By Jason Yarrow, September 24, 2020

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Hi Guys!  Welcome to our "On the Climb" interview segment of Tru Rock Revival Magazine.  These are fast paced "Russian Roulette" style questions to introduce you and your music to new fans.  So, Let's get it moving!

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TRR:  What is the origin of your band’s name?  What are some other names you tossed around before settling on your current band name?

V:    I wanted a band name that both represented the attitude of the music but would also be something that would look cool to wear.  I asked myself what kind of band name could be on a shirt where a kid walking into Hot Topic would want to buy it without even having heard the music.  No other name entered consideration.  I kicked around lots of interesting words and made many lists where I tried to combine words, etc but nothing was fruitful.  One day ‘Violent Idols’ came into mind and seemed like a cool concept.  When I looked it up and saw that nobody had used it before then I knew it was meant to be!

 

TRR:  Who are the players?

V: I am the only official member of Violent Idols.  You can call me V and I write and perform all the music alongside our producer/collaborator Kane Churko.

 

TRR:  How did all of you meet?  Any interesting stories here?

V:  Kane and I met through wrestling actually.  He’s a big fan as are we and when the opportunity came up to work on Jon Moxley from AEW’s theme together it led to further collaborations.  I may invite others to join the band at a certain point but for now am only working with people on the live side. 

 

TRR:  How would you classify your music?  (rock, hard rock, metal, post-grunge, southern rock, etc.)

V:  I would say our music is hard rock with tinges of metal but generally  I don’t really buy into all the sub niche genres of rock.  If it has a guitar in it and an attitude then it is all rock music to me.

 

TRR:  What do you think makes your band stand out from others?

V:  Being anonymous helps me stand out oddly enough.  In a culture where everybody wants to be recognized and bask in their own glory, I wanted to make sure this project was about the music and not the people behind it.  It shouldn’t even matter who we are or who I am.  All that should matter is do you like the music or not?  Does it speak to you?  I hope it does.

 

TRR:  Over the past few decades, rock music has been the “red headed step-child”, rarely even mentioned on award shows like the Grammys, which has become very irrelevant.  Do you feel that rock is starting to climb the ladder again?

V:  I think rock music is never went away but the mainstream gatekeepers are surely doing their best to suppress it.  Advertisers don’t like it.  Television doesn’t like it.  Thank goodness for sports, MMA and wrestling or we would barely ever hear it on cable TV.  It’s not safe enough for the suits and never should be.  But it would be nice to see it recognized when it’s succeeding rather than constantly oppressed by much “safer music”.

 

TRR:  Who are some of your musical influences?

V:  I can’t help but love NIN, Rob Zombie, Manson, Slipknot, etc.  Artists like that have surely had a profound influence on me growing up as they spoke loudly to and for the under represented.

 

TRR:  How do you write your songs?  Is it a collaborative effort?

V: I write all the songs.  I love to collaborate with guests though.  We have 3 special guests on our debut EP alone.  It’s so much fun to make music with your friends and our produced lends a lot to the songwriting as well.

 

TRR:  Speaking of collaborative, if you could get together with any band or musician to record a song together, who would that be?

V:  It would be so much fun to do a track with Manson.  I think we’d knock something together out of the park.  At the same time I’d love to work with a great guitarist like Wes Borland or John 5.  It would be fun to see what kind of damage we could do.

 

TRR:  What other bands would you like to tour with?

V:  I would love tour with Poppy.  I think our styles would go well together and that our performances would be very complimentary.  What she’s doing right now is fantastic.

 

TRR:  What is your most memorable show, good or bad?

 

V:  The one we haven’t played yet.

 

TRR:  What would be your dream show?

 

 V:  I would love to play Knotfest in Japan or their cruise.  We have a lot of friends and fans in Japan that I think would lose their minds if we were to play a show there.

 

TRR:  What has been your craziest fan interaction?

 

V:  I’m not sure if I’m just now judgmental enough but we haven’t really had any crazy fans yet.  Every now and again we see somebody offended by our message or the way I look with the mask and everything but the people that “get it” haven’t been a problem at all.  Maybe I’m just as crazy as metal and wrestling fans where I just can’t see the craziness objectively.

 

TRR:  What’s on the table for the rest of the year?

 

V:  Recording and putting out more music.  As much of it as possible as often as possible.

 

TRR:  Is there anyone you’d like to give a shout out to or thank you to?

V:  I would like to thank all the protestors that are out on the street showing the world that we are sick and tired of inequality and police brutality.  While it’s also a very sad time as we haven’t yet seen change, I think we are seeing enough action to lead to change and that makes me very proud.  There’s a reason idols have to be violent sometimes.  You can only speak to deaf ears for so long.  Keep fighting the good fight out there!

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For further information about Violent Idols, follow them on Facebook.

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