|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Birch Hill, 03.21.02 While preparing for our Injected interview at The Birch Hill, we read mention of the term "straight-up rock" on more than one occasion. We asked bass player Steve Slovisky what that term meant to him. "None of the new rap metal and stuff like that. We're guitar, bass and drums. Its all that old-school sound we're trying to bring back. A lot of energy and having a lot of fun at the shows." A rock group with no scratching, sampling or rapping? Interesting. Formed in ‘98, Injected's lineup is rounded out by Danny Grady (vocals, guitar), Jade Lemons (guitar) and Chris Wojtal (drums). Friends since high school, their influences run the gamut but seem to skip the 80’s altogether. Musically, Injected seems to be a solid hybrid of a 90’s sensibility with a 70’s influence. You can almost hear the bands that influenced them but can't quite put your finger on it. We sat with Steve for a quick question and answers session. Chris arrived shortly after we started. SHOW & TELL: Are you staying here in NJ tonight? STEVE: We're actually going in to NY to do an MTV rock show. We're going to cohost it... an MTV2 rock show. S&T: Those quickie spots between the songs where you sit with the VJ? We just saw Flaw do it. STEVE: Exactly. That's who we saw do it. S&T: What's after that? STEVE: We're going to Syracuse that night so we're going to drive in with the Greenwheel guys [who will be in NYC too] in their van while our bus goes ahead to Syracuse. We'll do our stuff and then drive all the way out to Syracuse and play the show that night. S&T: And you've been with them a couple of weeks now? STEVE: Yes. For a week and a half. S&T: How is everyone getting along? STEVE: Oh its great man. We had a kick-ass St. Patty’s day. It was awesome. S&T: Where were you? STEVE: We were in Tampa. We did a radio show in a parking lot of a Bennigans... Its supposed to be the 2nd most busy Bennigans in the nation. It was kick-ass! Man, there were a couple thousand people. S&T: And after Syracuse? STEVE: We go on the MTV2 Campus Invasion Tour with Nickelback. S&T: That's great for you. STEVE: Thanks. It's going to be awesome. We're really excited about it. They're doing a lot of really big colleges like Ohio State and Mississippi State... Colleges in the spring time. Oh Yeah! S&T: We went through some of your other interviews and someone always mentions straight forward rock or straight-up rock. How would you define that? STEVE: Pretty much a lot of our influence is AC/DC which is pretty much what we call straight forward rock. None of the new rap metal and stuff like that. We're guitar, bass and drums. Its all that old-school sound we're trying to bring back. A lot of energy and having a lot of fun at the shows. S&T: That seems to be the shift going on over the last couple of months. STEVE: Good songs and good music. That's what we are all about. S&T: We have a friend who checked out a band for us and he came back saying how there was something missing. Maybe passion and we disagreed. What's missing isn't passion but rather anger. They're just happy and out there playing music and having a good time. STEVE: There's nothing wrong with that. You can't be angry all the time. S&T: Switching gears, what's the best thing about being out on the road? STEVE: Meeting new people every night and going to cool towns. I just love playing for new people every night. Different cities seem to react differently. Like Milwaukee is an awesome town for us. They are all about the rock... every time we go there we have a great time. S&T: And the worst thing about being out on the road? STEVE: The worst thing is probably being away from home and missing our families and a lot of our friends are back home. This is a dream job... come on!!!!! S&T: Not tired of it yet? STEVE: No, not tired of it yet. [laughing] Talk to me next year. S&T: You mentioned AC/DC. Want to just rattle off some more of the band-wide influences. STEVE: Band-wide.... Led Zep, The Beatles, STP. What really sparked the band was a Quicksand and Helmet. S&T: You skipped the 80’s. STEVE: Yeah. S&T: What about nonmusical influences? STEVE: Hey late guy. This is Chris. CHRIS: I'm sorry I'm late. I was like yeah lets go to McDonalds. S&T: We were just talking about musical influences. CHRIS: We were just talking about this on the bus. We were talking about how Steve and some of the other guys in the band are really into the Beatles and I never really grabbed hold of the Beatles. I just don't get it. S&T: We talk about this all the time. CHRIS: My dad and I listened to Traffic and Zeppelin. S&T: You just did the other road going parallel. STEVE: Exactly. CHRIS: Yeah. There's always time to go back to [the Beatles] and I'm just waiting for the right time. S&T: Take your time. They aren't going anywhere. STEVE: Definitely not. S&T: You guys are all friends since grade school? CHRIS: Middle school... 7th and 8th grade and then all through high school. S&T: We talked about band like the Beatles and Zeppelin who aren't going anywhere. What bands from the 80’s do you think have staying power? CHRIS: Bands from the 80’s... Depeche Mode will stand the test of time... kids always go back to that. S&T: What are you guys listening to right now? STEVE: Fugazi and Tomahawk. CHRIS: I don't have any new records I'm listening to right now... Simon and Garfunkle, Heart greatest hits, Devo greatest hits. That's really it. STEVE: I like that Jimmy Eat World. CHRIS: Yeah, that's cool. S&T: If you needed to describe your music for someone, what band would you use as a reference. CHRIS: That's always a hard question 'cause nobody ever thinks their band sounds like another band. So I don't know, you will have to ask the fans. STEVE: Probably Quicksand a little bit... STP CHRIS: Maybe Alice In Chains... maybe. A lot of people put this kinda grunge label on us. I don't really see where that's coming from. STEVE: We just write music basically. CHRIS: I mean its all kinda rehashed. We'd like to think that we put a little spin on it. We were just talking about how the song "Only Hurts Awhile" got its vibe from a Soundgarden song... so I guess that's grunge. STEVE: I've heard us compared to Soundgarden. CHRIS: Really? That's fine! Book ended by the solid drums of Wojtal and the engaging vocals of Grady, Injected is progressive metal; riffs and melodies taken from the music of my own youth and tossed in with relevant lyrical content. Hard rock with a conscience, played just for fun. |
