Vocalist JEFF SCOTT SOTO is featured in a new interview with Metal Shrine. An excerpt is available below:

On wanting to become a singer: "Since I was like five years old! Since I saw MICHAEL JACKSON doing it at such an early age. It´s so true when you see even things like today like Hannah Montana. They´re huge now and obviously their fan base are kids that are much younger than them. It´s exactly the same thing it was for me when I saw Michael Jackson. 'That´s what I waanna do! If he can do that, and he´s just a few years older than me, why can´t I?' It was already in my blood, already in my frame of thought. That´s what I want to do for a living and that´s all I´m gonna do for a living!"

On KISS: "I never was a KISS fan growing up. It was always kind of scary for me. It´s like when kids have fears of clowns. When I saw them, it was very evil and very dark for me. And some of the influences, like I told you about, were completely on the other side of the fence. Those were really positive and uplifting and very happy and energetic music, so to me KISS sounded like the devil´s music and they looked like devils. It wasn´t till I was much older and got into rock, that I found out how tame and how calm KISS really was. I got into them when they unmasked and did the whole 80´s thing, like 'Heaven´s On Fire' and 'Lick It Up' and that´s when I really got into KISS. But of course now, I truly appreciate everything that they´ve done in their legacy and especially now, being friends with Paul Stanley and some of the newer guys like Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. It´s kind of cool to say that these guys are your friends now and appreciate what they did when I didn´t even like them as a kid (laughs)."

On working with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN: "I remember it like it was yesterday. I met Yngwie and I basically got the call… I was surprised I got the call because because they didn´t expect the demos that I sent them. I was 16 years old when I sang it and I didn´t even expect that I would get listened to and when I found out later, that out of the box of tapes that they brought to Yngwie, only two were taken out and played for him. The first one that they played him was the absolute worst one that was in the box and the second one they played him was my tape. Everything else they didn´t bother with. That is amazing to me, that they got this 18 year old kid who was 16 on the demo and that was good enough to play for Yngwie at that point in time compared to everything else that was sent to him. I went down to the studio to meet him and he was working on the instrumental album and he was kind of cold and reserved. He didn´t put any real interest into meeting me. He was in the middle of doing his record and was like 'Yeah, I´ll take some time and meet this guy, whatever!' He brought me into a little room, pulled out this acoustic guitar and started playing. 'Ok, I´ve got this song so just come up with some melodies!' so I´m kind of singing along and he goes 'Ok, this is the chorus and this is the melody for this – ba ba bapa ba!' And I´m just jotting down lyrics as fast as I can and I´m trying to remember the melody and singing it to him, just me and him, like a duet kind of thing and he goes 'Yeah, that sounds pretty cool! Let´s put it on tape!' He goes into the control room and they set up the microphone in the room in front of him and they start playing that same song, but with the whole band playing and I was like 'Oh, Jesus, now I´ve got to sing these lyrics and this melody!' and I´m trying to remember everything right on the spot. I think I even have a copy of that. They mixed me a copy of it on a cassette tape and I still have that somewhere at home. And that was my audition. I basically sang 'As above, so below' with my kind of fake lyrics and tried to remember the melody and all he remembered was the soaring high notes I was able to hit at the very end and he said 'Man, sounds cool! Let´s get together at my house and demo some more songs and we´ll see what happens from here!' And it was about three weeks of that, that we did together and which eventually led to 'Welcome to the band!'

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Frontiers Records recently announced the release of Soto’s double live album, Live At Firefest 2008, on December 3rd.

The Firefest has become a pivotal event of the melodic rock season in Europe. Born on the ashes of the Gods of AoR festival, Firefest started in 2003 and not only did they continue the tradition of Europe’s finest melodic rock/AOR festivals but exceeded all previous expectations.

Not many bands have the chance to play on that stage nowadays and when Bruce Mee and Kieran Dargan will call an artist that is sure for a good reason. Jeff Scott Soto was no stranger to that stage. He performed at the Gods festival in 2002 putting up an amazing show that was mirrored on a live CD/DVD. So when that call came Jeff wasted no time in answering, 'Yes!'.

But not all good things come easily... “Unfortunately the date clashed with my commitments touring with the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA in the US for their annual Winter Tour”, recalls Jeff. “This meant a week of 12 hour rehearsals in the US, leaving on a Friday to land in London on a Saturday morning, bee-line it up to Nottingham for 4 hours in traffic, meet with the band for 30 minutes, as they were wrapping up the ONLY rehearsal we had prior to the show (the last time we had played together was nearly a year prior!), straight to the venue and onstage within the next hour!”

But once onstage, the warmth of the crowd and the energy transmitted by the electricity of the event was such that Jeff and his band stormed through our 70 minute set like gangbusters! It was the first time the songs off the Beautiful Mess album were performed in Europe and the last time that the original JSS band featuring Howie Simon on guitar, Dave Dzialak on drums and Gary Schutt on bass played together.

In JSS words: “Here it is in all its glory, a little extra something for you all to help me remember this wonderful night of music and memories”.

Live At Firefest 2008 tracklisting:

CD1:

'21st Century'

'21st Century'

'Colour My XTC' (prelude)

'Soul Divine'

'Drowning'

'Our Song'

DD Solo

Guitar Jam

'Mountain'

'Eyes Of Love'

'Eyes Of Love'

'Testify'

'Broken Man'

CD2:

'Hey'

'Crazy'

'Crazy'

Piano Medley '(If This Is The End', 'Nobody Said It Was Easy', '4 U')

'Gin & Tonic Sky'

'I'll Be Waiting'

'I'll Be Waiting'

Funky Medley ('Play That Funky Music', 'Jungle Boogie', 'The Roof Is On Fire', 'Brick House', 'Shake Your Booty', 'Kung Fu Fighting', 'Yo Baby Yo', 'Macho Man', 'Ice Ice Baby', 'Stayin’ Alive', 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'Walk This Way', 'My Love, My Friend')

The songs '21st Century' and 'Eyes Of Love' are exclusively streaming in full at this location.