Page 35 - RockRevoltMagazine-Fall2016

(Je ): I think all of us have matured. Even
with the last record, we were excited with the
things that were going on. We were all giving
each other shit all the time. We have a great
sense of humor, but a lot of the last album
was a little more tongue and cheek, a little
more fun, maybe a little more upbeat. e
messages, though, were maybe similar in
some aspect, but now I am a dad and I have
responsibilities; Riplee has the same ones. Jon,
he has no responsibilities - no he has some
responsibilities - and I just think we have all
really matured. In this album, the stories we
tell are real, and it is like Riplee said, it is not song. Where did this idea come from?
easy, and we all go
through some shit. I think that is what we
wanted to capture. We were like, “Let’s write
something heavy and edgy with the emotion
that we actually really feel.” ere is no faking
it anymore that everything is all right and that
it is super fun all the time. It is hard and if you
want to keep going up like we do, you push
yourself as hard as you can, and you hope for
the best outcome. at is what we really want
to do.
Lyrical content is something that is missing
in a lot of music today. For you guys to put the
emotions out there is something that is kind of
lost with music now. I think the fans will really
connect with this album
(Jon): To kind of go o of that, the rst single,
“Electric Chair”, when we rst had the guitar
ri , we had the whole song layered out. Je
had this idea of a guy facing a life sentence
metaphorically or literally, and I was like,
“Man, I don’t know if I feel that.” When I heard
those rst lyrics, I was like, “I get it; this ts the
song really well.” It was a shocker to me.
(Riplee) Awww … shocker. I see what you did
there .
e song “Vultures” is one that made me stop
in my tracks when I heard it. Frankly, this world
is fucked, and you guys captured that in this
(Je ): I had this idea, like you said, we are living
in a world where there are a lot of scary things
that go on. I feel like everything is just built on
negativity and trying to nd the downside of
everything that is out there. Consequently, we
have horri c acts out there happening from
law enforcement to terrorism to you name
it; there are a lot of shitty things going on. I
started thinking about how I am trying to
raise a kid in this, and there is nobody to look
up to. ere is nobody you can say, “Wow; I
want them to be like this person.” Look at who
is running for President now; you can’t say you
could be President someday. It’s just like, oh
wait nevermind; it is just not worth it. ere
are so many events that happened, and the
way we wrote the song is really cool. We had
no ideas, and Jon did a little ri in the studio.
I was like, “Hey let’s go right now”, and we sat
down and wrote that song in 30 minutes.
Lyrics, melody, everything: it was just
like, boom. It happened right away;
I was like, “ is is the song I have
been wanting to right forever”, and
Jon was like, “I just had this idea,” and
it just took o from there. We wanted
to leak it because there have been so
many tragic events. People need to hear
this song; people need to understand
that there is a way we feel that we want
people to relate to. ey get to hear it
now, and unfortunately, there is always
plenty of bullshit in this world to deal with.
Hopefully, that song will help some people
through some tough times
You guy said earlier that it is a tough life out
here on the road. What or who helps you get by
and makes it possible for us to see you all every
night?
(Je ): I think a big focus we did on this album
in general was really focusing on people that
believe in the band above all. It was not
working with the big named producer; it
was not going to the big named record label
or agency. It was people that have been like,
“I have been a big fan of you guys for a long
time” or we have had relationships for a couple
of years; it just made sense. ey really care
about our success, and from our prospective,
we did not just want to go where that e ort
was not going to be put in. is all came from
the label that we have, to the booking agency,
to Minneapolis friends that have shot our
music videos. Ian Combs, like Jon mentioned
who produced the album, you know guys that
have taken our pictures. We did it all with
people that we knew and trust, and they gave
us their all. Adam did some lyric videos; I
mean, people didn’t put little things together
for us because it was their job. ey did it
because they believe in us because they know
we have some great things going on, and it has
just been a game changer for us.
(Riplee) I think we have also had a lot of, just
an unusual amount of support from other
bands that we have toured with in the past,
even bands that we have just played one show
with. Letting this guy here, or this girl here,
hear some of the stu we have been working
on and have had just nothing but awesome
things to say about the music. I don’t know
about the rest of the guys, but that was so
encouraging to me. To keep charging down
that path like, look at all these other bands!!
Some of them are doing way better than we
are, and they are like, “You guys need to keep
doing this.”
(Jon) As far as a mentor in the music business,
just the other day in Detroit, Rick from
Adelita’s Way, and I am not saying this because
he is right over there, but he is a genius when
it comes to music and the industry. He was all
like, “Hey do this, do this and this, and watch
out for this,” you know. He, for example, was
a good one, and I have a lot of other good
friends that are in some good bands that
have been mentoring me more. I am good
friends with Brad Stewart in Saliva; he is such
a good dude. He was an original member of
Shinedown; he told me to watch out for this
or that. Ultimately, if you are out doing what
you do and love traveling every night, even if
you have a family or you don’t, you know, why
stop? If you have something rolling, why stop?
At this point, you could be or are your own
worst enemy or own worst critic, which could
be the worst thing you could do.
e fans are very important in today’s music
scene, and you guys show your appreciation by
taking time with every one of them.
(Je ): Our fansm as you knowm made
this album happen. We wanted to prove to
everybody else that we knew what we had in a
fan basem and we knew what we’re going to do
as artists. We were kind of pushing ourselves.
So we took a chance and said, “We are going
to base it on this and see what happens.” Man,
the fans that we have and the support that
we have gotten – man, you have seen it - it is
everywhere. It is taking o , and we could have
never imagined because of the word of mouth
and the relationship we have that we did not
want to lose while recording this album.