With Daft Punkslowly leaking the collaborators of their upcoming album Random Access Memories, anticipation is at an all time high as fans await the release of the first single, “Get Lucky”, in the coming weeks. The reclusive French duo have no plans to tour just yet and even when they tour, tickets are likely to be impossible to get and in select cities throughout the country. Fortunately, the tribute act One More Time is filling a void with an incredible live show that mimics Daft Punk’s live act, to the best degree that one can imitate such a spectacular show.
Pete Mason: For those who have never seen a Daft Punk tribute such as One More time, how closely, if at all, does your stage show replicate that of Daft Punk?
R & B: Our show has been perfected and grown into a FULL scale LED pyramid stage show complete with a lot of the same equipment used during the Alive tour. There are even sections in the set that replicate the same lighting cues as Daft Punk’s Alive tour. From the chromed helmets, to the light suits, and finally the encore performance, our show is as close as your going to get to the actual band. This is a project heavily researched and perfected with the help of the hardcore Daft fanbase.
PM: What makes Daft Punk continue to be the gold standard of Electronic Music, especially since the surge of dubstep in the past few years?
R: Daft Punk are the pioneers of modern electronic music of our generation. In the 70’s, we had Kraftwerk, In the 90’s, it’s DP. Daft Punk’s show in ’07 was the very first large scale electronic production show that paved the way for such artists and their large stage shows, i.e. Deadmau5.
N: It’s also in their sound. For instance, Daft Punk has grown to be a successful group because of their appreciation for a “true to time” quality which has been seen on each of their albums. We intend to model our sets around that same feel by using songs and samples which fit “that” mold, instead of pushing for a contemporary sound such as dubstep, or complextro.
PM: Is there a particular Daft Punk album, or era, that you identify with in particular, or love to play more than any other album?
R: Our set is heavily flourished with HumanAfterAll, Since it was this era that the band had premiered their full-scale light show for the first time.
B: It’s this kind of inspiration we kept going back to while programming our current show with the likes of the Tron soundtrack and of course our fav, Homework. There’s a little bit of everything throughout the set.
PM: How has the lack of Daft Punk live shows necessitated the arrival of a band such as One More Time?
R & B: There’s such a heavy fanbase that wants to see the band perform more live. We grew from researching the Daft fanbase and are simply a living and breathing interpretation of all that work put into one. After we started this show, Daft Punk fans have continuously come up to us and thanked us for bringing our interpretation to the local and theater venues that wouldn’t be able to accommodate the real band. Our show is a presentation of material and fan requests in a new and unique way.
PM: Have you had any contact with the reclusive duo?
R & B- We have not.
PM: How eager are you anticipating the new album Random Access Memories?
R & B: We are both very excited for the release. The 10 second clip that debuted on SNL, exhibited our favorite element and style of electronic music, Disco.
PM: What other influences have had an impact on your musical education and brought you to play electronic music?
R: While my main influences in EDM stem from Daft Punk itself, I regularly listen to a lot of classic and indie rock. My musical taste was heavily influenced from college radio back when I was in school. This is where I got my start at as DJ for the first time.
B: I’d say an early love for electronic music, lent itself to loving the French house sound. Artists like Underworld and The Chemical Brothers led me into harder styles of music as a child. When I originally saw Daft Punk and their costumes, I immediately fell in love with the idea of electronic artists using stage presence in a more creative way. Everyone from Aphex Twin’s dancing bears to artists like Deadmau5 have pushed the scene into more entertaining dimensions; we’re just trying to pay tribute to the guys that started it all.
Styx dominated the airwaves in the 70’s and 80’s with well-known hits such as, “Lady”, “Come Sail Away”, “Show Me The Way” and their only number one song, “Babe”. The band did however have four consecutive multi-platinum albums and have a revolutionary sound comprised of a powerful guitars, theatrical performances and pioneering the prog-rock sound. We were fortunate enough to interview Styx bassist and former Bad English founder, Ricky Phillips.
The Glens Falls Civic Center is going to be host of three amazing acts on April 24th. The “Midwest Rock ‘n Roll Express” tour featuring REO Speedwagon and Styx will be coming to the foothills of the Adirondacks to share their progressive rock stylings.
REO Speedwagon will be sharing the headlining role of the tour with Styx. REO Speedwagon has sold over 40 million records, including number one singles, “Keep On Loving You” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. Another incestuous connection is REO Speedwagon’s lead guitarist Dave Amato used to play with Nugent before joining the band in time for their 1990 release The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken. That album featured the bands last top 100 hit “Lock Is a Rock”. Since then they have had success as a live act playing virtually non-stop around the world, the last few years with Styx.
Ted Nugent has been getting more press for his stance on guns and support of the NRA than he has for his music lately. Don’t forget that the Motor City Madman was all rock ‘n roll before he got political. In the 70’s, Nugent provided us with hits like, “Strangehold”, “Wango Tango”, “Great White Buffalo” and of course, “Cat Scratch Fever”. How does Nugent fit in with the tour? He played with Styx’s Tommy Shaw in the super group Damn Yankees.
Did you know Ted Nugent evaded being drafted in the 1970s by covering himself in his own feces and not showering for a few weeks? It’s true – read here from the man himself!
When asked what we could expect at the show in Glens Falls, he said we should be prepared to be amazed. Their goal is “to make tonight’s show better than last night’s show. We even put together a brand new set that we are debuting on this leg of the tour. We’ve put thousands and thousands into it and we aren’t even sure if fans will notice it the difference, but the stage performance that we put off is so important to the show.”
Ricky actually played on Ted’s Little Miss Dangerous album, “One day I came home and Ted had left a message that he needed me to play a song for a movie that ended up on the album. So, I went down and I also set Dave Amato and Ted up together. Now Dave is with REO. Most of the guys that are still out there have done some recording or played for everyone else at some point. A lot of the guys who are still the survivors are still carrying the torch and we are all still friends.”
