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Have any of you played in other bands?

MD: Yeah, Mike Arnold and I started out as a heavy metal band back in the day, under the name “Lords of Love”.  Later, we lightened up a bit and toured as “The Plainsmen”.  The Plainsmen was more alternative rock.   So, yeah, we’ve been around the block a few times.

JB:  We’ve all been in other bands, but nothing as unique as this one.

How is it that you started playing music?

KH:  I think we all have been playing from a very early age.  When you grow up loving music, it’s a natural progression to want to play it.  It’s a part of our lives and our psyche.

MA: Mike (Dirksen) and I have been playing and writing together since we were kids, ever since we first met.

MD: (laughing)  That’s a funny story.  We were teenagers, and I was hitting on his girlfriend.  (laughs again)  I didn’t know it was his girlfriend, I was at a dance and I started talking to this girl, and she was like, “My boyfriend is a musician, you guys should get together.”  She introduced us, we hit it off immediately, and have been best friends ever since.

MA:  Yeah, and she was gone the next year. Funny how things work out like that.

What are your names? / Who plays what?

Mike Arnold – Vocals, lead guitar;  Mike Dirken – Bass;  Justin Benson – Drums;  Michael Gibson – Keyboards;  and Kat Hoskins – violin, fiddle

Have you had other previous members? MD:  Not in this band.  Mike (Arnold) and I have had several different bands together before, but Black Water Mountain is completely different.  We all got together and just gelled.  It started with Mike and I and Justin, and the rest of the pieces (Kat and Michael) just fell into place. 

Did you make music even when you were young?

MA: Oh, yeah. (laughing) Even as kids.  Recording on a cassette tape deck.  But those songs will remain locked away forever.

MD: It’s almost like Spinal Tap, in a way.  You know, the part when they were interviewed, and they started singing “All the Way Home”…. But we’re not singing any of ours from back then.

Where are you from?

MA: Mike (Dirksen) and I grew in Topeka, Kansas.

JB: I’m from here in Houston, Texas

KH: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

MG: Snyder, Texas

What year did the band form?

MD:  Really, Black Water Mountain formed in 2015, but there’s more history to it than just a short answer.  This band has been formulated all our adult lives.  Mike (Arnold) and I have been writing and playing for a long time, evolving into this music. It’s a result of years in the industry, touring, and the roller coaster, up and down experience that is the music business…

MA:  We actually took a hiatus from music for a few years around 2005, and built custom choppers for a while.  It was called DeCastro Choppers and we gained quite a bit of notoriety for the bikes we built.  We were featured in Easy Rider magazine, and had a cover on Biker magazine.

MD: We travelled the circuit, going to the bike shows and rallies.  It wasn’t much different than being on tour… lots of parties, lots of booze…

MA:  and topless women (laughing).  So, yeah, not much different.  But you can’t shake what you are, and you can’t leave your first love for long, so here we are, back again.

What's your style of genre?

MD: I would call it Americana, but that is misunderstood too much nowadays.  It’s a mixture of our roots, the songs and styles that originally inspired us.

MA:  It’s a classic rock sound and vibe.  We sound like The Rolling Stones, Faces, with a little of The Killers, T-Rexx, Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC thrown in.

KH:  It’s really high-energy, can’t-stop-moving, good old-fashioned Rock and Roll.

JB:  It’s the “Rock and Roll Revival”. 

What inspires you?

MA:  Everything. (laughing)  Ok, let me give you a better answer than that.  The people we meet, the places we’ve been, the situations we’ve gotten ourselves into…

MD: …and out of… (laughing)

MA: Yeah.  For example, “Wish You Were Here” is about our life on the road.  If you listen to the lyrics, there are people and places that we sing about that made an impact in our lives over the years.  “Wish You Were Here” is an homage to all the people we met and knew, and our way of saying, “we remember you.  We haven’t forgotten.  We ‘wish you were here’ now.”

How often and where do you rehearse?

MD: Typically, we rehearse two to three times a week as the band.  We are always practicing and writing, every day.  That’s one thing a lot of musicians don’t focus on enough.  “Rehearsal” is just that.  You rehearse.  You practice at home.  When you come together as a group, you rehearse what you’ve already practiced.  You tighten it together, and work on the finer points, like playing off each other.  It’s like acting.

