we love you very much.

(Photo: Aaron Garcia)

Meet The Rooks, one of the hottest bands to come out of Vegas since The Killers. Local 1970s rock-revivalists tell us about their influences, musical aspirations, new record and favorite sex position.

Maggie Leon: How would you guys describe your music?
Jonathan Realmuto: I call it Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Angel Ramirez: It’s pop.
Leo Banchik: Each song is designed to have a hook. So if that’s pop, pop.
Zachary Peickert: [Sarcastic] I just want to sell as many albums as I can. I don’t want to be original or have anything good to say. I just wanna make money, and if that requires killing a couple people on the way, or doing whatever I have to do, I just wanna make it. I don’t care about anyone except myself.

ML: Who are each of your influences?
JR: I’ll tell you specific people. I like John Bonham, Keith Moon and Jon Theodore.
ZP: I know you want me to answer this question seriously, but that’s me, Celine Dion was a big one around the time “Titanic” came out. I mean Englebert Humperdinck has always been in the back of my mind. Yeah, those are it. Those are the only two bands I listen to. Celine Dion, she’s my favorite band.
AR: One of my favorite guitar players is Brian May, from Queen. Queen has always been an inspiration to me. John Frusciante too.
LB: As a bass player, the guy that got me into it was John Entwistle, The Who, The Ox. That’s who it started with. I started to learn the bass lines first.

ML: What are your hopes for the band?
ZP: Overdoses all around. Everybody dies at, what is it 27? I’m 23 now, we have a couple years left in us. If we don’t make it till that 27 mark.
JR: Only the good die young. I want to make a living, and travel! I’d like to travel, I think that’s my main goal.
AR: I wanna live at least to 30. I want to make a living, and make some great tunes.

ML: Tell us about the new EP you are rerecording.
ZP: Well we started not too long ago, recording with this real asshole named Brain Garth.
JR: Oh my god! What are you…
ZP: Just a total scumbag. We started recording with him and it sounds pretty good. It sounds great.
JR: I like Brian Garth. He’s a cool guy.
AR: Brian’s really cool. He has a good sense of humor, just like we do. So, it’s comfortable.
LB: I think we put four or five tunes down so far?
JR: Six songs. Then it’s gonna drop and blow your mind.
What’s it going to be called?
ZP: It’s gonna be called The Rooks EP.
LB: Self-titled, keep it simple.
ZP: Celine Dion If Only.
LB: We’ll mention her in the liner notes, thank you Celine for being our one and only inspiration.

ML: Who would you ideally like to go on tour with?
ZP: I think that question is already answered in the previous question.
The Rooks: CELINE DION!
ML: Come on, give me a good serious answer.
ZP: I mean just realistic choices, people we actually could get gigs with, like Paul McCartney or Billy Joel. Or maybe a small time act like Stevie Wonder.
AR: All of the above right there. Vicente Fernandez. Oww!

ML: What do you love and hate about performing?
JR: I don’t think I hate anything, I just love it all. It’s awesome, you just get into like a zone, it’s a type of meditation for me, I’m into it.
ZR: I’m just not a big fan. I love the performing aspect of it, but I just hate performing. [Laughter]
AR: I just like letting go. It’s a nice way to just let go. I feel like sometimes no one’s really there and I just play and feel good vibes, that’s basically it.
LB: I kind of approach it like a lover. If the crowd feels good, then I feel good. No, I’m being dead serious. No, I’m being absolutely serious. Like if the crowd is moving and dancing I feel better.
AR: So what happens if the crowd goes bad?
LB: No, no, no, the thing you should be concerned with is if the crowd loves it for 10 seconds and then walks off.
AR: 10 seconds that’s it! Oh man, you got problems brother! [Roaring laughter]
LB: No, to bring it back honestly, that really defines how I play. If the crowd is into it I have a great time. If the crowd starts trickling out, I start to feel bad and feel what’s wrong on our part. What are we doing wrong? I really stand behind the music, it’s very danceable, and it’s catchy. I’ve played in groups before and I like this band. I like playing the music here. I think it’s universally accessible, it’s universal is what I tell people when I advertise the show, so if the crowd’s liking it then I’m having a great time.
ZP: Getting paid is fun too.
LB: Yeah, oh and getting free beers here. That’s always a good one.

ML: When did you discover music, what age and who got you into it?
JR: Who knows man, since out of the womb. Probably before that right? Don’t they say you can listen through the tummy? I’m sure my mom was jamming to something. I don’t know. I think my dad got me into music. He took me to my first show, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, killer, it was awesome.
ZP: This is the first question I’ll actually answer honestly. My parents are both musicians. But I think the first song I remember, like really being into was Tears for Fears, “Shout.” I had it on this yellow cassette tape and that was the first song I really got into.
AR: I don’t even know how to answer that question.
ZP: With English. [Laughter]
AR: I listen to all types of music. From my roots basically, I listen to a lot of Mexican stuff too, a lot of merengue, but I mean I listen to a lot of pop and Rock and roll. It’s hard really to explain, everything was kind of just thrown on me, I really loved it. I love performing and always want to be involved in music. Music makes me, I love that.
LB: That’s an easy question. I wouldn’t say it was through the womb, but definitely when I was young my mom would always put on The Beatles all the time. So yeah, I was raised on The Beatles. My dad would listen to all this new age stuff like, Mannheim Steamroller and Fresh Air, this keyboardist, not the show with Terry Gross, a different one. And I can distinctly remember though, I was never into getting my own CDS and listening to them until I went to middle school. And actually, the first kind of music I got into was electronica, so were talking way back acts like The Prodigy, Meat Beat Manifesto, LTJ Bukem, The Crystal Method, they’re a local electronica group, but…
ZP: Come on man…you’re not writing a novel!
LB: I wanted to answer the question. It brought back a lot of memories. So, that’s how I started listening to music. Then I started getting into rock and here I am.

ML: This question is for Jon, tell me about the differences between playing with The Rooks and The Mad Caps and the freedoms with that?
ZP: You can be honest. Don’t…
JR: Alright, I’ll be honest here. When I play with The Rooks it’s very structured. The way Zach writes the songs, everything has…there’s a piece of it, there’s a lot of parts, it’s very dynamical. But with The Mad Caps, it’s primal, you guys call it primal. You just let loose, you just hang out. And I like both. So, I need both outlets. I like them both. That’s it.
Apples and oranges?
JB: Apples and oranges. Yeah, we talked about this.
ZP: We would definitely be the orange.
JB: Okay, I like apples better. Just joking man! Just joking!

