grunge rock

Interview: The Lürxx

May 31, 2024 — Leave a comment

The Lürxx are a self-proclaimed “nature warrior rock” band that have traversed the scene from England to Hollywood. Having been together in some form or fashion since 1990, Xavi and Sabú are basically twins by this point, sharing their love of music and a common goal: to make the world a better place.

I had the chance to speak with the duo about their start, the many transformations the band has gone through, their inspirations, and much more!

***

Mostly Music: First and foremost, how did the band come together?

Xavi: Basically, the two of us, Xavi and Sabú, have been in a band together since we were 13 years old! We met at school in 1990 and started our first band, The Collegemates, influenced by early Beatles and 50s rock ‘n’ roll.

When we were 15, we sought out “dirtier” music. The Rolling Stones led us to the blues, and The Collegemates turned into Bloody Blues, the band we performed our first ever gig with! We explored more of the 1960s London scene and discovered bands like The Who and Small Faces. Through the latter, we really got into mod in 1993.

Through the very underground mod scene that existed in the mid-90s, we then discovered power pop bands like the Chords and Purple Hearts. Parallelly, we also started listening to a lot of classic 1970s punk rock. Out of this melange of influences rose our third band, Speed, whose sound we described as “Maximum Rhythm ‘n’ ModPunkBlues” in an allusion to The Who’s iconic Marquee Club poster. With Speed, we released a single on an underground punk label based near London. We thought “London’s where it’s at!” and as soon as we turned 18, we dropped out of school and moved there! This move did not go well: The explosion of Brit Pop had actually led to quite a lot of interest in 60s-influenced music but we were a) loath to jump on a trend, and b) moving on musically.

We had dabbled in Guns ‘n’ Roses and Nirvana before, but now we seriously got into that heavier stuff. Speed turned into Black Lürxx (thanxx Nikki Sixx for the umlaut and the double-x!) Success did not come our way because NO ONE was interested in that kind of music in London in 1995… So we copied our heroes and moved out to Los Angeles… 

MM: How did y’all land on “The Lürxx” as the name to stick with?

Xavi: We had this fascination with the German word “Lurch” (= newt). We thought it sounded hilarious and we used to do this weird dance while we were saying “Lurch” over and over again (the “Lurchtanz”) and it just cracked us up (yeah, admittedly we were not often sober during these times…). And we were HUGE fans of Nikki Sixx and the Crüe. And “Lürxx” is basically a merger of all that. Originally, we added the “Black” to make it more dark and mysterious. Our mascots were black newts, and we still do a lot of jokes around the newt-thing, like that we call our newsletter the newtsletter and stuff like that! We thought it was cool to have such a mysterious band name with a word that no one would be able to place. Remarkably few people ask us about it, though! Over the course of time we realized how much sense it makes for us to have a newt in the band name, with newts being amphibians, the connection of life in the water and life on land, and with all life coming out of the water… it fits really well with our whole anti-speciesist, “we’re all one” philosophy. But none of that was intended!

MM: So y’all unintentionally ended up with quite an appropriate name! I can’t imagine having the wherewithal to just…move to LA. What was that like?

Xavi: Weirdly, it didn’t feel scary to us. That might have just been because we were 18 and had the biggest fuck-you attitude ever and were drinking quite heavily, but even taking all that into account, it seems insane looking back at it, how unimpressed we were. We literally just went like “right, London sucks, all our heroes went to LA to make it, we should do that, too.” Then we sold almost all our stuff, spent two months living in our rehearsal room (January / February, no heating, no warm water…) to save money, borrowed some money, and bought plane tickets to LA.

We didn’t even tell our parents we were gonna go there, because we were like “We’re 18, we don’t have to tell you anything!” But we also didn’t hide it, so eventually our moms got hip to it. Safe to say they were NOT happy. But Sabú’s mom, who always supported us, actually agreed to drive us to the airport. We remember that on the ride to the airport, we listened to Mötley Crüe’s “Danger”… We knew close to nothing about what LA in 1996 was like. All our knowledge came from the rock biographies and interviews we had read, so our information was about 10 years off. We even thought that Hollywood was by the sea. It looked like it in the Doors movie. That’s how clueless we were!! We arrived with our guitars, a rucksack, and $1000. To make the money stretch as far as possible, we decided to not book ourselves into a motel; instead, we stayed on the streets for the first two weeks, sleeping on a building site on Sunset Strip. Since we were in the States on a tourist visa (which we threw away), we had no official papers, so we couldn’t buy a car or easily get an apartment. That was nothing we had thought about beforehand. Luckily, we eventually found a landlord who was corrupt enough to not care about papers as long as he got the rent in cash every month. Even though the first months in LA were super tough, we absolutely LOVED it! We were so pleased with ourselves – we were totally living the dream! In fall, we managed to set our life up a little better, found a drummer, recorded a demo, and then in February 1997, we had our first gig in Hollywood, at the Coconut Teaszer. Dreams do come true!

MM: That sounds so scary! But I admire the bravery and determination. How was that first show? And, taking that further, what do you love about playing live?

Sabú: At the time, we had this guy, Leon, live in our little shoe box of an apartment. He helped us pay some of the rent, ’cause he needed a place after his girlfriend kicked him out. He was originally from New York, and one of his past bands had opened for the New York Dolls. He was friends with Arthur Kane and we ended up having a very strange conversation with Arthur in his run-down little West Hollywood apartment, but anyways – Leon was at that show and critiqued us and he told us afterwards that we seemed a little nervous but that it had gone well. We were quite satisfied with the performance – we, of course, did not want to admit that it was our first time, we were always too cool for that, we didn’t wanna seem like beginners. That added a ton of extra, unnecessary stress, but we apparently felt we accomplished that that night. In hindsight, it was super dumb of us to always pretend to be more knowledgeable and experienced than we were, because we could have gotten much more support from people had we admitted that we needed it…

This is gonna sound a bit like we’re dicks, but honestly: [what we like about shows] is the attention! The cheers, the lights, being the centre of attention! And we like the dressing up, putting on the make-up, the full-on stage gear. Getting into this full-on persona is a feel-good moment, really good for self-love and mental health! We also like connecting to the audience and to pass on positive energy – we get that a lot after shows, that people come up to us and say that we made them feel better, and that’s really great!! One dude once told us “you radiate happiness!” and that was beautiful. It’s also fun to confront random people with our weird lyrics and to give them something to think about.

MM: Did you guys always have a similar vision as to what the band would be, or are there contrasting influences in there as well? 

Xavi: The two of us are basically twins – we’ve been so close since we were 13 that we feel like we’re a two-headed monster: each has its own head and thoughts, but more or less we are always heading in the same direction. Our vision for the band, actually for all our bands, was always fully aligned. We never had artistic disagreements. Amazing, actually, come to think of it! Our taste in music outside of the band is not always entirely aligned (Sabú sometimes likes to listen to classical music, for example, and I don’t), but these different tastes just flow into the band harmoniously and merge into a thing that we are both 100% behind. It just leads to our songwriting being versatile.

MM: In regard to your songwriting, what is your process? Where do you draw most of your inspiration from? (I know y’all support a few causes, and I’m sure a lot of it comes from there, but I still like to get an artist’s answer.)

Xavi: We draw most of our inspiration from conversations we have about stuff. For example, we’ll see on IG that Nikki Sixx took pictures at a local rodeo and thought it was really cool. We get pissed off about that because it’s no fun for the stressed-out animals being exploited for entertainment there. I remember a story I saw on Facebook about a Mustang sanctuary. We get the idea to write a song about mustangs for people like Nikki, who maybe just never had the chance to reflect on what it means for these horses to lose their freedom. And then we write the song (this will be our next release!).

And a lot of really great ideas actually start out as jokes, just us goofing around and then all of a sudden we’re like “wait, this is actually awesome!”

Because we have been creating together for so long, we have this incredibly natural way of working together. It’s the twin-thing. We just kind of vibe together and bring out the best in each other. Generally, you can maybe say that I’m the guy for the big picture, and Sabú is the guy for the details. I will often bring in a chunk of something, a riff or a picking pattern or even something resembling a song already, and Sabú will listen and then dig in and say “can you try this here” or “can you take this melody up instead of down there” or “this run is nice but can you vary it when you repeat it” and then we take it from there. Also, I only ever write with my guitar in hand – I say the songs are in my guitar – whereas Sabú will also sing stuff into his phone and compose in his head. He says the songs are inside of him.

MM: Still on the songwriting topic, how did “You’re Badass” come into being? I really, really dug it, so I need the story behind it! 

Sabú: We’re not a love song band. We’re a bug song and fish song and slug song band. A Lürxx love song is a weird thing. But in late 2022, things went a bit differently.

My mum accompanied me as I was exploring the rural outskirts of Hannover, Germany, with the idea of moving there, which didn’t happen. What put me off most was that I felt like I was zapped back into the nineties. Most restaurants didn’t have a vegan option, getting a coffee with dairy alternative was close to impossible, and every time it WAS possible, it was a huge topic. My mum struggled to understand what I was going on about. I felt I was being pushed in the “impatient and radical” corner when I just tried to continue with my normal habits.

Not long after the trip to Germany, we participated in a songwriting workshop offered by The Songwriting Academy, London. One thing that really annoyed us about this workshop was how focused on love songs everyone was. Can’t people write songs about other topics?! Somehow, though, the Germany trip and the songwriting workshop bonded in my brain and a morbid wish to write a rebel love song emerged. I couldn’t quite convince Xavi of the idea.

We were listening a lot to the first few Van Halen albums at that time. Inspired by Eddie’s awesome rhythm playing, Xavi one night came up with a massively driving rhythm guitar I absolutely adored! Some other night we were joking around while Xavi made dinner. At some point we burst out into a spontaneous Latino vocal jam, followed by an awesome boomy beat. We often do these kinds of things. We have a bit of a background with Latino music. We used to live in Catalonia.

Since I didn’t manage to get Xavi into gear about wanting to write a love song with me, I just started writing lyrics myself. Again inspired by Van Halen, I started out with some funny, joky “I’m hot for teacher” lines. And texted them to Xavi. That was it. He instantly loved them and helped me work them out further. I asked Xavi if he could imagine using his awesome rhythm guitar for the love song. He forgot about my question and some days later had the idea to use his awesome rhythm guitar for the love song. Yesssssss!!!! It fit just perfectly for the verses!

I felt that our Latino thingy would be a great musical counterpart to the verses we had. Xavi was a bit puzzled but trusted me and went into “el corazón me duele….!” I interrupted him. No, I do think we should change the lyrics…. And we exchanged “el corazón me duele todo el día y toda la noche!” to “you offer no excuses for your values and your convictions!” Then we had the idea to sing “you’re badass!” to the boomy beat that had spontaneously burst out after “el corazón.”

Now we had our song!!! By now, Xavi was totally into it, and he started experimenting with his vocal delivery. Again, we had just listened to a lot of early Van Halen, and Xavi was getting inspired by David Lee Roth and wanted to close the song with a cocky, flirty spoken part, so he started to just freestyle some funny pick-up lines. I was roaring with laughter when he first said: “hey, what you got underneath that placard you’re holdin’? Wanna go on a march together?”

“You’re Badass” is a milestone song for the Lürxx, because it’s the first song we’ve recorded in collaboration with [Sixx A.M. singer/record producer/mixer] James Michael. Before we started recording, James gave our home studio a little check through by listening to the sound quality we achieve. He gave us green light for all the electric instruments but sprang into action with an amazing gift for recording vocals and acoustic instruments: a microphone bursting with music history! We still can’t quite believe it, but he gifted us the microphone that was used for recording The Heroin Diaries soundtrack in 2007. 

MM: That’s quite a journey you had to go on to end up with “You’re Badass.” But I love it! That’s a great story!

So while we’re on the subject of equipment, what do you guys typically use? I feel like most musicians have a brand – or particular instrument – that they swear by. I could be wrong. 

Xavi: We both love Floyd Roses – all our guitars absolutely must have floating bridges!! The three guitars we currently have are a Schecter, a Steve Vai signature Ibanez, and a Jackson. We swap these amongst ourselves – like true twins, we share everything. Xavi plays a Taylor acoustic guitar, which he adores, and Sabú plays a selection of plastic recorders – sounds trashy, but they’re actually pretty good! His soprano recorder is actually Xavi’s ancient and apparently indestructible recorder from primary school! 

Our recording mic for vocals is probably our most exciting piece of equipment: the mic James Michael gifted to us.

Generally,  because we try to be as sustainable as possible,  we try to buy all our equipment second hand. 

MM: What are the band’s plans for 2024? Maybe a new album…? [I ask hopefully, haha]

Xavi: You’re in luck – we have quite a few releases planned for 2024!

At the moment, we are working on two songs with James Michael, “Mustang” and “The Streets Are Paved With Stars.”

“Mustang” – a song about mustangs having the right to roam free! – is earmarked for release in late June, and our autobiographical Hollywood-anthem “The Streets Are Paved With Stars” for late July. Also in summer, we will release these two songs together with “Weeds” and “Badass” on CD as an actual physical EP!

As we go into fall, we’ll be recording another bunch of songs with James – as long as he doesn’t lose interest, we’ll keep going – there is absolutely no shortage of songs! The next two songs after the summer EP will probably be the punky “We Got It All”, a song we mostly wrote when we were 16, and “Salmon (New Self),” which uses the picture of salmon migration as a metaphor for starting anew in the middle of life.

We’ll also parallelly work on an acoustic project with two producers we know in London. That acoustic project will be a three-song EP that takes the listener on a journey of self-discovery and bonding with nature. 

So loads to look forward to!

***

The Lürxx hit the ground running and haven’t stopped! With so much on the horizon, be sure to follow the band on their socials and your favorite streaming service to ensure you don’t miss anything.

In the meantime, you can check out the latest singles, “You’re Badass” and “We Are The Weeds.” For those who enjoy “You’re Badass” as much as I did, there is an e-book series available that takes a more in-depth look into the creation and meaning behind the track.

Interview: Alchemy Within

April 22, 2024 — Leave a comment

Alchemy Within is a musical project based out of Bel Air, Maryland. His work is described as alternative rock that harkens back to the early 2000s, but there are no boundaries for him and the other musicians who contribute to the songs.

Having just released the new EP The Story Thus Far in March, Alchemy Within has hit the ground running in 2024. I was lucky enough to be given the chance to chat with him about how he started, influences, guilty pleasures, what’s next for the project, and more!

**

Mostly Music: How did you start this project? What was it that made you want to create music?

Alchemy Within: I originally started writing solely to maintain my own mental health. Therapy helps, but it wasn’t getting the job done on its own. When I first made Alchemy Within, I had every intention of it being a full band, but I got tired of waiting for people, so I started on my own. I play a little bit of keyboard, but most of the instrumental parts you hear are by cowriters.

MM: What is your songwriting process?

AW: The process usually starts with the lyrics. I’ll have 3 or 4 lines I really like, then build the rest of the song and melody around them. 

MM: Do you have regular contributors, as far as your cowriters, or do the other musicians change each time?

AW: I like to have 1 main collaborator, and then if I have someone in mind or someone shows interest, I’ll have them join in, too. Like “Troubled Waters” and “Like A Bullet” have different drummers. I love hearing in the end product how different musician’s influences and stylistic choices blend with mine.

MM: Why call your project “Alchemy Within”?

