Stacey Blades | Roxx Gang | L.A. Guns | Smack | January 2003 |
It's time I get back to my interviews.. hopefully for the new year, I can keep up.
This month, is Stacey Blades from Roxx Gang..
Through the years I've become friends with Stacey.. not only is he a great guitar player.. but a great guy also!
So if your in the L.A. area..make sure you go check him out!
J-First off we are going to go back to the Roxx Gang stuff.. and how did you hook up with those guys?
S-This would be going back to about late 92' I remember they had an ad in Metal Edge Magazine and I saw that they were looking for a guitar player and I had there record, I jumped on the first opportunity to take advantage of that.. I called the ad, talked to the manager, send him a press kit.. and 2 days later they called...
J-Where were you living?
S-I was in Toronto..
J-What bands were you in up there?
S-At that time the band I had been in had been together for a couple years.. called Fraidy Cat.. had broken up so.. I really wasn't doing anything ..I was in between bands.. so when I saw the opportunity I took full advantage of it.. so I flew down. I ended up...the day before I left I got some Beijing Flu, and could barely walk.. my flight was delayed like 5hrs. so I was like great.. if this is any indication of how this audition is going to go...but I went in there and kicked ass. They called me 3 days later and said I got the gig.. so I packed my stuff. 10 years later....
J-How did everyone get along?
S-Ummm...Roxx Gang was a definite working environment.. your constantly working..ya know we got along... after a while it became a democracy..ya know... I think that had allot to do with the people.. the band was like a revolving door of members..and towards the end.. I got along.. didn't get along..it was all hear say... but it was definitely all work...
J-How about the song writing...?
S-Basically in about 10 years I got to write about 2 songs...so that probely sums up the question..
J-Ya I interviewed Kevin.. and he seemed very work..work..
S-Yes it was my this..my this..my this..my band.. my songs.. my this.. my that..
J-What was your favorite recording you did with them..?
S-Probably "The Voodoo You Love" ..thought that was a really good album, fun recording process.. we did that over at Morisound Studios in Tampa.. had a big budget to work with... god it seems so long ago.. I enjoyed that album..
J-And what was your least favorite or just didn't sound as good as you would have liked?
S-Mojo Gurus..That's..great.. that's my favorite..and my least favorite also..hahaha..
Still do this day don't understand what Kevin was trying to achieve with that.. I hated making the record..it was a nightmare. I don't think I've listened to it since its been recorded..
How about the Mojo Gurus? How did you like playing that style of music?
I hated it..absolutley hated it.. one of the big reasons I left this band.. besides personal. and creative differences. was the band had really, really lost directions far as I was concerned, on trying to reinventing ourselves, and I felt we took two steps back instead of a step forward.. and I just still to this day don't understand the reasoning for that whole mojo thing...
I was like do one or the other.. I didn't understand seeing Mojo Gurus open for Roxx Gang..
I hated it.. I didn't get it.. I hated playing that stuff.. no one got it. If Kevin wants to be a Muddy Waters cover band.. or a blues band. go to Memphis.. or Tennessee. where its appreciated..ya know..
J-What recordings are you on.. with Roxx Gang and Mojo Gurus?
S-"The Voodoo You Love" "Old, New, Borrowed and Blue", "Smoking TNT, and Drinking Dynamite".
and I guess the Greatest Hits.. there is some of the stuff I'm on..
J-How about the look back then.. how important was it..do you ever look back and think what the hell was I thinking?
S-Umm..sometimes.. I look back at the pictures..
J-Well I think you guys had a cool style anyways..never like a overly glammed out look.
S-I thought it was cool ya.. there're certain people that can pull that look off.. and certain people that cant. I have always looked fondly on how I've looked back then still to this day.. I have photo albums I enjoy showing people..hey check me out with my hair and stuff... hahaha..ya sometimes I laugh about it.. but I don't look back and think oh I'm so embarrassed about how I looked..
