Surviving industry changes | News

“Vehicle,” is still regarded as having one of the most memorable horn introductions in rock music. The Ides of March would end up touring with the likes of Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin.

Fast-forward 57 years, Peterik still is with his pals of teenage years, singing in The Ides of March and has other projects — both past and present — with numerous Top 10 hits through the years.

Formerly of Survivor, Peterik is fully or partly responsible for a string of classic rock songs of the 1980s. “Eye of the Tiger,” “Burning Heart,” “The Search is Over,” “High On You,” “I Can’t Hold Back” and “Is This Love” all charted for that band.

“Eye of the Tiger” became a cultural touchpoint, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, earning a Grammy Award and nominated for an Oscar.

For .38 Special, he co-wrote “Hold On Loosely,” “Rocking Into The Night” and “Caught Up In You,” while he also wrote with or for Sammy Hagar, The Doobie Brothers and a plethora of other artists.

He’s working on several projects right now, including a new album with his band, Pride of Lions. In his years with Survivor, he mainly wrote, sang backup and played the keyboards. With Pride of Lions and The Ides of March, he’s singing and in the spotlight again.

Music has been his life. How it’s been recorded has changed, he said, but not the process of creating it.

“Things have changed drastically, but gradually,” he told The Daily Sun.

His experiences started as barely a teenager in 1964. The Ides of March were able to gain studio time in Chicago. It wasn’t a slow situation, he said. By the time they were driving home, the group heard its song “You Wouldn’t Listen,” on the WLS radio.

“It was very exciting times,” he said. “When you’re 14 or 15, everything is magical.”

A few years later, “Vehicle” took off faster than the 1964 Plymouth Valiant the song was based upon.

Recording studios, in those days, could become webs and webs of tape as bands tried to perfect songs. For “Vehicle,” it took two takes and they felt the second take was perfect.

“We knew we caught some lightning in the bottle,” he said.

They left the studio and later found out 13 seconds of their master take was lost.

“We’re just walking around the area there, just despondent,” he recalled.

Then a minor miracle occurred. They were able to insert 13 seconds of the first take into the second.

“And it was just magic,” he said.

Today, it would be a simple twisting on a knob or keystroke into a computer. Then, it was nearly a shot in the dark.

“It’s easier and it’s more flexible,” he said.

Technology has allowed that through decades. The recording industry had a boom and then a slow bust. The Ides of March were signed with RCA/Warner Brothers. Survivor signed with Scotti Brothers.

“Things were gradually shifting … but it wasn’t until the 90s and 2000s that labels started shrinking down, conglomerating and then disappearing,” he said.

There’s only a few major labels now. Peterik has been with an Italian label, Frontiers, since 2003.

He doesn’t fear the relative ease that it can be to record and put music on the internet.

“The cream will rise to the top, but there is a lot of competition,” he said. “But I still believe the great groups that are still surviving … there are a handful of really great groups that continue to make great records.”

Touring is more difficult, he said, noting few bands or individuals are able to conduct a headline tour. There are a lot more festivals unless the performer’s name rhymes with Saylor Twift.

“It’s getting rarer and rarer for one group to go out,” he said, noting a few still have the ability, including John Mellencamp.

In 2022, Peterik took the stage at Lollapalooza with the band Sidepiece for their version of “Eye of The Tiger.” Sidepiece, known for house music, is looking to rerelease the song this year. It’s a different take on the classic, but Peterik is a fan.

“They invited me on stage because they do a treatment of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ that just kills, it just rocks. That was just a major thing. That’s the biggest audience I’ve played in Chicago, maybe ever,” it said.

Not that every remake of his songs has killed or rocked.

“It’s usually an honor,” he said, with a laugh. “It’s not always great but it’s always an honor.”

Decades ago, bands started off by recording singles or small albums with a few songs.

It’s been a while since an album like Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” or Carole King’s “Tapestry” transformed an hour of life, immersing listens from first note to last. Most often, bands or performers are releasing a track online on occasion; sometimes two or three. Online albums tend to be rare.

“I do miss the thread of a great song cycle from an album or artist,” he said. “Nowadays, people put out 45s but people don’t call them that. They call them downloads.”

But there is a reemergence of albums. Peterik’s son, Colin, is recording his second album right now.

“It’s not totally dead,” Peterik said. “That’s why vinyl is selling. It’s nostalgia.”

And nostalgia, along with Marvel movies, has led to a new generation learning new lessons on old music. Minor hits from the last 50 years have become major themes to the super hero films of the last decade.

“The roots of the 60s, 70s and 80s are still strong, which is great…I’m really, really hoping ‘Vehicle’ gets picked up for one of the Marvel movies. It’s time,” he said with a laugh. “To hear the 60s and 70s through the movies is precious and a valuable asset for people like me who lived through it.”

“Vehicle” was a song he wrote as a teenager when he had a 1964 Plymouth Valiant and a girl he was trying to woo.

“She used to call me, not for dates, but for rides,” he said.

At one point, he told her he was not her limousine — and then he came up with the concept for the song.

“Fifty years later, we’re still married. And I’m still her vehicle,” he said.

Jim Peterik is going back to a modern studio again this year. Pride of Lions’ album “Dream Higher” comes out in July. For the last 20 years, he has shared the microphone with Toby Hitchcock, calling him a “great” singer.

He’s also working on a concept where he’ll be performing older songs with classic rock artists he’s friended through the years; and then having the second half being new songs.

“The main dithering goes on when I’m writing or co-writing a song … you labor and sweat and change lyrics to find the perfect words and perfect emotion. The songwriting process never gets any easier.”

But he recalls a phone call with Sylvester Stallone when they were first discussing a new song needed for “Rocky III.”

“’Can you write me a song that’s going to outlive you and me?’” Peterik recalls Stallone saying. “In less than a week, we sent him the outtake.”

That outtake is what is heard in the movie, he said. The band re-recorded it for their own album.

“As a songwriter, it all starts with a great story. Right from the heart, right from something you know. My best songs have been from real people or real experiences.”

If it’s not something he experienced, it’s something his friends have gone through, Peterik said.

So he’ll return to the studio which, apparently, is tidier than the recording rooms of the 1960s.

“You don’t have all these pieces of tape lying around at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s much more easy, must less challenging and much less fun.”