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Still A Kid At Heart
Bruce Witkins' story that has brought him to where he is
is
not a short one. His mother was a band manager when he was about 12 years
old and living with a band at that age certainly had to be one of his biggest,
life changing influences. He learned about dedication, people, band egos, drug
problems and girl problems just to name a few. But most importantly how to
be tight as a band and ultimately how to be a leader.
His own musical
ability seems to have come to him naturally and just grew as a result
of his surroundings. When he finally became tired of the band thing
as he got older he started to produce records for local LA bands and
found he really enjoyed it. Bruce feels you kind of use the same skill
set with people and musicians when you produce as when you’re
in a band. He sees every band he works with as having the same similar
personality challenges. So he just goes back in time and remembers
how it was when he was dealing with right or wrong over the years and
hopes that it works again. And most of the time it does. People are
people. Now Bruce has his own small record company and tries to mentor
young and mature artists and help them make their record not his.
He doesn't do much writing of his own
now but as a producer you do dive in and help the artist with structure,
melody, and lyrics if needed. So now this working in a different role
fills some of the void for Bruce creatively and allows him to share his
creativity with newer artists. The recording process is different for each
artist. Bruce's favorite way of recording is setting up and letting the
band play. "I’ve
done lots of recording putting one instrument down at a time and you can
get great work done that way. But I do prefer the more old school organic
way of recording. Even with a computer you can still set up and rock."
Going through his journey Bruce has always lived day by day to a fault.
He hopes to keep producing and helping artists see their dreams come true.
He did promise myself a solo record by next year so he admits will have
to start working on it soon. |
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Bruce Witkin originally wanted to be a drummer, but he
took up the bass when he was about 12. His mom was managing a band, Tight Squeeze, that kept
going through bass players, and he thought maybe he'd be needed someday. In
1978, Bruce Witkin became a founding member of The Kids (originally called
The Kydz), the band that Johnny Depp later joined in 1980. Besides playing
bass and keyboards and doing lead vocals, Bruce did most of the songwriting
for The Kids. After the band moved
to LA and then broke up, Bruce was able to get a Kids song - one of his compositions,
Time To Explain - featured in a 1985 movie:
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Bruce had gotten
to know Adam Ant through his sister, and in 1993, he played on an album
of Adam's called Persuasion. Unfortunately, the album was never released,
but there was a short tour in which Bruce was featured. Bruce continued his stint in Adam
and the Ants by playing on the 1995 album, Wonderful, and playing on
that tour. By this time, Bruce had established a band of his own called
Flux, and on the Wonderful tour, Flux served as an opening act for shows
on both coasts. Unfortunately, Flux never got a record deal and
eventually disbanded. Meanwhile, Bruce started up his own
record company, PopSquad records, and gained success as a record
producer, engineer and session musician.
He also formed a "supergroup" called Supremium with the former drummer Rob Klonel
from Flux, Coz Canler of The Romantics, and Doug Nahory who had played keyboards
for Alanis Morrisette. They released at least 3 albums, including
Chemical Imbalance, Lucky, and a more publicized 2001 release called Tales.
