Naro: Press Rock

by Nancy Liles/interview by Geoff Wilbur

Phil Naro has an impressive history as a vocalist, having fronted the band Talas (with another well-known player, Billy Sheehan) and, for a short period of time, the Peter Criss band.

"Right after Talas, I put a band together," says Phil. "We had a lot of interest and everything but never got off the ground. We had publishing, but we just never got the major deal. After that broke up, I just started writing for different people, like Lee Aaron and all different Canadian artists. And then in 24K, I worked with Eddie Kramer, and he got me the Peter Criss gig."

So what has he been up to since then? Phil explains, "I did the Peter Criss thing for 7-8 months, wrote songs with him and everything, but it just didn't work out. I came back to Toronto and put my own band together, and that's how PRESS PLAY came out.

"We were doing shows with Ace Frehley, Saigon Kick, and there was another band, too... Cinderella! And we were touring around stateside -- the upstate New York area.

"We're going to be doing dates sometime in September with UFO. They are coming to Buffalo, so we are gonna be opening for that. Hopefully, we're gonna get to Europe in September and October. We'll probably do some dates there with Honeymoon Suite -- three weeks in Europe. That's it with the PRESS PLAY record."

With an impressive yet unknown album under his belt, will a follow-up album be completed?

Phil explains, "Yeah, we're putting the songs together right now. I have ten songs done right now for the new record, and I've got three more -- we are just demoing them up. Then, after the tour in Europe, we'll go right in and do the new record and give another shot at it. We never got any U.S. distribution, but David LaDuke has been selling the CD for us through his company there and actually has been doing quite well."

It's unfortunate that music fans in the States often get short-changed because of the lack of availability of artists who are successful in other countries. Hopefully, with the new album, U.S. audiences with be introduced to what foreign audiences already enjoy.