By Carl Begai
Over the last few months vocalist / guitarist Lita Ford has devoted her time to promoting her new album, Living Like A Runaway, which has doubled as an exercise in damage control. She isn’t shy about calling her failed 2009 psycho-industrial nu-metal comeback album Wicked Wonderland a disaster, and she makes no secret of her feelings towards ex-husband and former Nitro singer Jim Gillette, whom she credits for making her life a living hell. After filing for divorce in early 2011, Ford dealt with the ugly aftermath of her broken marriage and channelled that energy into making a new album, Living Like A Runaway. It’s a true comeback, loaded to the gills with emotion and attitude, ultimately giving the fans what they wanted last time out.
“The new album cover should have one big middle finger on it,” she laughs. “I came back with a record that wasn’t a Lita Ford record, and I’m happy to say Living Like A Runaway is the real deal. It’s got a lot of emotion in it. It’s not ‘I think I’ll write a record now,’ it’s pure heart and soul. The music came to me at one of the darkest times in my life, and the only release for me to dump my emotions out was my music.”
It might be accurate to say that Living Like A Runaway turned out the way it did as a result of Wicked Wonderland and the emotional baggage that went with it. The recorded version of the aforementioned middle finger, so to say…
“Well… actually, I don’t know… maybe you’re right,” Ford concedes. “My ex had complete control over everything. He wanted to make Wicked Wonderland, he wanted to write the songs, and I couldn’t function with him around. So, in a way I guess you could in fact say I had to go through the divorce to make this record.”
“I just needed the divorce. He was blocking me from being creative and he was blocking me from being Lita. I couldn’t function. Sometimes it happens when you’re with somebody and they sort of take over your life. It was like ‘Okay, the first thing I’ve gotta do is get you outta my way…’ (laughs). Once that happened I was able to be me again. I sat down, started writing, and I felt all this creativity flowing. It was non-stop. We couldn’t put a cap on it and it was great. As a matter of fact, the day my divorce was final was the very day the record was delivered to the record company. That was a good day (laughs).” Continue reading LITA FORD – Damage Controlled: Life Starts Now