J-And what caused you to leave the band..
S-Umm.. I guess probley around 2000... I got tired of taking orders.ya know..being in a band is supposed to be fun, you work hard you get rewarded. it just got to a point were I wasn't getting rewarded. I was told how to play.. how to dress. ya know I got to be myself if you start putting a big wall around me.. or who I am or what I'm about. I got to do my thing..I wasn't happy with the music.. ya know im tired of being in a one man show.. I really felt it was time for me to move on.. and once that happened, I really felt like I was let out of jail. I was having creative freedom. being happy.. being in a band is supposed to be fun, it got to a point where I was going to rehearsals. was like going to the dentist.. that's when I stopped and realized. varying factors personal differences, definitely musical differences. and I felt playing Carlies twice a month really wasn't a step in the right direction for my career.
J-Did you leave straight from here when you left?
S-Yes. my wife and I packed up the house.. got a U-haul trailer, hooked it to the car headed to the wagon west..and couldn't be happy then living in L.A. right now..its the best thing I ever did..
J-And do you still talk to any of the guys in the band?
S-Umm I have talked to Vinnie a few times we still keep in touch every now and then..
but that's about it.. I don't know what those other guys really think..I'm not really in the best of books with them, but I could really care less..
J-Ok ..was Supercool the first thing you did out there?
S-Ya..
J-How did that start up..
S-Well before I moved to L.A. I placed an ad in a magazine called the Recycler, which is a really big magazine, personals, classifieds for bands, just about everything...one of the first people to call me was Eric Stacey from Fasterpussycat..s o we hit it off pretty good. he had hooked up with Lantz who was the guitar player/singer for Supercool..and is the guitar player singer for Smack... my new band.. so the three of us started up Supercol.. so once I got out there we started on some songs, they had written some songs.Desperate to try and find a drummer went through about 3 different drummers till we got Vic Foxx from Enuff Znuff and Vince Neil band. that band started out with the best intentions. and the best hopes and turned into a nightmare. We did some cool shows, we did a Japanese tour last January.. a year ago. that was fun.. basically that band had allot of dysfunction. I can elaborate.. but I wont..alot of chemicals.. alot of substance abuse..
J-How long was that band around then technically..
S-About 8 months..
J-Any recordings?
S-Yes we did a..6 song ep called Live at the Wilcox Hotel..something I'm not really proud of.. but its all right..when that band folded.. Lantz and I started Smack.. that's when things really came together..
J-Who did the writing in Supercool?
S-Umm..alot of it was ...Eric.. Lantz did allot.. I did some. but again I saw that band turning into a Roxx Gang. Eric wanted to do everything his way.ya know that Neanderthal.. my this.. my that... mentality. started to raise its ugly head again... so with the other problems in that band.. it just brought an end to it..
J-Then how did you start Smack?
S-Well me and Lantz came to the conclusion that Supercool was a dead end street.. and we had made an effort to start a real band, and get everyone involved in writing. make things a group effort. so a friend of ours Jamie we had known for a long time.. great guy, really cool.. cool looking, great bass player.. didn't have to think twice.. he was the bass player.. and actually Vic Foxx started off drumming in the band.. but decided not to.. and that's when we got Pat.. the drummer from Junkyard..this band is so good.. this is a band I've dreamed of being in my whole life.. we are all buddies, we all get along great, we have so much fun together..and when a song is written, weather I write it or Lantz writes it..its a Smack song..its not..oh that's my song.. I wrote this.. and I wrote that... its a group effort. and we have a great time. live is just a blast. playing with these guys is just a dream come true.. its what its supposed to be about..4 or 5 guys having fun. and that's what being in a band should be about.
J-How would you describe the music to someone who hasn't heard you guys yet?
S-I'd say its rock with a punk edge to it.. if people ask what the band is like.. I usually say: if Iggy Pop and Goo Goo Dolls had a bastard child..it would be Smack..its got that raw punk..70's Detroit sound..but with that allot of hook.. and punk, pop medleys..