ML: This question is for Angel, how does being a sound engineer affect playing live music?
AR: The places that we play, sometimes the sound doesn’t sound the way it’s supposed to sound. That’s because some stuff is not always all miked, sometimes our guitars aren’t miked, and stuff like that. I feel like when that happens, when everything is miked, it sounds a lot better and the sound engineer has more control of what’s going on and he has control of basically making it sound good, but he always has control of making it sound crappy too. But I don’t know, it’s hard.

ML: This question is for Leo, tell us how your plans to study abroad are going to affect the band?
LB: Stirring some controversy here. I’ll tell you truthfully though. I mean it’s a fork in the road, life is full of those, and if I happen to chance upon this opportunity, I love playing in The Rooks, but I think I’m going to have to take this opportunity, and it’s okay, because like I said earlier, the music is universally accessible. It’s universal. I can’t think of somebody that wouldn’t want to play in this band. It’s gonna work out, Zach has a good head on his shoulders, and he writes good tunes and I stand behind him and I know other people will and it’s gonna take him far.

ML: Zach, is it true that you write and compose all of the music, and can you tell us a little bit about that process and the bands involvement in it?
ZP: Yeah. I pretty much write a song and fuck with it till it sounds good and then bring it to these guys, and fuck with them till it sounds good.
And how do you guys feel about your contributions to the music?
AR: Basically he knows what he’s doing, and so far all the songs sound great and they’re honestly getting better I feel, and I trust him. He’s a good songwriter and a good musician too, and it just works out, he knows exactly what he wants.
JR: I don’t write melodies, I just play the drums so I think it’s the perfect situation for me. Zach’s done with the song before I get there, and it’s just like ‘Here you go buddy.’
LB: He gives you a little freedom though, for sure, on a few of them. I have a lot of freedom. Occasionally, there will be a part Zach will want me to play, but it just ends up being tasteful. I don’t want to keep giving this guy compliments, but he’s got an ear for it. The parts he wants me to play are usually tasteful. The hardest part for me is reigning, I think it’s the hardest part for Jon as well. We like to play very complex music. Jon is a really great drummer.
ZP: Leo is the best bassist I’ve ever played with.
LB: For me it’s a challenge to reign it in, I really just wanna be all over the fret board all the time, but Zach keeps it tasteful and I think it makes the songs better.
JR: I like Zach’s songwriting process. He kinda comes to me and he’s like, ‘Here’s kinda the vibe I want, I’m looking for this kinda vibe,’ we kinda just work on it, and it comes out nice. I think so.

ML: So I know this is a sensitive topic since it’s fresh, but can you tell us about your decision to turn your five piece into a four piece and what happened to your fifth member? (Former singer, guitarist, keyboardist Jeffrey Dickson)
ZP: You want an honest answer? I’ll give you an honest answer. It’s because I’m really controlling, and some people don’t like to be controlled. And so, I figured it would be better if he was doing his own thing and so I asked him, well I didn’t really ask him, I just told him that we were going to find somebody else, ‘cause there was just a lot of things we didn’t agree on and directions that I didn’t want to go, and I started this band, and its my thing, and these guys play with me and you know, I give them their place or whatever, and they put in their pieces and it all works out. But I think the member that you’re referring to will be more comfortable in his own group leading it. I think he’s a leader, I think we’re too much alike, as far as wanting to be in control of things, maybe me a little bit more than him. I’m a self-loathing ego maniac.

ML: How would you rate the music scene in Las Vegas, and any bands in particular you’re into?
JR: I like the music scene in Las Vegas. I think its growing strong you know. I love going to local shows. I don’t know, there’s so many good bands. The Skooners are really good, they’re playing tonight. I like A Crowd of Small Adventures, Hungry Cloud. I like our scene, I do, I think it’s good.
ZP: I’m a big fan of all the local bands like Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, The Osmonds, Elton John, you know all the bands that are keeping it local. Santana.
AR: Myself, I don’t really like going to very many shows. Doing what I do, being a sound engineer, kind of ruined my whole vibe of going to live shows. But I mean, the bands are good, and I support them, and it’s cool.
LB: I like going to live shows. Jonny was a large part of bringing me out of the home to go experience some of the music, but I like the bands we’ve play with as well. I gotta be honest, I don’t wanna keep giving Jonny a big pat on the back, I like The Mad Caps before he every played for them. I like Ted a lot. I like the music he brings, rockabilly. The Skooners are great, we just had a great show with America Yeah, they brought a lot of people, they were great. I like The Lazystars, Imagine Dragons have a good sound, dancy. I like the local scene. It’s great because everybody kind of knows each other, Vegas is small enough to the point where you can go into a bar and see other musicians that you play or would like to play with and you can invite to come to shows. That closeness is really great about this town.

ML: Anything I didn’t ask you that you wanted to address or comment?
ZP: I got one thing. The Griffin is going to continue on doing shows, even when we’re done, we’re gonna finish up towards the end of March. They’re gonna keep having bands so keep coming out to Wednesday nights ‘cos it’s always gonna be a thing, and they were the first ones to really do a weekday residency. So if you can’t make it to one, don’t waste your time on others, just go to Griffin.
AR: I hope to see everybody that likes the tunes, and come to our shows. You guys will have a good time. The tunes are good.

**Check them out on: Facebook and Myspace.com/therooksvegas

Fresh from graduation, film alumnus, Jeremy Cloe is an accredited writer, director, cinematographer, photographer and editor. Completing several short films, winning countless competitions and directing music videos with local bands, he has earned the respect from his professors and admiration of his peers. Cloe won $2,500 for best films at UNLV’s Spring Flicks Film Festival and is emerging onto the movie and music scene.

Preview his work on jeremycloe.com.

“What makes a student like Jeremy Cloe successful is that he takes his talent and combines it with humility and the ability to incorporate his classroom learning directly into his work. In that sense he is a great model for how you can develop as an outstanding filmmaker in our program.”

- Francisco Menendez, UNLV professor & film department chair

“I hate Jeremy Cloe. He’s too good. But without a doubt he has a strong grasp on the craft, and an eye for cinema.”

