Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson on the band's farewell tour, its future and its legacy

Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson says it’s not unusual for his band name to create some bewilderment.

“It’s funny, people oftentimes don’t recognize the name, but they recognize the songs,” Pilson said. “I can tell somebody, oh yeah, I play in a band called Foreigner. ‘Oh, OK, very good. Would I know any of your songs?’ (Sings) ‘I want to know what love is…’ ‘Oh, yeah yeah yeah!’ That happens a lot.”

Those songs — like “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Juke Box Hero,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Cold as Ice” and “Feels Like the First Time,” to name a few — have cemented Foreigner’s status as classic rock mainstay.

Founded in 1976, Foreigner is embarking on its Historic Farewell Tour, with a stop Saturday at the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, along with 1980s rockers Loverboy. The tour is expected to run through 2024.

“I would describe it as music that’s in your consciousness and has been a part of your life,” Pilson said with a laugh, “whether you knew it or not.”

Pilson, who previously played with the ’80s glam rockers Dokken, joined Foreigner in 2004 and is the longest tenured band member, other than founder Mick Jones, who isn’t currently touring.

In a recent interview from Nashville, Pilson, who’s been dealing with a back injury that’s limited him to playing on a stool, weighed in on Foreigner’s future, its rank among other classic rockers and early memories of the band.

On Foreigner’s enduring music:

I just think it’s quality music, great recordings, timeless songs. I mean, when you have those things, the sky’s the limit.

Where Foreigner ranks among classic rock bands:

I know for a while we were No. 7 in catalog sales … so I’ll start with seven. (laughs) … I will say I do think we rank up there in the classic rock bands just because we had so many songs, we had 16 Top 30 songs. That’s a pretty phenomenal achievement. We do have a lot of staying power on classic rock radio. We’re not as famous as the Eagles or the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, of course, but we’re not that far behind as far as catalog sales and radio play, which is very exciting.

On the right time for a farewell tour:

A lot of this starts with our singer, Kelly (Hansen), who’s been doing this 18 years now. These are not easy songs to sing, they’re very very challenging. Each year that we go out, he has to give up more and more. When he started in the band, he was in his mid 40s and he’s not anymore. (laughs) It takes a lot to do this. Kelly just recently got married for the first time in his life, he got married at 59 years old. So he wants to have a life. You know, I would certainly love to travel less, but a lot of this was gauged as we wanted the band to go out on top. We want to make sure, we don’t want to be one of those bands that you go see and go, oh these guys should give it up. We don’t want to be that. And we all know who we’re talking about. We’ve all seen that band, and we don’t want to be that band. So we feel we owe it to the legacy of Foreigner, the Foreigner fans to make sure that when we go out, we go out on top.

On touring past 2024:

We’re going to at least go to the end of 2024. We haven’t really made a final decision on the end date yet. We were shooting for the end of 2024. As you can imagine, there’s incredible pressure to go past that. So I just don’t have an honest answer of how long this is going to go, but certainly till the end of ‘24.

On his early memories of Foreigner:

I have a couple of very clear memories. For one thing, I got into Foreigner because of Ian McDonald, who was one of the original members of the band. Ian McDonald had been in the band King Crimson, which was a seminal progressive rock band, and I was a progressive rock guy, Yes, ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), all those bands, and I loved those bands. So in ‘77, when Foreigner came out, to me, they were the new band that the guy from King Crimson was in, so I immediately listened. And then I heard, wow, it’s like mainstream rock but really cool and heavy and great melodies, so I was an instant Foreigner fan and, again, I loved it and became attracted through Ian McDonald, but then I came to love Lou (Gramm)’s voice and Mick’s guitar playing and the writing. I loved the whole band, so I was a big fan.

On an early run-in with Foreigner:

In the summer of 1978, I was living in Seattle, and I was playing in a progressive rock band. We had just bought this device that’s called a Mellotron. A Mellotron was a keyboard that, long before samplers, it would use pre-recorded tapes so you just simulate an orchestra or a choir or flutes. The beginning of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” those flutes are actually done on a Mellotron. Well, Mellotrons were an important part of progressive rock bands back then, that was a big status symbol if you could have a Mellotron. So we were buying one on time payments from American Music in Seattle. Well, while we were on a time-payment plan, this was August of ‘78, they called us up and said hey, um, Foreigner’s in town and their Mellotron broke. They want to rent one, but the only one we have is your guys. Would you rent it to them? And we said sure. So we rented it, they got tickets to come to the show, gave us $50 or something, whatever. So I got to go see Foreigner. I walked into Veterans Stadium in Seattle where they were playing and we walked in right as they were using the Mellotron during “Cold as Ice,” and I’ll never forget that moment my entire life.

And I wound up in the band years later. And I still own that Mellotron, by the way. And when Mick Jones saw it in my house, we talked about it, he thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

On how he joined Foreigner:

I appeared in a movie that came out in 2001 that was called “Rock Star.” And in the movie with me was Jason Bonham, who was the son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Jason and I hit it off quite well during the filming, both personally and musically. So when he started working with Mick Jones in 2004, they called me up to see if I’d be interested in coming down. At that point, it wasn’t really whether it was going to be revamping Foreigner or Mick Jones solo or whatever, but when we got together to play, it was immediate, the chemistry was incredible and that’s when Mick decided he would revamp Foreigner, and so I’ve been there ever since.

On what’s next after Foreigner:

I have several projects that I’m involved with, and I’ll certainly continue doing a lot of that. I do a lot of music production, I have a wonderful studio at my home. I’ll continue doing a lot of that, I’m sure. And maybe some of these projects can go out and play live, who knows? There are Foreigner songs in the pipeline that we can still resurrect and finish, so we’re hoping to do that. I’d love it if they could come out next year, but if not, maybe that’s what we’ll do once we’re off the road. The end of Foreigner touring doesn’t mean the end of Foreigner.

On the rough life of touring:

Look at me, I’m sitting in a chair because I’m damaged goods (laughs). You don’t think that’s a product of 50 years of throwing a bass around my neck? (laughs)

On looking forward to a break from touring:

I know for us, the pandemic was an opportunity for us to be at our homes with our families, so more of that will be very, very lovely. And this time, we can do it without a pandemic, which will be kind of nice.

On Pittsburgh:

We’ve just always loved playing Pittsburgh. It’s a great city for music and rock. Pittsburgh fans are total diehards, and we’ve always appreciated that, and we’ve always understood that. We know that when you play Pittsburgh, you got to rock hard because the harder you rock, the more they’ll party. And the more you party, the more you love it.