Chatting with Jim, bass and vocals for Red Hot Rebellion. Soundtrack to a bar fight indeed.
When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
The first song that really made me want to learn electric guitar was "Round And Round" by Ratt. It was a quick decent from hair bands into Iron Maiden -- in fact "Ides Of March" was the first song I learned on guitar. Once I mastered the power chord, I just kind of stuck with it and played metal and punk for years and then switched to bass cuz there were waaaaay better guitar players out there than me. So that was another epiphany: dude, you're not all that good at guitar, but you can play the shit out of a bass.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
Most of our songs start with a riff or a series of riffs from Doug (Spencer - RHR guitar). He's literally got thousands of riffs in his head and he records them all on a little digital recorder, so when its time to write new stuff he either pulls one out of his ass or "goes to the tape" and then we all collaborate or arrangements and extra parts. But it almost always starts with a riff that gets us all excited.
Who has influenced you the most?
Our dark lord Satan. And chicks in leather pants. And booze -- except no one in the band drinks except for me...but the other guys are still influenced by it.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
See above...Also we always think about the songs in terms of the live show. We continuously try to up the intensity and fun factor.
Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?
The Soundtrack To A Barfight.
We strive to rock people's socks off. We know we're not breaking any truly original ground here, and that's intentional. One of our main core tenets is to Keep It Simple. Another is to Keep It Rocking. Yet another is to PLAY LOUD AND HARD. Rock n roll should be fun and exciting and we are striving to create something you don't have to think too hard about. Just something that hits you in the gut, maybe gives you a few goose bumps and want to shotgun a beer or two.
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
I passed out at the end of one of our sets once...actually I had to end the set one song early, then stumbled out side and passed out for a few seconds and threw up on myself. I wasn't drunk, but I was the night before -- which was St. Patrick's Day. I had a wicked case of the Irish Flu, but since i am a trooper, I played the show and rocked it a little too hard. I was dehydrated and needed to be rebooted. Not one of my prouder moments, but shit happens.
What makes a great song?
The hook. The beat. The emotion. And a Les Paul and a Marshall doesn't hurt either.
Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?
When I was 3 years old I wrote a song called "Cheddar Cheese." Its lyrics where the most profound thing I've ever written: "Buy cheddar cheese, and you get cheddar cheese" That's it. Over and over and over and over again. I would sing it for hours until my parents yelled at me to stop. That's when I knew I wanted to be a rock n roll musician. Cuz when you have a microphone and 14 millions watts of sound system behind you, they can't quite you down...
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
We are recording our first full length album as we speak -- so I'm going to wait until the recording is done to answer this.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
Right now I love love love The Sword. They write about crazy shit like witches and interdemensional space travel and rock harder than most bands around these days. And put out concept albums. I am a sucker for concept albums. I highly recommend their latest "Warp Riders" -- badass!
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
Vinyl. Definitely. Love the large art. Love the process of pulling out a record an putting in on a turntable -- but I'm a bit of a hypocrite, because as I am writing this I am listening to streaming music via Pandora and my turntable and records are literally 2 feet away from me...
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice
Beer. I once wound up in a tree during a hurricane where I proceeded to yell at the storm (or God) to try and kill me after drinking half a bottle of Jim Beam. The next morning the top half of the tree (where I was standing) had snapped off...so I stick with beer now.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
They just closed the only cool record store in Dayton, Gen City Records. Cincinnati has a bunch of cool ones tho...
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
We always have fun and free stuff on our website (www.redhotrebellion.com). Check it out and join the mailing list so we can send you more free stuff!
