A Dirty Dozen with THE NORTHMEN – May 2019

According to a recent press release: “Watertown, NY Heavy Rock Band The NorthmeN are very excited to announce our partnership with multi-platinum selling artist Paul Crosby, formerly of Saliva, and co-owner Derrick Pichon of 434 Management. The NorthmeN have just recently released the official music video for their single, “Forevermore”, and announced their Spring/Summer Tour 2019.” We get one of the guys to discuss new music, influences, and much more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Our latest single “The Day I Die” has responded very well with many of our fans. It is definitely a crowd favorite, and although you may not be able to hear all of the different layers live, we put a lot of work into this song in the studio. If you listen closely in some parts of the song there are a lot of backing/gang vocals. We were fortunate to have some friends and family visiting us in the studio, and they got to participate in recording vocals for the track.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I have been around music all my life. I started off by playing piano around 9 years old and picked up percussion and saxophone in the school band. Around the age of 14 I got a guitar for Christmas and started teaching myself. Discovering bands like Aerosmith, Guns n Roses, and Metallica, and seeing them play to thousands of people and the emotion the came through the music made me want to pursue that same feeling. I love creating new music, and getting to travel and see new places along the way is an added bonus.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

I have a lot of different styles of music that I listen to from classical to pop to metal so I try not to limit myself or the music I create to one specific sound. I have my general base of hard rock and then build off of that.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Over the years I’ve looked up to so many guitar players so picking 5 is tough but I would say Dj Ashba, Slash, Joe Perry, Randy Rhoads, and Mick Mars.

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I’ve always been a huge Danny Elfman fan, the music he creates for Tim Burton’s movies is very eerie, and dark and id love to help score a movie with him.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Overall I’d say we have a hard rock/metal sound with some thrashy songs thrown in the mix. I cant think of any comparisons that we have had that I’ve been disappointed with. We always hear we sound like Metallica, Iron Maiden, or Judas Priest which even though that’s not our goal its still pretty cool to hear.

7. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

For me personally I would have to say getting to travel to places I wouldn’t have normally gone and meeting some really cool musicians along the way. On top of all of that, getting to do what I love every single day is just an added bonus.

8. When you have downtime and are hanging out with your family, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and how often is there an acoustic singalong or impromptu karaoke night?

I love to cook so usually I’m the one in the kitchen and as much as I love music, sometimes when that’s all you do, its just nice to take a break and enjoy time with your family, although my fiancé would be the one hogging the karaoke machine all night.

9. When was the last time you were star struck and who was it?

I’ve met quite a few famous people in my life and I don’t think I’ve ever been star struck. I think the closest I’ve come to that feeling was when we got to open up for Bret Michaels, but that was more of an excited feeling because I have listened to his music since I was a little kid so getting to say I had done that was pretty cool.

10. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Like I said before, I love to cook, so if I wasn’t playing music I would probably look into starting my own restaurant.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”, even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Nothing stands out to me as being a mistake in my eyes as far as my music career. The only thing I would say is I would have liked to have started taking it more serious sooner. Ultimately I am happy to be where I am now, and each band I have been in has played a huge role in getting me to where I am today.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Appetite for Destruction, just because that is one of the first albums I bought myself and its played a huge role in my style as a guitar player. I think it would be cool to see how they all worked together as musicians to create such iconic songs.

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Category: Interviews