Bill Power

We interviewed Bill at the Zambooie offices in Nashville last year during GMA week. I am in no way a fan of GMA and I’m usually pretty miserable most of the time I’m there so it was really nice getting to hang out with friends for a while.
I think the first time I met Bill was one year at the Where-House’s new band tournament. We always tried to make the NBT something that would not only be cool for the bands but would actually help them to make it to the next level. This included flying in “celebrity” judges for the final round. This was almost always record labels, booking agents, magazines, things of that nature. So naturally Tooth and Nail would be first on our list. And as one of the higher ups at Tooth and Nail, Bill was lucky enough to be the one to make the trip one year.
A little bit of background on Bill, he’s kind of the Henry Rollins of the scene. Aside from being in on the ground floor of Tooth and Nail he was in one of their first bands, Blenderhead, and then went on to found Zambooie merch with Bruce Fitzhugh and Mike Lewis. No kidding. I still don’t know when this guy sleeps.
We hooked up with Bill about ten minutes after we finished up with Bruce’s interview. Bill’s office was really cool, he’s really into punk and had these cool Jawbox, and Rollins posters along with a string of hot pepper lights so we just shot him at his desk.
Bill was as usual really cool, very insightful and totally honest. At one point we were talking about the scene becoming cool and Bill said that anytime whenever whatever it is that you are into becomes the cool thing to do it’s in danger. Good advice for anyone not just Christians, I think that’s why Tooth and Nail and everything Bill has been involved in has been so relevant. I honestly wish more people in our scene could be as much of a mover and a shaker as Bill.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Every once in a while a band comes out that totally makes you feel like that 13-year old that’s just discovered Heavy Metal for the first time. A band that’s so good that you just rediscover what is so great about music all over again. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster is one of those bands for me, so much so that I don’t even know where to begin talking about what’s so great about them.
I guess like all great bands it’s really about the music primarily. With Maylene if that was all they had going or them it would be way more than enough. This is a band that you simply can’t categorize, any tag that you put on them points at elements of their style but not even close to fully encapsulating the band. Southern? Yup. Hardcore? Yeah, Hair Metal? Well yeah, there’s some of that too. That’s part of what’s so amazing about this band, they are truly doing something that is unique. It’s almost like Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Van Halen took their stuff to a point, and Maylene picked up where both left off and added some of their own personality and just went from there.
To make a bolder statement I truly think that Maylene is the next step in the evolution of Southern rock. At the risk of sounding like a snotty Rolling Stone writer, I think that Southern rock has really not progressed that much since Skynyrd’s demise in 1977. Sure you’ve got your .38 Specials, and your Molly Hatchets, and your Georgia Satellites, but most were just putting their own stamp on a tried form of music. Then in 2005 here comes Maylene.
While the band gets comparisons to Skynyrd quite frequently, I think the main similarity is both of the bands realness. Maybe that’s just part of being southern, I don’t know but it’s there nonetheless. I’ve got to admit, and if you’ve read the rest of my blog you already know this, I’m kind of a rube myself. Totally not kidding, my first grade class had 24 kids in it and I took my first driving lesson in my grandpa’s farm truck out in a pasture. The thing was so rusted out that you could see the ground going by beneath your feet while you were driving it. The first car I ever owned was a beat up Camero, and I spent many, many high school nights at parties in barns and metal buildings. Anyway I understand where Maylene is coming from. In the video for “Tough as John Jacobs” the guys are having a party in a barn, wearing Motley Crue t-shirts, having a cookout and swimming in the pond. I also think that like Lynyrd Skynyrd, they aren’t really trying to change anything or push any boundaries, but regardless, that is what’s happening just by them being true to who they are and trying to make the best music they can.
We did the interview with the Maylene guys behind the main stage at Cornerstone. I had never noticed before but there is a creek that runs through about 200 feet behind the back of the stage. The guys said they wanted to do the interview down by the creek because it felt more like home so we took the handheld and shot by the water.
The interview was one of the funniest ones we’ve done throughout the production of the film. As I said before these guys are just real. There is utterly not a shred of pretense about these guys they’re just who they are. At one point one of the guys, I think it was Josh, just goes “I gotta pee,” so he turns around into the creek and takes a wizz. No joke. We just kept on with the interview.
As you can imagine, the guys were hilarious. One of the first questions I always ask is what the artist’s first impression of Christian rock was. In this case I said, “what’s your first recollection of Christian rock?” Immediately Josh says, “what does recollection mean?” Sitting here typing this almost a year later, I’m still laughing.
We’ve always intended that the end credits of the doc, would be a series of funny moments from interviews and the production, and I think that Maylene will be featured prominently in that portion.
Sample dialog: “we’re from the south and we talked funny.”
Awesome.
Seriously though I think the best part of talking to these guys was when I asked about how things had been with other bands. Maylene, for all intents and purposes, is a general market band. They play Warped tour and were recently listed at one of AP magazine’s bands to watch but at the same time are very up front about their faith. When I asked them how the reception from the general market kids were, they said “awesome” and basically related that as long are you are real with who you are people will respect it. As simple a statement as this seems, it’s what every band that came before them struggled to attain.
My prediction right now and you can quote me on this. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster are the next big thing.