–Chris Grace, editor

“Jeremy is a very talented and driven filmmaker. As a Director of Photography he’s always suggesting different things and is extremely helpful. As a producer for his films it’s great because we get along really well and he is always respectful and open to suggestions as well. Plus he’s fun and has a positive attitude all the time.”

–Constanza Castro, filmmaker & producer

“Jeremy is soft spoken and kind. As an actor he is the kind of director you want to work with. He communicates with the actors, pulls them aside during scenes to get the actor to really think about the moment and how the character feels. I have had the opportunity to work with Jeremy twice and from the very first time I worked with him on a project, he made me feel very welcomed and comfortable. I hope to be able to work with him on future projects.”

–Ashley St George, actress

“Working with Jeremy is always a pleasure. He is always prepared, enthusiastic and dedicated to getting the shots he needs. Whenever I hear Jeremy is involved I am always more than eager to join in.”

–Spencer Burton, photographer & drummer of Hungry Cloud

“When it comes to film, Jeremy just gets it. He understands and excels at the entire process from writing to post-production. Jeremy’s greatest asset is his understanding of and appreciation for music. He is able to pull really detailed ‘vibes’ from the tempo, instrumentation, and structure of a song and then translate those vibes perfectly to film. He can listen to one of my songs and then create a story based solely on the way the music sounds and flows. I have created original scores for two of his short films. Scores take a lot of work and can be super frustrating at times. Jeremy really knows how to keep me motivated and give constructive criticism to bring the best out of every scene. We work well together because we trust each other and give each other a lot of freedom. When I’m making scores or doing sound for his films he gives me a basic idea of what he wants and then lets me run free. Likewise, when Jeremy and I work on Kid Meets Cougar videos, I just let him do his thing. I know we’ll always come up with a sweet product we’ll be proud of.”

–Brett Bolton, singer of Kid Meets Cougar

Now, meet the guy they’re all talking about.

Maggie Leon: What do you want to do?

Jeremy Cloe: Right now I just want to direct tons of music videos for local bands and get my work out there more. I’m going to start out doing independent features. I’m working on a script right now. I have a couple things in the air. Then eventually feature films and commercials and be a working director full-time. I’d definitely like to be doing movies with real budgets and working with professional actors. That’d be ideal.

ML: What was your first experience making a movie or a scene?

JC: I started making skate videos when I was younger. That’s definitely the first time I put clips together and making an edit. When I graduated high school I wanted to go to school for film because I liked to make little edits. But I never imagined it would escalate to where it is now. Just taking classes and doing projects. Some of those turned out well. Technically those were my first short films in Production 1 which were awful.

ML: What classes did you take that taught you what you know?

JC: I think my favorite class that I’ve taken was Music Video studies with Wolfgang Muchow (New York University). That was easily my favorite class. I don’t know what it was about it. There’s just so much that goes into a music video. It seems like most people that make music videos aren’t really directors. They’re just people that throw stuff together. We studied a lot of my favorite directors and got to take a closer look at that. Another class I really liked was Staging for the Screen, Advanced Directing and Story Development. Those are probably the top classes, all for different things. Staging was more for learning camera placement and what shots mean what, and how to make your audience feel through the shots that they’re seeing. Directing is more about getting performances out of your actors and what emotional things have to happen to make a scene work. And Story helps you go through the processes of developing a story from the beginning to the end and finding stories you have in you from past experiences. Working in Film and TV was good for figuring out what I want to do with my life.

ML: What are your favorite movies and why?

JC: I’d say my favorite movie right now is “Hesher” which hasn’t been released yet. I saw it at Sundance this year. I think what makes me love a movie is being able to convey multiple emotions. Movies that make you laugh are great, but a movie that can make you laugh and cry and be incredibly tense and on the edge of your seat is more what I’m into. Those are the kind of movies I’d like to make. I loved the movie “Sexy Beast” and “Punch Drunk Love,” just because it’s such an odd sense of humor in that movie.

ML: What inspires you?

JC: Tons of things inspire me. All my friends and seeing their work. Music is one of the biggest inspirations. When I’m trying to come up with ideas, just listening to a song, or getting stuck in an album. Moods that songs make you feel, and then those give you ideas and from those ideas they turn into movies. Friends’ work, and seeing them progressing makes you push yourself to try harder. Movies that you like. All the people I work with. Brett Bolton from Kid Meets Cougar, he does the sound design and music for my movies, all the Thompson brothers, Brett Walters, Rob Sholty, Sean Clark, all the guys in Vessel 7 which is our production company. We label all our movies with it. There’s a ton of actors I like working with. Luke Jones, Adam Kilbourn, Lundon Boyd, they’re just really good actors so I work with them over and over again.

ML: Where do you work?

JC: I do a lot of commercial work. I’ve worked with production companies for the last six years so I’ve been editing literally everyday.

ML: Are you going to graduate school?

JC: Right now no.  I’ve looked into it and I’m sure it’s a great experience and I’d get a lot out of it, but I just have other plans and I’d like to try to make it work like this first and see where I’m at in a year or two. I don’t think graduate school is something you have to jump into right away. I have friends at American Film Institute or have finished and they’ve all told me there’s no rush to hop into it, and I have some things I’d like to do right now. I’d like to make a lot of music videos and get a good reel and start submitting that to labels and try to get an independent feature going. And if you’re going to A.F.I. they don’t allow you to work, and so you’re basically working on the short films for your cycles and not allowed to work on features, commercials or get paid, and basically stacking a ton of debt.

ML: Tell us about your process when shooting scenes?

JC: Depending on the movie, each scene is roughly an hour per page, and that’s shooting pretty fast. If I shot how I wanted to it’d probably be two to three hours per page if I had all the time in the world. But usually a page is about a minute per movie. I usually break down each beat in the script and go through characters’ objectives and obstacles and how they can get to that and different tactics and verbs you can use to talk to actors. I make a shot list and pick out everything I’m going to shoot and figure out different ways to get what I want out of it. I just try to be as prepared as I can.

ML: What’s the difference between working with scenes versus music videos?

JC: I like both a lot. Music videos are purely visual and visceral and scenes are emotional and draw you into what’s happening between characters. It’s incredibly hard to do that with music videos which are basically shots that grab your attention and are flashy. I mean not necessarily girls, hummers and thongs, but flashy imagery that catches your eye. And they’re both fun in different ways. I try to incorporate what I can into both. I try to grasp the characters, which is harder without dialogue and keep your attention for three minutes. And for scenes I try to make them as visually interesting as you can.

