DJ Interviews: Sexy Wild East Band

Hey there guys its your old friend The DJ & I had the honor of interviewing a band who answer to the name The Sexy Wild East who spoke on their musical origins. Enjoy!

 The Sexy Wild East Press Release.pdf

How'd you get started in music?

FINLAY: I’ve been into music and making music for as long as I can remember. I saw deadmau5 live in Manchester in 2010 and that was the final straw. I have been making electronic music ever since.

NEIL: I got a guitar when i was about 14, 1988 maybe, and taught myself how to play (badly). Started my first band at school, then had another at university and ive been in tons of better bands down the years. I ditched the guitar about 20 years ago and I’ve been singing ever since.

    

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Finlay: There are to many to count! 

Skrillex, Deadmau5, Sub focus, Rusko, Nirvana, Arcade fire, Kings of Leon, Slipknot

Neil: Clash, Pistols, Pixies, Carter USM, Happy Mondays, Gogol Bordello, Sleaford Mods, 

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Finlay: Don’t give up even when you feel like you are completely useless. Take constructive feedback from others but ignore anyone who says you are no good or should give up.

Neil: Be nice to sound engineers. Enjoy yourself. Don't expect to sell a million records and don't be disappointed when you don't. Play gigs in foreign countries.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

Finlay: I honestly don’t know that much about making music. I just love playing with the software and can’t resist a tasty baseline. This produces some pretty interesting results.

Neil: We have very different musical taste which creates some ace music and I am old enough to be Finlay’s dad. It probably shouldn't really work but it does.

 

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

We are working on some new music as we speak! Hopefully we will have it ready in the coming weeks/months. Regarding gigs, let’s see what happens with this pandemic

Quickfix Social Links.pdf. 

DJ Interviews: Late Night Frequency

 

LATE NIGHT FREQUENCY

NEW SONG & MUSIC VIDEO RELEASE

"FUN LUST LOVE"

 FOR SONG / MV PREVIEW AND ASSETS, CLICK HERE

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20, 2021 (Tuesday) – Malaysian Synth Pop Band, Late Night Frequency today released their debut single, “Fun Lust Love” with it’s official music video (MV) on all streaming platforms and premier on TAPAU Asia’s website.

 

“Fun Lust Love” is taken from the upcoming album by Late Night Frequency, also known as LNF, an independent band from Putrajaya which has a strong influence of synth pop and synthwave music. The upbeat song has a touch of city pop to it as it brings you the 80s vibe but in a modern kind of way. Frontman, Moja, wrote it early last year as it was the only thing that was keeping him sane during the first lockdown. Imagine electronic synths and funky guitars accompanied by retro drums and catchy vocals,  playing through your car radio as you cruise your way on the highway, it’s the perfect tune for a late night jam.

 

“Fun Lust Love” official MV was produced by Juicy Brain and Alam Bunyian, their very first collaboration together for a video production. The result? Mind-blowing. The MV took a cinematic approach and narrates as a short-film. The story started in a bedroom where the main character, a girl, got into a fantasy world with a playful werewolf by accident, was then brought into a world of collage and ended up back in her bedroom just to find that the werewolf is now in her reality. The MV ended with a plot twist that gives viewers the chance to come up with their own interpretation. The MV features LNF’s frontman as a cameo in the beginning of the MV for a couple of seconds, which gave it a nice touch. With the talented Aznie Azmi acting as the main actress of the MV, “Fun Lust Love” official MV is expected to garner attention from many.

 

LNF recently performed their debut live performance in front of a crowd during Malaysia’s first #HariGigKebangsaan at Alam Bunyian’s Disko Senyap, a silent-disco themed gig in Ruang, Subang Jaya on 11th April 2021. They also performed at Malaya Roll’s Santai Malam livestream event the night before, with LNF frontman performing as the werewolf himself on both nights. Appearing as a persona, Mr Wolf as he called himself, during their performances, made LNF live performances a special and a more life-like experience as a whole.

