Thursday 16 July 2015

Rebel House Radio Q&A

Your name:
Mike Mangan and Mike Blumberg.

Where are you from?
Los Angeles, CA.

Name of band:
REBEL HOUSE RADIO.

Who is in your band?
Main members and songwriters:
Mike Mangan ­ - Vocals, Hammond Organ, Piano, keys, key bass, harmonica
Mike Blumberg­ - Vocals, guitar, bass
Current rhythm section: Ryan Krieger (drums), Ben White (bass).

How would you describe yourselves and your music?
Rock with no limits.

Who are your main influences musically?
Since we love so many genres, that's a tough question. But here's a few: Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, John Scofield and Beethoven.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
Living life free and doing what we love. We’d like the ability to perform live for large audiences and positively affect music lovers around the globe!

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
Mike MRecently being hired to play the Deep Purple tune “Burn” on my Hammond at the Classic Rock Awards with Kings of Chaos, which are the guys from Guns N’ Roses (Matt Sorum, Duff McKagan, and Gilby Clarke) plus Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme. And of course Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple belting out the vocals. It’s also a ripping classic keyboard solo from one of my idols and huge influences, the late Jon Lord. I had my Hammond and Leslie hydraulically lifted to the rehearsal and show and I got to fill some big shoes on a notoriously difficult Organ/Piano solo playing alongside the original vocalist on the song. What an honor. During rehearsal I also got to jam with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Joe Perry from Aerosmith, and Joe Elliot from Def Leopard. I got to perform in front of Ozzy, Brian May, Eric Bourdon, Greg Allman, and a whole slew of my biggest influences.
One other highlight is Keith Emerson coming to several gigs of my gigs with my band Big Organ Trio and sitting in with me on my own Hammond and trading fiery solos. Totally awesome. 
And of course, last but not least, completing the RHR album “One More Day”. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to something. What began as just an idea in our heads, we were able to turn into a reality in spite of quite a few obstacles. If you are determined to do something and decide that nothing will stop you, then I believe you can achieve just about anything, so this album is definitely a highlight of my life and career.
Mike B​Wow. So many amazing experiences playing and hanging with some of the best musicians in the world. Tough to narrow this down, so I’ll just give you three! Haha.
My first band in LA, Revolutionary Side Effects, was the only band west of Colorado selected to perform at Wakarusa Festival in 2007. That was pretty amazing considering we drove straight from LA to Denver for the audition and lost to a local Boulder band (because they brought a literal bus of people to vote for them), but were contacted by the festival and told we deserved a slot! Great feeling. RSE went on to open for the phenomenal Maceo Parker, Robert Randolph, The Samples and many more. Amazing times.
Another huge highlight was writing music, performing and recording with Miles Evans Band (son of Gil Evans). I had the pleasure of working with Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones), Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty) and MANY more world renowned jazz musicians.
Lastly, I will say that holding the final final final master of REBEL HOUSE RADIO’S “One More Day” in my hands alongside my musical comrade (Mike M.), was truly a main highlight of my life and music career thus far. This record is dedicated to my Father who died of cancer just a few months before the effort was completed. I know how proud he would have been to see/hear the fruits of our labor. This album also proves that we can produce a full 14 song record on our own and deliver it to the world. That’s pretty powerful!

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
Mike M: Maybe falling off the stage and smashing my head on a pillar right in front of Keith Emerson as I came back around from playing the organ backwards (which I basically stole from Keith...haha). Although in hindsight the crowd went crazy when I got back up, and Keith told me a bunch of his amazing stage war stories afterwards, so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all...haha.
Mike BHere are a few. Again, tough to narrow to just one. :­)
I’ve been in bad situations with previous bandmates where I would be ridiculed on stage (during the show) for missing notes and not performing our songs perfectly. That REALLY didn’t make for a positive or fulfilling musical experience. I wouldn’t mind forgetting that for eternity. :­) I’d say another bad one was when I performed with a band in college (I was still in high school at the time so this was a big deal for me to be playing with college musicians), and I broke a string on my guitar that had a Floyd Rose bridge. If you’re a guitarist, you’ll surely understand that without a spare guitar, you have to spend probably 15­20 mins trying get the guitar back in tune. Doesn’t make for an easy fix when you break a string. That’s one reason why I never walk on stage these days with less than 2 guitars (usually 3 for multiple tunings etc.). What a nightmare that was! :­)

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
It’s really tough because we cover a lot of ground. Some songs are quite different from others. That said, “Can’t Say No” is a good representation. A great guitar solo, some crazy Hammond organ sounds, a good vocal melody with incredibly inventive harmonies and backup vocal lines. We actually just premiered our the OFFICIAL music video for “Can’t Say No” on July 2nd! It was Directed by Mike Makara, who is one of the more talented and visionary humans on the globe when it comes to visual effects and production.
Check out the video here! We’re extremely excited about it.

