SkidMcSkidder: Hi John!! It's been over three years since our last interview and there's been loads of things happening in the J.T. camp since then so where shall we start?....

John Taglieri: Anywhere you want my friend! WOW...has it been THAT long??

SkidMcSkidder: Yep! In fact you were only the 3rd ever interview with SkidMark back in Feb. 2002!

John Taglieri: Wow...very cool to know! I guess we can start with my new CD

SkidMcSkidder: Okay, tell us a bit about the new album "Now"

John Taglieri: Well...it comes out on 8/2/05. It's a totally different CD for me...

John Taglieri: only one ballad, all the rest are upbeat and fun. hardly any love songs...mostly about life, and going after your dreams no matter what anyone says. I wrote and recorded it here in my own studio, so I'm really proud of that

SkidMcSkidder: Cool - a departure from the kinda stuff contained on "half & half" then?

John Taglieri: Yes...far different then Half & Half and even Leap Of Faith

SkidMcSkidder: Are we talking even more upbeat / harder rocking than "leap of faith"?

John Taglieri: Yes...a whole CD's worth!!

SkidMcSkidder: Fantastic!! I'm looking forward to hearing some of that then - "LOF" is still one of my top ten SkidMark band tracks

John Taglieri: Thank you

SkidMcSkidder: So why the change back to the rock roots?

John Taglieri: Not really a change...just a more fun way to say things...life has been SO good to me the last few years in so many ways, and my writing is showing that. I look at life very positively and this CD reflects that notion. A lot of the songs have two main themes...

SkidMcSkidder: which are?

John Taglieri: Life is what you make of it, so don't waste any time. If you want something, go get it... don't expect it to be handed to you...

John Taglieri: and NO WHINING...

SkidMcSkidder: Hah! one of your pet dislikes!!

John Taglieri: Yep...have several songs about people I knew in life that bitched about everything when they had no right to complain at all.

SkidMcSkidder: How many songs in total on the disc dude?

John Taglieri: 12 on the CD... I don't believe in EP's or 10 songs albums. If I want people to pay, I want to give them something worth it...

SkidMcSkidder: I totally agree bruv - you got to give the punters their moneys worth

John Taglieri: Yep...about 58 minutes on the CD....good length I think

SkidMcSkidder: True

SkidMcSkidder: on the subject of CD's...

John Taglieri: Yes?

SkidMcSkidder: I seem to remember back in February '02 you were close to completing an album called "True Believer" but I don't remember you ever releasing an album of that name?

John Taglieri: Oh boy... (Laughs Out Loud) ...nope, that never came out. The label I was signed to at the time left me hanging. Never got me into the studio, never came up with my budgets, no promo...nothing. SO I had all these songs demo'd with nowhere to go...so I left the label and stepped back to reevaluate

SkidMcSkidder: And did the tracks metamorphosis into H&H?

John Taglieri: No...totally different songs. Nothing came over at all

SkidMcSkidder: They were a lot of older songs that fit the hard rock thing that the label wanted, but I was changing as a writer and the songs really weren't me anymore... So it's a good thing in a way that it never came out

SkidMcSkidder: So there's a secret vault of unreleased JT material waiting to be discovered in about 50 years huh??!!

John Taglieri: Yep! a whole CD that never made it out

John Taglieri: All very 80's sounding rock

SkidMcSkidder: Oooh I can imagine you in spandex with big hair!! (Laughs Out Loud)

John Taglieri: Wait until you see the NOW CD insert...

John Taglieri: Some good pics there

John Taglieri: with the insert on the new CD, we wanted to say..."this CD is NOW and here's how I got here"

SkidMcSkidder: oh-oh... not OLD photos...!!

John Taglieri: LOTS of old photos!

SkidMcSkidder: I'm sure I seen a pic of you in what could only be described as a 80's boy band!!

SkidMcSkidder: So what's the marketing plan for "Now" - are you getting some major distribution?

John Taglieri: No...major distro doesn't make sense to a guy like me. Why send units to a place that I don't play to sit on a shelf when I can sell it off a stage where I am?

John Taglieri: So I'm doing my distro mostly on the web... Aware Store, CD Baby, my own site, I-Tunes, etc..

John Taglieri: And at shows. So it'll be very available, and in this day and age, most of my fan base is very computer savvy and loves to buy on the web, so it makes sense that way

SkidMcSkidder: Sure.

SkidMcSkidder: And touring?

John Taglieri: YES...touring like crazy...Have about 25-30 dates right now over the next two months

SkidMcSkidder: So when you hitting the UK??

John Taglieri: (Laughs Out Loud) ...I wish!!

SkidMcSkidder: You'll have to do it Ali Handal style - and back pack it over here!!

John Taglieri: I've thought about it...have to find the time and money to be able to

John Taglieri: I don't have a day job anymore...so I can go anywhere, but it also means I don't have the steady paycheck it brought...but I love life this way - music is my full time career now and I love it

SkidMcSkidder: And does it pay the bills?

John Taglieri: Very well.. I've been lucky... I paid off all my bills and am literally debt free right now... just a monthly nut to make... and I can make it pretty easily

John Taglieri: I'm not making gaggles of cash, but I'm doing ok...

SkidMcSkidder: Brilliant - it's a position so many musicians strive towards but only the talented few who make it there - SkidMark salutes you (we're not worthy! etc, etc!!)

John Taglieri: (Laughs Out Loud)

John Taglieri: Honestly, what I've done has taken 4+ years of killing myself to do. It all comes down to how bad you really want it

John Taglieri: Want some honesty Skids?

SkidMcSkidder: hit me...

John Taglieri: I've given up more then you can imagine. I lost my marriage, my house, everything that most people dream of having... but here I am right where I said I was going to be back when I started...so to me it was all worth it.

John Taglieri: I set a goal, and drove for it and here I am...and I earned it...which makes it more real

SkidMcSkidder: And that's what makes the sacrifices worthwhile I guess - to be truely happy and at peace with your place on this ball of dirt..

John Taglieri: My ex-wife and I are still friends and she'll joke with me about "why wasn't I doing all this 3-4 years ago??" I just tell her that she should have believed in me...I told her I was going to make it happen...

SkidMcSkidder: Mine would like to stick a knife in me! (Laughs Out Loud)

John Taglieri: (Laughs Out Loud)...ouch!

John Taglieri: Yes...I'm very comfy with being in my own skin...love my life, and am very confident in who I am and what I can do. Sometimes I think that sounds almost pompous, but it's true and I worked my ass off for it.

SkidMcSkidder: I guess you've got more time to spend online now also? Does this mean a new JT.com in pipeline??

John Taglieri: