Steven Adler played at M3 festival. Fans didn’t know quite what to expect. All the fans knew was we would be hearing some Guns N Roses classics. Fans didn’t know quite what to expect from Ari Kamin didn’t disappoint fans by the end of the set everyone was wondering who is this guy. It was one of the biggest surprises. Afterwards Ari was nice enough to take pictures and talk to the fans many of them wishing him the best and telling him how much they enjoyed his set. He has a great vocal style. It’s good to know that the future of rock n roll is in great hands. What I admire most about Ariel he reminds me of what makes rock n roll fun. He has a great stage presence and charisma
Angel Alamo: Who were your influences growing up? Ari Kamin: My first musical influence of all time was Michael Jackson. I was 5 years old when Dangerous album was released and I still can remember me playing that record over and over again thinking “Ok, that’s what I wanna do”. Then they came Queen, Aerosmith, Extreme and obviusly Guns N’ Roses.
AA: How did you get into music? AK: As I said before, I knew I wanted to be a singer since I was a little child so my parents tried to stimulate that desire taking me to piano lessons and guitar lessons. In elementary school, while kids of my age were playing sports games or trading cards I drawing my band’s logo and trying to write songs. But it wasn’t till high school that I was able to step on a stage for the very first time. I still remember that night, it was awesome!
AA: How did you get the gig to be the new singer in Adler’s Appetite? AK: Before being Steven’s singer I used to play in two bands back in Argentina. “Criaturas Salvajes” and “Son Of a Gun”, a GNR cover band. In 2016 Steven went to Argentina to play as a special guest of Guns N’ Roses at River Plate stadium and after the show he joined Son of a Gun at The Roxy club for a 3 hours jam where we played the entire “Appetite for Destruction” and a couple of songs from the Use your Illusion albums. Two years after that gig I receive a call from Steven asking me to join his band. How cool is that?
AA: What was the first show like with Adler’s Appetite? AK: Picture yourself as an Argentine guy who never left his country except to go to neighboring countries a couple of times. Suddenly you are sitting on a plane heading Hollywood to play with one of your heroes, the drummer of the most dangerous band in the world. It was mind blowing! I will always be grateful to Steven, he is one of the nicest human being I met in my life and he and his wife Carolina took care of me from the first moment.
AA: Any plans for the band to perform overseas? AK: Thing’s been growing up since last year when I joined the band, we’ve played in a couple big festivals, we have a couple more ahead and the Kiss Kruise in October. We are writing new material, something really exciting! So I think it’s just a matter of time for us to be playing near your area, wherever you live!
AA: Did you take voice lessons? AK: I had a great teacher named Diego Valdez who taught me how to get the most out of my voice. It’s funny, because a few years ago Diego and I took separate paths and we did not see each other again, but while I’m working with Steven I know he’s living in Spain and he’s been working with hard rock legends like Craig Goldy, Rudy Sarzo and Simon Wright.
AA: Growing up who were your favorite singers? AK: While growing up my favourite singers were Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and Meat Loaf. Then I started listening to Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin. The last few years I’ve been listening to a lot of southern rock and country music I love Charlie Starr from Blackberry Smoke and Jaren Johnston from The Cadillac Three and I’m also into Kid Rock, Blake Shelton and Alan Jackson. But the only one for me was and will ever be Freddie.
AA: Are there any Guns N Roses songs that you haven’t performed yet that you would still like to perform?
AK: In more than 15 years of career I think I have given myself the pleasure of playing almost all GNR songs and I have enjoyed them all but now I’m focused on our originals. It’s a very important step in my career and there’s nothing more exciting for me than thinking about putting my voice together with Steven’s drums on a new album.
AA: How do you wind down after a show? AK: I would love to tell you, but then, of course, I’d have to kill you. Ha Ha
Steven Adler jugó en el festival M3. Los aficionados no sabían muy bien qué esperar. Todos los fanáticos sabían que estaríamos escuchando algunos clásicos de Guns N Roses. Los fanáticos no sabían muy bien qué esperar de Ari Kamin no decepcionó a los fanáticos al final del set, todos se preguntaban quién era este tipo. Fue una de las mayores sorpresas. Luego, Ariel tuvo la amabilidad de tomar fotos y hablar con los fanáticos, muchos de ellos le desearon lo mejor y le dijeron lo mucho que disfrutaron su set. Tiene un gran estilo vocal. Es bueno saber que el futuro del rock n roll está en buenas manos. Lo que más admiro de Ariel es que me recuerda lo que hace que el rock and roll sea divertido. Tiene una gran presencia escénica y carisma.
Angel Alamo: ¿Quiénes fueron tus influencias mientras crecías? Ari Kamin : Mi primera influencia musical de todos los tiempos fue Michael Jackson. Tenía 5 años de edad cuando se lanzó el álbum Dangerous y todavía puedo recordarme tocando ese disco una y otra vez pensando “Ok, eso es lo que quiero hacer”. Luego vinieron Queen, Aerosmith, Extreme y obviamente Guns N ‘Roses.
AA: ¿Cómo te metiste en la música?
AK : Como dije antes, sabía que quería ser cantante desde que era un niño, así que mis padres
trataron de estimular ese deseo llevándome a las clases de piano y guitarra. En la escuela
primaria, mientras los niños de mi edad jugaban juegos deportivos o intercambiaban tarjetas
I Dibujando el logo de mi banda y tratando de escribir canciones. Pero no fue hasta la
preparatoria que pude subir al escenario por primera vez. Todavía recuerdo esa noche, fue
increíble!
AA: ¿Cómo conseguiste que el concierto fuera el nuevo cantante en Adler’s Appetite?
AK : Antes de ser el cantante de Steven, tocaba en dos bandas en
Argentina. ” Criaturas Salvajes “y” Son Of a Gun “, una banda de covers de GNR. En 2016,
Steven fue a Argentina para tocar como invitado especial de Guns N ‘Roses en el estadio River
Plate y, después del espectáculo, se unió a Son of a Gun en el club Roxy. por un atasco de 3
horas donde tocamos todo el “Appetite for Destruction” y un par de canciones de los álbumes de
Use your Illusion. Dos años después de ese concierto recibí una llamada de Steven pidiéndome
que me uniera a su banda. ¿Qué tan genial es eso?
AUTOMÓVIL CLUB BRITÁNICO: ¿Cómo fue el primer show con Adler’s Appetite?
AK : Imagínate a ti mismo como un chico argentino que nunca abandonó su país, excepto para
ir a países vecinos un par de veces.De repente, estás sentado en un avión en dirección a
Hollywood para tocar con uno de tus héroes, el baterista de la banda más peligrosa del
mundo. ¡Fue alucinante! Estaré siempre agradecido a Steven, él. es uno de los mejores seres
humanos que conocí en mi vida y él y su esposa Carolina me cuidaron desde el primer momento.
AA: ¿ Hay planes para que la banda actúe en el extranjero?
ALASKA: La cosa ha ido creciendo desde el año pasado cuando me uní a la banda, hemos
tocado en un par de grandes festivales, tenemos un par más por delante y el Kiss Kruise en
octubre. Estamos escribiendo nuevo material, algo realmente emocionante! Así que creo que es
solo una cuestión de tiempo que estemos jugando cerca de tu área, ¡donde sea que vivas!
AA: ¿Tomaste lecciones de voz?
ALASKA: Tuve un gran maestro llamado Diego Valdez que me enseñó a sacar el máximo
provecho de mi voz. Es gracioso, porque hace unos años Diego y yo tomamos caminos
separados y no nos volvimos a ver , pero mientras trabajo con Steven, sé que vive en España y
que ha estado trabajando con leyendas del hard rock como Craig Goldy , Rudy. Sarzo y Simon
Wright.
AA: ¿ Creciendo quiénes eran tus cantantes favoritos?
ALASKA: Mientras crecí, mis cantantes favoritos fueron Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury,
Steven Tyler, Axl Rose y Meat Loaf.Entonces empecé a escuchar a Ray Charles, Louis
Armstrong, Aretha Franklin. Los últimos años he estado escuchando mucha música rock y
country sureña. Amo a Charlie Starr de Blackberry Smoke y Jaren Johnston de The Cadillac
Three, y también me gustan Kid Rock, Blake Shelton y Alan Jackson. Pero el único para mí fue
y será Freddie.
AA: ¿Hay alguna canción de Guns N Roses que aún no hayas interpretado y que aún te gustaría interpretar? ALASKA: En más de 15 años de carrera, creo que me he dado el placer de tocar casi todas las canciones de GNR y las he disfrutado todas, pero ahora estoy centrado en nuestros originales. Es un paso muy importante en mi carrera y no hay nada más emocionante para mí que pensar en unir mi voz con la batería de Steven en un nuevo álbum. AA: ¿Cómo te relajas después de un show? ALASKA: Me encantaría decirte, pero entonces, por supuesto, tendría a matarte. Ja ja
Warrant are no strangers to M3 festival. They have performed eight times. Last year they did an acoustic set and this year played a rocking set that made us wish they could keep playing. They are in the middle of the yearlong Dirty 30 tour celebrating the release of their debut album Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinking, Rich. A few hours before they hit the stage, I was able to sit down for an interview and a few laughs with singer Robert Mason and bassist Jerry Dixon.
Angel Alamo: How does it feel to be back playing at M3 Festival?
Robert Mason: It feels great I only have to sing with one band this year. It is half As much work.
AA: I remember last year you have to do a double duty having to sing with Walmart’s and then go out again with Lynch Mob.
Jerry Dixon: It’s a half day for Robert but yeah feels good. We were stoked that the festival has done well.
RM: I think this is the 7th. It is 10th or 11th for M3 it is our 7th or 8th
AA: Wow!
RM: I can’t believe we have done that many of these things. It’s a really cool thing we honestly look forward to it.
AA: How hard is it putting together the setlist?
RM: We let Joey do it
JD: Joey is the setlist guy and then what happens is nobody opens him up to read then we go on stage we’re like what the f*** is this.
RM: I don’t want to play this.
JD: Well you f*** didn’t say anything.
AA: Now the fans know who to blame when they don’t hear their favorite songs
JD: Exactly.
RM: Go immediately stage left.
JD: Joeyallen.com
RM: Jo mama on Instagram (laughs) Jo mama warrant
AA: Does the band have any outtakes from previous albums that they would put together for future release?
JD: I don’t think we really do because when you are in there making a record there is not a lot of time to be goofing around?
AA: I remember back in the day people used to write 30 or 40 songs for an album.
RM: We are usually too focused, yeah you are right we usually write more songs recorded than they end up on the record. Even back then like in Japan import they always want to add another song or two. Sometimes they will end up getting used on the next record or never.
RM: Is there really that much demand for outtakes from our records?
AA: Not really but people are always curious and looking on YouTube for them curious to hear early demos.
JD: There is one extra song released for so far for louder, faster, harder.
Editor’s note: for fans who are curious about the extra song on Japan release it is a song called stop the world.
AA: This year the band is doing the dirty 30 year to celebrate 30 years since the release of Dirty Rotten Filthy, Stinking, Rich. Could fans next year see the band performing Cherry Pie album in its entirety?
JD: I still can’t believe that cherry pie came out the next year. I am still arguing with Joey about that.
AA: I know I can’t still believe it either. I was 11 years old going like yeah.
JD: Let me shake your hand.
Editor’s note: If someone would have told me 30 years ago that I would be shaking Jerry Dixon’s hand talking about the release of the cherry pie album. I would have thought they were crazy.
RM: Technically 89 and 90 right must have been late 90.
JD: It must have been
AA: It was September (1990) that the record came out.
RM: I swore it was like 91′
JD: It must have been 90.
RM: You know when you come out with the first record they like it to be out in the spring. Then when you come out with the next record they want to see it early in the year or later in the year so it is like a Christmas record. That was supposed to be fall record as a 2nd album. It makes a great Christmas gift kids.
JD: We had to do the POISON (Flesh and blood) tour. I don’t know if we would but you never know.
AA: As a fan, I have been dying to ask this question who came up with the name
Blood, Sweat, and Beers tour?
JD: I don’t know we were drinking. (laughs) I don’t know Erik might have thrown that out there.
RM: Then Eric Church stole it.
AA: Did you guys imagined that you would still be doing this 30 years later.
JD: That’s a hard question. You hit a patch of 4 or 5 years where things are messed up. It’s more of like do you want to play through the pain and wait for stuff to come. It is not the band or the artists it is the cycles of what’s happening.
RM: Image in your early 20’s do you image that in your 50’s you would be doing the same thing. no of course then again, I look up to the stones by the times the 90’s came around they had been around for 30 years. So there you go. They have already done that so if that is what you inspire to yeah. You do a great thing for a living so yeah.
JD: you just have to be willing to be around through the good and the bad. You can’t be around when s*** is great. You can’t just play when the market is up. It goes up and it might go down. WE don’t fuck we are going to quit you just do what you love whether you are playing in front of five people or 50,000 people you are fine. You don’t think about it we are lifers we are walking to take the highs and lows.
AA: A lot of bands doing the Las Vegas residency. Would Warrant ever do a Las Vegas residency?
JD: Yes, I live there. I am in. I think eventually what I would like to see is a residency package. Warrant, Bret Michaels, and warrant great white, warrant, firehouse. Maybe we can do residency for two nights we are not that big of a deal.
RM: With an added 3rd night.
JD: We can go from April 1st to April 1st and a half.
RM Afternoon April 3rd with a matinee.
AA: How does the band manage to stay together after all of these years?
RM: I joined this band 10.5 years ago and I saw four guys who are willing to do this and have fun and firing on four out of five cylinders and I became the 5th one. We are all here for the right reasons. We like what we do we still love doing this. The b***sh*t you endure for 22 and a half hours is worth the one and a half on stage.
JD: Within our band it is like a safe zone. We try and leave the family stuff, hardship, and heartache of life everyone comes out here we block that out we give everyone room to do what they and be what they want. If Robert wants to make a record with (Jeff) Pilson and his buddies
RM: It’s not like no you have to be in Warrant dude you can’t do interviews.
JD: We let each guy be themselves.
RM: Erik did a punk record with his friends from Orange County, it was cool.
JD: Anybody who doesn’t want to be here we don’t want them here.
RM: Everybody knows this is our priority and where we stand.
JD: It works out that way.
Laughs & good times with Robert Mason & Jerry Dixon
XYZ gave M3 fans twice the fun while performing on day 3 of the M3 Festival. The band performed a small set for fans at the after party event at the Sheraton and then peformed at M3 festival on Sunday afternoon giving fans a 30 minute set that left them hoping they could keep playing for another half hour. The band was nice enough to meet with fans and take pictures. One of the most fan friendly bands to perform at the festival. After the set I got the chance to sit down with bassist Pat Fontaine. The band consist of vocalist Terry Ilous, bassist Pat Fontaine, guitarist Tony Marcus, and drummer Joey Shapiro.
Angel Alamo: Great performance by the way too as well.
Pat Fontaine: Thank you. It was a great time.
AA: How does it feel to be back at the M3 festival? You guys did the first one in 2009?
PF: I think so, you’re right. It was an A stage and a B stage back in the day. The B stage were up there in the woods. It was really good though. It was still an Eric Baker in charge. He was always very generous with the bands and of course these places of his magnificent now. I mean, there’s are pool, there’s f***ing games and catering is fantastic. This is a massive thing. Back in the day was more trailers in the woods. It was still the same vibe. The vibe was great. People were great, very friendly. The weather was much better. I think last time we played.
AA: Yeah, it was.
PF: It’s still a gorgeous place. The woods are green, it smells great, and I love this place.
AA: What’s the vibe like when you played at the festival with your peers?
PF: Some festivals are more fun than others. Of course. Typically, strangely enough, the more north you go, the more fun it gets. I think, maybe people that come from a climate where things are a little bit less sunny, they have a tendency to party a little more. But you know, overall it’s really up to the promoter to create the vibe. Some of them are great. This is always a great place you can, they can sense that there’s a love for that music. Music from the 80s you know, of course, 50 years ago, 40 years ago. We’re not current, we’re not modern, and we’re not hip. We represent the 80s and the people that work this thing seem to have a love for it, which is fantastic because he could’ve gotten in lad after Nirvana, I think it’s good to have just gone. That it’s over and the 80s would have vanished into in the fall.
AA: Yeah. But look, I mean, I know it was the eighties music and everybody is still coming out. Everybody’s still partying until three or four in the morning.
PF: Fantastic.
AA: That’s what makes it sense. It’s about entertainment, not singing and standing on stage singing, “daddy doesn’t love me. Daddy doesn’t care.”
AA: Many of your peers are doing the farewell tour? Does XYZ plan to retire. What are the bands plans?
PF: I wanted to retire when I turned 30 years old, but eventually you keep in mind that what we do is, is it a little bit of a dream come true really? And then you kind of look at the big picture and say, “You know what, if somebody wants to buy me dinner and give me gas money just to hear my songs, I’m going to f***ing do it and I’m going to do until they stop paying me.” So we were very fortunate that some people are willing to hire us to come here to play for 30 minutes. They buy us food and hotels and gas money and beer money, it’s fantastic. As long as that is valid, it seems silly to walk away from it. Now we’re all getting old, you know, we’re in our fifties of course. We started in Hollywood in 1984 we were all, you know, 25 years old, 20 years old. My guitar player actually was 18 I think when he joined the band. We have a tendency to change a little bit our view of the world. Now, I seek more peace and quiet and less drugs and less partying than back in the day. We’re still, you know, we carry the eighties message, which is, “Have a good time, enjoy your life, have a couple of beers with your friends and spend the night, look at the stars and enjoy the music.” That’s what the message is. The generation that came after us had a different message that kind of vanished. And then there was another message with the rap world, which is everybody is a bitch and an f***ing hoe and there’s a different message. And then somehow the message is coming back a little bit now, which is, “You know what? F***, let’s just have a good time and a couple of beers and have some fun and share a few laughs.” As long as that goes, we’re in.
AA: And it’s still going strong
PF: Yeah.
AA: Who were your favorite bass players growing up?
PF: The first time I discovered the bass player was Lemmy in Motorhead and I was mesmerized by this guy. He was a little bit of my hero. I even bought those white boots that he always wore. I wanted to be Lemmy, you know. As I want, of course I understand that it’s a difficult music to sell. So we went a little bit more commercial because we want it to be successful. We didn’t want to make music to stay in a basement. I never wanted that. I started in the basement like everybody else, but we wanted to do earn a living at it. So I decided to go with a little bit more rock than punk, but I still remained and a little bit attracted to that era. You know, where the late seventies the great bass players like Lemmy. I’m still a big fan of UFO. I grew up on UFO and I was not Led Zeppelin. I was more Rolling Stones. Yeah, it was two camps. I was never Led Zeppelin. I love Led Zeppelin. I understand it. It’s not really my thing. I was more Stones.
AA: Did you ever get to meet Lemmy?
PF: We met Lemmy a bunch of times. In fact, I toured with Lemmy as a roadie in the early eighties in Europe and the person actually booked me on a tour is sitting in the room next door today, which is very strange. I met Lemmy of course because I lived in Hollywood for 30 years and I went through the whiskey every night and Lemmy was there every night. So we often sat and have a couple of drinks together and chit chatted about the good old days. He was a great guy and it’s funny to think that the classic Motorhead that we love is completely gone. Everybody’s dead. Field Taylor, the drummer dead. Eddy Clark, fast Eddy Clark dead. And Lemmy, dead. They’re all dead. The three Motorhead people are dead. Is used to f***ing different… It’s like a different page status turn I think.
AA: How was reuniting in 2002 and how did the idea come about?
PF: You don’t understand, they didn’t want to do it because I was signed to another group. I was in another band on Interscope and we actually did pretty good. We were an underground punkish type of thing and I didn’t really want to go back to commercial and rock and roll or two melodic rock and roll. But Terry called me and he said, “Look, I heard about this festival called Rocklahoma.” It must have been 2005 or so, maybe a bit later than you mentioned. So we didn’t do the first one. We did the second Rocklahoma and I say, “Well, you know what? F*** it. Yeah, I’ll do one show. I really don’t know if anybody remembers us, you know?” So I did Rocklahoma with Terry and the guys that aren’t here today, of course, and I was so f***ing shocked. We got onstage, it must’ve been 6:00 PM the sun was setting down and it was f***ing packed. It was like, “Who the f*** are these f***ing people?” And everybody knew our lyrics. People sang along with the chorus. As I said, “Who the f*** are these people? Where have they been? I thought everybody was dead.” And it was kind of a bit of a revelation. I felt, well look, if there’s a market here, let’s do another strangle shows and they’d kind of just kind of carried on like that. We’ve got an agent, Sullivan who is here today, and he started to book us in clubs and venues and festivals and we don’t go every night, we don’t play every weekend, we do that once a month kind of thing. And that’s it. We keep the ball rolling until nobody wants us no more.
AA: What are the band’s tour plans?
PF: We don’t have tours lined up.
AA: Ok just with the fly in shows?
PF: That we fly in. We have a bunch of those festivals. You know, we’re going to Canada next, couple of shows up there. And then we have a couple of things in Europe. We’re talking about, South America is always something in Rio and in Argentina and it’s this thing in Australia next year, early 2020 melodic rock fest that we’re going to probably do. And that’s kind of it. We’ve done a few clubs last a month we did three, four clubs in a row and we were, no, we’re not against that. We’ll do a few clubs here and there. But really what’s fun is those festivals, because it’s organized, you show up, there’s no surprises. Everything is in place. The staff is fantastic. It’s just very smooth, very smooth.
AA: So as far as music, can fans expect like a new song?
PF: Yeah. In fact, you know, we were working on a couple of things starting next week. In fact in Sacramento on Thursday we were going to get together and we’re going to sit in the studio. A friend of mine owns a studio in Sacramento and we’re going to sit around a table, we going to order some pizza and beer. Then we’re going to kind of see where it takes us, you know, we don’t really know. But yeah, we are booked in the studio to record new stuff starting next week.
AA: With the way it is. I guess with, with music and not having major label, will the band have a producer or something else?
PF: Yes. We actually involved with the label now we’re talking to a US label. They’re not as present as it was back in the 80s when we on a major label, there’s no major label anymore unless you have a mini skirt and you’re 16 years old, you’re not going to get on a major label. So the labels that exist are independent and the people that got into this independent business are people that really love it and love the artists and the music so they can kind of tend to give you more freedom. Then the big labels of the eighties so we do have some freedom but we also kind of, you know, under the impression that I, one point you got to report to someone, you can’t just be completely obnoxious about things because you kind of want to get on the radio here and there. You want to do some press you want to kind of fit a little bit of a jaw if you will. So we do have a producer that comes in and not every day that he’s not a dragon. It’s more like a guy that shows up once a week and tells us, “Hey! you know, I like that, that song’s not so great. Can you guys redo this? Can you redo that?” That type of thing. Pretty cool.
Vixen played an exciting eight song set at M3 festival Sunday may, 5, 2019 it was a mixture of covers and some of their songs from there earlier albums. The rain did not stop Vixen from rocking or the audience from enjoying their set after the band put on a great show and did a meet and greet with the fans I had the opportunity to sit down with all four members of the band and talk to them about the new lineup the band’s future plans.
It was exciting to be in the same room being a fan hearing off the lineup change and then being in a room with them it feels like they are a new band. If you walk into the room and meet them as a band without knowing that they are Vixen you would think that they are this brand new band that is just excited. The band is excited about the new lineup and moving forward with a new record I had the opportunity to talk to them and had a few laughs along the interview and that’s the energy that they bring.
Angel Alamo: How has the tour been going so far?
Vixen: Fantastic it has been going amazing. Where you at the show today?
AA: Yes it was awesome even with the rain and all.
Vixen: Can’t stop rock n roll. We are working on touring Australia, Japan, and everywhere. We want world domination.
AA: Will there be any new music from the band?
Vixen: That is happening already. We got a few things and a few tunes together. We hope to give to Lorraine. We want to have it out in 2020. We want it to happen organically. It will be classic Vixen the harmonies will be in there. We love Paul Stanley we saw KISS in LA. We would love for Paul Stanley to produce it. He was supposed to produce one of our records.
AA: What were your influences growing up?
Vixen: KISS, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, David Lee Roth, Van Halen, Stones, Fanny. The first all-girl band. They are awesome way ahead of their time. Bret Favre (laughs)
AA: He should be a rocker. He is retired now.
AA: How did you end up writing with Richard Marx?
Vixen: Actually Allen Kovac set that up. Richard came to our show and he loved the band so we inspired him to write Edge of a broken heart. Then he came to rehearsal and we put it together in rehearsal.
AA: Was there any concern back then that you had a pop star writing a song for you?
Vixen: No because he is a great songwriter a great song is a great song. We had lyrics written by Fee Waybill and it doesn’t get much cooler than that.
AA: It seems like there seems to be a renewed energy in the band with the new lead singer Lorraine Lewis. It kinds of feel like you are a new band now. What has the reaction been in the short time?
Vixen: That’s interesting. It is kind of like a new band like vixen 2.0. It’s a new fire. We worked with Lorraine before. We have a history with her. We are very comfortable with her. This is family. It’s not someone you have never heard of from wherever. They are like Oh! It’s Lorraine. It was fairly easy. It wasn’t a stretch. We are 80’s girls we love rock n roll. People know that it is obvious it is contagious we are having a blast it is contagious they see us laughing and having fun on stage they are laughing and having fun they will make comments. We are having a blast. We are having a great time.
Lorraine: I feel so honored and so lucky. I love the songs for sure. These girls bring it to a whole other level of badassery. They are fueled different and it feels so good. I am honored and grateful.
How do you put together the setlist?
Vixen: That’s Roxy’s job. I will get a text message. She sends a text message.
Roxy: You what I get their input. What do you think of these depending if we are doing a 40(minute), 50 (minute), 60 (minute) or 90 (minute) set.
AA: So u don’t pay attention to fans who say oh why didn’t you do this song or that song?
We have done a lot of songs that people have requested over the years that did go over or didn’t go over well. We have been honing that more and more. Sometimes people have requested certain songs and we have tried them out for a year or two years then we kind of went well maybe not.
AA: The 30th year anniversary of rev it up is coming up next year will the band do anything special?
Vixen: Thanks for reminding us! (Laughs) I am kidding
AA: (laughs) I’m going to get killed.
Vixen: It’s a number what was the question
AA: Will you do a 30th anniversary tour of rev It Up
Vixen: We could do that. Yes we could totally do that like a set of dates where we do it. That’s a cool idea. I like that idea. Rev It Up 2020. We can go for that whole race theme formula one. We are going to stick with some sort of race theme formula one #hashtag vixen formula one. Formula one needs a new theme song. We are just putting it out there.
Tora Tora kicked off the 2nd day of the M3 festival with a rocking 30 minute set that the band didn’t disappoint at all and were happy to be playing at M3 Festival. Fans who attended got to see the band live and also meet the band. After the performance the band took time out to meet the fans who were happy to see Tora Tora was back. This is not a reunion as the band is back and here to stay having released a new album earlier this year Bastards of Beale the album doesn’t disappoint it stays true to the band’s sound. The band still maintains all original members Anthony Corder-Vocals, Keith Douglas- Guitar, Patrick Francis- Bass, and John Patterson-drums. I had the opportunity to talk to Anthony Corder and John Patterson about being at M3 festival, the new album and more.
Angel Alamo: How does it feel, playing M3 Festival? This is your first time.
Anthony Corder: Man, it was awesome. I didn’t want to come off stage. I loved it. It was so fun.
John Patterson: Oh, it was awesome.
AC: It’s been a bucket list thing for us, isn’t it?
JP: Absolutely.
JP: We’ve been trying to get out here for many years, and we finally did it.
AC: The audience is awesome. They’re crazy.
AA: And it lived up to everything that we expected.
AC: Yeah.
AA: Cool. Hopefully we’ll have you guys back next year, hopefully.
AC: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We’d love to come back.
AA: How long did it take the band to record your latest album, Bastards of Beale?
AC: Six days.
AA: Six days, wow.
AC: Seriously, six days.
AA: So was that like writing, recording like?
AC: We were writing it-
JP: We had everything … it, what, took a year to write everything?
AC: I think it was from like November to maybe June.
JP: Yeah.
AC: November of ’17 to about June is when we went in, but we did a ton of pre-production because we wanted to go in and cut as much as we could live in the studio. So the band was all in the room, I was in a little booth, and we would do the takes and then … We were kind of doing it old-school. It was kind of fun.
JP: It was old-school.
AC: It was really fun. The energy and everything was super.
AA: What are the band’s future plans? Can fans expect to see more albums, more tours coming?
JP: Oh, yeah. We’re … Anthony was talking a little bit, a little earlier, we’re writing new songs, going to start working on a new album. We’ve got a few gigs coming up here the next few weeks. Got one in Denver, a gig at home.
AC: Yeah, we’re going to Denver. We’re doing an acoustic show in Memphis that we’ve never done. We’ve never done an acoustic kind of setting. We’re going to do that as a real special kind of thing for our home audience. And then I think we go to Missouri, and I think the tentative stuff is Texas and Chicago.
JP: Bastards of … I’m sorry, Bastard of Beales stays true to the band’s sound. Going into recording, was that the plan?
AC: Yeah. I think we were trying to just … We were excited, like everybody else, about what it was going to sound like, and we were wondering what it was going to feel like, and all that stuff. I think we kind of picked up right where we left off with Revolution Day.
AC: I mean, from just my perspective or whatever. But it just felt like it was a continuation of where we left … picked up. And it’s funny because it’s been a long time. We were kind of nervous.
AA: Yeah, it kind of feels like that last album came out right after maybe the third album.
AC: Yeah, that’s what we were thinking, too. But we were excited. I mean, Keith definitely … It’s the four of us, me and Keith’s guitar sound, and Patrick playing bass, and John on drums. I mean, I know that sounds cliché, but that’s the sound. Jeff Powell, the guy that produced the record, he wrote me … we had done a show in Memphis, and he wrote me a couple months after the show, and he said, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about y’all.” He was cutting straight to vinyl at Sam Phillips studio in Memphis. He said, “Do you guys want to come cut a couple of songs with me, do like a single, two sides, and two songs?” And I said, “You’re not going to believe it, man. We want to do a whole project. Do you have time to do it?”
AC: But we were talking about what had gotten his interest was, he said, “I saw you do this benefit y’all were playing,” and he goes, “Man, the sound. It’s the four of y’all, when y’all get up there together.” Because there was a bunch of bands and a bunch of people sitting in playing with each other and all that, and he was like, “When the four of y’all are playing, that’s the Tora Tora thing.” You know?
AA: What artist made you want to go into music? Was there an artist or album that justkind of made you want to just-
AC: This is a good question.
JP: That’s a loaded question.
AA Or artists that made you say Okay, this is what I want to do”? Like, there was a band, or album even, that just kind of made you want to go do music?
AC: There’s so many.
JP: Yeah, that’s a long list. There’s not one. For me, anyway, as a drummer, there’s not one album, but it was a collection. Mainly three different drummers. There was Alex Van Halen, Tommy Aldridge, and Neil Peart. Those guys influenced me more than anything, and listening to them made me want to play. So if you want to say that’s what got me into it, then that’s what it is, you know?
AC: Yeah. That’s crazy. I think my family had a lot to do with mine, the singing part. We’re all from down in the Delta in Mississippi, and I don’t think I realized it, when I was younger, what kind of profound effect they would have on me, as far … They were musicians, kind of like porch pickers. You know, they’d just sing harmonies and play guitar. And as I got older and started getting into stuff, I was listening to all of the … I mean, these guys kind of corrupted me, got me into all different kinds of music.
AC: But it depends on what era you’re talking about, too, because I think we were inspired by what everybody else was. We were fans of all the classic rock, and Zeppelin, and Bad Company, and Aerosmith, and all those kind of guys. But as I kept digging in deeper, we got into the blues guys, the Elmore James and Etta James. God, I wanted to be Etta James for a long time. She was a great singer. I used to drive them nuts, playing all these old blues records and stuff.
JP: He would. He’d crank them up in the bus and then just … We’d be like, “No! Come on, man!”
AC: But I think I was inspired by a lot of stuff, and I think my granddad … he played a lot of Mississippi John Hurt and stuff like that, so that blues thing definitely was ingrained in me, that aspect of it.
