NYS Music 20​13

Tag: Steve Strader

  • Luck Of The Punk: An Upstate sit-down with Lucky33

    Listening to Lucky33 is like a day at the California beach. Sun shining, the salty sea breeze hitting you in the face, bombing down the concrete half-pipe and your hair whipping behind you.  Lucky33 is a four-piece punk band that hails from central New York, calling both Syracuse and Oswego home. They advertise a blend of old-school punk with an indie feel to create “our distinct sound.”  Upstate Metal’s own Steve Strader recently had the honor of chatting with the band’s bassist, Jared “Red”.

    So how long have you cats been around?

    “After a few line up changes, L33 as it is today has been together since April of 2011.”

    Any side projects or past projects?

    “Duff (lead guitarist) does all kinds of acoustic covers and posts them on YouTube and Facebook. One of his most popular ones is a Drake song. (Laughs). I’ve played in a bunch of bands. I’m much older than the other guys in the band. I started out in the ska/punk band Ill Nature, then the funkcore band Lost Soul Division in the ’90s and early 2000s. After that, I played in the metal band Adiel and most recently – before L33 – Damaged In Transit. While I was in DIT, I met Dustin while playing a show together at the Lost Horizon. He was in The Black Lockets. I eventually joined TBL while still in DIT, while they looked for a full time bass player. Shortly after that, Dustin left the Lockets and I left DIT. Dustin, Duff and Kyle all went to school together. They had started Lucky33 and I joined shortly after that.

    So what band is your favorite?

    “By far mine is L33, and I know the other guys agree! I’ve never been in a band with guys like this! We have great chemistry and energy. We get along great and we’re best buds outside of the band. The song writing is very easy and comes quick. Usually Duff writes something on the acoustic and brings it to us and we go from there. That kid can write a catchy song! After playing for over 15 years, I’m enjoying playing more than I ever have.”

    How’s the pro-bono new logo coming along?

    “(Laughs.) We got a few people making some. I was only half serious, [I did it} more to get people conversing with us.”

    How’s the Guitar Center “Get Out of the Garage” contest coming along?

    “It ended a while back, did it to get more exposure basically.”

    If L33 were to be sponsored by a guitar company who would it be?

    “Gibson, hands down.”

    Anything coming out of the L33 compound we should be looking forward to?

    “We’re going to start recording a full length [album] this winter, so keep a look out for that!  Hopefully some merch, once the logo is done. We’re gonna hit up the guys in SRT to do the shirts. Tons of shows for the New Year, I’d like to do a split EP with our bro’s in High Dive Horse.”

    Any last words?

    “You rock Stevo! Thanks for the interview and the support. See you in January for the Entropy show.”

    For more information on the band, go visit their Facebook account.

  • One Last Shot Interview with Jeremy Miller

    One Last Shot is a Punk band hailing from Syracuse is anything less than heavy hitting. With heavy hitting vocals and powerful instrumentals to go along with it these guys will leave you pumped and angst wanted more. I had a chance to talk with Jeremy (vocals) about the band and their hush hush Halloween album release.

    Me: First off how did you guys meet? Were you high school buds? Random meet up somewhere and happened to hook up?

    Jeremy: The line up changed over the years, but the current member’s were all connected by friends of friends in the music community.

    Me: How did you guys come up with your name?

    Jeremy: The original members took the old name “One More Shot, One Last Chance” and consolidated it to “One Last Shot”

    Me: Is it a reference to hockey or does it have anything to do with being the underdog coming up and giving it one last shot at your dreams?

    Jeremy: It’s about anyone giving it one last shot at dreams, or anything at life that they are trying to do which seems impossible.

    Me: Who are some of your influence in music and or in your personal lives that make you do what you do?

    Jeremy: We all musically have different influences. But what I’ve noticed is we all have a love for music in our scene made in the early 2000’s.

    Me: How does the writing process go for you guys?

