Saraya Band interview english Aug 2017

When the Blackbird Sings
At the end of the 1980s, the Americans make Saraya with high-class hard
rock. But after her much harder second record, singer Sandi Saraya withdraws
completely from the public in 1991: ROCKS grants her the first interview in a
quarter of a century - and has a lot to report. Also from new Saraya music.

When Saraya’s first album was released in 1989, few
could fail to predict a successful future for the band.
For women in those days, the male dominated world
of hard rock was not easy. Whilst Lita Ford, Femme
Fatale, Vixen and Chrissy Steele were defined mainly
by their provocative image, female rock singers were
few and far between. In 1987 the New Jersey band,
then going by the name Alsace Lorranie, gained their
recognition through the alluring voice of Sandi Saraya.
They began putting together an outstanding debut
album that was bewitching from the first note.
However, shortly after the release of their second
album, Sandi Saraya mysteriously disappeared. Since
then nobody heard anything about her. The fact that
until now, she has ignored any questions about this
disappearance leads us to suspect that she left leave the
music industry on a bad note.
“I never gave up singing or
making music. I’ve always loved
music. Today I’m in a new
phase of my life. Now I have
five children who are no longer
quite so dependent upon me.
Apart from my 11 year old, they
are all more or less independent
and can take care of themselves.
This gives me the opportunity
and the time for my music. At
the moment I am working on two projects that will
be recorded in a few months and will be released
sometime in the coming year. I definitely want to tour
again.”
As the band gained more and more recognition in
the late 80s, it appeared to be a dream come true for
the singer. “I had a great band, a great album and our
videos were appearing on MTV. My mum always said
how proud she was that I had found such indescribable
happiness. I was young and ambitious and hat
everything that I had ever wished for, but despite all
this, I never felt completely fulfilled. Something was
missing. When our album “Saraya” was released,
I should have been really happy, but in fact I felt
the opposite. I would go as far as to say I was truly
depressed.”
Sandi Saraya and keyboard player Gregg Munier had
already played in several bands together. Now it was
time to turn her back on her home on the east coast of
America and to search for happiness in LA.
“I don’t want to go into great detail, but at the time
I had a very well-known and influential manager. As
things became more and more complicated between
us, it couldn’t carry on, but he threatened to ensure
that I would never achieve anything on the East Coast
with any band in the world. So Gregg and I packed our
bags and set off through America to start again from
scratch.”
Not everybody in the band managed to settle in LA.
Joined by Danger Danger guitarist Tony “Bruno” Rey,
bassist Gary Taylor and drummer Chick Bonfante,
Alsace Lorraine were soon discovered and signed by
Polygram Records. But not without
certain conditions:
“They wanted us to be known as Sandi
Saraya, but for me that was out of the
question. Under no circumstances did
I want to be a solo artist: I wanted to be
part of a band. Then they wanted to put a
photo of me in a see-through miniskirt
on the album cover. They wanted to
promote our records by making a sex
symbol of me, like Lita Ford or Lorraine
Lewis. That might have worked for them
but for me it was unthinkable. In the end there was
a compromise: I put forward my idea for the album
cover, that I hid myself amongst the band members so
nobody could tell if I was a woman or a man. I agreed
to the name change – as long as they took it down to
just Saraya. If you weren’t already a superstar, you had
no choice but to do as the record company told you.
Polygram wanted me as a female Bon Jovi who they
could market through my image. But that wouldn’t
have been me.”
Their first album sold well: there was only one song
that appeared on MTV that was of the party-hardrock
genre.
Apart from that, Saraya were associated with a serious,
rich sound: a mixture between Whitesnake and
Heart, with a singer and front-woman whose voice
was reminiscent of a combination of Ann Wilson,

Allanah Myles and
Pat Banatar. Hard
rock classics such as
“Gypsy Child” and
the comparatively
clumsy “One Night
Away”, the hits “Love
Has Taken its Toll” (position
64 in the charts), and the
double bass and organ runs
on their cover of Rainbow’s
“Running Out of Time”
brought the album straight
into the top 80.
Saraya were produced by Jeff
Glixman, who in the 1970s
was responsible for acts such
as Leftover, and the first
solo work of Paul Stanley,
and who shortly before he
began working with Saraya,
was responsible for creating
the outstanding sound of Black
Sabbath’s “The Eternal Idol”.
“I know that many people find
our records to be too smooth and
overproduced, but they should
have heard them before Jeff came
to them. The label wanted us to
sound sugary sweet but Jeff brought
a hard, raw quality back into our
music. He was a blessing!”
A few years later, the band begin
working on their second album
“When the Blackbird Sings”, and
things began to change, not least
for the singer personally.
“It sounds pathetic, but it is what
it is: I found God. I come from a
Catholic family but religion was
never really of any consequence
to me. I suddenly became aware
that some of the songs that I
was currently writing had many
similarities to certain stories in the
bible – even though I have never
read it. I’ve never spoken openly
about it, but my relationship
with God has changed my whole
perspective.”
Meanwhile, bassist Gary Taylor
left the band, making place for
Barry Dunaway, who had already
played for Lou Gramm and Yngwie
Malmsteen. Disappointed about the
new addition to the band, Munier
also turned his back on Saraya.
“The songs on the second album
were much harder and more guitar
orientated than on the debut.
Gregg felt that he no longer had a
place in the band. I did everything
I could to try and persuade him
to stay but nothing worked. I
don’t think he’s ever truly got over
not being part of Saraya. He was
unbelievably important to me, both
as a musician and as a friend.”
In their concerts, the keyboarder
was replaced by a second
guitarist. Gregg Murnier died of
pneumonia in 2006.
The already noticeably harder
songs on The Blackbird
Sings maintain the exquisite
sound that Peter Collins had
created for them. Before this,
the reputable producer was
already responsible for creating
the sound of Queensryche’s
“Operation: Mindcrime and
Empire” and brought a similar
tone to Saraya’s second album.
In the explosive “Bring Back the
Light and “When You See Me
Again” the rich sounding phrases
are reminiscent of a mixture of
Queensryche, Ratt and Heart.
In 1991, six months after the
release of “When the Blackbird
Sings”, the band split up.
“I simply lost the will to continue.
At the time, we were being
managed by a huge company called
Q Prime. Peter Mensch and Cliff
Burnstein were wonderful people,
but were much too busy with their
most important bands – Metallica
and Def Leppard – to take care of
us. It all fell on me to organise
tours and to decide what we should
be doing next. I had to make sure
that our merchandise was selling
and that the others didn’t drink too
much. I had to throw the groupies
off the bus. In short, I was suddenly
playing mum to these guys!”
The fact that Sandi Saraya had
married Tesla bassist Brian Wheat
didn’t help the situation. In fact it
was the opposite.
“I was with him for a reason, but I
wasn’t really in it for the marriage.

He was very convincing though and in the end I gave
in. But how is a relationship supposed to work when
you spend the majority of time apart from one another
on tour? He would just come back from Japan and I’d
already be on the way to gigs in Canada. That’s how
it was the whole time. I knew it wouldn’t work out
with us. I gave up the band to save our marriage. I’d
had enough. I loved music more than anything but I
hated the music business and everything it stands for.
I didn’t want anything more to do with it. I have to
say too that the harsh criticism we received for “When
The Blackbird Sings” really affected me too. It had all
become too much for me.”
After the split, Sandi Saraya disappeared completely
from the public eye. She had no ambition to start
a new band, and the thought of a solo career didn’t
appeal to her. Her marriage to Wheat ended in
divorce. She is now happily married to Brendan Kelly
and is enjoying a family life.
“Throughout these years, I have received offers to join
other bands or to sing on records but I turned them all
down. I never wanted to go back to my old life. I’ve
continued to sing, because I love singing, but I’ve done
whatever I can to cover all traces of myself. Somewhere
along the way, someone caught wind of my past, so
I stopped singing in church. I wanted to remain
anonymous and not be associated in anyway with my
old life.”
One day, Sandra Saraya Salvador Kelly did return to
the stage – with a Sinatra impersonator, she laughs.
“We were with a thirty piece orchestra and played songs
by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. It was amazing.”
However, the project ended when the leader of the
orchestra died of a heart attack on stage. After that,
the singer decided to get her foot back in the door of
the music world. In 2010 she sang in “Shame” - a song
on the album by the early TNT Singer Tony Harness
and his band The Mercury Train – but this ended in
disaster. The highlight of her comeback came when
she was asked to perform at a festival in England.
However, the gig was cancelled at short notice.”
“Tony Bruno spoke to me about doing a concert. I
could see that happening, but then I never heard
anything more from him. Suddenly during this time,
my husband became ill: he had serious problems with
his back and for some time was unable to move. I
had to take care of him and five young children. I
hadn’t forgotten about the concert, but I hadn’t heard
any more from him and nobody had sent me a
confirmation or any other details. Then one day, the
telephone rang and Tony wanted to know if it could go
ahead. But I had lots of people dependent on me. I was
truly sorry but I couldn’t go ahead with it anymore.”
Tony Bruno wouldn’t let the idea go. He kept ringing
her to find out if there might be a better time for a
Sandi Saraya revival. She kept on turning it down,
until in January 2017 she felt confident that the time
was right.
“It’s true! We are currently working on the third
Saraya album!” She is also involved in a project with
Bulletboys guitarist Mick Sweda, a good portion of
which is already finished. She promises “sexy rock
n roll”. She has a good feeling about this project, she
explains excitedly.
“My kids always complain that my music is so old
fashioned. One day following a session in Mick’s studio,
I put one of the songs on in the car: “End of Us”.
Straight away my daughter, who is my harshest critic,
wanted to know: ‘Mommy, who’s that singing?’ She
couldn’t believe that I sounded so young! Then I knew
it: when you set your mind to something, you can truly
make it happen.”
After a quarter of a century, Sandi Saraya has
discovered new found joy in the music business and is
really throwing herself into it.
“Do I ever regret being out of the music business for so
long and turning down so many offers to return? Of
course I do! At the time, I just wasn’t in the right place
to be out there in the public eye. But now I am. I have
more faith in myself now than ever before. Tony and
Mick are amazing at what they do. And I know Brian
Wheat is by my side too. These days, my ex-husband
is probably my best friend and is really supportive of
me. All these years he has been trying to get me back
into the music business. It’s strange how these things
happen. But I’ve learned a lot in life and now I’m
prepared for everything – whatever comes along!”