MA: Yeah. You don’t learn your lines at a rehearsal.  You practice them at home, and at rehearsal you work on the timing, the chemistry, blocking…. It’s the same in music.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

MA:  We keep getting better (laughs).  Seriously, we’ve evolved, gotten more mature in our songwriting.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that?

MA:  We are always looking.  We currently have several agents working for us, but we are always on the lookout for people to work with.  Good people, who are motivated to work with you and have a passion for it, not only allows you to concentrate on the music, but it motivates you, as well.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that?

MD:  Of course!  Having a label backing you gives to access to a lot more than you can accomplish on your own.

MA:  That being said, it’s not the same as it used to be.  You do have to bring something to the table besides the music if you want an attractive deal.  There is a lot you can do if you have the drive.  For example, our album is already paid for.  We recorded it at a well-known studio, had it produced, and then mastered at Bernie Grundman’s in Los Angeles, who is the king of mastering in the U.S. for the last 40 years.  We are right now recording a video for “Wish You Were Here”.  A record company is now a distribution outlet and touring support.  Less money for them to recoup, and less risk, no we can negotiate a better deal with a label.

What made you decide to make this music?

MA:  We went back to our roots.  We wanted to write really good music that could stand the test of time and connect with people.

What are your songs about?

MD: Our lives and experiences.  It’s always better when you write about what you know.

MA:  Unlike a lot of bands and artists, we’re not out to make a political or social statement with our music.  We write about the things we know.  The things that can connect with anyone.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics?

MD:  The lyrics are all Mike (Arnold).  We’ve learned that it’s important that the person singing believes and feels what he or she is singing.  You can be the best singer in the world, but unless you can connect to the lyrics, and connect that emotion to the audience, it won’t have the same impact as someone who does.

MA:  The music is written by Mike (Dirksen) and I.  We have been writing together for years, and connect musically together.  I can come up with a riff or a progression, and we can just start playing it together, and it kind of just evolves itself.   I think it works better in songwriting when you have two people who collaborate.  The best songs, the most iconic songs, have usually been collaborations.  Look at Lennon and McCartney.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? MD: Depends… Sometimes it starts with a riff or chord progression or musical idea, but sometimes Mike will start with a cool lyric line and then we write the song around it, to match the emotional tone of the theme.

Do you compose in a certain environment?

MA: Yeah. I mean, you can get inspiration from anywhere, at any time.  There have even been times that an idea for a song has happened because of a mistake that happen in rehearsal (laughing).  But the actual writing process, we usually like to sit down in our studio or someplace where there are no distractions.

MD:  And the funny thing is, time suddenly disappears.  It has no meaning when that happens.  It can feel like five minutes, and you finish, look up, and it’s been hours.

JB: I love it when they bring in new songs.  It starts as just jamming along with them, and then the music just takes you over, and it starts telling you what to play.  Like it’s alive.

Have you done any covers live?

MD, MA, JB, KH: (all together) No!  (all laughing)

MA: Not to take away anything from cover bands, but the world needs more original music.  We’ve never played covers in our entire career. 

MD:  Music is emotion.  A song is a story.  Connecting your story to an audience is what an artist does, whether he is a musician, a writer, a painter, whatever.

What language do you sing in? MA: English

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? MD: We’ve played at open mic nights for a handful of people to festivals for hundreds or even thousands.

What ages are most of your concert attendants?

MA:  All ages.  I’ve seen 18 year olds dancing and going crazy, and 45 to 50 year olds, who grew up when classic rock was new, jamming away at our concerts

MD: I think that’s the unique thing about our music.  Classic Rock has never left.  People still love it.  The most iconic and loved songs are still from that era.  It was never a fad that would fade away over time.  Everyone seems to be obsessed with trying to be sometime new and different in music today.  So much so, that the artistry of music has been lost.  People try to chase fads, or set new ones.  But good music?  That will never die. 

MG:  Plus, we are going back to our roots.  There is something very real about it that gives it a good foundation.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? MA:  We have a core set that consists of the songs off our upcoming album, but have other songs that either didn’t make onto this album or were written later that we mix in.  It keeps every show fresh, both to us and the audience.  You never know when you will hear a new song, even if you’ve seen us multiple times.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? KH: We have several regular places we play around Houston, where we live.  When we go out of town, it’s always different, depending on the promoter and the booking agent.  

What was your first gig like?

