Interview: Lollapalooza's Bang Camaro

By Ali Trachta in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 28, 2008 6:22PM

Lollapalooza has some seriously big acts: Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and Kanye, for Pete’s sake, but none will have a bigger presence than the 15 or so-piece rock thrashfest that is Bang Camaro. You might think you haven’t heard their music, but if you’ve ever played Guitar Hero, you may have already mastered their guitar solos. Blowing up out of Boston by way of their local fan base, coupled with some notoriety from the video game world, Bang Camaro is rapidly becoming known across the country for their entertaining shows full of headbanging, hard-pounding rock. Gracing us with their presence in Grant Park on Friday will be original members Bryn Bennett and Alex Necochea and their regular crew, along with their local choir of hard rocking lead singers that will join them on stage. We got the chance to chat with the founders and find out what makes this throwback band thrive in today’s music scene.

Chicagoist: How did Bang Camaro get started, and where did you get the idea to have 15 to 20 lead singers at any given time?

Alex Necochea: Bryn and I had been playing in Boston bands for a number of years, and we’d find ourselves on the same bills. Usually late at night we’d get to talking at the bar, sharing stories about how we learned to play guitar and growing up in small towns, etc. It naturally followed that we wanted to play in a band together when we both found ourselves with nothing to do. So we started getting together and playing guitar solos and giggling a lot, and we thought it would be a fun thing if we could write music with big power chords and big choruses. So it started like that. Then we wrote a song called "Bang Camaro" and took it into the studio, and invited as many of our friends down who were confidant vocalists to crowd around a single micophone and belt it out. That’s exactly what happened, and we had the greatest time. There was no pretense, there was no goal, we were just there to have fun. It just kind of spiraled out of control from there.

C: So it started out as just having fun with your friends, but it turned out that was the sound you liked?

AN: Pretty much. We talked a lot about our love for music by Motley Crue and Skid Row when we were kids, and we wanted to emulate that big vocal sound. Between Bryn and I, we couldn’t really pull it off just the two of us, so we did the best that we could to get the closest approximation. We thought maybe if we just put a lot of guys in the studio and get them around one mic singing together, it’ll create this huge sound. And it paid off, it worked.

C: Speaking of your sound, you describe it as “anthem rock” but you seem to steer away from calling it “heavy metal.” What do you think sets your sound apart from a classic metal sound?

Bryn Bennett: One reason we want to stay away from the term “heavy metal” is because that term has really shifted over the years. If you look back a number of years ago when people considered Ozzy Osbourne or Motley Crue heavy metal, I think we would’ve fit into that genre. But after that, I think the bands that are considered heavy metal now are bands like Lamb of God. And to be honest, their fans, if they went out to see a metal show, would not be happy with what we’re bringing. I think we play hard rock, and we try to have huge choruses go with our guitar licks, but we’re not screaming into the mic all the time, you know. We like to have girls at the shows too. [Laughs].

C: You’ve cited bands like Skid Row and Iron Maiden as influences, but you also cite Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. In what ways do you think that 50s rock sound comes into your music?

AN: I think it’s really from the perspective of appreciating rock n’ roll. I don’t think Black Sabbath could have come out of Birmingham if it weren’t for Elvis Presley coming out of Memphis 15 years beforehand. I like to think it’s important to know where you come from and know where rock n’ roll had its roots. For me that started with people like Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, and even the old blues monsters like Robert Johnson. It’s just the natural progression of music. I’ve always been a fan of all those early artists, and I’ve always had a deep appreciation for how those people had such profound influence on all the people that came after them. We wouldn’t have had Def Leppard without Slade and the Beatles, and we wouldn’t have had Nirvana without The Melvins and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath before them. So I think it’s just natural for all of us, especially with the number of people we have in the band. Our influences are so diverse. Every one of those influences you see listed on our Myspace page are pretty on the mark. It’s not coming cheap, I mean we really are fans of all those artists.

BB: Starting out as indie rock musicians then forming a band like this, it’s really the songwriting that we care about. That’s something we talk about all the time - how a lot of the 80s pop metal bands were writing great pop songs, but unfortunately the production at the time and the stupid ways they dressed made the songs not age very well. At the same time we’re proud of our songwriting, and that’s really why we think we’re doing well and what we strive to do better. And so we can go back and appreciate Buddy Holly or Elvis for the great music they were writing, and we’re not just talking about how fast they could play guitar, or whatever normal hard rock people like to talk about.

C: Along the lines of valuing your songwriting, you were successful prior to signing with a label, but at some point you signed on with Black Sword Records.