 

With the release of “Fun Lust Love” official audio and official MV, LNF is set to release more singles and MVs later this year, leading up to their debut album launch, “Diskografi” by end of this year. “Diskografi” will feature 9 to 10 English and Malay tracks with collaborations with hip hop artists such as Asyraf Nasir, Aiman Nomad and Ichu. While the album is still in progress, LNF have shown to be a promising act both online and also on the ground at gigs and concerts.

 

The Putrajaya-based band is relatively new in the Malaysian music scene but their members are all seasoned musicians from various indie bands, notably Monalyssa, Kolar Hijau, Shuuna and A. Limin. With humble beginnings playing in underground indie shows across Malaysia and even Thailand for the past 7 years, LNF is set to synth their way into Malaysia’s music industry this year, pulling attention locally and internationally.

 

“Fun Lust Love” was recorded and produced by LNF themselves, mixed and mastered by Taja Meet Uncle Hussain and is distributed by Spinnup, a digital music distributor owned by Universal Music Group.

 

For updates, follow LNF at their very own website www.latenightfrequency.com,  and all of their other social medias; Youtube Late Night Frequency, Instagram @latenightfrequency , Twitter @LNFrequency , Soundcloud and Facebook; Late Night Frequency.

Thank you. Yours truly,

Dr. Moja

P: +60193042219

E: latenightfrequency@gmail.com

Frontman of Late Night Frequency 

Co-founder of Alam Bunyian

FIRST SERVE SDN BHD1268162-U

Attachments area

DJ Interviews: Kill The Beast Band

 Hey there guys DJ Dizzy here,& here's my interview with band Kill The Beast.

--> How'd you get started in music?

 

Wolf, songwriter (music and lyrics), front man and acoustic guitar started around on 2011.

He worked with some arrangers starting to learn how to arrange and how to work in a recording studio. 

At the same time he studied movie direction, shooting techniques, how to write subjects and film-scripts, editing and post production. 

After around 3 years Wolf met The Eye who joined the band taking care about website, graphics and merchandising: The Eye of what there is behind.

After around another 2 years Wolf met The Wizard who joined the band as arranger, sound technician and keyboards: The Wizard of the Sound. 

Wolf and The Wizard studied for around 1 year the sound of the band: not the arrangement of the first song but the sound that the Kill The Beast Band had to have. 

The Kill The Beast Band has been launched after around 8 years of tough work: they are on the market since 2018. 

Now they are a Rock Band & Record Label connecting Music and Cinema: for each song they have a cover and a video mini-movie style.

Every song is a single, they don’t make any song just to fulfill a CD.

They believe in both Music and Contents: Rock '70-'80 style (A Wall of Sound!) with lyrics speaking about true life. 

On the Air in many Radios and Magazines in Italy, California (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clarita and others), UK (London, Lankaster, Manchester, Daventry, Portsmouth and others), Wyoming (Sheridan and others), Oklahoma (Norman and others), Illinois (Chicago and others), Florida (Tampa and others), Michigan (Detroit, Owosso and others), Tennessee (Nashville and others), Texas (El Paso), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Canada (Montréal in Québec, Mississauga and Barrie in Ontario, Lethbridge in Alberta and others), Brazil (Natal), Germany (Stuttgart) and Spain (Córdoba).

Kill The Beast Band Motto: Stay With Us, Share Your Soul, You Are Not Alone Anymore 

Kill The Beast Band Socials:

YT: http://www.youtube.com/c/KillTheBeastBand

FB: https://www.facebook.com/killthebeastband

TW: https://twitter.com/KillTheBeastB

IG: https://www.instagram.com/killthebeastband/

Our website: https://www.killthebeastband.com/ 

 

 

--> Who are your inspirations or influences?

 

Not direct inspirations and influences.

 

Preferred Bands: AC DC, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Deep Purple, Foo Fighters, Rolling Stones

 

 

--> What advice would offer aspiring performers?

 

It's fundamental determination and hard work

 

 

--> How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

 

Unique sound: try our Rock and let us know 

 

️ Rock ’70-’80 Style about Tough Life, Pain, Dead, Alcohol, Mental Illness, Loneliness and Never Give Up!!

 

We make only Singles, no songs just to fulfil a CD.

 

Moreover we are linking the music to the cinema: for every song we have a cover and a video.

 

Every video is a mini-film (short movie).