ML: How was it working on the music video with Afghan Raiders?

JC: West McDowell directed it and I D.P.’ed [Director of Photography] and edited it. I liked working with West and those guys are really cool. It was fun. It was all West’s concept, he gave me the vibe he was going for and I tried to match what he explained to me. He gave me a lot of freedom with it. It was a collaboration between the two of us.

ML: How was it working with Kid Meets Cougar for their videos?

JC: They’re awesome. Super easy to work with. We just bounced ideas off each other. You just pitch an idea and they loved it. And they gave me ideas. We’re all friends so it’s easy and relaxing, it didn’t feel like work. It was fun.

ML: How did you get the opportunity to work with actor Bill Fagerbakke, voice of Patrick Star in the TV show “Spongebob Squarepants,” for the morgue scene in Advanced Directing? Did Menendez single you out?

JC: I think he saw my movie Thin Walls at Spring Flicks, and I’d done a couple scenes in that class and he just thought I might want to work on it, and he was right. He just asked me if I wanted to be a part of it and I said of course and we shot it and it went really well.

ML: How did you come up with the concept for “Something in the Air”?

JC: I went to a friends funeral and they did this balloon release, and had us write a message to my friend and we released them in the air and I just thought what if…well I don’t know what I can say without giving away the ending of this movie. I just thought what if somebody found that message and responded back to it. …Then I just started talking about the idea with Mike Thompson and co-wrote it and went through a few drafts of the script till we were happy with it. Then for “Apple Juice” it just started out as a joke between a couple people. All these movies were based around ideas that were interesting, but they’re also the pivotal points in the movies so I can’t really say without giving away the important things about the movie. I had a couple people read the script and give me notes on it then just kept going with it. Then “Sad Story” I just liked the idea of a little girl driving a car and I pitched that idea to Lundon and he wrote the script and we shot it in two days.

ML: How did it feel winning two out of three awards at Spring Flicks?

JC: It was really surprising. I mean it was a great feeling but kind of…I don’t know how to respond to that. It’s touchy, I have to say the right thing or else everybody hates you. ‘Cause when you’re walking out of there you feel like everybody hates you, walking out with two checks. I was really happy with it and thought there was a lot of people who deserved it. I was really happy it came to me. I don’t know what it was about my movies that they liked more. Thought there was a lot of deserving people. There was a lot of good work this year. I loved “Walnuts,” Dan Jaidar’s movies, I loved Rob’s, Devon’s movie, I could go on and on listing movies I liked, but I’m probably gonna leave somebody out so it’s better I don’t do that.

ML: How was it going to Sundance?

JC: That was awesome. It was a really cool experience ‘cause you have to compare your work to some stuff you see there ‘cause that’s really your competition. Those are the best independent films you’re going to see coming out of the world, it’s a world wide festival. It’s amazing how many good and horrible movies can be in the same showing. It’s inspiring in both ways. You see really good movies and wanna make movies like that, then you see bad movies and think I already make movies that are better than this, not to sound totally cocky which I probably just did. [Laughter] It’s just a cool vibe, that whole city coming out of Vegas, it’s refreshing.

View the Rebel Yell article here »

Upcoming stars America Yeah have been rehearsing relentlessly for months. Their soulful live shows are elaborate and electrifying. Their newly released EP recorded at Studio at the Palms with renowned producer Mark Everton Gray, “No Tenderness” gives eager listeners a sample of Caribbean Rock and Roll with the sextet including singer, guitarist, lyricist Logan Lanning, guitarist, string arranger, composer Tyler McKusick, Chad Felix on keys, percussion and guitar, drummer Daniel Conway, saxophonist Leland Naylor and bassist Corey Surratt. Their CD and live show are yin and yang in their evolution of sound and undeniable, unified precision.

I interviewed singer, Logan Lanning and guitarist Tyler McKusick.

Maggie Leon: How would you describe your music?
Tyler McKusick: That’s a very good question actually because I never know how to answer that. I’d like to say, yes we have pop elements, we also have rock elements, as well as somewhat of a world influence. But I think in the end it’s somewhat different. I at least would like to think.
Logan Lanning: Pop Tropicalia. Just world, different influences from all parts of the world, not so Americanized all the time.

ML: Can you tell us about the artwork and title “No Tenderness.”
LL: I think that the artwork is just symbolic of temptation, just a blur of color and images, like the music is. The title is symbolic of the time of when it was written. A lot of personal view shifts of what is what in your life.

ML: Who are your influences, specific albums?
LL: I’d say for “No Tenderness,” a lot of the influence for me came from David Bowie’s, “Aladdin Sane,” “Low” and T. Rex’s “Tanx,” and just a lot of early 70’s stuff, a lot of Elton John and Beach Boys. 70’s radio was really cool actually, that’s kind of where it came from. All the pop hits.
TM: We’re still trying to keep elements of what we had, but we’re also developing into newer directions. We’ve been listening to a lot more African stuff, like King Sunny Ade in particular, Nigerian juju music is good. Amadou and Mariam is very westernized African pop-rock music.
LL: It just has a good groove to it. Even a lot of Bjork too to be honest with you. A good variation of more structured world-pop, that we feel we are, and things that lack structure, as well and classical stuff and compositions that Tyler and Leland bring to the table.

ML: Who and what is your muse and inspiration for this album?
TM: Well for me, I was more like a guy playing a role in the band for this album, I was just helping fill out the arrangements. The ideas for the songs are all Logan’s.
LL: I’m his muse. [Laughter] That’s kind of a tough question. I don’t know, I think when you’re a band as new as our band was, and the way our band was put together, it was just kind of a collective, it just sort of happened. “No Tenderness” just sort of happened. The spontaneity of being in a band, and being new with each other, everything is fresh, that’s what “No Tenderness” is. And that’s why it’s kind of all over the place, because you’re just getting used to each other being in a band together. And like Tyler said, they came into the process while a lot of the songs were already written. But they each, Chad, Leland, Tyler and Dan, all wrote their own parts for the songs. I think the muse would just be…being in a band together. Because we all have different influences, and that gets thrown into the pot, but for the majority, it’s just playing with each other. That would be the initial thing, to try and to do something together as a unit. That’s my muse.

