Seven Questions In Heaven With Kingswood

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Kingswood singer Fergus Linacre:

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We are a rock band but with quite a diverse sound. Sometimes harder QOTSA vibes, then more bluesy like Zeppelin, at times soulful, sweet or sad. Well that's what someone said once anyway. In truth like any artist you just need to listen to the music.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
Personally, I grew up listening to whatever my brothers listened to. Queen, Aerosmith, Extreme, all big singers so I guess that's who I learnt to sing from. We got to meet Steven Tyler when we opened for Aerosmith in Australia which was a bit of a thrill. Today's influence comes from anywhere of any genre as long as it's good. I've been loving Sia's latest record.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Green Day's Dookie. I used to go to the music department of our school and learn how to play all the riffs on guitar.



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
In 2012, we did a tour of the army bases in Afghanistan, TK, Kabul, Kandahar and Dubai. It was an incredibly rewarding experience. I don't know if "weirdest" is the right word but the shows were defiantly the most different from festivals or club shows we have ever done.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Saltwater Taffy's. Such a good texture.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Ferga'lick'us, cos it makes the girls go loco.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Neil Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant. And we would play "Somewhere Over The rainbow."

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Seven Questions In Heaven With The Ruminaters

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with The Ruminaters' drummer Teddy!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We recently were told in a review that we sound like "London Calling era Clash fused with The Strokes." That works for us.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
John, Paul, George and Ringo. Julian Casablancas, David Gilmour. As far as influences go, we have been listening to a bunch of really cool stuff lately like Gap Dream, Mac Demarco, Mr Elevator & The Brain Hotel.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Honestly couldn’t tell you with any certainty but probably Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales. Or Jamiroquai?



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Once we played a show in an old fashioned hotel in Potts Point Sydney that was based on Hotel Chelsea in New York. We played in the lobby on top of a massive rotating record player and we all got our own engraved hip flask. We spent the night roaming the hotel which was lined wall to wall in weird and wonderful things.

What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
Surf, pool table, and Buck Hunter.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Musically? I’m now listening to Jamiroquai because you reminded me.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Who do you choose?
Beatles, Strokes, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, and The Kinks.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With God Damn

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Ash from God Damn!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
NME once described us as a mix between The Pixies, Melvins and Bleach- era Nirvana. I'm quite happy with that.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
There's a whole lot of influences, I need to try and not just talk about drummers, though. Musically I guess anyone from John Lennon, to Kurt Cobain, to Billy Joel, they all wrote amazing music in their own unique style. They all influenced my music taste today. Drums-wise, I would say John Bonham, Dave Grohl and Travis Barker, I could list a page full of people, but I'm not going to bore you.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Unashamedly, The Marshall Mathers LP. I loved it, I still have it around somewhere. I remember having to send my granddad Bob in to buy it for me as I was under age, obviously I didn't tell him about the "explicit content." Can you imagine how funny it would be to see an old man buying an Eminem album?



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
We have played our fair share of house parties in our time, and we love them. We haven't played one for a while but the last one we did ended with people crowd surfing in the living room.

What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
Probably a rest room after a long journey, only joking. I have an obsession with finding sports stadiums, especially soccer.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Black Country Tub Thumper. The area we are from in the UK is known as the Black Country due to its industrial past, and tub thumper is another name for a drummer. 

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
I'm going to choose 5 bands who I would want on the bill. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queens Of The Stone Age, Nirvana and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Final jam, that's a hard one, I would say "Moby Dick," just so I could see the Bonzo drum solo.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With Alexa Melo

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Alexa Melo!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
That's always tough. I can describe my music as rock or indie but everybody seems to get a different idea as to what that means these days. I guess I can safely say rock/indie with a lot of experimenting. I listen to so many genres it's hard to decipher what influences what.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
Thom Yorke and Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Bjork, Jack White, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Ani Difranco, Modest Mouse, Jeff Buckley, Prince, Queen, Neil Young and the list goes on and on.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Elephunk by The Black Eyed Peas. I know! It's not really fitting considering all the influences I stated above, BUT that album is a pop-tastic masterpiece that satisfied my 9 year-old music taste.