 

Check out our Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM1ckT0ABH5sxFLu27belhD5DrVWSckTK

 

Check Out The Band Story, short movies about the band, Wolf, The Eye and The Wizard: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM1ckT0ABH5vdWUphEjILcB9q1dTSQpTb 

 

 

Subscribe to Kill The Beast Band YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/KillTheBeastBand ​

 

Free Streaming at high quality without limits to https://www.killthebeastband.com/songs/​

 

Merchandising Worldwide (High Quality): https://www.killthebeastband.com/shop/​

 

 

--> Any new gigs or albums in the future?

New Single soon on the market: "No More Run"

Check Out the promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEftIWAF-Xg 

So you can see also the great Cover!!

Special thanks to them for this interview & I wish them luck in their music. So until then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: Line Munch-Petersen

 Eagle https://open.spotify.com/track/5p7k4s2aRrU3qfF2VF4lJw?si=hh9_uH9aQlSyh21ebRDk_Q

How'd you get started in music?

Since I was a little child I have been making melodies. Whenever I had the chance I would try to play the piano and I would be singing all day long, when nobody listened . With no encouragement from my parents, it was not until my Grandpa let me inherit his old piano, that I started to actually play. Tried to learn it from a beginners book. Still I cannot play much but I can find the chords for my melodies and put them in to Logic on my computer and I have made electronic tracks to accompany my singing.  I find it very challenging to write lyrics and I love to be in the process of making music 

Who are your inspirations or influences?

I have been inspired by all kind of music. As long as it is melodic. From Classical,  Opera to Bowie and Beatles, The Cure,  Prince, ABBA, Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Steven Wilson, Enya, Celtic Woman, Alan Parson, Ed Sheeran and lots of danish artists . The list is endless.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

To follow your urge to make music, your urge to sing. I thought that I could be happy doing something else, but the music kept dragging me back into the addictive creative process and I regret I didn’t start earlier, didn’t go for a music education/carrier . Didn’t put more effort into overcome my stage fright. So my advice would be to keep trying even it is hard. To dare !

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

I am older and I don’t have much of a musical background. Even so I have made my music myself. On a computer, recorded it  at home and had it mixed and mastered by my very encouraging friend Kurt State (UK) . It is a lonely process and I decided to do some new versions by a professional danish producer Christoffer Høyer and recently I have released The Eagle which has done very well in comparison to my earlier releases and I am going to make some more professionally produced  releases of old and new songs in the near future. 

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

yes :)  Waiting for Covid to be behind us…

DJ Interviews: Harold K

 How'd you get started in music?

My passion for music started when listening to some old vinyls at my grandparents' place, at the age of about five. I still vividly remember listening to my favourites: Waylon Jennings, Bobby Bare, Skeeter Davis, and Elvis Presley! I myself started playing and singing much later. But that was the start, as I was already then trying to sing and dance along with my 'idols'.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

That would be a long list... I'll give you a short version of it: Since I care a lot about lyrics, I just have to mention Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen. Then I like Hank Williams a lot for his clarity and simplicity. But I'm also inspired by poets of the page, like Ovid and Baudelaire, to mention a couple...

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Keep learning from others. That's the advice I keep offering myself too!

How do you set yourself apart from other bands or singers?

The same thing that makes anyone unique: My specific blend of influences. Probably not too many out there who are influenced by both Ovid and Hank Williams, but then again: Who knows?

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

I'm actually working on recording some songs these days. A project like that takes time though, as I wanna get it right! But I hope I can start releasing some singles towards the end of the year. And those songs will also be released as either two EP's or one album.

I hope to get to play gigs again in autumn, in front of real people, all of us feeling good and feeling safe. The first time I get to play in front of real people again is gonna feel special and very emotional...

----

Thank you so much for inviting me to this interview in your nice music blog! Glad to have the chance to feature on your page!

Here's a link to one of my songs on youtube:

Herald K - The Sisters - YouTube

And all of my songs on spotify:

Spotify – Herald K

DJ Interviews: Jim Edwards

 How'd you get started in music?

