Published: December 28, 2009 8:55 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight January 2010 Edition
Dreadnot
Top Music Artist/Band of the Week: January 03, 2010 - January 09, 2010
Dreadnot Photo Album Cover for "Sons of Love and Rage"
From the very moment I heard the single "Dreaming of Sleep", Dreadnot captured me with their melodic tunes, intoxicating lyrics, and soulful bluesy rock vocals. For those music lovers who enjoy an eclectic range of music genres fused into one powerful sound, then Dreadnot will amaze you with their fusion of reggae, rap, rock, and blues into something that comes out sounding unique, creative, soulful, and meaningful. Our Webzine recently had the pleasure to speak to Matt Minor (Guitar, Vocals) of Dreadnot about this "dynamic" duo's music and the state of the music industry. See what Matt had to say on these matters.
Band Members:
Matt Minor - Guitar, Vocals
Michael Patton - Guitar, Vocals
Isaac: I just listened to one of your songs titled, "Dreaming of Sleep". What was the inspiration for making this song and your new album?
Dreadnot: Well, when we write lyrics for songs, we take inspiration from a psychological standpoint. We enjoy delving deep into the oddities of the human mind, as well as spotlighting the evil that we, as humans, are capable of. For "Dreaming of Sleep," I was having trouble sleeping and I texted Mike and told him I was dreaming of sleep. From there, he built a song around it about an insomniac fighting with himself and trying to decide if death is the best option to finally get some rest. For the album art and such, we took inspiration from old Clint Eastwood westerns like "For a Few Dollars More," which was also the inspiration for another song we do, "The Great Train Robbery of old Virginia".
Isaac: Sweet!!
Isaac: Who were your influences?
Dreadnot: We've tried to incorporate all good music we've ever heard. From Metallica, Pantera, and GWAR to Eazy-E, Sublime, and Jack Johnson. Right now we're listening to a lot of Muse, Days of the New, and the Doors. We even enjoy some bluegrass every once in a while!
Isaac: What do you consider to have been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?
Dreadnot: Probably the two biggest highlights have been:
1) We came in third at a battle of the bands of about 7 and we met some awesome people. The bands we lost to, however, were insane. One of them had a 12 string bass player that is close friends with Victor Wooten, and the other had the guitarist from the band "the Urge". We even met a guy who was a soundman for Motley Crue for a couple of years. They all said we definitely had some potential, so that was awesome.
2) We played a talent show in Richmond and raised $1,000 to buy bikes for underprivileged kids for Christmas.
As for a lowpoint, we've had EXTREMELY bad luck in a couple of our shows when it comes to technical errors, broken strings, and a couple of song mishaps. But, as it is with any errors, you've just got to keep trucking and learn from your mistakes.
Isaac: Brief history about your background plus the style of music you play.
Dreadnot: We met in high school at a mutual friend's house during a party. We started jamming and then it all led up to this point. When we first started playing, we played mostly just Reggae, Funk, and Blues. (a tip we like to share with all beginning guitarists is to start learning some Reggae songs....it really instills a good sense of rhythm in your playing.) We took a brief hiatus to discover what music we were actually good at, and we created an instrumental we dubbed "2012". It's probably our most recognizable song up to this point because of its popularity on YouTube. So, I guess we play a sort of 'acoustic metal' type of thing, with Rap, Reggae, and Rock thrown in there for good measure.
Isaac: How easy is it to gets gigs for you as an artist? What is the live music scene like in your area?
Dreadnot: For an acoustic duo, it's not as easy to get gigs in a town (Richmond, Virginia) recognized as the birth place of some of the most famous metal bands of all time (GWAR and Lamb of God). We play mostly parties with the incentives of free drinks and a crowd that will listen to us actually play music. We've played a lot of open mics, and we're happy to say that we could walk into almost any type of bar and be well-received by the crowd, because our music crosses so many boundaries which are usually limited by race, religion, and gender. As for Richmond, it's kind of a free-for-all when it comes to bands. There are so many talented bands out here just trying to break through, but it's like a fist fight trying to get to the top.
Isaac: What do you think of the state of music at the moment? Do you listen to radio much at all? Has the Internet helped music grow or hindered it in your opinion?
Dreadnot: That's an interesting question because we've been talking about this for a couple of days now.
The 60's had Hendrix and Bob Dylan. The 70's had Lynryd Skynaryd and Led Zeppelin. The 80's had Metallica and David Bowie. The 90's had Nirvana and N.W.A. What bands stand out in the 2000's? That's the problem. There haven't really been any musical revolutions or anything exciting. So instead of listening to the generic 'hard rock' on the radio, I find myself on the internet searching for unknown bands that are just playing music for the music. That's what I feel like we are: a band that plays it just for the rush. Without the Internet, we never would have known so many people could like our music. That's our inspiration.
Isaac: If you could create a fantasy band - what would be the line-up and why?
Dreadnot: Wow. Talk about a tough question..... hmm. We'd say Jimi Hendrix on Electric guitar, Dave Matthews on Acoustic, Shannon Hoon singing lead, Chad Sexton on drums, and Flea on bass. It'd be a funky/blues/soul/rock band, and it would rule the world.
Isaac: That's a line up!!
Isaac: What CD's do you currently have available and where can they be purchased from?
Dreadnot: We self-released our first studio album "The Sons of Love and Rage" on our own, and it can be accessed on iTunes and Amazon. The easiest way is to go to our website, http://www.dreadnot.info
Isaac: Where can fans access your music, videos, blogs, and anything else about you online?
Dreadnot: As noted before, check out our website (http://www.dreadnot.info) and you can check out the links from that to go to our MySpace, as well as our YouTube pages. You can even send us an email, which we promise to promptly read and reply to! Send us one to let us know you read this interview and we'll send you a free sticker!
Isaac: Message to your fans?
Dreadnot: Thank you for all the inspiration. We consider you family/friends rather than fans, and we would gladly buy you a beer anytime! And last but certainly not least: thank you, Mr. Davis Jr. for this AWESOME opportunity!
