by Vpower
The Band: Lionize
Country: USA
Answers by:
Nate Bergman (lead vocals, guitar)
Over the years, LIONIZE have cultivated a
unique blend of funky riffs, cyborg tales and soulful rock sensibilities. Now,
with their new LP, “Nuclear Soul” they are delivering a classic rock staff,
full of taste, diversity of sounds and great skills, satisfaction guaranteed.
Hello Nate and congratulations for your new
album "Nuclear Soul”
Thanks so
much. We are very excited about it
For those who still haven’t listened to
Lionize’s stuff how would you define your music?
Lionize is
a Rock and Roll band that loves funk and soul and reggae.
Right answer! The beginning of your story was
2005’s “Danger My Dear”, what has changed since that time (if anything)?
Everything
has changed since then! We are always growing and learning. We are constantly
absorbing new music and trying to push the boundaries of what is possible for
us. Sonic exploration is like going into space!
One of the most amazing things in your music in
my opinion is the huge blend of ingredients in your songs that flow in a so
natural way…
I think
that’s a good observation. Our influences are vast. I think bands like the
Police and Thin Lizzy - that’s what makes them so special. They are really
eclectic. But they always sound like themselves because they don’t change who
they are, just the style. I think more bands should experiment.
How was the composition process of
"Nuclear Soul”?
The process
was really enlightening. We worked a lot with Jean Paul Gaster over the better
part of year to construct the arrangements for the songs. We wrote and
rehearsed and demo’d hours a day and then when it finally came to record, we
only took about 5 days to actually lay down the music. It was all to 2’’ tape
and live in a room together. It’s very authentic to how the band sounds live.
It sounds so… The artwork takes us to a fiction
sphere, your lyrics use to touch the sci-fiction theme, maybe something not so
usual in the rock scene
I think
there are bands like Rush, Clutch, Parliament - there’s bands that love sci-fi
but it’s all about telling a story. And it’s way more fun to write a love song
about someone in the future in outer-space than someone from Philadelphia in 2017.
Hahaha true enough. Any favorite song in the
album?
Right now
I’m really loving “Fire in Athena”.
It’s difficult to say who has more weight in
Lionize’s sound, all you guys have an excellent execution throughout the album
Every
member of the band is important to the entire make-up of the sound - but
without a doubt Chris Brooks’ Organ is the center-piece of the band. It’s the
defining factor that separates the band from the rest of all-guitar based bands
out there. Also there are other bands with Organs, but aside from Deep Purple,
Steppen Wolf and Procol Harum, there’s no other band that puts the organ as the
lead instrument.
There are fans that think that rock is in a
perpetual spiral repeating itself once and once again, others believe that rock
is bound to be this way and there is no point in trying to do other thing, what
is your opinion?
That’s a
bullshit opinion. How lackluster and lazy to think something has to be one-way
or another. The future of rock music is wide-open - there are endless
possibilities to be creative. I think bands find it easy just to repeat - and
that’s safe, and there’s plenty of that out there right now. But there’s some
bands pushing the envelope and I think we are one of them.
Listening to your songs there are so many
classic rock bands that come to mind that the list would be too long to
enumerate, if you could choose you would tour around with which band?
We’d love
to tour with Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple. We’d love to tour with Government
Mule, Black Crowes, Black Berry Smoke, Rival Sons, The Allman Bros. There’s
still some hope to tour with a few of those bands.
The worst and the best of being a rock band
nowadays?
The worst
part of being in a band is the constant devaluing of the art itself. Free Music
is something people almost feel entitled to, and there’s not many other
industries where the main product is expected to be free. The best part of
being in a rock band is being in a rock band.
David Lee Roth supposedly once said: “I used to
jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass.” Rock has always been that
way or now everything is more serious and professional (and boring)?
I think
there’s a balance to it all. And also a lot of posturing has disappeared. I
don’t think there’ s anything really boring about tour unless you’re sitting in
the van or bus for 8 hours a day. That part can be boring. But it’s a great
time to read or do work or practice or write. You can always be expanding. But
I’ll say - I think the David Lee Roth thing is bullshit. I think he’s lying and
posturing. I think he partied hard, drank a lot - did a lot of cocaine - all
that stuff is fun, and glamorizing is cliche now - and it still exists. But if
you tell me Diamond Dave wasn’t jogging everyday and running and doing sit ups
to keep his six-pack - i’d say someone’s lying. Mick Jagger has done more drugs
and had sex with more women than anyone in Rock and has been doing it for
years, and even he has no problem telling you he also get’s on the treadmill
and runs and walks and lift weights. I think you have to do it all. It’s a
balance. Plus the better shape you’re in you get way more inebriated from your
blood circulation being better. It happens faster.
What are your plans for the future?
We are
going to continue to sing and play our hearts out for you. Live and on Tape.
We’ll be back in Europe again in 2018 - we are very excited.
A great chance to see a cool band playing live.
Thanks for the chat
Nate
Thank you
for taking the time to chat with us - and we’ll see you in Germany in a few weeks for the CKY tour.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario