Fasten your seat belts! Today we take you on a ride with Jack – the lead singer of ‘Hemi Devils’ – a Rock n Roll band from the USA:

‘Hotrods. Hot Broads. Hot Rock n Roll – that’s what Hemi Devils are all about.’

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jack and I am the lead singer in the band Hemi Devils. First I would like to personally thank you for supporting our band and for asking great questions regarding our music.

Why do you play music? Is there a message you want to send to people through your band and music?

I have always wanted to be a musician ever since I was a 5 year old kid jamming KISS ALIVE 1 and KISS HOTTER THAN HELL albums. Music was always been my outlet when things were going bad in my life, and has always been my balance spiritually and mentally. If there is any message I convey in our music is to tell the world to stop taking everything so serious, and get busy living instead always getting busy dying. Music is and will always be a cleansing of the soul. So Mote It Be!!!!

How did you develop your style? What were your major influences?

We wanted to take old school Rock and Roll and mix it with Heavy guitars. Bring back the true meaning of feeling the song, and writing for the song. We have many many influences from Buddy Holly to The Rolling Stones, from ZZ Top to Slayer, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Motown and Meshuggah to Napalm Death. We jam it ALL, if it Rocks we Roll.

What do you think of Drooble? How would it help your band?

I did my research and checked you guys out, I really liked what I saw. There was a plethora of info about all kinds of cool bands, some that I knew and some I did not. Hopefully you guys can get the mobile app up and running soon so I can enjoy it anywhere I go. I totally feel that Drooble can help Hemi Devils because you have a well put together site and more and more people are checking out sites like yours to get their fix on new bands and new music. Word of mouth has always been the way of the underground, I think Drooble will definitely help spread the word of the Devils.

Did you have any serious troubles when you started – tell us a funny story from the beginning of your career?

We had 2 other female vocalists in the band when we started which created a ton of problems with egos, hence the reason they are no longer a part of this band. Taylor’s after show stories are ALWAYS the best. Rob has a good one as well, not sure if this is a Rated R site so I have to keep some stories on the low. 🙂

What do you think about the state of the music industry nowadays? How hard is it to follow your style with so many commercial artists that get most of the attention?

The music business is in shambles because it lost focus on talented bands. We just enjoy playing music anytime, anywhere and we branch out to places outside of our city and state and play shows with other great Rock bands. We have many many talented bands in Cleveland, so we always have to be on our A game when we represent. Especially when we play shows with our Detroit family Busby Death Chair. Check those cats out too. Most of the music coming out today is rubbish, for example Kanye West, he couldn’t hold Smokey Robinson’s pencil in my opinion. Music is so dummied down today, no talent man, no talent at all. Rock and Roll is going to come back in a huge way, and we will be there to lead the charge!

From your point of view, what could be better for musicians which are still in their early days? How did you get initial support?

Network Network Network. Play every show like it’s your last, be patient, don’t fall for the pay, believe in the music you write. If you believe in what you write and you write good stuff, than it will sell. Come up with a cool band name and make cool merch, marketing is a major factor in the biz. Be cool with other bands, and for Christ’s sake when playing a gig with other cool bands DO NOT LEAVE IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOUR SET, that is considered blasphemy in the music world and you may kick your own chair. Also, promote a show as much as possible and that includes going out and passing out fliers. Internet only reaches and helps you to a certain point.

Listen to Hemi Devils ‘Electric Wine’

How did you guys meet? How did you start the band, who’s in it? 

Hemi Devils was an idea Kenny Easterly and I had when we were building a 68 Camaro in his garage. Kenny and I jammed in the hardcore/metal band AT NO END for 12 years, whereas Kenny played drums and I sang. Whenever we worked on this hot rod we would always listen to music from 1968 or some classic Deep Purple or Jimi Hendrix. I made mention to Kenny how cool it would be to mix old school Rock & Roll with heavy metal guitars, and Kenny agreed that would be cool. A few years after this idea got tossed around, my friend Rob Adams moved back to Ohio from Florida and I always wanted to include Rob in any future musical projects I had in mind. Taylor Reverendo was asked to join because I had only known him for a few years but I knew he was a great guitar player and brought a great personality to the band. Kenny wanted to play a different instrument in Hemi Devils so he chose to play bass, he is as phenominal a bass player as he is as a drummer. Scott Dall joined us almost a year ago after our original drummer left the band, Scott is an awesome fit to our brand of Rock and Roll, we honestly couldn’t ask for a better drummer. We started off with 7 people in this band, but that didn’t work too well with a few of those members departing long ago. I met all these fine musicians at various points in my life, I couldn’t ask for a better group of Hooligans.

You currently have your first album out – how’s it going with it? When should we expect Volume 2?

Trilogy of 6 Volume 1 is doing well, it is being played a lot on internet radio and some college radio locally. We are trying to get it out to as many people as possible, so hopefully this interview will spark a little more attention. We recently got Taylor back on guitar after he left for a year. He actually was a main writer on the first cd but left before we recorded it. Burn stepped in on guitar for a year and recorded the tracks, and we recently parted ways with him. It’s great having Taylor back because Volume 2 is going to be awesome and Taylor is a vital member of this band. Stay tuned for more feature content and interviews and remember to Rock On!

What are your thoughts on the community – is it still going strong? How do you feel about it?

I can honestly say that the metal and hard Rock Scene is amazing here in Cleveland. Since big National acts consider us a dead town and dont play here, it helps us out big time. Lately some of the local shows got bigger than national acts. The last local show we played, we totally out sold the national in merch and cd sales at the venue.

Free words:

Thanks for the opportunity and the support and hopefully we will see some of you soon.

Thanks,
Jack

‘Hemi Devils’ from Cleveland, Ohio – follow the band on Drooble.com/hemidevils