The Rock Band Network is an excellent tool for new and established musicians. For some, the Rock Band Network is about selling music. For others, it’s about promoting your music. And for a select few, it’s about something more. For the guys from Audio Ammunition, I believe they fall in the final category.

I had a chance recently to chat with Jason and Nick of Audio Ammunition to find out a little about the band, their music, and what it was like to put their music on the Rock Band Network.

RockBandAide: Give us a lesson in Audio Ammunition 101… tell us about the band and your history.

Jason Rosenbaum (singer): The formation of Audio Ammunition you hear on Rock Band is a relatively funny story. Audio Ammunition was a separate band that had been touring around Columbia, Missouri for a little while. The “classic” line-up, so to speak, features Jonathan Martin on guitar and vocals, Christopher Pond on the synth, Michael Bancroft on the bass and Nick Wilson as the drummer.

Before I graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006, I had developed a minor following in Columbia as a humorous rapper. My friend Dan asked me and the band to perform separately at a benefit concert in 2006 to bolster his fake bid for class president at Mizzou. Interestingly, that concert was noteworthy because we were booked with several former members of 2 Live Crew. A couple of months later, I sent a Facebook message to Chris asking if we could collaborate on some songs.

It had always been my dream to perform with a band. Chris was kind enough to let me work with them.

What followed in 2007 was what I would consider the best summer of my life, a time when I usually opened for Audio Ammunition at venues around Columbia. I also joined them onstage for songs that we wrote together, which still brings back warm, fuzzy memories. Definitely the pinnacle of all of this was when the band opened for Shiny Toy Guns at the Blue Note in Columbia. I was honored to get up on stage for “War Against the Radio,” which will be our first song to go on Rock Band Network.

After that performance, the band effectively dissolved. Jonathan and Chris moved to other cities, while Nick played drums in other bands while he was finishing college. I shifted my focus to karaoke, although I still rapped often in 2009 at a popular comedy show in Columbia.

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

JR: According to Jonathan, the band name emanates from a song from The Clash. It’s probably best that he formed the band before I came along, because I would have called the band “The Warren G. Harding Experience.” Or I would have named the band after a Thursday song, which is my favorite musical group.

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

JR: Pre-Jason Audio Ammunition sounds a lot like The Killers, The Cars – a lot of bands from that mid-2000s era that incorporated synth into their repository. But there’s definitely a harder, rockier edge to the band exemplified in songs like “The Alchemist” and “Anchor.” Both songs feature frenetic and energizing drumming, driving guitar and bass and a synthy accentuation.

Post-Jason Audio Ammunition retains a lot of those qualities, but it definitely features more cerebral lyrics and, of course, spoken words mixed with Jonathan’s singing. And I think the band allowed me to push my lyrics beyond my pre-established comfort zones.

Nick Wilson (drummer): Dance-able grooves with a slap of punk in the face!

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?

JR: I would consider myself a relatively solitary lyricist, but I do recall it was a tremendous amount of fun writing “Honeys Takin’ Money” in a collaborative fashion with Jonathan and Chris. I can’t really play any instruments besides basic patterns on a keyboard, but I am always in awe of anybody who exhibits proficiency. Both Chris and Nick are really, really good on their respective instruments, and Jonathan has come up with some very catchy melodies with his guitar work. So it is incredibly rewarding for me to see how the band is able to match the lyrics with music, especially since I really can’t do that myself. It’s really the epitome of a team effort.

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

JR: Many of my solo songs have always centered around specific,off-the-wall topics. For example, I wrote songs about the Minnesota Vikings Sex Boat scandal called, appropriately enough, “Sex Boat.” I also wrote a song called “Let’s Drop Acid in Moberly,” which is, well, about trade policy between the United States and Paraguay.

It’s really a pretty elaborate joke. In reality, I’m a pretty tame and unassuming nerd from the Chicago suburbs. But there’s some universal shock value when I start rapping – let alone about profane and outrageous topics.

That pattern was retained in “Honeys Takin’ Money, although it wasn’t really based off my experiences. Chris and Jonathan were perturbed at how girls would dance with guys at clubs and stop once the guy purchased drinks for them. To each his own, I suppose.

“War Against the Radio” was a bit deeper. I wrote it after Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” was released for free on the Internet. I actually thought that was going to destroy the music industry and provide more power to consumers. It turned out not to be, as the music industry hasn’t changed that drastically. When horrific groups like the Black Eyed Peas are not only selling records, but winning Grammys, it’s really “meet the new boss – same as the old boss.”