ML: How about lyrically?
LL: I think that’s just the same as “No Tenderness,” going through a lot of interpersonal relationships, and just not knowing what you feel, a lot of confusion to be honest with you. I think its representative in the music, and how things change, and thematically throughout the album and even throughout each song.

ML: Tyler, can you tell me the differences between writing compositions for UNLV versus your Rock and Roll band America Yeah?
TM: Well, I think the main difference is with this band we’re working under a pop sort of format, so we’re looking for simpler structures, more straight ahead hooks, more accessibility. I don’t want someone to have to listen to our music and be thinking, ‘I don’t get it, do I need to know what’s going on with the music to understand the music?’ We don’t want that in our the music, but at the same time we do want that depth to say where the layers are going on beneath, where you get more out of it each time you listen to it. So, there is that correlation between the classical concert music I write as opposed to the pop music in this band.
LL: When you write your compositions it’s just you writing it, and when you use other people you have other people’s influences. Just the classical side of Tyler doesn’t necessarily always need to shine in the song, and be the only thing going on. It’s in the background just as much as it is in the foreground.
TM: I try to implement that stuff in there, but I keep them as two different roles at the same time and also…
LL: Functioning within each other.

ML: Would you say you are the lyricist and you are the composer?
TM: No.
LL: I’d say that just kind of happens. I write the lyrics so far, but the songs just sort of happen. Especially with the new stuff which is really cool. “No Tenderness” was more of like, these are the ideas and this is the platform we’re working on. And then now, we can get in a room and him having a riff or something like that, and we can just run over and have a song done. A lot of the newer stuff is just happening a lot more quickly. And granted we’ll probably go back and go through and fine tooth everything before we record again. But right now, a lot of things are happening in real time while we’re practicing.
TM: I find that each of our songs has been kind of created in a different way since “No Tenderness.” Whether it’s, I’ll come in with some ideas and have a pretty good idea of what the song should be or someone else will come and do that or it could be Logan, we kind of work it at the time, it’s more spontaneous.

ML: What comes first, music or lyrics?
LL: Music. The whole band was basically formed in the middle of writing “No Tenderness,” so that’s why those songs are written like that, but now it’s just free form. Whoever has an idea, and if we feel something from it, we’re just like okay we’re gonna roll with that.

ML: A lot of the songs are about lost love. Do you take from personal experiences for the songs?
LL: Yeah, in a multitude of ways, not just I’m a broken hearted man from a relationship. It’s really just like, not knowing how you feel about that, a fading feeling. I think a lot of the lyrics on “No Tenderness” could be taken as a guy and a girl breaking up, but they’re very more in depth than that to me.

ML: When did you discover music and who got you into it?
TM: I would say my parents growing up. My dad would always be blasting music, a lot of Beatles, a bunch of Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Def Leppard, everything that was popular throughout the ages, it’s kind of funny. Right now a lot of Joanna Newsom, that’s my main listen. I’m a big fan of Wilco, Radiohead, Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent. It constantly changes. I find it hard to have favorites for more than a little bit at a time.
LL: When I was 13 I got into music, and then this dude told me I could never play guitar when I was 16, so yeah, competition started me playing guitar. My parents didn’t really listen to music in the house. Right now I’m listening to a lot of Bjork, Bob Marley, M83. I think I missed the boat on most of the stuff I listen to now that people were listening to years ago. A lot of shoegazy stuff, a lot more ambient stuff than before.
TM: I started playing music in 7th grade, that’s when I started playing guitar and ever since then I’ve just really been interested. What I want to do is be in a successful band, then hopefully later on in my career move on to composing for a film.

ML: Tell me about your opportunity to record at Palms Studio with Mark Everton Gray?
LL: I mean it sorta just fell into my lap…our lap.
TM: His lap and then I joined on.
LL: Then I transferred it to his lap. And I was like, here you can have it in your lap as well. [Laughter] To be honest, we just went out, had a couple drinks with him, turned into a long night of debauchery, and at the end of it he was maybe drunkenly saying, ‘I’m gonna record your record.’ Then two days later, showed up at my house, listened to music. He got a recommendation from a friend of mine and his. And then just went with it. I never thought it was really gonna happen, always thought it was too good to be true. And then it went from, ‘I’m gonna record one song to three songs to a full length album.’ And we actually did record 12 songs, but we didn’t use the others.

ML: How did it fall into your lap, who was this mutual friend?
LL: It’s this kid named Ryan that me and Mark know together, he used to play in a band Panic! At The Disco, and now he plays in The Young Veins. And Ryan was in town ‘cause he moved to California and he’s like, ‘Come get a drink,’ then me and the friend at nine in the morning is telling me he’s gonna record our record that I thought was gonna take a lot of money to record. We had planned on recording it ourselves and planned on budgeting five to six grand into recording. It was a big financial and questioning weight off my shoulders. It was cool.

ML: Who has he worked with?
LL: I mean, who hasn’t he worked with really. Anywhere from the vocals on “Chinese Democracy” from Guns N’ Roses, basically every big time hip hop artist from Dr. Dre to 50 Cent to Snoop, and he’s working with Jay-Z this week, he’s worked with Jay-Z multiple times. A lot of pop artists, a lot more mainstream. Carlos Santana he just worked with. He engineers for a lot of people, a lot of people roll through the Palms.

ML: I heard you went into the studio and Elton John was recording and you pretty much creamed your pants.
LL: Yeah, creamed. I just went to go drop off a mic…
TM: That’s disgusting. [Laughter] What…it was really messy.
LL: Yeah, it was really messy and he told me I had to clean it up. [Laughter] No, he was there and I got to see him in the studio, it was cool. I think Mark knew I was a big fan and I had listened to him. Mark lent us some recording gear and realized he needed it. I only got to see him playing on the piano, but it was bomb nonetheless.

ML: How would you say the compromise is playing with an engineer and what he wants, and what you guys want and what actually gets done?
LL: You know it’s a lot of give and take. It happens between an artist and engineer, because the engineer took the project on sort of knowing what he’s getting into ‘cause he’s listened to the artist. But it’s different between every person. In our case Mark wanted to do a lot of the same things as we wanted to do, and in the end basically because we recorded 12 songs and we only salvaged five of them out of the whole thing, we just sort of made that into an EP best we could sonically.

