2008.12.26 - The Telegraph - Pale Divine To Reunite In St. Louis (Richard)

Pale Divine to reunite in St. Louis

Former guitarist also hints at Guns N’ Roses show here

By COREY STULCE
For The Telegraph

Rock fans must have been very busy penning letters to the portly dude in the red suit this year, because not one, but perhaps two long shot concerts could be coming to the St. Louis area very soon.

First up is the one-night-only reunion of Pale Divine, aka The Eyes, a mega-popular STL alt-rock act that broke through nationally in the early '90s. The original four members - vocalist Michael Schaerer, guitarist Richard Fortus, bass player Dan Angenend Jr. and drummer Greg Miller - will take The Pageant's stage at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29, after not playing together for 17 years.

Fans may know of the success of guitarist Fortus, who will be finishing up a tour with pop phenom Rihanna early in '09. Pale Divine split up after a well-received Atlantic debut album, "Straight to Goodbye," and Fortus then joined forces with Richard Butler of the post-punk/new wave act Psychedelic Furs, co-creating the band Love Spit Love.

Since, he has been an in-demand session man, including recording a new James Bond video game theme tune.

But the coming year or two with another band will keep Fortus busy and traveling, as he has been a rhythm and sometime lead guitarist with Guns N' Roses.

GN'R fans will be opening up the gift of the long-awaited "Chinese Democracy" release today, and Fortus can be heard on some of the album's cuts.

A legendary story in the world of rock was birthed on July 2, 1991, when Axl Rose stormed off the stage at Riverport Amphitheater, ticked at a photog snapping pics of him in the audience. The fans there rioted, causing loads of damage to the then-new venue.

STL fans of GN'R since have known a chance of Rose's return to the Gateway City was seemingly impossible. In fact, Fortus and Rose have a little joke about it.

"There has been talk of us doing a Love tour, a tour of all the cities where there have been riots, and doing free shows," Fortus said in a recent telephone interview. "That might happen."

The guitar player would love to do a St. Louis date, so his parents don't have to drive to Chicago or Kansas City to see him on stage with Rose and Co. Regardless, he said, late March should bring the GN'R tour, which likely will last at least two years.

For now, Fortus fans can check out The Pageant gig and can buy a limited-to-1,000-edition box set with two DVDs of live concert and interview footage and a CD with unreleased tracks, some of which would have been part of Pale Divine's second Atlantic album.
"The bulk of the second DVD is the last show we did before we went to L.A. to record the record," bass player Angenend said. "It was definitely a peak of performance for us."

Pale Divine was part of a thriving St. Louis rock scene, when bands would pack no-longer-around venues such as Kennedy's and Mississippi Nights. Fortus and his mates have fond memories of their heyday in the '80s.

"It wasn't like a lot of different bands sounding the same. It was a good environment for us; we were able to play all the time," Fortus said.

Visit www.theeyes-paledivine.com/xmas08.html to order the DVD/CD set or visit www.thepageant.com for more information on the Dec. 29 concert.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081227143747/http://www.thetelegraph.com/entertainment/fortus_21655___article.html/fans_pale.html

The telephone interview the quote about the "Love tour" came from:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t7392-2008-10-dd-kshe-95-st-louis-interview-with-richard