I stepped onto the tour bus parked outside the 53rd street side of the Roseland in New York City where I interrupted an essential meeting between "The Almost" and one of their team members. The subject at hand, "Would you like a tall, a grande, or a Venti from Starbucks?" The flavor of the night in question was the festiveness "Pumpkin Spice Creme" which would be accompanied by a ritual spike to be named at a later time. The team member shot out into the rainy city street in quest of over priced caffeine beverages leaving me alone with the curious group wondering who was the dude with the recorder and camera in hand. I was wondering which one of these guys would be the one to expose the band's weak spot. The band was new to me and, unknown to me, would hit me with a few surprises of their own during our brief interview. We sat in the common area of the tour bus as fans rounded the entire block for this three billed show of featuring Drive-A, The Almost, and The Used.
I have to admit the only thing I knew coming into this show was that Kelly Osbourne's ex-boyfriend was performing in the Used and I was going to speak to the opener band. Never judge a book by its cover and always prepare yourself for anything possible. With a name like "The Almost" I jumped to think that I was going to be interviewing another band making minor noise and whose longevity would be measured in minutes, maybe days, but not by years. I could have slapped myself relentlessly after meeting this group because these boys are the real deal. I had the privilege to sit with Alex Aponte (Bass), Dusty Redmon (Guitar), Jay Vilardi, and Joe Musten (Drums) over a fifteen minute overview the opened deep talks about music, religion, and a great detailed insight to "The Almost" I "almost" wrote off before accepting them.
Dusty Redmon is a colorfully inked intellectual with many thoughts running through his mind. His view of how the band formulated seemed very well thought out. "Aaron needed a band after doing the first album in 2005, by himself and when it came time to play shows he put the call out for a band and got in touch with Jay who knew Alex who brought me and Kenny in to form the first generation of "The Almost." Shortly after we announced our EP in 2007, our drummer Kenny parted ways when he took his vows and married. It's questionable of whose final decision that was (the boys laughed), but Kenny is still a very essential reason why "The Almost" grew and matured musically into the band it know to be today. In his mind he was ready to move on from the band and to follow his personal dreams. When it came time for a new drummer, Joe Musten was in my old band and Aaron took a real liking to his ability to play so he matched the missing void that needed to be filled."
"As a Florida based band we each chose to explore ourselves by following our dreams outside the music and now we live in different areas of the country. I lived in Florida for twenty years before moving to Salt Lake City. Joe and Dusty now live in North Carolina and Jay and Aaron remain in Florida.." added Alex Aponte. "I want to say that the initial discovery of "The Almost" occurred in Florida, but it wasn't until we rolled out. I was stoked when we hit the road on tour for the first time. Things were happening, but we were lucky if we filled a one hundred seater. With Virgin Records relentlessly promoting our album to radio and with us increasing our fan base through touring the states we had a team that would give us that next ring to climb up on our ladder of success as a band."
I, being a traveling photojournalist, can absolutely back the fact that there are states of shame vesus states of fame. Florida is a state of shame whose market is limited in producing great music. The consistent transitional lifestyle of people moving in and out Florida can be of blame because outside of the Senior community gathering a fan base is near impossible unless you are a part of the metal market or an over commercialized circus act. It's hard to be discovered and unless you are fabricated by the likes of Lou Pearlman and molded into a boy band you chances at success are much more limited compared to a major music market like Austin, Nashville, or Manhattan. The internet presence is certainly helpful to me as a photojournalist as it is for young music artists who know all to well of the politics and financials needed to achieve a high level of success in the redeveloping music industry.
"The internet has expanded so quickly and it's hard to keep up with what's hot and what's not. I feel like my dad sometimes when I finally get something like Twitter and then find out it's not cool anymore. Our team and the band is really trying to make sure we stay in touch with our fans. Each of the band members do twitter and update their own personal blogs, and we are trying to stay as hands on as we can while we tour or write music." Dusty explained and continue to touch the fact about creating this band in a theme park driven state not very well know for its music ties. "Being in Florida was a very difficult market to start off in as a young band because it seems the majority of the bands that come out are in the Metal genre. The first tour we were first billed on was our biggest break and is where we grew the majority of our fan base."
"Monster, Monster" is an album internally viewed by its members as the band's first album release because it's the first album that the band each were able to record on and contribute to. This coming from the incredible fact that Aaron released "Southern Weather" as a one man band. Dusty popped a few peanut butter malt balls into his mouth and reflected a moment on the band's new record release. "It is kind of crazy to think about because the first album was completely created by Aaron, so for me this feels like the band's first album because we all played on the album during the recording sessions. There was some pressure on the recording side for me because it was my first time appearing on an album being released by an major label. i remember when we all came together to write the album we were able to do so pretty effortlessly and everything just gelled. We ended up writing more music than we had room for on our first album so those will stay in storage for now until we can revisit them for a future release."
Alex looked over at Dusty and added, "We try to write as many songs as possible and approach our recordings openly so to leave us with multiple options at the end. We prioritize our music by what we feel is really working at that moment and decide at that point which will be our next single. We have so many songs that we had to stop and figure out what we wanted to place in the new album. It's a process that has worked for us as a band and we feel confident expresses who we are."
