Interview with Josh Smith from Halestorm at Rock On The Range 2015

How has the response to Into the Wild Life been?

It’s been really amazing… I mean, the best response to an album yet. Even in terms of not only positive feedback, but just response in general. There’s negative feedback, but it’s fun to read all the comments and what people think, why they think it, and their interpretations of the music. It’s been really cool. I enjoy it and we’re having such a great time playing all the new stuff live and having more stuff to fit in the catalogue and mess with the setlist every night. It’s been a blast. And I’m not sick of the album yet, I’ve been listening to it!

I’m not either! [laughs]

I have to listen to it still just to fine tune and see what else I can make work live. In listening to it still, I enjoy it.

You talked about the setlist, what goes into y’all picking the songs that get played and don’t get played? I know festivals are a little different, but when I saw you in Birmingham a few weeks ago and I noticed that each set has the same songs, but in a different order.

It’s kind of just being aware on stage of how everything’s working, the flow of the set, and also paying attention to the crowd and seeing if they’re enjoying themselves or if there’s any dead air, “Oh, that was really awkward,” you know? And when you have an awkward moment on stage, it’s probably about five seconds but it feels like an eternity. So it’s just kinda keeping that in mind and constantly seeing how you can improve on song placement or what songs are played. We’re early on in this album cycle so we have to be careful with how much new stuff we play because you have to think that essentially not everyone has heard the album yet so you have to keep the old stuff active and alive. Sort of put a new song in, and then maybe an old song, then a new song, then two old songs, and just sprinkle it in accordingly. I think the coolest part is now that we have thirteen more songs to throw in, it gives us the flexibility to change it up every night and say “Let’s try this here” or “Let’s try this there”. That’s like the dream to write the setlist right before you go on stage and do it like Pearl Jam does.

That’s my band! That’s what I was thinking of, but I wasn’t gonna say anything. Besides Hanson, that is my other band! I have 13 favorite bands and y’all are in the top 13.

Oh my god, that’s awesome.

My mom and I follow Pearl Jam, so that’s our band.

So do we, they are a true rock band.

Have you seen Pearl Jam?

I, shoot me now, have not seen Pearl Jam live.

My mom has seen Pearl Jam almost 80 times. Not exaggerating. I’ve seen them nine times.

That’s so cool. I’ve gotten tickets for my brothers to see them.

Well that’s not fair!

It’s not!

Where did they see them?

They saw them in Philadelphia at the Made in America concert. My friends went to the last Spectrum concerts, which was cool, but I’m just waiting for the day I get to see them. It can’t come soon enough.

We make travel plans around Pearl Jam tours, like “Oh, we’re going on vacation but we’re seeing Pearl Jam while we’re there.” My first Pearl Jam show was in Hawaii in 2006. It was the first time I had flown anywhere, and I flew to Hawaii, not for vacation, but to see Pearl Jam and then we plan the vacation around seeing Pearl Jam.

Perfect. Sounds like a great trip.

I was in the sixth grade when that happened, oh my god I feel old now.

I doubt you’re older than me.

No, I’m not. I’m a baby. I’m probably the youngest one in this room.

You’re an old baby.

Yeah, looking around, I think I’m the youngest one here.

I’d say that’s accurate.

I mean I’m not even old enough to drink.

Wow! [laughs] you are young.

What do you think about the current state of music? It can be your type of music or music in general.

I think the current state of music is at an exciting time. For the last few years, it seems like rock music or just real music with people playing instruments sort of took a back seat to electronic, poppy sounding stuff which is fine, that’s just the evident flow, sort of the pendulum swing-

Pearl Jam reference!

Yeah!

I hope you caught that.

I just dropped a little easter egg there and she found it.

Did you do that on purpose?

Yes! [laughs] but I have a feeling that it’s swinging back in our direction though and you know, you’re seeing rock bands up on the charts again and you’re seeing some of the best turnouts at festivals that we’ve ever seen so this is amazing and it’s a good time to be a rock fan. I think it’s a damn good time in music and I think you’re gonna hear some stuff in the next few years that you’ll hear for the rest of your time.

Is there anything else you wanna add?

No, thanks for taking the time and hanging out and I can’t wait to get back down to Alabama soon.

Interview with Spencer Sotelo from Periphery at Rock On The Range May 2015

How has the response to the Juggernaut albums been?

It’s been going really well. That’s something that’s really cool for us because when we’re writing records, we’re not writing for other people or thinking “What’s this person going to like? We should write for this type of audience.” We normally just write for ourselves and the response to the record has been awesome so we’re just going to keep doing that.

Why did you do it as a double album? What was the inspiration behind that?

Well first off, with how much music it is, it won’t fit onto one disc so we had to split them up. Aside from that, everything on the record is based on this story, this whole narrative that happens throughout the record.

So it’s like a concept album?

It’s a concept album through and through. On both records, it’s like one half and the other half. They both go together. We didn’t want to sell it short in any way. We could have chopped pieces here and there to make it fit, but we didn’t want to sell any of our artistic side short.

What exactly is a Juggernaut? I don’t even know what that is.

