Highwire Daze Issue #139

Page 47

more of the modern rock sound of that era. This record, and after a couple of member changes, and just getting with the right combination of people - mostly getting with guitarist Justin Womble, we were just ready to embrace the 80s influences that we all have and that we all love, and that’s the biggest difference. Shake Little Sister’s such a fantastic song. Give me a little background on that song and the inspiration for people who haven’t heard it yet. Shake Little Sister - when Justin first played the riff for me, it was obviously just a straight-ahead driving rock song and, it just harkened back to the era and the day where you had those bands like Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue. And the list goes on and on, riding all the way back to bands like Aerosmith in the 70s. There was always that little bit of element of danger with them. But you knew you were going to have a fucking great time along the way - and the song kind of reminded me of that. So I just kind of penned the lyrics to kind of fit, the soundtrack of a bar fight, almost, or a bunch of hellraisers going into a club and having a great fucking time. So, that’s pretty much the influences behind Shake Little Sister. With the song Home, you totally hit it out of the ballpark with a power ballad there. Tell me about that song and the influence behind it. Well, you nailed it on the head as far as the power ballad goes, because there’s a lot of bands that want to shy away from that term “power ballad,” but we fully wrapped our arms around it with Home. When Justin first played the music for me. I knew what kind of song it was and what kind of lyrics and melodies needed to go on top of it. I just wrote it, I mean, come on, let’s face it, there’s just so many people that some of their first romantic experiences had a hair metal power ballad playing in the background. I mean that shit was the fucking soundtrack for a whole generation and there are still people out there that love a great fucking Rock ballad. I appreciate the sentiment that we knocked it out of the park. I feel that we did a great job with it as well. When did you meet Justin? And how did he become involved with the band? What’s his background? Justin is one of those homegrown gems that you can find in cities and states that are outside the realms of the LA’s, in the New York’s, and the far more glamorous cities that sound really good and got a really fancy zip code and area code. Justin is somebody that I’ve kind of had my eye on for a while. He has a band called Modena where he’s the guitarist and singer, and they had played a couple of shows opening for The Fifth a couple of years back. And when I saw Justin play, I just kind of put my eye on him and I knew that if I ever needed a guitarist in the future I would reach out to him - and I’m thankful that he turned out to be a huge Cold Sweat fan, and Roy Cathey fan. Justin is quite a bit younger than me, but he’s an old soul and he’s a shredder, he grew up idolizing those types of guitar players. And I remember one of the first times when HIGHWIRE DAZE

December 2021

I met Justin he said, “you know I used to watch your video on Metal Maniacs on TV on Saturday nights,” and he goes, “if I would have known that I was going to be playing a show with you one day, I would have said, kiss my ass.” But Justin is from the Raleigh, North Carolina area. And I could tell you, man, he’s one of the best fucking guitar players I’ve ever shared the stage with. The kids got it. He can play any style. He can shred, he can play the blues, he can play southern rock. He could play country. That kid is a walking fucking rain man of music. He’s a great cat and a great singer, and a great person, and we’ve really written some great music together. And this is just the start. You did a live show during the pandemic with your other band Steel City and MORC Studios. What was that experience like doing a live feed with no audience in front of you in the middle of a pandemic? I was fortunate enough to do two live stream events for the Monsters of Rock Cruise organization. The first one I did was with a little impromptu supergroup called The Seeds Of Low Hangin’ Fruit, which had Sebastian LaBar, Jaron Gulino, and Ian Corabi, which is the backup band for Tantric. We got to do a live stream together. But the real big mac daddy one was with SteelCity out in Los Angeles, at the Monsters of Rock Studios, and that was a phenomenal experience. I’ve never played in such a high-dollar production value type of event. It was amazing to play with LED walls behind you, and you play on top of an LED wall. The graphics were amazing but as an old school guy that used to have in the audience in his face and the smell of beer and cigarette smokes and cheap body spray. You know, you miss that audience feedback, that sound, and it’s weird. Just imagine having the best sex of your life wearing the thickest raincoat you could ever 47


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