interview with Sunshine & Bullets
Have any of you played in other bands? Amanda and Kyle were both in some local bands, but this is Rich's first band to ever get "out of the garage"
How is it that you started playing music? Amanda had a music teacher who helped her get into music, Kyle's mom saw that he had a natural talent for drums, and Rich started off just wanting to make a movie soundtrack!
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Rich Keane (Ginger Loko) sings and plays guitar, Amanda Hamers (Death Hammer) sings and plays bass, and Kyle Wolfram (Wolfie) plays drums
Have you had other previous members? We started off with the 3 of us, experimented with adding a few members, then went back to being a 3 piece again! When we had other members, Amanda played 7 string guitar, and we had Sam Brown on bass, Chandler Cornell on bass, and Steve Shultz running our light show.
Did you make music even when you were young? We all started at a young age, and continued to make music our whole lives.
Where are you from? Tampa, FL
What year did the band form? 2010
What's your style of genre? Alternative Hard Rock
How often and where do you reherse? We try to rehearse together at least once a week, but we all write or practice individually as well.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We have always loved heavier music, and as we progressed we are making more melodic heavy music.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Yes, we're also artists. All of our logos and shirt designs come from us.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We would like to find one, but can't seem to have any luck in that realm. We just make friends and we help each other out.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Yes, we're with Melodic Revolutions out of Orlando FL.
What made you decide to make this music? Our first album, which will be back out on the internet soon, had an assortment of themes that we played around with. We enjoy the theatre and television. Some of our favorite programming inspired those songs. The second album had the theme of "coping mechanisms." There were all kinds of ways to cope with hardships. Be it friendship, wrecklessness, hiding your feelings, or even escapism. This new album is based on the current state of the world. It's very dark and gloomy. We based Everyone's watching and Heads in the sand as a metaphor for how society is watching their phones, or computer to escape reality and ignore the troubles at had. They are loosely based on real conspiracies. Everyone's watching, is based on "Operation Mockingbird," where the CIA admitted that they were working with television programmers to control citizens to a point. Although they don't anymore, or so they say, it feels too familiar.
What are your songs about? They're all based on experience and perceptions. But they're relatively about different things and feelings.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? All three of us do. Rich does a majority of the guitar compositions and the frameworks of the songs, while Amanda comes up with incredible bass lines that compliment the guitar. We have to keep in mind that as a three piece we can't get super technical without sounding thin. Kyle will add a drum part that makes drummers drool and heads bob. Lyrically, we all have our parts that we piece together to weave an intricate web of lyrics that span albums and connect certain songs to others.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Both, depends on what sounds catchier
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Usually random areas, and we hum melodies on our phones recording device, then translate it to music or vocals.
Have you done any covers live? We do a mash-up of Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" and Filter "Hey Man Nice Shot" that has a nice slow build into an intense ending. We call it Filter Collins.
What language do you sing in? English
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Least, in the beginning and every new place we perform it's a small crowd. We've performed in front of 15000 people as well.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? All ages actually. We try to make sure our shows are all ages so our younger fans can attend.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We have 2 and a half albums that we can mix and match plus some covers. We've played 4 hour sets to a captive audience and kept on going til the bar closes. We have a lot of originals and only a few covers.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Mainly the state of Florida, but we've performed all over the country.
What was your first gig like? Really fun, but silly as it was our first and we were nervous.
What was your latest gig? A show in new Port Richey with a group of Metal bands. Despite our lighter sound, we still somehow fit right in. This week we're performing in Cape Coral/Fort Myers FL, and next week Orlando.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Only once, and it was due to the organizer not understanding the needs of what they wanted to do for their particular event. They had about 5 different things going on that day, and we were the last thought. They apologized and sent us home.
Where have you played live this year? All over the State. We plan on doing a mini tour after we finish our album, and rerelease of our first album
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We plan on expanding to the Midwest and even the west.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We have shirts, cds, stickers, and more! It's all on our website, sunshineandbullets.com. We started selling early. Within the first few months of starting. We have a large variety of items, with a low to high price inventory. We do this so that at the least they can go home with something to remember us by, and tell their friends.
Where can people buy your merchandise? At shows and on our website.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? As technology evolves, there will always be a nostalgia for the good old days, and a drive for getting more accessibility to music that people want to hear. Both sides have good points, and we like both.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It's harder to sell albums, and it opened the flood gates for artists to put their art online. Record labels used to serve as a filter and although they still do, they have less control. They still do however have a lot of control as there are a lot of people that still listen to the local radio for new and latest music.
What do you think of my work? We appreciate that you take the time to reach out to all these bands and use your platform to spread the word about them. Let us know if you'd like to suggest more bands!
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? There is something to be said about having things written about you, and being talked about. The more you have people talking about you and distributing your name around, the more ears, and customers you have. You can expand by having more audience, and our audience will read your article, and your audience will read your article about us. Thus making a successful cross promotion that lifts us both up. We've found that lifting each other up, musically, as artists of different mediums brings success to all. Even if the circles are small, they connect and become larger, and expand.
Do you have any role models? Yes, our friends and family.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? There is something to be said about the timeless artists of the past. However, active artists tend to come and go. Some keep active and stay in the limelight.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Time, we're running out of it. Every passing moment, you lose another chance to make an impact. With the state of the industry, and how quickly your art can fade into obscurity, time is very much so, more than ever, of the essence.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Ask yourself why you're really doing this thing. Dig deep. If your answer is in the clouds of fame and fortune, then you're going to have a difficult time doing it. If you are doing this because you're and artist, and an entertainer, then what can stop you? We were asked, "what are you doing differently than any other active rock band?" Our answer was "absolutely nothing," and we decided to change a lot of things about what we did. We actively composed songs with different scales and progressions and formulas.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Monster Energy, and Coffee.
Do you have any new material? We released 6 new songs in the fall of 2016, and we're working on more now!
What are your web sites? SunshineandBullets.com
How can people reach you? Facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram, email, and our website
What are your plans for the future? To do something no other band has done to date. You'll have to wait to see it.
Do you have something to add? Thank you very much for your time, and hope you enjoy our sound!