I think it just means something massive or big.

I probably could have Googled it, but you know. [Laughs] I saw y'all back in 2010 or 2011 with Deftones. I don’t even remember what city it was, I went to so many shows that year!

That was a fun tour.

Whichever tour that was… Mobile, that’s where it was! I wanted to come see you in Birmingham a few weeks ago, but it was finals week and I couldn’t get there.

Aw, that’s a bummer. Are you going to get to see us play today?

Yes! I usually try to shoot all the bands I interview.

Awesome. I’ll be wearing a pink kitten shirt on stage today so make sure you get some good shots of that!

That’s so cool! I started the first part about the tour with Deftones to ask how have you evolved as musicians and how has your sound evolved since then, if it’s evolved at all?

It has, but it’s been like a subconscious thing. It’s a thing where we set out a goal to make every record that we write sound a little bit different. Not in any certain style, it’s just like “let’s do something different this time!” We kinda just go with it, it’s not like we’re thinking about it too much, but I think there is a clear evolution between every record for sure.

I’m going to show my ignorance for a second, but what’s the name of the album with the red and black cover?

Periphery II? Is that the one?

I think so. I have that album in my car.

Yeah, that was more of a like a songwritey, like every song has its own kinda thing record. On Juggernaut, it’s like every song is working together.

I love albums like that. Some of the best albums are concept albums. So in your mind, what do you think makes you stand out as a band?

I think it’s the clear progressive aspect that we have as a band. We can write catchy songs that I guess could be played on the radio, but at the same time-

“Alpha” is pretty damn catchy! I’m not even going to lie.

It’s a catchy track, but what a lot of people don’t realize is in that song, the time signature is like in ⅞ mostly. I can’t remember the last time a song that was in ⅞ was played on the radio. It was probably like a Led Zeppelin song or something.

What do you think about the current state of music?

I think, like how I was talking about earlier that we write for ourselves, I think more people should do that. I think that’s the way it used to be in the 70s, 80’s, and the early 90’s, ya know? A lot of the biggest artists of all time, that’s how they wrote. I feel like a lot of people nowadays are putting themselves into this cookie cutter mold and writing music for other people to get ahead or make more money and things like that. I think it’s tasteless to be honest. It’s art, so it should be treated as art.

Is there anything else you wanna add?

For anyone that hasn’t picked up our Juggernaut double disc record yet, go pick it up!

Shaky Knees Music Festival Atlanta, Georgia May 8-10, 2015

Enjoy these pictures from the 2015 Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta Georgia!

Primus Iron City Birmingham, AL 5/12/14

Primus is one of the most interesting bands I have seen in my 17 years of concert going. I highly recommend going to see them just for the experience. It is unmatched. This was also my first experience that split the show into two sets without an encore. Bands do that?

Anyway, they played

Set 1:

Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers

Moron TV

American Life

Lee Van Cleef

Over the Falls

Last Salmon Man

Wynona's Big Brown Beaver

Over the Electric Grapevine

Set 2:

Spegetti Western

Here Come the Bastards

Southbound Pachyderm

Jilly's on Smack

John the Fisherman (My song!!!)

Dirty Drowning Man

My Name Is Mud

Jerry Was a Race Car Driver

There were many signs in the audience but the one that took the cake for me, was the one that said "Les, let's go fishing!"

Claypool saw it and talked about his rock star friends who had women who would throw their bras and underwear on stage and ask to go backstage with them and instead of that, he had grown men who wanted to go fishing with him.

That was so effing funny. 

Disturbed Five Finger Death Punch, and Art Of Dying Birmingham, Alabama 2008

So my first Disturbed concert was good. I was really surprised with the guy to girl ratio. In the security line, they split us by gender so we could be searched. There were probably 15 girls at the entire show, including me. I was not as surprised with the kid to adult ratio because most parents would not bring their children to a concert like this. I honestly think I was the only kid there. I was 12. Anyway, the first band was The Art Of Dying. I had never heard of them at that point (I have now) but I thought it was really cool that they drove all the way from Ontario, Canada to play for us. They played Crime, You Don’t Know Me, Raining, Let The Fire Burn, Fits Of Clarity, Die Trying, Them Bones (Alice In Chains cover), Completely, and Get Thru This. I really wish they would come back around so I could see them again. After AOD, was Five Finger Death Punch. When I saw them, the only song I knew by them at that point was The Bleeding. I later found out that they played Ashes, Salvation, The Way Of The Fist, White Knuckles, Bad Company, and The Bleeding. Their first album, The Way Of The Fist, is honestly one of my favorite albums ever and I have seen them once since this show and they still bring it. After 5FDP, was Disturbed. They opened with Prayer and followed it with Liberate, Perfect Insanity, Voices, Just Stop, Remember, Deify, Stupify, Land Of Confusion (Genesis Cover), and The Game. They encored with Inside The Fire, Stricken, and Down With The Sickness. During the show, David [Drainman], started talking about ghosts and how the venue was haunted. It was not that scary, though. This show was really loud and there were a few thousand people in a steel shed the size of a school gym. Can we say awesome?