I've always love music from as early as I can remember.  My father gave me a small portable radio and I'd listen all night under the covers, not only to the music, but to the DJ's.  From that I decided I want to be just like them on the radio!  I high school, I joined the radio club.  After HS, went to my local community college and got a degree in radio broadcasting.  I went to work after that and now after over 25 years I'm still doing it!

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Hey I was young listening to the radio, I really liked the specialty syndicated shows.  Casey Kasem's American Top 40 was my favorite.  I wanted to be like him and have a show everyone listened to every week.  I now do and it's growing to more stations as I hope to see my dream come true.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Follow your dream, work hard and listen to everyone you can to find what you think works for you.  Get a mentor.  Take the opportunity to get on air anytime, anywhere you can.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

Our show, The New Music Food Truck is unique in how we present new alternative and indie music.  We deliver fresh new music as if they were being offered on the menu of a food truck.  Listening to new music is often called sampling and food trucks are a new hip way to sample different foods.  So we combined the two and our show gives listeners the opportunity sample hot fresh new music!

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

We are always looking to add more stations to carry our show.  The show is fresh every week and we're always looking new music.  In the future we hope to expand the show to 2 hours from one.

For more info on The New Music Food Truck here:  https://www.newmusicfoodtruck.com/info

DJ Interviews: Christian Shields

 Hey there guys DJ Dizzy here & this is my interview with singer Christian Shields. Enjoy!

How'd you get started in music?  I got started when I was 6.  I played clarinet in the elementary school band.  When I turned 12 I saw Kiss and decided I wanted to play guitar.  

Who are your inspirations or influences?  My inspirations come from all aspects of life.  My influences are Paul Stanley (Kiss), Ted Poley (Danger Danger), Tom Keifer (Cinderella),  Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), and Joe Elliot (Def Leppard).  

What advice would offer aspiring performers?  My best advice would be to practice and don't be afraid to try new things.  Always try to improve.  

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?  I know it sounds cliché, but I do what feels right and play to my strengths.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?   I'm working on setting up some gigs right now and no new music on the horizon as of this interview. 

DJ Interviews: Phoenix Crista

  Started as a music lover at a very early age (2etc) and would sing along to almost anything

That grew into a love of playing music and singing I was enrolled into royal conservatory of music for piano lessons around 5/6 and did that into my teenage years

That grew into a love of all genres and soon guitar playing

I bought myself my first guitar at age 21 and starting teaching myself how to play based on my knowledge of piano playing

That stemmed into the dream of building my own rock band...and here I am .

2)

Influences vary from all genres

I have heavy grunge influences (Kurt cobain, bush x, silver chair etc)

As well as rap dance and metal

I am a lover of all music.

Life lessons and my life experience also play a part into my influence 

All of my writing and guitar playing seems to stem from an experience I’ve survived . Those come through in all of my musical projects.

3)my main advice is to remain authentic to your passions in life. Stay positive 

Fight through challenges with love in your heart 

And keep in mind there is a place in music for everyone

4)our  combination of old rock sounds vs new rock sounds mixed with quite alternative lyrics 

Also, for a new band we have mostly older members which is quite different in this day and age

5)We have just released a new song on our platforms (Spotify, Amazon, Deezer etc) called “Star Mirror”

We have a new single being released on May 21st called Follow You and there will be announcements after that release on the next singles

We have an album worth of material on our website as well as Spotify

http://phoenixandthesilvervoodoos.com

DJ Interviews: Agency Panic

 Q1:  We all started out pretty young ,playing in bands & various other music projects since our teens. We've all jammed played or been in the same musical circle's pretty much all our lives and 20 odd years later we're still playing !! 

Q2:  Between us all, our musical tastes & influences can vary ;

        Tubs can be partial to a bit of trance & dance but also Deftones , NIN thrown in 

        Lee, anything from Iron Maiden to Primus and anything with a little funk 

        Harvey ranges from The Police to Helmet 

        Myself all of the above with some Tool & Ministry thrown in to spice it up

        Hence to say we boil a pretty big stew of influences !!

Q3:  Our advice would be depending what you want from music , for us it's a release . You could say self therapy . Whatever our goals are , writing for ourselves first is the most important, that way you'll enjoy every minute of it , which in turn will make you want to spend every minute doing it, which evidently makes you better ! 

