Published: February 20, 2010 8:46 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight February 2010 Edition
Why Anonymous
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
Why Anonymous Photo by Sanne Vinter
Indie Rock/Alternative band Why Anonymous is heating up the music industry with their kick ass/hard rocking style of Rock music. With a level of intensity and rage that will please any hardcore Rock fan, Why Anonymous' music comes out sounding like champions. In this spotlight with the band, our Webzine gets the 411 on who is Why Anonymous.
Questions were answered by Michael Lund: Drums.
Isaac: I just listened to one of your songs titled, "Can't Close the Door". What was the inspiration for making this song and your new album?
Mike: That song is one of my favorites from our debut album - which is called "Who We Are" by the way. The song is basically about being sick of life, but living it anyway. As far as I remember, the title of the song refers to some problems with ending a specific relationship.
We had made a lot of demos and played a great deal of shows when we wanted to take it further and go do an album. Even though we all live in a "music download era" and the whole concept of doing albums is more or less dying, we felt that we owed it to the people who came to our shows.
Isaac: Who were your influences?
Mike: We are influenced by a lot of great bands, but some of the main influences are; Nickelback, Creed, 3 Doors Down, Papa Roach, Kiss and the list goes on. We are mostly influenced by American/Canadian hard-rock bands.
Isaac: What do you consider to have been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?
Mike: The biggest highlight is definitely releasing our debut album. We released album on our own record label which is called "Kayoh Records" and so we had to do everything ourselves and doing that was a very big learning experience. It was tough at the time, but looking back at the moment when you get the final product in your hands; it was magic. You get a really strong feeling of achievement and success.
The time in our career that sucked the most will have to be very recently, when someone broke into our rehearsal room and stole some of our gear. Stealing a musician's gear is almost like stealing from a church - it is just low and filthy.
Isaac: Brief history about your background plus the style of music you play.
Mike: We started playing music as teenagers back in 1992 and we play music because we love it. It is important for us to be honest about what we do and to trust our creative processes. This why we started our own record label; nobody else owns our music and we make all the decisions ourselves - we always have and we always will.
We've played a lot of local and regional shows over the years. This includes opening up for bands like "Thin Lizzy" (UK) and "Freak Kitchen" (SE).
Why Anonymous Photo by Sanne Vinter
Isaac: How easy is it to gets gigs for you as an artist? What is the live music scene like in your area?
Mike: Well, we've had really good success in getting airplay in the U.S. and Canada as opposed to Copenhagen, which is where we live. When it comes to getting live gigs in our area, the recession has obviously taken its toll on the venues so that combined with a tough competition (since we don't have a lot of clubs to choose from) makes it kind of difficult at the moment. However, we do see smaller rock venues shoot up here and there, so we'll hopefully have a little more options to choose from in the coming year.
Isaac: What do you think of the state of Rock music at the moment? Do you listen to radio much at all? Has the Internet helped music grow or hindered it in your opinion?
Mike: Hmm, the state of rock music… That's a big question. I think there are many really great rock bands out there and I think the rock, as a genre, has really evolved over the past years and also brought forward some of its "sub-genres" like Emo and Indie.
I listen to radio every day. I listen to local/national radios and Internet-based radios. I love the fact that I can listen to a rock radio stations in U.S. who plays stuff the Danish radios would never consider airing. In that sense, the Internet has really helped music grow, but I think it's difficult to whether the Internet has either helped or hindered the growth of music. I think it's an era that bands and fans are adjusting to. It has never been easier for a band to expose themselves to the entire world; all it takes is a demo recording and a few mouse clicks. However, this means there is a lot of "noise" out there too and I think this could make the lives of some of the really good bands harder because it might be more difficult to win over new fans. The fans have so many different bands to pick from and the more "noise" there is in this pool of bands, the harder it will be for the fans to pick out the really good ones. So in a nutshell; the Internet era has made musical growth more competitive than ever.
So what do I think about the Internet's influence on the growth of music? I think it's great! There are so many self promotion tools for bands out there and so many possibilities - you just got to learn how to make use of them
Why Anonymous Photo by Sanne Vinter
Isaac: If you could create a fantasy band - what would be the line-up and why?
Mike: That's a really tough question. I think I'd either end up with a heap of bands or with a big-band. But I'll give it a try anyway:
Vocals: Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis)
Guitar: Mark Tremonti (Creed)
Guitar: Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne)
Bass: Robert Trujillo (Metallica)
Drums: Tony Palermo (Papa Roach)
Like I said, it's a tough question and if you ask me again tomorrow, the answer would probably not be the same.
I chose Tomi Joutsen on vocals because he's got a really powerful voice that made me go "wow!" when I heard him sing the first time. He's got that evil power over his voice as well as melody.
On guitars I chose Mark Tremonti and Zakk Wylde as they both have a really bold way of playing rhythm guitars and they both possess good soloing skills (and Zakk is a hell of a performer on stage).
Robert Trujillo is one of the most insane bass players I've ever seen/heard (only topped by Les Claypool from Primus who's just like from another planet). I think Robert has done an awesome job in Metallica, which is why I chose him on bass.
Drums! Now this one was really difficult, as I'm a drummer myself and I like so many different drummers. I picked Tony Palermo of Papa Roach as he's got a tremendous energy level on stage and he's a master of incorporating the most insane tom grooves. He's also able to keep things simple, which is something I value a lot.
Isaac: What CD's do you currently have available and where can they be purchased from?
Mike: We currently have one album out ("Who We Are", Kayoh Records). The CD can be purchased from www.cdbaby.com/whyanonymous. If you live in Europe you can purchase the CD from www.kayohrecords.com as well.
The album is of course available on the major music download sites like iTunes and so on. Go to http://jupiterson.wordpress.com/ for direct links.
At the moment we're recording songs for a new EP, which we expect to release within the first half of 2010.
Isaac: Where can fans access your music, videos, blogs, and anything else about you online?
Turn off the TV and get out there to support your local bands. It doesn't matter if it is "Why Anonymous" or some other band; bands can't make it without you.
