Theory Of A DeadMan

Interview with Tyler Connolly (vocals and guitars)

Canadian rockers THEORY OF A DEADMAN roll through Wisconsin in support of their special edition release of “Scars and Souvenirs.” After lots of success in the states both touring and through various compilation albums the band has developed as musicians, and find themselves “growing on all sides,” according to Tyler Connolly (vocals and guitars). Several video game appearances, work with the WWE, and showcases in movies, such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, has launched THEORY OF A DEADMAN to chart topping success.

Their most recent album has presented a more mature writing style. Connolly explains, “it is now a more thought out process… before it was just whatever came out first.” The evidence is apparent as Connolly’s lyrics delve into broader terrain, and it exposes the musical talents of THEORY OF A DEADMAN. They effectively step away from angrier content and create songs that are very dark as well as songs that are just for fun. As the band matures they are devoted to “maturing without getting grey,” and they have learned the value of a great album with lots of promotion. “Simplicity is what we do,” explains Connolly, “we simply want to make playing (for us) and listening (for the crowd) a good night out.” They plan to break the cycle of their 3 years, one album trend, and hope to put out a new record within the next year.

Eli Mattson

Eli Mattson is probably best known as runner up on TV’s America’s Got Talent, on NBC, where he lost to Neal E. Boyd by only 0.5%. He has made several appearances in Vegas with AGT winner Terry Fator. Eli started playing the piano at 5 and has been performing as a vocalist/pianist since the age of fourteen.

MAXIMUM INK: You claim Door County, WI as your home. What it is like to get chances to play your home town?
ELI MATTSON: “Well I lived in Door County as a kid, went to Southern Door, and worked at the Pizza Hut in town. After that I moved around a lot but what Door County really gave me was a start with music. My first regular gig was at Java on Jefferson when it was there.  Now when I play there it’s great to see the people who supported me first.”

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. 

Everclear

The album that finally broke EVERCLEAR (and made them the vanguard of first post-Nirvana alternative generation), Sparkle and Fade, is actually part of Wisconsin music history. It was recorded right in Madison at Smart Studios and the band has great memories of the city. “I love Madison,” Art Alexakis (founder, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band) starts saying, “I love the sound of that record. I got to know State Street pretty well. It was a while ago and we made friends. The kids that graduated are probably professors now.”, he laughs. “I remember during the making of that, that was in ‘94. MTV was big at the time and one of the big videos on MTV at the time was ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden. It was really funny because there was a hurricane warning.” Then he realizes that he’s talking about the Midwest and chuckles a little. “Wait, not a hurricane warning, but a tornado warning!  It was the summertime. We were up at the top of Smart and the smoking guys in the band were smoking cigarettes and we’re watching this cloud up above us swirling toward us. There’s no sound, the air was totally dead, and it totally looked like Black Hole Sun. And people were like ‘get inside, idiots!’ And we’re like ‘Wow, that’s really cool’. Because we’re from the West coast, man, we don’t know about tornadoes.”

16 years later, Art is the only original member still with EVERCLEAR. In August of 2009, the band signed with 429 Records and by October released an album of re-interpretations of their older material called In A Different Light.

The Songs For

With their first full-length CD, On The Fence, La Crosse, Wiscosnin’s THE SONGS FOR have created a catchy indie pop record earnest and simple in its themes of affection and redemption. At its core, the group consists of Ross Lueckar and David Bashaw who share guitar and vocal duties while bringing in guest performers to fill out the band’s sound.

As Lueckar puts it, he and Bashaw share a love of “90’s modern rock which is our common ground.” Lueckar describes his first and greatest influences as Weezer and Ash, which inspired him to first pick up a guitar, while Bashaw “went through a music program in college so he has a lot more of the traditional framing and background, where I just have the desire to make noise.” As for the name, Lueckar straightforwardly says, “The band name comes from the fact that I like incomplete sentences. Travis had an album called The Man Who and that was an incomplete sentence. I just thought it was a cool idea for a band name. The first time I tried the name I ended up doing something else because the drummer thought that it made us sound like a bunch of sissies. So it got shelved for awhile.”

Top Dead Centre

TDC is Top Dead Centre from Ontario. Far From Nowhere is the name of their CD. BUT - - all the way to somewhere, and somewhere big, is more like it. These guys have major potential if they can get heard by the right people.

Listen, I can tell right outta the gate that from time to time I’m going to bring up the names of other bands in this review. And I really don’t want to. BUT - - just know going in to this, that if I bring up the name of other bands it’s meant as a pretty big compliment - because I’d compare TDC with bands that I like A-L-O-T.

The interesting thing is, I didn’t immediately gravitate to their record. Rather, it was more like it creeped up on me. Probably at first the musical similarities got in the way. I guess that familiarity with ageless hard rock that I’ve liked from the 70s to the present was a little too safe for me. BUT - - like I say, that was just on the first listen.