March 12, 2011 Issue

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Mar 12, 2011

PLUG’D IN The Hard-Rock'n Bi-Weekly Magazine We love D.E.B.!

We get “Inside the Industry” with Deb Sauer of Driving Metal Entertainment Booking

Inside This Issue: Impact: Cristian Machado of Ill Nino, This Is: Spencer Chamberlain of Underøath, On Tour: Brandon Roundtree and Alex Howard of Conditions, Inside The Industry: Deb Sauer of Driving Metal Entertainment Booking

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Impact: Cristian Machado of Ill Nino Interview by Mark Kohl and David Barber Foreword by Michael Demos I’ve been a huge fan of Ill Nino for years. Due to prior obligations I wasn’t able to make it out to the show. In my place went our two newest staff members, Mark Kohl and David Barber.

Mark and Dave are too extremely cool guys with a vast knowledge about all types of music and musical equipment. They got a chance to sit down with Cristian from Ill Nino and here’s how their first interview went…M.D.

PI: How has the tour been so far for you guys?

CM: Tour has been great man, a couple of shows we got snowed in, not really snowed in but we had to drive though crazy fucking blizzards. It’s been the winter from hell supposedly. We got caught in a couple of the blizzards but the shows have been awesome. It makes it all worthwhile when you get there safe and the shows awesome.

PI: You guys have been off the radar for a little while, How does it feel to be back out on the road again?

CM: It feels great man. It took a couple of weeks to get your feet wet you know, but it feels great to be back. The fans are defiantly responsive. They haven’t forgotten who we are and we’re just grateful to still have our fans. So many bands have come and gone by the way side and we’re still able to get out here and bring our music to our fans, which is the most important.

PI: What did you do with the time off that you had?

CM: We all have done different things. Laz and I have been producing bands in New Jersey. We have a recording and rehearsal studio. We basically have 5 monthly rehearsals, an hourly rehearsal, a drum room, and a control room that we record in. We did some of the recording for the new record there. Him and I stayed pretty busy with that man. Ahrue does the same but he’s out in Denver. He produces bands out of a studio there. We’ve all stayed busy. Diego has a tattoo shop in California so we all do our own little things.

Wayne Lozinak

PI: How hard is it for you guys to get together being that you guys are so spread apart?

CM: It’s a fucking pain in the ass man! We all have to fly in. Laz and I don’t have to because we are at the studio where we do our rehearsals and some of our recording. The other guys have to fly in. One guy is in California, another guy in Texas, another guy is in Florida and Ahrue is in Denver. So it’s pretty hectic man. A band at our level, it’s not like we have a lot of money. None of us are really rich so we can’t really afford to be flying all over the country but we make it work somehow. We always make the budgets work. When we went to do the record Ahrue and Diego stayed at my house just to be able t make the funds work. It also allowed us to become more connected musically, to find the things that we have in common musically and to bring forth the new record. It was kind of cool having them stay at my house actually.

PI: If I may ask, what happened to the fourth album Enigma?

CM: I have no idea. I guess the record label we signed to, which we thought was a good idea at the moment, was actually a bad idea to sign to them. We really have nobody to blame but ourselves. It was our decision to do it so. As to what really happened, I don’t know. The guy that owned the label got sued by Mel B. He was in the news about a year

ago. She sued him for 4 million dollars. We were lucky enough that we were able to walk with the record so we still own the rights to Enigma. We might release a song off it later or something like that.

PI: You have a new record out. Tell me about it.