The Styx line-up hasn’t changed in 10 years, and there is a lot of rumors about grief and animosity with Dennis DeYoung. Ricky played it off saying that “The band has been focused on growing the band over the past 10 years and getting better and better and not dwelling on the past. Dennis is incredibly talented and if people are a Dennis DeYoung fan, I encourage them to go see him.” Styx has a lot of modern pop culture success as well, including being in Big Daddy and South Park. “It is something to see that the fans know all the lyrics to the songs. Styx has a unique sound and if you hear a Styx song on the radio, you can tell it’s a Styx song with the harmonies. I think that in the 70’s and 80’s there was a lot of cookie cutter format, and Styx always had their own sound. It’s very impressive. When I was in The Babies and first came across Styx it was obvious that their sound was really unique.” Three generations of fans will be at the show, and all three will know the lyrics, whether they are a Guitar Hero player, a South Park fan or remember them growing up 30 years ago.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has also eluded Styx, as well as many of the progressive rock bands from that era. You have to imagine that Styx will be inducted at some point. Ricky’s perspective is that “When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame started is always had more of a New York connection. The British rock bands that started it all were being overlooked and it killed me. So, I haven’t taken it too seriously. It would obviously be a great honor to be recognized by the fans. But whoever controls or makes that call, it’s up to them. I’ve actually never even have this discussion with the other guys in the band. Our focus is so much on the fans and making our music better and better every night.”
Progressive rock is back on the rise, just look at any festival line-up and you will see modern prog rockers. Styx was influential in starting that sound. You can hear their influences on newer bands. “It’s great to hear, there is a new band that sounds like a mix between Styx and Zeppelin and you can tell what albums influenced them. It’s nice to be part of the influencer. I was influenced first of all by the Beatles and the song writing and arrangement. Thank god that was my first initial impact as a kid. There was a strong sense of song structure and melodies. Paul McCartney’s bass solos were a huge part of me picking up bass. I have played guitar to this day, but there is something about bass that has spoke to me. It’s a real challenge to be a good bass player and it’s a challenge that I will always be striving for. Listen to Paul McCartney and you can tell the percussion aspects of bass. It’s seemingly invisible but bass can control the tempo and swing in a song.”
Be sure to get out to the Glens Falls Civic Center on April 24th and catch these three great bands and celebrate over 30 years of music.
Otherwise, meaning other than supposed, different if you will. That is the best way to describe this incredible band, Otherwise. “We don’t really look like your typical rock band and we’re trying not to sound like your typical rock band. And there’s something for everybody, you might not get what you expect,” says Adrian Patrick, the band’s front man, to Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel, on their tour bus. “At least that’s our goal, that’s one of our goals artistically.” It definitely seems like they have reached that goal with their ever-growing fan base.
Originally from Sin City, Las Vegas, Otherwise, consisting of the Patrick brothers, Adrian and Ryan (lead guitarist/vocals), Corky Gainsford (drummer/vocals), Andrew Pugh (guitarist/vocals), Vassilios Metropoulos (bass/vocals), has made their mark across the country, and touched the fans’ hearts with their sound and powerful lyrics. “It’s an amazing feeling to show at a place you’ve never really heard of, that you didn’t know existed. Then people there are singing back your words, even if it’s one person singing back your song lyrics, it’s still like, wow, that’s really happening.”
You may recognize one of their songs being played on Octane, one that has played for at least two years now, “Soldiers”. Back in October of 2011, during the 48 Hours Festival, the band met up with Jose Mangin, Sirius Octane’s program director who they had previously met at the Mayhem Festival in 2010, and while they were convening during the Sevendust set, they gave him a demo of the song. Adrian then tells the story about the song, adding, “it’s very spiritual.” “48 Hours Festival was the last show we got to do with our cousin, Ivan Patrick. He was our drum tech, he had a bunk on the bus, he was part of our crew for many, many years. Me and him are the exact same age, he was my twin, and two weeks later, he died on his bike on Halloween night, but before passing away, he came into Corky’s garage and he sang on ‘Soldiers’.”
For all the die-hard In This Moment fans, you may recognize Adrian’s killer vocals in the fiery passionate duet with Maria, “The Promise”, that was eventually followed by a steamy music video filled with spine-chilling primal screams. Definitely an amazing metal duet that’s hard to forget. However, Adrian revealed that he was not their first choice. “Initially, I was just supposed to be laying down guide-tracks for a more well-known singer, you know, they had a long list of people they were contacting and it just so happened that the planets aligned, with all the red-tape and the record labels and management and people’s schedules, and the label liked what I did enough to say, ‘Dude, this sounds great, let’s put him on the album.’” After “The Promise” was heard, those die-hard In This Moment fans became Otherwise fans as well.
Living in Vegas can have its perks, especially in mind-blowing experiences, ones where they have to be told in song. Some songs have a chilling effect, some have the effect of tugging the fans’ heartstrings (like “Heaven”), all of them have deep and powerful meanings, filled with Ryan’s amazing riffs, according to Adrian where their ideas come from. “Most of our ideas start with a riff that my brother has, he’s a very prolific writer. I mean, he picks up a guitar and a riff comes out and whether we use it or not, he’s always got some new ideas, so usually I’d say about 99% of the stuff is sparked. My brother is a spark, we all just kind of add to the fire…as far as lyric content goes, most of it is experiential, I write from experience. Although some guys are very good at telling a story about something they’ve never experienced or been through, …I try to stay away from that, because to me, it’s not genuine. Maybe it is genuine…to me it’s like I’m not gonna write about something I have no idea about.” The content of the lyrics are about those they have lost along the way to where they are now, about love, hate and anger. One of the songs they performed April 2nd at the Webster, was about an accident they should not have walked away from. These lyrics are the kind that really have the gears turned, that has everybody thinking about a deeper meaning behind these amazing words.
