Who is in the band and what instrument do
they play?
Brian Schickling
- Vocals
Rocky Rigs -
Guitar
Danny Drumkiller
- Drums
Ryan Page - Bass
Brian Taylor -
Guitar
How did the band start?
Brian Schickling
and Rocky Rigs met up in one of Orange County’s fine facilities. With not much
to do, the two started to write songs and put the band together. There have
been a couple line up changes, but they were short lived. This line up has been
the longest-lived and hardest playing.
The band has been featured pretty
regularly on Surf & Destroy. How
did the band initially hook-up with the podcast? Did Hostage find the band or
did you submit songs?
We hooked up
with them a while back when we were supposed to play a Pushers show last summer. We sent them some songs and they have
been into us since. We’d like to thank them for the love!
Black Vinyl Limited
put out the band’s most recent 7-inch and it looks like an LP on the horizon.
Explain the Black Vinyl connection. How did you meet them, etc.?
Black Vinyl WILL be putting out our LP and 7” very
soon. Our debut 7” Recharged Rejects was
put out by Wanda Records (DE) a German Record Label. We also have two
songs on iTunes available. I work at Vinyl Solution Records in Huntington Beach
so that’s where I met up with Drak from Black Vinyl LTD.
List your three most influential OC punk
bands? Have these bands had any influence on the band’s songwriting?
1.The
Stitches
2.US
Bombs
3.Smogtown
Yeah
these bands have had an influence on the song writing process…but not much.
Do you think music can still be a vital
force in such a disposable age?
Music is
everything. No matter what and how disposable things are in this day and age no
one can ever dispose of the feelings music brings a person.
50 years ago people use buy music and get
their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free.
How do you think this affects music in any way?
The only way it
affects music is by bands and labels not getting paid for their work. Which
affects the way music is put out.
Where can people hear the band?
On Facebook:www.facebook.com/DIMExRUNNER
What’s next?
Playing shows
here and there. A European tour is scheduled in March 2013 and the release of
our full-length in the upcoming months.
The band is based out of Los Angeles,
CA. The band members are from different parts of the country, world including
Cleveland, Portland, Chicago, Boise and Vietnam.
Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?
Johnny Witmer: Lead Vocals/ Lead
Guitar
Johnny Sleeper: Lead Vocals/ Drums
Frankie Delmane: Lead Vocals/ Guitar
Dat Ngo: Bass
You guys have a pretty impressive roster of
previous/current bands (Stitches, Teenage Frames, Superbees). How did the band
get together?
Sleeper and I were playing in a band
with Jimmy Greco (pro Skateboarder) and Francois (Motorcycle Boy) called The
10'ors in 2007. We did some shows, lots of practice and even recorded a few
songs (still unreleased, but amazing. Someone should put this out wink,
wink...) we all sang in the 10'ors so you had four different styles. Other
members had some other stuff going on, plus Sleeper and I had a bunch of
rehearsal time booked, so we split from the 10'ors and just started a writing
session.
We messed around for a few months
looking for people. We ended up getting Logan Graham (original guitar player
from The Stitches), and Tara (Ciril) on bass in 2008. Logan had some issues,
and left. We were always interested in Frankie Delmane (Teenage Frames) as a
replacement, and he wanted to do it. We carried on with some new Frankie
Delmane songs added to the mix. Tara left in 2010, and we got Chris B (Richmond
Sluts) on bass. He stayed for a little over a year, and then now we have Dat
Ngo (ex-Superbees). We even had world famous DJ Mark Weddington on keys for a
few months.
How influential is living in Hollywood to the band’s
sound? I ask this because on the Facebook bio it reads “Living life loud 'n
fast, with a unique mess of star studded filth, Hollywood grind, and a nasty
habit of producing heart [throbbing] hit songs.”
We love Hollywood, because it's
always been dirty & sleazy. I've lived in Hollywood since I moved to
Southern California in 1993. Even though most of the underground music scene
has moved to downtown LA, Hollywood is still Rock ‘N’ Roll town #1 in the
world!
What led to the decision to put out the debut 7 inch on
Rapid Pulse?
Jim Budds is amazing! He's run
Underground Medicine mail order for years. He was always a fan/supporter of The
Stitches. He sent me a text (or maybe I sent him one), but we agreed to do the
debut 7" on Rapid Pulse and No Front Teeth records. Jim did a great job
getting the record pressed, and Marco (No Front Teeth) did the fabulous
artwork!