Where can we listen to it?



Where can we find out more about your music?

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
REBEL HOUSE RADIO is extremely unique in that Mangan and Blumberg fuse the elements of both Hammond B3 Organ and guitar (electric and acoustic) seamlessly, but in a relatively uncommon way. We are both “lead” players and have multiple solo trades throughout the record. These two instruments are used both as compliments to the overall timbre of our songs, as well as lead voices. And yes, we never play a gig without the REAL Hammond Organ and Leslie, not matter what it takes to move it.

The Alpine Camp Q&A

Your names: 
Chris Bell & Charles Etienne.

Where are you from?
We’re from Los Angeles, but we like to hang out in the woods!  And yes, LA does have woods; The Angeles National Forest, and Los Padres National Forest are our main spots.

Name of band: 
The Alpine Camp.

Who else is in your band?
We have Jeff Stella on bass, Shad Wilhelm on drums, Matt Piper on Banjo and David Adam Hall on pedal steel. 

How would you describe yourselves and your music?
We bill ourselves as “roots rock for the outdoors”. We like to hang out in the forest and we think the music reflects that. Lately another good genre we kind of consider ourselves to be is Jamericana (Jam + Americana) get it? We LOVE our songs, but we also love to jam them out!

Who are your main influences musically?
Hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn for Charles, but I know that he loves Irakere and also pretty much anything that Steve Gadd is involved in (Charles was a drummer in our previous band for 10 years). love improvisational music and have been to 40+ Phish shows, but I go to at least two shows a month and my taste is always changing. I’ve been digging this bluegrass band from Pennsylvania lately called Cabinet…

What do you hope to achieve in music?
Our main goal right now is to build an organic following outside of our own market of Los Angeles. We’re a pretty new band, so we’ve begun that process with our first tour this summer from San Diego, CA as far north as San Luis Obispo, CA. 

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
Even though the band is fairly new, we’ve been fortunately enough to play some really amazing venues. One of which is The Mint here in LA and The Hotel CafĂ© in Hollywood.  We’re looking forward to getting our own headline shows in town and continuing with that momentum. 

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
As we’ve said we’re a new band, and being as such we don’t have much leverage with booking. It was pretty humbling being rejected by numerous festivals last year, but I guess if it was easy, everyone would do it right?

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be?
Regrets of a Cosmic Mountaineer.

Where can we listen to it?


Where can we find out more about your music?
Twitter: @thealpinecamp
Official site: thealpinecamp.com

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
We TRULY appreciate y’all supporting independent music and if you’re in California we hope you’ll party with us on one of our tour stops this summer (check thealpinecamp.com for dates) and if you’re out of state we’ll be there soon. Please enjoy our music on Spotify and thanks for reading!

Haley Ryan Q&A

Your name: 
Haley Ryan.

Where are you from? 
I was originally born in West Yorkshire but due to my dad's (and then my own) military career I spent most of my life moving around. I have now settled in Staffordshire though.

Who else is in your band?
Although I am a solo artist, I do have a regular guitarist that I perform with called James Shuff.

How would you describe yourselves and your music? 
To be honest, I am still experimenting and trying to find my own personal style so there is no definitive answer, I consider myself as a country artist but I also like to take inspiration from blues, pop and soft rock.

Who are your main influences musically? 
Wow, there are far too many to mention but at the moment I listen to quite a lot of UK country artists like Dexeter, The Shires, Acoustic Journey and Sasha McVeigh so I guess they would have a big influence but other influences would include Striking Matches, The Band Perry, The Wreckers, Faith Hill and Kacey Musgraves.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 
Success... Music is something that is a big part of my life and I love that fact that no matter how I am feeling there is always a song that I can relate to. For that reason, I enjoy listening to music but I enjoy writing and creating music even more so as long as others are enjoying it and relating to it I guess that's all that matters.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 
The biggest thing would have been when I was 15 and got to work with a fantastic songwriter and record my own song for the first time as that was the moment I realised how important music is to me but this year has also been amazing so far. I have an amazing agent, I am focusing more on writing my own music instead of performing covers and I have booked a few festivals so I am now just looking forward to seeing where my journey takes me next.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 
I don't think there is any moments that I would like to forget as it is all a learning curve, mistakes need to be made in order to grow both as a person and as an artist.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why? 
Each one of my songs represents a different story, a time in my life that has meant something to me so in that respect I guess it's like asking a parent to choose their favourite child, lol. That said, I guess I would have to say the one I love performing the most is Silent Tears as it is inspired by my sister when she lost her son so comes from quite an emotional place. I've performed it a few times in public now and each time it has brought a tear to someone's eye so it's good to know that people can relate to it.