JP: Yeah. You know, being from Memphis, that kind of music, I didn’t grow up playing it, and neither did the other guys, Keith and Patrick, but it’s still in you because you grew up in it, and it kind of just soaks into your blood, you know?
AC: Yeah, that’s true.
JP: And it comes out in your playing, and I think that’s a big part of our sound.
AA: How have you guys been able to maintain the same lineup? I mean, it’s the four original guys, where that’s a rare thing now, it seems. So how do you guys keep that together?
AC: We signed some contracts. No, I’m joking. I’m kidding.
JP: We’ve got a lot of information on each other.
AC: Yeah. We blackmail each other. No, really, we’ve been friends since high school, so we’ve known each other for 30 years, and we do enjoy playing and creating music and writing. I think we’re … we don’t really say this, but we’re kind of inspired by each other. You know, the stuff that Keith plays, man, I mean … Even on this last record and stuff, where the guys would get together, and they would come up with some of the early arrangements and stuff and send it to me. We’re kind of located in different places now. They’re in Memphis, and I’m in Nashville, so it was kind of a different approach to writing I think we just enjoy doing this stuff together.
AA: When you guys got together in 2008, was it the plan to do a short reunion tour for, hey, let’s just get together? Or was the goal was to, hey, let’s get this started again?
AC: What do you think?
JP: I don’t know that there was a plan. We just said, “Yeah, let’s play.” But as far as sitting down and strategically planning anything out, that never happened.
AC: Yeah. No, and man, actually, we had played a little bit around town. I was playing a little bit. All of us kept the creative thing. I think that the passion for creating music and playing and all that never went away for any of us, but we were kind of involved in different things. But I think around 2008, we just wanted to go test the waters for a minute. We missed it a lot. And when we had initially stopped playing together, like after the A&M’s record label stuff and all that had kind of gone away, we were like, “Hey, man, let’s take a break,” because we were all kind of just freaking out. We had been really busy for about six years and playing, and we were like, “Let’s regroup when we have time.” And I thought it was going to be like a month. I was like, I’ll see them in a
couple weeks or whatever. And man, it was like six or seven years before we played together again.
AC:It was a big break. But I think that we all just needed to process the thing that was going on with us, because we had taken off like a bolt of lightning, you know? We were young kids, and we were signed in Memphis, and we put a video out, and all of a sudden it was on a countdown on MTV, and we were playing arenas, opening up for people and just … we were like, “Wow, this is what our life’s like right now.” And then, all of a sudden, it went into like a screeching halt, where we just went, “Oh, my God. My identity and everything that we’re about is changing all of a sudden.” And I think all of us just had to step away for a second, just to kind of process the whole thing.
AC: But it was a good thing. When we got back together, it was just like nothing had ever happened. And it wasn’t any hard blood or anything between all of us. It was just, I think our life had just taken such a random turn. You know, it kind of throws you a curve ball every once in a while. But it made us really appreciate it when we got back together. We were like, “Oh, man. This is like a breath of fresh air.” I knew there was something missing, and it was them being around and playing together.
AA: So how was that first show? It was 2008 in Rocklahoma, right?
AC: It was fun. It was hot, oh, my God.
AA: So how was it? Was there any jitters of, you know, how … are people going to remember? Was there any jitters or anything like that going on?
AC: I definitely think so
JP: Yeah, there was a little bit of anxiety-
AC: We were surprised, though, that people were wearing Tora Tora shirts-
AA: And they still are, in the audience.
JP: Yeah, that’s cool
AC: Yeah, we couldn’t believe it.
JP: I’m sure it’s … all four of us feel the same way, but when you see fans with your shirts on them there, it makes you feel … it relaxes me, anyway.
JP: It gets rid of a lot of the anxiety. I’m not having to feel like we’re having to win people over, because our fans are there, you know?
AA: Yeah. Same thing here today. You’ve definitely got quite a few people with the Tora Tora shirts on, walking around.
AC: Oh, man. It was fun. That was a really great time.
AA: When you guys came out 30 years ago, Nashville was not the way that it is today, where now a lot of your peers actually live there to write music. What is it about Nashville that just seems like a special place now, where it’s not just known as country, but now a lot of your peers, a lot of people actually go there just to write songs in general. What is it that makes Nashville that special place?
JP:Well, Ant actually lives there, so-
AC: Yeah. I moved there in 2005, but I think it has a lot to do with just the infrastructure, that the industry itself is there. I mean, it’s always been considered kind of the third coast, with New York and LA and Nashville. And Nashville was built on publishing. When it started out, it was people selling paper, the hymns, to churches, right? And that’s how that city was built. And then that built this infrastructure that started … you know, 100 years ago, it started all this. But now I think the attraction is, especially when a lot of the ’80s guys were moving there, is it was cheaper to live there. You still had all the accolades and everything of being in the big city, but you were in this kind of … it’s a small town. I mean, it’s still growing. There’s 100 people a day moving there. They can’t build the high-rises fast enough. I think there’s 20-something cranes downtown that are … they can’t fit the people. I’m just blown away.
AC: But I do think a lot of it is the industry side of it. Memphis and Nashville, to me, they’re both river cities. They’re like Louisville and St. Louis and all those, where it’s a transient kind of place where people move in. But the thing that attracted everybody to Nashville was that infrastructure of your contacts, your networking, your relationships, and everything’s right there. LA is super spread-out. You’re all condensed in New York, where it’s like the population’s … you know, getting around and all that kind of stuff. But Nashville’s still like a … it’s still like a small town, even though it’s grown. Music Row is two strips right in the middle of the city, which is changing every day
AA:A lot of the bands that come from LA, a lot of them are now in Nashville.
AC: I remember walking in … I went to … I had been at William Morris one night for a Christmas party, and I turned around, and it was Tom Keifer and the Cinderella guys, and I was like, oh, my God, what are they doing here? And somebody looked at me, and they go, “Man, they’re all here.” Kip (Winger) is here-
AA: Yeah. Kip, Matthew Nelson-
AC: Yeah, the Nelson brothers are there.
AA: Nelson twins. Dave Mustaine just moved there recently.
AC: Dave Mustaine’s there. His daughter’s doing stuff with music. Mick Mars is there. John Corabi’s there. Have you ever seen the Rock N Roll Residency guys? You ever seen them?
AA: No, not yet.
AC: So they’re a bunch of musicians in Nashville. They kind of created a culture and a whole community of people getting together and jamming when they’re off the road. It was a place where people could get together, that were musicians, and see each other. And when you go to this event and you look around, it’s like all these ’80s people. You just go, oh, my God. I mean, it’s just crazy.
