THE METAL TIMES: UNSIGNED BAND OF THE MONTH FEATURING POWERHOUSE

We're back with this month's Unsigned Band of the Month for September!!! Hundreds of bands submitted their best for this project..only a few were chosen.. we present to you POWERHOUSE from New Mexico!!!

https://www.facebook.com/pwerhouse/

This band bleeds with the Old School of Thrash Metal sounds.. soaring guitars and solid rhythm sections.. amazing solo's, and they just have the look of the 80's thrash bands that we all grew up to.

Hailing from Albuquerque New Mexico, POWERHOUSE brings the original intensity you'd expect from a hungry, unsigned band looking to add a label to their resume.

We spoke with the band in our exclusive interview, here's what they had to say:

1.) What's the name of your band and where are you located.

We’re POWERHOUSE out of Albuquerque, New Mexico!

2.) Where did you all meet and describe to us how you formed your band.

When we formed, we actually all met at different times. Our original drummer Andy Montoya contacted Niko Valdez for a jam session just to see how things went. Niko had just turned 18, was extremely eager and he already had a vision for the band before it even started. Once at the first jam session Niko had met Lance Montoya, the original rhythm guitar player. So at first, it was just two guitarists and a drummer who shared the love of heavy metal covers. Shortly after, we recruited Luke Peterson on vocals who was the singer on our 2017 EP Adrenaline. Lastly, through a video that went slightly viral of Niko playing guitar at his high school, Nate Smyth our current bassist contacted us and joined the band!

3.) How did you decide your band name?

We actually went through quite a few names at first.. One being “Scoundrel”? None of us were happy with any of the names we had come up with. Niko had one name saved for the right occasion, and he ended up bringing it to the table. That was “POWERHOUSE”, and at first no one in the band liked it but him but no one had any other ideas. Then as the weeks went by, the name spread like wildfire and people started to love it and we started to feel like it had some gumption, so we went with it and it looking back it was definitely the best choice!

4.) How long have you been a band?

We’ve been together for 4 years now, with some lineup changes of course. But with Niko and Nate leading, POWERHOUSE has been strong for 4 years.

5.) Tunings?

We really love writing in E standard, but every once in awhile we like to switch it up and write a song in something different, like the last track off the Adrenaline EP “Crush ‘Em” was written in Eb.

6.) Bands you have played with?

Looking back on it we’ve played with quite a few! Act Of Defiance, Exmortus, and Hatchet being super memorable!

7.) Major accomplishments?

We’re really fortunate to have accomplished quite a bit within a very short period of time. Our debut show, we outsold every band on the bill by 100 tickets. Which for some, may be nothing. For us, in the smallish city we come from it was a big deal. We released our debut EP Adrenaline in 2017, just over a year after we formed. Because of that EP we were scouted by the legendary Combat Records, and were put on a contest with 99 other bands to be signed to the label. While we didn’t win, we ranked 31st out of 100 bands worldwide that were chosen out of the thousands that tried, and we even were mentioned on the compilation CD, that to us is a major accomplishment. Since then we’ve released two singles, Whirlwind (2018) and The Patriot (2019). With The Patriot being our most successful release to-date. Our most shared, listened, and sold release.

8.) Goals?

To be honest, everything for us in POWERHOUSE is goal oriented. We don’t like being satisfied and stagnant and we’re always looking for the best riff, best tone, the best song idea, the best attitude. Our main goal is to convey ourselves to the world, the way the music speaks to us. We want to impact people, the way we’ve been impacted by our favorite bands. We want people to feel the excitement we feel, when we write and perform music.

9.) Tell us about your Biggest/ best show?

Our biggest show to date, was actually our latest show. Believe it or not, we were invited to play at a country bar call The Dirty Bourbon in Albuquerque. The credit goes to our previous fill drummer Jimmy who does the sound at that venue. It was on a Wednesday night, and over 250+ people showed up and banged there heads. It was super loud, super heavy and loads of fun.