J-Any recordings yet?
S-Yes.. we just finished a 3 song demo that we recorded at Catalo Studios in North Hollywood.. with Bret Muscat, he produced it..he was also in Fasterpussycat..so we're currently shopping that right now, and will be doing some showcasing in the new year. we have a few dates coming up.. the Troubadour in March.. so were really excited..the songs are really,really strong, were getting a great response. just in the last month and a half we've been getting a really good response were starting to get a buzz going..
J-How about touring..
S-Well we are working on going back to Japan, in hopefully March..and go over and do it right this time.. unlike with Supercool.
J-Who came up with that name... I just have to ask...hahahaha
S-hahahaha.. I can remember.. this is actually a funny story..
J-I didn't want to bring it up. cause I was worried you might have come up with it.. but I hated that name..
S-Well its funny you should ask...me and Eric had been talking and trying to come up with a name...so we are playing phone tag..cause I'm still in Florida.. and I get home one day. and its Eric.. and he's like...oh dude we have the name of the band..its so cool. but I don't wanna tell you on the machine, so I call him back and I get his machine. he calls me back and gets my machine. I'm emailing him.. just tell me the name.. so finally I come home the next day and I check my machine. and he's like hey dude the name of the band is super cool.. and im like ok.. I know its going to be cool.. what's the name of the band? so I email him again.. again we cant get ahold of each other..and finally he's like the name of he band is Supercool.. im like what's the name of the band!...like dude where's my car...? he goes nooo.. that's the name of the band.. Supercool.. I was like...oh..ok..I never liked it.. I thought it was stupid name of a band.. Supercooll.. sounds like the Backstreet Boys or something..you should hear it when the Japanese say it.. hahaha..
J-hahaha.. ok.. what's the address to the smack website?
J-How do you feel about the whole online music sharing.. like Napster..etc.?
S-I guess it's ok.. as long as people are still going out and buying the albums..the thing that frightens me.. is someone lending out a cd..and burning it, it kinda ruins the whole mystic of hearing a band on the radio..and your like man..thats a great song, and you see the video and you go out and buy the album..
J-Ya that's how I bought Roxx Gangs first album.. I saw the video on mtv.and loved it..so I bought it..
S-Ya, I just saw the album, and thought these guys look cool.. I hadn't even heard the album..but ya that scares me a little..it ruins the mystic.. of opening a package.. and reading the lyrics..and the liner notes, and looking at the pictures..the whole experience.. so I have mixed emotions about it..
J-How do you think the internet has helped promote bands..?
S-Well I think it has definitely helped allot.. cause you have that whole networking system.. just from your website.. you can touch base with people all the way across the world.. Japan.. etc.. and they can tell there friends, and so on and so on..you get a whole lot of feedback from all over the world..weather your a signed band or not.. you can have sound bites and people can have access to your music all over the world, I think its an amazing thing, and it definitely helps..its all good..
J-What kind of music do you listen to now.. any new bands?
S-New bands.. hmm.. I got to really think about this.. there isn't too many new bands I listen to. I like PaPa Roach.. Foo Fighters.. I listen to STP.. Not allot of new bands... geez. I'm drawing a blank..
J-ok...anything else you would like to say to your fans out there reading this?
S-Watch out for Smack.. Good things are happening.. I think this band is going to get a deal this new year.. if your ever in L.A. look for the band playing..don't be a stranger.. we'll have a drink..
J-How about emails. do you answer them?
S-Absolutely.. we have a great message board on the site.. we encourage people to write us all the time.. its a busy site, cause we're always changing it up.. the great thing about this band is we have 4 comedians in it.. we all have a really fucked up sense of humor.. always doing goofy shit.. so there is always a good time involved..
J-ok cool. thanks..
S-Thank you!