Otherwise has had the opportunity to tour with the Canadian rock band, My Darkest Days. When asked about the tour, Adrian explained that their booking agent from TKO Booking, Andrew Goodfriend, was the one that set that up. “A lot of times the next step is based on relationships…and that was a good tour for us, it was a lot of fun, a lot of small bars, a lot of cool clubs and a lot of great crowds.” Before their headline tour, Otherwise shared the stage with Papa Roach, and after their headline, they will continue to tour with the band as well as perform at the Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio this summer.
While touring all over the nation, quite a few venues stuck out for them such as Rams Head Live in Baltimore, MD and Rock Junction in West Greenwich, RI. However, there is one that really hits home for them: The Roxy in Los Angeles. “It’s very special to us because that’s where we pretty much got signed out of and they always do a really good job with sound. They’re total pros and it’s always a great vibe.” It seems wherever this band goes, they manage to set an incredible vibe, one that makes you feel like they are truly connecting with their fans.
Be sure to check out Otherwise on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/otherwiseofficial), and follow them on Twitter and Instagram (@weareotherwise) for tour dates and updates, and check out their debut record in stores now, True Love Never Dies.
Blood of the Martyrs is a ministry band hailing from Virginia that started back in 2007. They travel the states as a DIY band, getting up close and personal with their craft and with the fans, bridging out with anyone who comes to the shows. This is the second time they’ve been at The Dungeon bringing along the New Jersey-based band, Alive In The Dark, with them for a few stops and sharing the stage that night with locals such as Jonestown, This Above All and Collisions In Grey And Red. I’d like to thank Larry Moore of The Division Sequence/Wrapped In Noir/M.D.I.G (Mom Dad I’m Gaelic). I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did and hit them up with likes and check out their music since they put a lot of effort into what they do and put on one hell of a show! Also hit up Larry for shows in your area and/or flyer work, the man has talent and does a lot in the scene.
Here’s my first nation band interview with Blood of the Martyrs for 315 Street Team and Upstate Metal. Thanks To Larry Moore of the Division Sequence for setting this up.
This is the band that is not afraid to speak their mind and sing out what everybody in the venue is thinking. Their music has a very fresh rock sound, with catchy tunes that will haunt you for months, maybe more. This is the kind of music that loosens you up after a long day or week. The words that melodically leave their lips are very interpretive; their style is very edgy and rough, in a very good way. It’s that good-time feeling kind of rock, the kind that is also very blunt. Say hello to the hard-rockers of Memphis, Surrender the Fall.
Formed in 2005, band members consist of Jared Cole (vocals), Eddie Tyre (guitar), Anthony Pitts (guitar), Devin Hightower (bass), and Rick Anderson (drums). Surrender the Fall has been to hell and back; Tyre, being a lifelong resident of New Orleans, lost everything in Hurricane Katrina; Pitts was promised career in football until a knee injury. Of course, there was the case of their loved ones succumbing to sicknesses and passing away. Through all of the tragedy, Surrender the Fall strove for greatness. Before showing off their amazing talent, they took the necessary precautions to make sure everything sounded absolutely perfect. Eventually, they booked killer gigs such as in New Orleans, and with a great turn out, and they soon signed with Rum Bum Records. Rum Bum sent Surrender the Fall to Sonic Ranch in El Paso, TX (Taking Back Sunday, ZZ Top, Madonna, Devildriver) to record with producer/artist Lennon Murphy (Lennon, Devil’s Gift). After a five and a half week period, the band recorded what is now their debut 12 tracked record, Burn in the Spotlight, filled with songs on “love, hate, pain and everything in between.” The album was released September 18, 2012, with leading singles “Love Hate Masquerade” and currently, “Some Kind of Perfect.” Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel had the chance to interview the band’s front man, Jared Cole.
Media Credit – Kate Drexel
UM: How did you come up with your band name?
JC: Surrender the Fall…we sat down, and took paper and pen and started writing ideas about band names. It was the hardest thing in the world to do; meanwhile people come up with names like Alien Ant Farm or Butthole Surfers…we set out to figure out this name and, to be honest, we didn’t have the meaning right off the bat. We kind of put the words together that sounded good, and we sat down and thought about it for a while and it’s like “Surrender the Fall”…it’s liking giving up the fall. You don’t fall, you don’t fail; if you don’t fail, then you’re still going and that’s success, that’s following your dream, that’s doing it in a diligent way so that nothing and no one can tell you not to, like they can’t keep you from it. Giving up the option for failure. That’s what it means. And well, we’re five stubborn assholes who refuse to stop doing this…one way or another, we’re going to figure out how to piss everybody off with rock and roll music. I forget now who said it, somebody called us “The Bastard Stepchild of Rock ‘N’ Roll”…it was not in an interview, but it was something along those lines…The Bastard Stepchild…the Assholes That Refuse to Quit Playing.
UM: Who are your biggest influences?
JC: Biggest influences…Elvis, Michael Jackson, Prince, U2, Metallica, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash…again, we’re all about music without prejudice, we take influences from everything and everybody. Anybody that would do it, no matter what, anybody that would get behind the mic and say it, and didn’t give a fuck what anybody else thought. Those are our influences.
UM: How did you get to become a part of the My Darkest Days tour?
JC: I think it was a package deal; we sent some of our stuff to their management, kinda worked the details out on the business end and joined with them. Obviously we have never met before or anything like that but they’re some of the coolest guys you’ll ever meet. We love those guys…we actually saw Matt Walst not too long ago, they were…of course you know that he’s filling in for Three Days Grace right now, and we talked to him over at the Shinedown show out there, and they were playing a Battle Creek show same night we were.
UM: What’s the story behind “Some Kind of Perfect”?
