LOVES TRAGEDY INTERVIEW

The Grinder    Love’s Tragedy - Nashville, TN 
1.What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it?  What is your name and what do you do for the band?  Love’s Tragedy (Colleen)  We were sitting in our practice space brainstorming ideas, when Keith said, “I heard something the other day that I thought was cool: ‘love is a tragedy.’”  I said, “I like it but its too long”.  I took a sharpie and wrote LOVE’S TRAGEDY on a notebook page and said, “How about this?” when I showed them. Everyone seemed to dig it! Done deal! That’s how I remember it. (Keith) The name was actually a mistake. I was talking to a friend and was telling him we needed a band name.  He said something and I didn’t understand him…thought he said Love's Tragedy. He said "no I said…”, but I thought it sounded cool and the rest of the band liked it; so we kept it. Colleen Alanna - Vocals / Lyricist / Songwriter / Graphics Keith White - Guitars Chad Grant - Bass David Dicks - Drums We all work together in band duties such as managing, booking, promoting, etc…  

2.Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound.  We are based in Nashville, TN. (Colleen)  We are based out of Nashville.  Although we all live nearby, none of us actually live in the city.  It’s where the music scene thrives.  We’ve all come from different places, different backgrounds, different musical interests, and we’ve had different and diverse musical journeys.  Everything we hear and enjoy influences us...but I wouldn’t say Nashville has anything to do with our sound.  We influence each other.   (Keith)  The scene here is pretty robust with all types of Rock and Metal…some weird, some not so much.  I don’t think the area defines our sound.  We all pull from our own influences ranging from Rock, Jazz, Metal, Southern Rock, and Classic Rock as well. (David)  Nashville is truly a melting pot.  We are all from different areas in the US and came together with a similar music goal.  This created what I think is a great, original band. There are also so many great bands that push you to be better. (Chad)  I am actually native to Nashville and have been playing in the local scenes since the mid-90s.  There are certainly some Southern Rock and Blues influences to my playing style that I attribute to the area. 

3.Who influences your sound that would surprise people?  (Colleen)  The friends I have from grade school and high school will tell you that they didn’t see this transformation coming!  Back then, I was a “ballad queen” (as I was nicknamed by my musical peers).  All my solos were Pop power-ballads and ballads from musicals. Any woman with a great tone and powerful voice was my go-to.  Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Martina McBride, Anita Baker, Fiona Apple, Ann Wilson, and even Steve Perry.  The list goes on…surprising?  There are so many incredible singers on this planet and I have so many favorite artists…although my heart is all about Hard & Heavy Rock (and all the female & male greats have definitely influenced how I sing).  Every incredible voice I hear influences me in some way. My brother told me not too long ago that he thought I sounded a lot like Pat Benatar.  He’s completely aware that she’s one of my earliest and strongest influences.  I found it surprising (and not so much, at the same time) because, although I do credit her as a major influence and musical idol, I didn’t realize her influence was that apparent in my own singing.  (Keith)  I love bands like Journey and Steely Dan. Do we sound like that? No! But I like a wide range of music… Reggae, too. (David) Sleazy rock and pop-punk.  I love all sorts of music but these have influenced me the most. (Chad)  I am a big fan of Yacht Rock and Easy Listening such as Paul Young and Christopher Cross.  I feel like this has added more melodic playing to my style. 

4.Are you endorsed by musical companies , if so who , and if not who would you like to be endorsed by?  (Colleen)  No.  Who, exactly, endorses vocalists?  Ricola throat lozenges?  Blue or Shure mics?  The companies that make floor wedges?  Clothing companies?  I don’t know.  If someone has something I need to perform and wants to endorse me, I’d totally be happy to do so. (Keith)  I am a Splawn Amplification Artist.  These are some of the best amps I’ve ever heard.  They are handmade right here in America…my home state of North Carolina, to be
The Grinder    Love’s Tragedy - Nashville, TN - 04/8/19
exact.  I’d love to have a string endorsement like GHS or DR Strings. (David)  No, but I’d like to be affiliated with Pearl Drums, Zildjian, Evans Drum Heads, Vic Firth, Audix, and Wuhan. (Chad)  Not currently, but I use Ampeg, Ernie Ball Music Man Basses, Ernie Ball Strings, Boss Effects, Trutone, Pedaltrain, Darkglass,  and Behringer devices.
5.When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now?  (Colleen)  When we brought the band together, my goals were, and always have been, to write great songs with great musicians, to play live gigs, to record albums we can all be proud of, and to never limit the possibilities of where it could go.  I’m on this trip, wherever it takes us!  I’ve accomplished the goal, and hope to keep it up, for as long as i’m able. (Keith)  Well, my goal has always been to get a record deal.  However, the days of record labels shelling out money to record and then also support you for a tour are long gone.  So, I’d like to see the band get with its own distributor and be able to put physical copies of our music in places that wouldn’t have them otherwise with just us pounding the pavement.  It takes a lot of work that most people with a 9 to 5 job can’t do.  Ultimately, I’d like to have a solid manager that can do these things behind the scenes and handle the leg work for us. That way, we can just concentrate on writing the best songs possible. (David)  To play great music with great musicians. Seriously.  When I started playing with this band, that was all I longed for…now it’s to share this with the world!
The Grinder    Love’s Tragedy - Nashville, TN - 04/8/19
(Chad)  My ultimate goal has always been to have a great time playing music and, hopefully, have my playing be an inspiration for some other young musician the way my influences are to me.  Not sure about whether I’ll ever be an influence to someone, but I am certainly having a blast playing!
6.In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?  (Colleen)  It’s been a weird transition in the music industry over the years.  The move to streaming made it nearly impossible to sell physical records.  You have to play A LOT and you have to have an extremely large and active presence online as well as in media licensing and streaming.  People have way too much to chose from.  So you have to put yourself where the people are listening and where they can see you.  It’s a lot of work and it definitely takes a team effort to stay relevant.  We do our best to keep reaching towards a larger presence and put our music wherever people will listen. (Keith)  I believe having a strong social media presence and writing the best songs you can.  I think it really comes down to the old tried and true, getting out there and playing as much as possible in front of as many people as possible. Word of mouth is still relevant and still works…especially if you’re good. (David)  Keep writing and stay in front of the audience on all platforms and as much as possible. (Chad)  Social Media is a must these days.  Regular content across all outlets is essential to keep in the minds of the fans.
   

