What have been your musical epiphany moments?
When I was a kid, I heard Judas Priest for the first time over at a friend’s house. The guitars were chunking along with these hard/fast riffs I’d never heard before. Rob Halford proceeds to let out these amazing vocals. I was like, holy sh#&! What is this? Since that day, I fell in love with hard rock and metal music and would never look back.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
I pretty much come up with the guitar riffs for the songs first. Stef then comes up with her bass lines. Once we have the general format of the song, Stef does her magic with the lyrics. Her lyrics are extremely deep with meaning and she does a fantastic job with telling a story in every song. We would then present the idea to Kenny and Tom to add in their creative flavours to finish off the song. We can usually polish the songs off in one rehearsal doing things this way and it seems to work very well with this band.
Who has influenced you the most?
I’d have to say from the very beginning that it was Judas Priest. Don’t get me wrong, there are many other bands throughout the years that have left their fingerprints as well. But as stated earlier, Judas Priest was the band that put the goose bumps on my arms first. I can’t think of another band back then that had similar guitar work where both guys were lead guitarists and they could shred solos in harmony. Amazing! Throughout our first three EP releases, you can find hints of these influences as well as many others.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
Anytime another band comes up with something that just feels good listening to, it’s an inspiration to me. I am very particular when it comes to the music that I listen to. If it’s not hard rock and metal I really don’t care to hear it. A lot of the ideas for the songs we create come from me sitting at my desk just humming some riff. If I like it, I quickly grab my guitar and record it for a future song possibility. Most of our music is born this way. In the end, the motivation for doing this is simple. We love to create music, play out live, and watch our fans enjoy something that we created. If we can make people happy in the process, then we’ve succeeded. By happy I mean they are head banging and fist pumping!
We are all from the Buffalo, NY area. Surprisingly, Buffalo is a city that is probably 90 plus percent cover music with the bands. If you are in an original band, most people don’t care. They just want to hear music that they know. It is extremely difficult to push forward in an original band in this city as a result. This did not stop us from pursuing our dreams. We are accepted and very well liked here. Our music is hard, fast, and heavy just the way we like it. We love Buffalo and enjoy the challenges of playing in this city and hope to play outside of Buffalo as soon as we can setup a tour.
Where'd the band name come from?
Stef came up with the band name. The idea was to have something of a soft and hard side to the music. I think it’s more of a sweet and sour thing. The band name is a good representation of what our music is all about. Some of the stories can have a nice side to them, as well as turning and punching you in the face.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
This is a very tough question. There are so many to choose from. If we were to have multiple songs placed in a movie, I think a Terminator movie would be fantastic. The action scenes in the movie would mesh very well with the feel of our songs. They are heavy and angry in a lot of ways and I think the audience would just feel at home with what they are both seeing and hearing.
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
I’d have to choose our song ‘Adrenaline’. This song probably took the longest to create. The idea for the song started out the same as all the others. I knew I had a pretty cool riff to start off with, but something was missing. Day after day I would doodle with different ideas. The title of the song was cool, but we just had to have something worthy of the song title. It wasn’t until we added the section of the song where the tempo increases by ten beats per minute on every pass. After that we knew we had it. The concept of the song was complete, and I feel you could have an adrenaline rush after listening.
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
I’ve only got one moment that sticks out like a sore thumb. We were setting up the band equipment before the gig. I was on the floor plugging in the monitors. When I stood up, I ripped out the crotch of my pants entirely. Without a spare pair of pants, I had to think fast. The show must go on. I decided to duct tape them from the inside to close the giant tear. This seemed like a great idea at first. It wasn’t until we started playing and I started to move around that I realized it was a horrible idea. The tape began sticking to parts other than my pants. Can you say pain!!! In the future, a spare pair of pants might not be a bad idea.
We love playing live. For us, it’s where we need to be. The excitement we get from the moment we take that stage until we leave is an adrenaline rush like no other. We love getting the crowd to participate in every song. Seeing the fists pumping and heads banging is just awesome. The fact that these are the songs that we created, and people are getting into them and really engaged is why we do this.
What makes a great song?
In the end, it’s whether or not people really love the song. The overall feel and groove of the song has to be what people want to hear or it’s just not great. You know that feeling you get when a song you love comes on the radio or you hear it in a movie and get all amped up? To be great, that’s where it’s at.
Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?
The first song we wrote was called ‘Secret’. It was off of our first EP call ‘Wait’. It is a short song with a very simple format. I started jamming the riff and Stef chimed in and said “hey that sounds cool, what song is that?” I told her it was just an idea I was messing around with. After playing around with it, we decided it was song with a great feel. We then decided to turn the idea into a complete song and ‘Secret’ was born. It’s still one of my favorite songs to date.
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
Our latest release that is coming out on May 1st, 2020 is called ‘Adrenaline’. I think this is our best work yet and we are very excited to bring it to the world. Our first two EP releases we were on the right track but we were still finding our way. With ‘Adrenaline’, I think we have finally arrived at who Hearts & Hand Grenades really is. We are a hard rock band and this release truly defines us.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
This is another tough question. There are so many incredible bands that are on a whole other level of greatness. But, if I had to pick one, I’d pick Korn. This is the kind of music you listen to and just want to smash sh#&! The energy they bring to the stage is unreal. The sounds and visuals all come together like a beautifully completed puzzle. Just amazing!
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
I’m an old fashion guy. I love to have a CD in my hand. It makes me feel like I have some part of the band I’m listening to. It’s easy and simple. Just throw the CD in and listen away. There's no bull sh#& commercials or advertisements. Just the music and me. On a side note, can you believe they are making new vehicles without CD players these days. WTF?
I’m a beer guy. Whiskey tastes like horse piss. Not that I know what horse piss tastes like though. I don’t even care for domestic beers anymore. There a so many craft beers available now, how can you go wrong? The winter months are the best time of the year. All of the breweries are putting out some of the most delicious stouts. Can’t convince me otherwise.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
We are from Buffalo, NY. Record store? What’s that? Do they even exist anymore? Honestly, I’ve haven’t seen one anywhere around here in at least fifteen years or more. Find yourself a local paper and get out to see some of the bands Buffalo has to offer live. This city truly has some of the greatest musicians I’ve ever played with right here.
What's next for the band?
We are going to ride the waves from our latest release ‘Adrenaline’ for a few more weeks. We have begun writing new music already. Hopefully a tour is on the horizon and we can start setting that up very soon. We’d love nothing more than you get our music out in front of all of fans and give them the live experience they deserve. Stay tuned, some amazing things are forthcoming for this band.
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Thank you for conversation, we truly enjoyed it. You can find us at www.heartsandhandgrenades.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Our music is available for streaming everywhere such as Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora. It is also available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, Google play, etc. Until we can get out there and play live again, keep those fists up and heads banging!!