Where can we listen to it? 
I am planning on recording an EP towards the ending of the year but a live recording is available https://soundcloud.com/haley-ryan-music/silent-tears


Where can we find out more about your music?


Son Of The Wind Q&A

Your name: 
Smári Tarfur.

Where are you from? 

I'm from the West Fjords in Iceland.

Name of band: 

Son Of The Wind.

How would you describe yourselves?

Free, meditative, dreamy and ambient.

Who are your main influences musically?

Anything from Prince to Kelly Joe Phelps to Converge.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Joy.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

To discover the acoustic guitar and the wonders of trying to get closer to the now in music - to improvise, write songs on the spot.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Every moment on stage when I was consumed with what other people thought.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Wicked Girls by Belford says more than words. Well..except perhaps for the words themselves - which I definitely didn't write. Bragi, the vocalist, did that. Honestly, man!

Where can we listen to it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtqM9MyUdy0




Where can we find out more about your music? 
www.smaritarfur.com

www.facebook.com/The.Son.Of.The.Wind
www.facebook.com/BelfordMusic

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?

Well I'd like to ask right back at you - are there any other Sons Of The Wind out there? Or even, daugthers? Let us find me siblings!

Alicia G Q&A

Your name: 
Alicia Guastaferro.

Where are you from? 
Buffalo NY, US.

Name of band: 
Alicia G.

Who else is in your band? 
Just me!

How would you describe yourself and your music?
My motto in life is "Go big or go home" and I never ever go home. My music is fun and wild just like me!!!

Who are your main influences musically?
Some of my biggest influences would be Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj because I love the sound and quality of there voice. Especially the fact when you hear one of there songs you can immediately recognize there voice because they don't sound like anyone else which I love. I also like Eminem,he is my all time favorite rapper. A reason why is because he is so bold in what he says and never holds anything back.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
I hope to achieve in music to record some new songs and get them out to the public and enjoy every moment of my journey. My goal is to keep working hard and never give up on my dream until I walk the RED CARPET being a STAR!!!

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
I love being on the stage performing and entertaining for people. My daddy has always said I have a smile that can light up a room and a charisma and charm that wins over the audience every time.When I see someone smile after I perform I feel that I succeeded my goal which was to entertain the audience and that is what I love the most to put a smile on people's faces.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
The song “Pretty Girl” is just a all around fun song to listen to and to dance too. The back round of the song is to promote the fact that every girl in the world is PRETTY and every girl should be proud to scream and shout it out loud that they are PRETTY and to boost girls confidence in today's society. 

Where can we listen to it?


Where can we find out more about your music?
All Songs are available for purchase on Reverbnation. Please checkout my Profile on Reverbnation (ALICIA G). Please become a FAN and Share with your friends !!! It has all the links to where the song is available for purchase on Reverbnation.
MY PERSONAL WEBSITE - www.aliciaguastaferro.com

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
At the end of the day music is my true passion that I love so much. I originally started training in classical music singing opera at the age of 13 but as time went on I grew to enjoy and love rap and hip-hop. I love rap the best because you can tell a story to hear threw your lyrics that can relate to everyday life.I just really want to be able to share my life stories threw the music I make and make people SMILE and Dance ... "Everyone in this world deserves to be truly happy.-ALICIA G" One thing is for sure I have lived a crazy life and I have a lot to say and a lot to talk about lol !!!

Silent Party Q&A

Your name:
Michael Goward.

Where are you from?
South London, England.

Name of band:
Silent Party.

Who else is in your band? Chris and Jim on guitars and Luke on drums.

How would you describe yourselves and your music?
Our music is all about sonic intensity but with a classic pop sensibility. Lots of guitars frenetic drumming and poppy synths and vocal melodies. Us? We're four entirely different types of lunatic.

Who are your main influences musically?
We love (without irony) lots of pop music from Girls Aloud, Katy Perry or Charli XcX and The Beach Boys, Madonna and Prince. This is evident in our sound but we also love all the other aspects of the alternative realm whether it be Spiritualized, The Super Furries, My Bloody Valentine. When those influences come together that's when interesting things start to happen! 

What do you hope to achieve in music?
Roger Daltry owns a fish farm...that would be cool. 

