on [Night Songs] and we’re going to have fun with it as long as we can.”

“在錄第一張專輯時，我們不得不從我寫過的60多首歌里挑選出一部分收入專輯，因此手中還剩下很多很好的素材。除此以外，我還一直在創(chuàng)作新的作品，我們積累了很多好東西。我們跟著Andy Johns學(xué)習(xí)了很多寫歌的經(jīng)驗，所以新的作品在編曲上更加復(fù)雜和成熟。誰知道呢？我們甚至可能會把我正在寫的一首布魯斯歌曲錄進去。不過當(dāng)下我更專注于正在做的事，”Keifer這樣總結(jié)道，“（《Night Songs》）巡演還剩下最后幾站，我們會盡可能玩得開心。”

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