Danny Vaughn: It’s a bit of a quiet year for us. We have a couple of major things coming up with the festivals in June. One in Switzerland one in London. We are doing something we have never done before which is we are filming a live DVD in over two nights, which is kind of reinterpreting a lot of our songs that we are known for that our fans love. We are including a string section, backing vocalists, violinists, soloists all kinds of crazy stuff going into it.
Angel Alamo: Is that the plan that the band has with an evening with Tyketto?
Danny Vaughn: It’s dinner with the band, it is multiple video takes we will do about six songs each night. Working with the audience getting it all filmed.
Ged Rylands: It’s like Michael says it is more of a TV show, that’s the kind of vibe we are going for.
Danny Vaughn: Something we have always wanted to try. It’s something that bands on our financial level rarely get an opportunity to do. We have been very lucky we have had someone helps us, because it cost quite a bit to put on a production quite like that. We have always kind of shot over our pay grade if you will. We are grateful we get included in the same sentence as the same bands that are on today’s bill. We haven’t sold anywhere near what most of these guys have sold over the years.
Angel Alamo: You guys have not really been as active do you think people are now rediscovering the band?
Danny Vaughn: What you are referring to is a lot America we have never left Europe. when you see We tour England almost every year. I’m down and if we don’t I do it with my solo band. We have never gone away in Europe.
Ged Rylands: A lot of the bands here today they come up to us they are envious of our position to be able to go over to Europe because a lot of these bands don’t get that chance.
Danny Vaughn: Our last European tour was like 5 weeks.
Ged Rylands: Yeah
Danny Vaughn: That’s a long time
Ged Rylands: We do good numbers were not playing to 50 or 60 people. It has always been that way.
Angel Alamo: Is it Because audiences are more loyal. In America you have to have a big number 1 Radio hit where in places like Europe and Japan once the fans love you they love you forever.
Danny Vaughn: I think that’s it that is basically right. They have very long memories. They are not locked into the trends. You know that’s not saying that our shows are filled with teenagers but they are there, that’s always heartening to see a 12-year-old rocking out to your songs alright good parenting.
Ged Rylands: We have gotten a lot of new fans these last few years.
Danny Vaughn: The reach album really got us a lot of new fans. You do something like this today even a lot of people come up to me today and say I don’t know who you are I just went out and bought your album you really can’t beat that.
Angel Alamo: Is there any new music on the horizon?
Danny Vaughn: Our last studio album was in 2016 Reach Then we put out live in Milan which was 2017 which was us playing live at the frontiers music festival. So yes it is time to start engaging in the writing process again. I got my Whiteboard out at home by the way with 35 ideas.
Angel Alamo: So there is no timeline as to when the next studio album will be coming out.
Danny Vaughn: Oh no I don’t like to say it because one, I am unfortunately notoriously slow when it comes to writing songs. I can’t make any excuses for it I just think a lot. Also we won’t put something out because it’s time to if it’s not ready it’s not coming out. We want to put out an album that we would happily sit and listen to which is what reach is.
Angel Alamo: The rest of the year will the band be doing any major touring?
Not too sure no just the things that I mentioned with the festivals.
Ged Rylands: The last two or three years we have been touring almost Non-Stop.
Danny Vaughn: In 2017 we did two European tours and We have been very, very lucky to have been included in for about 5 Years running in the Monsters of Rock cruise. That has really opened the doors for America. We have done a few more American shows of course we would like to do more like this. So next year is a quiet year. It will be devoted to writing. Taking ideas back and forth between all of us.
Angel Alamo: What was the feeling like playing in your first arena show in Denver in 1991. Any memorable moments.
Danny Vaughn: The most memorable moments of that show was actually after the show. That was the first tour with Nelson. We had gone a few shows with them but just was the first official night of the tour. A played we had a great night. We watched Nelson and they blew the house down, so we are packing up at the end of the night. I suddenly realized that they got hot tubs backstage and stuff. I turned the corner and someone goes dude, so we got the nelson twins with two or three very lovely young women in the hot tub. They go what are you doing. We are getting on the bus, they go bullshit you are getting in the hot tub. So I get in so yeah that was my first memory.
Angel Alamo: Who was the best band that you guys toured with?
Danny Vaughn: Best is a harsh word.
Angel Alamo: Or good bands.
Danny Vaughn: Nelson was a stunning band but they were a great band. Everybody was building on their looks. They went out on tour they had one of the best guitar players in the world with Bret Garsed, Bobby rock on drums, and Gunner is a stunning bass player. Paul Mirkovich on keyboards. But seriously a solid live act. Anybody ask me that question in my history I will say Iron Maiden when I was in Waysted we were opening for Iron Maiden across the United States and Canada. That is quite an experience.
Ged Rylands: Shows like these with a lot of these bands and then afterwards you just become friends. This can be transported to Germany, UK, different festivals it’s the same kind of bands You meet up with these bands during the summer months’ friendships do develop. It’s nice when bands do gel.
Danny Vaughn: There is a lot less competition between us all, are a lot more of us of course as we are older, be really appreciate where we’re at,that we still get to do this at whatever level. It’s a privilege to do it.
Angel Alamo: You read my mind about the next question back then that you would imagine that you would still be doing music today after all these years?
Danny Vaughn: I mean back then my imagination was quite Limited. I just wanted to be a star man and that was it you wanted to be Bruce Springsteen, or Bon Jovi or whatever. And then it becomes your life. No, there was nothing in my imagination that would of prepared me to be 56 years old and looking ahead Band camp I still do this and I do not do anything else. Believe me I have over the years. It is quite nice to not have another job.
Angel Alamo
Angel Alamo: I have to share this as fan, I still remember reading one of your interviews on metal Edge magazine.
Danny Vaughn: Oh Gerri Miller.
Angel Alamo: The one segment where you guys were shooting the music video (forever young).
Danny Vaughn: Yeah, I still got that.
Angel Alamo: I remember reading the interview. Before the whole internet thing.
Danny Vaughn: Those were the good days. One of the things that has killed music a little bit. There is none of that anticipation for information anymore. Go back a little further to Led Zeppelin. They didn’t do a lot of interviews. So what day did for example kerrang magazine So we have spoken to Robert Plant. Bought that because that was your only insight. Now because the demand is so immediate Internet anything video or whatever you’re constantly feeling this machine that’s why the attention span is short while I heard that song now 400,000 times this month now I’m moving on.
Angel Alamo: After knowing the songs were so many years do you guys still practice?
