interview with Apocalyptic Lovers
How is it that you started playing music? Answer: We all grew up in the 70’s & 80’s and we were just surrounded by such a great variety of music. Many different styles and all good for what they were, so it was hard not to get caught up in it all. We all were MTV babies and that was something to be seen at the time when they actually played music videos.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Answer: We are all in our early 40’s.
George T Allen – Bass
Dave Hope – Drums
Rob Kane – vocals
Sean Magee – Guitar
Mike Nagy – Bass
I am sure later in the interview I will answer why two bass players.
Have you had other previous members? Answer: Yes, I (drummer Dave) Started putting this band together in 1989 and went through a lot of great guys until we had that match. I think our first solid line up played out and recorded demos in 1991ish. Once we had the solid line up, we ended up going through three bass players. Mike (founding member) and George were in about the same amount of time and we had a third that was in maybe a year before we broke up. The band back in that time period was called Love And War. We broke up in 1996 and re-launched as the Apocalyptic Lovers this past January. We would have loved to kept the same name, but there were some pending lawsuits regarding the name we just did not want to deal with.
Where are you from?
Answer: That’s a tricky question since many of us moved when we split in the 90s. Now that there is all this great technology we can written & record no mater where we are in the states. So, that said here is where we all were from when in Love And War.
George T Allen – Bass* (Warren, Ohio – USA)
Dave Hope – Drums (Youngstown, Ohio –USA)
Rob Kane – vocals (Warren, Ohio – USA)
Sean Magee – Guitar (Akron, Ohio – USA)
Mike Nagy – Bass* (Youngstown, Ohio – USA)
What year did the band form? Answer: 1991
What's your style of genre? Answer: We all love some many different types of rock and metal, but if we had to reach a Target audience we fly the hair metal flag LOUD & PROUD. Now before anyone cringes, we all grew up on the originators of the LA music scene in the 80’s. Classic stuff like Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, Scorpions, LA Guns…..stuff with that catchy guitar riff and vocal harmonies really got us off. What really pissed us off was all the record labels signing all these bands that sounded and looked like our favorites, but had no edge or balls to them. When you had Ratt, Crue & Van Halen, did we really need Brittany Fox, Warrant & Danger Danger….hell no. That’s why people who dig rock & metal will dig us……the songs have great gutar work and not every song is about chicks and shit. Sean write about 99.9% of our stuff and he is just …well…..a pissed off person when he writes. Think Megadeath meets the Beatles! LOL
What inspires you? Answer: Anything with a hook and a good beat. Songs that are well written and not some musicians just trying to show off.
How often and where do you reherse?
ANSWER: This will be two parts. Back in the 90’s with our old band name we went about 6 days or nights a week until we started playing out. Once the gigs started rolling in, we would cut back to 2 or 3 times a week. The more gigs, the less rehearsals.
Now that we are back together writing & recording in separate areas of the USA, we are all rehearsing on our own and plan to meet up every year to year & a half to record and put out EPs and Albums. We will use the internet & social media a lot, so fans can hear our music and buy our merchandise. Our live shows will be few and when we do play, we will meet up a couple days out rehearse and then go play a 45 to 60 minute sets.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Answer: I think we all learned a lot together the first time around. Now, 20 plus years later ….between time off and cover bands and other original bands I think we all play better and enjoy this project even more. Its become fun again in this crazy era of the music bizz.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that?
Answer: This might be a bit out there, but here we go!
We ended in the 90’s because we could not compete with grunge and with a couple pieces of product that none of us where happy with. Twenty plus years later, I made some calls and here we are.
We released a 7 song EP on tape and a full length disc just before we split. We also had a lot of material we wanted to record that never saw the light of day.
So, we really just started off wanting to go back in the studio over the next couple years and releasing two or three EPs we could be proud of production wise and proud to share with family, friends and fans.
