Jack Blades


Jack Martin Blades is an American musician. He has worked in several bands: Rubicon, Night Ranger, and Damn Yankees. He also recorded with Tommy Shaw under the name Shaw Blades, and has done work alongside the Tak Matsumoto Group. His most recent efforts include a second solo CD. He is also a member of the band Revolution Saints.

Music career

Blades has released two solo albums and has written or co-written songs for Aerosmith, Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, and other artists. Blades has also produced or co-produced CDs for Night Ranger, Shaw Blades and for several other artists including Great White, Ted Nugent, and Samantha 7, among others.
Blades appears on Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood album, which was released in 1989.
In the 1990s, Blades co-wrote four Aerosmith songs with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Tommy Shaw: "Shut Up and Dance", "Can't Stop Messin'", "Walk on Water", "What Kind of Love Are You On".
In 1998, Blades was asked by Ringo Starr to play bass in Starr's VH1 Storytellers with Joe Walsh and Simon Kirke.

Rubicon

Former Sly and the Family Stone saxophonist Jerry Martini formed the funk band Rubicon with Jack as bass player and fellow future Night Ranger member Brad Gillis on guitar. Rubicon recorded two albums on 20th Century Fox Records – Rubicon, and American Dreams. They had one hit single titled “I’m Gonna Take Care of Everything.” Rubicon played Cal Jam 2, held at the Ontario motor speedway in California before 250,000 people. Rubicon broke up in 1979 and Jack formed the short-lived club band Stereo with Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy, the latter of whom had joined as touring drummer for Rubicon.

Night Ranger

Jack’s roommate at the beginning of the ‘80s was Alan “Fitz” Fitzgerald, bass player for Montrose and Gamma and keyboard player for Sammy Hagar. He suggested they form a band. Fitz knew another guitar player in Sacramento along with guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer / vocalist Kelly Keagy and Ranger was formed in 1980. The band recorded demos and played shows around the Bay area for two years. They were signed to Boardwalk Records and released their first album, ‘’Dawn Patrol’’ in 1982. Prior to the release it was discovered that there was a country band by the name of The Rangers. Jack had written the song “Night Ranger” for the album so the band changed their name to Night Ranger to avoid any potential problems. Night Ranger went on through the '80s releasing albums which sold by the millions, as well as several hit singles. The band toured constantly both in the US and in Japan where they continue to be popular today.
In 1989 Jack left Night Ranger and formed the Damn Yankees.
Jack re-formed Night Ranger with the original members in 1996. They recorded three CDs – ‘’Neverland’’ in 1997, ‘’Seven’’ in 1998, and ‘’Hole In The Sun’’ in 2008. Night Ranger continues to tour today.

Damn Yankees

was formed by Jack at the start of the 1990s along with Ted Nugent and Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw. Damn Yankees had multi platinum success with two albums ‘’Damn Yankees’’, ‘’Don't Tread’’ and a gold selling single “High Enough.” Damn Yankees recorded and toured non-stop for four years. In 1994 the Damn Yankees took a break – which they are still on today...

Shaw/Blades

After the Damn Yankees decided to take a break in 1994, Jack and Tommy decided to record together under the name Shaw/Blades. They wrote and recorded the first Shaw/Blades CD together – ‘’Hallucination’’ was released in 1995. In 2007 Shaw/Blades released ‘’Influence’’ which is a collection of cover songs that influenced Jack and Tommy. Shaw/Blades have toured acoustically across the US.

TMG (Tak Matsumoto Group)

In 2004 Jack recorded a CD and toured Japan with TMG formed by guitarist Tak Matsumoto of the Japanese mega group B'z. TMG scored a #1 single and a #1 CD on Billboard Japan’s domestic chart. With TMG, Jack performed "Never Good-bye" the ending credits theme for the 2004 film Ultraman. The song appears on the 2005 soundtrack album for the movie and on TMG I, the 2004 album by Tak Matsumoto Group.

Solo

Jack released his first solo album in 2004 – Jack Blades. His second solo effort, Rock n' Roll Ride, followed early in 2012.

Recent times

Jack continues to tour with Night Ranger. He also played at the Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. Member of the band Revolution Saints.

Radio show

Jack has a weekly Radio show – “Backstage Pass with Jack Blades” – on in Denver Co. and Phoenix AZ.

Personal life

Born in Palm Desert, California, Jack started playing guitar at 8 years old when his parents gave him a plastic ukulele. Jack attended Arcadia High School in Scottsdale Arizona, then graduated from Indio High School in 1972 where he was the senior class president. While attending College of the Desert in Palm Desert he met and jammed with Pat Rizzo who introduced him to Jerry Martini. Jack went off to college at San Diego State University as a pre-med student, but took a leave of absence in 1975 to move to San Francisco. Jerry and Jack started the band Rubicon.
One of his sons, Colin Blades, has co-written and performed songs with his father and has also released his own solo material. He also has another son, James.

Discography

Solo albums