CM: It’s a killer record man. We’re really proud of it. We self produced the record with the help of Sahaj and Clint Lowery on 2 songs. It’s an awesome record. It was a great experience making the album and it was also very stressful experience because we didn’t hire out a producer who policed any of us. It really came down to us really gelling as a band. We kind of lost that band camaraderie throughout the years because we all live so far from each other. We got used to writing songs individually and then coming into the studio and recording them. I think a lot of the fluidity that was there in the beginning, especially on our first two records kind of got lost because we were so far away from each other. On this record we are very proud of the fact that we were able to be a band once again and were able to find things that were common as far as our tastes. Instead of looking for things that made us different we searched for things that made us musical partners in this band. It was fun but yet a lot of stress in the same sentence. It was great. Like I said, Ahrue and Diego stayed at my house so I got to really, really bond with Ahrue as song writers. That was something that I hadn’t gotten the chance to do before. Usually me and him wrote songs separately and that kind of came across on our last record. We were just writing to separate. On this record, you can really tell that we came together as song writers. It was something that we needed to do and should have done a long time ago. It was just where we were. He’s on one side of the country and I’m on the other so it didn’t really allow us to make that happen. This time he lived with me for a couple months so we would stay up until all hours of the morning playing guitars, playing piano and fucking talking. It was 2 months of purely discussing music, discussing scales and discussing cool bands that we both liked. Just being friends first and foremost that was the most important thing.

PI: The new album is a little more melodic than the previous records. Would you say that the time you guys spent together contributed to that?

CM: ummm….?? (PI)You guys were getting closer as a band maybe that inspired a little different direction? (CM) I guess. If you see it as more melodic then it defiantly had to do with us coming together. I think it’s a very aggressive record, especially the riffing. Ahrue killed it on guitars. Even on our first record when we had Rizzo, who is a really good guitar player he never wrote riffs like that and I never wrote riffs like that in our career. Ahrue really put his stamp on the band finally. It’s something that we really, really needed. The riffs are just killer on this record.

PI: On the new album you cover Smashing Pumpkins “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”. What made you cover that particular song?

CM: That’s Danny, our percussion player’s favorite band. I mean to me still to this day I thought we should have kept this song off the record because I felt that our songs were strong on their own. The songs were really, really good but some of the guys in the band really wanted to put it on the record. At the end of the day I got out voted. Still to this day I feel that we should have just had our songs and left that as a B-side or something like that. If you were a true Ill Nino fan and went looking for it you could find it but it came out cool. Danny loves the Smashing Pumpkins so it was really fun for him and it was fun for Dave and Laz to play it.

PI: What is your favorite place in the world to play?

CM: New York is always great to us man. LA has become a city that is really great to us as well. All our shows in Texas are always great too. Anywhere near the New York area. We are here in Allentown tonight but it still feels like

we are near the New York metro area which is where we came up, where we got our start. So we get a lot of love from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Boston, New York and places like that. Texas and our Southern California shows are just amazing.

Now that is just the US. There are tons of places in the world that we have a completely larger fan base other that the US. Our career in the US is a quarter of what our career is over seas in countries like Australia, Japan, Europe and South America. So there are a lot of places for us. The show in Sao Paulo was insane. Mexico City was great. In Holland we played for 3-4 thousand kids a night. Moscow was awesome and Tokyo, Japan was amazing.

I could go on forever. We get a lot of love in the US from a lot of places. Even shows in those states where we don’t have a big fan base, if there is 100150 kids there we still destroy and those kids walk out of there going “FUCK THAT WAS THE BEST SHOW I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE.” That’s what it’s really about man.

PI: If you could tour with any bands in the world, what would your dream tour be?

CM: That’s tough. I would say Slayer, but we are about to do the Sound Waves Festival in Australia with Slayer so that’s coming true on its own. I know most bands would not ask to open for Slayer but luckily we are doing it in a continent where we are very loved. I love Slayer. I would have also said Maiden but they are on that tour too. To be honest most of the bands that I would like to tour with are bands that most of our fans would probably be like” Who the fuck is that?” bands like Bad Brains or Agnostic Front. I really like Suicide Silence I think they are awesome. We are nothing alike, but they are a really cool band. It would be great to have a tour with a whole bunch of really different bands. Bad Brains, Suicide Silence, Ill Nino, and Skindred. Just a really versatile tour would be cool.

PI: After this tour, what is next for Ill Nino?