We are all much older now and have families, but still LOVE to rock. The idea is to be a virtual band and use the web to our advantage. The plan is the same, put out and EP with about five or six re-recorded tunes on it along with one or two new songs. We have great material and a bunch of guys hungry to put it out right this time. We plan on doing as many digital downloading sites like Amazon & Itunes as we can, but we all grew up with records and still like them. We will do a limited run of vinyl for each one just so each band member can take one home and die hard fans can get their hands on a copy. Come on, downloading has its advantages, but who does not love Album artwork, liner notes and stuff like that. So, coming full circle to answer your simple question above…….unless there is decent money involved…..we only plan to play one New Release Party in each current band members home town. Now if we are approached by a promoter who really digs our stuff, we would be down with opening some good shows as long as we did not loose money and they could accommodate a bunch of old rockers. Bottom line, we are in this for the music and putting it out there for fans of hard rock and or metal to enjoy.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Answer: See above answer! LOL Well, for real…..when we were around in the 90’s we actually had to descent distribution deals over seas and we have been approached since relaunching. Who knows we will see. Lets us get this first EP in the can, get it out to the press/bloggers and such and just see where we go from there.
What made you decide to make this music? Answer: Its pretty much what we all grew up on and love. One thing that inspired us to come back after all this time was that good guitar playing and melodies seem to be in again. Some of the bands we grew up on we did or did not like have started surfacing and a lot of the writing is not very good or the singers voice is shot. We really believe that our EPs/Albums could really fill a void for those disappointed hair metal fans out there in the world. Hell, there are chicks on FB that are around 15 that are digging our demos, so who the hell knows what will happen.
What are your songs about?
Answer: Sean writes best when not in a good mood, so you will have to judge for yourself. Example: Our first single of our disc was called Killing For A Living. I have no fn idea what he wrote about, but the song is killer.
The first EP we release after recording this summer will have two new songs on it. One….. Sean I believe wrote about our manager at the time and its called Who The Hell Are You. The second wad a brand spanking new one I wrote the lyrics for, gave Sean some ideas and let him run with it. The song is called Change Of Frequency and anyone out there that has lost a loved one way too soon or even to suicide is going to fucking love this song. I was inspired by the passing of family member regarding the song’s lyrics & once I heard Sean’s music with Rob’s voice this tune is really what got us going again. The music is like The Black Album meets Hotel California…..sounds crazy I know but it really, really rocks!!!!
Have you done any covers live?
Answer: We were a hair band during the grunge phase, so we did do covers to pay our bills. We did many, many gigs that were all original and we did a couple a month or so where we were the only band. We would do three sets of music and each set would be 50/50 (covers & originals). It went over well and kept us out there playing live when most people just wanted to hear a band form Seattle weather they were good or not. A.I.C. & Soundgarden great…..Spin Doctors & STP maybe not so much.
What language do you sing in? Answer: English
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Answer: The good news first lol. Before Peter Chris of Kiss was allowed to rejoin Kiss he had to hit the road with a solo band to work on getting his chops and road legs back. We went on right before his headling band and just kicked ass to about 3,500 to 4,500 rockers. That show was a blast and I will never forget hearing the crowd sing some of our choruses. We showed up for one of our origonal/cover gigs in the middle of a snow storm in Akron, Ohio. I think there were 5 people there that were not, family, friends or crew. We packed it up after the first set and braved the roads home.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Answer: Our largest fan base consists of people that are working and have money to spend. We have analytics and the bulk is 35 to 45 years. But the next largest amount is 15 to 17 years old. Its like the glam / hair metal is making a come back or something.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Answer: BOTH! We would always make sure to play our live audiences favorites, but we always were working new material into the sets.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Answer: Not at this time unless you count the rehearsal studio where my kit is. LOL
What was your first gig like? Answer:We did a 35 min set of originals at a local shopping mall event they called the Super Bowl of Rock. It was a complete rush!
