James Durbin has lived a life many would dream of in his career as a successful musician – from making his own albums to collaborations with Alex Grossi to most recently becoming the frontman for the legendary Quiet Riot. We don’t know how he does it, but he keeps doing it again and again, and for that, we are eternally grateful. We had a chance to sit down with him to talk about his work with Alex Grossi, Maps to the Hollywood Scars, Volume One, writing songs that know how to speak right into your soul, and life on the road with Quiet Riot. We know great things are to come for Durbin, and we can’t wait to have a front row seat to all the action!
How are you?
I am good. I am just getting everything packed and watching cartoons with my daughter. Getting ready to fly out for my first Quiet Riot show.
Sounds awesome!
Yeah, it’s a crazy whirlwind.
Well, not only are you and Alex (Grossi) working on the collaboration for Maps To The Hollywood Scars, but you’re now the new frontman of Quiet Riot. What brought on these collaborations?
I was doing a residency show in Las Vegas and was able to reconnect with Alex since he lives out there. So, we just happened to be at the same restaurant at the same time, and we got to talking. Fast forward to a month later, and my residency show ended, and then he started sending me demos and said, “Just here, just write, write whatever inspires you.” So, I did. I recoded some quick demos on my computer and did a quick mix then sent them back within a couple of days, and that just really got the ball rolling. So, I guess while we were developing Maps To The Hollywood Scars, Alex was sending and forwarding these songs to Franki Banali, the drummer for Quiet Riot. I guess he enjoyed what he heard, and it was just really great. All of this happened so effortlessly and organically. So many things have been happening within a short amount of time. It seems like every four or five days something else would happen. Like, oh! Here let’s write Hollywood Scars. Okay, five days later, hey would you want to record? Let’s just record for fun, whatever. Five days later, we’re going to be releasing it through New Ocean Media; they’re great! Let’s do a lyric video. Let’s do all these things! As soon as that came out, Quiet Riot called, and five days later I’m going down to LA for a photo shoot and rehearsals. And a few days later I’m going out for my first show. So there’s a lot going on.
Wow. Sounds like it was all meant to be. You guys released Volume One of Maps To The Hollywood Scars in February. How has fan reception been since the release?
Fan reception had been amazing. It’s been really cool. Like I said this whole thing happened organically. So we just put it out just because we thought our fans would want to hear it, and it has just been tremendous. I’ve heard from some fans that have said that “Till Death” is their favorite song that they’ve heard. Ever. I mean my connection with my fans personally is, I tend to attract people that are going through difficult times or have gone through difficult times. And they find healing in my music. That to me is very powerful. I knew immediately that as soon as I wrote “Till Death” that the song was going to affect certain people in my fanbase. So that response has been completely overwhelming. Additionally it’s been getting great reviews, and it just feels pretty good, you know? No one was telling us what to do. We just decided to write and then to release it. There was no record label, no A&R, no kitchen full of cooks pointing fingers and changing the recipe. We just kind of made something by accident.
I liked it and I’m looking forward to Volume Two. So I’m anxious for the release.
Thank you! Yeah, I’m hoping that we’re still on track to record and release Volume Two in a timely manner. The songs that are there are really, really good. It’s among the same style as Volume One, but I think Volume Two is a little heavier. I think we saved the heavy songs for Volume Two. There’s one about zombies. There’s one about the prescription drug industry. And yeah, it gets pretty deep and heavy. There’s some anger on that one.
Volume One features a guest appearance from Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Are there any special guests that we should be looking forward to on Volume Two?
Um, I’m not sure I can really say.
Okay.
We’re always open to it. Any friends of either mine or Alex’s. I’m not quite sure yet. I guess we’ll have to see once we get into the studio and see who’s available to do what or to send what. It just happened to work out really well that Dizzy had some time off from Guns N’ Roses shows to record some tracks. So that was pretty special.
Is there a specific song on either of the volumes that is really personal for you?