JC: Well, I’ll answer that by saying this: “Some Kind of Perfect” and quite a few other songs that we have are very open to interpretation. Sometimes when I write, I draw from a couple of different scenarios to influence me to get me the vibe and “Some Kind of Perfect” is basically about having a goal and having dreams and then thinking this is what’s going to be perfect, which in this case, a band trying to make it and trying to make it in this music business and then they decided to leave it and expected me to go with them and I was at a crossroads in my life where I had to say “You know what? I can’t go” I believe in this enough to see it through and just to keep pushing on and we parted ways. I saw this movie…I forgot what they were talking about but the lady said to another person, “You need to update your fairy tale.” At that point, I had to update my idea of perfect and that it didn’t matter that it wasn’t the perfect that it began with, it was at least some kind of perfect. I think it’s all about following your heart and doing what you know you were born to do, regardless of anyone else in your life. That you can have the strength and the will and the determination to follow it through and see it through no matter what, and it can mess up along the way, get some scrapes and bruises along the way but it’s still perfect because it’s exactly what you set out to do and you didn’t let anyone push you away from that. Like I said, it’s very interpretive so people can pull their own feeling from it and relate to it in different ways and I think that’s the best thing about music in itself is that when people write, it’s not always what the listener thinks it is, and the listener can…I know I found myself growing up, hearing songs and then being able to meet the guy that wrote the song and I was like “I had no idea the way I felt about that situation in my life until I heard your song and that’s exactly how I felt about it.” I think it’s cool to be able to connect with people in that way.
UM: What does your music reflect about you guys?
JC: That we have a really good time on stage. Our live shows and our music go hand in hand. When we did this record, we wanted it to be big, we wanted it to be loud, and we wanted to write these songs that people could grab a hold of and sing with us, because it’s a party. When people pay money and spend the time to see us do something, they want the connection and that’s all about that for us, it’s all about connecting with the audience and connecting with each other on stage and everybody is looking at everybody having a good time. Our music, it reflects us as people; we’re the band that says what everybody else is thinking but they’re afraid to say it. All of our music is honest, it’s real, it’s not a over-fabrication of anything, and I think that’s why we’ve related so well on these tours that we’ve done so far, and the fact that our first major tour was with All That Remains and Nonpoint, they’re metal bands, and I’m sitting there going, “Holy shit, these guys are helping us with our launch…” And I love metal, my guitar player Ed was in a metal band and I used in a metal band, so I mean, it’s sort of blunt but we’re just rock ‘n’ roll. We got up there and every night after night after night, everybody got it, and everybody dug it. We never got a bad review, we always went up and gave it 110% every single night and I think people gravitated towards it because it was honest because we talk about it on stage and we get off stage and we live it. And it’s real and it’s…I think that’s what it is: it’s live, it’s loud, it’s honest, but hopefully it’s catchy enough to where it sticks in your head a little bit.
UM: Favorite venue and why?
JC: Oh, man! It’s a toss up, actually, and I’m not saying this because I’m biased but Rams Head is one and The Machine Shop is the other, and they’re for the exact same reasons: the stage, the sound, the atmosphere at both venues are incredible. The fans that come out and the people that come out are so ready to go. It’s not like they show any prejudice towards any other band, it’s not like the crowd that comes and sit in the back until the headliner comes on. These guys are fucking ready. Both places and we loved it; man, and we were…it’s actually the first time we played at both of those places on the My Darkest Days tour. We had five, six hundred people at Rams Head and I think The Machine Shop sold out, so it was amazing. Those are the two of the ones that stick out. I still watch YouTube videos of the Rams Head show; it was one of my favorite shows I’ve ever played. It’s just the energy and the crowd, we got off stage and everybody was so cool, everybody wanted to hang out…it’s what we live for, it’s what we love to do.
UM: What do you guys do during your down time?
JC: I sit around and write a lot, plus seeing new cities, we’ll go and see different things. My drummer plans on seeing every capital of every city, we’ll go see the sites and what not, if we have time. A lot of times we’re hanging out at radio stations and going to get set up and…this and that, but a couple of the guys like to hit up the casinos and blow a little money, some of the other guys like to get a little bit of their drink on and hanging out, meeting some of the local people. We sit on the bus for long enough; you’re around everybody, all day so sometimes we like to split up; sometimes we go in pairs, sometimes we don’t go out. At the same time, it’s kind of like whatever; it depends on where we are. We’ll sit and write, we like to play Black Ops, I don’t ever play video games…I’m not good at it at all. I’ll sit around and play Black Ops and…I’m big into movies so just normal stuff. Stuff to pass the time when you don’t have anything going on.
UM: When composing a song, where do your ideas come from and how do they evolve?
JC: I just write about life…I write about my life and the things going on and things that I’ve learned, thing’s that I’m feeling; sometimes it’s in the past, sometimes it’s present, sometimes it’s things that I want later on in life and it’s a product of what that moment does to me right then. We sat down and said we were going to try and write good songs. We weren’t going to stick to any kind of genre or anything like that, and we were just going to write, to write good songs. I personally feel like that’s what we did. I don’t know what the rest of the world thinks, I hope they think the same thing but it’s just…I don’t know…it’s just life and stuff that we care about and stuff that happened to us. We’re musicians, we’re all artists and we’re all just a bunch of crazy fuckers.
UM: What does music mean to you?
JC: Ah, man…music…it’s a hard thing to say, you know, ‘cause I don’t know if there’s a word that…it’s a paramour, it’s a drug, an addiction; music is life and it’s a living and breathing thing. It’s the opiate of the masses. No one that I have ever met that does not connect with music in someway, you know, that it affects their life…it’s the energy. Sometimes it’s food, sometimes you get lost and that’s all you need is music. Sometimes you don’t need physical food; sometimes it quenches the thirst or solves your problem…I don’t know…it gives people hope. I mean it’s all the same things to us too. We got into this because we love music and we love the creative process of music…it’s the only thing we know. This is the most important thing to me, this is the only thing I know how to do and for me, it’s life.
It’s a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Austin, TX and Meg and Laura make their way to the Moonshine Grill on Red River Street to sit down for lunch with one of SXSW‘s must-see acts, the Swedish Synth Pop duo Icona Pop.
Mary Morgan Craig: So how has SXSW been treating you so far?
Caroline Hjelt: Great! It couldn’t be better!
Aino Jawo: It’s really been good.
CH: Everyone warned us that it would be crazy and we can totally feel the vibe and the craziness.
MMC: But a good kind of crazy, right?
