LITA FORD: Playing First Pandemic-Era Concert Was ‘Magic’

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Lita Ford spoke to QFM96's "Torg & Elliott" radio show about what it felt like to return to the live stage after more than a year of being unable to tour due to the coronavirus pandemic. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, God. It was magic. I mean, it still is. But the first few shows, we were just, like… In [March] 2020, we were on a cruise ship, and that's when the whole COVID thing came down. Five bands were canceled on the cruise ship, and we were just sent home. We were just, like, 'Okay, your year is canceled. There are no gatherings of 250 people or more, and there's not gonna be any rock shows.' And we were just, like, 'Oh, what? We've gotta go home? And do what? And wait. And just wait it out.' "I mean, we're thrilled to be back on tour," she continued. "And we're so happy that there's fans out there that feel the same way we do. And the audiences have just been rocking — really great." Asked how she occupied her time during the pandemic, Lita said: "Honestly, I didn't realize it, but I really needed a rest. And we'd been on tour for 10 years. And it's, like, 'Wait a minute. So now we're not on tour now?' And so there's nowhere to go, there's nothing to do, no one can come over. And so you have to just kind of keep your wits about yourself and eat healthy. I took a lot of vitamins and rode my bike. I ride my mountain bike. So I'd just go out and I'd ride through the mountains and come home and rest. And it really did us all a lot of good. But I'm really happy it's over." Lita recently completed recording her long-awaited new solo album. The follow-up to 2012's "Living Like A Runaway" was once again helmed by guitarist/producer Gary Hoey, who contributes some guitar playing to the disc, alongside the rest of Ford's backing band, which continues to consist of guitarist Patrick Kennison, drummer Bobby Rock and bassist Marty O'Brien. This past January, Lita told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that her new album contains "some of the best guitar playing" she has heard "in decades." She added: "And I'm not blowing smoke up my own ass, but Gary and I just nailed it with the guitar playing on this record. "I'm a huge fan of people like Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter from Alice Cooper's 'Welcome To My Nightmare'. I mean, there's some really great duo guitar players — [JUDAS PRIEST's] Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing… Those guitar players don't exist anymore — they just don't exist. If you wanna hear them, you have to go back in time a little bit and dig them up into your favorite library, favorite music catalog. But I think Gary and I really nailed it on this next record. It's, like, oh my God. I'm crying — I'm just, like, crying listening to this stuff. It's so badass." Ford's last release was 2016's "Time Capsule", a collection of songs that were recorded by Lita in the past, but never before made available. Five years ago, Lita released an autobiography, "Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir", via Dey Street Books (formerly It Books), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.