“Till Death” is extremely personal, for obvious reasons. It took a lot out of me to write. It was like that with all of the songs, with one exception being a song on Volume Two that I have written an awful demo to. But the idea was there lyrically and melody wise. I sent it to Alex and he flipped it and wrote something great. A great guitar part and everything and built it up. But with that only exception, the rest of the songs were instrumentals that Alex had sent to me. Then I took them from there and wrote melodies and lyrics. I was listening to the ballad, which is what we called it before it had its title, and I sort of gave myself a deadline. I was like, this is one of the last songs sitting here, and I want to get this done. So I’m sitting there, and I decide to take a bath and completely submerge my head under water and only came up when I really had to. Just trying to cancel out all of my senses. And just be completely senseless, almost in a comatose state. So I did that, and as soon as I came up I had this idea in my head of till death brings us to life. So at first I didn’t really know what that meant, and I started thinking about and I came up with two things that it could mean. If you are a faith based person you believe in God. You believe in life after death. In Heaven or eternal, or whatever your faith is. And so it’s a way of death bringing you back with what you lost that you love so much. That’s one side of the things. But if you don’t believe any of that and you’re on the other side, then it’s a promise that I will never forget you or the memories that we’ve had till death brings us to life. Which is impossible. So those are the two cases. I just sort of wrote everything based around that: I wrote about my dad and about a close friend that passed away quite recently. That was the first friend I’ve had to lose. That really affected our community and our family. So I used that to inspire me.
Wow. On a lighter note –
Yes!
Do you guys have any plans to release any music videos for some of the songs?
I certainly hope so! I keep hearing good things about “Never Ending Ride,” and I think that that could be a really fun music video. We’ve talked about doing a video to “Till Death”. We have a producer that is really interested in doing a video for us for free. A friend of Alex’s. A phenomenal producer who’s won many awards. I don’t want to go deeper into it in case it doesn’t happen. But I certainly hope so! I think it would be a lot of fun and the next stepping stone for developing Maps To The Hollywood Scars.
Yeah! I think it’d be cool to see some of the songs come to life in video form.
Yeah! I try to write with this idea of, if I was actually there. I put myself into the song as I’m writing it. So there’s a lot of things that we could make happen with a music video. I made the lyric video for “Till Death”. My first crack at making a lyric video. It was fun to go around town and take those stills and stuff to animate, too. There’s definitely a lot of ideas brewing as far as music videos go. We could do one for “Lost Boys”. The movie The Lost Boys was actually filmed right here in Santa Cruz where I’m from, and there’s a lot of different things that could happen. “Abomination” is about Frankenstein’s monster, so there’s a lot of things.
You released your own albums in 2011, 2014, and 2016. How is a collaboration with Alex and Quiet Riot different from doing your own thing?
Well, the album I released an album in July of last year independently that was called Riot On Sunset. Which is weird because now I’m in Quiet Riot, and we’re playing the Rainbow Room Bar & Grill anniversary on the Sunset Strip. So I’m going to be wearing a Riot On Sunset t-shirt while playing in Quiet Riot on Sunset. Anyway, I’m glad that I got to make a full-length album on my own, crowd fund it, do it completely independently free of a record label, and understand the ins and outs and the workings of it. The songwriting and the timelines and everything. Recording Riot On Sunset made this project just effortless. I pretty much knew everything to expect. I knew how to meet a deadline and deliver as such. So it made it a comfortable experience.
You’re getting ready for touring with Quiet Riot. Are you looking forward to it?
I am. Yes, absolutely. Tomorrow is the first show in Wichita, Kansas. I’m nervous, and I’m excited. We did a couple of rehearsals last week, and then we pretty much got to the point of rehearsing where it was like we can keep playing the songs, but it’s not really going to do us much good. We just need to get out there and start playing on stage. The first show is going to be the time to hammer out any kinks and figure things out. I really enjoyed that magic. There was a real intense energy being in that room with Alex, Chuck, Franki, and myself. It felt special: right, and honest. It didn’t feel forced. The sound that was coming out was exactly the same. So it’s going to be really fun to wake up the next day and see all of these videos being posted on YouTube of the first show and my fans on the message boards and fan groups and everything talking. It’s going to be pretty cool. I just can’t wait to actually be up there on stage. I know that tonight as soon as I leave on the flight and start heading out toward Wichita and end up there tomorrow afternoon, there’s going to be a lot of excitement brewing.
