LOVERBOY guitarist PAUL DEAN starts Spring with his own renewal, digitally releasing a new song and accompanying video, 'Be With You' his first solo material in more than 20 years, since 1994’s album, Machine. The single will be available digitally on March 21st for streaming at all major sites, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Deezer, as well as for download on iTunes and Amazon Music and viewing on YouTube.
“Be With You” is based on a song Paul reveals “has been kicking around since Loverboy’s “Just Getting Started” album, but its current iteration offers a “mariachi, south-of-the-border Mexicali blues” flavor, marked by Dean’s acoustic and twangy electric guitars – in large part thanks to his trusty Floyd Rose whammy bar. The result sounds like it could have come straight from a Traveling Wilburys’ album, or a Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez movie. “It was originally intended as part of a soundtrack to a screenplay I’m working on”, says Dean. It is the first of 11 new songs, many recorded at co-producer Mike Pisterzi’s Dallas-based Maximedia Studios with Loverboy mates Matt Frenette and Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve. Loverboy singer Mike Reno even contributes lyrics to one track.
“It’s a huge change musically for me from what I do with the band,” said Dean. “It reminds me of Loverboy’s debut album in its stylistic diversity, because each of the songs is so different. I just wrote what I was feeling and what I loved to hear and perform. It’s totally meant to be danced to, especially ‘Be With You’.”
Indeed, the video is a “celebration” of Loverboy and its fans, featuring Dean today (“My wife talked me into being real, owning up to who I am,” he says) playing over footage shot more than three decades ago with the band. The object of desire is an alluring woman, (who is featured in the cover band at the beginning of the band’s “Lovin’ Every Minute” video), whooping it up on stage in a display of self-empowerment, the unaware object of the narrator’s obsession.
“I like that kind of juxtaposition of really positive music with ambiguous lyrics,” says Dean, referencing such Loverboy classics as “Turn Me Loose” and “The Kid Is Hot Tonight,” the latter warning about the perils of fame. “Taken at face value, you could say “Be With You” is simply a love song.”
The new video comes on the heels of last year’s digital release of Dean’s 1989 solo debut, Hard Core, with it’s accompanying re-released videos of “Sword In Stone”, and “Draw The Line.” Dean says, “This is not a break from Loverboy. It’s meant to augment what we do as a band - to continue the dialogue, the conversation, with our fans, and keep them invested in us, individually and collectively.”
LOVERBOY's four-decade-long career began in Calgary when vocalist Mike Reno was introduced to guitar legend Paul Dean, the two eventually joined by keyboardist Doug Johnson, drummer Matt Frenette and bassist Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve, who replaced the late Scott Smith in 2000. The band’s releases include the four-million-selling Get Lucky, and three double-platinum releases in their self-titled 1980 debut, 1983's Keep It Up and 1985's Lovin' Every Minute of It, including the hits "Working for the Weekend," "Lovin' Every Minute of It.
