Richie Sambora – vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Aaron Sterling - drums
Matt Rollings - piano, organ
Curt Schneider - bass
Rusty Anderson - rhythm guitar
Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. - keyboards
Luke Ebbin - background vocals, programming and keyboards
Eminent rock-music artisan and Bon Jovi founding member, Richie Sambora, is set to release his third solo album, Aftermath of the Lowdown, on physical, digital and Direct to Consumer platforms, via Dangerbird Records on September 18th digitally and in stores on October 2nd, 2012. In a departure from his previous major label releases – Undiscovered Soul (1998) and Stranger In This Town (1991) – Sambora has returned to his roots, creating a vital and visceral album of raw power.
Aftermath of the Lowdown is Sambora laid bare. The past decade has seen him become a reluctant tabloid staple, with his personal life dissected in magazines, on gossip websites and TV entertainment channels. For a guy from New Jersey who just wanted to play guitar it’s been a surreal ride. And while the supermarket check-out headlines don’t come close to reality, Sambora makes it clear on Aftermath of the Lowdown that he has a story to tell. Lyrically, he’s pulling no punches. “This is the truth, the lowdown,” he says. “And after you speak that truth, there’s always an aftermath.”
Sambora has spent almost three decades as an integral part of one of the world’s most beloved bands. He’s created some of the most instantly recognizable guitar sounds and penned many of the greatest rock anthems in a generation. In 2010 – twenty-six years after releasing their first album – his band were named the top touring act in the world for the second time, a feat only previously accomplished by The Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones. And, after playing to over 35 million people around the globe, Sambora returned home to rediscover the liberating intimacy of writing. Collaborating with longtime friend, producer and songwriter, Luke Ebbin, he felt the freedom to compose a more personal collection of songs than the stadium-filling chart monsters that made him famous. “This is my favorite record I’ve ever made,” says the 2009 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee. “It’s the most fulfilling and beautiful experience in my life as a musician.”
Aftermath of the Lowdown – his first album in 14 years – has all of the gutsy spirit, soaring guitar parts and rousing melodies that make Sambora a radio icon. Lyrically, he tackles the universal tribulations of divorce, substance abuse, single parenthood, independence and self-reliance. “A lot has happened in my life over the last ten years, personal stuff that’s cathartic for me to get out,” says Sambora. “Really things that could happen to anybody, but I just happened to be in a band with the biggest concert tour in the world, and in the glare of the public eye.”
With Ebbin (whose works includes Bon Jovi, Melissa Etheridge, All American Rejects) as co-writer and producer, Sambora recruited A-list musicians Aaron Sterling (drums), Matt Rollings (piano/organ), Curt Schneider (bass), Rusty Anderson (guitar), and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (keyboards) to flesh out the songs and bring Aftermath of the Lowdown to blisteringly perfect fruition.
