Bon Jovi members say time, changes and new stylings reflect band’s direction

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This article was published 24/05/2008 (6364 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MUNICH, Germany – As far as Bon Jovi is concerned, Germany and Jersey aren’t that different despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

“We’ve always called it ‘New Germany,’ because it’s like New Jersey for us,” said Tico Torres, who plays drums for the quartet famous for songs like “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “Blaze of Glory.” The band recently embarked on a 22-date European tour to support “Lost Highway,” its latest album.

“We have such a great relationship with the German people,” Torres said Saturday as the band prepared to play at the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium in Munich.

“Lost Highway,” Bon Jovi’s 10th studio album is a decidedly American recording, though, recorded in Nashville, its 12 tracks laced with banjos and fiddles – a serious departure for a band that spent 25 years turning out straight-ahead rock anthems.

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s lyrics are also country-inspired, full of bittersweet musings on the twisting road of life.

Keyboardist David Bryan said the album was a reflection on the band’s own journey.

“You’ve got marriages, divorces, births, deaths – and that’s just us, let alone the world,” Bryan said. “We kind of console each other, and our lives are that record.”

In the quarter century since Bon Jovi formed in suburban New Jersey, the band has sold 120 million albums and played some 2,500 shows around the world. Bryan acknowledged that the mileage is beginning to show.

“I have more pills in my bag than clothes,” he said.

But Torres was quick to add that neither age nor a new musical direction would dull their rock and roll spirit.

“When we play live, it’s heavy,” Torres said.

The band ends its European tour June 28 in London before returning to the U.S. for a pair of shows each in Boston and New York.