BB: Black Sword is our record label, but we do everything ourselves. We consider ourselves the first D.I.Y. hard rock band.

C: Did anything change when you signed on with them?

BB: No, the president and CEO are me and Alex. [Laughs.] Everything is run by the band. We’re doing everything ourselves.

C: How do you find the singing groups you sing with all over the country? I would imagine putting that together for a tour must be difficult.

AN: What we do when we tour is we usually travel with six or seven of our own vocalists, and then when we roll into any town we augment our choir group with any number of regional guys. We’ll have anywhere between two and eight people show up usually. A lot of this was built on Bryn’s hard work. What we did first was create a training DVD that we’d sent out to potential applicants, and what they would do is film themselves at home singing one of our songs, and they’d either send it to us or upload it to YouTube for review. Then Bryn would be in contact with them to coordinate when they’d show up for sound checks and meet the rest of the band, and get comfortable with the songs they’re going to be performing with us. So we had like an online social networking sort of thing to start out. We got the word out, and people seemed really interested in the possibility of coming up on stage and just rocking out for the night. So far it’s worked out pretty well.

C: But obviously the Chicago choir is best.

AN: [Laughs] I have to say we love our Chicago choir. A few of them have actually traveled around and played multiple shows with us. Normally with a lot of choirs we only have them come up for the final three or four songs, but our Chicago guys are really good so they tend to come up and do the whole show with us.

C: How did Bang Camaro get hooked up with Lollapalooza?

BB: They went to our booking agent Seth Rappaport of The Agency Group in New York, and I don’t know if he started the talk or Lollapalooza contacted him, but yeah our booking agent has been a Godsend. That guy’s gotten us around the country and done an amazing job. It’s not always easy to handle a band of 15 idiots driving around the country but he’s done a great job.

C: Is this any sort of big break for the band?

AN: I’m really excited to play Lollapalooza. We’ve played festivals in the past, we did a little bit of the festival circuit last summer and had a blast doing that. This year is no less exciting because Lollapalooza was a traveling festival when it first started when I was a kid, and it was the most cutting-edge, “alternative” things at the time. I remember getting really excited to go to Lollapalooza. And now all these years later to actually have the chance to bring my own band there and play on the same stage as Rogue Wave and Steve Malkmus. I’m wetting myself over it, it’s great.

C: What other acts are you excited to see?

BB: Alex you’re going crazy for Radiohead, right?

AN: Yeah I’m a huge Radiohead freak. I’ve probably seen them about 12 times before, so I’m excited to see what they’re up to.

C: Bryn, you did programming for Guitar Hero, correct?

BB: Guitar Hero II and Rock Band I and Rock Band II, yes.

C: And how did it come to pass that Bang Camaro songs are featured in those games?

BB: The company that makes those games, it’s called Harmonix, they’re based out of Boston and so are we. Originally when we were doing Guitar Hero, they asked us to be in the game because a band playing hard rock anthems with three guitar players is kind of a natural fit. We were already doing well in the area so they invited us to put our song in the game, and we were, of course, overjoyed by that. So we got "Push Push (Lady Lightning)" into the game and it just kind of went from there. It’s done amazing thing for us. We flew out to the Troubadour, which was our first time on the west coast and we basically sold that club out on the strength of that game. Just from people knowing our songs from that game. It’s been a great experience for us.

C: It must be a very unique experience, considering I can’t think of any other bands that could claim that they have fans from that kind of alternative source. How do you feel about having a fan base stemming from a video game?

BB: In some ways it’s great and in some ways it’s terrifying. Alex and I find that when we’re playing our guitar parts on stage, all the kids already know our parts from learning them through the game. So we have to be spot on the whole time.

C: Have you ever incorporated the game into you show?

BB: No, not really. I think that would almost cheapen it in a way. People don’t play the game because they want to be playing video games, they play it because they want to be rock stars. There’s definitely a separation.

C: For any Bang Camaro first-timers, what should they expect to see at your Lollapalooza show?

BB: They are going to see the same show we do at a small club or the large clubs we do in Boston or any other festivals. They’re going to see a rock show, and they’re going to see 10 to 15 singers bringing it like they haven’t seen before. And they’re probably going to see Alex headbang a lot. It’ll be pretty sweet.

AN: Yeah it’s going to be mayhem so everybody bring your coffee and donuts, we’re going on early.

Bang Camaro plays at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1 on Lollapalooza’s Myspace stage. The band is also in the process of recruiting new singers across the country. Look for details on how to apply at www.ourstage.com beginning this Friday.

Photos courtesy of the band's Myspace page.