AJ: Yes, definitely!
CH: It’s all about the positive chaos!
Gauraa Shekhar: Totally! How was your show last night?
AJ: Our show was amazing! Well, at least the first one we did. The second would have been amazing but we blew the sound system out so we couldn’t go through. We just played one song. Our lovely fans that were standing there for hours were so disappointed so we were like, “we’re so going to make it up to you tonight.”
CH: We have four more gigs to go and we’re so excited!
GS: Well I know everyone asks you this question, and there are so many different versions of this story, but how exactly did you guys meet?
AJ: We met in 2009, and I was heartbroken. We have this amazing mutual friend called Emily and she would call me everyday for two weeks and she was like, “you have to get out of bed” and then one day she just came over and forced me out of bed and she took me to an amazing party. This woman here, Caroline, she was the one hosting the party. She used to throw a lot of good parties those days.
CH: My apartment was like the center of the party and everybody was welcome. We were having a lot of fun.
AJ: Basically the hippie collectives, really.
CH: But yeah, I met Aino there and it was love at first sight. We definitely felt like we had this special connection immediately. We went out dancing the whole night. When I woke up the next morning, I was a little bit nervous that it was just the wine talking. I really wanted it to work out because we started talking about how we should do something together but Aino called me the day after and she was like, “Hey, I’m on my way to your place with a computer and a bottle of wine” and we just started over a drum, writing our first song, and since that day we decided that, “Okay, we’re a band”. A lot of our friends were definitely laughing at us but we knew that “Yeah, this is great”.
AJ: When you think about it now, it’s kind of sick how I can kind of just laugh at all of the situations we put ourselves in because both me and Caroline are people who do stuff and then we think and sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s really bad. But I guess that’s how we kind of put ourselves in chaotic situations and kind of rise out of it. I feel like you two are kind of the same!
GS: Yes, definitely. Story of our lives!
CH: I mean, if we don’t have enough chaos in our lives, we create it. That makes us so creative also!
AJ: Yeah, we’re two girls from Sweden sitting in a sofa riffing this song we wrote four years ago and now we’re just cruising around in America!
GS: And now you’re one of the must-see acts of SXSW. That’s amazing!
CH: Yeah, that’s crazy! It’s a little bit unreal and I have to pitch myself once a day.
MMC: So how’s the transition been from Sweden to the U.S?
CH: It’s been a major difference, of course. Sweden is a very small country, you know. But really, we don’t even have a home anymore. My home is wherever this beautiful lady is (points at Aino). That’s the thing that keeps me going. I feel very home and safe wherever we go because we’re always hanging out and we have each other.
AJ: We’re good at creating homes. We’re like snails, carrying everything within ourselves.
CH: For us to come over here and not just be in New York and L.A., but to actually go to places like Milwaukee and meet people who’ve been listening to our songs on the radio; it’s crazy. It means so much to us to be able to share that connection with our fans. We really do love our fans, they’re the best. They’re such rebels. They stand with their fist in the air and dance their asses off every night too.
MMC: Yeah, I mean, back at Syracuse, “I Love It” is the biggest pre-game song.
GS: Actually, we opened our radio show this semester with your song! It’s actually incredible to be sitting here a couple months down the line and actually be interviewing you. I mean when you talk about crossing boundaries, it’s amazing because Morgan’s from Boston and I’m from Jakarta, Indonesia and we’re in Syracuse listening to a Spanish DJ remix your song and here we are discussing it Austin.
AJ: Wow! I feel so honored! Thank you! That means so much to us. You go, girls. A friend of ours goes to school in Syracuse. We must definitely perform there sometime soon. She’s a fashion design major.
MMC: Speaking of style, who inspires you fashion wise?
CH: I think we’re all about feeling, you know. Especially when it comes to performing on stage. We wanna express how we feel when we sing that song. We want something that extends our movements, you know. Dramatic stuff. But if you’re thinking about icons, we love Prince, David Bowie, Patti Smith…
AJ: …and PJ Harvey, of course. With the leather pants, leather jacket, in white. Ah, she’s so cool. I love it. Not to mention the red lipstick. But we don’t really follow any trends, we’re really bad when it comes to that. In the beginning, we would kind of sewing our own stuff. The first time we were in Paris, Air France lost our luggage and then we ended up cutting and sewing our own stuff after that. We love the side of fashion when it comes from an arty perspective.
CH: When it comes to expressing ourselves, we’ve been to a lot of fashion weeks and we love it. Just the energy and the clothes, you know. Some people spend a whole year working on it and it’s cool because it’s chaos backstage but when they go out there everything is perfect. It’s so beautiful and well put together. We’re actually really bad at following trends though.
GS: It doesn’t even matter because you guys set them, really.
AJ: Aw, thank you!
GS: Well, you guys have an amazing stage presence. Is there any specific routine that you guys follow before you go on stage to pump yourselves up?
AJ: Oh, yeah. We call it the band tattoo. It’s kind of like a horn. We stand in a ring and choose one person that stands in the ring and we stand around the person, doing…well, it’s actually really embarrassing.
CH: Yeah, it’s really embarrassing. We do this rock pose and we scream, “YEAH!”. And you can feel the energy when you’re doing it. It’s really amazing! It’s kind of liberating!
AJ: It’s liberating and yet at the same time you feel like the biggest geek on Earth. But you do it because you can’t be any more geeky anyway. And really, whenever we don’t follow through with this routine, it turns into the worst show ever.
MMC: Yeah, definitely keep doing that! Do you ever get nervous before you take the stage? And if you do, how do you deal with it?
CH: Oh yes. When it comes to lifestyles, we want to keep it interesting for ourselves all the time so we can also keep it interesting for the people in the audience. I mean, I’m always nervous when I go onstage because we always keep on adding stuff so I’m like, “Shit, the synthesizer and the vocals should be different, etc…” I mean it’s a lot of stuff to think about but when you’re out there you don’t end up thinking so much, you just become one with the whole thing.
MMC: Yeah, I bet. So how did you start learning to DJ?
