...This couldn’t be truer for musician James Hart, who spent nearly a decade recording and touring as the frontman of Orange County band 18 Visions. After their breakup in early 2007, Hart quickly redirected his creative energy and honed his talent into a singular vision that fully represents his individual skill and ideas. Never losing momentum, Hart landed a label deal with Island/Def Jam and began working almost immediately with songwriter Zac Maloy on what would become Burn Halo’s charismatic self-titled debut.
Between May and October of 2007, Hart made weeklong treks to Tusla, OK to write and demo with Maloy, solidifying his objective of what the music would sound like and focusing on writing songs that would construct a well-balanced record. “I knew that I wanted a clear-cut rock ‘n’ roll band, which is something I had not had in the past,” Hart says of the music. “My vision and my brand of rock ‘n’ roll without having to compromise on any of the songs or any of the material. I wanted to make a very straightforward rock album. Something that had commercial appeal, but also something that had a classic, vintage mid-‘80s throwback vibe to it.”
Hart recorded the album from October to November of 2007 with Maloy as producer, laying down the tracks with an army of skilled studio musicians, including Nickelback drummer Daniel Adair, former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, and guitarist Neil Tiemann who now tours with American Idol winner David Cook. In the studio Maloy was particularly helpful in getting the best possible performance out of Hart, especially when it came time to lay down the vocals. “I really felt like he was able to grasp what I wanted to do and where I wanted to take this,” Hart says. “From a producer standpoint I feel like he really knocked it out of the park. As a vocalist he was able to bring a lot out of me instead of having me go through the motions and just get the part right. Emoting a little more than I have in the past. He was really able to pull a lot of character out of my voice.”
The result is a dynamic, gripping collection of gritty rock songs that immediately engage their listener, ranging from the propulsive “Save Me,” which Hart describes as the “heaviest” track on the record, to the memorable first single “Dirty Little Girl,” which features Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates. Hart also reveals his emotional and musical range on “Here With Me,” an emotive throwback ballad that resounds with immediacy and sincerity, and showcases Hart’s songwriting goals for the album. “I wanted to touch more on real life situations and real life stories,” Hart says. “I wanted to paint a real life picture. I started listening to country and a lot of those songs are very real and down to earth. They are songs about real life, about situations you would come across with a lover or the loss of a friend or heading down a dark path in life. I wanted it to be really simple and easy to digest. I wanted there to be no question about what I was singing about.”
After the album was completed, in early 2008, Island elected not to release Burn Halo’s debut, leaving Hart with the tough job of finding a new home for his project. Nothing felt quite right, though, so Burn Halo’s manager Bret Bair formed his own label Rawkhead Rekords through Warner Music Group to release the record. Hart spent much of 2008 finalizing the lineup of his touring band- which he hopes will help write and record Burn Halo’s successive albums- with Aaron Boheler on bass, Joey Cunha on lead guitar, Allen Wheeler on rhythm guitar, and Timmy Russell on drums. All that’s left is to show it all to the world. “I think this is a real statement album for me,” Hart says. “Anyone who is familiar with me and my past is going to be able to get this record. They’re going to understand why I made this record and that this is the record I’ve been wanting to make.” MySpace
FROMAN: For those who don’t know who Burn Halo is, how would you best describe the band?
JAMES HART (BURN HALO): Straight up rock n roll band in its pure and rough form. There is a bunch of over produced rock out there and we are the kind of band that what we put on a record is what we play live. You know if you can't hit the notes or play the solo live then it shouldn’t be on the record. Unfortunately a lot of bands out there now are more into the recording and technology then playing the live show.
FROMAN: I see you guys are touring a ton, what’s that been like? Any good stories from the road?
JH: Yeah tour has been going great. We've played with Papa Roach, A7X Buck Cherry and everyone has been very cool and great crowds. Our bass player Aaron got so trashed one night that the next morning we told him he was hooking up with this tranny and he totally believed the story for a good 36 hours before papa roach accidently let the cat out of the bag that it didn't happen. The look of shame that was on his face for that time though was great...it was as if someone died.