Explain the monkey character. Most bands just have the
name as the logo, but for a while it was incorporated into the logo.
We still feature the monkey in one
way or another on all artwork. I'm like a Silver Back Gorilla; Sleeper is like
a giant skinny orangutan. Frankie is like a sophisticated chimpanzee, and Dat
is like a tall spider monkey! Ape is the plan, and we're here to prove it!
50 years ago people use buy music and get their water for
free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think
affects music in anyway?
Water is still free at a lot of
places, and people still make records, and CD's. At least we don't have 100,000
shit bands making indie 7"s on purple vinyl anymore, but now they all have
YouTube videos. File sharing/ streaming is just technology. Hopefully it will
attract more fans for good bands, and you'll see more people at your shows. You
don't have to know a cool kid, with an awesome record collection to make you a
tape anymore; you don't need to buy the magazines to find out the latest craze.
Everything is online, and everyone is a writer. You see nine million posts from
people from Facebook to blogs. Most of it is crap, but there are some people
out there with great taste. Those people should like the Crazy Squeeze...
We have a new LP coming out on Vinyl
Dog in the USA, and Wanda Records in Germany. Northwest tour in fall 2012,
European tour in spring 2013 (if the world doesn't end in Dec.)
Rita: I guess the band started roughly 2 years ago. Mike and
I were already jamming together. We decide to look for a singer and found Gish
on Craigslist. He was totally into it. For the longest time we searched for a
bass player, just couldn't find anyone good enough. So we decided to contact
our old friend Jeremy who had played with us years ago in Ballpit. The four of
us just seem to mesh.
Mike: About a year and a half ago Rita and me where trying
out singers for a new project and we met Gish. We just tentatively titled the
Craigslist ad "Singer wanted for FUTURE Project." So we where trying
to think up a name and Gish said, "I like Future Project." We said
“Hey what about "Gish & The FUTURE Project" and there it was. So,
we just ran with that name & concept.
Gish: So I’ve been a singer
songwriter for eons and when I came to Orange County I continued to produce my
own music. My music tilts towards sounds like Daft Punk, Imogen Heap, Coldplay,
Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Beatles, MuteMath, Foo Fighters and a shitload of
trance. So the moment came where I felt it was time to start putting a band
together so I can play my music live.
I went on the
search. As part of that search, I was like, why not, let’s see what Craigslist
has to offer, after all I did buy a road bike from their once; how bad could it
be? So, I posted an ad or two looking for guitarists, bassists and drummers.
The people writing back were not who I was looking for in their style of
playing.
I was looking for people
who knew of bands like MuteMath and other bands that infuse electronic sound
with alternative rock sound. This would be the starting point for where I
wanted to innovate. I bit the bullet and said why not look for people looking
for vocalists and maybe find something that way. So I did. I found an ad posted
by a guy called Mike and his music was under a heading called “The Future
Project”. It involved him and Rita (drummer).
After listening to the
music and especially the guitar work in one of his tracks, and, how he infused
some electronic sound into it, it seemed like we may be on the same page
musically; that, and the fact that he was a MuteMath fan.
So, we got
together, and started sharing some music ideas. Both of us started playing each
others music to each other and then began to innovate from those ideas
sculpting those songs ideas into new songs that started a base fabric for this
musical collaboration.
During this time
of exploration, innovation and song building we finally roped in, our now, bass
player Jeremy who weaves his bass strings into this musical fabric to
contribute with Mike, Rita, and I to build onto this musical adventure called
“Gish and The Future Project.”
Jerm: The band had already been together for about 6 months
before I joined. I guess Mike and Rita put an ad in a paper and landed up
auditioning Gish, and the FUTURE came to light. One day I got a call from Mike
and he asked if I would be willing to play bass for them. Mike, Rita, and I
have a past playing in other bands together, so I said, “Yes.”
Who is in the band
and what instrument do they play?
Gish: Vocals, Keys
Rita Fine: Drums
Jerm: Bass
Mike: Guitars
Any bands you were
listening to a lot while starting the band?
Jerm: NIN and Mute Math
Mike: MuteMath and NIN. I would say these bands are our main
influences now, but we are always trying to add new sounds and rhythms to our
style. We are constantly looking for new and exciting music.
Rita: For me music is all about "How I am I feeling right
now at this moment?” When I’m in a good mood, I listen to bands like MuteMath,
and Nine Inch Nails. When I feel mellow, I like classic rock like the Beatles,
or some old Aerosmith. When I feel like I need some inspiration, I like to
listen to newer bands like White Stripes or Black Keys or Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But
these are the bands that get me going.
