An interview with Simple Radicals

An interview with Simple Radicals

NON CONFORMISTS

What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?

The Simple Radicals more or less came out of the way John Griffin and I look at life and music. We’re both non-conformists and non-conventional. We like to look at things differently. Stay simple. But think radical. Hence The Simple Radicals. Eddie Vedder is my musical hero. I’m mesmerized with his writing and try to capture the messaging, passion and energy that he does in his songs. If I can even come within a million miles of that I’d consider it a success. There are so many bands that have influenced me over the years including Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Cheap Trick, Pink Floyd, and Pearl Jam.

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

I hate to sound so cliché, but I really explore the things and issues that are near and dear to my heart or affecting those that are close to me. “New Revolution” (https://open.spotify.com/album/4rgBmqnv7h3p5gYPGjiXfU) is the most personal and poignant project I’ve ever done. These are such deep-hearted issues in my life and for many others that the words and music came to me literally in the form of pictures and images. I just needed to figure out how to best express them and put them down on paper and then on an album.

NEAR AND DEAR

NEAR AND DEAR

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

I hate to sound so cliché, but I really explore the things and issues that are near and dear to my heart or affecting those that are close to me. “New Revolution” (https://open.spotify.com/album/4rgBmqnv7h3p5gYPGjiXfU) is the most personal and poignant project I’ve ever done. These are such deep-hearted issues in my life and for many others that the words and music came to me literally in the form of pictures and images. I just needed to figure out how to best express them and put them down on paper and then on an album.

RETRO

Why do you write the sort of music that you do?

We love classic rock and alt-rock. So, we’re a retro-rock and roll band that combines sounds and styles from some of our favorite classic/alt-rock bands like Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Green Day and Cheap Trick. If you like those bands then I think you will like our sound. You can follow us on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2rmuHn02XI1CIphHvmh-Vg, http://facebook.com/thesimpleradicals, http://twitter.com/simpleradicals, and http://instagram.com/simpleradicals.

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

We end up playing our entire album as well as throw in some kick-ass covers with our own flavor on it.  We love to perform live and our fans know that. We feed off their energy and passion and try to give it right back to them in the way we play our music. We also try to interact with the audience as much as we can since our songs are so personal to many. There is nothing more rewarding than watching people lose themselves in your music. It’s intoxicating.

INTOXICATING

INTOXICATING

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

We end up playing our entire album as well as throw in some kick-ass covers with our own flavor on it.  We love to perform live and our fans know that. We feed off their energy and passion and try to give it right back to them in the way we play our music. We also try to interact with the audience as much as we can since our songs are so personal to many. There is nothing more rewarding than watching people lose themselves in your music. It’s intoxicating.

NEW REVOLUTION

What plans do you have for the future?

We have a lot going on and coming up. We continue to push our album, “New Revolution” (https://open.spotify.com/album/4rgBmqnv7h3p5gYPGjiXfU) which has the guitar-God Vernon Reid from the band Living Colour playing lead on the track “Medicate”. We just released a song and video called “Rich Man Wanna Be King” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehjT9RZdpe4) which provides a scathing lampoon of President Trump. It was just released on YouTube and it’s already racked up over 115,000 views and climbing. Our video “New Revolution” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY7cm3-1m7E) has already racked up over 60,000 views and climbing.  We’re about to release a wicked cover version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” where we collaborated with an incredible husband/wife team called Che-Val. We’ll be releasing a quarantine video to our song “The Optimist”. And, we’re about to release a podcast called “Music & A Brew” where we crack open a cold one with musical artists including Kenny Aronoff (drummer for John Mellencamp and tons of others), Todd Sucherman (Styx), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Daxx Nielsen (Cheap Trick), and Jackie “the Joke Man” Martling from the Howard Stern Show. And of course we plan to play live again once the apocalypse is over.