Interview with Digital Summer at Welcome To Rockville

I had the opportunity to interview Digital Summer. The band is made up of brothers Ian and Kyle Winterstein, Guido, and Austin Rios. This interview is definitely one of the most fun interviews I've ever done and I hope you are as entertained reading it as I was giving it. Enjoy!

Any updates on new music?

Ian - We are smack dab in the middle of our tour with Volbeat and Trivium. When we get back to Phoenix in mid May, we are going to sit down for awhile. We've already started the writing process for the new record. We have a few songs demo-ed out. We are going to finish that up, do some more touring and hopefully hit the studio.

Kyle - We are taking our time on this one. Recently, about six months ago, put out an acoustic album. It was more to appease the fans with something between album cycles because we are still riding off Breaking Point, our last album. The title track from that album is our current single on Octane. We are still pushing that cycle and we don't want to jump the gun. We've kind of decided that our next record is going to be with a named producer. It's going to be like we are swinging for the fences with this one. It's going to be the biggest and best that we've ever put out there. We are not jumping the gun. We would rather take our time and make sure we've got exactly what we want. It's like a new identity for the band. We've gone through a lot over this last year and a half to two years and we are being real picky with what we're putting out there this next time around.

Talk about the acoustic album please because I really liked it.

[The whole band mutters responses, such as That's Great, That's awesome, and Thank You. The look on their faces was very appreciative, too.]

Kyle - We always do acoustic stuff with our fans after the shows. Even on this tour. Right now we are out with Volbeat and Trivium. Almost every night after the show, we do a little VIP acoustic session on the bus with 10 to 12 fans. We do a few songs. It's something we started doing a few years back on tour just as "Hey, we're hanging out" thing. It's an experience they really enjoy. It's a different side of the band. Normally, we throw down pretty heavy on stage. But we like doing the softer side of things. We talked about doing [an acoustic album] and we started working on it and we really liked how it was coming together. It was one of those things to where once it started moving, we were like "Shit, yeah, we gotta do more with this. So we did. On a personal level me and Ian, our mom passed away suddenly last August right when we were finishing up that album. That was always her favorite thing that we did. So it was like we had to get it out there as a tribute to our mom and it was that simple.

Aww. Stop! I'll cry! Ok, now I'm just going to free-ball it here. I only had a few questions so I don't really know what else to ask.

Band - Just like all of us, don't worry. [laughs]

Ian - CAN I INTERVIEW YOU?!

Sure! Go for it!

Ian - What's your favorite superhero?

I don't like superheroes. But...

[The whole band gasps]

If I had to pick it would be Captain America because

Austin - Because he's hot?

Ian - Easy, Bud!

No. Because Pearl Jam, in 2003, Pearl Jam is one of my bands, by the way, I follow them around, they used the Captain America shield on one of their t shirts and that's my favorite Pearl Jam shirt.

Kyle - That's a good reason. I like that.

Ian - If you had to choose between a free pony or a new car, what would you choose?

Well, I hate ponies, but my car is ok.

Kyle - Man, she's got this shit down!

[Someone asks Ian what kind of car]

Ian - A Chevy Aveo

I don't know what that is.

Band - We don't either!

I'd take the car because I hate ponies

Ian - What if the pony was going to be murdered?

I don't care. I hate ponies. Ponies are asses!

Band - OHHHHH!!!

Kyle - PETA is coming after you!

I don't care! Screw PETA! I like steak. [laughs]

Ian - (Digital Summer does not endorse that!) I'm Kidding.

Kyle - HOLD ON A SECOND. We are about to add to this interview. If you could sum up Digital Summer in 10 words or less, what would you say? Rick Dejesus from Adelita's Way!

RD - In 10 words or less? You mother fuckers are intense. That's really it

Kyle - We are camping in tents.

[I high five him. Everyone else laughs]

RD - You've never seen a band earn their fucking shit more than these guys. One day you're going to have a firm and people are going to walk in and be like "So, tell me about the music business" and they are going to be like "OK, here's page one.

Ian - Let me tell you about everything we've gone through! The greatest story in rock and roll!  