Among Bruce's many musical contributions was to play bass on the 2000 album
Bliss, released by Johnny's longtime companion Vanessa Paradis; he also
toured with her in 2001. Some of his contributions from both Bliss and the 2001 live
album, Au Zenith, are featured on her 2009 Best Of album. (Vanessa also
thanks Bruce in the liner notes of her 2007 album, Divinidylle). Bruce
crossed paths with Johnny again in 2003 by collaborating with him, Bill Carter
and Ruth Ellsworth on the Once Upon A Time In Mexico selection, Sands Theme. Another
major contribution was made to the film industry in 2004 when Bruce participated
in the soundtrack to the Martin Short movie Jiminy Glick In Lalawood; Bruce
composed or co-composed much of the music and performed on a few tracks. |
In 2005, Bruce toured with rockabilly singer James Intveld,
who was supporting The Blasters. Bruce also played on the 2005 Blasters
release, 4-11-44. Their tour included a show at Johnny's former club
The Viper Room on Oct. 20. In the fall of 2006, he was playing "Hard
Again Wednesdays" at the Vine Street Lounge in Hollywood, along with Supremium
bandmate Coz Canler, Clem Burke from Blondie, Eddie Munoz from the Plimsouls
and Rhett Frazier. And on January 28, 2007 and August 29 and 30, 2008
Bruce reunited with The Kids in Pompano Beach for special benefit reunion concerts
in tribute to his beloved mother, Sheila Witkin
the film production
of Sweeney Todd
Bruce was actively involved with Johnny
on the film production of Sweeney Todd. Johnny first mentioned
going into a recording studio with Bruce in a May 10, 2007 interview
with the Philippine Inquirer:"I ended up going into a recording
studio with a friend of mine and I just sang to the tracks to find out
if I could do it at all. It’s not unlike the mating call of a rutting
stag. It’s a very strange sound but so far, I have not been fired,
which is good. We’ll see. I hope you like it."
In the November 9, 2007 issue of Entertainment
Weekly, Johnny describes the process of testing his ability to sing the
role: "So you went into a West Hollywood recording studio with Bruce
Witkin, who used to play in that band the Kids with you in the early
'80s, and now is a recording engineer. It was just myself in a booth
and Bruce at the controls. Just the two of us. I was in there singing
and he was in there pushing buttons, recording stuff. This guy is someone
I've known for 30 years. He's a brother. We worked in bands together,
we were on the road together. We lived together when we were teenagers.
His mom was basically my second mom. It was an enormous help and comfort.
It meant everything in finding Sweeney. I'm so pleased that he was there,
that the first dive was with him." Bruce served as a producer on
the Sweeney Todd Motion Picture Soundtrack and has a film credit as the
producer of Johnny's voice for the film. The soundtrack received
a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion
Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. He also appears in
the DVD extras. |
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Unison Music
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In 2006, Bruce began an
indie record label, Unison Music, with Ryan Dorn. There have been
a number of artists signed to Unison, including Marianne Keith, Peech,
Noah Sugerman, Bobby Syvarth, Blame Ruby (featuring Bruce's daughter
Veronica), and Babybird. Bruce played with Babybird in a series
of UK gigs in 2009 and 2010, and performed on and produced their 2010
album, Ex-Maniac. In February of 2010, Bruce was spotted at the
boards during a session in which Johnny recorded a guitar solo for I
Put A Spell On You, a Shane MacGowan charity single for earthquake victims
in Haiti.
When asked If you could make a major change in the business
and what he would like to see; this is how Bruce responded. "The
biz no is in the hands of the artist more than ever. So I don’t
mind that. I believe the way you can be successful is playing gigs all
the time. Living on the road. Play to 5 people once go back and play
for 7 until you have a fan base that cares about you. I mean lets face
it Steve Jobs put the price tag on music at .99 cents. You don’t
need a major label to get you on I tunes. You can sell cd’s side
stage and make a living and build the fan base. When we were kids we
needed a major label so we could record and get music in record store
and get you on the radio. It’s not like that anymore. So it’s
in the hands of the artist. And I think that’s great. All my label
does is just tries to help that process." The Internet is a tool.
It’s a way of communication. It’s TV,Radio and News in your
hand when you want it. If a band is working it correctly it can be
really helpful. Because of this Bruce sees the business moving into the
hands or the artists. |
Bruce and Ryan continue to expand the Unison label, having recently
added The White Buffalo, The Baron Sisters, and The Tricks to their music group.
In the fall of 2010, the label initiated a weekly streaming live jam session
called By The Poolside, featuring musicians from the Unison label as well as
other artists. As of 2011, both Marianne Keith and Babybird are recording
new material for their upcoming albums. Bruce states, "I would love for
my artists to have a career and be there for them thru it all. I feel that
the business side and artistic side are growing apart. The more an artist can
do for them selves the more they will own And control. Direct to fan is the
Future."
Bruce Witkin can be reached through Unison Music at http://www.unisonmusic.com/ |