Gish: MuteMath, all kinds of
Trance from the DJs of“Above and
Beyond”, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Daft Punk, Imogen Heap, Coldplay, Beatles, Foo
Fighters.
Mike: We are playing Monday Aug. 27th at the DETROIT Bar in
Costa Mesa and Thursday Sept. 27th at the TIKI Bar in Costa Mesa also.
Jerm: We go on at 9pm for both shows.
I’m just going to ask
to get it out of the way. How are you bringing the future to the present?
Gish: By keeping everything new
and fresh. New in + our hearts and minds = New out.
The future is
giving something new that innovates beyond what exists. Innovation comes once
we have explored the essences of what exist until we are inspired to naturally
and optimally produce something that does not truly exist, but yet can provoke
and inspire our-self and others.
There are no rules; all
I know is that I am a vessel and communicator of the universe. Input from one
end and output from the other. My vehicle just happened to be music. I did not
choose music, music chose me. I’m a singer/songwriter, just as a fish is a
fish. Sounds, songs, emotions, desires, and many things will influence me and
us as a group, and as a natural reaction, the desire is to “Song” it out.
“Gish and the Future Project”
is an element in the universe made up of strong atomic pieces with strong
musical and songwriting agendas. As a musical body we have no choice, but to
reformulate and export out the new essences that we experience into new sounds and
songs that invoke, provoke, create love, entertain and inspire.
Rita:Just
trying to be original and play for the heart. Have no boundaries.
Mike: We are bringing the FUTURE to the present by
introducing NEW sounds & rhythms to the people NOW.
Jerm: We really mix a lot of what people like today, with
the influences of the past, and throw in electronica to infuse the FUTURE.Music is like a living entity.It has its own course.
Do you think music
can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?
Mike: YES! If you can write a GOOD song it is just as vital
today as it was 10 or 30 years ago. But not many people are doing that or are
trying to; they seem to just rewrite a song that is on the radio or copy a
sound they have already heard a million times. A good song will have staying
power and be just as good a year or so later when you here it, you say "Ow!
Ya I love this song!" Then you turn it up and it feels great.
Jerm: Music is the key of life. Everyone one is moved by
music. All cultures and all ages are moved by music. People are moving at a
faster pace more than ever. Yet, music follows along at the same rate. How many
kids do you see these days without ear buds in there ears?
Rita: Of course music is the future.
Gish: Yes, but I think the art
form will evolve. It will remain a vital force nonetheless. Singing, and
creating music, is a wonderment of the human species. Music plays on the
natural frequencies of sound. Until we speak in song, the moment we are born
and have a string-plucked sound come out of our nose when we sneeze, putting
these natural frequencies together will still remain a beautiful art form that
depends on creativity as well as talent. Just as we evolve as a species, we
will evolve in how we create songs. We have no choice but to create as a
species and thru song we shall continue to create in order to speak to one
another in the most beautiful language of all: Emotion.
I know Mike has a
recording studio called Drop Dead. Is it open to the public or only for the
band?
Mike: Well we just renamed the studio, since we got the
street sign from out front.
It is now called Pepper Tree Studio and no it NOT open to
the public. It is for the FUTURE to practice & record there. We do record
some friend’s bands and we have done some tracking work for some other people.
Rita: The studio is not open for the public, but [Mike] does
do recordings for friends and family. Occasional voiceovers and drum tracks. I
have a classic rock band that I play in and he has recorded us before.
Jerm: Just for the band and very close friends. We don’t
need the whole world invading the FUTURE.
When is the debut
single, EP, LP coming out? I ask this because the band has easy access to a
recording studio and I saw videos of tracks being laid down for recording.
Gish: Soon. Stay tuned.
Rita: We are constantly recording.An EP should be out soon.
Mike: Well, we have recorded about a full CD of tunes, but
we are releasing a 4 song EP at the Tiki Bar show in Sept. We will have a
couple new tunes to debut at the show as well.
I saw the band had
played some battle of the bands shows. How did those go?
Mike: I don't remember doing that?
Jerm: Umm, I don’t think I was there for that. I always saw
battle of the bands was for the High School kids that had their first band, and
wanted to show it off.
Rita: I don't think we ever did the battle of the bands.
Most of those make you pay to
play and we will never be a band to do that.
Gish: We did not do battle of the
bands. We had several gigs though, but no battles.
What’s next?