AJ: Well, we just threw ourselves out there and we couldn’t even insert a CD when we started. It started out with the fact that we had a lot of parties. We decided to move in together and we had a lot of parties at our apartment, so much so that the neighbors started to complain so we had to take the party to another place; I mean, we’ve been club kids since we were sixteen years old so we knew everyone and were like, “Please, can we have a club?” and the club owner was like, “Yeah, I know you’re gonna draw a lot of people there” so we started having clubs and we didn’t even know how to DJ so that was a problem. We got so much energy out of it. In the beginning we didn’t see ourselves as DJs, we saw ourselves as just changing songs but then we saw an interest growing out and we started to love it. It was a way of expressing ourselves.
CH: Yeah, I think it’s very important to start somewhere.
AJ: Yes, you have to dare to make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Just learn from them. I mean, no one’s going to judge you for that, it’s very important to start somewhere. Worst comes worst, the crowd will be angry for messing up the song. But that’s the worst scenario. You just have to go to a club and practice. It’s crucial. You just have to do it so if you just play music that you love and have fun, it doesn’t matter if you make a few mistakes.
MMC: That’s great advice! Have you ever had people give you a lot of attitude?
AJ: Most definitely. We’ve been through a lot of shitty situations. Times when we would come into clubs and would try to play music and people would be like, “Who the hell are you”? It’s been terrible sometimes and I think that makes you become a stronger person. I mean, there are so many times when we went to clubs and guys have been DJing. So many guys DJing before us have been like, “So girls, this is the button you push to play a song and this is where you eject a CD”. I don’t think they mean to be condescending but they just don’t know better and I think we’re here to change it.
CH: Yes, and instead of trying to work against each other, girls should realize the power of supporting each other and building each other up. You have a lot to learn from each other and it would be so much better for everyone to understand that. That’s really important to remember. Sometimes you might feel like someone’s trying to pull you down but then you have to remember that that person is probably insecure. You should know better to do it back.
MMC: Solid advice.
GS: Who were your musical heroes growing up and what’s getting most play on your iPods right now?
AJ: Well, we love Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, David Bowie, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Destiny’s Child. Also, the one hit wonders and the boy and girl bands. But I think there’s a lot of women like Tina Turner and Beyoncé that we really love. The most played song on our iPod–that’s tough.
MMC: What about recently added?
CH: We love the producer that we worked from the start, he produced the Rihanna single, “Stay”. We love that one a lot, we’ve been listening a lot to that. The Knife is great, too. A lot of Swedish bands, too, ha.
GS: Do you think it is true that you need music the most when you’re falling in and out of love?
AJ: Yes. It’s a good way to escape. Sometimes when you’re really sad, you just listen to a song and it helps. When you’re talking about love, either you feel more or you feel less. It’s very important to listen to the right kind of music.
CH: If you’re hurt, it’s important to let yourself cry. When you’re sad, you just need to take your time but it’s also important to have those pick-up songs that really make you feel a little bit warmer inside and a little bit stronger.
MMC: We couldn’t agree more.
GS: Yeah, “I Love It” was that pick-up song for us, ha.
AJ: Thank you! It makes us very happy to hear you say that!
MMC: Well, you have already given us some very good advice and our final question for you is if you have something to share with us for aspiring females in the music industry?
AJ: Yeah, most importantly, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. That’s what you learn from. You learn from them so much more than you learn from people telling you what to do.
CH: If you just take a direction and go with it, the worst thing that could happen is you have to change the direction and move another way but if you never dare to do anything, you’ll be walking around in circles wondering what it would be like if you tried it. Just don’t be scared. Surround yourself with people you love and who love you.
From the shadows emerges a heavy metal band that brings back the classic metal style that bands such as Metallica, Pantera and Black Sabbath have made so famously. This band has opened for major groups such as P.O.D., Filter, In This Moment, and as of recently, Soulfly. Introducing, Dolabra.
Originally from Averill Park, NY, Dolabra consists of Dennis “Redman” Caldwell (vocals), Phil Phillips (guitar), Otis Lyons (guitar), Devin Cross (bass), and Ed Zimmerman (drums). This band has released three demos, “Worst In You”, “Death Die Kill”, and “Everything Dies”, all available for download on their website, www.dolabra.net. Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel had the opportunity to do an interview with Dolabra’s front man, Dennis Caldwell.
The band @ DolabraFest in 2012
UM: Tell me a little bit about the band’s history.
DC: Well, we’ve been together since April or May of 2010; we were in different bands back then, myself and my guitar player met the drummer at Edgefest back in 2008, his band and our band were playing together. When my other band, Reinfecta, broke up, me and the guitar player started another band called Dolabra and we had met Ed at Edgefest, so Ed would play drums and he is in a death metal band called Tyranize and his kit, he’s got a huge, big kit, so he said he couldn’t transport his kit back and forth, so we went and bought a house kit and we just started jamming and we jammed as a three piece for…probably about eight months and then we put an ad out on craigslist and found a bass player and then we added another guitar and we’ve been a five piece for about two years. We’re just taking it slow; we’ve done about 10 shows in the three years.
UM: Who are your biggest influences?
DC: I would say that everybody in the band is a hardcore Metallica fan; they can pretty much play any Metallica song there is. Then you got Cavalera Conspiracy, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Pantera, Biohazard, MOD, SOD, Suicidal, and a bunch of old stuff. Cavalier is brand new but…
UM: If you had the opportunity to collaborate with another band, who would it be?
DC: Cavalera Conspiracy. For me, Max Cavalera is the king of metal, really, and it was an honor to open up for Soulfly, that was pretty crazy. I would have to say Cavalera Conspiracy or Max Cavalera.
UM: How did you become a part of the Soulfly concert, and the Exodus one?