CM: We’re going to Australia. After tonight’s show we are driving back to New Jersey and dropping off all our gear at the studio. I’m going to spend a couple of days in the studio because we are actually doing a production with Doc from God Forbid and Tommy Vext from Divine Heresy. They put a band together and I’m helping them get the project recorded. I have about 3 days of down time which I’m basically going to sleep at the studio. I’ll be working 18 hours a day. Then we are going to Australia. We have 14 days over there with the Sound Waves Festival. We come back home for 1 day then we fly straight to Europe. We are in Europe for 5 weeks going a headlining tour which I heard is doing really, really well. I heard that sales are the best they have been for us since the Confession record so the new record is doing really well over there. After that tour we come home and we have 2 weeks off. Then we go to South America for a 2 week tour. Then we come back and we are going to try to do some summer shows in the US. We also have some festival shows to go back to in Europe. We are supposed to go to Asia later this year. Our whole year is pretty much booked. We are confirmed through May, so we will definitely be out for the first 5 months of the year straight.

PI: Thanks Cristian for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. CM: Thank you guys for doing the interview it was very cool.

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This Is: Spencer Chamberlain of Underøath Interview & Photos by Liana Marie Before the show, I was given the opportunity to sit down with Spencer Chamberlain; the lead vocalist of Underøath. It’s always a pleasure working with the band who has remained my absolute favorite throughout the years & until this very day. They put on an incredible show...but who’s to expect anything less? Between member changes, and all around new directions the band still holds their own, today.

The heart they put into their music is mindblowing. Their live performance sends chills up your spine. Here’s what Spencer had to share with us...L.M. PI: Let’s start out with naming each member and their specific role in the band.

S: Okay. Well, I’m the singer. Tim plays guitar. James plays guitar, as well. Chris plays keyboards. Grant plays bass and Daniel plays drums.

PI: Tell us a little about yourself...Your background in music and in general.

S: I’ve been playing music for pretty much my entire life. My brothers played music, my Grandma plays music, and my dad plays music. It’s kind of been my entire life. I’ve been playing for about as long as I can remember.

PI: What inspired you to name your band Underøath?

S: It’s just a name. A bunch of High school kids coming up with a name for their band. (Laughter) That’s really the story.

PI: Does the band as a whole have any specific musical influences? ...Specific bands?

S: I think we all have different influences...Everyone likes different things and I think that’s what makes it unique.

There are definitely a handful of bands that we agree on, but not very many.

PI: Could you tell us a little about the band’s background? Where’s Underøath from? What brought about the current line-up?

S: Tampa, Florida area. Tampa Bay area. It’s been a long time, about 10 or 11 years. So, the band started out with high school friends. A few people didn’t make it all the way. It’s different when you dedicate your life to touring & being gone all the time. It was the same 6 of us & we had the same drummer until about 8 months ago. It was the same 6 of us for 8 years. It just wasn’t working out so we parted ways with him and got a different drummer.

PI: How do you feel about Daniel Davison being the new drummer of Underøath?

S: It’s the best! We’re way happier, we’re way more comfortable, we write better music, & we’re just all-around a more unified... unit.

PI: Can you explain what the “Ø” symbol’s all about?

S: It’s really a label marketing thing that they came up with in 2004. We’ve used it ever since. We thought it’d be cool to put it on the cover of this record. Kids have it tattooed on them etc, it’s cool!

PI: Does it at all tie into the new album as it’s titled, “Ø Disambiguation”?

S: Yeah. Basically, that symbol has something like 100 some different meanings. One of those meanings was, “Disambiguation.” Disambiguation means to make clear and we were just making it very clear that when we parted ways with our old drummer certain people thought that he had a bigger role than other people in the band but it wasn’t true. We were just making a statement. We wouldn’t go on, if it wasn’t for the better. This is who we are and we’re very comfortable with that.

PI: Can you tell us about “Ø Disambiguation”? Were you trying to go in any specific direction(s) with this record?