Rita: Live it, love it, play it good!!!!
Mike: Well with the near conquest and acquisition of Mars we
will probably be playing some shows their and bringing the FUTURE to Mars.
Jerm: A beer and a nap.
Gish: I’m going to get a coffee
now. But after that I’ll get back to my studio, conjure up something that
inspires me. Then meet up with the rest of the GFP band, and jam on some sick
sounds and produce something awesome that inspires us, record it and a few
more, post them, get people to love it, gig again and again, open for other
even more awesome bands that we love, gain a fan base of people who love our
stuff just as much as we love our stuff and love to entertain them, become a
lead act, become millionaires, save the world. The End.
Southern
California Region, we are spread over the greater LA basin region.Korey lives in San Diego, Greg and Mike
live in LA, Davey and I live in Orange County, and the horns live out in the
Inland Empire area.We meet in
Orange County at the Hurley recording studios to rehearse.We consider that our home base.Davey runs the studio there and I used
to work for Hurley for 3 years as well.
Who is in the band and what instrument do
they play?
Davey Warsop –
Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Chris Bradley –
Lead Guitar, Harmonies
Korey Horn –
Drums
Greg Keuhn –
Keyboards
Mike Bisch –
Bass, Harmonies
Marques Crews –
Trumpet
Kip Wirtzfeld -
Sax
How did the band start?
Davey and I met
whilst working at Hurley and had a lot in common musically.Davey had previously been in the band
Beat Union in England and had wanted for a while to do a more soul based power
pop thing.We both mutually knew
Korey and Davey and started writing some really good songs.We rehearsed a few times and just
couldn’t really get any members to stick and we sort of lost drive to do
it.Then one day Social Distortion
were in the Hurley studios doing some demos for their new record and Davey was
at the helm.Mike Ness was asking
Davey what he was up to musically and Davey played him a few rough demos.Mike and his management were really
into it and said; hey when you get a band together we’ll have you out for some
shows.We all thought “Oh, that
was nice of them to offer…” but didn’t think they were serious. So, fast
forward 2 months- no rehearsals, no members yet- and Relentless Artist
Management calls up and says hey Mike wants your band to play a few shows in a
month can you do it?Davey calls
me up and we decide to try to put something together just for these shows, not
thinking that it would be anything serious beyond a few shows.We called up some friends and put a
band together.We rehearsed about
5 times and played these two shows with Social D in Anaheim at House of Blues
and another in Tempe, AZ at this really big venue. On the way home from the AZ
show we were all just sort of looking at each other in the van going, that was
kind of magical and fun guys, do we want to do this as more than a temporary
one thing. We were all stoked on it, so we set some goals, and within a week were
in the studio recording the first EP.It has just sort of snowballed from there.
How does it feel to a northern soul
mod/pop band in such a county known for punk rock?Even getting played on Surf & Destroy podcast, which is
dedicated to OC punk.
For us man, we
are kind of older dudes and we’ve all played in lot’s of different kinds of
bands from Reggae and Ska, to straight up old school hardcore and punk, New
wave, and everything in between.It was not our goal in this band to be associated with any particular
genre or scene.We are just doing
what feels good for us.We see it
as transcending genre and hope other people do as well.We want this to be a very inclusive
thing rather than exclusive.It’s
about good music not scenes or labels.
Suedehead has some degree of success
right out of the gate. Coachella and two mini-tours. Care to explain how?
We have been
really lucky right out the gate to get the attention of some really great
influential people such as Mike Ness of Social D, and gotten some really good
opportunities from it.We were
lucky enough very early on to sign with great management and booking agencies,
which is really hard to do these days.We consider ourselves lucky to be where we are but also work our asses
off at the same time to deserve and utilize every opportunity afforded to
us.We are a very hard working DIY
band.We have funded and recorded
3 x four song EP’s in the past year, which we released on our own imprint – International Soul Rebel Society.We record, Produce, manufacture and
distribute everything ourselves.We have been able to build a very healthy mail order online on our
website which sells internationally, which really helps support our touring
efforts because whilst we have a great management and booking team we don’t
have any publicity agent, label, or distribution network yet.
Is I.S.R.S. just a label for Suedehead
releases or will it develop into a label that puts out non-Suedehead releases?
When Davey and I
started the Imprint the idea was that it would act as a platform for all things
Suedehead.Record Label, Fan club,
and anything else that might come along.The original idea was that we might eventually release records of side
project bands that we are doing or maybe even other bands that we play with and
really dig.It’s sort of wide open
at this point.We shall see what
happens.We don’t put any sort of
expectations on it at the moment beyond just Suedehead stuff. We really want to
build it organically, and slowly.
