It’s a Live Summer Vacation when Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo come to the State Theatre.
By: Mary Jasch
Energy? That ain’t the half of it," says Neil Giraldo, producer/ guitarist and husband of rock star Pat Benatar. "My nickname is Spyder and I do Spyder Sports Camp for an hour and a half before every show. We jump rope, lift weights, do sit ups… It’s a way of keeping the energy flowing."
Mr. Giraldo exercises all day long, but only makes the band do it before showtime. "That’s how you keep it going. That’s cool. I love it."
Fans will experience the energy of Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar, four-time Grammy Award-winner, and band members as they rock the house at the State Theatre in New Brunswick Aug. 17, playing a mix of songs from their 13 records. The tour, across the United States and Canada, is to promote their new Live Summer Vacation Soundtrack CD and DVD, and to work out the kinks of a few new songs.
Giraldo, 47, laughs when asked if keeping in shape gets harder with age. "We have an acoustic set, the wife and I. In order to do this, I have to do physical stuff. I have to really keep myself energized through the day. We keep it all going."
Perhaps Mr. Giraldo has found a secret. It works for him and the rest of the band that zips through 18 cities in one month from the Midwest to the Northeast and back to Los Angeles. It works when he plays guitar performing hard on stage or in the studio producing records or writing songs as he drives or walking down a Chicago street taking an interview on his cell phone. Mr. Giraldo doesn’t look to the outside for energy; he makes it himself.
"Exercise is my hobby. I’m passionate about working out. It’s a much better thing than drugs. If you really push yourself, it’s beautiful. I try to keep the people on the road in shape and show them how to rock like hell," he says. The Giraldos’ two daughters, Haley, 17, and Hana, 8, travel with them.
When he was 6, his sister played accordion. His Sicilian parents wanted the kids to play a duet, so he took guitar lessons. But his sister’s timing bugged him, so he learned to play the accordion and piano. "As a kid I didn’t conform real well. I was the freak of the family until I was 12 or 13. I was quiet. I kept to myself," says Mr. Giraldo. His uncle took him to see bands like Led Zeppelin and The Who. "I picked up on that. That’s when I stopped being so introverted. I busted out."
The young guitarist played along to records, imitating bands of the day. His uncle was his fan and tutor. "When I played to the radio, my uncle was the judge. He told me I didn’t sound like the bands. But I was addicted; I had to keep trying. Then one day my uncle said ‘That does sound like the Yardbirds!’" Mr. Giraldo’s uncle took him to places where he could play clubs, youth camps. "At 12, my uncle snuck me in the back of clubs. School went down the hill. Who wants to be in school when you can be a guitar player with 19-year-olds?"
Mr. Giraldo began working out at 21, when he joined Rick Derringer’s band, playing piano and touring. It was his first professional job. "I actually got paid," he says. His long career with Chrysalis Records began in 1978 as a session player and Derringer band member. His career with Ms. Benatar began by luck.
"I was playing with Rick and the day I finished and left the studio, someone called and said they found a girl who sings amazing and wants a musician to work with," says Mr. Giraldo. "It was the perfect match right from the beginning. I told her, ‘I think we can make something beautiful happen.’ There was huge chemistry immediately, a solid connection." Pat Benatar became his wife in 1982. "Luck is really important. But maybe we create our own luck with our passion," he says.
Mr. Giraldo played guitar on Benatar’s first album, In the Heat of the Night, and partially wrote, arranged and produced it. Since then, he produced all 12 of her subsequent albums three gold, six platinum writes most of the songs, and is recognized in his own right for his hard-driving guitar. He produces albums for other bands, including John Waite and the Del-Lords, and is writing and producing a new Heart album. He just completed the score for Nailed, an upcoming movie starring Harvey Keitel. Mr. Giraldo plays all string instruments, and admits he’s a frustrated drummer. "I love to play cocktail drums."
He’s recently formed a band called the Paradise Brothers with Scott Kempner, leader of the Del-Lords, and is putting out an album soon. "People will be completely surprised when they hear this thing. Look out; we’re coming. We’re going to control this planet."
Mr. Giraldo thinks of himself as creative first before the writing, producing, and guitar playing. "Most of the stuff I’ve done is arrange everything we’ve done. I’ll use any tool to create in any musical environment. If an inspiration hits me and I’ve just bought a piano and it’s there, I’ll use it. If I’m walking around Chicago talking to you and I get a rhythm or a groove or feel of a song, I’ll jot it down whatever comes flying through my brain. I don’t even know how I write songs. It’s just a channel or something."
Musically, his greatest influence is The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend, but in life it’s his father. "He’s the greatest human being on the planet," says Mr. Giraldo, who looks forward to a happy and healthy family because everything else runs on its own. "I can control what songs I play and what records I make; the other stuff I can’t control, so that’s what I’m looking for."
Neil Giraldo wants everyone to know: "Our fans are like family and we’re having the best times of our lives and the new band’s going to rock like hell!"
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo will perform at the State Theatre in New Brunswick Aug. 17, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $20-$40. For information, call (877) 782-8311. On the Web: www.statetheatrenj.org