S: Not really. It was the first time that all 6 of us agreed on the music. We took each song as a song, and tried to make the best song we could. I feel like it’s a lot more structured than the last couple records. There’s also more melody then our previous couple records while at the same time it’s heavier. Overall, I think the album is more mature, directionally. We’re all getting older and we’re trying to go in a somewhat different direction.

PI: Could you explain the album in a physical aspect in terms of lyrics and layout?

S: We actually don’t have much to do with the album artwork. We just get to make the final “Yes or No” decisions. We were really happy with the layout of this album. As for lyrics...I write all the time. I was writing in the studio and it just happened to turn out the way it did.

There weren’t any specific goals or any planned direction.

We all did our part and in the end it all came together.

PI: If you could choose one song off of this album...which song would you say that you are most happy with?

S: Probably, “Paper Lung.” (PI) Any specific reason(s)?

(S) It’s just a whole different direction in which Underøath has ever gone. I feel like there will be a lot of that in the future.

PI: What do you think about how the album turned out overall? Is there anything you would have changed or done differently if given the opportunity?

S: Yes, I’m absolutely happy with it. No, there is nothing I would have changed or done differently. We made sure that all 6 of us were 100% stoked about every single part of this record. We definitely feel like it’s the best record we’ve ever done, otherwise we wouldn’t have put it out.

Every time we go into the studio, if we don’t leave saying or thinking, “This is better than anything we’ve ever done” we’ll delete it and start over. (PI) Does that happen often? (S) No. PI: Could you tell us a little about the writing process?

S: We’re pretty picky. We’re not a band that shows up with 20 songs and leaves with 12. We have exactly as many songs as we plan to put on the record. If it’s just an okay or mediocre song we’ll ditch it. Why work on a song that is not as good as the others? Each song should be equally as good for different reasons.

PI: What is your favorite song to perform live? Why? S: Anything off the new record, really. It’s new and its fun and we’re obviously the most proud of it. I would say “Who Will Guard The Guardians” but we play it so late into our set; after we’ve already been playing an hour and 15 minutes. So, it’s kind of like...”Oh, God.” But that song is still a lot of fun.

PI: So how’s tour going so far? How is it touring with Thursday, Animals As Leaders, & A Skylit Drive?

S: It’s great! We’ve known Thursday since like 2004 or 2005. We’ve done a lot of tours together in different countries, but never here. So, we decided to play this tour together.

PI: What can we expect from Underøath in the future?

S: More touring and we put out a record every 2 years so, it’s pretty standard.

PI: Thanks taking time to chat with us & giving us a chance to get Plug’d In! S: Cool, yeah! Awesome.

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From The Grave Abby was born and raised in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest of eight, she constantly had her younger brothers and sisters asking her questions about everything from how things work to why that boy threw dirt on her. She’d try to steer them straight with her advice, though sometimes she could be a bit sarcastic.

Abby also had an uncanny ability to see the truth in people, despite what they tried to portray with their lies. Unfortunately, this led the locals to believe that she was with surrounded with dark forces. The summer before her final year of school, Abby was sentenced to death by hanging, without a proper trial, simply stating that she was a witch. Abby can’t recognize the faces of her family through death, but she answers questions, thinking it might be one of her siblings needing her guidance.

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On Tour: Brandon Roundtree and Alex Howard of Conditions Interview by Tyler Heckard Conditions is a band out of Richmond Virginia, a group of guys that have spent the last few years playing and touring so much they had to practically put their personal lives on hiatus. The hard work they have put forth has finally begun to pay off for them as they are about to begin their stint on the up and coming AP Tour. A tour that showcases new, young, and powerful bands and tour all across the nation. Brandon Roundtree had the honor of having his face on the cover of AP Magazines next issue, but I had the honor of interviewing him first. When I arrived I had a chance to first sit down with Conditions guitarist Alex Howard. Here is what he had to say…T.H. PI: First off, how do you feel about being on next month’s cover of AP? AH: Its insane, when I got the cover of it and it had Brandon on there, it’s just kind of, you know, I’ve been a subscriber to AP for years, grew up especially in high school looking up to the bands in the magazine. And now to see my bands name on the cover it’s uhh, it’s insane. We are so honored, we’re stoked, and we can’t wait to get on that tour.