7.We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live?  (Colleen)  My goal always, in performing live, is to pull off the song at least as good as it sounds on cd, If not better! Sometimes a band can have an off night.  As a musician and spectator, you can usually tell if the band is talented or not.  Typically, though, if a band I thought sounded great on CD sounds awful live, then it’s a huge turn-off.  I wouldn’t be likely to take further interest in them. (Keith)  This is true, but I don’t really lose respect for a band like that.  More than likely, however, I wont go see them again. (David)  I once bought a CD from an artist that was absolutely amazing live.  The CD was far from what I saw live. Scarred me for life. (Chad)  I certainly think more of an act that can properly pull off their recorded music live.  There are certain instances where overdubs and such cannot be reproduced, but those are not issues as long as the root of the song is intact and performed strongly and properly.  That is why I prefer to only record what I can reproduce live, if possible.
8.Tell us your “core” are you Metal , Rock , Punk , Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know?  (Colleen)  We Just had this debate.  Are we hard rock? … are we metal?  We seem to be in agreement that we’re somewhere in the middle.  Heavy Rock?  Hard Metal? (Keith)  Its definitely Hard Rock, but we have some elements of Metal and of Heavy Pop to an extent.  Having a female singer, you can sometimes get away with having a Pop element.  Personally, I don’t want to write depressing music.  I like to have fun but also beat you in the face!!! (David)  The core is Rock with a razor blade chain around its neck! (Chad)  Rock is the ‘core’, but we are Hard Rock with a Metal edge at times.  There is sure to be some Funk and Groove winding its way into the next set of tunes now that I am part of the process. :-) 

9.This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular? Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “ in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent?  (Colleen)  Popular?  I don’t think we’re there…yet.  I can say, with a lot of confidence, that talent is what this band is about.  Every single member is extraordinarily skilled and experienced with their instrument and writing abilities.  The guys are highly respected by everyone of their musical peers in and out of the Nashville Rock/Metal scene and have been admired for their talents for many years.  When they play together, they give me such greatness to work with.  They have my back, musically, without fail.  They trust and believe in me, completely, to deliver my part.  That combination…that magic...that feeling of confidence…when you know ’This shit is just sooo good!!’  That is a feeling that is hard to describe and it really can’t be duplicated.  To have such incredibly talented guys want to make music with me gives me all the validation of my talent that I could ever need.
The Grinder    Love’s Tragedy - Nashville, TN - 04/8/19
Fame?  I could take it or leave it.  It’s not my ultimate goal in life.  I’m a fairly private person, so I don’t really want that invasion.  However, I do understand that if the band does become hugely successful, I’ll just have to suck it up and deal with it.  I’m here and ready for whatever comes. Personally, I KNOW these guys are incredible!  The musical chemistry between us is palpable.  It excites me and it inspires me.  It makes me want to give them the very best of me.  These guys are, quite literally, the best of the best! (Keith)  We are very talented. We have a great drummer who's timing is spot on and very influential. He can play a beat and it will inspire a riff or an idea.  Our bassist is a monster as well.  The guy can play anything in any situation.  Our singer has a great voice and can also deliver in any situation.  You can tell theres magic in the room when we're all together and firing on all cylinders.  For me, I would accept fame. But it would be for our talents and great songs. We don’t have a gimmick.  (David)  We are not really popular (Yet…~Chad) but we are all talented musicians. (Chad)  I feel like we are talented.  There is not a weak link in our group and each person is extremely proficient in their role.  I’d put our group beside any ‘Pro’ group any day of the week.  I’d certainly rather gain notoriety for talent over gimmickry.