DC: We were actually supposed to open up for Marc Rizzo, who’s the guitar player for Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy, in December and we had to jump off that show at the last minute and the same promoters, Kal and Mike Valente of Upstate Black N Blue, they were doing that show and they hadn’t mention Soulfly yet and they put us on the Soulfly show and they were great. It was an honor to be an opener for them and we only do five shows a year so we try to pick good shows and with my old band we did shows every other week all over the place and this band, we’re trying to take it slow and concentrate on playing good shows and we get to open up for bands that we grew up listening to, it’s just pretty cool. We’ve only done ten shows in two years and we’ve already opened up for Biohazard, Sworn Enemy on one show, and then Sepultura, Death Angel, Havok and Krisiun at another show. Then Skarhead and Slaine and the other night we got to open up for Soulfly, Incite and Lody Kong, so we can’t complain, we’ve been getting really good shows, so we’re just having fun.
UM: What does your music reflect about you guys?
DC: I don’t know…I guess our music reflects that we’re kick-ass metal musicians and come to the shows and rock out.
UM: When’s your record coming out?
DC: We’re hoping by the end of this year. We actually recorded all the music almost a year ago now and I’ve been hiding from the vocals for a year now and I don’t know why but I didn’t think I was man enough to pull it off but we got in there the Saturday before Soulfly pretty much just because at the Soulfly show we wanted to hand demos out. So I banged off the vocals real quick and the three tunes that we released on the demo and we’re hoping to have everything else done by the end of the year. I’d like to say we’re gonna have it done for June 22nd, we have a big party called DolabraFest, but I don’t think it’s gonna be done by then…sometime before the end of the year, I’m hoping.
UM: You’ll be doing your own festivals?
DC: Yeah, we’re doing that…the festival we’re doing is June 22nd, called DolabraFest, we just get a bunch of kegs of beer and it’s a way that we say thanks to the fans or friends for putting up with our devil music and we have a big keg party and camping and playing a bunch of heavy metal music. We’re pretty much just about having fun, just take the stuff real slow and trying to do things right instead of going out there and putting out a bunch of crappy recordings like we’ve all done a million times.
UM: Any shows in the near future?
DC: Yeah, we are opening up for Exodus, Monday, April 22nd, at Upstate Concert Hall, that’s in Clifton Park, New York, and Brick By Brick’s playing on that, Armor Column…it’s gonna be a really good show. Another honor to be opening up for old bands that we grew up with, too.
UM: What’s your favorite part about playing on stage?
DC: Just getting all of my friends and getting everybody together, we go out and have fun and we use our shows to get everybody out of the house and have a good time. I look forward to the shows, just get up there and have fun and seeing all of the people having fun and then after the shows, we all hang and drink with the people until the bar is almost out, so that’s pretty much what it’s about for us; we like to have fun with the people. And this band…I didn’t think when I started with this band that it was going to be as good as it is so already being part of the team…we just try to have fun.
UM: What does music mean to you?
DC: I guess it means a bunch of different stuff. Music is just a release, got any problems, just throw on a disc and you forget about it and…I don’t know, a bunch of different things really.
When you hear Chris Wyse’s story it sounds almost like a movie script. Born in New York City to Irish immigrants, moved to the country in Upstate New York, picked up a guitar with his buddy Dan Dinsmore, went off to California to be a rock star, and is now coming back home to play a show with his old friend in his old stomping grounds. It’s a lot more complicated than that but it does make for a great movie, or perhaps a song. NYS Music was lucky enough to talk to Chris Wyse last week to find out what the New York native has been up to and what the future holds for the talented bassist.
Back in the mid-80s, Chris and Dan met while attending Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, New York. Both were budding musicians and they quickly became good friends, Chris on bass and Dan on drums. “It was awesome [starting out in Upstate New York] because there was nothing else to do. So music ended up being our everything. We’d play the Koda Theater and do battle of the bands, and that became our learning ground.” There was a lot of support from friends and family. Things were simpler, but getting noticed was still a lot of hard work. They used tape to record demos, and they used to run around the area flyering cars for upcoming shows (a lost art that has been replaced by the non-personal events calendar on Facebook). At least less trees were harmed in the process. One of the places they used to flyer was the well-known club, Saratoga Winners. Chris and Dan would play there when they were seniors in high school and their first couple years after graduation, to adults packing the place with fans many years older.
Chris got national attention for his innovative bass playing and was featured in Guitar Player Magazine when he was only 17. A few years after graduating from Shen, Chris moved to Los Angeles. In the 90’s, Chris played for various bands and projects with notable musicians including Tal Bachman (son of Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive), Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Paul D’Amour (original bassist for Tool) and more. It was for Paul D’Amour’s band Lusk that Chris “bought the upright bass, but that project froze due to troubles with the record company.” Chris went on from there and auditioned for Tal Bachman, playing a sort of John Paul Jones style of bass. After getting his passport straightened out, he found himself on a plane to Maui to produce the record. It was there that he met Bob Rock, “…a “real stand-up guy. Bob was one of those people that I had a great time working with, and I tried to rock his tracks. That got me into The Cult, the audition with Metallica and more. It is paramount to have someone like that [in your corner].”
The Cult just finished seven years of touring, brought back producer Bob Rock (who also produced their albums Sonic Temple, The Cult, and Beyond Good and Evil), and released their ninth album, Choice of Weapon in 2012. Chris “loves this record, it’s a super strong record. It’s a very ‘now’ kind of record and they did a lot of work promoting it last year.” Later in 2012 The Cult also released a “prequel” album called Weapon of Choice, showing the stretches and energy that the band took in the studio. There is a raw feel to the new songs and it was evident that, as a whole, The Cult went back to their original UK roots. Chris’s unique style is evident throughout the album and it’s worth checking it out, on iTunes here.
Now that The Cult is taking a break from touring and recording, Wyse can concentrate on his project, Owl. Owl includes his childhood friend, drummer Dan Dinsmore, and Jason Mezilis, who Chris met in Hollywood in the early 2000’s. “I met Jason in a club through a mutual friend. We hit it off and followed each other’s careers. I would join bands, be on the road, and Jason was aware of my old Owl shows. Jason is incredibly talented, competent and hit it off with Dan.” Together they are Owl and they recorded a few of their recent tracks at Overit Studios just outside of Albany. Dinsmore built the studio in an old Catholic Church. Chris added, “…The feeling and acoustics [in the church] are amazing. It gets you really inspired.”