Kyle - [cuts in while the other guys are talking] Just so you know Dog On A Leash, Adelita's Way, out now!

RD - Alright I'm not going to fuck you guys's shit up. You guys gonna eat after this? What are you guys doing? [laughs]

Ian - We have our own whiskey brand called Head-banger's. drinkheadbanger.com

RD - [walking away] - That shit fucked me up last night! Hey! let's catch up later ok?

Ian - We played with Adelita's Way and New Medicine last night in Destin, Florida. We let them be the taste testers of the new whiskey and needless to say, they are feeling it today. They enjoyed it

Fun fact of the day, my favorite band, don't judge me, is Hanson. They have their own beer and it's called MMMHops.

Ian - They are old enough to have beer now?

Guido - Hold on a minute... MMMHops?

Kyle - That was a lot to take in at once. What did you just say?

[everyone around us is intrigued and laughing]

Kyle - Ok, your favorite band is Hanson? Let's just process that for a moment.

Yes

Ian - I thought Pearl Jam was your favorite band?

They are. I have 13 favorite bands.

Kyle - They are old enough to have their own beer?

Two of them are in their thirties, one is almost in their thirties and between the three of them they have 11 children.

Band - HOLY SHIT!

Kyle - They're Mormon! 11 children?

They are not Mormon.

Ian - They're rabbits!

They are still together, just saying.

Guido - I'm going to check them out and go to a show.

Please do.

Ian - She really just said, "My favorite band is Hanson and they have eleven kids and their own beer."

I don't drink, but their beer is disgusting. But I thought the name was clever.

Ian - MMMHops? Yeah, that is pretty clever.

Kyle - How old are you?

18

Ian - Look at you out here interviewing bands. I want to shake your hand!

Kyle - How did you get here?

Guido - What's your story?

I don't have a freaking idea.

Ian - Well, way to be lost!

Lost in the world!

Ian - Lost in the right place

Austin - Lost In The Echo!

AH! Linkin Park!

Kyle - Are you doing this for school?

Nope. Myself. My blog.

This interview just took a turn for the weird. [Laughs] This is actually one of the most fun interview I think I've done. For the newspaper, we have a certain style we have to follow and it drives me bananas.

Ian - That shit IS bananas.

Kyle - B-A-N-A-N-A-S

OK, Gwen Stefani

Band - That shit is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Ian - Well, thank you very much, Kinsey. This was fun.

Of course!

Interview with Craig Owens from Chiodos at Welcome To Rockville

I had the opportunity to interview Craig Owens from Chiodos at Welcome To Rockville about their new album Devil. There is some really good information in here and I hope you enjoy it!

How has the response to Devil been?

CO - The response to Devil has been crazy, really overwhelming. I think we're reconnecting with a lot of old fans. They enabled us to make music in the first place. It's really amazing, but we've got a lot of work to do because we have some high expectations for ourselves.

How has the tour been for the new album so far?

CO - Devil's Dance Tour is what we're on right now and it's been crazy. We're two weeks in and it's the same as the record: overwhelming. There are so many people coming out. It gives us a chance to really reconnect and see face to face and present our new music. We've, more importantly, have been solidifying our relationships and having fun on stage. It's amazing. It's a blessing that people really care about this band.

Aww! You're going to make me cry! Stop!

CO - [Laughs] I don't want to make you cry.

It would be happy tears. OK, what is your favorite song on the new album?

CO - Right now my favorite song is probably 3 a.m. It's about the fact that you can always do better. I love that track. It's heavy. It's got hints of great dynamics. I think it's really well structured, lyrically and it means a lot to me.

Did you write it?

CO - Yeah. Of course. We write all of our music. There is no song that I did not have a big hand in writing on that record. I won't say I wrote it all, but I did have a big hand in all of it.

You just released a new music video. Tell me about that.

CO - Uh, it's a video? [Chortles]

Yeah? [Laughs]

CO - I'm not very excited about it to be honest. It isn't what we wanted it to be, originally. But, I still stand behind it and I still back it because there were people that worked hard on it so I'm not just gonna diss it. I can just say that it wasn't exactly what we had envisioned for it. But I have nothing but respect for the people that worked hard for it.

