I’m not sure what it is about rockers that come out of Florida. Maybe it’s that I don’t expect good music to come from the land of Disney and retirement villages.  Two of my favorite artists, Tom Petty and Sister Hazel, both hail from Florida.  Add to the list of rock luminaries from Florida that band megaphone.  The Orlando based alternative rockers just wrapped up a banner year in 2009.  The release party for their second album at the House of Blues in Orlando drew nearly 2,000 people.  Shortly thereafter, they opened up for AC/DC in front of 15,000 fans at Amway Arena, and open up shortly after that for Joe Perry (guitarist for Aerosmith).

Continuing their trend of good fortune into 2010, megaphone is releasing tracks on the RBN, and currently has three songs available in the Rock Band Network: “Not Your Enemy,” “Gravitate,” and “My Favorite New Disaster.”  I got a chance to talk to the band about themselves, their music, and the Rock Band Network.  Check it out!

RockBandAide: Tell us about Megaphone and the members of the band.

Matt Bloodwell: megaphone is a 4 piece rock band from Orlando FL. We started as kind of an Orlando super group, all of us from well known Orlando bands. Scott Smith (drums) used to play with Cori Yarckin. James Woodrich (bass & vocals) used to be with My Hotel Year who had releases on Both Beyond Records and Dog Pile Records. Paul Smith (guitar & vocals) was a touring guitarist for 7 Mary 3 (Atlantic/Mammoth) and Von Ra (Electra Records). And myself, Matt Bloodwell (vocals & guitar), I used to play drums for Orlando’s Precious. The mission is simple: Saving rock n’ roll from the machine, and bringing it back to where it should be: loud, catchy, and in your face!

RBA: How did you end up deciding on the name “megaphone” for your band?

MB: We were looking for something simple and easy for people to identify with. We liked the one word idea and we wanted it to be something that you would recognize. We had a ton of ideas and we all couldn’t find one that we all thought fit the sound of the band. I heard the word ‘megaphone’ in a lyric by my friend Chance’s band at the time, Portable, and that was it. That’s the short version.

RBA: How would you describe your music to people who have never heard it?

MB: It’s in your face, unashamed, guitar rock with hooks that stick to the side of your head. If Foo Fighters beat up Butch Walker and Lit while listening to your favorite band, that’s what we sound like.

Check out the rest after the jump…

RBA: What are some of your musical influences?

MB: All of us are different I guess. Though we all like Foo Fighters, Butch Walker, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Zeppelin, Jimmy Eat World and stuff like that. I have a certain love for 80′s rock and new wave, personally. I could go on for ever on this one, but I think this covers it pretty well.

Scott Smith: Foo Fighters are easily my favorite band. Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins are two of the best drummers ever. Even though we rock pretty hard, some of my most listened to music is from people like Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams, and even Rachael Yamagata. It’s my soft side.

RBA: I’m always intrigued about the song writing process for musicians. What’s more fun for you to write, the lyrics or the music? And when you create a song, which comes first?

MB: The music always comes first and I find it much more fun as well. Lyrics can get laborious. Music and melody come first. They have to play well with of each other. It’s like putting together a puzzle and that is the part I really love. When you find that perfect relationship between the two that make it catchy then you know you’ve got something really good. Then I try not to mess it up with bad lyrics. I try to find a lyric concept that I can relate to and I think would have some universal appeal. I’ll start with some personal experience and then I embellish upon that and try to make it clever, interesting and yet easy to relate to without being cliché. That’s where it starts to feel like work. But the outcome is worth it.

RBA: Where do you find inspiration for your songs? What has been the oddest source of inspiration?

MB: It can come from anywhere, sometimes it’s just what the music sounds like. Some times I’m just babbling something to get the melody out and a random string of words sound like they may be a good idea. From our first CD, the song “Freak” came from a sticker I put on a old guitar of mine. It said “I’m a freak” and I thought, “That sounds like a good place to start!”

RBA: Which one of your songs has the most meaning to you?

MB: You know that changes from time to time. But I think right now if we are talking lyrical meaning it would be “Bad to Good” (from “Exit Silent Mode”). It’s about what we put our attention on. I think sometime we miss the really good stuff because we get carried away bitching about the bad stuff. Let it go and stop wasting time. Musically it’s really in your face and kinda punk so I think it’s an interesting song to have that kind of message.

RBA: How often do you perform live?

MB: Not as often as we would like. We play anywhere from 1 to 5 shows a month.