What was your latest gig? Answer: That’s a tuff one since it has been 20 plus years! I believe we played a music showcase in Cleveland, Ohio called Undercurrents at the Cleveland, Agora. I could be wrong its been so fn long.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Answer: We were based in Ohio so, yes due to snow.
Where have you played live this year? Answer: Just reformed the original line-up this year. We had two fantastic bass players over time, so asked both back and we plan on rotating them both when we play live and record. Its all for fun in the first place so why not.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year?
Answer: We plan on having limited number of record release parties that we will play live at in 2016.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale?
Answer: We really have no budget, so when we launch our full website in July you can purchase almost anything with our logos on it from our web store. I’m not going to lie cuz the stuff is not cheap! LOL
Where can people buy your merchandise?
Answer: www.apocalypticlovers.com starting July 14th.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records nowadays?
Answer:I think there would be varied opinions within the band, but since I am answering this question and worked in the music business from 1988 to 1998 you can take my opinion.
I really believe that someone in the music business screwed up. I think there was probably several opportunities when the downloading and file sharing technology came out for some record executives to embrace the technology and make sure artists and record companies alike were paid for their efforts. Unfortunately, that did not happen and now it is one BIG mess. Labels are all about gone, radio as we knew it gone, cultivating artists as we knew it gone, recording studios closing, and musicians that once filled arenas are playing every dump they can find just to make money to get by on. Then when that happens, these bands end up over saturating themselves and attendance goes down. I mean, where does it all end? How and who is going to come along and fix this? I have no idea, but it will happen at some point.
I do love how you can access music so easily via the net and its really awesome as an artist to email demos back and forth to other band members.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business?.
Answer:We don’t, but you don’t ever turn down an opportunity to talk about what we all love so much…..music.
We think it is fantastic you reach out to bands and help promote and network, but do any of us ever really know if that one thing is going to help in this huge industry of ours?
Much of it is about being in the right place at the right time. The worst case scenario is we have had a good time chatting about music and the music business. I fell in love with rock and roll at the age of 5 or 6 and here I am 40 years later still chatting with you about it so….that is pretty cool in itself.
Do you have any role models or idols?
Answer: The guys in the band are all over the place on this one. You can check our web page when its live to see some of their favorites. For me, I love the 80’s rock and metal and of course as a drummer I could say Neil Peart or John Bonham but I am not.
As a kid, getting cable TV was huge and seeing MTV launch wad even bigger for me. So, the moment I saw Liberty DeVitto from Billy Joel’s touring band beat his kit so badly that he had to finish the remainder of the gig on another kit I wad hooked. I was also very into how hard and the subtle yet killer style of Kenny Aronoff from John Cougar Mellencamp. Those two guys there are the reason I am still playing today. If I had to pick a more modern drummer, I think I would go with the original dude from Korn David Silveria. I have no problem with the new Korn drummer Ray either, but he is just not the one that wrote and played on all that early great Korn stuff. I do love Ray’s work with Korn, David Lee Roth and such as well. Both very good drummers I admire.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Answer:As a drummer I really like to write parts that compliment the song, so I pull from both old and new.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Answer: Putting up with a day job and not playing for a living. I have had some really good day gigs people would love, but they just never compare. I’m a musician and an entertainer.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Answer: Never give up and get to know everyone.....network. Also, no matter how large or small of a crowd put a 110% into your show. You never know who could be at that show. If there are 20 people their one could be a label rep or owner.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Answer: If you have to get psyched for a gig you are in the wrong profession.
Do you have any new material? Answer: Yes, we have a lot and I discussed a couple a few questions back.
What are your web sites?
Answer: Our full site will launch in mid July and we will be using a lot of different social media outlets as well.
https://www.facebook.com/apocalypticlovers
https://twitter.com/apoclovers
plus over July and Aug will will launch a Youtube channel, Pinterest and anything else we can get our hands on via social media.
How can people reach you? Answer: Any of the above or [email protected]