Interview with Atlas Road Crew

I had the opportunity to interview an amazing band out of South Carolina, Atlas Road Crew. If they ever come to your neck of the woods, I highly recommend going to see them. Their live set is wonderful and the guys in the band are the epitome of kindness and I have a newfound sense of friendship because of them. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed giving it. :)

Dave Beddingfield - Guitar

Patrick Drohan - Drummer

1. - How has being from Charleston/The South influenced your music?

DB: We love all types of music, seriously. We are proud to be a band from the South East and since Southern Rock is associated primarily with this region, we cant help but to add a little southern flare and twang to our sound, it just comes to us naturally. 

PD: We all have similar influences from southern rock bands such as The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think it's pretty apparent in our music- you can see threads of these bands running through the songs. 

2. - You've opened for some pretty notable people this past year such as Hard Working Americans etc. How has that experience helped you to be better musicians and what did you learn from the experience?

DB: We have opened up for Hard Working Americans and for Hootie and the Blowfish.  Both bands were extremely classy, well-mannered to the staff and fans, and performed in a very professional manner. Professionalism was the main lesson we took with us after parting ways. We have oddly noticed that we sound a lot tighter and fluent after having 1 beer  before we play rather than having 6 or 7, imagine that!?

PD: Opening up for these bigger national acts definitely makes us act a little bit more professional. Although we still managed to steal all of Dave Schools' beer backstage in DC. Everything with those acts is just such a well-oiled machine. They have roadies, bus drivers, instrument techs, all that stuff. It gives ourselves something to work towards as well.

3. - How was Wakarusa?

DB: Wakarusa was a dream come true. It was an eye opening experience to see that many incredible musicians in one central location. We ended up camping out that entire weekend and wanted to experience the festival in full force.... man is Wakarusa an animal. That might have been the longest 16 hour drive back I have ever experienced. 

PD: Wakarusa was unbelievable. Talk about a well run festival. Every logistic one could imagine was covered from end to end. It was such a cool experience to get to play this festival and we gained a lot of fans from it. We also got to stay and party for the remainder of it as well... which meant access to front row at every show and the ability to meet/network with the other artists. 

4. - How did you get the name?

DB: We used to practice in a storage shed off of "Atlas Road" in Columbia, South Carolina. Scrambling around for a name right before our first gig, "Atlas Road Crew" was thrown into the mix it sure as hell has stuck ever since

PD: Our first practice spot was a storage unit off of Atlas Road in Columbia, SC. It was hot as hell in there in the summers and freezing cold in the winters. Pretty much practicing in a tin box. Definitely damaged all of our hearing, too. Well worth it!

5. - Best piece of advice anyone ever gave you about being in the industry?

DB: DO NOT burn bridges! Whoever was honest and helped you in the beginning, keep them around and continue to listen to them. Always make sure your "team" is looking out for the best interest for the group.

PD: Play as many live shows as possible!

6. - Who are your influences and how have they shaped your style and sound?

DB: Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, Phish, Black Crowes. We like to think we have a southern twangy sound to our music. We even began to have a few slide guitar songs that were directly influenced by Duane Allman. We try to create a catchy song that is backed with riveting guitar riffs and an exciting piano style that you can find in a lot of Southern Rock songs.

PD: My personal influences are mainly British rock bands like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Beatles. A lot of cool mojo coming from those bands. I like the attitude in their music. I also grew up listening to Blink 182 / Red Hot Chili Peppers which has a big affect on my drumming style. 

7. - Is this your first time in Alabama? If so what are you most looking forward to? If not, when was the first time?

DB: This is our third time in Alabama. We played a private party in the Spring for one of the fraternities on Campus and played at "The Nick" in Birmingham 

PD: This will be our second time in Alabama. We did a fraternity show in T town last spring. We're looking forward to our first show on such a notoriously rowdy college campus! All of us are pretty recent graduates of USC so visiting other SEC campuses is always a blast.

8. - Clemson or Gamecocks

DB: I bleed Garnet. Gamecocks all the way.

PD: GAMECOCKS

9. - What can we expect from a live show?

DB: Electric amount of energy, passion for the music, and usually an audible or two on our "written out setlist". Anything goes and crowd requests can change up our setlist entirely.

PD: A high energy atmosphere. We do a lot of off-the-cuff jamming as well. We're a band that really feeds off of the crowd's energy. 

10. - What is your fan-base like?

DB: We typically have college kids to young adults at our live performances. Those shows tend to get pretty wild... to say the least. Depending on the venue,  sometimes our crowd can range from 18-70 (sometimes older). 

PD: Naturally, starting on a college campus in South Carolina- we have a lot of college-aged fans. That's usually who shows up to our shows in our big markets. We're starting to get a little older crowd show up as well. The people who were are age when like The Black Crowes were blowing up seem to like us. 

11. - What is your main goal as a band?

DB: Our first goal is to sell as many records as possible and get our music into as many ears as we can. Our second goal is to be able to make a comfortable living performing full-time. It would be incredible to have the band as a steady, primary source of income and only have to focus on the music aspect and not any other side jobs to make ends meet.

PD: To connect with as many people as possible. Like I said before, we are a band that truly believes in a shared atmosphere of energy at the show. If the crowd is going wild, we'll go even harder. 

12. - Anything else you want to add?

DB: We are pumped to finally come back to Alabama. All we would like to say from Atlas 

Road Crew to the Alabama Students is...RMFT!

PD: We're currently recording our first full length album with platinum-producer Rick Beato based out of Atlanta, GA. Also doing a few songs with Corey Plaugh in Columbia, SC. This has been a culmination of two years touring/songwriting on our current EP that's out. Aiming for a February release!