RBA: What is your favorite song to perform live (originals or covers)?

MB: For me I love playing “Gravitate.” It’s high energy and it has a lot of dynamics. It’s been my favorite of our songs since we finished it.

SS: I love playing any song where the bass, drums and guitar are really tight. “What If…” has a couple of parts that are like a vacuum; at every pause it’s like all the sound just gets sucked out. “Uncelebrated” is another one of my favorites just because it drives so hard but it’s still a tight groove (I sound like a hippie). As for covers, I love being able to pull off difficult songs. Not many bands can play “Out on the Tiles” by Led Zeppelin and sound like they were meant to do it. I like to think we can.

RBA:Where do you envision yourself 10 years from now, musically?

MB: Still writing, still playing only a whole lot more successful and with more songs on the way.

RBA: You guys won a contest to open for AC/DC, right? Tell us about that experience.

MB: Actually no, we didn’t win a contest. We simply got a phone call. We were asked if we were available for a date and were told that we should definitely say yes. At the time the person on the other end of the phone couldn’t tell us what the gig was yet but wanted to make sure we were available on that date. Turns out the band that had been on tour with AC/DC couldn’t do the last 4 dates of the tour so Live Nation was looking for local bands to finish out the dates. Someone local suggested megaphone as well as some others and we were the band they selected. Just an amazing circumstance that we’re really grateful to experience. It was amazing!

RBA: You’ve played shows with some pretty established artists (AC/DC, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Lita Ford). What was the weirdest thing that you’ve ever seen backstage?

MB: I don’t think we’ve seen anything really weird backstage really. What I think is weird is how little you see backstage. In almost every case the artist doesn’t show up till right before they play and then split right after they are done. I think the thing that I found most unexpected was when we opened for Paul Stanley how nervous he seemed right before he went on. I mean this is the guy from Kiss, he’s been at it forever. You just wouldn’t expect him to be nervous.

SS: I wouldn’t call it weird, but I was blown away at how awesome Joe Perry was as a person. As he walked off the stage after his set, his manager grabbed him and had him stand with us for a picture. You would think that such a seasoned veteran would be like “Who the hell are these guys?” especially seconds after finishing a show, but he actually thanked us for being there and posed for a couple of pictures. I hope to be that cool when I’m 59.

RBA: What has been your favorite memory as a band thus far?

MB: It’s one of two. Either getting the call about the AC/DC show or seeing the House of Blues in Orlando just 170 shy of being sold out for our CD release party. That was pretty exciting.

Paul Smith: Without a doubt, opening for AC/DC at the Amway Arena in Orlando. We were treated really well by their crew, and the entire experience was a dream come true! Not only did we open for one of the biggest rock bands of all time, but we did it in our hometown arena, at the last show of their “Black Ice” tour in North America. That’s something i’ll tell my grandkids about!

SS: The AC/DC show. When the lights went down and 15,000 people erupted as we walked on stage… I still get chills thinking about it.

RBA: Is there any aspect of your musical history that you would change? Any advice for aspiring artists?

MB: The only thing I would change would be to have started writing songs earlier and do it more often. My advice would be follow your heart. Do what you’re passionate about, don’t follow trends. Don’t write what you think people want to hear, write what you want to hear. Honesty in your art is what people really respond to.

SS: I have some advice for drummers. When you’re sharing the stage with another band and you finish your set, just get your drums off the stage! It’s always important to be considerate of everyone involved in the show. I pride myself in being able to quickly get out of the way of bands after us and when I see a drummer taking his cymbals off their stands while he’s still standing on stage…well it’s not fun and it doesn’t give you a good reputation.

RBA: How did the opportunity present itself for putting your music in the Rock Band Network?

SS: I’m a pretty avid reader of video game blogs like Joystiq. One day I saw a post that Harmonix was going to be opening up this network to get independent bands into the game and I was floored. I had a little MIDI experience in college so I figured I could teach myself how to author tracks and that was that. We knew we had to jump on this opportunity.

RBA: How did you decide on what songs you wanted to make available for Rock Band? Was it a long process, or a simple decision?

SS: It was a pretty simple decision. On our newest album, ”Exit Silent Mode,” there are two songs that really stand out to us as the “hits.” “My Favorite New Disaster” was first because it’s really catchy and has a wide appeal. “Gravitate” was next because that seems to be most people’s favorite song on the album. “Not Your Enemy” from our first album, “For Cryin’ Out Loud,” is still a really popular song at shows.