ML: Can you tell us what happened to your singer and the songs that you wrote together?
TM: He was a former co-singer, ‘cause it was a double front man situation, with Logan being one and the other guy being the other person. There were just some problems where he thought his personal life was more important than everybody else’s life within the band itself. And he knowingly…
LL: Made his personal life way more important than other peoples.
TM: And it conflicted with interests of the band.
LL: I mean basically the band was going in a different direction than he was going. The songs he wrote were more his songs, and like Tyler said, we were all playing a role in his songs. Whereas with the songs on the EP, those are the bands songs, everybody wrote their parts. We have an established format of what we’re kind of doing and a foundation. In the other songs people we’re playing a role, parts that were written for them or very, ‘Hey this is what I want you to do’ type stuff. I think the band is in a much much healthier state just being the six-piece that we are now after adding Corey on bass. But, it was a good break. It was a unanimous decision. Everybody felt the exact same way.

ML: You practice more than you play live shows, can you tell me a little bit behind that.
LL: The main thing that happened was the songs were written last summer. The recording schedule was very spaced out just because of our engineer’s schedule. We didn’t really have a lot of time to be playing together when we were finishing the album which took us the majority of the end of 2009. So, we’ve been practicing way more than we play in 2010. We recorded it in the middle of August and then through then we were getting string arrangements, parts out to people. We had marimbas, trumpet, string, and a string quartet play on it, that was an extra from the band. We had a lot of overdubs, guitars, and stuff like that. It’s a really lush album.
TM: It’s not an easy album to portray live and put across live. A lot of it is reworking some of the songs and making it good and cohesive for a live set. We just don’t want to go out there and do something half-ass pretty much.
LL: Completely. We basically want to be ready to tour and that’s why we hit the books all the time. We want to get out there and put on a good show, like Tyler said it’s a really hard album to pull off, unless you have a string quartet playing with you, which we don’t.

ML: How would you say your album compares to your live shows, it sounds like two different bands.
LL: For sure. There’s a lot going on and when you have a lot going on in a recording, you have a lot you need to space out, there’s a lot of things fighting with each other and the same frequencies and in the same spots. Whereas live, you don’t have 90 tracks going. We’re six people doing this, you know, I’m playing guitar…
TM: At the same time I think our live stuff probably comes across obviously louder and more in your face just because of the setting.
LL: It’s just different, more Rock and Roll ‘cause it’s just live and the production is a little bit different than you can pull off live.
TM: Two different worlds. And we’re cool with that.
LL: Yeah, I think that’s good, it’s not so much night and day. We do rearrange songs and do things differently just because it keeps it fresh for us, like I said these songs are ten months to a year old, we’re finding ways to play them live as a six-piece rather than a full orchestrated thing, which would be bomb if we got to do that.

ML: Do you guys get tired of playing these songs that you wrote a year ago?
LL: Yes and no, and that’s why we change them up in my opinion.
TM: And I think the other reason we change it is to make them translate better live too.
LL: I mean we like the way it went in and it’d be awesome to play it like that, but we just don’t want to play the tracks to a recording, it just loses the feel and plus “No Tenderness” was recorded live. All the piano, the guitars, bass, drums, everything was recorded at the same time. We want to be able to recreate that feel as well live, for our sake and yours.

ML: Tell me why you don’t play shows in Vegas?
TM: It’s not that we don’t, it’s just we haven’t been. We’re playing two this month. But I think in general, there is a lack of good local venues here in Vegas.
LL: There’s a lot of bands trying to play shows all the time too. You want your band to have some sort of attention, you want people to come to your show and that’s why you’re playing it. But you also don’t want to play all the time. This is a small city, I mean it’s big but it’s pretty small, everybody knows everybody, come on.

ML: How did your show turn out with The Rooks?
LL: Bomb. It was cool. Griffin turned out way better. There was a lot of people there, good vibe, good band.
TM: It was fun, I enjoyed it.
LL: All the bands were cool, even the dude who played first with the TV’s. And The Rooks played really well. And they have a built-in crowd, so our crowd seemed to mesh really well and everybody was dancing and having a good time.

ML: Would you rather play other cities than Las Vegas?
LL: Yeah, for sure.
TM: Yeah, just ‘cause you get a lot more exposure anywhere else, and travel places, and playing for a different crowd is nice.
LL: I mean its cool playing for your friends, but essentially you could do that at your house too. It would be nice to play elsewhere, on the east coast. Music by means of travel.

ML: Would you say you feel a sense of jealousy from other bands because of your chance to work with your acclaimed, accredited producer?
LL: Nope. Nobody really knows about him, unless you check Dr. Dre’s credits and stuff.

ML: Do you feel any pressure for the bands success?
TM: I think everybody has that pressure, because like I said before, we’re all a very integral part of the band, we wouldn’t be America Yeah without each of the single members in the band. So we all have that pressure to hopefully succeed and do something well.

ML: How about you Logan, from co-singer to only singer?
LL: This is the first band I’ve really sang in that’s ever played shows; I always felt a little pressure. A little bit more now that we already have one CD done and we’re moving on to the next. Not so much with “No Tenderness,” it’s just unveiling the first things you’ve ever done. It’s like here they are. Just as much pressure as anybody else in the band. I don’t feel comfortable being a lead singer. I’m just now coming into being comfortable with being a singer period.

ML: What are your hopes for the band?
TM: I think we’re just hoping to get some sort of label attention, and get signed to a decent label, go on some tours and be able to sustain ourselves financially hopefully. I think that’s where we want to be.
LL: I mean, it’s not like, the conditions we write by, is to like ‘oh we’re gonna try to get signed,’ that’s not really what we’re doing. We’re just writing songs, we hope somebody wants to financially back it to where they want to pay for us to go on tour and drive around and have fun while we’re young.

ML: Who would be some bands you would like to go on tour with?
LL: I don’t know. I’d be down for anybody.
ML: You mentioned Arcade Fire. (Inside information)
LL: That would just be a dream come true. They’re just a religious act, something that’s so huge. That’s not even within reach; I mean mentally, that’s not really within reach for me. I don’t really know what bands we would fit with really. I mean because “No Tenderness” is one thing, and what we’re doing now is another thing. It’s not night and day different, but it’s definitely in a different direction ‘cause we wrote it with those six and now we’re writing it with this six. Any of the artists that are doing well right now would be cool too. It’d be cool just to play in front of people, different people every night in a different city…eager listeners.

