ROCKTOBER: THE LUGOSI'S

 THE LUGOSI'S

*What's the name of your band? What's the origin of that name? Have you changed the band's name before?

the name of our band is the lugosi's, the band is named after bela lugosi the actor who played dracula and in a ton of old horror movies. we threw a couple names around but this one was liked by everyone in the band, we were calling it hep c and the lugosi's for awhile, but the lugosi's is alot more simple and to the point...the only problem with the name, is most dont know how to pronounce it.

*What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?

well, this is a hard question to answer, i feel we are kinda a little all over the place, we could be called punk, or pyschobilly or whatever, we really just think of it as rock n roll on MURDER. we all have so many influences its hard to list and speak for everyone...i think we are mainly going for like a 50's sound but punk, its a mixture of all of our influences,we all like different things, theres some metal in there, some rockabilly and def some punk......socko put it best by saying we sound like the misfits and elvis in a blender....

*How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

socko(upright bass)  and myself met in 2009, i own a tattoo shop in shippensburg pa and one day i was out buying a car, and when i got back to work and was looking to park, he was standing on the doorstep looking in the window, after we bullshitted for awhile we realized we knew alot of the same people and had alot of similar interests, so he started stopping in now and then, within a few weeks he was working in the shop on the weekends, it
 kinda all went from there.. him and trev(lead guitar)  worked together at his regular job, and i guess they hit it off as well. hammer  (drummer) was sent our way from a friend of sockos, hammer was in the horror punk band werevilsdare and i had booked them before so i knew exactly who he was. we started out with a good friend of mine on 2nd guitar,joe "dogboy" rockwell we had worked together before in the cock blocks and other projects, but in the end it didnt work out, and hammers brother grid, also from werevilsdare joined the band.

*When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

really it was sockos idea, he had a great idea about starting a band, and we talked about it often..joe and I played a farewell show as the cock blocks and were looking to start something new, after the show socko had mentioned that he was impressed with the band, and he started really wanting to get his project going, at the same time him and trev were spending alot of time talking about the band at work, so he went out and got a bass and taught himself to play, he is also an amazing guitar player btw...he kept asking if i would be interested, and at first i thought it wasnt for me, dont get me wrong i loved the idea, but thought i wasnt cut out to sing the way he was going for. its funny, i kept pressuring my friend gus to try out and he wouldnt..so me and joe went out to sockos to give it a try..socko had the start of a song "chicks in chunks"...after messing around for awhile that day, we wrote the rest of the song and it was great...i left there being super excited..i realized with a little help from socko, i could sing the way he wanted, he actually taught me to sing in the rockabilly way, now i feel like this is what i was meant to do..it all just kinda fell together after that...

*What can you tell me about your instruments? (i.e., Are you subject to brand loyalty or will you play with whatever's available? What made you choose the instruments you have now? Was it cost or was it style/model/brand/color preference?  the guys arent to worried about cost or color or anything they just play what they like.. hammer plays pearl drums, trev plays a schecter guitar and uses a mesa boogie cab, grid plays an ibanez and uses a marshall cab.....and socko uses weedwacker pro strings on his upright....

*Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues?

things kinda just took off for us show wise, we have played almost every weekend since our first show back in april..weve got to play with some great bands, the meeps, the koffin kats, dr chud from the misfits band sardonica, .weve played all ages venues and bars, we are super stoked about our next couple shows, were playing field of screams in pa, and the zombie walk in westminister maryland, those shows are right up our alley and a little different then most of the shows we have been playing...i pretty much like everywhere we play, i love playing rocket becuase it local, kids can come and terry kerns and family are awesome! i love playing bars, cause we can throw a couple back and really let loose, i think we shine the most when im in the bag. i also love frostburg maryland....weve been playing alot down there and the people are great! im also a big fan of playing anywhere with the dead end cruisers...i guess what im really trying to say, is i love playing anywhere, so do the rest of the guys, everythings happening kinda fast for us, and we are getting asked to come back places,  so its like wow, people like us! hahaha

*Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you have a set play list?

i guess it depends where we are playing, sometimes we have shorter amounts of time to play, we like to play atleast our original stuff and when we have more time we love to throw out some covers and get the crowd going... we dont really have a set list, we usually always start the set the same way, but we kinda just play whatever, if we have a set list, and the crowd needs pumped up, we might switch it around alittle, just to make things happen..

*Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?

socko brings alot of the material to the table, he is a very gifted songwriter. everything just kinda falls together, i esp enjoy when we all work together, those are some of our best songs... the main themes are monsters, and vampires, and girls, and pbr...i dont think these themes will change much, its really all about having a good time, fun stuff, but on murder..

*Could you briefly describe the music-making process

we all bring different stuff the the table, trev and grid will bring guitar parts, sometimes socko tweaks the guitar, sometimes one of us brings up an idea and we just go from there, sometimes ill throw out just a song name, and socko will come back with a whole song, sometimes he will have a chorus, and we all work out the words, shit some of the songs have just came from jokes...like a song we are working on now called "too fat for rock and roll"....a certain "my head is fucking huge' singer told us we needed to work out and get in shape and maybe we would get more fans...well "too fat" spawned from that...

*What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

well we started out practicing every sunday, then when we started playing almost every friday and saturday we started practicing less. we all have busy lives and some of us have familys...so we kinda kicked back and just played shows for a good three months...we all are itchinig to start playing new stuff cause we have a ton written, we just never have the time to work on it, so its looking like this winter we will be taking it easy and working all this stuff out for the next album, and i think we are also gonna shoot a couple videaos as well.. are practices are fun, lots of joking and laughing, making fun of the big headed monster, and stuff like that...we are all over the place at practice.. 

*How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

i think we have all grown comfortable with each other and kinda formed a brotherhood, we all didnt really know each other well, so its been a fun time getting to know each other while going out and playing shows, i think this has had a tremendous effect on the music and our stage show...we are constantly evolving...and its cool because i feel as if we are not set in a specific genre, and everyone doesnt care where the music goes. like a new song we just started playing called "witch", its nothing like the rest of the music....

*What was your biggest challenged as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? if so how?

id have to say scheduling is a bit challenging. with there being five guys in the band, its hard to get us all in one place at one time, whether it be practices or shows or whatever, its hard. spending so much time away from home and our familys is a bit draining too. one thing i have to say is, we arent one of those drama filled bands, we just do what we do...oh yeah and a big challenge is funding...this shit gets expensive...so buy our cd, please..

*What advice do you have for inspiring musicians out there?

just get out there and do it, do your thing, play your music, dont let your head get big, be nice, dont expect anything, be happy with what your doing and the people your doing it with, dont let yourself get distracted by the negativity, play your shows, even if its only for 20 mins, and play it loud.

*How can fans gain access to your music? Website? cds?

we have a myspace its www.myspace.com/belalives  there are a couple fan pages on facebook as well, you can find out where we are playing on the myspace.. we recorded our first album in august and as of now it is only available for digital download,the album should be out on cd soon!  the album is called bela lives, and it is available everywhere, like itunes, amazon, rhapsody, lastfm.com and all those download sites, they are all selling the album for around ten bucks but you can get it on cdbaby.com for $4.99. and keep checking back on us, we have almost another album ready plus we are recording a split with our fav pop punk band the meeps probably in december so it will be out next year, it will be a fun record and we our both covering one of each others songs and there will be some new material on it as well. also we should have a couple videos done hopefully by next year so keep watching for them as well...

*Anyone you would like to thank for emotional or financial support?

id really like to thank everyone in the bands familys, they have all been so supportive in so many ways. if it wasnt for them, we wouldnt be out doing this. also i would like to thank matt burns, he has helped us right from the start, id also like to thank mark demise from werevilsdare, he has been a big help as well, and id like to thank the places who have us play there, and the people who take the time out to come and see us, i enjoy the time we spend together..

*Anything else you would like to add?

i appreciate you taking the time to do this with me, hopefully i dont sound like to much of a douche, id just like to say, come out and see us play, even if you dont like punk or this or that, i think if you give us a chance, youll like us....and i like pbr, for those that are buying....

 So to kick off Rocktober, I am proud to give you the Lugosi's. With a stage presence that Frankenstein's monster himself would be jealous of, how could you go wrong. Also, it is very fitting to start off with these guys considering Halloween is coming up. If you are seeking a good show in the MD/PA/WV area definitely keep yourself updated on their schedule as more and more shows come along. JUST REMEMBER TO BRING  THE PBR! Thank you Alabaster Slade and the rest of the Lugosi's for taking their time out and doing this for me and the fans.