The Jeff Carlson Band gathers their musical touchstones with a connoisseur's ear from the scintillating edges bordering between early Foreigner and Ronnie James Dio. Their 70s and 80s inspired edge shouldn't come as a surprise by now, with the hot-blooded band landing a distribution deal with Sony/Orchard after signing with Potomac Records in 2018. Their sonic escapades would penetrate through the cobwebs of contemporary sound for the next few years to come, with "So Long," drawing notoriety over the Rock group's unrelenting energy. Now, with 2020 adorning them a new label backing under RFL Records, The Jeff Carlson Band comes booming out of the gates with pristine gustation of what's to be expected from their upcoming catalog.
A funny thing happens when a band borrows heavily from their heavy-rock inspirators. They can either burry themselves under the nostalgia-reflecting resemblance they exude from their Rock-music ancestors, or they can take those influences and manifest something undividedly stimulating and eath-shattering. In this case, The Jeff Carlson Band does the latter.
Over a crunchy and magnetizing orchestration of scintillating guitars, the bombastic cadencies held by industrial drums, and quivering unison vocals, "Screaming Inside" stands as the Rock group's musical stanchion between 80s glam-rock and Alt-post-rock, with an extra dosage of badass rhetorics attached. Here, with a wall-sound dynamism being them, the band puts all their tight-leather and long-haired keystones into an uproaring chorus that would have any Rocker foaming at the mouth. And just before you thought you'd encountered it all, the thunder of the drums and rumbling of the bass melt together and give way for to heated guitar solo which manages to casts a distinguishing after-glow, one you won't want to wash off.
There's a point of inspiration and interest for any Rock and Roller on "Screamin Inside." Whether it's the juxtaposition of two contrasting Musical Eras forming into unison under The Jeff Carlson Band, or the way Jeff himself penetrates through the mix with his adhesive Vocals that land straight into the fleshy cores of our heart; it's something you don't want to miss out on.
Can you walk us through the writing and recording process of "Screamin Inside"? Where did this hot-blooded Musical escapade begin?
I wrote Screamin' Inside in 2002 after I had my second surgery on my stomach. I had almost died from my first surgery-(I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and later Crohn's disease) and at the time I was only 32, so I was fairly young to be going through such a traumatic time. I came up with the riff at rehearsal and Cory my bass player and I had demoed it with a different drummer at the time. Fast forward to 2019 and we had always thought that it had some great potential so we decided to record it for our Second Chance E. P.
What sorts of emotions were you trying to channel through the performances featured on this single, and does it relate to how you'd hope your audience will feel after listening?
The emotions I had when I wrote it originally were based on trying to understand why my health was failing me at the time, so I was really struggling with it. I felt pain, anger, resentment, and just plain fear of why this was happening to me at that point in my life. I do know that honesty is really cathartic when I write and usually when you write from the heart then people will relate to it in their own ways, even if it's not the exact same thing they are going through like what I went through. I hope that makes sense. The emotions can be the connection between myself and my audience even if the situations are different, so in that regard, I would like to think that we connect on that part of it, so at the end of the day I always want to create a positive experience out of any negative experiences I've had, so we can have hope.
When you think about your influences, does your time in Las Vegas come to mind as crucial in developing your sound and aesthetic as a band?
I think being in Las Vegas has exposed us to see a lot of our musical heroes that a smaller town might not have some of those bands play through. I'm originally from Springfield Missouri and I've been very lucky to have seen all of my musical heroes there and Memphis, Tennessee because they are only 3 1/2 hours apart. But on saying that Las Vegas has definitely helped us in keeping visually and musically relevant and not be dated.
What are the milestones you've set out for yourselves as a band in 2020, and what steps have you taken thus far in order to achieve those goals?
We've set milestones like writing a new full-length record, which we are finalizing the last part of the writing process so we can start tracking the first week of November for a January release, along with signing with a great manager, which is crucial to move forward to get to the next level, as well as signing to a great label who not only believes in us but is willing to do what it takes along with our management to get us to the next level.
What has been keeping you inspired in 2020?
What keeps us inspired is creating music that we are proud of along with the fans. The fans are really what is important to us because, without them, there would be no us. They are family to us and we are so grateful to them for all the support and love that they give us. We are so ready to get out there and start playing again because nothing compares to the energy that is exchanged at our live shows!
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