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
We recently just got some support from BBC Introducing which is exciting. We've played sold out shows at the 100 Club and the Barfly and every time you play a show like that it just reaffirms that this is all you want to do in the world.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
We were once booked in to a hostel after a gig in Bristol. We were in this massive shared dorm area trying to find a bed and some guy beckoned us to his bunk and from behind a Union Jack towel told us in no uncertain terms that if we slept on his top bunk he would kill us. We slept in the car. 

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
Our first single Remember Our Strategies  has a mix of everything we are trying to achieve in our music.

Where can we listen to it?
https://soundcloud.com/silentparty2013-1/remember-your-strategies
http://open.spotify.com/album/316BJIdGDwpwUT0uLRUn9J




Where can we find out more about your music? 
www.facebook.com/silentpartyuk 
www.twitter.com/silentpartyldn 
https://instagram.com/silentpartyuk
www.youtube.com/silentparty

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
Our new single Taxidermist is out August 7th - you can listen here - http://open.spotify.com/track/1Si04FJ5y3MlOZ51BwctxG

The Insufferables Q&A

Your name:
Carolyn.

Where are you from?
San Francisco, California.

Name of band:
The Insufferables.

Who is in your band?
Keith (vocals), Gene (lead guitar), Ram (bass, backing vocals), Carolyn (guitar, backing vocals) and our new kick-ass drummer DK, who is not on any of our tracks yet.

How would you describe yourselves and your music?
Alternative jangle horror rock.

Who are your main influences musically?
We are huge music geeks so there are lots of influences: punk, alternative, industrial, pop, such as REM, X, Shadows of Knight, Standard Ridgway, HooDoo Gurus.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
Meld crunch and jangle guitars with intelligent intelligible lyrics about fun stuff and rock hard.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
We played The Continental Club, in Oakland, California, right before they closed (and were converted to lofts). It was a cavernous place with a massive stage, 5 dressing rooms, 3 or 4 bars and 2 kitchens. It hadn’t changed since the 1960s when Jimi Hendrix played there. Martha Reeves, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, everyone from that time played there. What a thrill to be on the same stage.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
A recent gig where the headliner, a tech CEO, forced all his employees to attend. They liked us though. This club was closed to make condos.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
Happy Now. It’s silly (or if you prefer, a scathing indictment of the pharmaceutical industry) but it rocks; features a nice guitar riff by Gene, and Carolyn gets to play punk guitar.

Where can we listen to it?


Where can we find out more about your music?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-insufferables/id658959051                                         

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
We’re about to play at the “Cowapigloosa Festival” on a farm in the pot-growing capital of California, and then camp out in a big tent. We are excited to debut three new songs, including a serious one called “45 Grave” that was inspired by recent police killings of unarmed black men. We are recording at the end of July.

The Time Sellers Q&A

Your names:
James Bull (Singer/Rhythm Guitarist)
Adam Bull (Lead Guitarist)
Jacob Hall (Bass)
Connor Pryde (Drums)

Where are you from?

We're a Chesterfield/Sheffield based band.

Name of band:

The Time Sellers.

How would you describe yourselves and your music?

We are four working class lads. We like to make songs that people can relate to. 

Who are your main influences musically?

Our main influences vary from The Beatles, Small Faces, The Who, Nirvana, The Jam, Oasis, The Specials, Stone Roses, The Action, Led Zeppelin and many many more 

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Hopefully we'd love to make an album someday.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Releasing our latest single 'Thinking Back' and playing the single launch at the Rocking Chair.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

None, it's been great up to now.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Thinking Back, because it's our most original song yet and it carries our trademark sound. It's also had a lot of interest from radio stations.

Where can we listen to it?

https://soundcloud.com/the-time-sellers/thinking-back

Where can we find out more about your music?
twitter.com/timesellers
facebook.com/pages/The-Time-Sellers/646210995461011

Bayonet Q&A

Your name: 
Vince Ringrose.

Where are you from? 
Sheffield, UK.

Name of band: 
Bayonet.

Who else is in your band? 
Lewis Cain, Sam Chapman and Danny Higgins.

How would you describe yourselves and your music? 
We're four best mates who all met at sixth form, and that shows through our music. It's young sounding, poppy and personal. 

Who are your main influences musically?
As a band were all influenced by instrument based pop music, such as Fleetwood Mac and The Smiths. But we all take different influences when it comes to the writing process. Lew's influenced a lot by American based rock such as Kings of Leon, I'm more influenced by bands like Oasis and the Neighbourhood, same with Danny, and Sam's music taste is very diverse, which is class to have as a drummer!

What do you hope to achieve in music?
I personally would be happy if we were putting out songs that we could see people connecting with, I think that's the same with the boys. I'd love to to a gig where we had 50 people singing back our tunes instead of a gig to 250 people who don't really care!