FROMAN: We’re digging the single Dirty Little Girl. So what’s your idea of a dirty little girl, and who gets the most dirty little girls in the band?
JH: I wrote that track about a buddy of mine who was dating a younger girl and you know she hit that age where she wants to party and talk to other guys. You know how it is at that age...they break up and get back together. I don’t know, some people just like doing that kind of stuff but I wrote the track with them in mind.
FROMAN: How’d you hook up with Synyster Gates?
JH: I actually went to high school with a couple of guys from the band and they used to play shows with my previous band 18 Visions so you know I helped them out as much as I could, then they started blowing up and I started a new band and they helped me out. They are great guys and great players so it was good to have Syn on the track
FROMAN: It seems like you had your share of record label problems before, finally hooking up with Rawkhead Records. What would you say is the biggest problem with the music industry today?
JH: Yeah I would say keeping a staff. My previous label as an example. My A&R guy signed us and was helping with the vision of the group then he gets released which led to me getting releases so its a shame when the staff that picks you up gets fazed out of the picture because there is no one left to help with the record. But now my manager started this label up so we are all on the same page and moving forward.
FROMAN: Yeah the music industry is in a weird place right now. It's more about the dollar signs than actually promoting the music. What are your thoughts on file sharing/bit torrents? From what we have seen, a lot of bands get more exposure from this technology resulting in more people spreading word about the band then checking them out and buying the merch.
JH: You know I agree with that for the most part. CD sales def help a band but spreading the word around about new bands that otherwise wouldn’t get the attention from mainstream is very helpful. More people come to the shows, your following gets bigger and they support the band with ticket sales, merch, cd's and what not. So I would say it is better to embrace it than not.
FROMAN: The band’s got a great sound, where’s that come from—who were your biggest influences?
JH: Thanks, yeah as said before we like to think of ourselves as a straight up rock n roll band, gritty and loud. Grew up listening to GNR, Skid Row but more so into 90's focusing on the heavy sounds like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, early Nirvana.
FROMAN: I read in a previous interview of yours that you’re life in the fast lane lifestyle has been taken down a couple notches…why the change?
JH: I just grew up and matured. I figured there are 2 paths to choose in life. I could go through living recklessly without a care in the world and when I die end up in the pits of hell or maybe when I die that’s just it I’m dead. But I would rather be a good person and a good friend to those around me rather than do what ever I want. Even if I die and nothing happens at least I know that I did good and was a good person.
FROMAN: Alright I’m with you. Switching gears, MTV is def not what it used to be. We were surprised to see a band like A7X get such a heavy rotation in there for Bat Country. They stripped pretty much all of their music from the station and is saturated with bad TV. What are your thoughts on this?
JH: It was great to see mtv give some attention to rock especially a7x being we are friends with them but you know as mtv does they only support you for a little bit. Where was the love on the following record? It's a weird time for music...you have mtv investing all this time and energy in shows about 17 year old dating and nothing about music.
FROMAN: Speaking of GNR before, did you read Slash’s book?
JH: Some of the guys in the band read it and loved it and its on my list of reads.
FROMAN: Def a great read while on the road. He goes into detail about the demise of the band and how crazy axl got. What happens when Burn Halo blows up and you are a world wide popular band do you think your ego would blow up like that?
JH: I like to think of myself as very humble. It doesn’t benefit anyone or myself to have a crazy ego so no I wouldn’t ever see that happening because life is too short to be a dick and what are you really getting out of it.
In Italy 2005, Nikki Dick sought out to form a band in the spirit of 80s hair metal. Four years later, Cream Pie has relocated to Florida and is melting faces in the name of GnR, Skid Row, Crue, LA Guns, W.A.S.P. and every other sleeze rock/hair band that we love. The band's debut album Dirty Job was released in 2008, and the band continues to tour, and has discovered a great deal of success on myspace. We caught up with Nikki (guitar), Phantom (guitar), and Brian Kent (drums) . . .
FROMAN: What are your feelings on the music industry today?
Nikki: It's kinda a jungle. There are thousands bands and artists playin' all kinds of music and ready to sell their asses to even do something bigger.
