Melodic rock royalty Tyketto are riding high on the back of chart-topping Closer To The Sun — the bands’s first album drop in a decade. Simon Rushworth caught up with frontman Danny Vaughn ahead of April’s UK headline tour.
Rushonrock: Can you describe the genesis of Closer To The Sun? How did the album happen and why now?
Danny Vaughn: It’s obviously long overdue. We were getting ready to do a Tyketto album for 2022. And then, of course, the pandemic sidelined everything. Post-Covid we had two band members decide to retire so the first decision was whether to continue at all. Once I decided that Tyketto wasn’t done it was a case of finding the right guys to replace Michael Clayton, of all people, and Chris Green. And I really didn’t feel comfortable adding two brand new guys into the mix and going straight into the studio. We needed to get some live time together and get some touring under our belts. All of that brings us to the point of finally making the new record!
Rushonrock: Did the time together on the road pay off?
DV: Definitely. We had two very successful years — what I call ‘growing years’ for the band to work together. And we went into the studio pretty much right after a tour so everybody was firing on all cylinders.
Rushonrock: Is writing a new record with these guys a collaborative process?
DV: It is. On a production level as well as the writing. Chris (Childs, bass) and Harry (Scott Elliott, lead guitar) were both very involved in the writing process. There are also some outside writers who’ve added their unique touch to Closer To The Sun. There’s a song called Starts With A Feeling that was co-written with Jim Peterik from Survivor. And there are a couple of tracks that were co-written with some gentlemen in Boston — people I wrote songs with from previous records. There were some very good existing demos that we decided to update. And it’s also the first time Tyketto has ever recorded a cover song for an album. We did a version of Roxette’s Harleys And Indians (Riders In The Sky) which I love. There was a lot of push and pull throughout the recording process and I’m very proud of what we came out with.
Rushonrock: Tell us about the Roxette cover…
DV: The idea was originally to do it live because it sounded like so much fun. And since a Roxette cover seemed a bit, you know, leftfield for us, I was like, yeah, perfect. We liked playing it live so much that we thought we should record it. We laid it down thinking we’ll use it as an extra track for Japan or something like that. But it just fitted so well with the record and with the whole vibe of Closer To The Sun. The only unfortunate thing is that it won’t be on the vinyl version because there just wasn’t the space.
Rushonrock: The Jim Peterik collab sounds like its straight from an 80s action movie — how much fun was it making Starts With A Feeling?
DV: Peterik’s still got that ear, that skill. I don’t know what it is. He said to me ‘I know we’re not trying to remake Don’t Come Easy but I’d like to reflect on that album. Can we take whatever it is that’s in that record — the stuff that made people keep it close to their hearts for 35 years — and can we distil a bit of that and bring it into this record?’. That was our goal. Pete said ‘why don’t you send me three tracks off Don’t Come Easy that you think best represent the band?’. And I did. Within a couple of days he came back to me and said ‘what do you think of this?’. He had the chorus and the beginnings of Starts With A Feeling and I was like ‘yeah, it’s pretty damn close!’.
Rushonrock: While we’re talking about the album tell me about Bad For Good. There’s a great line in there which says ‘sometimes you’re the mountain/sometimes you’re the climb’ — what’s that about?
DV: I don’t remember the exact moment when it popped. But that line ties in with the rest of the song — your back will get weary from holding on and towing the line. The heart will take a beating every time. In other words it’s a reflection on how you can be the person that’s got to make all of the effort to get up at the top but sometimes you’re the mountain itself. Sometimes it can take somebody else to make the effort, because of you. It’s that juxtaposition in life between making things happen and making it difficult for things to happen.
Rushonrock: Do you still enjoy the wordplay and the lyrical side of songwriting?
DV: More so than ever. Absolutely. It does become more and more of a challenge because, of course, you do tend to start repeating yourself. But also, for the most part when we were making this album, one of the watch words was if you go back to Reach there’s a lot of very specific lyrical content in that. This time around we were keen to keep things simpler. If we had a good chorus we stuck with it and the mantra was ‘let’s not complicate things too much’. What I mean is we didn’t want the lyrics to be too specific. This record should be something that as many people as possible can identify with. So I had to go back to a little bit of that that Don’t Come Easy approach which was ‘let’s widen the field of your subject matter’.
