LastWorld

Into The Fractured Mirror with LastWorld

Interview by Ken Morton

LASTWORLD returns with their 3rd album (second for Perris Records) Fractured Mirror - another gloriuous collection of inspiring melodic rock and roll. Multi-Instrumentalist Jim Shepard and vocalist David Cagle are a winning combination, delivering a record jam-packed with songs that should be all over the worldwide radio airwaves. Highwire Daze recently checked in with Jim Shepard to discuss the making of Fractured World, his past experience working with country acts, his previous band Taxi, and other topics of intrigue...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in LastWorld and how long the band has been together.

Hello, I’m Jim Shepard I play all the instruments and write the songs, and of course David Cagle brings them to life with his vocals.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?

I’m based just outside the Chicago area and David is in Alabama. Chicago still has a good live music scene but nowadays tribute bands seem to be the bigger draw and work consistently... I’m not interested in being in a tribute band... but I have played in cover bands which is fun.... but right now I’m just focusing on LastWorld music.

How did you wind up signing with Perris Records?

I did a solo album (JADED) with some friends and It ended up getting released on Melodicrock Records... it seemed to do well enough for them and they wanted to keep working with me, I used 3 singers and they suggested I use 1 singer and make it a project/band... Cagles name came up who I knew thru some of the things he’s done....MRR released LW’s first album TIME and the reviews were great, but it never got released in the digital world... I asked and asked about the digital release but I wasn’t getting response.... so I contacted Perris Records, sent 3 songs from the second album, the reviews we received for the first and well, they liked what heard and read.... and here we are...

Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Fractured Mirror?

Yes there is, two reasons, Self reflection, we all little cracks in our mirrors/World.... mistakes, good and bad times..... and.... It’s a slight tip of the hat to Ace Frehley. He has a song called Fractured Mirror... and in my pic for the album I’m holding my Cherry Sunburst Les Paul like the one he played... So I had two specific reasons.

Select a song from Fractured Mirror and what inspired the lyrics?

Save Yourself, it’ll be the first single/ video..... Inspired by if you’re down battling depression. You might have people helping you but ultimately it’s you who has to help yourself. It only gets better after denying.

What do you think has made the teaming of Jim Shepard and David Cagle work so well together?

Love of music, mutual respect.... And hopefully good/great songs.

What has it been like to work with JK Northrup once again on the mastering of the new album?

Well it’s always a pleasure, I listened to him and bands he’s played with over the years so when his name came up for mastering it was a quick yes.

What has it been like to write and record a new album in the middle of a worldwide pandemic?

For me it didn’t affect any part of the writing and recording process.... few... At one point TAXI was being looked at by Geffen and Atlantic Records.....

What was the experience like with Taxi opening for the likes of Todd Rundgren and Enuff Z’Nuff and did you get to meet or hang out with them at all?

It was always a good time, with Todd I got to have a brief conversation no hanging.... with Enuff Z Nuff I hung with quite a bit, even when we weren’t opening for them.... I hung with them at House of Blues when they played there... in their dressing rooms. I got to play two encores with them Fly High Michelle and New Thing....

In the 80’s you played in country bands including with RCA Recording artist Mel Hayes. What do you think of that time of your music career and do you still enjoy country?

Well it was Country Rock bands and back then we were Rocking Country songs the way Modern Country sounds like today. Touring with Mel was a good time and taught me a little about the business side of the music business..... Everyone starts playing because you love music, but if you don’t take care of business bands won’t last..... simple as that..... and that goes for the small club COVER bands to the huge arena acts.

When you look back on your work on Taxi, what do you think of it now in retrospect? And would you like to release any new Taxi music?

TAXI was a band I started from the ground up, when I was putting it together my only stipulation was, we were going to play covers to get known and then mix originals.... Taxi became a band that could go play the local club one night, and then the next we would open for Todd Rundgren, Enuff Z Nuff, Off Broadway, The Byrds. Just to name a

Has LastWorld ever played live or plan to do so in future days?

As of now we haven’t, we are open to doing shows if the right opportunity comes along,

Are you currently involved with any other projects outside of LastWorld?

Just LW right now, but write all kinds of styles so I’m sure I’ll have another project to have an outlet for those styles.

What do you hope 2022 brings for you and LastWorld?

Just more music/ album.....as long as Cagle wants to do it and people are still interested.... I’LL still do it

Any final words of wisdom?

Don’t Text and drive..... Thanks so much.....