interview with Special Ops
How is it that you started playing music? AK Johnson - I was nine years old when I heard a bootleg of Anthrax first album, and I said "I want to do that when I grow up!" That was the end of it all!
Have you had other previous members? We used to be 2 singers, now just one. We also used to have a drummer curse! We have been through about 6 drummers, but Pat Kadaver seems to have stuck around and survived the insanity for a very long time, so we decided to keep him.
Did you make music even when you were young? i think we have always made music insome form or another, from tapping away at something to humming melodies.
Where are you from? check bio
What year did the band form? 2002
What's your style of genre? Genre is for industry snobs to classify u into a package so they can shelf you on a store. We make music not genres, but if you really need an answer, heavy rock, punk metal, childrens nursery rhymes
What inspires you? the stupidity of society
How often and where do you reherse? we have our own studio, and we come and go all the time, Wally lives there, I used to, i would say minimum 3 days of the week if you walked by you would hear and see the building shake.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Our drinking abilities have been finely tunes yes. Music too i would say.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? We try to pimp out Weka and Wally as often as we can, its good side money.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Bookings is the arsehole of the music business, no one likes doing it but it has to be done. So yes we are always open to new relationships for different territories.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? meh we will see. Depends on the label, the offer, and where the band is at that stage in their career. if you are just starting out a 360 deal is perfect for you, they take care of everything, but if you are established and already making on your own, you may not want a 360 deal. you may simply choose tour support or a distro deal etc...
What made you decide to make this music? the amount of crap that is out there, everyone is singing about the same damned thing, with the same damned image, just regurjitated rubbish. we wanted something different, and we dont care what people think, if you dont like it dont listen to it.
What are your songs about? A song will mean different things to different people. but we they are usually Social critiques, for example take it all, is about greed
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? depends on the song, over all poke our noses here and there with ideas, thats what makes us who we are.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? same as above ;p
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? "environment" - not really, sometimes a song just pops in your head and you scramble for anything to put it on, and then a few minutes later you realize you could just use your phone!
Have you done any covers live? we will occasionally cover a tune here or there, recently we did out-shinned for Chris Cornell, he was a huge influence on all of us, so we thought we would celebrate his life. we have done Shake your blood by probot at some point, its pretty rare that we cover something.
What language do you sing in? English, I tried singing in Urdu but it didn't work out.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? weve been around for a long time so from the begining, least 3 people, most 2000+
What ages are most of your concert attendants? 18+
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? that would be a very boring tour, we have the staples of course but the rest we vary it up.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Hell no, we are not a house cover band.
What was your first gig like? stressful and too many details. We got asked to play this bar down town, and we had everyone coming out to see this new band that we had just formed. we wanted everything to be perfect and of course when you do that you start to have everything go wrong. but in the end once we started playing it went great.
What was your latest gig? this weekend in Quebec City.
Have you had to cancel a gig? not us, we hate doing that, the promoters have in the past because of head liner issues or local support issues you never know, a coupe times the venue was shut down by cops lol Its Rock N Roll. we hate it because when your fan buys a ticket you honor them, even if its just 1 person, they deserve the best show you can give them, it doesnt matter if its a small bar or a huge stadium, that person paid their hard earned money and time to come and support you, so give them what they came to see. We respect our fans, fans are who make us who we are.
Where have you played live this year? all over Quebec and starting Ontario now, the rest of Canada later this year. There are talks for Europe, we will see.
Where do you plan to gig the coming year? read above.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? from day one, Special Ops is not the first band we were in, so we had some experience, we had merch from our very first show.
Where can people buy your merchandise? online, and facebook www.opsmission.com , https://www.facebook.com/specialopsband/
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? your wasting hard drive space, you can stream for free now a days, why on earth would you download. I think records are for true fans and music lovers, Not everyone loves music the same way, some people need it as back ground noise in ther daily lives, others use it for meaning and comfort, then there are the musicians and the true music addicts. I dont think the whole download thing is an issue any more, as for free streaming, its like radio, let people do it, they will discover new music, learn something new. if they truly love it they will come to a show and buy the record, or go online and get it.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? i think it became better, because now a musician doest just record in a cumf studio and sit at home collecting royalties, they have to actually perform and go tour and be musicians like the old days. It has come full circle i think.
What do you think of my work? you seem to really enjoy and have great interest in what you do, why else would you want so much detail, its great!
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? It most likely will not, what I hope it will do is get some people to listen and if we get just 1 new fan out of it, then it did its purpose.
Do you have any role models or idols? they are all dead, nobody left that I would appreciate greatly if they would critique our music. I dont think any musician can truly say they dont have Idols.
Why do you think that they exist? Its a human condition, where we learn from the others in society, music is the same, we are evolving and learning.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? yes learn what to do and more importantly, learn what NOT to do, so you dont ruin your career.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Industry Ar!@#$%oles, from would be managers to labels and so on, wanting to package us into a mold. this goes back to the genre issue. God forbid there is something different out there to spice things up, noooooo we must all eat the same mcdonalds big mac every day, 3 times a day! lol no offense to mcdonalds, i dont mind it occaisionally, but not every meal
What advice would you give other bands or artists? stop looking for a miracle, stop whinning, stop waiting for someone to hand you something for free! make some music, get out there and play the shit out of it, when you get in, hit the internet and promote yourself properly, if you dont know how, then learn! no one will come to your door and say I want to make you big tomorrow!
How do you get psyched for a gig? oh wouldn't you like to know. That is a secret we cannot divulge, only the privileged few know the secret.
Do you have any new material? all the time, we have the next 2 singles ready to go, just riding out the plan to do things right. Also in case we change our mind we could change it. lol
What are your web sites?
How can people reach you? facebook, website, through any social media actually.
What are your plans for the future? see the world while we play music and disrupt neighborhoods.
Do you have something to add? yes, we like your hat. oh and watch the