10.) Any radio airplay?

Yes! We’re extremely grateful to have been picked up by numerous radio stations over the course of 4 years, and lately thanks to Wes from Metal Coffee Promotions for giving us a shot and spreading the word.

11.) Any Label intrest yet?

Yes, a few independent labels as well as Combat Records.

12. Let's discuss the demographics of your social media accounts.

Where are people listening to you the most based off of your Spotify and YouTube, etc accounts?

A lot of our listeners and fans, buy our music through bandcamp, or iTunes. The streamers definitely lean towards YouTube!

13.) Any awards like Battle of the Band winner, Band of the Month, etc?

We’ve been apart of many battle of the bands/band of the month and contests of the sort! Our first battle of the bands, was super weird but it was loads of fun. We were the only band out of our genre that played that show, the rest of the bands being metalcore or deathcore. We placed 3rd, out of 15 bands and it was our 4th show back in 2016.

14.) How are you marketing your band?

When it comes to marketing, we definitely try to use whatever we’ve got to spread the word. Word of mouth, social media promotion, videos, and yes of course.. Going out in the damn street and passing out flyers and business cards.

15.) Let's discuss your gear.

Our gear, is definitely our pride and joy.

Nate uses a Mesa Boogie Big Block 700 Head with a Frankensteined (3 different speekers in it) 4x10 GK cab and a 2019 Epiphone Thunderbird.

Niko’s rig consists of 2 Jackson Rhoads, one with EMG James Hetfield signature pickups, and the other Seymour Duncan Invaders. Through a Mesa Boogie JP2C into a Marshall 1960a cabinet, with a very small pedal board containing an Ibanez TS9 Tibe Screamer, Bose CE2W analog chorus, and a KH-95 Dunlop wah pedal.

16.) Day jobs?

Our day jobs, are exactly that. Days jobs. Nate works at a manufacturing plant for herbal supplements, and I (Niko) actually worked with him at that job for a year before the pandemic hit.

17.) Describe your music to us in one sentence.

Songs that are different than what you see out in the mainstream Metal world, as well as different than what’s been popular in the underground.

18.) Influences?

We’re influenced by everything we want to be, and influenced by everything we don’t want to be. Although our main influences come from the 70’s and 80’s, we also have a sweet spot for some of the bands we grew up with in the past 20 years.

19.) Can you explain what you want to accomplish on stage???

The stage, is where we feel most comfortable. Of course the writing, and recording process is fun but there’s something about being up onstage live that’s so exhilarating. We want to be able to project ourselves on stage, as a group of guys who turn anger and sadness into something special. And how do we accomplish that? Play harder, and keep the momentum climbing!

20.) What would your band like to accomplish if you were signed?

Getting signed, is every bands dream. When that time comes we want to make sure just like our other releases, to put out the best material possible. The most energy, the most heart and make sure all this hard work is for something great.

We're attaching a few videos from their YouTube channel for you to listen to:

TRIGGER WARNING

https://youtu.be/t2IrtVKzOaQ

THE PATRIOT

https://youtu.be/u2YkfzS1vdg

THROUGH THE RINGER

https://youtu.be/hLusoxQgWrY

CRUSH 'EM

https://youtu.be/iWID54G2MAA

HEAVIER THAN THUNDER

https://youtu.be/fSM2g-zTqlc

WHIRLWIND

https://open.spotify.com/album/5guAS6fgkN2FLdwCQXmHHe?si=lbL4iw-4Q1aDIs2Sq6sEJQ

A major part of qualifying for Unsigned Band of the Month is LIVE PERFORMANCE and STAGE PRESENCE.

We've attached a few videos demonstrating the band at it's best, ON STAGE!!! Those two factors determine about 75% of the qualifications for Unsigned Band of the Month, you simply HAVE to bring it onstage.. have a look for yourself.