ROCKNATION ISSUE 24
PAGE 39
BOB DEE with
PETRO
Hello Bob Dee with Petro and welcome to Rocknation . Congrats to your band on the release of your album “ Pretty Things ” on AMG / SONY Records . How does it feel to have a major label release and be a part of Universal Records with the deal on AMG / SONY Records ? Hi Tom , Great to talk to you again Congrats on your awesome magazine !! Yes I am so excited !! As many of you know I have been recording and releasing albums for awhile now and I have always been told “ You just need that one hit single Bob and you will have a major deal ”. So the story goes I wrote this song and sent it to Mark Berry at AMG / Universal Records , he has something like 36 Gold and Platinum records .. He wrote back “ this song is a hit single ” an Anthem and signed me .. we then made an awesome video for it .. The song was rockin UK radio for 3 months . it did so well Mark got me something like 10 licensing deals including the tattoo reality show “ Bondi Ink ” and the video was licensed to 5,000 gym chains across the USA so we toured and had some major airplay then AMG / SONY came along and released the full 12 song album called ‘ Pretty Things ” available on All major outlets
Which track do you think got you the deal ? The song is called “ Socially Awkward ” It ’ s like Green Day meets Cheap Trick !! I recorded it with my awesome team Brian Bauers and Scott Campbell on Drums .. The song always goes over live .. I had one promoter in Germany tell me his whole office staff loved the song so much they couldn ’ t stop singing my song all day in the office
If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like , what bands would you mention ? I always hear a “ Cheap Trick “ reference and some say “ Oasis ” the cool thing about our music is that we drop tune all of our songs to a “ C “ 2 whole steps down so when we play live its real heavy with my pop vocal on the top end it seems to resonate well with all of our fans .
You have released many pro videos please tell us about the new one filmed in Germany . Oh Yes I flew to Germany to work with director “ Annie Bertram ” she is from Zurich . Annie found an old broken down hotel in “ The Black Forest ”, Germany . So we all flew from all parts of the world to the location in Baden Baden Germany . I had to take a two hour train ride from Frankfurt to “ Baden Baden ” where the location was filmed . We filmed with a beautiful model named “ Lamacra ” from Germany and I must mention an awesome makeup girl “ Schnitt muskel ” and “ Patrick Crass ” who helped with the video I played an old vampire who saves a young girl and brings her back to life . The video is called “ Dance with a Vampire ”
Once I had a bad dream I lost my guitar on a flight , but this really happen to you what was the deal ? It ’ s funny you should say that Tom .. Here goes I have this guitar that was custom built for me by legend “ DAWK ” RIP Dawk did Manowar , Richie Blackmore , Scorpions amps and guitars and I had Larry DiMarzio make a special rock pickup for the guitar .. the cool thing is I take the neck off and put it and the body in my duffle bag and take it on tour . Well when I play in Japan I like to vacation in Maui , Hawaii .. I have a cool bungalow there and it comes with a grill by the ocean .. I spend a week there then fly to Japan to play . So the guitar made it through many flights and customs NYC- LAX- Honolulu-MAui- Tokyo- Osaka with no problem , but when I tried to fly back home I got to the Osaka , Japan airport and the TSA says the neck of my guitar is too long it has to be gate checked !! What ???? I went off I told them no way and raised my voice a bit …. so in the mean time the Japanese police started to surround me I then thought .. I better shut up … so they detained me for like a half hour and went through every piece of my clothing , they took my screwdrivers I had for my guitar and my Snark tuner . I learned to shut up … I finally got my guitar back in one piece
Have you recently picked up any endorsements for the band ? Yes .. I met Trace Davis owner of “ Voodoo Amps ” at a club in Upstate , NY through my friend Rich Paolotto a rock manager in Upstate NY Trace Davis amps are amazing the holy grail of amps I need no pedals and my amp just kicks ass his clients are Joe Perry , Aerosmith Billy Gibbons , ZZ Top Richard Fortus , Guns and Roses and Johnny Depp . I also have a DR Strings endorsement through Rosa Daza she is awesome . Since the band tunes down two whole steps we created a custom set for me which is now being sold in stores 13-56 .. if you see this set in stores it came from me I also just picked up a “ Zemaitis Guitar endorsement . I just received my guitar and will be playing it on tour in the UK along with Namba Gear just came onboard and you all know about my famous “ Pikcard ’ s ” by Neil Rapaport Neil is awesome he shipped a whole bunch to Japan for me .. I think everyone around the world has one of my pick cards !! Including the late director “ Malik Bendjelloul who directed ‘ Searching For Sugarman ” I met him when I played SXSW in Austin Texas .. He said he had my “ Pikcard ” in his wallet when he won an Oscar for best film doc .
Where has the band has played concerts and other bands have you appeared with . We did support for “ Britny Fox ” man they were awesome !! great band great guys !! We also look forward to hanging with a UK band named “ Erica ” we were on tour with them last time we played our UK tour .. great band !!!
Please tell us about the UK tour you have coming up . Yes .. we are excited to be asked back .. we rocked last time We are going back for another UK tour in June playing from Newcastle to London and playing an outdoor festival too . I have my Petro Band in Europe that I play with .. Awesome players .. on guitar : Ade Fisher , on bass : Norm Appleby and AT Kinson on drums We will be rockin the “ Pretty Things ” tour .
What plans do you have for 2017 ? So far its been amazing I was in Germany a few months ago going to tour the UK in June and filming a new music video when I get back in July then tour playing an outdoor festival in August then fall tour and back in the studio .
Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans ? Thank you Tom for taking the time to interview me its always a pleasure talking with you … To all my fans around the world Thank You for all your love and support You all stuck by me through all these years . All the fan mail I receive is heartwarming .. you will always by my side .. I could not do this without you !! Thank you !!