Rushonrock: When did you write Far And Away? It seems like a song for now and the times that we’re living in and through…
DV: It’s purely coincidental that it was actually one of the later songs I wrote for the record and it was written specifically after my wife and I came back from our first trip to Marrakech. We don’t live that far away from Morocco. It’s a 45-minute flight. And sometimes I can even see the Atlas Mountains out of my window. I’ve always been a bit wary about that big of a culture change and how that would be perceived. But we just had the most amazing time. So the really simple synopsis of those lyrics is that, for most of us, we have more in common than not — regardless of when you pray and who you pray to.
Rushonrock: So why do you still do this and what makes you tick?
DV: The first thing that jumps into my mind is that I don’t know what else I could possibly do! I’ve had other jobs and hated all of them. And one thing about being a musician is that music, in itself, never stops intriguing you. You take new things on and that influences your work. Take Far And Away, for instance. It has an Eastern flavour and I had Elizabeth Prendergast come in and play violin on it. So it’s a song that’s leaning in a different direction and I love that. That’s more where my solo albums go. In fact, my solo albums are a good example of why I keep doing this. They’re all over the shop because I’ll hear something that’s maybe rooted in jazz or blues and go ‘oh, I could do that’. Let me try and do that. You get excited about that kind of thing. So writing music never stops being exciting for me.
Rushonrock: Writing music and making records still excites you — how about playing that music live?
DV: It’s all important. The only part that’s not enjoyable is some of the travel, which, you know, we all know what that’s like. They haven’t made it any more fun over the years! But having said all of that, you know, the travel is what exposes you to the stories that you hear — which you then reinvent — and the things you experience. I also do acoustic solo shows. I do house concerts all by myself! And that allows me to explore another form of growth. I’ve discovered that storytelling and having almost a one-on-one session is something I’m quite proficient at! I like to do that as well as, you know, be the guy in the golden jacket with his hands to the sky.
Rushonrock: Would you say that the root of all these live performances is good storytelling?
DV: Yeah, I think you’re right. The difference, going back to what I said earlier, is that with Tyketto lyrics I want to make sure they’re easily accessible to a whole bunch of people. With something like Snake Oil And Harmony (collaboration with Dan Reed) or my solo stuff I can be much more specific. There’s a song on Myths, Legends And Lies (2019 solo album) called Point The Way. It’s all about stumbling across an angel in a tea house who has this information to give you about your life and where you’re headed. It’s really specific and it’s not a song for Tyketto.
Rushonrock: Collateral are opening your UK shows — they look like a great pick!
DV: They’re all about a good time. They write some great singalong anthems. I actually I met the guys in Collateral years ago. They did an acoustic set opening up for me in London. And I watched them and I was like ‘yeah, these guys get it!’. It wasn’t just about hair and bare chestedness! There was songwriting depth in there and their harmonies were solid. In other words, they were working on their craft. I see a lot of bands that aren’t working on their craft — they’re taking tab A and inserting it in slot B. And that doesn’t interest me. Unfortunately, you see a lot of that coming out of Scandinavia now. You know, it’s like ‘oh, this is what melodic rock is so we’ll do this, this and this’. And it’s just like, no there needs to be some variety out there. If you listen to what was happening in 1989 or 1990, you’ve got Mr. Big touring with Tall Stories and you’ve got Extreme. You can’t put Extreme and Danger Danger together and say they make the same sounding music. They don’t. The debut album from Badlands is another great example of the kind of variety that there was back then.
Rushonrock: But is there pressure on bands like Collateral to conform and place style above substance?
DV: I suppose. Like I said, I think the cookie cutter stuff, you know, is popular. There are a lot of Scandinavian bands that are trying to be Mötley Crüe again. And you know what? If that’s the music that excites you, then go for it. But if you’re chasing an image, it won’t last. It never does because fashions change too quickly. The focus needs to be on your craft, on good songwriting, on great performing, on giving the audience what they came there for — an emotional experience that they take away with them.
Rushonrock: What does the future hold for Tyketto?
DV: I honestly haven’t been this excited about an album release since the first album. I don’t know how it’s possible that a 35-year-old band can be growing right now. But we are there. And, like a few other bands from my era, we’ve noticed we’re getting younger audience members again. I imagine that’s because these are the kids of our original audience members but it’s also a throwback to the fact that people want to see good live stuff. There’s nobody that knows how to perform for you better than the older bands do. Go see Judas Priest live this year. You won’t be sorry. They’re still killing it! So there’s a lot of encouragement in that direction. Suddenly we’re headlining mid-level festivals. We’re being asked to perform at much bigger festivals. New countries are still opening up after all these years — the likes of Austria, Poland and Croatia. Once our 2026 schedule’s settled, this will be probably the most shows Tyketto has played in a single year in decades. It’s fantastic.
Main band images courtesy of Davey Rocks