The main thing I love about these choices is that we’ve got something for every skill level. “Disaster” is a relatively easy song to play in the game, “Gravitate” is a little more complicated and “Not Your Enemy” is pretty insane. There’s a little megaphone for everyone.

RBA: What are some of the differences between making your tracks available for Rock Band versus more traditional music marketing?

SS: This is just about the least traditional marketing I’ve ever heard of. There’s never been another product that lets people actually rock out along with your songs. The more people play these tracks, the more familiar they become with each individual part and the more connected they are to the song. People may not have noticed an awesome bass line before but once they get to play it in the game, they’ll hear it every time they listen to the CD. Plus, because the Network is so new, we know we’re getting in on the ground floor of something that’s going to explode. Being among the first wave of independent bands in the store is huge for us.

MB: Being an independent artist and getting your music on Rock Band is like having a major label deal without having to give up control of your music. Seriously, Rock Band is huge and having our music available on the Rock Band Network is like being in heavy rotation on the biggest radio stations in the country. Being among the newest artist on this network while its brand new is amazing exposure. It’s really exciting. This is a new music medium that, just 3 or 4 years ago, you couldn’t even imagine and we will be among the first unsigned bands to be on it. It’s unbelievable.

RBA: Do you feel that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have an impact on a player’s interest in playing a real instrument at some point?

MB: I hope so. But if nothing else I see it exposing kids to real rock music. Kids that have been pummeled by music that is more product than music are getting an opportunity to hear great BANDS that really play their instruments. There is so much overproduced, auto-tuned, over-hyped, flash over substance stuff in mainstream music these days. Rock Band is really honoring real music and I’m proud as a musician to be able to have just a few of our songs mixed in with that and be associated with them.

SS: I can speak from personal experience and say they absolutely make people want to play real instruments. I’ve played drums and guitar for about 13 years but I never really tried to learn bass (it’s not as easy as some guitar players would have you believe). Once I started playing Rock Band, I quickly learned that bass was my favorite part to play in just about any song. Luckily, Matt had an old crappy bass he was literally throwing away so I took it and started learning some bass lines. I’m still a drummer at heart, but the game was the sole reason I took an interest in a different instrument.

RBA: Being that your music will be featured in Rock Band, have any of you played the game? Would you play your own song in the game to see how it is?

SS: My friends and I have been having Rock Band nights for almost a year now. We’ll grab some beers, perhaps some margarita mix, and rock out until the wee hours. It’s easily the best party game ever made because everyone can get involved. Even if you’ve never played an instrument or a video game before, you can still play and have fun. I’ve played our own songs enough (both live and in the game)…but I’ll probably still buy them just to be able to show people and say, “I did that.”

MB: I haven’t played Rock Band very much, but the rest of the guys in the band have played it quite a bit. Actually, I really suck at it to be honest. But I’m really looking forward to playing our stuff when it’s in the network. When Paul saw his guitar solo in “My Favorite New Disaster” I think he responded by saying that even though he played the real solo on the track, he didn’t think he could pull off the one in the game. It is a totally different skill set for sure.

RBA: Is there anything that you would like the Rock Band community to know about you before you debut on the Rock Band Network?

SS: I just hope people like our songs. It seems like a lot of bands today are polarized into two groups; they either take themselves way too seriously or they look and sound like a joke. We don’t rely on gimmicks, we don’t write songs that sound like everyone else just to try and get on the radio, but we still like to have a good time. Hopefully that comes through in our songs.

Also, all four of us are musicians at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL so if anyone’s spending time at the park, look for the band Mulch Sweat ‘n Shears. There are a lot of musicians that rotate out and some of us are just subs, but on any given day you can see up to 3/4 of megaphone rockin’ at Disney World.

MB: I think we covered most of it already so please check us out at http://www.megaphonemusic.net. We hope you like what you hear and we hope you become a fan. We hope you enjoy playing our songs as much as we do! And please give it up for Scott our drummer, he is the dude that did ALL of the programing for the megaphone Rock Band content. He is the king!

RBA: Thanks, guys!

For more info on megaphone, check out their official website, or on Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter.  They currently have three songs available in the Rock Band Network, “Not Your Enemy,” “Gravitate,” and “My Favorite New Disaster.”  Directly below is a sample of the drum track from Gravitate, followed by samples of their RBN tracks.

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