ION INDIE MAGAZINE September 2015, Volume 16 | Page 60

Phil: All kinds of stuff. Me personally--I love THE BEATLES--that’s a huge one. As far as guitar players, Chicago Blues, Bluegrass--that’s what my Dad was into. Then as I got older, THE BLACK CROWES and LED ZEPPELIN were a MAJOR influence. All the guys come from different backgrounds. Like Mitch…he grew up on JOURNEY…you can hear it in his singing. They were a big influence on him. Tyler, I bet would say THE FOO FIGHTERS are the biggest influence on him—TRAVIS BARKER--he LOVES Travis Barker and his BLINK 182 days! Dean likes a lot of the same things…Dean, who are some of your influences musically? Dean: Aw man, BUTCH WALKER--he’s a new one I’ve really been lovin’. But as far as early influences, I love everything from FRANK SINATRA to AEROSMITH—or even BOBBY DARIN. For Rock n Roll influences, MARSHALL TUCKER BAND--I was really into them. I learned about THE BEATLES from Phil before I was even into playing music, when I was 17 or 18 years old. COLLECTIVE SOUL--I loved them growing up, but you don’t hear much about them anymore…CANDLEBOX and CRACKER… Phil: You were influenced a lot by what your big brothers were listening to… Dean: Oh yeah, lots of 80’s stuff like TESLA and even when I was a kid, I loved all kinds of music-even movie soundtracks. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but still. Phil: It’s neat because you can hear it, especially that “score” type stuff. I totally hear it coming out in his bass playing. He always creates that kind of scene behind certain guitar lines…it’s really neat. Dean: I’ve always liked that kind of melodic sound growing up. CW: Have you had the chance to meet any of these people that have influenced you? Idols? Phil: We’ve gotten to meet a lot of them in the last couple years. CW: How’d it go? Dean: We got to meet MICHAEL ANTHONY… Phil: Some were good, some were bad. Depends on how much we had to drink at the time… CW: With all the troubles you were having with ‘ole 37 (tour bus), what keeps you from calling it quits and giving it up? Phil: Quitting isn’t even in our vocabulary. We are not the kind of guys that have a backup plan. I mean, this is it. We would be doing this if we were homeless under a bridge in Los Angeles or we get to be in this