L.A. Nookie

Singer/Songwriter Lorraine Lewis is probably best known for her work with the rock band Femme Fatale. Since the band disbanded she has released several solo albums in the country, new age, and rock genres. She can currently be found working with the band L.A. Nookie. I recently sat down with Lorraine to talk about her career and influences. She is without a doubt a very interesting character.

Maximum Ink: Since there isn’t really that much about you as a person out there, would you mind telling our readers a little about where you are from?
Lorraine Lewis: I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico best known for awesome green chile, skiing and hot air balloon festivals. I’m 3rd in a family of 6 kids and I taught myself how to play a sloppy guitar on my mom Stella’s acoustic that was hiding in her closet. I used to listen to the Allman Brothers, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young, but it was seeing David Lee Roth in Van Halen that made me want to be a rock star!

MI: Who are some of your influences?
LL: I still consider David Lee Roth my biggest influence, not really for his voice as much as his “I don’t give a Fuck attitude” and “it’s not who you know, it’s how good you look” attitude. I love that! Charo was a big influence on me as well as Tina Turner and The Dvinyls. I also like Joan Jett, Nickelback, Stone Temple Pilots, Motley Crue!

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The Last Vegas

When you mix glam rock, gritty sound, and a few guys that look like they belong on Hollywood Boulevard you get THE LAST VEGAS. This Chicago based rock group will give you a “brutal appreciation of rock music… that’s gritty, sleazy, and dangerous,” according to vocalist Chad Cherry. Coming off their recent tour with their long time heroes and fellow glam rockers, Mötley Crüe, the band finds themselves headlining in a more intimate atmosphere.

Growing up on arena rockers like Aerosmith and The Doors, this quintet found themselves living a dream when they went on a stadium tour with the Crüe. After the dream tour THE LAST VEGAS are happy to play for smaller crowds in a more intimate atmosphere

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The Last Vegas

Michigan native Chad Cherry and his band The Last Vegas were awarded the iTunes “Rock Song of the Year” in 2009 for the song “I’m Bad off of the album “Whatever Gets You Off”.

The Last Vegas were then hand picked by Motley Crue as a part of Guitar Center’s “On-Stage” Program, and later signed and are managed by the Crue.

The band came together when some of the group were living in the small town of Normal, Illinois playing house parties and decided to take the act to Chicago where they met and where joined by Chad and his childhood friend Danny Smash.
 
Before being signed to Eleven Seven Music, they had independently sold well over 10,000 records, toured in over 17 countries and were designated the official music of Kyle Busch Motor Sports.

Maximum Ink: At what age did you first know you wanted to become a singer? What did you want to do before then?
Chad Cherry: I have always been guided and driven by music. At a very early age I crossed over to the dark side via rock-n-roll and sold my soul. I would say around the age of 14 or 15 I dove into writing and singing songs as more of something I took serious then just for the sake of me not being bored in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. There was only one path that I have been on my whole life. I’ve always wanted to be a part of rock-n-roll chaos.

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Taproot

Fourteen years, seven albums, and hundreds and thousands of tour miles traveled, they are a band of many fortunes; Bad fortunes such as lineup changes and losing record labels, and good fortunes including touring with Deftones, Incubus, Mudvayne, as well as having multiple Top 20 singles off of various albums. Resilience is key when considering Taproot. Bassist Phil Lipscomb tells Maximum Ink a little about where he came from musically, and what sets Taproot and their fans apart.

Maximum Ink: Where did you get your start with music?
Phil Lipscomb: For me personally, my start was with my brother. I got my first bass off of him, and he had been playing guitar for years. I just going from there.

MI: You have been touring a lot in the past year or two. What do you do to stay sane when you’re on the road for months at a time?
PL: Well, my dad was in the Air Force, and I’ve moved around all my life, so I really enjoy traveling. I love being on the road. Two or three months is a long time to be on the road. By the end of the tour, I get that, “I need to be home, and I need to be able to relax for a little bit,” feeling. For the most part, we’re all friends, we’ve been friends for years and we get along pretty well. That helps tremendously.

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Lo-Pro

Hailing from Southern California, Lo-Pro is comprised of frontman Pete Murray, guitarists Pete Ricci and Neil Godfrey, bassist Jerry Oliviera, and drummer Tommy Stewart (ex Godsmack drummer). Murray and Neil have been writing material together for almost 20 years. The long awaited follow up to the self-titled debut called “The Beautiful Sounds of Revenge” is expected to be released in May 2010.

Maximum Ink: Who are some of your musical influences?
Pete Murray: I grew up on Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, U2. I wanted to sing in a band after seeing Ministry live for the first time but I’d say melody is the biggest influence. I also miss the days when massive bands like that would reinvent themselves every time they released a new record - regardless of how well the last one did. There are too many bands nowadays writing the same record over and over because “it worked the first time.”

MI: It is mentioned during the time between albums you had taken up yoga as a way to deal with anger. How would you say it helped you deal with
things?
PM: Yoga taught me how to breathe again. It’s changed my perspective completely. I don’t take this whole journey of life so seriously anymore.

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Lords Of The Trident

Can you define heavy metal? Does metal mean screaming vocals and deadly distortion? Or is metal wailing guitar solos and an iron lunged singer?

To Fang VonKillenstein of Lords Of The Trident, heavy metal is “that distorted sound that makes you roll down your windows in the summer and makes you put your fist in the air, out the window. It just gives you that feeling in the pit of your stomach that just drives that ‘yeah.’” One can only assume that “yeah” would make King Diamond proud.

Mr. Killenstein, also known as Ty, defines their sound as “80’s metal mixed with modern influences.”

“Our structure is more towards classics 80’s, but we down tune and are fans of modern death and black metal. Those tonalities show up a lot as well.”

Using their local flavor, they have turned bits and pieces of the UW Campus and Madison into epic metal. Fang explains:

“The Madison music scene is really a lot of indie rock, around campus especially. When you say metal, the average Joe thinks of death and turns the other cheek to our music. Half the people come to our shows for cool music, but the other half just come to see what the hell we are up to. “

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Mastodon

Any metalhead with their ear to the ground is sure to hear the rumbling, gargantuan footsteps of the mighty Mastodon. The densely complex and thought provoking heavy rock of the recent Crack The Skye and Blood Mountain releases have propelled Mastodon out of the underground and onto arena bills and critic’s top lists. I conversed with drummer Brann Dailor in anticipation of their May 18th appearance at the Orpheum Theater in Madison. Mastodon is rounded out by guitarists Bill Kelliher, Brend Hinds, and bass player Troy Sanders.

Maximum Ink:  Has Mastodon been to Madison before?

Brann Dailor:  I’ve been there a bunch of times.

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