 

10.Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember?  (Colleen)  I think I can speak for all of us in that the kind of music we play is high energy, “In your F’n Face”, heavyriffing, hard-hitting rock!  You would really have to be dead inside not to want to rock-the-f-out when we’re even just rehearsing.  When we perform our songs live, each of us goes to that special little place musicians go to when its just ‘so f’ng good!’!  It comes through each of us in embodied expressions of the song, combined with the playing of our instrument.  We don’t put on a “Spectacular,  Spectacular”, highly choreographed, and gimmicky show.  Our performances are organic and in-the-moment.  We move to the music.  We’ve escaped into the song.  We become the song.  Our hope is that you do to! (Keith)  We do move on stage.  We're not ones for staring at our shoes.  There’s a lot of energy in the songs and it will move you, as a band or as someone watching. (David)  When playing live, we are a tight, heavy-hitting, riffdriven, and with the polished vocals of Colleen Alanna.  (Chad)  We strive to give you as much of a visual showing as an auditory one.  We agree that standing in one spot or ‘shoe-gazing’ is just not it.

11. What releases have you put out , When will we see something new?  (Colleen)  Love’s Tragedy has released one single, “White Noise” and the EP. (Keith)  We released the ‘Divide and Conquer’ EP.  There are works now for a new release in the coming months. We currently have enough songs for a new EP. Onward and upward! (David)  Currently, our original single “White Noise” and our EP “Divide and Conquer” are our only releases but there are songs in the works for a new release soon! (Chad)  I am looking forward to putting my marks on the previously released works as well as being a part of the writing process on the new tunes that will be out soon! 

12. If you have videos where can we see them? https://www.youtube.com/user/LovesTragedyRocks/

13.Everybody has Bandcamp , ReverbNation , Soundcloud , etc..    Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?  (Colleen)  Right now, the music industry is a completely different monster than it was even 10 years ago.  It is so difficult to stand out among the millions of artists around the world that are talented and worth listening to.  If you want to be heard, you have to be everywhere.  That means you have to spend a lot of time and money to make your music sound worthy enough to give it more than a passing listen.  In order to get people to listen, you have to give it away for free.  It’s paying your dues.  If you keep plugging away at it, you might win the ‘Rock-Star Lottery’! (Keith)  Well, when you're still a relatively young band, you have to put material out there for people to sample.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Typically, even if someone has streamed you music online, they'll still buy a CD.  It's happened many times and I see no stopping that. (David)  First, you must make yourself available in today’s world but, yeah I do [think its giving it for free].  Music is art and I fully believe in paying artists for their work. (Chad)  As cliche as it may be, ‘exposure’ to the world is necessary these days in order to try and gather a following.  The hope is that you give a free ‘taste’ and people dig the sample and want more. 

14.Best moment of your career so far? (Colleen)  That’s a tough one.  I’ve done a lot of different things musically where I’ve had some of my best moments.  When Divide & Conquer was released and when i had the physical copy in my hands, I felt a lot of pride in making the EP.  WE had made this awesome thing ourselves!  I was so ecstatic with how it turned out.  We knew it was good!  It was my first official release of original music and I felt it was a worthy record to send out into the airwaves of eternity.  Right now!!…reuniting this project with these guys who I am in awe of everyday!  Seeing them excited about the music we’re making….It’s a pretty great feeling.  I think that we’ll have many more great moments to experience. (Keith)  Right now, it is playing with some of the most talented people and being in a town bursting at the seams with talent. Theres a lot going on here. (David)  There are several great moments but the first time the crowd was singing back the lyrics to a song in my second band….That was amazing! (Chad)  I had the opportunity several years ago to play on the main stage at Starwood Amphitheater in Nashville, TN to about 5k people before it was later shut down. 

15.Your message to the fans? (Colleen)  Mostly, thanks for listening!!!  Thanks for supporting us then and now.  We’re all very grateful for your loyal and continued support.  We are so excited for the new tunes, the old tunes, and the songs that we haven’t even written yet.  We hope you’ll stick with us!  Let’s f’n ROCK!! (Keith)  We love each and everyone of them and we hope to have their continued support. (David)  Rock n roll! (Chad)  Thank you!  ….each and every one!  You are the reason I get to do this and have a blast performing for you all!
 

Bonus Question who do you bring back? Dime , Cliff , Dio , Lemmy , Randy  (Colleen)  Ummm..... *blink* I’m just the singer. (Keith)  Ugh, that’s a hard one…how about all 5 of them? I love Randy’s playing and he was a huge influence on me.  DIO is just timeless.  Those first 3 albums are, hands down, my favorites.  Cliff was a genius…and not just his abilities as a bassist, but his contributions to those early Metallica albums.  Masterful!!!  Dime was an amazing guitarist!!  He was full of life and loved his fans.  Lemmy?  Lemmy is Lemmy.  He’s a legend.  Enough said. (David)  …. (Chad)  Cliff Burton:  He was one of the first major influences to my bass playing and still lives in the top 10 for me.  I would have loved to see what he continued play and further evolve into had he lived.