00:00Hey, everybody. I'm Screamin' Scott. It's 94.7 WCSX. On July 31st, Forner is going to rock
00:07your brains out on tour with rock and roll legends Leonard Skinner and Lou Graham is
00:13dropping in for the dates. Lou, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. Now, do you realize that
00:21you've played Pine Knob, Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan? You have played with
00:26Forner over 25 times. Is it really that much? Yeah, I counted them out. I went back and
00:37at least a lot of my ticket stubs, you've played it over 25 times in the Motor City. The Motor
00:42City just launched. I love that place. I thought it was gone, but they just changed names, right?
00:49Yeah, they changed their names. They changed it to DTE Energy Music Theater for a while and
00:53then everybody here just simply still called it Pine Knob, but now it's back officially and you
00:59are officially back. Awesome. Last time I saw you, you jumped up on stage with the Bret Michaels
01:08show that was here in the Motor City and that was amazing because I was backstage and I went
01:15to my friend next to me. I said, who's this guy standing in front of me with a microphone in
01:19his
01:20hand? I said, I don't recognize him. I couldn't tell it was you and then all of a sudden you
01:24went out
01:24and you belted out some Forner tunes. Your voice was perfect. You just hit all the notes and it was
01:31just amazing to see you live again after all these years. What are some of the highlights you remember
01:40about playing the Motor City? Just that the fans were crazy, whether it was Pine Knob or the,
01:50what's the name of the stadium where the Pistons play? Well, right now it's Little Caesars Arena,
01:57but that would have been, let's see, it was Joe Louis Arena, the Palace, the Palace.
02:02Joe Louis Arena, that's it, Joe Louis. Yeah. Now, you've got an album coming out next week,
02:08The Eye of the Storm set for release July the 24th. You had a historic performance at Ellis Island.
02:16Can you talk about that to what that experience was like? Yeah, it was great. We were set out in
02:22the,
02:22set up in the courtyard with the Statue of Liberty behind us. It is the best backdrop you could ever
02:30ask for. And just as we took the stage, it started pouring.
02:37Now, we managed to squeeze off two or three songs and then we stopped and the crew moved
02:44our equipment inside a joining building. And 20 minutes later, we were on stage playing again.
02:53Now, what was it like being at Ellis Island? You didn't want to check in again, did you?
03:00I never had to check in, but my grandparents checked in in 1905.
03:05Really? Yes.
03:07Right at Ellis Island in New York.
03:09That's correct. Yes.
03:1180 million albums. Can you fathom that with the, with the history of Foreigner? 80 million albums.
03:18I, I, I, I, I love that number and, and, um, makes me very proud.
03:23And, uh, what amazes me is the Atlantic records roster. I mean, you were on with the big ones.
03:29Also, you had ACDC, you had Led Zeppelin, uh, uh, a wreath of Franklin, uh, bad company,
03:36Rolling Stones at the time. Um, uh, Genesis, Genesis. Also, uh, I heard you had met a wreath of
03:43Franklin, uh, once, uh, at one of the studios. Is that true?
03:48Yeah. We, we, uh, we're, we're going in to record our first album in Atlantic record studio.
03:54And as we were coming in, she was leaving. She was coming down the stairs and we said hi to
04:02her
04:02and stuff like that. And I immediately went into the vocal booth where she wasn't and tried to,
04:08to get some of that soul into me.
04:11Now, another thing has popped up most recently in the press is you, I heard it on another podcast.
04:16The name eludes me right now, but the word retirement, when did that come about in, uh,
04:22in your legacy for the last two, three years? And, and, um, uh, I had just been waiting to,
04:28to, uh, to pick the right time. And, you know, I've been at this for over 54 years.
04:33All right. And, and, um, so, so at the end of this year, I'm going to retire.
04:39There you go. Now you have three solo albums. Could you push out maybe just one more solo
04:45album? Do you think? I bet if you're going to, if you're not going to be live, uh, you could
04:51probably, you still, you're still young at heart and still get in the studio.
04:56So third solo album was the one I just released.
04:58Yes, I know. But could we get another fourth? You think you still, you got one in you?
05:04Um, I don't know. I, I, I, I don't want to go through the, the, the touring and all that
05:10stuff again. Um, you know, I've been doing it for a long time and I'm a little, I'm a little,
05:15uh, I'm a little into a quiet air life now.
05:17Well, there, there's another band that, uh, was really huge at one time. And, and in 1966,
05:25they decided to go away from live touring and go in the studio. You remember the Beatles,
05:30of course.
