Pete Fry of FarCry & Jaded Past

Getting The Balance Right

with Pete Fry of FARCRY and JADED PAST

Interview by Ken Morton - (FarCry Pictured above)

Guitarist Pete Fry has certainly been busy during these pandemic days and beyond. A brand new FarCry album entitled Balance has been released via AOR Heaven as well as a Jaded Past Live And On Edge magnus opus which has been presented via MR Records. If participating in two bands isn’t enough, Pete Fry also has a weekly radio show entitled FRYday Night with Fry!, playing classic rock, AOR, metal, up-and-coming bands, and whatever else he and his listeners want to hear. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Pete Fry to discuss the current happenings of FarCry, Jaded Past, his radio show and a whole lot more!

How did the connection with AOR Heaven come about?

First and foremost, when it comes to melodic rock, I’m a fan. I play this music cuz I love it. I listen to it myself. I was very familiar with AOR Heaven as a listener for the last handful of years – in fact for a bunch of years. They’re one of the premier melodic rock labels out there. So, when we decided to look for labels, we wanted one that would specifically be a legitimate European release, because honestly that’s where the heartbeat of melodic rock really is – in Europe and Scandinavia. So, we kind of wanted to be where it’s all happening. That was important to us, so we talked to a number of different labels. And Georg (of AOR Heaven) was great – he’s very nuts and bolts about everything. He’s straight up, and I’ve heard that from a number of people who’ve dealt with him before – and I can honestly say since we’ve started dealing with him, everything that he says he’s going to do he does. It’s not as hassle – it’s not a drama – it’s just done. So, we’re very happy with that.

Let’s talk about the new album Balance. Is there any overall story or concept behind that title?

There is! And if you look at the cover, it won’t tell you that story. It doesn’t really have anything to do with it. But if you listen to the song – the title track itself – that was one of the first songs Bob Malone the new singer and I collaborated on – and it was something that we came up with at his house. And it’s basically about reality – balancing life and work and family and all of that stuff – and just trying to keep everything together. It speaks to a lot of people who listen to melodic rock because hey, we’re all kind of grown up now, you know?

What was it like to work with Steve Newman (Newman,

Compass) on the song I Am Your Man?

Well, that’s actually Steve’s song. On our second album Optimism, I had written some music and sent it to Steve – and he wrote lyrics and vocal melodies and they appeared on that album. But this one in particular – we were kind of looking for something a little bit different to put on the album because everything else on the album is basically from within the band. So, I talked to Steve and he said “Hey, I’ve got a couple songs – if you’re interested, I’ll send them to you – and if you want to use one of them, go for it!” So, he sent us I Am Your Man and he sent us another track which we ended up not using. But we all liked I Am Your Man – it’s got a great hook – it’s a really well written song – it’s super melodic – it’s got that kind of AOR feel which we like to do sometimes. So basically, we put the song together the way we wanted to do it – no keyboard and all guitars – because we’re a guitar band when it comes down to it. And I wrote Steve a note cuz when we finally got around to getting this stuff done – I said “Hey, we’re going to use I Am Your Man – we already recorded the basic track for it. I just wanted to let you know. Thanks again.” And he said “Oh, I didn’t know you were going to use it. I’m actually putting it on my new album.” So, it’s out there in both places – his is obviously fantastic. Steve is one of the most talented people I know in every aspect of musicality when it comes to singing, guitar playing, production, songwriting, everything! The guy’s a great talent and a great guy – I really like Steve a lot.

Your bass player Leo Sabatino I believe is in your other band Jaded Past. What made you decide to work with Leo in FarCry and what’s going on with Jaded Past?

