RE: 20 questions with malice Body:
1. Describe for me the rituals you go through to prep for a stage performance. I don't necessarily have any rituals that I go through, but I do have a few things I do everytime. I have to have 4 picks sitting on top of my amp, 2 beers on stage, and I usually spend the last few minutes with my very close friends before performance time. 2. What motivates your music? I would say the largest motivator would be growing up going to shows and dying to be the guy on the stage...so now I try to write music that appeals to those watching me. I like it to be fun to listen to, fun to play, and easy to throwdown to. 3. How did you get started in the music business? I started off running sound for a friend's band that eventually led to tieins with Surrender The Fall and a studio in Covington. Through those opportunities I met more musicians and eventually wound up in Shaved. 4. Who were your childhood influences? Believe it or not, I grew up on Garth Brooks. He's arguably one of the better showmen in country, if not music as a whole. Some of the others are Staind, Incubus, and B.B. King, those being after I got well into high school. 5. What keeps you grounded when your world falls apart and it all goes to Hell? I've got one of the best support systems anyone could ask for. There is a network of about 4 very close friends, a very tight family, and then my friends in music...so there's always someone I can vent to, and usually someone that can help me see through a situation. I couldn't be more thankful for the people in my life. 6. How many tats and piercings have you got? where are they? what are they? I have my tongue and labret pierced, I plan on sticking with those for awhile. I have one tat that is on my right arm and shoulder. It's a contorted and very possessed looking bull skull with a snake crawling through it, with vines growing out of it and slowly coming to life. It wraps around my arm. 7. Who's your favorite tat artist? Brian Ferrell, he did the whole piece. I like Ben Reese's work too. 8. What has been your favorite venue to date? By far Newby's. The owner and the sound guy treat us great, the venue is wide open, and the stage is a pretty good size. 9. Where is your DREAM VENUE? The Whiskey...it's legendary and I would love to rock a crowd there.
10. If you could share a stage with any of your musical influences, who would it be? Going back to my early youth, probably Garth Brooks. As I mentioned before, he's an awesome showman, and I think that would be a tremendously fun show to play. 11. What do you do to escape the insanity of traveling on the road? I keep in touch with good friends through text or conversations and keep my mind on things outside of music or traveling. I like to read a good book too, usually a biography of someone really weird or out there. 12. How old were you when you got started playing music? I was in 6th grade...so..12 maybe? I started off in band, playing trumpet. Somewhere around 8th grade I started teaching myself guitar, then I picked around on piano and singing. I started bass a few years ago. 13. List your music history, i.e. your first band, who was in it with you, are you still friends with your old band mates? The first formed band I was in was called A.D.D. (haha, go ahead and laugh, but we didn't intend it that way) in Birmingham, AL. They were all friends from school down there, and we did a 6 song ep. I left shortly after to come home to Memphis, and I don't speak to any of them still. After that I formed a band called Balance with my best friend, and we still do some work today. It was a rap/funk/soul hybrid. Next was Saint Ash with TJ Burgess, an insane drummer. Two buddies of mine Jonathan Neu and Justin R. rounded out guitars and I was on bass. We're all still friends. TJ and Justin help me out a great deal with technique and gear to this day. Now I'm in Shaved...so my history is pretty short. 14. Do you personally know any of the Memphis Legends? I've met a few.. Jimmy J once, Todd Pool, the Tora Tora guys, Josey Scott, and Breaking Point. I got to hang out with 12 Stones alot while they were here doing preproduction on their latest record. I would like to meet all the Stax guys though, I think that'd be awesome. 15. i want to hear stories that you have of your fellow musicians...NO TRASH TALKING...funny anecdotes, shared experiences, how they influenced you. My favorite story thus far is when Jaymes, my drummer, and myself met for the first time. We were in two seperate bands at the time, and I had never even heard of Shaved at this point. We were both working a show teching for Egypt Central and Breaking Point, respectively. We ran out of beer, far too drunk to drive, so we ran to the gas station that was right around the corner from the Daisy, which wound up being about 5 blocks. Too tired to walk back, we asked a cop for a ride back, which seemed like a great idea at the time, and he actually gave us one. Dropped us off right behind the daisy. That was pretty funny. 16. What's your band's mode of travel? Right now it consists of friend's trucks and a trailer a local business lets us use. The rest
of us fit in cars and trucks. So if anybody is feeling generous... 17. What is YOUR view of SUCCESS? My personal view of success is to be able to go out and represent Memphis very well. I'm proud to be from here, so to go to Kentucky, Texas, Ohio...and have people there sing along with us, know our songs, and feel what we're about...just to join in on our great history would be enough for me. 18. List your discography. 2001 A.D.D. (self titled ep) 2002 Balance (Peace In Pieces ep) *production 2005 Balance (Best of Times ep) *production, songwriting 2008 Shaved (singles Leave and Sister) 19. Is it tough keeping your personal life together when you're surrounded by all the trappings of stardom? The hardest part is having my parents and very close friends at shows because I don't get to hang out with them as much as I'd like due to everything going on, but overall, I'm just thankful to be here, so I just roll with it. 20. How does your wife/girlfriend/significant other feel about all the attention you receive from overzealous female fans? I typically don't have a girlfriend, between work, being in school, and working on the band, I rarely have time. The lady I'm lucky to be dating right now is pretty easy going though, she only gets mad when I forget to at least call and say I'm alright. If any pictures surface of me making out with anyone, that's my ass...but other than that she's pretty cool. thanx, sweetie your pal, malice