{"id":21239,"date":"2012-07-28T05:21:26","date_gmt":"2012-07-28T10:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=21239"},"modified":"2013-02-05T18:05:44","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T23:05:44","slug":"15-minutes-with-foreigners-thom-gimbel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/15-minutes-with-foreigners-thom-gimbel\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Minutes with Foreigner\u2019s Thom Gimbel"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alex Barbieri<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thom Gimbel. You may not be familiar with the name, but he\u2019s played in two of the world\u2019s biggest rock bands: Aerosmith and Foreigner. Currently, Gimbel is crossing the country on Foreigner\u2019s summer 2012 tour promoting their new live CD,\u00a0Alive & Rockin. He took 15 minutes to talk with HRH about his favorite memories on tour, the impact of the \u201cRock of Ages\u201d movie on the band, and his second passion\u2014golf.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hardrock Haven: Thom, you\u2019re my new hero. You get to tour the world in one of the planet\u2019s most popular rock bands, and in your downtime, play golf in celebrity tournaments. Plus, you can probably walk around any Walmart without being hassled. When you were learning saxophone and flute as a kid, and going to Berklee College of Music in Boston, do think it would work out so well for you?<\/p>\n

Thom Gimbel: Hi, first of all, thanks for the kind compliments! Regarding that first question, I definitely dreamed of these days when I was younger, just starting out. I think I thought that, if I worked as hard as I could, with some luck maybe some good things would happen someday.<\/p>\n

HRH: Tell us what a typical day on tour with Foreigner is like for you. What time do you usually wake up and what do you have to do on show days?<\/p>\n

TG: Every day is so different, but usually it’s wake up, try to figure out what day it is, coffee, breakfast, go to the gym and then go to the show and get ready to rock!<\/p>\n

HRH: \u201cCold As Ice,\u201d \u201cDouble Vision,\u201d \u201cHot Blooded,\u201d \u201cUrgent,\u201d \u201cJukebox Hero,\u201d \u201cWaiting For A Girl Like You,\u201d \u201cI Want To Know What Love Is,\u201d the list goes on. What is your favorite to play live? Is it \u201cUrgent\u201d for the killer sax solo?<\/p>\n

TG: I really, truly, immensely enjoy playing every song that we do.\u00a0I have no favorite!<\/p>\n

HRH: One of my personal favorites is \u201cStarrider,\u201d a song from the first album that Mick Jones sings and you play flute on.<\/p>\n

TG: Yes! \u201cStarrider\u201d is a huge hit with our audiences. I love playing the flute parts and seeing Mick Jones light up his guitar. It’s cool to hear him sing too.<\/p>\n

HRH: A recent press release announced that the movie \u201cRock of Ages\u201d sent downloads of Foreigner songs skyrocketing, and the band has three hits on the soundtrack: \u201cI Want to Know What Love Is,\u201d \u201cJuke Box Hero\u201d and \u201cWaiting For A Girl Like You.\u201d How has the movie impacted the band\u2019s live shows? Are you seeing bigger audiences out there this summer?<\/p>\n

TG: We have been enjoying huge audiences each year. And yes, you are spot on, attendance seems to get even larger with more exposure in the media\/arts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

HRH: Let\u2019s go back to 1989 when you joined Aerosmith for their \u201cPump\u201d tour. Did that blow your mind, and what are some of your favorite memories of touring with the band until 1995?<\/p>\n

TG: Whoa!! Lots of long answers available to that short question! Ok, yes, it was mind boggling to tour with, and get to know those guys.<\/p>\n

Favorite memories would be:
\nWoodstock 2. Over 200,000 \u00a0people.
\nMTV Unplugged.
\nSaturday Night Live, all four times.
\nWayne’s World 2.
\nAnd doing so much vocalizing with Steven Tyler. We had a lot of laughs while doing vocal warm up exercises, which was a daily ritual.<\/p>\n

HRH: What are some highlights of the tour last year with Journey and Night Ranger? Did you ever get mistaken for Neal Schon? You two could be brothers.<\/p>\n

TG: Neal and all of the Journey guys, and all of the Night Ranger guys, were amazingly cool to tour with. Great times, record-setting attendance, and amazing performances by all three bands each and every night.
\nIt would be an absolute honor to be mistaken for Neal Schon, although that has not happened. I did have one very funny photographer kid me once about it by saying, “Dude, you were great in Santana!”
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
\nHRH: OK, let\u2019s talk golf for a bit. What are some celebrity tournaments you\u2019ve played in and any interesting stories from them?<\/p>\n

\"\"TG: Are you kidding?!! The stories I could tell! Ok, the best one was always the annual KLOS Mark & Brian Celebrity Golf Tournament\/fundraisers from 2000 through 2004 in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

The night before we would all check in to the resort \u00a0and have a huge dinner party. And I mean PARTY. After dinner, we would have a sing along around a piano. What a scene\u2014guys would sit down next to me on the piano bench.
\nI remember looking next to me and seeing Fee Waybill from The Tubes, and Kevin Cronan and Dave Amato from REO Speedwagon, and Steve Lukather from Toto, plus countless others\u2014all of us singing and partying and laughing until our stomachs hurt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The best part was that Mark and Brian raised a bunch of money to help kids who really needed and still need help. Those tournaments benefit The Make-A-Wish Foundation.<\/p>\n

HRH: Besides golf, what are you involved in outside of Foreigner? Any charities or organizations you want to plug?<\/p>\n

TG: Yes, absolutely. \u00a0We mostly try to help out with VH1’s Save The Music program and the GRAMMY Foundation. Both help schools in danger of having music programs cut from their budgets.<\/p>\n

HRH: Is there anything you want to say to Foreigner\u2019s fans, and the Hardrock Haven readers around the world?<\/p>\n

TG: Just, let’s just keep rockin’! I believe that rock music is based on great songs and performances and an attitude and energy. That is what we, and our audience, is all about! Come on and “join together with the band!\u201d<\/p>\n

HRH: Thom, thanks again and I\u2019ll see you guys live August 2 at Alive@Five in Stamford, CT. Keep hitting \u2018em straight!<\/p>\n

TG: Thanks Alex, you sound like a golfer. Let’s tee it up some time. Hope to see ya at the show!<\/p>\n

Visit Foreigner\u2019s official website:
\nhttp:\/\/www.foreigneronline.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Like Thom Gimbel on Facebook:
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Tom-GimbelForeigner\/158766497540283<\/a><\/p>\n

Order Alive & Rockin\u2019 on Amazon:
\nhttp:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Alive-Rockin-Foreigner\/dp\/B007OCD1FI\/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342633216&sr=8-2&keywords=foreigner+alive+%26+rockin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alex Barbieri – Columnist — Thom Gimbel. You may not be familiar with the name, but he\u2019s played in two of the world\u2019s biggest rock bands: Aerosmith and Foreigner. Currently, Gimbel is crossing the […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[163,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-21239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-foreigner","8":"tag-interview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}