Brian: I totally agree with Nikki, there are lots of bands in the music industry, and the majority of these bands are very ridiculous.
FROMAN: Who are your biggest musical influences?
Nikki: Personally the street metal of the 80's (Guns N' Roses majorly), Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Sex Pistols...and I love Chinese Democracy.
Phantom: 80s street rock and glam metal, but also punk rock and a bit of thrash metal and visual kei.
Brian: I'm influenced by bands like Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Kiss, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Def Leppard, AC/DC, L.A. Guns, Cinderella, Skid Row, Whitesnake, Hanoi Rocks, W.A.S.P., Ramones.
FROMAN: What's different about your music that makes it worth listening to?
Nikki: Oh man, I don't know... let me think... the energy, the attitude and the songs' quality I guess.
Phantom: We take it seriously!!
Brian: The rage and the spontaneity of our songs.
FROMAN: What's the worst thing that's ever happened during a live performance?
Nikki: The sound on stage is messed up almost everytime thanks to the genius soundguys that we find in the clubs.
Phantom: The drums wasn't there! hahah
FROMAN: You guys know in America, a cream pie refers to a vagina that's had a load of semen shot into it.(And note, semen ON a vagina is NOT a cream pie. Cream pies have cream on the INSIDE. A vagina that merely has semen ON it is just a messy vagina). Is this what you guys were going for when naming the band? I mean, pie is american, why not go for canoli?
Nikki: Actually canoli is an american word too. The italian one is "cannuoli". And anyway it would sound really bad. So yeah, let's think about the messy vagina and keep it like Cream Pie.
FROMAN: The music scene desperately needs more hard rockin, adrenaline powered, pussy smashing rock music. For those who don't know about Cream Pie, what will one see and hear at a Cream Pie concert?
Nikki: Surely a very good show, a lot of guitar playin', a lot of screamin', a powerful drumming, some throbbing basslines, a lot of energy, attitude, and much much fun.
Phantom: and some naked Italian guys!
Brian: Our shows are totally crazy, nobody knows what can really happen.
FROMAN: You guys were inspired by the hair metal scene. What's your all-star hair band if you could create one? Who plays what?
Nikki: I'd just leave the bands like they were, everyone was perfect in their own time. Don't make me fuck things up and create some kind of monster!
Brian: It's very easy: Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler, anything else?
FROMAN: Who gets the most pussy in the band?
Phantom: Brian, absolutely, then me! hahaha
Brian: I really don't know, we don't count the pussy we get.
FROMAN: What the major differences between Italian and American groupies?
Brian: There are no differences for me, the pussy is always the pussy!!!
Phantom: Italian groupies don't exist, those girls just want to fuck someone at the show...which is good!!
Despite its unoriginal chorus of "Wu Tang!" this new effort from two of my favorite members is pretty awesome and the video, although unspectacular, has a weird nod to Jim Jaramusch's Limits of Control (Google it). Thankfully, WT is working hard lately... hip hop needs it.
There's something about UK hip hop (excluding Dizzee Rascal) that rubs me the wrong way but this shitty song is set to everyones favorite violent viral videos which rubs me the right way... i'm confused.
With really progessive ska licks and lyrics like this gem, "Once i tried to run, once i tried to hide but jesus came and found me and he touched me down inside" Sonseed is like the Clash, only if the Clash were touched in the no no spot by their priests as children. Amen.
It's music release time, where I take a trip down to the local record store and give you the skinny on what albums are dropping this week so you can be an educated consumer about it. However, since this is 2009, the local record store is named iTunes and you've probably pirated leaked versions of all this crap anyways. That's not going to stop me from snarking on it though.
Wyclef Jean - From The Hut To The Projects To The Mansion - Oh, that's great, Wyclef. Why didn't you just call this The I'm Rich Album? Congratulations, you got that paper. Or how about Lauryn Hill Lost Her Mind But I Didn't? Really, let's be completely honest here and just call it The Black Eyed Peas Made My Existence Redundant. I'm sure that would move some units at Sam Goody.