  

What was your favorite part of the recording process?

CO - Definitely the writing part. I know that the landscape of rock music has changed. It used to be that you write and record for two years and you go out and tour for six months. Now, it's you tour for two years and you write and record for three months tops because that's what pays the bills right now.

I enjoy that.

CO - I don't. I think it hurts rock music. I think people are so focused on winning over live that they haven't focused in on what the art is itself. I would like to see that evolve a little bit more. So the creation process is my favorite. I love writing music.

Anything else you want to add?

CO - Yeah! For any fans out there that check out Kinsey's Blog and enjoy us, I just want to thank you so much for your support. I know that we've been inconsistent throughout the years: our ups and our downs but I want to let you know right here that Chiodos is back!

Interview with Rick Dejesus from Adelita's Way at Welcome To Rockville

I have listened to Adelita's Way since 2009 when their first album came out. I have now seen them four times since then, counting this weekends show. I had the opportunity to interview Rick Dejesus, their singer. I was the most thrilled about getting to talk to him about my favorite AW song, which I never thought I would get to do. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed giving it!

What can we expect with the new album?

RD - I don't want to use the phrase "chip on my shoulder", but I really came with the mentality of where I wanted to be as an artist and I want to be at the top. I want to be headlining all these festivals. I don't want to be on the main stage opening. I want to be the guy at the end. So I came in with the mentality of making this record of knowing what I'm capable of and what we're capable of and we really pushed ourselves to do something so special. That's what people can expect from the whole record. It's all of us, man, it's everything I have in me for rock music right now.

How will this album be different than the previous two?

RD- I like the previous two.

I love the previous two.

RD - You know what? We're Adelita's Way and we didn't change that. What we did was we made sure we made an album and that there were 13 songs that people could get lost inside of.

Thirteen?

RD - That's what I gave them. I delivered 13 tracks.

Usually albums now are too short. It drives me crazy.

RD - We made it a long experience. There is something for everyone on there. There's songs where we jam for seven minutes and we just fucking rock. Then there are songs when people are going to listen and they are going to be like "Oh my God. This is my song. This is the song he wrote for me. I'm sure."

Backtracking to Home School Valedictorian, Somebody Wishes They Were You, that is my song!

RD - Yeah, man!

That is my "I'm in my car, screaming my guts out, crying my eyes out song."

RD - I wrote that. Whenever I start complaining about the littlest things, I catch myself, and I remember that I am so blessed to even be in America. I'm so blessed to have the family I have. I try to go back to the roots. Somebody Wishes They Were You is a song that takes you back to the roots of the good in your life. Somewhere out there, there is someone who is really having a hard time and it's not us, you know?

How has the response been to your new single, Dog On A Leash?

RD - It's been good. I think people get shocked when they hear something new, but they don't know what to expect. They try to do too much digging and figure out if this is the whole tone of the new album. No! it's just one song!

People do that with Linkin Park and it drives me crazy. They are one of my favorites.

RD - It's just a song. We made a song. We released a song. There will be another one coming. And another one and thirteen more to follow. Do I think it's the best song on the record? No. I love our record. I do think that people feel like a dog on a leash. Everybody. Whether you're married, you're in a relationship long term: boyfriend or girlfriend, whether you have a job, you always have to ask somebody "Am I allowed to do this? Can I do this?" Everybody's a dog on a leash. It's you. It's me. It's every man that walks in. When people connect to the song, it's not a song that's like this pop song that you listen to one time and you're like "Oh, that's a pop song." No. You have to be deep with me. You have to listen to the lyrics. You have to understand what kind of guy or woman writes that.

Unless you're Top 40 and you don't write your own songs.

RD - You have the same chorus, you don't have verses or bridges. You can't even really sing it, honestly. If you're a pop person, you don't even really sing they just give it someone and say "This is it." That's bad.

I'm kind of hesitant to ask this next question...

RD - Don't Be.

How has the band adjusted to Derrick leaving?

RD - I LOVE him. I love the experience that he was on this journey with me. But the band is alright. I feel like we're better than ever. Music isn't what it once was. It's not the rewards it used to be. You don't sign million dollar bonuses. You've got to love the music. You've got to come out here and you've got to love the fans and love the music. That's the only reason you come out here. The glory is all but gone. For us, nothing is going to stop us continuing forward. If other people don't continue or however it goes down, I love music. I'm going to go until the day that I decide people are going to get the last Adelita's Way record.

NEVER!

RD - [Laughs]

Anything else you want to add?

RD - I just want to thank the fans and thank you, and thank every body, for supporting us: keeping rock alive. It's all about the community right now that is still here. The rest of them are running. People who said they love rock are now changing their radio stations to Alternative. People who used to love Rock on TV, now they aren't playing any rock on TV. We're the ones that are still here. Everyone else is bailing. Thank you to everyone who is still united with us.

Roll Tide!

RD - Roll Tide, baby!  [High Five] Just don't say that in front of our merch guy. He is a Vols fan.

Well not everyone is perfect. 

Interview with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire at Welcome To Rockville

My second interview at Welcome To Rockville was with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire. Enjoy!

How has the response to Unconditional been?

Mullins - Incredible. I don't read too much into online as much as I just really enjoy one on one interactions with people at shows. When they come up to me and tell me if they like the record or if they don't, so far so good, no one has said anything negative and it's been such an incredibly positive, impactful record for the people who have dove into it.

How does it differ from Challenger?

Mullins -This record is just really personal, lyrically. It's all about the experiences that I've had over the past year and a half, things that I never thought would be introduced into my life, things I never thought I would go through. And ultimately how some of the worst times of my life led to a much deeper and more intimate relationship with God and how that is the foundation of my life at this point.

How do you deal with negative criticism?

Mullins - You have to take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't matter what kind of band you're in, what music you write, or how good your record is, there is always going to be criticism. We have peace knowing there are so many other bands you can listen to. Just go listen to them if you're not stoked [laughs]

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

Mullins - The song called "The Answer" is probably the song I would choose. It kinda sums up the whole Bible.

Favorite moment from the recording process?

Mullins - Every single minute working with Cameron Mizel. That guy is one of my favorite people in the world just to hang out with. So, I love having the excuse of doing records and spending months on end with him?

Anything else you want to add?

Mullins - Thanks for listening and love y'all. Go pick up Unconditional! 

Interview with Matt McCloskey from Rev Theory at Welcome To Rockville

My first interview at Welcome To Rockville was with Matt McCloskey from Rev Theory. Enjoy! 

Can you give me any details on the new album? What can expect from it?

MM - We tried to go a little outside the box on this. We came off the road and weren't really sure what we were doing. There were a lot of things going on and there was a lot of tension so we kind of infused that into our writing. Julian and I are the main leaders in writing and we told everyone to fuck off and we just wrote all the music we wanted. I got into production and we had the tools to do things on our own. So, this whole record is about DIY and going in and making music we want without some label guy telling us "Oh, this song should be this way and this song should be this way. It's where we've always wanted to be as a band and we hit a chord with this new evolution of our sound. We are infusing some electronic elements and just brutally heavy guitars like drop tuning super low and B-tuning. We just got some new bear atone guitars and we geeked out on those. We wrote whatever we were feeling. It's pretty gnarly. That's been the word of this recording: gnarly. Everything is super 'gnar'. We even had the guitar settings on super high. That's what it's been all about. It's been fun. We can do whatever we want. There's no restrictions.

How will the new album differ from Justice? I know you said it's DIY and gnarly, but elaborate.

MM - Justice was, well, we were still on Interscope Records and we had an A&R guy. We always felt that there were too many people putting their hands on, okay, maybe not that, um, too many chefs in the kitchen. We'll put it that way. Everyone has their two cents. They're like "Oh well I like this song" or "You should do this." And the managers are like "You should do this thing." We were writing with different people and we felt like it got convoluted. We went and worked with Terry Date who is a huge producer. We spent a shit ton of money to record it at Henson studios and we just got in a room and jammed and made what we thought we wanted. We made a really raw, natural record. It came out great but for some reason we felt like the reaction wasn't what it should have been. This time we went a little more modern and infused a little more electronic type influences like Nine Inch Nails and got super heavy because we like Deftones. It's just ballsy and fun. We played three new songs off the record today. One was called Blow It Up. I had friends in the crowd and they told me that once we kicked in that song, they felt a wall of people just smack into them. It's just hard hitting, bouncing, and really heavy guitars.