After the release of Maps To The Hollywood Scars Volume Two, you’ll be gearing up to release the new Quiet Riot album Road Rage correct?
Yes.
Have you started recording that or are you getting ready to begin recording?
I have. I am currently writing. It’s very interesting. Also I’m glad we did The Maps To The Hollywood Scars thing because I wrote all of those songs in such a short amount of time, within a month. Not just the songs from Volume One, the songs on Volume Two as well. And we recorded and released. So I’m very happy with the quality of the songs on Maps To The Hollywood Scars. It’s kind of got me in this mode of marathon writing so to speak. Already for the Road Rage album, I’ve written five songs and have another five to go. The rest of the album is already recorded or is having final touches being put on. So for the convince factor I will be recording my vocal tracks here in Santa Cruz where I did my last album, Riot On Sunset. So that’s really cool for me as well as my engineer, who is very very excited to be working on this. His name is Rick Riviera, and he is the owner of Rocker Studios in Santa Cruz. It’s very cool that someone I started working with last year I’ve developed a great friendship with. So it’s great to bring him onto this project when he helped me out so much with mine. So yeah we’re really really excited. I’m excited because not only do I get to be a part of the Road Rage album but the first official Quiet Riot album release in ten years of new material since the passing of the late great Kevin DuBrow. It all goes back to what I was saying earlier. Every five days there’s a new thing. It’s like oh man! There’s no time to react. There’s no time to really let this all soak in without the next thing popping up. But I’m definitely up for it. I’ve pulled the sword from the stone, so it’s my duty to deliver. And so far, the first five songs that we’ve written for Road Rage are extremely kick ass, and they embody that Quiet Riot spirit and that energy. There’s just some great vibes on this album so far.
Maps To The Hollywood Scars: “Till Death” (Lyric Video)
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I spoke with some of your fans, and they gave me a few questions for me to ask you. The first one was, how did American Idol prepare you for something like this?
American Idol prepares you with the tools you need for pretty much anything. I went form playing a couple times a month in one place in Santa Cruz and not ever doing press or any of that stuff. So I can hold down a conversation if it needs to be a press-wise conversation or just jelling with the band. Idol prepared me and all of us for being ready for anything. They run us through every possible scenario and help you think of what to say and what not to say. Though I still am learning what not to say. (laughs) Sometimes your heart goes before your head. But yeah, American Idol really gave me a lot lessons in this industry. There are things that I am still learning about from my own experiences, and those are important too because it’s good to just get out there. Even if it is American Idol or The Voice or America’s Got Talent or anything of that sort it’s just another stepping stone in states of the industry right now. It’s one of the best stepping stones you could possibly do for yourself.
The second question was how do you all of this while dealing with Tourettes and Aspergers and just being yourself and not letting anyone get to you about it?
That’s a great question. That’s actually another thing Idol taught me. I mean I’m pretty good at being able to hide it. I’m good at holding it in to just offset my ticks and my awkwardness and kind of let that happen on my own. When I’m alone, yeah, I probably do it a lot more. I’m able to if I need to not show… If I’m on camera and I need to be on, even if it’s on stage, it goes away. I was diagnosed when I was ten, so that’s when I was started become fully aware of what I have. So for eighteen years I’ve been learning who I am and understanding when I do things, how I do things, why I do things. So at this point I’m having a much easier time controlling it; I guess is the best way I can put it.
It’s inspirational, and I know many look up to your strength. So your fans are with you all the way.
Thank you very much. It means a lot to have all of the fans’ support.
The last question was, has anyone ever mistaken you for another celebrity?
Yes. Only at certain times, depending on what my hair looks like or what angle. I’ve gotten Adam Lambert for the longest time. Before I was on Idol I had people tell me that I should get a tan and be an Adam Lambert impersonator. I always thought that was funny. When I was a kid I used to get Elvis. That was before my hairline started receding due to the music industry and having kids. I got Taylor Lautner once, and I have no idea where that one came from. But the popular one was Kevin Jonas. Oh yeah people would say that one is spot on. So Kevin, wherever you are, I’m here for you man. I don’t know where he’s at but we could be brothers.
