A Dirty Dozen with REX CARROLL from WHITECROSS – March 2024

According to a recent press release: “One of the first-ever Christian hard rock/metal bands is the Illinois-based, Whitecross. The band started in the early 80’s, touring steadily from 1988 to 1994 and averaging 150 performances per year. The Dove Awards recognized Whitecross three times: twice for Metal Album of the Year, and once for Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year. In the process, Whitecross helped forge the style now widely known as “white metal.” Now the band – singer Dave Roberts, guitarist Rex Carroll, bassist Benny Ramos, and drummer Michael Feighan – is back with a brand new album. Produced by Rex Carroll, Fear No Evil arrives on March 22nd via Dark Star Records.” We get Rex to discuss new music, influences, and 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 you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Thank you for this interview, there’s a lot of fun questions here! Starting from the first question, there’s a new release from WHITECROSS called FEAR NO EVIL. It’s a full length, 11-song album.  I’d say our musical influences run the gamut of a lot of classic rock bands from Scorpions, Dokken, Ratt, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, UFO, Deep Purple, and on down the list. We’re very heavy on the guitar – I’ve put a guitar solo on every album I’ve ever done as a homage to one of my guitar heroes, the great Edward Van Halen. Our lead singer has often been compared to all the great singers from the era of Dio, Coverdale, Sammy Hagar, and so forth. We’ve been at it since 1985, and this is without a doubt our strongest and most complete album so far.

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

When I was very young, I wanted to be a drummer, like Ringo Starr. But my mom thought it better for me to play piano or guitar. As it turns out, I started on piano, switched to the violin which I played all throughout my school years, and I got my first guitar when I was 10 and never looked back. My love for the guitar eventually won out over the violin, but I do believe a lot of my guitar parts have been directly influenced by all the violin etudes and studies I had to do growing up; I’m always looking for melodic solo ideas within the song structures and I guess that’s a big part of my style. When I was 15, I saw Richie Blackmore on TV with Deep Purple rocking the California Jam. At one point in the show, he smashed his guitar directly into the camera and at that moment I realized, “I want to be the guy who gets to do THAT!”

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

Well as I said, Blackmore was a big influence for me both on the guitar and as a songwriter. I used to listen to everything I could get my hands on; a lot of guitar heroes from the 70’s and into the 80’s. Everybody from Hendrix to Van Halen; Johnny Winter to Yngwie Malmsteen; Stevie Ray Vaughan to Michael Schenker and Randy Rhoads. And on and on. And every band I could find, from Santana to ZZ Top to Black Sabbath to Scorpions, and then all the 80’s and 90’s bands. I stopped listening to a lot of new music in the late 90’s because as you know, the hair bands all went away and all the “guitar hero” music went away too. That was a difficult time for me to figure things out, for a while I kind of lost my way musically. It seemed like the music scene was changing faster than I could adapt. But it started getting better again in the 2000’s when I finally realized I just need to be myself, keep listening and keep absorbing, and the chips are gonna fall wherever they will fall anyways. I’ve learned the important thing is to be authentic, and true to whatever inspires YOU. That definitely goes for guitar playing, being in a band, and I suppose, for anything you do in life.

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

That is sooo NOT FAIR, haha try to pick only ONE. I have no idea. Beethoven, perhaps? Or maybe Bob Dylan? I guess I would try to pick someone from outside my own range of experience, in order to keep learning. It would be great to be a fly on the wall whenever the Beatles were creating all their masterpieces, maybe I’d learn something from that!

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

Y’all will think I’m crazy, but my life revolves around music, ‘band world’, and not much else. There just isn’t any time! That, and family, keeps me pretty busy. Having said that, I’ve wasted enough time playing video games; I also like the NFL, I’m a big football fan. I have a bucket list / goal where someday I’ll be able to go relax on the beach somewhere… maybe go down to Key West and disappear for a month, that sounds appealing.

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?

Musically, you could drop our new record right in between Dokken, Scorpions, Van Halen and Whitesnake but, with a very modern sound that’s heavy, very clear, and sonically modern. Lyrically, we are what you would call a Christian rock band, in the same vein as Stryper. If you like their music, you’d probably like ours. We like our lyrics to talk about things that are positive, helpful, and uplifting without beating anybody over the head- we want our records to have lasting value. With that in mind, sometimes people will prejudge the band and decide they don’t like us ahead of time, which is their prerogative of course. But we just keep rolling along, doing whatever it is we do, and making the best music we possibly can. It goes back to the “authenticity” thing – I have to live my own life and be the best version of myself; I can’t answer to anybody else’s opinion.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Our drummer is about 75% vegetarian, so anytime I can talk him into a Chicago-style deep dish pizza it’s a beautiful thing, that’s his cheat code. Beyond that I’d say we all look after each other.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

In my younger days, I was star struck by evvvvverybody. Nowadays, I don’t care as much. And besides, there’s a rule somewhere that says “never meet your heroes” haha. It turns out, they have the same issues you do, sometimes more, even. But I’ve met a few famous rockers, usually in a random situation such as at the airport. Most of them are pretty cool if you are also; they’re just trying to get along in their day and so maybe I’ll offer a simple compliment and don’t hound them. Sometimes you end up having an interesting conversation, that’s always nice.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

All of it! Although, I get tired of practice practice practice but that’s what it is. The travel is great, and you get to meet all kinds of amazing and wonderful people. Music is life; Life is music.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

This will sound cornball, but I appreciate all the interviews! It’s great to know that people are interested in the music I’m putting out and that being said, there’s really no “bad” questions. And these have been some pretty cool questions, thank you!

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?

From the very beginning, I wish I had been much bolder and more assertive with things like album covers, photo shoots, which songs are going on the record, mix decisions, and so forth. When I was young, I allowed people like the record label, the manager, the A&R guy, etc., to have too much say in my career. In retrospect, those people are for the most part not around anymore so the lesson there is, know who you are, what it is you want to do, and then simply go do and achieve. Those other people are there for a reason, but you only have to answer to yourself at the end of the day.

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?

I really can’t imagine anybody else’s record other than my own, but I’ve always been amazed that Eddie Van Halen was able to record his guitar parts in one or two takes on his early recordings. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall and see how he did that!

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Category: Interviews