If it isn't broke don't fix it and understand there is no cardinal rule to what will make or break a music artist and their group outside of artistic differences and the occasional wife swap. Each and every band I interview has made success on their own business model and it has worked for the most part. "Monster, Monster" doesn't seem to be an album created by twelve straight up radio singles. This album consists of a flavorful song list that includes an off kilter country song as well as a long play release titled "Monster." The music is furious, it's heavy, and it is fun. The surprise of the evening dropped into the interview when Alex Aponte dropped the "C" bomb on me. The Almost are aband with a top ten single in heavy radio rotation and a measurable fan base gathered feet from their bus outside. I would think that the band would have been headlining and not supporting a group such as "The Used."
"What is interesting about this tour is we are sandwiched between two bands that are pretty edgy like "The Used" and "Drive-A." We definitely stick out but I think music fans tonight and going forward are cool with it. I guess it's weird because we are Christians in a band and we are not afraid to say that, but we weren't sure how the fans would take it and so far the reception has been tremendous. Each show gets better and better and the fans are leaving having a real positive concert experience and not getting into, too much trouble. I imagine there are fans who have been looking forward to this tour for weeks now or months now and we are going to go out each show and put on the best show each time."
The cross over of Christian Rock into mainstream music is still a rather new concept and has not happened very many times. The last band to jump that hurdle to a notable level was Creed and arguably by Amiee Mann as well. When kids want to crowd surf and vent their frustrations it's not very common to do it to messages of love and peace or other foundations principles of Christianity. "There are a few songs more so than the last album where we do lyrically promote Christian view points, but the message Aaron writes lyrically with the album is more about how everybody on this Earth has a monster deep inside of them and it's important to sort out your personal issues with your family, your friends and your faith no matter your creed. I think everything is much more metaphorical and not so cliche, but we don't hide the fact we are who we are." clarified to me.
Dusty and Alex continued to illustrate the group's music manifestation was able to keep Christian view points in its lyrics. "We take the Christian principles and apply them to person the song connects to without stating the obvious or promoting religion directly into the lyrics. We believe in the bible and we present that to a person a guide to getting help or to embrace themselves in order to get through life's challenges. It's our way to say they aren't alone but the fans can transcribe that message in their own person views how they want to. We certainly aren't asking people to jump on the Christian bandwagon, but I think every person can grab and take a part of our message and to apply to their own life and that is what makes music and lyrics so powerful."
So what about groupies and the idea that a touring band is a party band? That was squashed when I took notice of a giant Television wired to a Wii gaming system. Alex tapped on one of the game boxes laid out on the table, "People have come onto our tour bus and we shocked to learn how calm we remain backstage or on a tour bus. They tell us how the experience is unlike any other backstage experience they ever had because we are very laid back and pretty quiet compared to other bands. It's not because we are boring dudes, it's because we are chill and like to have a fun time without the party scene." That is such a refreshing change to be a part of in my opinion because as the boys pointed out to me they are just five boys who know live in different areas of the country that come together to play the music they love and spread their messages of love, peace and harmony through a blend of very catchy music with great hooks.
"When we play in front of a live audience we go in with the thought to just play and to have fun with the music we created and the fans who we connect with. The crowd sings along whether they heard us twenty times before or this is the first time they are exposed to our music and our live show. We just want to have a good time and to share ourselves and our passion with the crowd." The interview concluded over a future prediction of what the each band member would like to do outside of the band and it was Joe who had the most colorful idea and which silenced the entire room. "I thought about this more and more for the last two years. I want to open up a super cool barber shop where I grew up in North Carolina. You know to do regular salt of the Earth haircuts for cops." Adam Sandler as the Zohan ran through my mind and I tried to imagine Joe in cut jean shorts cutting Salt-of-the-Earth haircuts for Cops, Construction Workers, and other blue collar gents who would enter his old fashion Carolina barbershop. "I want to do cool Rock 'n' Roll hair cuts. Not like sassy or Zohan style." Ok scratch Zohan and replace with Leather Face without the chainsaw.
The night was beyond anything I was expecting. Three great bands took stage and put holes through my head with heavy action music and inspirational messages. The ocean was deep this night and the crowd suffers poured over the flood gates one after the other. From the first opener, L.A.'s "Drive-A" to the headliner, "The Used," the Roseland capsized anyone brave enough to enter the pit. The music was tough the electricity was a continuous output of amps mixed with blended metal. The fierce and ravaging music by Drive-A was enhanced when Bruno Mascolo launched himself in the the waiting riptide of the crowd. it was an unbelievable sight and the crowd immediately connected and accepted the little man with the enormous voice.
The Almost took stage to a hungry audience that was ready to be raptured. Aaron parted his sea with a mighty salute and rock star roar. The crowd replied back with deafening gratitude as the Almost made the unholy, holy and exorcised the frenzy of fans into a acrimony of fire flared fanatics powered by force of goodness. The rise of hands, the yells for more, and the halo from the lighting illuminated the darkness of the Roseland into a robust blaze of imagery and theatrics. The Almost sequentially played an uplifting playlist solidifying any doubts that a band founded on Christian beliefs could keep pace with bands whose image are raunchy remnants left over from grunge or Emo influences. The Almost will continue their tour with The Used playing a number of cities throughout West coast. The shows are limited and the tickets are in high demand so get online now and get yourself to one of these remaining shows.
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