Ged Rylands: No
Danny Vaughn: Cat is out of the bag.(laughs)
Danny Vaughn: You want to know what’s funny this thing that were talking about and evening with Tyketto. It is the hardest that it’s been and it will work. So this is going to be concentration time. A lot of times you think you should practice but these guys are so locked in let me tell you a story. We played the Barcelona rock festival in front of 25,000 people hot as balls literally I am hallucinating on stage. I feel bubbles is that hot. I normally for a longer set would have to acoustic guitars because I use different tunings so one it’s normal to me and then their songs like standing alone Where it’s dropped down a whole step so I’m playing standing along And I picked up the wrong guitar The one that is tuned up a whole step higher than what I would normally sing in. I am playing the song because I do the whole Intro by myself. And half of my brain is going excuse me excuse me my brain shout out I am busy. So I’m playing I’m playing The first chorus where I sang Stand up and both sides of my brain goes you asshole so my point being is that at that point you can’t stop so I have to tough it out a whole step higher and these guys I think you picked it up first Jed picked it up first. And look at the bass player and said you’re not playing as an F this is G so without missing a beat that I can see now I got to have the whole band played the exact same song The guitar player transposed the solo, On the spot and played the solo a whole Step Up from the way he has been playing it for three years. So I’m really confident About you know we can get together and rock.
Angel Alamo: How do you warm up for show?
Danny Vaughn: Just waking up we have to be on at 11 so we have to be here around 9 if I have a chance I’ll do warm workups but there was no time today I don’t think warming up is really big and are things to do.our drummer Mike will always do some drum stuff.
Everyone just does their own thing and is to their own space. Over many, many years before shows we tend to freak people out. Before shows no matter how big or small we tend to fall asleep and people go like dude are you alright is anything wrong what’s the matter aren’t you into this you are about to go in front of 10,000 people. Is just your body going I know it’s coming. I need to be explosive to end so we just save it now as you get older you have to parcel out your energy wisely.
Ged Rylands: This is actually what you can expect backstage. This is what it actually looks like everybody’s just relaxed and chill
Danny Vaughn: That’s kind of how we are I mean you can find endless things to get all worked up about and it does no good to anyone to yourself to your friends to your family. As long as the essentials are in place any of these bands will tell you. You do this long enough you are so used to okay we didn’t have a keyboard stand so let’s put the keyboard on some boxes is that okay yeah fine.
Angel Alamo: Would you ever put out a remastered version of your debut album?
Danny Vaughn: We actually did there is a remastered version that’s kind of a weird spot for us because we have never been able to have any control of that it’s only by Geffen the publishing is owned by Universal I believe so we never been able to say hey would you please give us this album so we can rework it we do it we release it because it was unavailable for years completely out of reprint but one of these companies that does that Rock Candy Music got a hold of it last year and re-released don’t come easy. That coincided with the 25 year anniversary of the album so that year we toured Europe and did just played whole don’t come easy album all the way through.
Ged Rylands: That was the basis of our live show with live album and DVD live in Milan.
Danny Vaughn: The live in Milan is the whole don’t come easy album. That’s what they wanted. It’s imperfect everything is not completely right there are mistakes here and there but it’s what a live band is, it is a shoot from the hip kind of thing. As a matter of fact the opening song my acoustic guitar I come out in the beginning and I singalong while the band is jumping around and didn’t have my guitar on the guy doing monitor board just forgot to turn it on so the beginning you kind of hear and if you don’t hear it then look at the monitor guy going yo the n it comes on going back to what was said earlier. If you let something like that turn you into fuck you tighten up like that there goes the whole show. I think its dynamite live album. I’m not a live album fan but it’s great to be able to put it out.
(After the interview we got to chat a bit and talk about metal sludge Danny was enough to share a story about his first interview with metal sludge)
Metal Sludge has got me in a little bit of trouble over the years so it’s nice to do something nice. I’ll tell you a story and it’s a good story. I had my first interview with Metal Sludge years and years ago. I made a horrible mistake right after I did it. Which was I listened to the metal sludge interview first with Dee Snyder. I was taken in by the fact that Dee Snyder does not give one single flying f*** he says whatever he really means and I got that into my head and I said some really shity things I said some shity things about some of my contemporaries who I actually quite light and I just was in the wrong mind frame consequently I insulted Ted Poley and we didn’t talk for years and when we did finally talk he said why did you do that not only are these are my peers these are also my friends I have known Ted for over 35 years we go back to playing cover bands together so I was just trying to stir up a little controversy to be something I’m not which is a combative arrogant mouthy kind of guy it wasn’t Metal Sludge fault I just went with the flow and it cost me Of course we’ve become friends since and I did apologize.
I was able to talk with M3 festival headliners Queensryche (Todd LaTorre & Michael Wilton) before hitting the stage.
Angel Alamo: How is the new album coming along?
Todd La Torre: It’s going well actually; it is in the mixing stages right now.
AA: How is playing at the M3 festival different from some of the other festivals?
Michael Wilton: We have a variety of festivals that we play. Like in Europe there’s all different kinds of festivals. We play Rockin the rivers music festival which is more heavier bands I guess, this is more kind of traditional 80s style of music. It’s a different genre it’s a different flavor. But that’s cool that we can play in Rockin(the rivers music festival) and M3 festival.
TL: I think it’s probably one of the only festivals in the states that hosts this type of event with the lineup that you have where some of the other festivals have a lot of new bands and some of the older bands and across as a lot of different genres. This is a little more what’s the word that I am looking for a little more of the same era. Which is fine.
AA: Todd you wear originally a drummer in the future would you ever do a side project as a drummer?
TL: Sure I mean it would be fun. Not for a touring thing because Queensryche is what I do with the band full time.
I can’t imagine any time that would be able to do that but as a drummer I would love to drum with a side project recording or video or maybe a couple live shows as the drummer where I’m not the front guy that would always be fun.
AA: What songs are the most difficult to play live?
TL: We kind of nail them all. It’s a hard question
AA: Which album or band made you want to go into music?
MW: The first Van Halen album and there’s Black Sabbath, Never Say Die tour
TL: For the rock genre early Ratt and Dokken. Those were two of my all-time favorites Stryper outside of that genre when my ears really started to pay attention to music really want you started to pay attention to Fleetwood Mac Billy Joel stuff like that. As a young child I started playing guitar when I was 10 and then that took a backseat to drunk when I was 13 and that was more of the rock influence took place with the bands that I just mentioned.
AA: Once the new record comes out what are the bands touring plans?
Normally we would tour europe twice a year this year we decided to take some time off because of the new album we want a really hit it hard once the new record comes out so we don’t want to saturated any markets prematurely or anything like that, there are some potential shows in South America we just came back from India a few days ago surely a North American tour. We will definitely be going overseas once the new album comes out.
Angel Alamo 