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Mr. Castlestone, Your Favorite Wampire

INTERVIEW
with

How long have you been in the music industry?

Phase started making music as a producer about 14 years ago, mainly working n the drum’n’bass and dance industry, and I started djing/MCing 10 years ago

What inspired you to create your type of music?

It was natural progression I think. It was the music we were passionate about, the music that we connected with. We spent a long time studying and analyzing bands that we admired, trying to understand how their music reached us, AFFECTED us. I guess we simply wanted to try and write music that created that kind of impact on the people that heard OUR music.

Who are your musical influences?

I grew up listening to a huge range of music. Beatles, Led Zeppelin, INXS, U2, The Cult. Bands that wrote amazing music which I still love today, but I think musical taste develops with age. As a teenager, I was completely blown away with bands like Motley Crue and Guns’n’Roses, progressed to heavier bands like Metallica, Korn, RATM, and Sevendust, and eventually evolved into a full metal lover with bands like Machine Head, Sepultura and Pantera. I think DAY13 is a real hybrid of styles and influences.. It encompasses what I love about all these bands, but does not sound like any one band in particular.

What type of practice schedule did you have?

When recording we were in the studio two days a week. As we have our own studio, we had the luxury of having it available to us whenever we want, but it can work against you, so it is very important to commit to a schedule. We try to rehearse at least twice a week. Everybody still works full time so it can be tricky to get everybody together, but the main thing is that everybody spends time learning and practicing, and come rehearsal time the vibe is good and everything rolls smoothly.

What is your favorite gift ever given to you by a fan?

MMmmmm, I got a drum kit last year from all my friends, and this year Phase got a shit hot Gibson custom from all of us, so we are doing pretty well in the gift department I guess!

What are your plans tours and festivals wise this year?

We just landed the support slot for Drowning Pool and Puddle of Mudd, which we are stoked with. Both amazing bands which have had major success in the American market, which is a brilliant opportunity for us. We really want to continue to develop our live show and take any opportunity that comes our way, but we want to make it onto the Big Day Out (THE major summer festival for Australia) for Jan 2009

Are you planning on expanding your tours to the US this year?

We would love to make it to the US. Realistically, I don’t think we will get there in 2008, but we definitely have the work ethic and commitment to push as hard as we can.

How valuable do you feel internet radio will be to the future of new artists?

I believe the internet IS the new radio. Never before have we had so much information and new talent available to us. Bands can self promote, push their own music and advertise thru mediums like Myspace and internet radio(re: Castlestone!) for free, it just depends on how hard bands want to push it. The internet is the future of music distribution and internet radio will play a major role in breaking new artists.

What is the craziest thing some one has done to meet you?

I don’t think anybody has gone to any great length to meet me, I’m a pretty easy going guy who is always open to meeting new people.

Do you feel a Street Team is vital to the expansion of new artist fan base?

I think the expansion of your fan base is crucial to a bands development. You might be the best band in the world, but if you are not expanding a fan base and pushing to get your music played to new people, you will burn out. Street teams can push your bands sound in their hometown, to people they know, so they are an invaluable asset.

What would you consider your fan base to be?

We think the 18-24 year old market is the demographic which supports live music and new bands, so we are promoting heavily to that age bracket. We think our music will appeal to a fairly diverse group of people, but the younger age bracket will be the ones at our shows.

When are you releasing your next album?

“Roll the Dice” will be available in Australia on May 10th, and should be available on iTUNES by July.

Do you notice a difference in the audiences based on the countries?

I have not traveled extensively, so I can’t really comment, hopefully by the end of the year I will have a better idea!

What’s your favorite country to tour in?

See previous answer.

Have you listened to Castlestone Radio? What do you think about its variety?

I have, I think you’re doing a fantastic job, well done sir! STP is playing on Castlestone as we speak, so how could anybody complain? But, seriously, you play a lot of awesome artists, DAY13 is stoked to be included on your playlist.

Could you imagine yourself doing anything other than what your doing now career wise?
If so, what would that be?

I have had a lot of other jobs, but this is definitely what I want to be doing. I also run a promotional company called DSD, which promotes original bands and organizes large scale gigs, so if I couldn’t be in a band, I would still want to be involved in other people’s music.

What inspired themes of your music?

Our music has to have groove. It has to be severely listenable, catchy and have good flow. We want to write music that you can sing along to after 1 listen, but still love singing when you hear it for the 1000th time. The new EP is definitely influenced by classic rock, like The Cult, QOTSA, or GNR’s, but still carries over a lot of the personality of our first EP.

What process do you use to create a new song?

Phase and I have written all the music/lyrics to our songs so far. A lot of our tunes begin with a theme, an idea. What is the mood of the track? How does it relate to the other tracks on the EP? Is there an element missing from the EP that we want to include? We are very conscious of not being too repetitive in our lyrical content, and try and play with track structure a bit. Try and mix it up. Some songs have solos, others have a chunk breakdown, some include acoustic etc. We don’t want to make the same song over and over, but we want all the tracks to have an infectious groove that ties them together.

Who would you like to tour with?

Sevendust, Drowning Pool, The Cult, Chevelle, Korn, RATM, Machine Head (although they are way too heavy for us!) NIN

What would be your dream tour?

Doing a summer tour in the US, opening for Sevendust, Drowning Pool and Stone Sour.
Or playing with Pantera 10 years ago, one of the greatest bands I have ever seen on stage.