AW: It’s probably not what you would expect. I was watching something on the History Channel or Travel Channel, something like that, and they were talking about alchemy. I was like, “Huh.  That’s kind of like what music is, right?” I wanted the word Alchemy in there, but I didn’t know how to use it, so I used a band name generator. Lol. I typed in that I wanted the word “alchemy” in there, and Alchemy Within was one of the results.

MM: It’s NEVER what I expect! But the generator did you a solid, because that’s good! Who are your major influences, musically? And what is it about that band – or bands – (or artists) that inspires you?

AW: Thank you! My biggest influences are ANYTHING Chris Cornell, Blue October, and Maria Brink. I feel like Chris Cornell is pretty self-explanatory, he’s Chris Cornell. Blue October inspires me because they just kind of do whatever they want and it sounds great. Like one of their songs has an opera singer in it!? I never would’ve thought of that, but it works. Maria Brink is hands down my biggest influence. Especially her Blood and Black Widow eras. She faced SO much adversity and showed so much growth as an artist and a person that I immediately became a fan.

MM: It is inspiring to watch someone face adversity and come out stronger on the other side, especially when much of the judgment is…unwarranted, I guess you might say? Like, it wasn’t that she did shocking or offensive things to draw attention; she just existed in that scene and caught shit for it.

AW: Yeah, she definitely caught a lot of flak that was uncalled for. Those circle pits she would start herself were CRAZY. 

MM: Is there anyone you listen to or draw inspiration from that might surprise people? What’s your “guilty pleasure”? (Not that you should be guilty over anything that makes you happy. Lol.)

AW: Usually, Maria Brink and Blue October are the ones that surprise people, but I think they’d also be surprised that I draw inspiration from Dorothy as well.

My guilty pleasures are usually one-offs by different artists, but I think it’s a tie between “Hurt” by Christina Aguilera and “Breakaway” by Avril Lavigne.

MM: I love Dorothy! Saw her (them) with Shinedown, and it made me so happy! Okay. One more of the digging-into-your-tastes type questions, then I’ll get back to the music. Lol. What would be your dream tour lineup that includes Alchemy Within? Be as realistic or unrealistic as you wanna be. I’ve had some fun answers to this one.

AW: Oh crap, that’s a tough one. Unless all of their publicly known personalities are a lie, I think touring with In This Moment and Black Veil Brides would be fun. Maria Brink’s bodyguard kind of scares me, though, not gonna lie. Haha. Myself and a few other people thought he was Jason Mamoa at first glance.

MM: I met BVB in 2018. The VIP was…very controlled, but I got to talk to Andy, Jake, Jinxx, and CC after the show. CC is just as animated as he seems. Lol. And Andy was actually very sweet. My favorite comment he made was “Don’t worry. I’ve been cried on before.” (It wasn’t about me.)

Okay. Back to the music. So I don’t wanna ask your “favorite” song you’ve written, but do you have a track that you connect with more than others?

AW: I think I connect with “Shady” the most because it’s not really about a specific event that’s come and gone, it’s about the ongoing process of self-improvement.

MM: So it’s ALWAYS relatable. You just released “Like a Bullet,” which is how we came to be here. Lol. Can you tell me the story behind that song? You mentioned it was one of your “fun” songs. What was the process when writing lyrics/composing for it?

AW: So the fun part is more the melody and overall sound than it is the lyrics. In a nutshell, it’s about trying to resolve trauma and navigating the consequences/damage. The process was pretty cut and dry. I wrote the chorus lyrics/melody, and my cowriter wrote the instrumentals, then we built off of that.  I have no idea why I decided to make the song as high as it is. It only made things 10 times harder.

MM: I would say it paid off. I love the song. I think a lot of people don’t believe I listen to all the music I find, but I do. So, what are your plans for the rest of 2024 from a musical standpoint?

AW: Thank you! I’m just kind of rolling with the punches as far as 2024 goes. I’m branching out a bit and starting to work with different producers and musicians. The production aspect of my music might sound a liiiiiittle different from here on out, but it’ll still kick ass all the same. Hopefully, 2024 is the year I finally find some bandmates!

MM: And if you get a band together, you’ll book shows, right??? Because my little neck of the woods would just be so happy to see you!

Is there any message you want to give your fans (and my readers)?

AW: I will absolutely start booking shows and I’d love to come to your town! To fans and readers alike, I’m always working on something, so at any given point, there is always something new around the corner. Like I just recovered from having Covid and I was still working on music that whole time. It never stops.

MM: I think my last question would be, where all can my readers find your music? Are your songs available on every major platform, or…?

AW: The vast majority of streaming platforms, yeah. The only big one I’m not on is SoundCloud. My distributor doesn’t work with them, and I haven’t made a SoundCloud account yet.

MM: Thank you so much for your time! This has been a lot of fun. We’ll have to do it again soon!

**

Listen to the latest Alchemy Within single, “Like a Bullet,” below and be sure to follow his socials so you never miss an update!!!

Pearl Jam: Dark Matter World Tour 2024

April 20, 2024 — Leave a comment

Grunge/alternative rock legends Pearl Jam are touring this year in support of their new album, Dark Matter, released April 19th. This world tour commences May 4th in Vancouver, BC, and draws to its conclusion November 23rd in Sydney, AU. Support varies by date/location. Tickets are available at pearljam.com!

  • 5/4 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena*
  • 5/6 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena*
  • 5/10 – Portland, OR – Moda Center*
  • 5/13 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center*
  • 5/16 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena*
  • 5/18 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena*
  • 5/21 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum*
  • 5/22 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum*
  • 5/25 – Napa Valley, CA – BottleRock Festival 2024^
  • 5/28 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena*
  • 5/30 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena*
  • 6/22 – Dublin, IE – Marlay Park
  • 6/25 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Co-Op Arena+
  • 6/29 – London, UK – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium+%
  • 7/2 – Berlin, DE – Waldbühne+
  • 7/3 – Berlin, DE – Waldbühne+
  • 7/6 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi+
  • 7/8 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi+
  • 7/11 – Madrid, ES – Mad Cool Festival 2024^
  • 7/13 – Lisbon, PT – NOS Alive Festival 2024^
  • 8/22 – Missoula, MT – Washington-Grizzly Stadium&
  • 8/26 – Indianapolis, IN – Ruoff Music Center&
  • 8/29 – Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field&
  • 8/31 – Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field&
  • 9/3 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden&
  • 9/4 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden&
  • 9/7 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center&
  • 9/9 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center&
  • 9/12 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena&
  • 9/15 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park&
  • 9/17 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park&
  • 11/8 – Auckland, AU – Go Media Stadium Mt. Smart#
  • 11/10 – Auckland, AU – Go Media Stadium Mt. Smart# (Second show added!)
  • 11/13 – Gold Coast, AU – Heritage Bank Stadium#
  • 11/16 – Melbourne, AU – Marvel Stadium#
  • 11/18 – Melbourne, AU – Marvel Stadium# (Second show added!)
  • 11/21 – Sydney, AU – ENGIE Stadium#
  • 11/23 – Sydney, AU – ENGIE Stadium# (Second show added!)

^ Festival

* w/Deep Sea Diver

+ w/The Murder Capital

% w/Richard Ashcroft

& w/Glen Hansard

# w/Pixies

Shadows Calling Showcase Their Versatility on New EP, ‘These Scars’

April 15, 2024 — Leave a comment

Shadows Calling is a female-fronted alternative rock band hailing from Cork, Ireland. They released their debut EP, Spirit Shifter, in early 2023. Now, the five-piece outfit is back with These Scars, a four track EP that dropped March 22, 2024.

Shadows Calling boasts a group of musicians who delve into the many aspects of the rock and metal genres, paired with singer Jen Vaughan’s powerful vocals. The band utilizes a vast array of sounds and melodies on These Scars, which clocks in at 17 minutes and balances the fast-paced and upbeat with the slow, dark, and moody.

