A.F.I.

In every generation, there are bands that generate either much adoration from fans or much hatred, but rarely is there any middle ground.  AFI is just such a band.  Love them or hate them, their sound is ever-evolving and fans are heatedly debating whether their latest offering, CRASH LOVE, is their best or worst album to date. 

Beginning in Ukiah, California eighteen years ago, the band gained a following with their hardcore punk sound.  After some personnel changes that were finalized with the release of BLACK SAILS IN THE SUNSET in 1999, the band, Davey Havok, vocals, Jade Puget, guitar and vocals, Hunter Burgan, bass and vocals and Adam Carson, drums and vocals, geared up to release their what would become their life-changing record.  With the release of 2003’s SING THE SORROW, AFI enjoyed their first mainstream success, winning an MTV2 award for the single Girl’s Not Grey and selling over one million copies.  They took three years to deliver 2006’s DECEMBERUNDERGROUND, which featured the rousing anthem, Miss Murder, and in September of this year, CRASH LOVE hit store shelves, seemingly cementing AFI’s mainstream following.  The first single from CRASH LOVE, Medicate, is currently enjoying heavy rotation on many national FM stations and the video is garnering them attention on MTV.

AFI guitarist, Jade Puget, took time out of the band’s hectic touring schedule, which is on a momentary hiatus due to Havok’s bout of swine flu, to talk about CRASH LOVE, his dream of being a novelist and what he can’t live without.

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Absolution

Over the last several years, a group of five musicians from PA (with two Indie CD’s under their belts) have caused some curiosity and commotion throughout the Northeastern US and now they’re spreading abroad. One city, one state, one hotel after another in support of the current TAPROOT tour, Absolution is continuing their DIY journey. After heavily promoting themselves in support of their critically-acclaimed EP Theory Of Existence from one side of the USA to the other, they’ve gained an impressive following. Delivering an adrenaline pumping performance night after night is just one of many reasons for the band’s continued success. Now, with the arrival of their 3rd CD, The Other Side of Nothing, we were excited we could steal away some time with singer, songwriter, Mark Wojtkiewicz.

MAXINK:  Your CD, THE OTHER SIDE OF NOTHING hits the shelves on May 3rd. Collectively, as a band, you guys are on the road, you’re pretty much going to be tour dogs until June, kicking it off for Taproot. How do you guys kick back between shows, after the adrenaline rush quiets down, or when you get to a new city? What do you do to keep it real within the group?
MARK:  We talk with each other; share the experience as a family. Through all the ups and downs, we’ve become so much tighter as a group, offstage as well as onstage.  We were driving through the Colorado Rockies on the way out, and a couple of us were sleeping, but we smacked ‘em on the head to wake them up.  There are a lot of things out here that some of us have never seen. My first time in Vegas was this last year, and everyone else, they’d never been there.  So driving in, we’d wake up everyone so we could see it coming in. 

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Aerosmith

Try to define rock n’ roll without Aerosmith and you’re not going to get very far. After nearly four turbulent decades of breaking musical modes while struggling with severe addictions and internal dissent, the boys from Boston have proven themselves to be the quintessential American rock band. If there is any band that deserves to coast a little bit on their reputation, Aerosmith are certainly qualified. That said, legendary guitarist Joe Perry explains why it’s going to be awhile before Aerosmith put their feet up in this exclusive interview with Maximum Ink…

MAXIMUM INK: It must be interesting to experience the nature of your audiences changing over time.
JOE PERRY: Oh yeah. It’s not quite at drastic as it was 20 or 30 years ago. America has become more homogenized with all the malls and different things, national television stations and that kind of thing, so you have to dig a little further to see those kind of idiosyncrasies in each part of the country. That’s one of the reasons we stopped touring by plane and started touring by bus: You get more out of it, and it’s just amazing.

