Peace is the answer – The new Bryan Adams rocks socially

Can songs make the world a better place? "They certainly can't hurt," rock musician Bryan Adams answers the question. "I was once asked by a Brazilian journalist if I knew how many kisses I was responsible for because of my songs," recalls the 65-year-old Canadian, who isn't bothered in the slightest that some music fans still dismiss them as a cuddly rocker decades after the chart successes of ballads like "Heaven," "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)," and "All For Love." "There's nothing better than being able to bring a little love into the world."

Since his last album, "So Happy It Hurts" (2022), which celebrated the return to normality after the lockdown world of Corona, Adams has released some of the most remarkable songs of his now 45-year career—singles that have not yet been included on any album or are available only digitally.

"Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son," for example, was a piece for Lorna Tucker's autobiographical documentary of the same name about the homeless last year. The advice in the lyrics: "Don't walk past, think of this person, help them."

Back in 2019, Adams, who has also been a successful photographer for more than two decades, addressed the topic of homelessness with his illustrated book "Homeless" and subsequent photo exhibitions. The man on the cover of his book looks battered, struck by fate, but he smiles, invincible. The song and the faces proclaim the inviolability of human dignity.

For Adams, one of the main causes of homelessness is alcohol. "We are indoctrinated from a young age to associate alcohol with partying and good times," says the musician.

"But alcohol is a nasty trick disguised as pleasure. When you're vulnerable, when you need comfort, even if only for a moment, you end up turning to it—to relieve the fear or pain or to forget the situation you're in. They say marijuana is a gateway drug, but I believe alcohol is 100 times worse."

Does he have a personal experience that explains why he advocates for these most vulnerable people? "Perhaps because my studio, the Warehouse Studio, is located in eastern downtown Vancouver, where—you can look it up—there are some of the highest rates of homelessness and drug problems in the world. There, alcohol and fentanyl coexist. It's devastating to see that."

Adams depicted the wounds of war in his 2013 illustrated book "Wounded: The Legacy of War." Here, too, the soldiers, with their scars and prosthetics, exuded dignity and composure despite their trauma. "At first, it was difficult to find people who felt comfortable and would open up so honestly," Adams says of the project.

"But once a soldier did it, they had a friend who wanted to do the same. And every time someone came into the studio, I showed them what had been done up to that point to give them an idea of ​​what we were trying to achieve—to raise awareness of a subject everyone tried to avoid: the human cost of war." All the men and women were honest and open, and the photo sessions were a deeply humbling experience.

Did his father's fate shape his attitude toward war and peace? "Perhaps," says Adams. "My father suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to his experiences after leaving the army as a UN peace observer in the 1966 Indo-Pakistani War. He came back a different person."

At that time, there was no PTSD diagnosis. "As a highly trained British soldier, he had to keep a stiff upper lip and carry on," Adams recalls. "As we later found out, it's not that easy."

In the song "What If There Were No Sides at All" from 2023, Adams creates an "Imagine"-like vision à la John Lennon of a united, peaceful world, accompanied by a weeping George Harrison guitar. In the video, Adams walks through ruins with a peace flag. He says he shot the clip at the beginning of the Ukraine war.

But he also included pictures of the barriers between Israel and Gaza at the time. "I guess I had a premonition that things would 'start' there too, which is what happened." Of course, peace is the answer, he is sure. "But it seems that in this particular case, the goal was something other than peace all along. Nothing is moving forward... except the tanks."

In late summer 2024, he followed up with the anti-war rocker "War Machine," which he had already written as a 22-year-old with his songwriting collaborator Jim Vallance and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons for the Kiss album "Creature Of The Night" (1982). The video has a happy ending for the victims. A missile is diverted and falls on the warmonger's head.

A promise for the oppressed and a reminder to dictators that their time is running out, as Bob Dylan prophesied in 1965's "Subterranean Homesick Blues"? "Hey, as the saying goes, karma's a bitch!" Adams confirms. "And truth inevitably comes out, no matter how much propaganda twists it."

The 17th Bryan Adams album is finished, called "Roll with The Punches," and will be released on August 29. Already released singles like the title track and "Make up Your Mind," as well as songs whose titles are still unknown—like "Life is Beautiful" and "Be The Reason"—sound like an advice album for people who are being buffeted by the current times.