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
There's been a few, we've had some pretty decent support slots with bands like Wild Child and Lisbon, and there always class because getting to play before a band we'd be paying to go watch anyway is a sick feeling!

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
Probably playing songs before we'd kinda found our sound, I feel sorry for our friends and family who had to listen to some of the stuff we were playing for them!

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
For me it would be a tune were putting out around August time, it's called 'I Can't Be Without You' and it was the first song we'd ever wrote that had a perfect balance of everything were about. The harmonies the boys sing on that make it a great song to play live. That, and our song 'Weekend' that were putting out too, it's very high energy and gives people a chance to have a bit of a boogie.

Where can we find out more about your music?
www.facebook.com/bayonetofficial
@bayonetofficial on Twitter and instagram!

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
Nice one for letting us do this Q&A Greg mate, it gives people a bit of a chance to get to know us a bit! cheers /x

TAXXESS Q&A

Your name:
I am Jim Moon.

Where are you from?
Central Texas. Mostly around San Antonio and Austin. I grew up in the country, and moved to the city later.

Name of band:
I perform under the name TAXXESS.

Who else is in your band?
I'm a solo artist.

How would you describe yourself and your music?
I make that could mostly be described as IDM. My more approachable stuff has been described as deep house, or progressive house. Most of my music is a culmination of various auditory hallucinations I was able to pin down.

Who are your main influences musically?
That's a difficult question. I've been pretty influenced by Richard D. James, and other things idm/electronic. A lot of my friends are a pretty big influence on me musically too. My favorite band ever EVER EVER is The Beach Boys, and I will occasionally go through periods where I only listen to pet sounds for months. I'm into a wider variety of music than anyone I know. I can't really name a genre I don't like, but it all ends with The Beach Boys. Mike Patton has been a pretty big musical influence throughout my life too in all of his musical meanderings. 

What do you hope to achieve in music?
I would like to make a living at it. Barring that I would enjoy just playing shows, and having people enjoy what I make. I'm 34 so at this point in my life I try to avoid unrealistic expectations. I think more than anything else at this point I would just be happy that people enjoy it, and it mean something to someone somewhere who isn't me.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
I toured all over the US in my last band (I was the electronics/noise player). I sliced myself up with a knife in NY, Chicago, and Phillidelphia. The highlight musically for me would have probably been Probationer because everything about it was planned and executed right under the wire. It destroyed my computer. Let the magic smoke out of the fucker.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
The time my ego made me walk out of opening for a pretty big band. I never let any kind of ego bullshit hold me back ever again after that learning experience. I had this idea that I was done with some kind of bullshit or another and walked out of an opportunity that I will regret forever. Never close the door yourself, you know?

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
This is the hardest question so far. Probably Follow. It's a decent representation of my more melodic side, and hints at some of my weirder tendencies.

Where can we listen to it?
Where can we find out more about your music? 
Fackbook: https://www.facebook.com/masterblaster666
Twitter is @taxxesss
to just listen to stuff theres soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/taxxess
To purchase any of my releases (pay what you want, or nothing) you can do that at bandcamp https://taxxess.bandcamp.com/
Personal webpage here http://jim-moon.appspot.com/
And I'm on tumblr here http://taxxess.tumblr.com/

I'm sure there's probably more out there. 


Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
I'm currently on Reconstructiv records. I'll be releasing another album hopefully before the end of the year. It's finished, and we're working on mastering currently. 

Cynthia Pinga Q&A

Your name:
Cynthia Pinga.

Where are you from?
Born and raised in Perlis, Malaysia, but currently staying in Shah Alam.

How would you describe yourself and your music?
I could be a little weirdo and one of a kind at times. Heh! I got into songwriting back in 2010 and do mostly pop and ballad or something in between with a little of rock elements in the songs I create.

Who are your main influences musically?
Mainly it has always been Westlife. I grew up listening to them and watch them be one of the most successful bands in the UK and worldwide for 14 years! Their success just inspired me to do something with music. Other influences would be Taylor Swift and Daughtry.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
To get my songs heard all over the world, to give satisfaction and inspiration to those who listen to my music, to be recognised in the music industry and probably win the Grammy’s for Best Song of the Year in the next five years or so. Most importantly, to enjoy what I love doing and rock the stage!

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
Being the a new solo artist, there’s not much of a highlight yet but if I had to pick one, it would be meeting a very supportive and helpful producer from Pulse Soundworks and recording my very first single with him.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
None – as of now.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
That would be my debut single, Me and My Guitar. It’s a pop song but feels a little bit of ballad and has some electric guitar as a rock element added to it.

Where can we listen to it?



Where can we find out more about your music?