ML: Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you would like to address or comment on?
LL: You dug pretty deep. [Laughter] Go to dontbelong.com. That’s what you should do. It’s my friend Max’s site, it’s a forum for local music and local art and everything like that, and he premieres a lot of bands, and we’re probably going to play on there. There’s a bunch of bands that play on there already, I think it’s every other Sunday. So, you didn’t ask, but I’m going to reiterate, dontbelong.com.
TM: And also, I think that we’re a fun band although it doesn’t seem like it quite possibly.
LL: We’re in a school… [Jokingly]
TM: We’re in a school setting and we’re getting all these deep questions, I swear we’re somewhat gladly people.

(Photo: Aaron Garcia)

March 24, 2010

The Mad Caps

Las Vegas two-piece rock band The Mad Caps have made a hell of a name for them selves with singer Ted Rader’s enter tain ing stage pres ence and skills on guitar, har mon ica and mega phone and drum mer Jonathan Real muto, also of The Rooks and Mother McKen zie, charm ing the crowd with his enthu si asm and ami able lik a bil ity.  For just two guys, they make quite an impres sion with their ener getic live shows and rockin’ tunes.  Catch the raw rock and roll per for mance with the duo any chance you get.

Maggie Leon: How would you describe your music?
Jonathan Real muto: I like to call it sexual sasquatch.
Ted Rader: I think that’s the best way to describe it. ‘Cause it’s just big, mys te ri ous and you put some sex u al ity into it and you shave it a little bit and you got your self some thing to be reck oned with you know. It’s just prim i tive, it’s rock and roll. A lot of people call it rock a billy, which I under­stand ‘cause there’s a lot of rock a billy influ ence, but to me it’s blues music re-digested in a sub­ur ban white kid’s per spec tive, and you throw in some Johnny Cash and that’s about it. The con­cept is to make people dance. If white people can dance to it then it’s a tes ta ment to the music.

ML: Do you hate it when people don’t dance at your shows?
TR: No, it’s just awk ward. It’s not nec es sar ily awk ward. It feels like you’re not doing your job. But, it just pushes you harder, which is a good thing, you gotta have crit ics.
JR: It sucks when people don’t dance. I think that’s for any band.
TR: There’s always gotta be the ice breaker, that one person that comes out and dances. As long as you have that, a small group of people will.
JR: I used to dance at Mad Caps shows.

ML: Aww, you were a fan before you became the drum mer? How did you find out about them?
JR: Yes, I was a very big fan. It was that night I met Ted, it was Neon Reverb. I played with Mother McKen zie. So, I was out and about and I saw The Mad Caps and they cap ti vated me. I was really into it. I saw you guys a good five, six times.
TR: And then I saw you guys with The Rooks. He’s a good drum mer. I kinda kept him in my back pocket till I needed him. I’ve been very for tu nate to have Jonny.

ML: What did you think of Jonny when you saw him in The Rooks?
TR: I thought he was a good drum mer, he was solid. But I thought more of him once I heard him in his full…he started play ing jazz music out in his garage, and that’s not some thing The Rooks do. So, it was just like wow he’s very diverse, I didn’t know he was that diverse of a drum mer. I knew he was a good drum mer, but I didn’t know he was diverse across the board. That’s what kinda final ized it for me.

ML: What did you think of Ted when you first saw him in The Mad Caps?
JR: Oh man, I remem ber I was blown away by his slide play ing to be honest. That’s what I really remem ber, when he did his solo and he had the slide on his finger. The thing about Ted is he’s an excel lent per former. He gets every body to get into it. You’re the best man. So, that’s what I thought of him, his guitar play ing was just excel lent.
TR: You’re gonna make me blush on camera. Thank you Jonny. This is so cute…get the fuck off me. [Laughter]

ML: Where did this sexual sasquatch growl singing come from? I hear dog barks in it, it’s hot I love it.
TR: Growl singing? I don’t know where the con cept came from, it’s just…I can’t legit i mately sing so you gotta do some thing in the micro phone. I’m too pig headed to have some one else do it. It’s just…let people loosen up and if you make people feel embar rassed or uncom fort able that’s fine but they need to get over it. I listen to a lot of old blues music and rock a billy records and you just here some really raw raw stuff. Las Vegas needs some thing raw other than coming down town and seeing the dirt on people’s feet. I wanna see some thing raw, I don’t know about the dog barks, but I know that’s my jam right there. I don’t know it’s just some thing dif fer ent. I don’t know how to legit i mately answer that ques tion.
JR: You did well. I love when Ted makes noises, I think it’s great. That’s another thing I remem ber from the first couple times I saw him. I think it’s awe some. [Clicks tongue] I love when you do that.

ML: What do you love about music?
JR: Wow, that’s a deep ques tion. I love every thing about music. I love how you can listen to music and totally get your mind off every thing else. And that goes the same for play ing music. I think play ing music is better than lis ten ing to music though. It’s like a med i ta tion. I went home today and played the drums, ‘cause I had a tough day at school.
TR: I think it’s spir i tual, whether or not you’re a spir i tual person. There’s a tremen dous con nec­tion, it’s uni ver sal. It’s not black, white or creed or any thing like that, it’s just a rhythm like mama’s heart beat. As long as you can con nect to it, I think it’s awesome.

ML: What comes first, music or lyrics?
JR: Music for me, I don’t even listen to lyrics in songs.
TR: A lot of times it’s music, the new stuff we’ve been writ ing it’s just coming up with a melody. Writ ing the actual foun da tion for it and then the icing is coming up with the melody, and then you go back in and put the cherry on top by actu ally coming up with lyrics. That’s usu ally the way I work. But I sit down a lot and I write, it doesn’t nec es sar ily become music, I just get stuff off my shoul ders, that’s usu ally the way I build it.

ML: What do you listen to?

TR: A lot of old blues stuff mostly.
JR: I like to listen to jazz in my car, 91.5 is always on the dial. But I like all music. Actu ally, I’ve been get ting into a little bit of elec tron ica lately. I listen to rap too, hip hop, Binary Star is really good.
TR: I kinda went into it back wards, ‘cause when I was 13 I just started lis ten ing to music from the 30’s and kinda pro gressed to where that led to and kept going. I made my way up to the 70’s by now, I don’t really listen to much modern music, it just feels plas tic. There’s a few things to be fair.
JR: I like modern music. I like all music.