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
JUST LAST WEEKEND! It was terrible. I had a gig in Joshua Tree at a music festival where I was promised an audience of 150 people. Even though the show was four hours away and in the middle of nowhere, I figured it'd be a good opportunity to play our first music festival and get in front of a new audience outside of LA. Long story short, just about everything went wrong. There were maybe only 20 people at the stage, my guitar stopped working mid set, I lost my voice, some of my band mates were tripping out, and the sound was terrible! After the show my drummer bashed his bald head into a Joshua tree and had a chunk of wood stuck in his head for days. The rental car got stuck in the desert sand and had to get towed out and in the process of doing that, the bumper got dented! After all that shit, we ended up having a really great time which may be the strangest part of all.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Musically? Man, I don't know. I'm currently listening to 3 Bjork albums a day which I'm almost embarrassed by how psychotic that is! Besides music? I plead the 5th.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
If they named anything after me, it'd be named Alexa Melo. I'm stumped on any catchy, clever ice cream puns.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Radiohead, Bjork, Bowie, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles and we would all sing "Bohemian Rhapsody" because Queen was unavailable to join us.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With Chick Quest

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Magenta Chick Quest!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Quirky danceable post-punk with chord progressions and a trumpet from '60s spaghetti western films.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
Magdalena: Jeff Buckley, Pulp, Suede, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Echo & The Bunnymen, Best Coast, Mac DeMarco, Madonna, Kanye West and Shostakovich.

Ryan: Talking Heads, The Doors, Flaming Lips, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Violent Femmes, The Clash, Man Man, and a myriad of Athens GA bands like Elf Power, Now It’s Overhead, Count Kellam, Maserati, B-52's, REM, Pylon, etc etc etc.

Iris: Any band that can be associated with magenta.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Magdalena: Beatles Greatest Hits.

Ryan: Technotronic's Pump Up The Jam cassette circa 1990 from Tape World in the mall. At the age of 9, my very own mother nearly vetoed my purchase based on the "risque" woman on the cover.

Iris: Queen's Greatest Hits II (the blue one, not the magenta one, sadly) on CD some time in the middle of the 90ies. I still have it - you can tell that it was one of the first CDs I ever bought because it has a magenta sticker with my name and address and a picture of a cat on it. ;)



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Magdalena: A scout's festival. We were there way too early because we were told a wrong soundcheck time so we joined the highland games and even won second price.

Ryan: The so-called Turducken House in Greenville, North Carolina. Perhaps the dirtiest place I have ever stepped foot into, and certainly the dirtiest place I have ever slept. They had house shows for bands all the time (there weren't many other places to play there), so there were like 6 bands playing all night. The gas station around the corner had an ATM that would give only 20 dollar bills back, even if you requested only 10 dollars in the options, so naturally a line of kids from the house started to form and continually withdraw 10 dollars at a time until this machine was robbed of what had to be thousands of dollars. The machine was right next to the door, so it was clearly visible to the clerk, but he never seemed to catch on to the suspicious overdose of kids who suddenly had to withdraw lots of cash at 2 in the morning.

Iris: The Magenta Theatre, Hopatcong, New Jersey.

What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
Magdalena: Local museums.

Ryan: What the chances of finding a proper Mexican restaurant in Europe are. So far, pretty slim :(

Iris: My grandmother's ashes.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Magdalena: Magenta.

Ryan: Covering Iris's drum set in mayonnaise.

Iris: Austria finally got access to Netflix a few months ago and I've been watching a lot of documentaries on all kinds of weird topics on there.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Magdalena: Snowdrop: pistachios with rose water and white chocolate. Mhhhh. It’s just a dream come true.

Ryan: Magenta: The Ice Cream Flavor.

Iris: Lord of Meringues because ice cream mixed with meringues is one of the best things ever and I like a good play on words.

Final question: You're the opening act at the Magenta Music Festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
T. Rex, Eddie Cochran, The Minutemen, Richie Powell, and Falco and they all play "Airbag" by Radiohead.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With bitter's kiss

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Chloe Baker from bitter's kiss!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Stripped down indie pop, with the music intended to accompany a melodic diary of my personal thoughts and feelings. I mostly try to keep things simple in order to convey meaning in the words.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
My tastes are all over the map. Right now I am listening to Regina Spektor, but in my house we go from Grateful Dead to Springsteen to The Smiths to Rihanna, Paul McCartney and Kanye West.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Dixie Chicks' Taking The Long Way.



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Preparing to sing "Friend Of The Devil" at an open mic night that turned out to be at a friend's church.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Late night ice cream.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Hmm, Chaotic Chocolate something. I think it would have to be something blended for sure, as I have a hard time settling on one flavor.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Aretha Franklin, John Lennon, Sarah McLachlan, Beyonce (just because) and Sprinsteen and we do "House Of The Rising Sun.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With Beth Spangler

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Beth Spangler!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
I love writing and performing music that moves people both emotionally and physically. I am a dancer, so while I love a good power ballad, I also dig a good, catchy beat that I can move to (You will find a combination of both on my new EP Audio Selfie). Four words I would use to describe my music would be soulful, relatable, fun, and inspirational.