The EP kicks off with “Dead Long Enough,” a heavy opener with tasty guitar parts that will make listeners want to bang their heads and sing along. The song is a 2:47 driving piece that would be at home on any modern rock playlist. Shadows Calling switches gears with the title track, “These Scars,” which has a deliciously gritty groove that brings to mind such classic metal acts as Metallica and Black Sabbath. Jen toys with the rougher edge of her voice throughout, showcasing a range that is expertly manipulated to match the tone set by the music.

“The Lost” is another nod to the vintage, melodic with a hint of funk, and Jen’s vocals positively soar. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but this is my favorite of the four songs. The EP closes with “Ships,” and here again the band ventures into different territory. This epic track takes the listener on a journey. The music itself runs through a hard rock start, a nasty heavy metal breakdown at its heart. Listeners are then granted by a brief interlude of nothing but bass and the ethereal facet of Jen’s singing before the song ends on a guitar fade out.

Shadows Calling has packed a punch with These Scars, making a statement that they will not be ignored with four catchy, captivating tracks that will grab you and not let go. For any fan of hard rock, metal, and/or grunge, this EP is a must-hear!

Be sure to follow Shadows Calling on their socials so that you don’t miss any updates or new music! The band has had quite a year, and I believe they have a promising future ahead.

Interview: Bradon Marshall of Serpent Rising

March 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

Serpent Rising is a new heavy metal/rock project hailing from eastern Pennsylvania, comprised of members from various local acts. So far, the band has shared three singles, and they have a fourth on the horizon.

I was lucky enough to be given the chance to talk to lyricist/frontman Bradon Marshall! We dove into the members’ musical histories, their shared influences, what’s coming next for Serpent Rising, and much more!

***

Mostly Music: Tell me about how Serpent Rising formed, and what’s the story behind the name? 

Bradon Marshall: So the band was formed by two members (Josh & Clint) of an old punk band called Cold Blood Creep after they disbanded due to issues with their singer. Then, they found Seth, the guitarist, after seeing him cover a Lamb of God song. Finally, they met me about 3 months ago, before I left the group Two Dollar Horse. I stepped down as lyricist and frontman for TDH, and am filling the same role for Serpent Rising.

As far as the name goes, we bounced around on a bunch of names prior to Serpent Rising, but none of them felt right. Once the name Serpent Rising was put on the whiteboard, we knew it was the one. It sounded cool, rolled off the tongue, and represented our heavier tone,  from the words to the drop tuned instruments.

A simpler way we all look at it is, as Josh put it – before this band, we were all kinda lost in music. Once we were all together, it felt collectively like we rose above the water and started treading.

MM: Did you all have a mutual direction at the beginning, or were you working from different musical backgrounds/influences?

BM: We definitely have different musical backgrounds, I think each member is all over the place; but we totally have our favorites.

Clint, the drummer, is old school. He really likes Motorhead. Josh, the bassist, really loves Dream Theater. So clearly, there’s a beautiful disconnect between all of us, where we as a team can pull from different styles to create.

MM: Who are the band’s major shared influences?

BM: I think if you listen closely, you can hear the best of different rock/metal subgenres come into play. Some honorable influences are as follows: Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, Periphery, Korn, Sleep Token, Lamb of God, and Acid Bath.

MM: That list definitely runs the gamut of subgenres! So, what is your writing/recording process? How do y’all bring it all together?

BM: Our writing process is currently pretty streamlined and fit so that each member can add their defining piece of the puzzle separately. The main songwriters are Josh and Seth. We are all pretty comfortable with audio engineering from a studio standpoint.

They [Josh and Seth] are really good at creating hook-based riffs with emotional transitions. Basically, they create the whole instrumental portion of the song on their own, then they send it to me to add my lyricist touch. Once the song is pretty much 100%, we bring Clint up to speed.

MM: On that same topic, what is the story behind the latest single, “Asphyxiation”?

BM: Another great question! “Asphyxiation” has done really well; better than any of us expected for the start up of the project. The song has its highs and lows instrumentally as well as lyrically.