NW: “War Against the Radio” was really about starting a revolution against mainstream radio play. Columbia’s radio is filled with nothing but country stations, Nickelback, and crappy hip pop. We have always enjoyed being creative and found other types of music more appealing to us and to others and this song is just about getting people together and fighting back against crap radio.

RBA: Which song has the most meaning to you?

NW: With this band, “Don’t Look Back”, which was a slower grooved out song had the most meaning to me. There was something about that song that when I played it I just connected with so well. Not sure really have to describe it, but there was something about that I just loved to feel.

RBA: Which song do you enjoy playing live?

NW: Right now, my favorite song to play is a song called “Newsstand Rock” by RX Bandits, absolutely awesome song!

JR: I’ve never performed it live, but I would love to perform “Understanding in a Crash” by Thursday. It’s probably my favorite song of all time. As for songs that I’ve written, I really enjoy performing “War Against the Radio.” It’s a high-energy song that actually means something to me.

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

JR: When Rock Band Network was announced, I suggested to Chris that we should send “War Against the Radio” to Rhythm Authors. I honestly didn’t expect much of a response – much less a followup e-mail from RA saying they wanted to make the song. But lo and behold, we got signed. It was an incredible feeling to have a song we worked pretty hard on get released on Rock Band. And it really brought us back together as a group in order to make the song the best it could be.

Although the band members are in separate parts of the country, we’ve been slowly collaborating long distance to improve some of our old songs. Nick re-recorded the drums for “War Against the Radio,” and the results propelled the song to new heights – if I can use that awful cliche.

I cannot express enough gratitude to RA for taking a chance on us. Beyond our “heyday” in 2007, we really haven’t experienced much breakthrough beyond playing at shows in Columbia. But it’s my hope that a few people can have fun playing “War Against the Radio.” It’s really not even about money. We are just excited to be in the game.

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

JR: Audio Ammunition has never really used traditional means to disseminate their music. They used Myspace and our site when they were active, as opposed to physical releases. I suppose Rock Band follows in that direction. From my experience, I’ve become fans of bands because I downloaded a song or songs on Rock Band. A great example of that is Underoath. I had no idea who they were before “Reinventing Your Exit” came out on Rock Band in 2009. Now, I can pretty much recite the words “They’re Only Chasing Safety” by heart. It’s a powerful gateway, I think, to a whole array of music.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if RBN will be the key to breaking Audio Ammunition into international superstardom. We’re not well known and that may be a barrier for players to download our songs. But who knows? Maybe we’ll be opening up for Ke$ha soon because we’re on RBN. Or maybe even Attack Attack!

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?

JR: I would classify myself as a music game obsessive. I’ve purchased basically every Rock Band game and some Guitar Hero games. I’ve spent way, way, way too much money on the game. I can also play expert bass and some expert guitar. I absolutely suck on the drums.

The music genre is honestly the only type of video game I play. And this has gotten me into trouble. In 2008, Greg Miller of IGN – a former colleague of mine at the Columbia Daily Tribune – told all of his minions to send messages to my PS3 beseeching me to play other games besides Rock Band. I responded in a Youtube video, which sparked a pretty intense war of words. It culminated in me defeating Greg in a head-to-head vocalist face off. But I pretty much lost the war, because I was widely panned for singing pretty poorly. I am actually an above average singer in real life, but I completely bombed when I went one-on-one with the great one.

In reality, Greg and I were good friends when we worked together in Columbia. I am proud that he’s achieved fame and success with IGN. He’s a very talented writer and an engaging personality. I suppose I was honored to be targeted by him, so to speak.

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

JR: I definitely want to give major thanks to Noble, who’s in charge of organizing a playtest/peer review list for RBN. That list went a long way in dislodging “War Against the Radio” from peer review limbo. I also want to thank Rhythm Authors again for putting in the hard work to get us into the game. They are awesome.

I think Rock Band players will enjoy “War Against the Radio.” It should definitely give drummers a good challenge too, thanks to the awesomeness of Nick Wilson!

RBA: Thanks, guys!

For more info on Audio Ammunition, check out their Myspace page and their site AudioAmmunition.net. Below is a sample of what to expect from their currently available RBN single “War Against the Radio.”

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