05:32So I was just thinking your creative juices that you could put out another solo one. Hey,
05:38look at that. Where'd he go? What's your favorite Beatles song?
05:43Uh, you can't do that.
05:45Oh, very, very good. Now with that, uh, you played Kobo, Joe Lewis, Pine Knob. What were
05:52your favorites, uh, coming to the Motor City? Uh, do you got a favorite, uh, uh, story that
05:58the band had while you were in the Motor City playing?
06:02Uh, I don't recall anything out of the ordinary. Just the excitement of being in the Motor City
06:06was, was pretty awesome. And, and the crowds were always lively, if not borderline crazy,
06:12but, but, uh, we had a lot of fun there. Uh, they're very spot responsive to our songs. And,
06:18uh, uh, uh, it was, uh, was always a good time. Always.
06:21Now I've still had my ticket stub. I was, I believe 15 or 16 years old. And my older friend
06:28took me to the Royal Oak music theater and it was your first appearance in the Motor City.
06:33Wow. And that was simply amazing. I've been just hearing the, hearing the songs of the
06:39first album. And I, I had already had the album and to see you perform live was just amazing.
06:45Uh, being, this is the last farewell, uh, doing the show tours live, uh, with your catalog being
06:52so extensive as it is, how do you yourself pick the songs that you are going to sing when
06:58you go out there? Well, uh, uh, obviously that they, that when I go out with foreigner,
07:06they're going to need to be foreigner songs. Correct. Yeah. And I think when we go out,
07:12we're going to be, we're going to be focusing on foreigner four. Okay. That's cool. So I was,
07:18I was hoping maybe by odd chances you would, you know, rev on the red line or head knock or
07:24spell
07:25pound or something, but yes, yes, it would. So, uh, another story I wanted to bring up is it's,
07:35I heard a rumor about this and I wanted to see if it's true from your end. Uh, when speaking
07:41of
07:41foreigner four and the jukebox hero, uh, Mutt Lang actually asked you to scream your vocals when you
07:50were recording, when, when you were doing the first takes of the song, he wanted you to yell
07:54out the lyrics. Yeah. The, the, the standing in the rain, you know, that it gets, it builds into,
08:03to, uh, the chorus. He wanted me to scream out the quiet part. And I says, why would I do
08:09that?
08:09I says, this, this is, this is called dynamics. You start out a little, a little soft and you build
08:14it into that part. He goes, well, I was just thinking about, uh, uh, the vocalist of ACDC,
08:20how he used to scream out the quiet parts too. I like ACDC a lot, but we're not ACDC.
08:27Now, after you laid down the track and they went back and listened to it,
08:31what, what did John, uh, Mutt Lang say to you?
08:36He says, you know what, Lou? He says, you were right. I like it this way too.
08:42Well, I, I cannot wait again, July 31st, foreigner coming to pine knob with Leonard
08:47Skinner. There's one other, I got to ask you a curve ball question. Can I ask you a
08:52curve ball question? Go right ahead. All right. Who is the better drummer? You
09:00or your brother, Ben? Ben, Ben's always been the better drummer. Really? Yes, he is. Now,
09:07not too many people know you started out as a drummer. What made you go? I started out as a
09:12drummer. I had a set of drums set up in the basement and, uh, I would rehearse when I, I
09:18would practice when I came home from school and then, and then I put the sticks down and
09:22I'd go play down the street with my friends. And, uh, and after dinner, I would come, I would
09:29go back down to the basement to play my drums. And I would see that the snare drum was up
09:33to
09:33here. Symbols and I couldn't figure out what happened. And, and, and then the next day I
09:41played my drum, set up my drums the way I wanted to again. And I played them. And instead of
09:46running down the street to play with my friends, I ran around the house and, and looked in the
09:52basement window so I could get a perfect picture of what was happening on the drums. And I wasn't
09:57gone more than three minutes and Ben ran down the stairs and started adjusting my drums.
10:03Huh? Now you got to jam with your father at times too. He was musically, uh, incapable.
10:08Was it? Yes. He, he was a great jazz horn player and, and, uh, he had a 16 piece, uh,
10:17uh, jazz
10:18band and my mom auditioned and became the singer in that band. Amazing. Well, Lou, I'd like to
10:25thank you for your time with 94.7 WCSX. We're looking forward to seeing you July 31st, one
10:32more time at Pine Knob. Thank you so much, Lou. Thank you very much. See you there.
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