So play as much as you can 

Q4: Essentially i think that questions more for the listener than us 

       

Q5: Currently have a couple of tracks on the boil in the studio at the moment just  keeping it ticking over... in a nutshell there's more panic to come ! In the meantime you can check out our earlier releases on all music platforms 

DJ Interviews: Johnny & The Box

Hey there folks, DJ Dizzy here & here's my interview with Johnny & The Box. Enjoy! 

How'd you get started in music?

I started playing guitar and trying to record my own music from about age 14. I then joined a garage band when I was about 16 yrs old. I then went on to form my first real 'gigging' band when I was at university.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

I have fairly wide/eclectic taste in music. From the 1960s through to now. Some of the music I love  includes: The Beatles, The Rolling stones, Joni Mitchell, Motown, Bowie, Roxy music, Van Morrison, Abba, The Clash, The Police, Blondie, Talking Heads, Joy Division, New order, the Happy Mondays, Shed Seven, Blur, The Cure, U2, The Waterboys, Prince, The Blue Nile, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, World party, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Coldplay, Travis, Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran etc etc...!!

I like bands/artists who write real songs rather than just dance tracks (although I am not averse to a bit of euphoric dance either!). I like the lyrics to mean something, and for the tunes to catch my ear. 

What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

The only advice that I would offer is to be yourself. Avoid trying to 'be cool' or  following fashions of the day just to 'fit in'. If you attempt to fake it, people will see through you.

How do you set yourself apart from other bands or singers?

I don't really! There are some fantastic artists and talented people out there. I am happy just to create the music that I make, and if people listen, that is a real bonus! I write, perform, record and produce most of the songs that I make. This means that if nobody likes the music, I really have no one else to blame! (Although it is worth saying that I do have some fantastic collaborators. My brother in law and one of my best friends have let me record some of their songs, and even play on the recordings at times).

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

I have a new album of material called 'The Runaways' which is set for release on April 30th 2021. It will be available on all streaming platforms and also for download or to purchase on CD from https://johnnythebox.bandcamp.com . There is also a video to accompany the title track which will be released on my Youtube channel on the same day. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0fbbbLnGe0O67b-pm7e3HA . The pre save link for the album on spotify is: https://ffm.to/e5zb8d4.oem

DJ Interviews: Nunny Boy

 

Here's my interview with singer Nunny Boy. Enjoy

How'd you get started in music?

I first got into music by learning to play the guitar, think i was about 13 years old? My local postman taught me how to play! Left school at 16 to be in a band, that lasted about 2 weeks, band fizzled out then a local rapper asked me if i would be interested in doing some production, he was looking for someone who could cut up & arrange loops, this was back when not many people had access to samplers or software, i agreed & from then onwards i started to learn my craft as a producer mainly focusing on hip hop for many years before getting into more traditional music production and working in studios.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Usually speaking the inspiration will come from the people i am recording with, i try to chanel in on that vibe and bring it to the song, i have a massive influences from various artists i listen to, there's way too many to mention but a few are the likes of James Brown (Live at the Apollo 1962),  Funkadelic, Nirvana, Das Efx, Bob Marley, Wu-Tang Clan, the list is huge.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Totally be yourself, do your own thing, network with as many people as possible, yes i know there are loads of people out there, but trust me its still a small place, you always end up bumping into the same people! Stay humble & help others if you can,  work hard at your craft, don't go looking for overnight success, it's a marathon not a race!

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

Our band Voldo is very unique sounding, we get crazy comparisons from the likes of sounding like Beck to the Chemical Brothers, we don't really have a genre as our style changes so much, maybe one day Voldo will become a genre!
We're not the usual band either, it's made up of myself on production and turntables and 2 vocalists, Kyle Meldrum & Amanda Lorean, we sometimes bring in other artists to guest on songs but us 3 are the backbone of the operation.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

Unfortunately gigs are on hold just now due to Corona Virus restrictions etc, but hopefully in the next few months that will change? (If not it will be live streaming gigs from the Banger Factory) Currently as i do this interview we are about 80 percent complete on our next album, hoping to have it released by summer time if all goes to plan. We have released a few singles from this album on Spotify etc and had a great response to them, our last single was titled 'Big Ina' which is a great drum n Bass vibe track, had such a good response from Radio Stations with this track! 

Special thanks to him for this interview, & I wish him luck in his music. So until then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: Lee Christian

 Hey there guys its your old pal The DJ here & here's my interview with singer Lee Christian.

How'd you get started in music?

At first I thought only geniuses like prince could do music but then nirvana happened and seeing kids in my local youth centre made it clear to me that I could do it too. Took a while to get any good at it but that sowed the seeds.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Many, too many to name to be honest and not all of them are obvious in my music itself, but are a big influence on my approaches or ethics and such — Prince above and beyond all else. Other big ones would be: Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Terence Trent D'arby, Outkast, D'angelo, Ice Cube, Miles Davis, Living Colour, Nirvana & most of the Seattle and alternative rock of the 90's, Blur & the Britppop era bands, Tricky & triphop, Goldie & other dance music, lots of 60's & 70's music.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Decide if u want to do what other people want and maybe make money or do what u want and maybe spend a lot of money. Don't bother doing it if u can't give it your all. If u aren't having fun, it better be paying for u to have it later!

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

Smilex are the rarest breed of band. Anyone who saw our/my on and off stage carnage and bloodshed remembers it. There are best live unsigned band awards & loads of footage still to verify that so that's easy to answer for the band. With my own stuff, I don't know... I guess I'm just weird so don't need to try as much as some people — I've always liked playing live and having as much fun as I can — even at others expense some times! Recording wise, I have never wanted to be like anyone and always try to make sounds that I haven't heard before production wise. Singing wise I just have my own voice and influences and years of experience and try to convey emotion honestly really.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

Well, gigs are mostly down to the state of things I guess but I want to put on some soon as I can with the expanding Quickfix roster involved and I would squeeze on the bill somewhere I daresay — maybe with my awesome collective of funky musicians The Prohibition Smokers' Club who I'd like to finish a record for. Smilex recordings to work on too. Solo wise, I've been doing lots of mixing, production, mastering and remixing for other bands lately but hope to have a new single called 'vintage' out soon and an album or mini album to follow sometime soon after if I get enough time to work on it all! But rest assured any give month I am working on some music, be it recorded or live!

I sometime do little sets that are more like rehearsals or hang outs on Instagram so follow me there if u really want to catch me singing sometime soon. It's actually frustrating because I recently got endorsed by Vocalzone throat sweets I have used my whole career whilst paying for them and now I have so many sitting around because I don't get to go out and gig or even rehearse — even singing indoors is infrequent during a lockdown! hahaha! 

@leechristagram on insta

facebook.com/LeeChristianMusic

@leechristian69 on twitter

www.leechristian.bandcamp.com

www.leechristian.quickfixrecordings.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Mvdez0drHAobasBkGV0ED

Special thanks to him for doing this interview & lots of luck to him in his band & their music. So until then I;ll catch you on The Flipside! stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: Drazen Vukazic

 

Hey there guys DJ Dizzy here & here's my interview with Drazen Vukazic

How'd you get started in music?
I started to play rock music when I was in high school. I started to play electric guitar and sing cover songs by Nirvana.

Who are your inspirations or influences?
My inspirations are my wife and my daughter.
I am influenced by many alternative bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Staind, Stonesour, Stone Temple Pilots and other similiar bands

What advice would offer aspiring performers?
Keep practicing every day before you get on the stage or make any song.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?
I play something different in this moment acoustic alternative rock and its not about only performance. Its about emotions, good vibes, positive energy. Something that people will enjoy and relax.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?
After this Covid situation yes I plan to have many gigs. I have already released my single as a solo artist and I plan to release singles in the future and do some covers. 

Special thanks to him for this interview & I wish him luck in his music. So until then I'll catch you on The Flipside. Stay awesome & rock n roll!

DracoV feat. Neil Godson ( IF I COULD )

DJ Interviews: Michael Radtke

 

How'd you get started in music?