PI: How did the band come this far?

AH: You know, it may sound cliché or dumb but it’s just a lot of hard work, we’ve been at this for about four years now and we just kind of knew what we wanted from the start and the only way you’re going to get that is if you surround yourself with the right people and have goals set. We’ve gone through a couple different members, the main four “core” of us being myself, Brandon, Jason our guitarist, and Brian our drummer have been at it the whole time and now we’ve had Corey our bassist for a little over a year now and we just all kind of knew what we were striving for and we kind of threw everything else out the window. We’ve all given up, well not given up, but have taken time off of college and a lot of things have suffered as well as relationships and whatever have suffered for us doing what we do but we’re just trying to stay out there and keep working until we start to see results. I feel like things are starting to, you know, the gears are getting in motion now and we’re really excited where things are going.

PI: Was it all worth it this far?

AH: Absolutely, I mean, talk to me two years ago when probably we were almost breaking up, we’ve had a lot of rough patches but we’re all best friends but there’s a lot of times where it’s like “Dude is this even worth it, how many bands are there out there”? You know? There’s so many so it’s like not even a competition thing it’s like what are the odds of my band “making it” like it’s not very good so you just have to believe in what you’re doing , I feel like if you have that much faith in yourself and you have that attitude you know you need in yourself , you know, that will rub off on people and they will notice that instead of *monotone voice* “yeah this is my band, whatever” you know what I mean? You gotta own it and be like “Hey! This is my band, check it out!” and hope they like it and just give everything you can and just see what happens.

PI: How much mental preparation does it take from touring small scale to being thrown head-first into the AP tour?

AH: We’re all a little older but I feel like there’s a lot of bands out there that are really young and we’re all about 24 so we’ve been playing for a while but you still get some nerves for sure when you get out in front of a huge crowd that’s no doubt, but it’s even more exciting. It makes you perform even better because you know you have something to live up to, you know, one thousand or two thousand people, however many it may be, most have seen us for the first time and we have to make that awesome first impression so it kind of makes us all perform a little better so it’s all exciting.

PI: What steps do all of you take to manage such awesome voices?

AH: Well Brandon he (chuckles) he does what he can. Honestly, we wish we took better care of ourselves on the road.

Like even now we’re just on a weekend trip and we’re all just kind of groggy and whatever so I think the key is getting ready at a decent hour and starting to get your voice in tune a little bit, not, you know, we don’t wake up at 11 in the morning and try to sing your highest, we wake up and do a little bit of talking and there’s a couple of voice exercises we do to kind of get us warmed up so by the time show time rolls around about 6 or 7 o clock we are fully prepared, you know, take a lot of vitamins and drink a lot of water.

PI: What stop on the upcoming AP tour are you looking forward to the most?

AH: I think for me, there are a lot of stops I’m really excited about but we’re from Richmond, Virginia and we’re not playing in Richmond but we’re playing two kind of in the area, one in DC and one in northern Virginia and I grew up to shows, we have great venues in Virginia now but for a long time we didn’t have huge venues so bigger bands wouldn’t come to Richmond but they would come to this venue in north Virginia and I’ve seen all of my favorite bands there and to know that I’m going to play there where I’ve seen all my favorite shows, you know, I’ve seen Brand New there, I saw Thrice, I’ve seen so many awesome bands there so I’m really excited.

PI: What is the band looking forward to the most within the next year? New album? Touring?

AH: Throughout the rest of the year we’re definitely going to be touring our butts off and we are proud of this album and we want to get it out there as much as we can and we want to give it it’s due.

It just came out September so it’s 5 months old now so we are going to play the AP tour and tour this summer so in the fall we’re hoping for some international touring and the chance to be places we’ve never been and maybe the beginning of 2012 we’ll be getting ready for a new album so we want to give it a little bit of time but at the same time we don’t want to take too long because we’re still itching to get another album out there.

