When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens,
Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's
"Detroit Rock City,"
it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and
mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's
since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and
revolutionary to your ears. What have been your musical epiphany moments?
The first time my dad played Hendrix for me changed my
entire world. Hearing guitar played like that was an absolute revelation &
it made me want to do likewise. Hearing "Honey Bucket" by the Melvins
for the first time on MTV opened my eyes to a whole different world of music.
Tom Waits still to this day defines cool to me since the first time I heard him
& his piano.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What
comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
Almost always starts with a riff. Someone will have a cool
riff or a couple riffs that could go together, and then we'll all kind of pick
and prod and poke at it over and over until we piece together a song, and then
I'll start coming up with lyrics and melodies for vocals. Pretty boring,
honestly. Just 3 dudes jamming until something sticks.
Who has influenced you the most?
Me personally? Mike Patton. His off the wall projects and
his consistent push towards breaking the sonic barriers of what sound can sound
like is a constant source of inspiration. Plus his bands usually kick ass.
Band wise you go ahead and pick the AmRep band you like the
most and we'll go with that.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new
motivation?
It's inspirational & motivational to see people you know
succeed. To see them overcoming their obstacles and finding true success with
their art tells me I can do it, too. I have no idea where ideas come from. We
just try to catch them when they get close.
We're all a product of our environment. Tell us about the
band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?
We're from Orlando,
FL. Most people automatically
think of theme parks, but the part that they get wrong is thinking of Disney.
See, we live in real life Jurassic
Park. There's one way
into Florida
and one way out. There are so many bizarre animals and leftover creatures in
this state. All the Florida Man stuff you see all over the internet? That's all
very real, and is just normal for us here. It's this weird contrast of the most
fucked up, weird shit you'll ever see anywhere in the world & then there's
a dancing singing mouse with cartoon friends luring strangers into this place.
It's almost impossible to explain the bizarre contradictions of Florida. Is any of this
helping you see how it influences the music?
Where'd the band name come from?
It sounded cool. Could probably bullshit up some story but
it just sounded cool.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the
soundtrack for?
I would love it to be something cool like if they ever make
a Borderlands movie or something, but it'll probably be like John Wick Chapter
7.
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple
Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000
word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
I'm going to go with something like Ars Moriendi by Mr.
Bungle because the challenge of breaking down something so layered, detailed,
and crazy into only 1,000 words seems like it'd be a fun idea that I would
procrastinate on and then do at the last minute while screaming at my computer
for a few hours barely meeting the deadline.
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap,
rock and roll moments?
One time at a large show in front of over 2,000 people all
my gear shit the bed one piece at a time. My guitar's input jack broke, then my
cables, then my pedalboard, and finally my amp set on fire. That was fun.
There's a lot of these stories and none of them look good on paper, but they
were fun. Ask me at a show I'll tell ya some fun ones.
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you
and for your fans?
I'm going to try and answer this question and try to avoid
all the stereotypical bullshit "Man, live is what we live for. We get up
on that stage and we put everything we have on there" blah blah blah how
many answers do you get like that? It's gotta be disappointing, or boring. Or
both, and that isn't what we're about. We like playing live. We like playing
live so much that we tracked our EP, Scholars of War, completely live. There's
a certain energy to it that you can't get any other way. We just want to crank
up really loud & be as big a force of destruction as possible for 25-30
minutes at a time. Some people get that and it's a fun show. Some people don't.
Fuck those people.
What makes a great song?
This is a good question, and anyone who gives you a legit
answer is lying, wrong, or delusional. None of us know why a song is great, we
just know something great when we hear it. And anyone who tries to tell you
they know more than that is trying to sell you a songwriting class. Tell them
to go fuck themselves.
Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?
I was 13 & it was a real bag of garbage. LIVE IN THE
NOW.
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
Normally, I'm a pretty self-deprecating person. I'm not one
to brag on my shit, really. But this new record is really good. I'm very proud
of it. I'm hoping that as we keep writing new music we're able to keep this
level of quality going.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
There's a lot of people writing great songs. What genre do
you wanna discuss the great songs of? We'll stick with our realm, for the
moment. Whores are a great band all around, Ken Mode know how to throw down.
Low Dose are making great music. Multicult are the shit. Dead Register make
great tunes. 68' is pretty solid. There's a million bands out there....start
exploring.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
I like listening to things at home on vinyl, but digital is
how I listen to most of my music. Can't have a record player in the car, ya
know?
Whiskey or beer? And
defend your choice
You ever heard that phrase Beer is an acquired taste? That
means it tastes like shit, but if you drink enough of it you'll stop caring.
Whiskey over piss water every day all day. Although honestly we're not much for
drinking these days. We prefer to smoke our poisons.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new
music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record
store to lose ourselves in?
Rock N Roll Heaven on Orange.
What's next for the band?
Gonna put out this EP, then we're going to go on tour, then
we're gonna come home & record another EP, then put it out, then go on
tour, etc etc etc
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our
readers, the waveriders?
Do people actually call themselves the Waveriders? That
sounds like the gang that Dennis Hopper led in Waterworld. Waterworld is a
terrible movie. Don't be something that could be associated with that movie.
The Ripple Effect needs a cooler nickname for its readers and fans. Run a
contest for that or something.
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