Plus One Magazine

Alex

You used to go by the name Radio before changing to Black Tide, what was the reasoning behind this?

When we first made the band we were just kids. I mean I was just 13. After we started growing up the name felt a little immature so we just changed it.

What does the name Black Tide represent and mean to you as a band?

After we decided on Black Tide we were thinking how we could use it, what meaning we could give this. So we related it in the way that surfers have to ride the water and then conquer it.

How did the band initially form, did you all go to the same school?

The drummer that we have now wasn't actually our original drummer. He's been in the band for almost two years. The first drummer was our singer's brother and we were in middle school. Our singer then was too young and in a different school. We were all skateboarding and became really good friends and one day he [Vocalist Gabriel's brother] mentioned that he played drums, telling us that him and his brother were in a band and jam, saying we should come over. I went over to his house that Friday. Then I went over to his house every Friday for three years. We'd skate all day and jam all night and that's all we ever did for those three years!

What sort of sound were you trying to go for back then?

Well the first stuff was just really pop-punk. Like Green Day, and we had a couple of Blink 182 tracks. Our singer's got a cousin who was a lot older than us. He was into old-school bands like Guns N' Roses and then I got into bands like AC/DC, Zeppelin, stuff like that. Then we all got a little more heavier with Megadeth, Metallica and took it from there.

You have these influences such as Maiden, Priest, Pantera and so on. Do you as a band share these same tastes?

Actually, no. We have the same top five bands that we all share such as Pantera, Metallica and Megadeth for example. But then we all are into a lot of different genres. I listen to a lot of hardcore punk and rap, reggae too. Our bass player likes southern rock. In fact he likes almost everything! Our drummer likes a lot of metal..

How does the song-writing process work for you as a band?

Basically our singer will write a song and he'll show it to us. We'll then learn it. A lot of the songs on the record are a little old, I mean we've been playing them for years. So we went into the studio and moved them around a little, re-arranging them and stuff like that.

Lyrically who contributes when song-writing?

Our singer. He's the singer, that's his role!

You've got this raw rock n roll edge to your sound, but there's also hints of experimentation too. For example the almost 'middle eastern' bridge in 'Black Abyss'. Do you aspire to add something fresh, different to the sound of the band's that have obviously influenced you?

Megadeth are one of those bands that did that a lot. There's a lot of acoustic and modern stuff involved. One of our singer's main influences is Megadeth so that's why he does a lot of stuff like that.

Your debut album 'Light From Above' is released in March, is that right?

Well actually I think it comes out in February over here. In the U.S it comes out in March. Three days ago it was coming out in February and now it's March!

You must be looking forward to getting it out there?

Yeah man! Usually when bands record an album there isn't such a huge gap until after they've finished it, but for us there was a huge gap. We knew we didn't had a huge following here because we were so young and unknown so at least when it does come out at least some people will know about it, us touring and stuff like that.

You recorded the album at Groovemaster Studios. What was that experience like for the band?

We're from Miami so it's always warm there. We went over to Chicago in winter, Chigao's one of the harshest winter's in the U.S. We show up as a bunch of kids in T-shirts. It was fucking freezing! But it was awesome. We lived at the studio and they had all this stuff. It was a huge studio.

You recorded the album with producer Johnny K. [Machine Head, Disturbed] Was his experience a valuable asset to have on board?

Yeah. He didn't even change too much. But he's worked with these bands and got a lot of experience, knew what to do 'with' a song. He was just suggesting to maybe move 'this part here' or 'that part there'.

How did the signing to label Interscope Records come about?

We were with Atlantic, although we never actually signed to them, we were going to have a demo come out. So we're working with them for almost two years, wasting our time. We never got signed but we always had hopes with Atlantic, because they're a good label you know? We were always looking at other labels that came to us. We knew we were with Atlantic but we looked at other opportunities. I mean Interscope have Wolfmother, All American rejects you know? Though I didn't really know who Interscope was at first when our bass player called me up. I was like: 'sure man, whatever!'

What are the future plans for Black Tide?

Touring man! We've been touring for a year now, almost non-stop. We've already got three tours set up I think. Long ones too! But we'll be back here. We'll hopefully be doing stuff like Download.