{"id":112334,"date":"2022-05-16T10:56:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T15:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=112334"},"modified":"2022-05-18T11:26:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T16:26:16","slug":"60-seconds-with-the-soft-parades-joe-russo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=112334","title":{"rendered":"60 Seconds with The Soft Parade\u2019s Joe Russo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=112334\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=112334\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-112335 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Joe-300x199.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Joe-300x199.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Joe.jpeg 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Exclusive interview by Karen Beishuizen <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many Doors tribute bands out there, but The Soft Parade is without a doubt The Most Authentic. I have seen them Live and Joe\u2019s performance on stage gives you the chills because it feels as if Jim came back. It is just stunning, and I highly recommend checking the band out.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: When did you decide to form a Doors tribute band and why the name The Soft Parade?<\/strong><\/em> <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I was certain I could assemble, produce, and front a show that would be a &#8220;The Doors-live&#8221; theatrical experience. I set out to do that and in just two years we were doing massive European tours and receiving incredible attention and acclaim. We were the first band to re-create The Doors authentically. It had never been done before. As far as why the name The Soft Parade, I wanted to use something not so commercially recognizable, and a few different names were considered. To be honest, we chose The Soft Parade out of a hat. It was one of the titles on one of the bits of paper in the hat.d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: I have seen you Live and you look like Jim Morrison and have the same mimics and gestures: Was it hard to crawl in Jim&#8217;s skin and become him because that&#8217;s what you do?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I knew instinctively I could credibly, and that&#8217;s the key word; &#8220;credibly&#8221;, represent an authentic performance with integrity that captured the essence of Morrison. It was not something I learned or imitated. It was, and is, something I harness and inhabit when we&#8217;re on stage.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: When did you become a Doors fan and what attracted you to them to set up this tribute band?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A friend in school was the main catalyst. He was deep into them and introduced me to their music just before a nationwide resurgence occurred. This was in about 1979.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You are older now than Jim ever would be but still you are going strong. Will there ever be a point when the world has enough of The Doors and Jim Morrison?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, I truly doubt The Doors or Morrison will become completely irrelevant, and I hope not. But Jim Morrison is no longer the epic, iconic rock &#8216;n roll paradigm he was, say twenty, thirty, forty years ago. It has gone down exponentially each year, I believe. But there is still a very solid fan base.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Have you met anyone of The Doors? Ray (before he passed away), John or Robby? If not, would you like to?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I knew Ray quite well. We kept in touch for decades and met in person on numerous occasions for dinner, etc. He actually signed a formal contract to appear on stage with The Soft Parade for a series on concerts, but just as it was signed, the offer to reform The Doors with Ian Astbury arose and so our project was pre-empted. Robbie played on stage with us at an illustrious Paris, France theatre during a week-long Jim Morrison birthday celebration of events. It was an awesome show and people are still talking about its impact. I&#8217;ve kept in touch with him over the years and spoke to him recently. I&#8217;ve never met John, I so much want to, although I was told he came to see us incognito at a New York concert.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: If you could make an album with your 7 favorite Doors songs: Which songs would you pick and why?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>That is a brutal question and would take several days to ponder adequately. I can say I would definitely include &#8220;Love Street&#8221; and &#8220;You&#8217;re Lost Little Girl&#8221; in my list. I tend to gravitate toward the romantic themes, personally.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Are you currently on tour or having new stuff in the pipeline?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>No Tours now, though we\u2019re still a unit\u2026 and recording sounds like a nice idea. I&#8217;m glad you mentioned it.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Check out the band\u2019s website: <a href=\"https:\/\/thesoftparade.com\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Check out the band on Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SoftParadeDoorsTribute\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exclusive interview by Karen Beishuizen There are many Doors tribute bands out there, but The Soft Parade is without a doubt The Most Authentic. I have seen them Live and Joe\u2019s performance on stage gives you the chills because it feels as if Jim came back. It is just stunning, and I highly recommend checking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28132,17984],"tags":[28858],"class_list":["post-112334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns-by-karen-beishuizen","category-entertainment-news","tag-60-seconds-with-the-soft-parades-joe-russo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112334"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}