PI: With the tour schedule coming up and all the hype from the bands you’ll be touring with, is this the opportunity where you get to show the world what Conditions really is about?

AH: Yeah! For sure! This is what we’re excited about, you know? To get to a larger audience even though I think it will be a little bit of a different audience than what we are used to dealing with so far so we couldn’t be any more excited about it. To be putting ourselves out there as somewhat of a new artist as far as the music scene but yeah I hope people are excited about it.

PI: Thank you for your time and thanks for getting Plug’d In! AH: Thank you!

After the show I had a moment to meet up with Conditions front man Brandon Roundtree, Here’s what he had to say PI: What are your emotions heading into the AP tour?

BR: Dude, I’m terrified. I still get super, super nervous before a show plus I have a bad habit of treating my body like a science project (laughs) as you saw tonight so I’ve learned my limits and hopefully we’re going to practice real hard and I’m hoping that nervousness will subside. I’m stoked though above all.

PI: Are you ready to handle sold out shows and pumped up crowds?

BR: We are super excited yeah!

PI: How did Conditions come this far?

BR: Hard work. We’ve just done what we’ve done since the beginning, we’ve never put a front on, we’ve been very honest and upfront with whom we are and people started taking notice I guess and we are so honored with the reception we’ve had and we don’t take anything for granted.

Every time someone comes out to a Conditions show and sings a long and to watch that grow is insane, it’s just so flattering, it awesome.

PI: Do you think things look good for the future of the band?

BR: Hopefully, I mean, everyone’s biased, if you ask anybody that they’re going to be like “duhhh hopefully” but I don’t know we’re just going to continue doing what we do and working hard and uh, whatever comes we will act accordingly.

PI: Anything you want to tell the fans?

BR: (Laughs) Just like what I said on stage… don’t drink (laughs) ever, no but seriously thank you, it’s the fans who brought us where we are and will influence where we go.

PI Thanks for giving us the chance to get Plug’d in!

BR: Anytime!

www.myspace.com/conditionsband

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Inside The Industry: Deb Sauer of Driving Metal Entertainment Booking Interview by Michael Demos PI: What is D.M.E.?

DS: Driving Metal Entertainment Booking.

PI: We’ve worked together for quite a while now, so I know exactly what you do. Can you tell others who might now know exactly what you do?

DS: Primarily I’m in charge of all the booking and promotions for the Rock/ Metal genre @ The Silo in Reading, Pa. I’ve been doing it for 3 years as of February.

PI: How did you get your start?

DS: It was kind of an accident. My son’s band, The Last Tempest/Dreamland Park, was playing here. It took me a while to get them to play when Frank was doing the booking. Anyways, they played the show and shortly thereafter Frank rebooked them. Three days before the show he called me up and told me he quit. He gave me the option to run the show myself versus it being cancelled, so I stepped up and did it. He put me in contact with everybody and I ran the show.

After the show I talked to Maria, who is the Silo manager, and I told her that I know a lot of bands that would love to play here and I asked her for a date once in a while. I started out with 6 dates over 6 months. After my first show somebody posted something about me doing the shows on MySpace and the next day I had 18 pages of emails from bands who wanted to play here. It’s turned out now I have every Friday night and the occasional Saturday if I need it.

It was a lot of trial and error, but we’re still here!

PI: Speaking of here, you are located in Reading, Pa…smack dab in between the Crocodile Rock in Allentown and The Chameleon Club in Lancaster. How do you survive in the middle of such large venues?

DS: I’m mainly more about the local shows. I feature local bands and I don’t think they really get a chance to shine anywhere else. I’m glad the other places do the larger, National shows. While I enjoy doing them, they’re a lot of stress! I like having this place as a fun place to relax for the band, fans, and myself. I try to keep things on a friendly low key atmosphere. It also always amazes me that a lot of times the local bands are more talented than some of the Nationals that are coming in. it really is amazing!

PI: You have done quite a bit of National shows though. Who are some of the people you’ve worked with?

DS: I’ve worked with 12 Stones, Nonpoint, The Misfits, Great White, Bury Your Dead, Winds Of Plague, Emmure, For Today, ect…I have The World We Knew coming in April. I just love those guys, they’re amazing! I’ve had Tech 9 which was a phenomenal show. Throwdown was also a good show.

PI: So obviously you’ve worked with a lot of people. Have all the experiences been good?

DS: For the most part I find that touring bands are all pretty much appreciative of what you do. Usually if you feed those bands they’re happy (laughs). I try to feed them well. They get tired of pizza and the road stores. I feed them well and take care of them and it feels like downtime to them and they get to relax and put on a good show.

PI: Do you have a favorite band that came through?

DS: 12 Stones! They’re not only hilarious on stage, but off stage as well. They’re all from Louisiana and they all had

that accent. They talked about things like making coon stew (laughs).

They’re just really cool guys. I would also have to say Tech 9. He was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He did a VIP meet and greet and had a huge line. You could tell people didn’t know how to approach him, but for every person he stood up and held his arms out. He hugged them and took pictures. It was like he knew why he was able to do what he does. He appreciated the fans. Great White, who has been doing this for 20+ years, was one of the most level headed bands ever. I picked them up at the airport and people were coming over because they recognized them. I asked them if they ever get tired of it and they responded “You don’t worry about when they ask you, you worry when they don’t”. I thought that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.

PI: Sound like you’ve had a lot of positive experiences…have you ever had any negative ones?

DS: I would have to say Days Of The New. I really didn’t know who they were when I booked the show. Anyways, the singer Travis…I went up to meet him and introduce myself and he just tore me a new one because my security guard told him he couldn’t walk around with an open container outside because it’s the law. He threw a temper tantrum saying he was going to walk out and he was too good to play this place. I almost chucked his skinny ass over the rail (laughs). He went off and probably did something, but he came back and then loved me. They were literally the only band that I couldn’t wait for to walk out.

PI: So there’s a downside to things too sometimes. Your job also takes a lot of work. Tell us a little bit about your job and how you get it done.

DS: I get a lot of people who say my job must be so fun and so easy. I think they only see the fun we have here at the Silo, but they don’t see the other 30 or 40 hours of work at home. It’s a lot of work. The phone calls, the emails and the texts at all hours. The key to it is I try to run things a little differently than some of the other larger venues. I want to see more of the bands put an effort into it. I don’t think it’s fair to just make it the Silo’s responsibility to put on a good show. I don’t do ticket sales unless it’s a National show. On a local show I want to see how many people you can have walk through the door. Out of all the venues I give the highest payout. Dreamland Park for example walked out with over $1000 for a local show. I don’t ever want to hear the excuse “Well, we do all this work and we don’t get paid”. That is not the case here. It’s a simple effort of how much effort you put into it = how much money you make. I want the bands to make money, buy merchandise, record their CD’s.

I’ll usually start out with a headlining band and build it from there. I don’t want everybody to sound the same. If I have a Rock show maybe I’ll throw on somebody who’s a little more Pop or maybe a little bit heavier. Usually people don’t just want cookie cutter bands. I’ve recently been starting to get a little bit into cover bands. I’ve never really worked with that before, but I have a couple coming up that I’m really excited about. I try to give a nice variety. If one week you don’t like what I’m doing, then I’m sure the next you will.

PI: How would a band get the opportunity to get on one of your shows?

DS: Basically I try to give as many new bands an opportunity as I can. You never know what a band can do until you try. I’ve had band who live 2 hours away and can draw 50 people, and then I’ve had bands who live 5 minutes away and its like they’re showing up for band practice. I don’t look at where you live or where you’ve played before. Everybody gets their chance. The only basic requirement is that you bring out 25 people to see you. That will cover the cost and you will get paid. The cool thing about it is if there’s a 6 band show each band is playing to over 125 potentially new fans. You can expect the headliner to bring in the crowd for you to play to and you don’t give them the favor back.

PI: What can we expect from D.M.E. in the future?