    Jeremy: It can happen in many ways, whoever has a musical idea, they bring it to the table and we go off of it. Currently we’ve been locked in a room surrounded by extreme horror movies every other day writing.

    Me: Speaking of writing process, I heard there was an album coming out soon! Would you care to shed some light one that?

    Jeremy: We’ve put so much time into this. Almost over a year and a half of ideas and writing. All songs are written and in a week we go in to record it. Oh and its 12 all new songs.

    Me: Date, people your working with?

    Jeremy: The album will be out on Halloween (Naturally). We’re working with a lot of people, but I will not be able to drop that bomb yet. The one I will tell you we’re working with is Steve Sopchak at Square Studios again. I wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s the best at what he does.

    Me: Album art?

    Jeremy: Not yet.

    Me: I know your a horror movie fan Jeremy, can you tell us…..Whats your favorite scary movie haha

    Jeremy: I have too many favorites. They are a huge influence on me and my art. The other members are really into horror movies too, so it works well.

    Me: The music video for “Guilt Like a Guillotine” did you direct and produce that yourself or did you bring outside influence?

    Jeremy: We had the nice folkes at Night Force Video help with it for fun before there was a such thing as Night Force Video. They will be doing our next one as well.

    Me: What were the trials and tribulations that went into making the video?

    Jeremy: Ummm… It was a quick thing, nothing too hard or serious. We will be taking way more time and putting a lot into the next one. It’s going to be awesome.

    Me: Lets take a step away from the music and talk about the Straight Edge lifestyle?

    Jeremy: Sure. It’s a clean lifestyle away from drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex.

    Me: Ive been hearing about a diffusion in the community, would you like to talk about that a bit?

    Jeremy: I honestly don’t do it for the community or care what goes on in it. I know that may sound disrespectful, but I mean no disrespect. I don’t do it for the community or care about a few assholes in it. No matter what you do, there will always be jerks messing with it and giving it a bad name. I just do it for me and for my health, and if I’m happy with myself that’s all that matters.

    Me: Any last words or stuff you’d like to throw out there that hasn’t been said or upcoming projects?

    Jeremy: Just expect this new album to be a flash from the past but in present time.

    Look out for them in a venue near you and check them out on any one of these links below!

    Website:

    http://www.onelastshotband.com/#store

    Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/onelastshot

    PureVolume:

    http://www.purevolume.com/onelastshot315

    Myspace:

    https://myspace.com/onelastshot

    Reverbnation:

    Throw my page a like on Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/315StreetTeam

  • The Gaia Theory Interview

    Here’s another band who answered my call for a written interview on the 315 Street Team Page. The Gaia Theory a type of metal best called Electronicore hails from Massena NY.

    Nick was the front man for the short lived yet face melting band In Seven Days. Aleskey (Guitarist) also has a electronica side project called “Word Child” which you can find on sound cloud. The Gaia Theory is currently at a stand still since they’re looking for a guitarist, bassist and a keyboard/synth player so if you think this music is up your ally hit them up! They were also featured in my compilation video “Music For You EarHole” which is where you can give their music a listen or it up FB and listen to some tracks they have up on the music player.

    (Steve) First off is it ok if I asked what happened to In Seven Days?

    (Nick) haha yeah its fine… Uhh ya know we hit a standstill and things just weren’t going the way we wanted and we all wanted different things for the band.. After our last show I quit the band and it just died out after I left..

    (Steve) How did you get together with your new band mates after the split?

    (Nick) I actually gave up on music for a few weeks just needed time to myself…. But then I got off my ass and wanted to get back into playing because it’s my life. So I posted adds on Craigslist looking for people to fill the spots and that’s when I found Aleksey (guitarist) the and it went from there haha

    (Aleksey) Yea basically, I had a post on craigslist and so did he, it was like destiny haha. And the rest of the mates we just found over time.

    (Steve) Give a brief description on what The Gaia Theory is and why you decided to name your band this?
    (Aleksey) The Gaia Theory is a scientific theory that basically states, that all living and non-living organisms on earth, work together in a constant utopian method to form a self-regulating environment, that basically contributes to maintaining life on earth. The name Gaia derives from the Goddess Gaia, who was the Goddess of Earth, and as mythology states, the mother to all gods. We chose the name, because it seemed to work with the style of music were playing, this whole concept of everything working together harmoniously, to create a stable sound haha. Plus the name sounds cool as hell.

    (Steve) Does anything from this idea affect your lyrics?

    (Nick) umm not at all ya know each song I write has its own story. Like one will be about death and gore. And then another will be about hope and uprising… Each song has its certain sound and lyrics meant for each other.. I also listen to what the band has come up with and I close my eyes and vision what it makes me think of.. And then write the lyrics

    (Steve) How does the writing process go for you guys? Does each individual person bring their own pizazz to the band or is it directed as a whole?

    (Aleksey) I mean it’s hard to say, sometimes it’s just directed as a whole, and other times we all bring in something different. We all come from different musical backgrounds, for example I come from a pure classical background. Our drummer comes from more of a punk/hardcore background, and so on. For the most part, we try to write everything together, my last band I was in, I basically had to write all the music, and that tends to be a lot of unwanted pressure, because then I have to keep in mind what I like and what every single person in the band likes. So I for the most part am trying to avoid taking that type of responsibility again.

    (Steve) Who does your artwork?

    (Nick) Aleksey and I do the artwork for the band

    (Steve) Nick you told me that your guitarist was from Russia, Does he give you guys a….worldly sound haha just joking. What kind of influence does he bring to the band?

    (Aleksey) To start off I’m Ukrainian haha, and I don’t think I do, except for the occasional slip of my accent, and the random folk strumming, can’t say I bring much of an Slavic ethnic musical background to the mix, but it might be a good idea to try.

    (Steve) Do you guys do your own recording? If so could you give any tips on to do this as a band starting out?

    (Aleksey) Well our current tracks we have up, I did the recording for them, and this was the first time I’ve ever done this type of recording. I’m used to producing electronic style music, but live music was new to me. For the most part were going to be doing self-recordings. It’s cheaper and we have full control over the final sound. The only tips I got, is find the software you want to use, read up on it, or YouTube the shit out of it, and just get started on it, you’re not going to sound good at first, I guarantee it. A big tip I got when recording guitars, for each guitar part record it 4 times, pan one side all the way right, one all the way left, and the other two pan 75% in each direction. It will create a fuller sound, trust me on that, it’s the only reason our recordings sound half decent, and make sure in the mixing process you equalize everything and throw compressors on everything. Otherwise, the beauty of this age is that it is the information age, use the internet to your advantage, there isn’t anything you can’t learn online.

    (Steve) You said you’ll be ready for shows this summer, do you have any lined up already or are you just waiting till you get to that step?

    (Aleksey) We don’t have any lined up, but we have connects, Nick and our drummer have access to the whole upstate New York scene, and being from Brooklyn, I got a bunch of connects down there and other parts of the tri-state area. Plus, recently since the upload of our latest track, we have been offered shows left and right. So were not too worried about landing shows, were mostly concerned about finishing up our set, and being read

  • Interview: Blood of the Martyrs

    botmimagesBlood 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.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35p0LZ0QPVc&w=560&h=315

    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.

    BOTM pages:
    http://www.facebook.com/Bloodofthemartyrs?fref=ts
    http://www.myspace.com/bloodofthemartyrs
    http://bloodofthemartyrs.bandcamp.com/al…
    http://www.youtube.com/user/BLOODOFTHEMA…
    http://twitter.com/BOTM_BAND

    315 Street Team:
    http://www.facebook.com/315StreetTeam?ref=ts&fref=ts

    http://www.youtube.com/user/rundownmaggot666

    The Division Sequence:
    http://www.facebook.com/TheDivisionSequence?ref=ts&fref=ts

  • High Dive Horse Interview

    hdh (1)

    When I put out a post that I was interested doing written interviews, one of the inquiries was from Tim Fields of High Dive Horse. I was excited about this, because I always enjoyed reading their Facebook posts and seeing their pictures with the horse head masks on. This was one of my favorite interviews because I love when a musician has a sense of humor.