In our mind, it tells an abstract and sad love story paired with the words, which is why when Josh and I laid out the script for the music video, we wanted it to not be too on the nose. 

I can’t speak for the band as a whole or anyone that pulls a meaning from the words, but personally, I have dealt with a lot of difficulty with love and put my faith in a lot of things and people that have burned me. Or it is as simple as just not being able to see eye to eye repeatedly, to the point where it creates a jaded “not where you belong” type of feeling when it comes to actually getting close to anyone. Almost suffocating, in a sense, hence the title.   

MM: As a lyricist, from where do you draw most of your inspiration? And what made you start writing? Did you begin in a different medium (poetry, perhaps)?

BM: I think I draw most of my inspiration from things I’m too afraid to say not in front of a microphone, as funny as that sounds. It’s always personal for me, but I try and keep the words abstract. Someday, we could dissect the lyrics of a song to fully understand the meaning I put behind it.

I’ve been writing poetry for most of my life, and I have always looked at it as just poetry on top of music, but once I started playing instruments, I had a place to put the words & it opened up a whole world for me. 

MM: Y’all have released 3 singles thus far. When can we expect an album or EP? Or does the band prefer to upload tracks to a streaming service and not actually put them into a collection like that? I know several bands are going that route with the decline of the demand for physical copies of records. 

BM: As far as releases go, yes, there are currently 3 out of the 13 songs we have lined up for possible release. But I wouldn’t expect an album. It just doesn’t work like singles do. Albums are great, in our opinion, but there is a decline in desire for them and with us trying to also do music videos and cinema content for the majority of the songs, singles make it much easier to do so piece by piece! 

Two of the three songs currently have music videos and an unreleased (as far as streaming services are concerned) track called “MUD” has only a video on YouTube.

MM: I am from the generation that set a lot of store by music videos, so I’m really enjoying this resurgence of artists who like to express their music visually as well. So, what are the band’s plans for 2024? 

BM: As far as our plans for 2024, we’ve booked shows to fill out most of the year, and we’ll be focusing on recording songs to be released and content for music videos and things of that nature. Our plan is to be a little more than just a band that makes and releases music. We’re still planning out ideas for our next big music video adventure! Everything we do, we want to keep DIY. It seems to keep the creativity natural and we are cohesive together more than we’d be with an outside party.

A collaboration or two with another local artist/musician would be cool, though!

MM: What would be your dream collaboration? 

BM: It would be really cool to work with an off-genre band to create a mixture of sounds that weave well together but not to be expected!

MM: Taking that a step further, what would be your dream tour lineup (that includes Serpent Rising, of course)?

BM: I always loved the idea of keeping it close to home. There are a ton of great bands locally. Just to name a few that I’d love to travel and share music with – The Stone Eye, Hannibal, People Food, Ben Grinder Group, Ephraim, Die Tired, The Spyders of HBG.

That’s just a few, there’s many more! The music is there, you just gotta look for it!

MM: I love when bands promote other locals! It helps me spread the word as well. Still on the topic of live shows, what’s your favorite thing about performing? 

BM: I think collectively our favorite thing about performing so far since we’ve started is after a show we get to come off stage and talk to people who heard us for the first time, maybe have a drink with them, and just talk about the music and various other things. Short of the connection we get with them on stage, there’s nothing else comparable!

MM: Last but not least, is there any message you have for your listeners (and my readers)? 

BM: If we could say something to those who listen and anyone who reads this, it would be to always try to create something each day, even if it’s just a little happiness, check out our new single “MUD,” releasing March 30th, and come say hi to us & have a beer or six at our up and coming shows!!!

***

Serpent Rising is truly just getting started. If you are a fan of the heavier styles of music, I would highly recommend looking them up right now! Make sure you follow the band on their socials so you never miss any news in regard to upcoming releases or live shows. You can listen to their latest single, “Asphyxiation,” below, and don’t forget that “MUD” drops on March 30th!