DS: I want to continue to expand and give as many new bands an opportunity that I can. The Silo is such an amazing venue. I have Nationals who come through and are just blown away by the stage, the sound, and the lights. It’s not a

corner bar; it’s an A-list venue. Seeing people get up on the stage for the first time with that big smile on their face, it makes me happy. I want to continue to try to appeal to as many different people that I can and let them know that every time they play here it will be a pleasant experience. You will come in feeling welcomed and like you belong here. We let the kids mosh; we let them have a good time. It’s a very safe and friendly place to come to. I pride myself on my reputation and the reputation of the club.

PI: Thanks Deb for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. DS: Thank you and I appreciate your time.

www.drivingmetal.com

From The Throne of The Rock God Rants, Raves, Reviews, and News for the Minions

J.X.M.X Is coming soon We are looking for: Bands, Vendors, Charitable Donations, and Volunteers,

Wanna be involved?

Email us @ Jxmx@centralpapluggedin.com

www.centralpapluggedin.com www.myspace.com/centralpapluggedin www.facebook.com/centralpa.plugdin Special thanks to all the following for making this issue happen: Without you...well, we just would have had to work a little harder.

The Reading Tattoo Co, Shoo, American Heroes, Belly Busters, 1Up Collectibles, Its All The rage Hair Designs, Vertical Pole Fitness, Pottstown Tattoo Co, Gotham City Tattoo, The Last Level, Pocket Aces Skate Shop, Crocodile Rock CafÊ, Michael Demos, Liana Marie, David Barber, Mark Kohl, Nicole Marie, Nicolle Stella, Vikki Sin, Tyler Heckard, Bandi Budwash, Mark Kohl, David Barber, Designs By Your Arsonist, Roadrunner Records, Century Media, W.M.G., Victory Records, Facedown Records, Fearless Records, Metal Blade records, E1, Hollywood Records, Disney, Adrenaline P.R., Solid State Records, DRP Records, Strike First, and all the amazing National and Local bands we’ve had the privilege to work with.

Upcoming Shows March 19th - VOODOO AND TORN CO HEADLINING SHOW!! CHASING THE UNKNOWN, SECTION 8 AND JONATHAN A ANDRUS! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! March 25th - NO REMORSE FOR THE FALLEN CD RELEASE SHOW!! DYING EUFORIA, FROM THIS WE RISE, OF THE NINTH CIRCLE, LETHEAN AND EXODIA!! ALL AGES! $10 AT THE DOOR!! DOORS AT 6:30!!

April 1st - TOKKS FAREWELL SHOW... FOR NOW! DEM KORRUPT BOYZ FEATURING T.O.N.E.Z., H8TRID, PHATAL, R.E.G, 7TH LAYER, THE UNSTABLE MINDS, THE PUMPKIN KING, K4AC, OPTIMUS, B-FRESH, SNIPER, THE REAL CHAOS!! TIX $10!! ALL AGES! DOORS AT 5!!

April 2nd - A SCENT LIKE WOLVES CD RELEASE SHOW, SEVENTH CORVUS, IT'S A TRAP, APROCRYFRIEND AND RUN YELL TELL!! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! April 8th - HALF ANGEL, LUSH BUTTON, ARA AND ENGINE PRESS! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! DOORS AT 7:30!

April 10th - THE WORLD WE KNEW, FAREWELL TO FREEWAY, RIVERS OF NIHIL, INVARIANCE, AS CITIES FALL, HELL OR HIGHWATER AND CONTENTS OF A DEADMANS POCKETS, TIX $10, DOS $12, ALL AGES, DOORS AT 5:30, SHOW STARTS AT 6!!

April 22nd - tba!

April 23rd - AFTER 3 AM, FOUR YEARS PAST, SIX PENNY, THE LAST REMARK AND 5 HOUR SHOWER!! DOORS AT 7:30, ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR!!

April 28th - HESTER PRYNNE, NIGHT SHADE AND MORE TBA! ALL AGES! $10 AT THE DOOR!

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