MAX INK: What is the best part of going on the road?
PERRY: Well, this is the most amazing country on the planet, and if you get to travel by bus, which we do, you get to see a lot of it, so we take advantage of that. I love all different parts of the country, because they’re just so unique because of the weather and the people, it’s just amazing. It’s never boring.

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Aerosmith - Tom Hamilton

As the bassist for the best-selling hard rock band of all time, Tom Hamilton has been laying down the foundation in AEROSMITH for almost four full decades. In the process of working on their new album and fresh off the release of Guitar Hero: AEROSMITH which brings the songs of the band to gaming consoles everywhere, the band is embarking on a summer tour and Tom took some time to talk about it.

It’s been an extraordinary run for the band since forming in Boston in the early 70’s and Tom brings up his original influences that made him pick up an instrument in the first place.“ I was 12 when the Beatles came out and the British pop explosion,”, he says. “Then the Hippie era started and we were all extremely interested in what was freaky and weird. From England, there was Zeppelin and The Who, and we were little blank slates who just ate it all up.“ And with plenty of money and success behind him, he explains why they’re still going. ”We just want to be part of it and don’t want to let things go by. In the 80’s, the band broke in half. With MTV, I remember thinking we were going to miss that. We don’t want to miss anything! We hear the voices of all the people that still want to hear us play.“

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Ahoora

Interview with Milad Tangshir (guitars)

The up and coming band from Iran, AHOORA, brings out their newest release, “Awkward Diary,” amongst seemingly endless turmoil in their own country. Their indie metal musings have developed from years of struggle, and the loss of a dear friend in the June massacres. As guitarist Milad Tangshir declares, “we sit where Muse meets Iced Earth,” and seven years of playing together has developed AHOORA into a melodically wandering, yet precisely heavy group. Tangshir shares some comments and thoughts about the national metal scene as well as the development of his Iranian forbidden band.

Maximum Ink: As simply as possible, how would define the sound of AHOORA?
Tangshir: We’re an indie rock/metal band from Iran. You could say throughout the years we’ve mixed aspects of Prog/thrash metal with alternative modern rock. 

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All That Remains

Pounding their way through the country, ALL THAT REMAINS find themselves coming to Madison. Bringing their heavy yet melodic sound and raging voice, this quintet of about ten years has helped redefine the new sound of heavy metal and bring a no bullshit attitude to an increasingly theatrical music scene.

Their most recent album, Overcome, takes another step in the progression of music. As Jeanne Sagan (Bass) explains “when we were writing this album we concentrated on writing songs and whatever the part naturally called for,” and with the combination of more clean vocals yet utterly brutal instrumental work, ALL THAT REMAINS has been able to reestablish their sound without losing their heavy roots.  These roots, Sagan says, are “influenced by the live shows… this underground world of music where people seemed to give a shit and energies of the crowd were intense.” The utter epicness that is the sound of their band draws on inspirations from across the board, Sagan lists, “chicken wings, relationships, and castles” in no particular order. As she digresses, “everyday is its own animal” but there is no denying the utter power behind their sound.

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All That Remains

Maximum Ink: Can you tell me a little bit about your new album For We Are Many?
Mike Martin:Yeah, everybody’s pretty psyched about it. I think everyone feels it’s the best balance of what we’ve done as a band. We spent more time on this one compared to the last one so I think everyone’s pretty psyched about how it came out. Last time felt a little rushed when we did the Overcome album.  This time everyone’s a little happier that we got time to go through things with a fine-toothed comb, you know?

MI: Was there a message or statement you were trying to make with this album?
MM: Well, it’s just the same for us every time which is to write the best record that we can.  Everybody’s always talking about, “Oh, there’s too much singing here. There’s not enough screaming here…blah, blah, blah.” There’s never been a conscious effort on any album to have more singing or less singing; or more screaming or less screaming. It’s just whatever the music has called for in the past that we think sounds good, we just put on the record. It’s always just make the best record you can. There’s no statement or like “Oh, we’re going to try to be heavier this time because people got mad about “Two Weeks.””

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