ML: Jon, how did you come into the band, because you replaced some one right?
JR: Ted just asked me, ‘You wanna play?’ and I said yeah. I do wanna play.
TR: He had a vibe about him. He was a soul ful drum mer. So, since I needed to replace one, I thought he might be good for the job, and he has been very good for the job.

ML: How does he com pare to your last drum mer who was also named John?
TR: Aside from the name com par i son, they’re both excel lent drum mers, I’m not gonna say one’s better than the other, but they’re both dif fer ent drum mers. John Bolduc’s very mechan i cal, he’s like a machine. And Real here is very poppy. He’s like jello on the drums. I like both, it’s a nice dif­fer ence. I don’t know if that’s right to call you jello.
JR: That’s alright, I like it. I see what you’re trying to do here.

ML: What is your inspi ra tion for writ ing music?
TR: I don’t know, bad day, good day, I don’t know it depends. A lot of the music with The Mad Caps hon estly is sexual, not to be per verse or any thing. I’m not out to be a player or any thing, a lot of it’s primal, it’s just very cave man. Some times it just changes. A lot of it is hidden in metaphors so no one knows what it’s like. Like, “Mange,” the lyric is ‘The hair on the dog has turned into mange,’ and that basi cally means a bad sit u a tion is get ting worse, it was about a really old rela tion ship I used to have. So, it’s just all things kinda surface.

ML: Is it an insult or a com pli ment when you get com pared to Elvis and John Spencer?
TR: I don’t take any thing as an insult, as long as people are talk ing about you in some way it’s flat ter ing. They could call me an ass hole but at least they know who I am. The Elvis thing I guess it’s kinda obvi ous, I think we’re moving away from that, but not dras ti cally. John Spencer I actu­ally never lis tened to until some one said I sounded like him.

ML: How do you make a two-piece band sound so alive and ener getic per for mance wise?
TR: Mac in tosh com put ers. [Laugh ter] I don’t know, play loud. The whole idea is to have energy.
JR: I think it’s from the soul really. Ted is very pas sion ate about what he does and I am very pas­sion ate about what I do. I think it shows.
TR: I always played with a drum mer ‘cause bass play ers never wanted to play with us. So you com pen sate with the way you play guitar and the drum mer com pen sates by the way he plays his bass lines on the drums, you just fill it in. I wouldn’t put a bass player in it now, it’s too much fun, and it’s too easy to just have another person to deal with. If I put in addi tional member it’d be a dif fer ent band. You don’t see The White Stripes putting in a bass player ‘cause then it’d be awk­ward. If you put your self in a box as far as lim i ta tions it forces you to create within those lim i ta­tions. If you have all the instru ments in the world you can sit around all day pon tif i cat ing how great you want to make it sound, but if you say there’s drums and a guitar so let’s make it work then you’ve got some fire under neath your ass to actu ally get some thing done.

ML: Jon, how do you go to school full time, work and play in three dif fer ent bands?
JR: Well actu ally I only have seven cred its this semes ter ‘cause I’m grad u at ing, so I just spend most of my time play ing the drums now. School’s tough, I don’t know how I do it, you just do it. You just do what you wanna do, so that’s what I wanna do, so I do it.

ML: I was at one of your shows and I heard some one say your music makes them cream their pants. What are your responses to those kinds of com ments?
TR: [Pause] I think they should prob a bly stay in the bath room. [Laugh ter] That’s where you heard it right? I don’t know. I’m not out to be a play boy, I want people to feel sexy. What they do in their pants is up to them.
JR: I think it’s fuck ing awe some. It makes girls cream their pants.

ML: How can people access your music?
TR: We have an EP that was recorded in a garage and then they have myspace, but that’s it. Other than that, they need to come to a show.

ML: What are your plans for 2010?
JR: 2,000 Ted.
TR: Yeah, 2,000 Ted is what we’re plan ning. There’s gonna be a full length recorded hope fully soon.
JR: In the process with Mr. Ronald Corso (From A Crowd of Small Adven tures). Mr. Corso is going to record us.
TR: We’re gonna do a full length and see what hap pens. Tour it and…
JR: Soon soon soon.
TR: He will be the engi neer, he’s the knob turner. It’ll be good. Hope fully. I think we have the means to go in there and just record an album. The plan is to just do it quickly. The more thought we put into it the more it loses you know, you over-think things. So, just do it in three days, that’s the goal.

20 venues later, was the opening of the Boston. That place was rough. One night, there was a band, who will remain nameless (because i haven’t any interest in supplying them with a shout out) threatened the other bands, knife in hand ‘Were playing 2nd and there is nothing you can do about it, grrrr’). That same night, the first band, after they played, packed into a small car and screamed like The Outsiders as they drove off into the night thru the savon parking lot, not staying for the show. For some reason the word ‘gangs’ come to mind.   The place held maybe 200 people, yet in someway became the modern huntridge. What? Where did everyone else go? The Huntridge held much closer to 1000 or likely more.  Most of the music, sounded like ….local music. That should have maybe never left that bar. And it didnt. Hooray.

Then a couple local bands went against the grain, got signed and conquered the world when no one was looking. it was like fireworks. and then…..maybe a year later….

Transformers (aka more folks who understood the value of a warm/hot bottled water) emerged from the darkness. Their heads spinning around flickering like disco balls. Neon lights, Fremont Street, downtown straight up took the scene into their own hands. Straight Up!  Suddenly music is for the masses. Do you have any idea how excited I was to know that folks like Georgia Ann Muldrow were playing the Beauty Bar!!! http://www.myspace.com/georgiaannemuldrow and it was only like $5!!! To me, that was the sign. That was when i realized that music from elsewhere, that is actually in my pod, was bothering to give vegas a chance.

People have always condemned the spirit of this local music scene. But I am convinced its because they are derailed by the unusual charm. Inconsistancy is a charmer. It’s like a scavenger hunt.  People always proclaim “this scene is terrible”, but I don’t listen to them. a generous number of modern consumers aren’t trained to be hunters. Because they just rely on things that are thrown at them. And no, shopping in bargain bins doesn’t count as hunting.
And while all ya’ll want to go on about how terrible the scene is,  I will just continue to make Gold Rekidz. I will continue to take up the drums up that flight of stairs, i will continue to serve you warm water. because i happen to love it here.
Chances are, if you made it this far, you care enough. Be a Transformer.