I've been "making" music since high school, with a few stops and starts along the way. I put quotes around "making" because I mostly just messed around with the guitar and effectively blew off guitar lessons my parents were paying for. The only song I ever recorded during this time was just me yelling "Free kitten!" across the room and clapping semi-rhythmically. I might still have that on my old Fostex. I should check... Anyway, I fell out of music for a bit during high school then got back in during my college years, now as a drummer. My brother and I started a "band" and jammed quite a bit with me on drums and him on bass. Nothing came of it, but we'd do these epic 30+ minute distorted, psychedelic jams that were fun to play, but probably not very fun to listen to.

Then it wasn't until a few years ago that I finally had things "click" and I produced actual, meaningful content. What happened was my friend and I had an idea for a podcast, wherein I, never really having WRITTEN an ACTUAL REAL SONG before, decided to write a song for each episode. The song would be based on the topic of the episode and I'd perform it at some point during the recording. This never materialised, but I did write a bunch of songs. ACTUAL songs. About half will never, ever see the light of day, but the ones that were good ended up on my first release, the EP Hold Still.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

I'd have to say my biggest inspiration are my children. They give me the drive to keep creating, even when I think no one is listening (and there was a very long stretch when no one was). Ultimately, I want to leave behind a legacy that will give them something to point at and proudly say "My dad did THAT."

As for who influences me, the biggest back when I decided to take the plunge and write those podcast songs was Jonathan Coulton. He quit his job and to focus on music and give HIS kids something to be proud of, and it really gave me something to aspire to. Nevermind that he had SIGNIFICANTLY more formal training than me when he made that decision, I wanted to do that too and that helped drive me early on. (In case you're wondering, no, I was not able to quit my job to focus on music.)

Nowadays, I'd have to say my biggest influences are the folks in the Indie Music Twitter-verse. Folks like OrangeG, John Michie, Liss Victory, and Leigh Thomas all really stand out and set a high bar, always making me want to push myself further and improve. There's also all the folks at the weekly Hambones Open Mic on Zoom that I attend. It's run by the above mentioned and ever-amazing Liss Victory and there are so many top-notch performers each week that really push the envelope and make me want to as well. 

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

First and foremost, I'd say do NOT care what anybody thinks of you. Just put yourself out there. Not everybody is going to like what you do. THAT'S OK. You do you and you'll eventually find your audience.

My second bit of advice is to keep writing. Even if the songs are bad. That's fine, because the ONLY way you'll get better is by doing. I did this by putting myself through a 20-week long song-a-week bootcamp of my own devising, wherein I wrote AND recorded a fleshed out demo each week and put them up on my youtube channel. Granted I had a few cheat weeks where I did covers, but in that time I really learned HOW to write a song in the way that works best for me. Were all the songs zingers? No. But I learned what did and, possibly more importantly, what didn't work for my music.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

Admittedly this is something I think about a lot. When we start in music we're not originators, we're imitators. We mimic those we admire because we want to BE them. It's not until we've imitated for a while that the mask starts to flake away and our true selves shine through. What I'm finding shine through is my song writing. I write about pretty much ANYTHING. With songs about tiny crabs, annoying coworkers, punctuation marks, and the SEVERE lack of jetpacks in this "future" we live in, my songs have been described as witty and observational. I like to think that is my strength. The music that goes with those songs ranges from folky, to electronic, to punkish, so the instrumentation isn't ever really the crux of it, it's the off-kilter subjects and lyrics I write about.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?My gig calendar for the foreseeable future is just the weekly Hambones Open Mic on Zoom. With only a couple of missed weeks, I'm very much a regular and you can pretty much be assured that if you tune in you'll see me do my thing there.

As for albums, I've been focusing on the singles, with the idea of remastering/remixing them for an album down the road (with some new tracks thrown in for good measure). I'm working on my next single now, which should be out either at the end of April or early May. Beyond that I do have a collab lined up that I'm very excited for. I won't say too much now, but it's one that's been a long time coming and should yield some very interesting results.

Thank you again for interviewing me, Dizzy. Let me know when the interview goes live and I'll be sure to get the word out and share it on my socials.

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Michael Radtke (The Real Michael Lee)

www.therealmichaellee.com

Twitter: @TRealMichaelLee

Facebook:www.facebook.com/TRealMichaelLee