    Steve Strader – First off how many members are there, four or five? Does it depend on the songs you guys play or just the availability of the group?

    Tim Fields – We currently have four members: myself (Tim Field) on drums, Adam Vlassis on bass, Drew Sweeney on guitar, and Chad Seyer on guitar/vocals. We are actually looking for a 5th member for lead vocals… Hint hint.

    SS – What was the inspiration behind your name? Is one of the members a jockey or involved in taking care of horses?

    TF – The inspiration behind our name was actually from the previous drummer of the group. He suggested the name and said we can say it is for protesting animal abuse, or something like that. And yeah, I think Adam likes horses. He is weird like that.

    SS – How did you guys come to form?  And when did the magic happen?

    TF – The band actually formed through a series of Craigslist ads. Adam always jokes about the first time he met Chad by saying “It was a successful Craigslist meeting because I didn’t get raped.” I think it has been over a year.

    SS – Who are some of your influences?

    TF – Influences range few and far between for our band. As for myself, I grew up on the “Wannabe Punk”, as the rest of the band calls it, consisting of Sum-41, Blink-182, and New Found Glory. However, I started to get into Metal and things like that. As of right now, my biggest influence is Nate Felty of Leylines, a local Syracuse band. Check them out. As for Adam, Chad, and Drew, they are all influenced by Lagwagon, Bad Religion, NOFX, Bad Astronaut, and Rise Against.

    SS – How is the success going for your street team? I mean the prizes you guys are offering: carrying your equipment around, a band member’s used bath towel… Who wouldn’t jump on that!

    TF – Our street team is so successful, it has five members: four of the band members and Chad’s cat, the panther. That’s about it. Who doesn’t want to rub my feet after a kick-ass show? Seriously.

    SS – On Valentine’s Day you said to expect big things soon; what kind of things can we expect in the near future?

    TF – The big things that are planned is the album, and we are going to begin playing shows again pretty soon, as the album is coming to a wrap.

    SS – I see that you guys like PBR! What words do you have for the hipster a**holes who hijacked the image of it?

    TF – To anyone who hurts PBR, you will die.

    SS – The horse heads in your photo albums are very comical. What caused you to use these horse heads?  Is it just a gimmick to go along with you name? What’s the story behind it?

    TF-The horse heads we use in our pictures for Facebook is kind of a play on our name, of course. It is comical to have pictures of people doing stupid stuff in a horse mask, am I right?

    SS – How does it feel to not be nominated for a Sammy?

    TF – MAN, I cant BELIEVE we were not nominated for a SAMMY after only playing, what, like four shows? Haha!

    SS – Adam, if someone were to open your fridge what would they find?

    TF-If you opened Adam’s fridge, it would be lined with Tofu and vegan stuff. Extra firm too. Oh baby.

    SS – Tim mentioned your album will be coming out soon. What has the creative process been like? I saw on Facebook you had to do multiple takes on the drum tracking. What have been the highs and lows making it? Remember, don’t spare any gritty details either!

    TF – Oh boy, the album. Well, we are recording it and producing it through Boilerplate Records, as Chad owns part of it. We recorded guitars, bass, and vocals down in his basement, and then transferred the studio to my house for the drum recording – the worst part… Drums suck to record. But overall, it has been a very fun and creative process, but one I would not want to go through all the time. I can speak for everyone on that.

    SS – Anything to be seen or heard from High Dive Horse in the near or distant future?

    TF – Expect the album! Thanks for interviewing us!

    SS – The pleasure was all mine, looking forward to seeing you guys in the future!

    Give them a like on Facebook; there are a few tracks there for download. Then head over to the 315 Street Team page and give us a like. I have Video interviews on my YouTube channel which is located in the “About” section. Support the scene and if you see these guys are playing, go and wile out!