Chris and Dan will be back in Clifton Park playing with Jason as Owl, on March 30th with other hometown artist, Maria Brink and her band, In This Moment. “Dan and I are excited to be there. It’s not just 2013 and promoting The Right Thing album. We played at that there as teens, when it was called Tigers. That’s the interesting thing. Playing Manhattan and LA feels like playing at home, but still nothing like playing down the road from where you first started playing music. I was just a teenager and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to play to my roots.”
Well, the honor is Upstate New York’s when local-gone-rock-star, Chris Wyse, comes back home to Upstate Concert Hall on March 30th. will be there to witness the warm homecoming performance.
When you hear Chris Wyse’s story it sounds almost like a movie script. Born in New York City to Irish immigrants, moved to the country in Upstate New York, picked up a guitar with his buddy Dan Dinsmore, went off to California to be a rock star, and is now coming back home to play a show with his old friend in his old stomping grounds. It’s a lot more complicated than that but it does make for a great movie, or perhaps a song. Unfortunately, I think Bad Company beat me to it. Upstate Metal was lucky enough to talk to Chris Wyse last week to find out what the New York native has been up to and what the future holds for the talented bassist.
Back in the mid-80s, Chris and Dan met while attending Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, New York. Both were budding musicians and they quickly became good friends, Chris on bass and Dan on drums. “It was awesome [starting out in Upstate New York] because there was nothing else to do. So music ended up being our everything. We’d play the Koda Theater and do battle of the bands, and that became our learning ground.” There was a lot of support from friends and family. Things were simpler, but getting noticed was still a lot of hard work. They used tape to record demos, and they used to run around the area flyering cars for upcoming shows. (a lost art that has been replaced by the non-personal events calendar on Facebook). At lease less trees are harmed in the process. One of the places they used to flyer was the well-0known club, Saratoga Winners. Chris and Dan would play there when they were seniors in high school and their first couple years after graduation, to adults packing the place with fans many years older.
Chris got national attention for his innovative bass playing and was featured in Guitar Player Magazine when he was only 17. A few years after graduating from Shen, Chris moved to Los Angeles. In the 90’s, Chris played for various bands and projects with notable musicians including Tal Bachman (son of Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive), Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Paul D’Amour (original bassist for Tool) and more. It was for Paul D’Amour’s band Lusk that Chris “bought the upright bass, but that project froze due to troubles with the record company.” Chris went on from there and auditioned for Tal Bachman, playing a sort of John Paul Jones style bass. After getting his passport straightened out, he found himself on a plane to Maui to produce the record. It was there that he met Bob Rock, “…a “real stand-up guy. Bob was one of those people that I had a great time working with, and I tried to rock his tracks. That got me into The Cult, the audition with Metallica and more. It is paramount to have someone like that [in your corner].”
The Cult just finished seven years of touring, brought back producer Bob Rock (who also produced their albums Sonic Temple, The Cult, and Beyond Good and Evil), and released their ninth album, Choice of Weapon in 2012. Chris “loves this record, it’s a super strong record. It’s a very ‘now’ kind of record and they did a lot of work promoting it last year.” Later in 2012 The Cult also released a “prequel” album called Weapon of Choice, showing the stretches and energy that the band took in the studio. There is a raw feel to the new songs and it was evident that, as a whole, The Cult went back to their original UK roots. Chris’s unique style is evident throughout the album and it’s worth checking it out, on iTunes [here].
Now that The Cult is taking a break from touring and recording, Wyse can concentrate on his project, Owl. Owl includes his childhood friend, drummer Dan Dinsmore, and Jason Mezilis, who Chris met in Hollywood in the early 2000’s. “I met Jason in a club through a mutual friend. We hit it off and followed each other’s careers. I would join bands, be on the road, and Jason was aware of my old Owl shows. Jason is incredibly talented, competent and hit it off with Dan.” Together they are Owl and they recorded a few of their recent tracks at Overit Studios just outside of Albany. Dinsmore built the studio in an old Catholic Church. Chris added, “…The feeling and acoustics [in the church] are amazing. It gets you really inspired.”
Chris and Dan will be back in Clifton Park playing with Jason as Owl, on March 30th with other hometown artist, Maria Brink and her band, In This Moment. “Dan and I are excited to be there. It’s not just 2013 and promoting The Right Thing album. We played at that there as teens, when it was called Tigers. That’s the interesting thing. Playing Manhattan and LA feels like playing at home, but still nothing like playing down the road from where you first started playing music. I was just a teenager and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to play to my roots.”
Well, the honor is Upstate New York’s when local-gone-rock-star, Chris Wyse, comes back home to Upstate Concert Hall on March 30th. Upstate Metal will be there to witness the warm homecoming performance.
I’m going to get my hands wet in the review pool to give a plug to a relatively unknown style of music called Nintendocore. What is Nintendocore you ask? It’s like electronic style music that uses 8-bit sound like you would find in a Nintendo game. Some artists add their own spin on it for flavor, while others prefer to keep it original, creating a division within the genre. One of the things that drew me to it was the fact that most Nintendocore artists don’t collaborate face to face, but do so through networking, which overcomes obstacles like distance. They generally use video game themes to base their music around, such as Pokémon, Zelda, etc.
Ryan Taylor (in interview below) is working on an album based around all the Pokémon series. He had to push the release back because a whole new set just came out, which he needs to work into the album. From what he has told me, this is a first in the genre. Check out the interview below and decide for yourself how you feel about this nerd-culture based genre (I use nerd in a good way because at least they have a passion for something in life). Ryan will be releasing a demo soon with a deathcore spin on the style. For updates and the latest news add Pillars Of Sarnath and look up NOG Records as they are a leading label for this genre.
Mary Morgan Craig: So how has SXSW been treating you so far?
