“I’d say cayenne pepper and chocolate. Sometimes I’m very abrasive with people (cayenne),but at the same time, chocolate is very comfortable.” (Mike)
As we all laughed continuing the discussion of our personal milkshake selves, the room – which felt roughly 40 degrees – seemed to be getting warmer. It wasn’t due to the three heaters struggling to combat the cold; that warmth was coming from the attitude within the room. The five piece, Akron-based band, Red Sun Rising, has been warming audiences with their can-do attitude and melodic tunes since their formation back in 2007. On a very cold winter day, Mike, Tyler and Adam sat down to explain their past, present and what will be their future.
“The start of the band and the start of the lineup as we have it now are roughly four years apart. The lineup we have now has been together for about a year. Ryan and I started the band in about 2006, which is the first wave of what would become Red Sun Rising. It was pieces of his old band from high school and my old band from high school merged together. We wrote songs and jammed in a basement for about a year. The name red sun rising came about a year later, which had a lot of political undertone. As we moved forward, we went through a bunch of member changes. It was nothing like Spinal Tap; no one died. Adam was our original drummer, but he left early on. We went through a bunch of drummers after that. We asked Mark Mathews to play bass during the recording of Making of Kings. When our bass player had to leave, it was real easy to ask Mark to take his place. About the same time, Adam started to get back into the picture to replace the drummer we had previously.” (Mike)
“I came into this group from knowing Ryan who sold me my first guitar when I was fourteen. Iwas always a fan of the band and was tech for a few shows. I’d be backstage tuning Ryan’sguitar wishing I could play. At the time, I was wrapped up in another band when Ryan askedme to join. It was a year and a half ago when I accepted the offer.” (Tyler)
Between the two albums you released, the first was very political. What are you thinking about when you go to sit down and write?
“It was completely different with both albums. The first one was Ryan and I having angst against the government. We really had no reason for it; we were young, and that’s what young people do. They think too much about stuff. A lot of the lyrics that were political were on point. It was us expressing our opinion. It was a bunch of stuff we had from our past that we brought together and put lyrics to it. For The Making of Kings, we focused on us finding what we really wanted to do and be. The actual song The Making of Kings is about overcoming objection. It was the first song we wrote for the record. There would be nights where we would be up all night talking about a topic and bouncing off ideas to each other.” (Mike)
I notice you have a lot of recording equipment.
“We try to record everything when we come in [for practice]. Memory isn’t always as good as we think it is so it’s better to have an example recorded.” (Adam)
Your discography right now is two full-length albums. Are you releasing anything else anytime soon?
“We’re releasing an EP next; it’ll be a couple songs. We’re also releasing some B-Sides from The Making of Kings because we cut a lot of songs from that record. Not because they weren’t good, but because we didn’t finish them in time. We have a ton of new songs. There’s about twenty or so to narrow down and release another album. The EP will be to tide everyone over until we finish the next album. We don’t want to rush it this time.” (Mike)
While we’re speaking of the albums, I noticed your album art is very minimal. What inspires the first thing people look at and associate the band with?
“With the first album, we wanted it to be simply our name. The second album was trying to represent something of grandeur, and we didn’t want to do something obvious. We came up with the old Greek mythology head to be a nice symbol. We already had a lot of input for this next time. It’s just going to come to us when we sit down and think about it. That kind of stuff is hard, but it’s always in the back of my mind. I like leaving things open to interpretation; that’s why I like leaving it more simplistic.” (Mike)
Each city has its own influence. Does being from Akron have a place in your music?
“It does. There’s a certain lifestyle and personality to every city. There’s a lot of diversity in Akron but a lot of camaraderie at the same time. Akron is just a cool town.” (Tyler)
“There’s a lot of underground Rock, Indie-Rock and Punk-Rock. We’re not a Punk-Rock band, but we like to capture that energy in what we do. Some of our new stuff has that vibe.” (Mike)
Are you planning on doing a lot of touring this year?
“Touring has been sparse for us. It consisted mostly of weekend runs. We’ve gone out to Chicago, Pittsburgh and so on to play for a day and come back. Now we’re getting to the point where we’ll have to do longer and further runs. The spring is looking very promising for more than just regional touring.” (Mike)
“I love going on the road. I don’t get to go out of state much so I get really excited to play outside of our state.” (Tyler)
“There’s no better way to travel. Your craft can take you everywhere. I’ve even been overseas to play.” (Adam)
What would be your ultimate place to play a show? Think big.
“To play Wembley would be pretty cool. It’s a pinnacle moment for a lot of bands.” (Mike)
“You don’t ever have to play another gig if you play there.” (Adam)
When getting ready to play a live show, are there key elements you like to focus on to make it more memorable? What are your strengths live?
“We play a pretty energetic show. The crowds we typically play to often have those few people right up front that are so into the show. It’s really easy to interact with them. I’m a goofy personality on stage because I don’t like to take anything too serious. Everybody has their own personality with the crowd, but it’s always really cool to see us individually interact with people. I can tell it makes their night.” (Tyler)
“We always want to sound good and pay attention to production. The best band in the world with poor production is disappointing. Sometimes we’ll make less money in order to make it sound better. I don’t want to lose anyone over something that was controllable. I’d rather take a financial hit. This is the side of the business that’s probably the most challenging. As far as lighting, we have a bunch of talented people that can build something themselves. It’s kind of like a movie set where it only has to look good from one angle. We’re in the process of doing that.” (Adam)
In five years, Red Sun Rising will be…
“In five years, I picture myself working and growing very much with this band.” (Adam)
“Right now, we all have to have day jobs as well. We’ve been very smart as business men trying to make this as an actual business. I know we’ll definitely be living off of this; that’s the ultimate goal. Even if we’re not rich, we’d rather just be able to live off of and continue making music.” (Mike)
Red Sun Rising is a Rock Band from Akron, OH. The band is currently on hiatus but their music can be found on their BANDCAMP
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