MD:  As Black Water Mountain? Or ever? (laughing)

JB:  Our first public performance as this band was at an open mic night here in Houston.  We sent it up to play a handful of our songs, and ended up going long and playing a whole set. 

What was your latest gig?

MD: That was last week (laughing).  We got asked to play as a last minute thing by a local promoter that has seen us play.  One week notice, no promotion to speak of… Still had a great show.

MA: We were offered two more shows at that venue from that gig.

Have you had to cancel a gig?

MD: Not as Black Water Mountain.  Years ago, we had to cancel a show when we got into a serious accident on our way to the gig.

MA: And we had to cancel an entire tour once when Mike (Dirksen) decided to have a dispute with a table saw and sliced up his fret hand (laughing)

MD: We can laugh now, years later. But, at the time, I didn’t know if I would ever play again. Luckily, a hand specialist happened to be visiting at the hospital I was taken to, and performed the surgery.  Months of therapy afterwards, and I was back playing again. 

Where have you played live this year? MA:  Oh, yeah.  We are playing around locally and regional, in Texas right now.

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? MD: We are playing around locally and across Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma through May of 2016, then in June, we are doing a national tour ending up in California at the end of the month.  Possibly another one later in the year.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? MA:  Since we started playing out.  We have T-shirts, of course, and stickers, like everyone else, but we also have beer mugs, shot glasses, and other stuff that people really like and that is more unusual.

Where can people buy your merchandise? MA: You can buy them at our shows, of course, or you can buy them on line from our website, www.blackwatermountain.com.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?

MA: It is what it is. It’s the future and the industry has to accept and change with it to survive. 

MG: I think the audio quality suffers, but a lot of people just don’t mind.  If you’ve never heard it any other way, you can’t know the difference.  There’s a whole generation that have never heard a vinyl record and have no idea of the sound difference.

MD:  Right?  Honestly, it’s all about technology and convenience.  With smartphones and internet, it is far easier and quicker to download or stream your favorite song than it is to go to a record store and buy one… or even to wait to hear on the radio.  It has its good and its bad points.  You can have more instant access to the artists you like, but not as much exposure to new artists you may have never heard of before.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this?

MA:  Complete shakeup!  Record companies went from selling 50 million cd’s a week to less than 2 (million).  Revenues plummet, royalties nose-dive, contracts with major labels become rare and turn into 360 deals because the record company has to make money and now demands a share of everything since they can’t stay afloat on album sales.  Artists now give away their music for free or next to nothing and concentrate on merchandising and touring income to make money. 

MD: And now Itunes, and companies like that are starting to fade, because everyone would rather stream for free than pay to download.  Spotify and Iheart are booming even more now than before.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today?

MA:  Older bands, for sure.  They didn’t have videos, youtube, internet, and all the avenues we have now.  They were artists and performers that put everything into the music and their performing.  Nowadays, it’s more like reality TV shows.  A lot of artists put more into their public persona than their music and it shows. 

MD: No doubt.  I remember growing up, everyone wanted to be a guitar player like Eddie Van Halen, or a bassist like Jack Bruce, or a singer like Robert Plant.  Now, kids want to be like the Kardashians, or Jay-zee.  People now are obsessed with image.  As a result, the music isn’t the same.

What advice would you give other bands or artists?

MD:  Find yourself. Be yourself.  Don’t chase trends or fads.  Write good music and never give up.

MA:  With the internet and technology, there is nothing you can’t do.  You don’t need to compromise yourself  to be successful.  And remember that it never happens overnight.  You may have to play bars to 20 people for years before you get to the next level.

JB: We’ve all been there.  And you don’t have to be The Rolling Stone to be successful.  If you can make a decent living doing what you love, you are successful.

How do you get psyched for a gig? MA:  Being on stage is its own psyche.  It’s where we feel the most at home and comfortable.  The connection you have with your audience is the best part of being a musician.

Do you have any new material? MA: Sure. We are always writing new material, refining it, seeing what works and what doesn’t.

What are your web sites? MD: our website: www.blackwatermountain.com, on facebook www.facebook.com/blackwatermountain.  Of course, you can hear our music on itunes, spotify, iheart radio, applemusic, amazon, and most other outlets.

How can people reach you? MD:  on our website, on our facebook page, or through twitter @BlackWaterMntn

What are your plans for the future? MD: Releasing our new album during the winter, doing the US tour in the summer, and keep going from there… We want to tour Europe next year, and then record the next album and tour again.