Do you think music can still be a vital
force in such a disposable age?
I think music
will always be a force.The way
music is made, distributed, and viewed live is ever changing, but I think it’s
a healthy thing.People will
always be passionate about music.It’s in everything. It can provide you such an array of emotions. It
evokes every kind of emotion there is.Music is definitely different these days than in the past and whether
you feel good or bad about that is irrelevant, if you don’t like the state it,
then go start a band and change the world in your own way.I still strongly believe that this is
possible probably more so than ever with the ease and rate of information
exchange on the interwebs today.Ha, ha, ha!
We have some good dates coming up between now and
the end of the year.We have
toured quite a bit out the gate in our short 1.5 year career as a band and we
are concentrating on playing a bit more in our own back yard over the next 6
months to year, as so far we have done it kind of backwards and played a lot
more on the road than at home. Check our website for dates.I know we’ve got some coming up in San
Diego in September, LA and SF with Tiger Army in October, and we are doing a
free in store performance in Long Beach at Fingerprints Records on September 27th.
Who’s answering the questions? Jeff, I play drums.
Where is the band from?
We all live in
Orange County, CA but live in different cities. Fountain Valley, Anaheim, and
Fullerton.
Who is in the band and what do they play?
Jason Schwartz
yells, Ryan Blank attempts to play bass, Eddie Oropeza shreds guitar and Jeff
Salisbury plays drums.
What influences/bands did you have in
mind when starting this band?
Media Blitz has
been around for a long time and has gone through a ridiculous amount of line-up
changes and has evolved sound wise. When the current line-up solidified, we
wrote songs in the vein of New York hardcore bands such as Gorilla Biscuits,
Cro-Mags, Shark Attack, etc. and many L.A./O.C. bands. Anything that is fast,
aggressive and has a meaningful message. However we write music
collaboratively, so influence comes from everywhere. I am often inspired by
current bands that are dedicated and have incredible work ethics.
Do people who haven’t heard the band
before think you sound like the Germs because of the name?
I'm not sure.
All of us like the Germs. That's part of the reason why I pushed for us to keep
the name Media Blitz after myself, Ryan, and Eddie joined the band. The Germs
rule! We did receive a lot of shit from people for not changing the name after
such a huge line-up change and writing new songs, but I've been going to Media
Blitz shows since I was sixteen. To me the name was a big part of growing up in
the Orange County punk scene. Besides, what's in a name?
Do you think music can
still be a vital force in such a disposable age?
In
my opinion, underground punk music with a DIY ethic is the most effective
method of free expression of radical ideas and thoughts that we have. Whenever
I hear people say that punk is dead, or that "things just aren't the way
they used to be" I can't help but laugh. Two or three times a year we pile
into a mini-van and drive thousands of miles across country and the sole thing
that keeps us alive in the incredible network of DIY venues, people and bands
that are apart of the hardcore punk scene. There's bands everywhere that drive
through 105 degree heat, play in basements and sleep on flea infested carpet
every night just to be able to play music and have fun. That's punk as fuck.
So, yeah, music can still be a vital force.
50 years ago people use buy
music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their
music for free. How do you think this affects music in anyway?
It
can help and it can hurt, I suppose. People are a lot more willing to take a
chance on a band if they can download their music for free to check it out.
This has helped us immensely, I think. Our new EP is on a few music downloading
blogs, and I think it gets us a lot of exposure to people who may never hear us
otherwise. However, we don't rely on selling records to be able to live, for
other bands that do it might be a big deal. As long as we have enough gas money
to get us to the next show we're good. Besides, people still buy vinyl a lot.
There's something about having an actual copy of a record in your hands that
mp3s can never replace. I often will download a bands stuff, then if I like it
I will go buy the record.
Where was the Never Grow Up
video shot?
That
was filmed in Orange County at our record release show in March. That's why
there's party hats and balloons flying around, to celebrate the new 7" ha,
ha! We received the records in the mail three days before that show so we were
stressing out on if we'd even have them at the release show or not. It all
worked out, though, and we went on a west coast tour the next day.
What’s next for the band?
Shows? Releases? Etc.
We
have some local southern California shows coming up and we're planning on booking
a tour out to Texas and back in January 2011. Other than that we're writing new
songs and making plans for a new release, we're just not sure on the details of
that yet.