Tori Amos - Midwinter Graces - Hey, does anybody still listen to Tori Amos after that hideous American Girl concept album thing where she pretended to be a bunch of ca-raaazy dolls? I'm waiting for somebody to raise their hands. It probably isn't helping matters that she's a dead ringer for Kathy Griffin these days. Midwinter Graces is a "seasonal album," which is usually called a "Christmas album" when an artist's fanbase isn't composed of aging goths who think Jesus is dumb.
Bon Jovi - The Circle - The pride of New Jersey returns for another attempt at convincing people that being from New Jersey is cool in any way. I would really like to do a "People Of Wal-Mart" thing that's "People Of A Bon Jovi Concert." I'm sure it's just the prime cuts of the human race there.
Wale - Attention Deficit - This guy's been doing pretty good on the mixtape circuit, but that's not a promise of quality from his first solo LP, which features production from Mark Ronson, 9th Wonder, and more hipster favorites. Throw in a guest appearance from Lady Gaga and I'm going to put this one under "extremely skeptical," subfiled under "white people." But you never know - it could end up hot.
Dashboard Confessional - Alter The Ending - Is this a thing that people still listen to? I thought this guy's joke got old in like 2002, 2003 tops. He plays the acoustic guitar! Imagine that!
I'm surprised I haven't heard this done before but this is a pretty good use of The Knife's "Heartbeats" for a hip hop song about what else, drugs. Drugs huh? Way to explore uncharted territory, MC Magellan.
pARTyzant is an electric guitar player, who started his career due to a legendary Polish rock band – Dzem. Since 1991, for over three years, he was supporting their concerts with his own solo performances and playing together with the band on harmonica, accordion, percussion or acoustic guitar.
"New Fang" is officially the first studio material to be released from Them Crooked Vultures. All the players bring what you'd expect to the table—Jones' gut-punching bass (think Physical Graffiti's 'The Wanton Song'), Homme's crunchy guitar riff and, in a refreshing return to form, Grohl bangs his hair and beats up the drums. The self-titled album that combines psych rock and heavy metal hits stores 11/17.
ClashMusic has learnt from drummer Chad Smith that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are working on new material with a possible release date of October 2010.
Interviewed for the next issue of Clash Magazine, Smith shared details of their plans stating, "We’re gonna write for a while, it usually takes us a while" before speculating that the release date would be "Some time next year, maybe this time [next year]".
Asked if Flea's experience working with Thom Yorke might feed back into the Chili Peppers new material, Smith said that his colleague had given him a cd of electronic beats to inspire him but that, at the moment, there wasn't an explicit electronic direction although he did speculate, "You never know. We’ve got songs with piano on them right now, so who knows."
Las Vegas quintet Escape the Fate began their ascent during the love-it or hate-it screamo scene. The band's formation was propelled in part by MySpace (just like Hollywood Undead who theyre currently on tour with), which vocalist Ronnie Radke and bassist Max Green utilized while searching for new bandmembers after their previous group's demise. The guys recruited guitarist Bryan 'Monte' Money, who subsequently brought along Vegas transplant (and former Lovehatehero guitarist) Omar Espinoza. Drummer Robert Ortiz joined thereafter to complete the group. In 2005, Escape the Fate had won a local radio contest judged by My Chemical Romance. The gig awarded them the chance to open a show on the band's headlining tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect.
From there, the band was signed to Epitaph, Espinoza left the group, and Radke was ousted due to drug problems and a charge of battery (which indirectly resulted in the death of an 18-year-old boy). Pretty metal, i know. Former blessthefall vocalist Craig Mabbitt was recruited to fill the vacant frontman position, and here we are...57 million myspace streams later.
Alex Varkatzas on the meaning behind Storm To Pass: "You can feel that depression coming on, you can see yourself doing f---ed up things, but you can't stop it. I grew up watching the first Iraq war and the invasion of various countries and how the whole thing became one giant s--- storm."
Off their new album Congregation of the Damned. Oh, if you're in the NYC area, hit up Roseland Ballroom for Atreyu, Hollywood Undead and Escape the Fate. I'll wear a carnation on my lapel so you can recognize me.