I decide to work him in FarCry because we worked with another drummer before we got the current drummer Rich – and he was in another band with Leo – and we used to have Ronnie Parkes in the band who’s now in Bonfire – so obviously he’s a little busy. He’s like “Dude, I would really love to be a part of it, but I don’t have time.” We’re still good friends. Ronnie’s a great guy and obviously a seriously good bass player. So, the previous drummer in FarCry before we got the new guy brought Leo into the fold and said, “Hey I worked with this guy in another band I was in and he’s a really good guy and he’s a really good bass player.” And it just kind of went from there – it was a pretty easy fit. And when I got into Jaded Past, we had another bass player in there at the time, but he ended up moving out to Arizona or something like that – so we needed a bass player and George asked me if I thought Leo would be interested. And at the time, FarCry wasn’t playing out at all and Leo wanted to get out there onstage – and so do I – that’s one of the reasons I joined Jaded Past because he was playing out a lot and I need to keep my chops up. So, Leo was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” So, there you go.

Jaded Past is actually doing really well right now. We’ve released a live album on Melodic Rock (MR) Records in February. We’re working on I think it’s his third studio album and George and I are working on some stuff with that right now. And we’re playing our first gig since the pandemic in August with Eric Martin being backed up by Steve Brown and P.J. Farley and Ted Poley. So that’s a really good gig and that’s going to be August 21st at Artie’s Bar and Grill in Frenchtown, New Jersey – so mark your calendars! We’re really looking forward to that. We didn’t want to do the little corner bar with eight bands -and you’re watching a goth band followed by a melodic band followed by like a one-man band. We wanted to do something real, so we’re just trying to do the right kind of gigs that make sense for us that has an audience that’s going to appreciate what we do. I think that the people who see those bands are really going to like us – and we like those guys – they’re super talented!

Are there any plans for FarCry to do some live shows when it’s safe to do so?

Definitely! As a matter of fact, we just started rehearsing a couple of weeks ago for the first time since before the pandemic. We didn’t feel there was a need to rehearse during the pandemic because we were really working on making the album come out. And we delayed it a little bit too, and now I think is the perfect time. Things are starting to open up. People are getting vaccinated and starting to feel a little safer. Numbers are going down. So, we’re hoping we hit it at the right time and that we can get some traction out of having an album release – and getting out there and hopefully playing some good festivals and some solid shows. And we’re definitely getting ready for that right now.

I didn’t want to conclude the interview without talking about your radio show FRYday Night With Fry. How did your radio show come about?

You know, it’s kind of interesting – I was at FireFest in 2012 with FarCry and things were starting to go South for the band at that point. Not personally – we all love each other very much and we had a good show – but we were without a label. We hadn’t gotten really much of a new album going yet. I was making some changes in my life regarding starting a new business and leaving a business partnership I was in to start something else. I had a lot of stuff going on, so I kind of knew that I was going to have to make some tough decisions

and that’s when I broke up FarCry. But I didn’t want to leave the forum of melodic rock, so I was talking to Steve Price, who at the time was the program manager for ARFM and I asked him how things were going. He said, “Oh things are going pretty good, but we could use a few more presenters.” And I said “Oh, really? I’ll do a show!” And he was “Oh really?” And we talked about it and I went home and thought “Holy Crap! I have no idea how to do this!” So, I figured it out – I picked up some software. If you listened to those first shows I did in November / December of 2012 maybe, I definitely found that I was not sure exactly what I was doing. And I’m not sure I’ve gotten a whole lot better since then, but I have been doing it for a while, so I feel more comfortable. It’s great man! I kept it going even when I brought the band back and I joined another band – and it’s a lot of work putting the show together, but I really love doing it. I love spreading the word about new music. I love bringing back deep cut classics now and again. I really love talking to other musicians as I’m sure you do. Just last week I spoke to Robin McAuley – I’ve interviewed Michael Schenker, Jeff Scott Soto – and everything from like smaller local bands to genuine rock stars. And I love it. I can’t get enough of it. For me, it’s definitely a labor of love… farcryband.net www.jadedpast.com

Available On

8th July 2021 www.melodicrockrecords.com