"The idea of ​​the title song is that when you get knocked down, you shake yourself and get back up," Adams explains. "We've all been through it in some way. With age, your eyesight may fade, but your ability to see through other people's nonsense improves. That pretty much sums up the song."

"Of course, the prevailing feeling in the songs is always empathy for our fellow human beings," Adams assures, surprised that he still has to say that today. What is his assessment of whether these fellow human beings have become more desperate, depressed, apathetic, or aggressive in the years of crises and wars? "I don't know," he says. "Most of the people I meet work very hard to make ends meet. It's tough out there, but it always has been."

"Love Is Stronger Than Hate" is the name of one of the songs, of which only the title is known so far. Is there a kind of credo behind it? According to Adams, it's about a traumatized war veteran. Does the songwriter believe that, after everything that's happened recently, love will one day rule the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis, or between Ukrainians and Russians?

"Why not?" Adams asks. "Many countries managed to do that after World War II." However, today's perpetrators are certainly worrying, as are the world's governments that refuse to speak out against genocide. "I mean, what kind of people would use hunger as a weapon in 2025? People who do such things must be held accountable." According to aid organizations, hunger has been used as a weapon in Syria, Ukraine, and most recently, and is currently being used again on a massive scale in Gaza.

Even beyond these worldly songs, Bryan Adams has changed completely. Since "War Machine," he has released his music on his own label, "Bad Records." These aren't bad records, of course. "There was this friend who called me Badams, and that nickname stuck," Adams explains. "I always thought it was funny, and so a lot of things in my world have been given the word 'bad' over the years. I had a newsletter called Badnews, my publishing company is called Badams Music, so the logical extension is a record company called Bad Records." He founded it for fun 12 years ago. "Now it's my home," he says.

"I probably would have stayed with a major label if the offers had been good." But they weren't. "Plus, at Universal and Polydor, I felt like part of the furniture." The difference, he says, is that Bad Records is an artist-run label, "not a conglomerate run by suits who are beholden to shareholders." Many of his old albums have already "come back" to him. Will Bad Records also become a home for other artists? "Possibly," Adams muses. "It depends on who that would be."

And is it still exciting for him to go into the studio 45 years after his first album? "Sometimes the studio these days is just a computer in a hotel room," Adams replies. But he affirms: "Making music is a bit of an addiction. It's the feeling of creating something from nothing. So, yes – very exciting. Especially when you come up with an idea that you really like. When the song 'Roll with The Punches' manifested, I knew that was the beginning of a new album. When you have a cornerstone of a song like that, you're good to go."

The father of two teenage daughters isn't afraid of today's world. "I'd say I'd rather live today than in the Middle Ages," he jokes. "The average life expectancy back then was 30 years!" And he has great faith in today's youth, the next generation, in their songs and their artistic creations. "We must encourage them to continue to proclaim their truth and be full of love while doing so. And we mustn't arrest or imprison them – as an example – when they stand up for the disenfranchised."

And the fact that the erratic US President Donald Trump could realize his neo-colonialist dreams of a 51st US state, Canada, does not bother him either.

"This isn't a plan, it's Trumpism," says Adams. "Frankly, I think the US has far bigger problems to deal with right now. But if it were put to a vote, I'll say this categorically, most Canadians would reject the idea."

Also successful as a photographer: Bryan Adams has published, among other things, illustrated books about war veterans and the homeless.

Source: Sunday Times

Bryan Adams – “Roll With The Punches” (Bad Records) – will be released on August 29th, a special edition will also include the previous non-album singles “Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son”, “What If There Were No Sides at All” and “War Machine”.

Bryan Adams live in Germany: June 22nd – Biggesee Open Air, Olpe; June 25th – Sparkassen-Park, Mönchengladbach; June 27th – Würth Open Air, Künzelsau; June 29th – Open R Festival, Uelzen; July 2nd – Domplatz, Fulda (sold out); August 3rd – Schlosspark, Schwetzingen; August 5th – Peißnitzinsel, Halle; August 6th – Kuchwaldwiese, Chemnitz.