I loved that song. It was my favorite.

MM - We wanted to limit ourselves on lyrics and take them out and just play the song. The chorus is a little repetitive but it gets stuck in your head and it's so hooky. That was a theme when we started recording this.

Anything else you want to add?

MM - Other than my voice is shot from playing the pre-party last night, nope!

Welcome To Rockville Metropolitan Park Jacksonville, FL April 26th and 27th, 2014

Welcome To Rockville was the first music festival I covered in my career. I did everything on my own: applied for press passes, set up band interviews, planned my entire trip, on my own. 

My first band of the weekend was Digital Summer. I had wanted to see them for a very long time and I was fortunate to have an interview opportunity with them later in the day. The band following them was Rev Theory and I had an opportunity to interview their guitar player as well. 

The bands setlists are as follows:

Upon my interview with Adelita's Way, Their performance included several new songs from their upcoming album. 

Chiodos always delivers the best sets for their audience. Half of the people there had no idea who they were, but they still played the show like it was their last, as they do every show. They played

Right after Chiodos, I finally got to see Alter Bridge. They never came close enough for me to get to, but now I finally could. Myles Kennedy is a wonderful performer. They played almost all of my favorites too, which made my first AB experience wonderful. There were people flipping out when they played Blackbird. I was surprised at how many people had Blackbird tattoos because of that song.  

Chevelle is one of those bands that I enjoy, but has always been a little too "Art Rock" for me to understand. That does not mean I do not enjoy their live show, though. Their super fans were cracking me up the whole time too. They kept screaming the lyrics to certain songs. At the time of their set, I was honestly just ready for A Day To Remember, one of my favorite bands of all time.

A Day To Remember, as I said earlier, is one of my all time favorite bands. It was the first time I had seen them since their acclaimed album Common Courtesy was released and the band was on point. Not to mention, it was basically a hometown show for them. This was my favorite set of the weekend, not because I'm biased, but because I had just met Jeremy McKinnon earlier in the day and I was on cloud nine. The energy that this band brings to their crowds is unmatched by any band I have ever seen. My only question is what kind of monster puts We Came As Romans and A Day To Remember at the same time? Both are two of my favorites, but I had to choose. I had recently seen WCAR, so I went for ADTR. The choice was not easy. ADTR played a wonderful set.

I walked over to meet WCAR after the ADTR set and caught part of The Cult, but I do not think they are really worth reviewing since I did not particularly enjoy them.

The last band of the night was Avenged Sevenfold. I like A7X, but I was exhausted and I left after Bat Country, since the first time I saw them, they did not play it. The rest of their set included

And that concluded Day 1 of my first music festival coverage experience. 

Day 2 of Rockville was underway and I was fortunate to see Birmingham, AL favorite, Within Reason. It made me feel a sense of pride for my home state and I was glad to have that sense of normalcy so far away from home. Of course they rock, but I am biased. They played

Following them, I saw The Pretty Reckless, Sick Puppies, and Lacuna Coil. GIRL POWER!!! Their setlists are as follows

It is always an anticipated show when one of your favorite bands is about to release a new album. It is also exciting when you get to interview them as well. Theory of A Deadman always brings it live and their new album will be amazing. They played 

When I found out Staind was going to be at this festival, I was so excited. I could finally cross them off my bucket list. They do not tour as much anymore so I was happy to be one of the few to witness the performance. They played

On the way out of the festival, I saw Five Finger Death Punch. I know you are probably thinking, "Why did you leave before Rob Zombie and Korn?" Well, it was exam week at the University of Alabama and I had a final the following Monday on top of an almost 10 hour drive home. Luckily, I had the excitement of everything I had just accomplished to carry me home. Until next time, Jacksonville.