I'm sort of genre-less in a sense, because my music reflects many different sides of me as both a person and an artist. For example, Audio Selfie includes some blues, soul, pop, urban, R&B, and EDM I don't like putting boundaries on my artistry for the sake of fitting into a certain demographic. It's a feeling, an experience, and what I feel is what comes out. :-)

Who are your musical influences and idols?
I grew up living and breathing Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. They are definitely my greatest musical influences. Other very influential artists throughout my life would include Ray Charles, Etta James, Michael Jackson, Brian McKnight, and Christina Aguilera.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
The Sign by Ace of Base. I bought it secondhand from a yard sale. I was a frugal child. Lol



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Hmmm... I guess the strangest to date would have to be my performing a two hour set on a farm trailer in someone's backyard. People were literally riding up on horses. Oh, and this kid was riding a dog around at one point. I felt bad for the dog. Lol. I'm from the South, what do you expect?!?

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Macaroni & Cheese. I will never get enough of it in this lifetime!

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Chocolate Chip Rock-Fo-Dough. Because I like to rock, but I especially like to rock-fo-dough :-)

Music is my platform for making a difference in the world. I think it is important for people to support the artistry by buying music so that more good music can be made.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
I'd have to do my final jam with Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Jessie J, and Ray Charles and we'd close the show with "Black Or White" by Michael Jackson.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With Born Cages

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Born Cages' singer/guitarist Vlad Holiday!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Synthy indie/alternative pop with guitar solos and lazy vocals

Who are your musical influences and idols?
I've always loved me some Dylan & Springsteen. And I also kinda secretly wanna be Lykke Li or Emily Haines.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
The Strokes' Is This It, CD. My earliest memory of a cassette was Elvis Presley. It was my grandma's and she let me borrow it.



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
We played in Tulsa, OK this past tour. Great show actually, but after we loaded out, the whole venue converted into a private "freak show" where people dressed in S&M outfits There were a lot of leashes and people pretending to be pets. Definitely going back soon.

What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Taco Bell. We ate it so much on tour because we're part of this program called Feed The Beat that lets us eat there for free.

If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Rolling Down the Vanill. Because we have this song... eh never mind.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoveen, Johaan Sebastian Bach, Fryderyk Chopin, and of course Antonio Vivaldi. We'd probably jam on a Kanye West cover or something.

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Seven Questions In Heaven With Penicillin Baby

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Penicillin Baby's frontman/guitarist Jon Conant!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We're just gonna dive right in with the questions that no artist ever wants to answer huh? I kid. I'm not gonna describe it using catchy industry buzz terms or run-on phrases but I will say that if our music was a house it would next door to The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Ride and Tom Verlaine is our mailman.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
My musical influences and idols tend to shift depending on what mood I'm in or what I'm currently working on. I like a wide range of stuff from power pop, psychedelic, punk, glam, grunge, just depends on what I'm feeling that day. I would say its all mostly guitar-based though. As far as idols, well I've got quite a few. Jonathan Richman is up there. Not the frilly Jonathan Richman that left the original Modern Lovers, the young JR. The one that wrote aggressive songs about the city he loves and being heart broken. Roky Erickson is another one. He was a fucking renaissance man and didn't quit until his brain betrayed him. Then he got better and still hasnt quit. Also those four dudes from Liverpool.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
I grew up in a pretty religious household so my parents weren't too fond of me choosing my own music. But I was smart enough to download stuff via Napster and Kazaa, so basically my first records were pirated. Sorry music industry! But when I was learning guitar, my dad got me some Zeppelin and Beatles CDs so I'd actually get interested in learning to play. I'd say it worked. When I started collecting vinyl a few years later, the first record I bought was The Zombies' Greatest Hits. Still spin that one a lot.

Seven Questions In Heaven With Coeds

Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Coeds!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Ryan: We try to sound like The Muffs or The Nerves or The Primitives. But we kind of sound like wannabe CHVRCHES.
Mer: A lot of people have been saying we'd fit on a John Hughes movie soundtrack though so that's cool. All I've ever wanted is to be in a John Hughes movie.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
Both: Nirvana, always and forever. Also Elastica.
Ryan: On the pop side nobody beats Michael Jackson and Max Martin.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Mer: I bought Elastica and Weezer on CD from Kemp Mill Music in Reston, VA.
Ryan: I bought Michael Jackson's Dangerous on cassette. My whole family tried to tell me that tapes were over and compact discs were the future, but I refused to listen, and bought the last tape ever made.



What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Mer: We just played our first show at SXSW. But in my last band, I played a theater call Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh that everyone said was haunted and the singer of the band we were opening for wouldn't come in. It was a weird night.

What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
Mer: We're milkshake connoisseurs.
Ryan: Actually the label card on our 7" says SHAKE BREAK MUSIC because when we were writing songs in Austin last summer, we'd always take a SHAK BRAAAAK when we got something good done.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Mer: Well, we're not good enough to jam with anybody, so let's skip that part. But we'd wanna open for Amy Winehouse, then Eurythmics.
Ryan: And then a set change for NIN, and finally Biggie and Tupac would close out the show together.

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