With Mark Dalbeth
This Goes To 11 is a weekly column hosted by Mark Dalbeth. Mark was born in New Zealand and now lives in Los Angeles, and would be better known in Australia as having been part of the band Bellusira. Following his dreams, Mark moved to LA and has been working on Rav Medic plus an exciting new project he has in the works. As a performer, Mark has been the subject of many interviews and, as a result of often being asked the same generic questions himself, has come on board with HEAVY and plans to conduct interviews with an edge.
No bullshit questions, no boring anecdotes and definitely no soft edges, This Goes To 11 is a column where the musician finally gets to turn the tables with hard-hitting questions you won’t hear anywhere else.
This week, Mark catches up with Carlos from LA’s Stonebreed.
Let’s cut straight to it!
MD:Your biggest fear right now with the music industry?
Carlos: I personally have no fears, I am fearless. But I do have some reservations about more lockdowns and more live music being cancelled.
Why do you think Rock Music is always the genre fighting for commercial acceptance?
I think real rock ‘n’ roll is not commercial to begin with, it’s different it’s dangerous it’s risky it doesn’t fit the normalcy of safeness in music. Mom don’t mind you listening to Taylor Swift singing about her boyfriends, but she does mind some unapologetic singer from a rock band singing about sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
Was there a moment in your career that you thought about throwing it all in?
NEVER, I do this because I WANT to, and I love to I don’t do this for the money for the fame or to get laid, I do it for the pure joy of writing recording and performing. If somebody likes it that’s cool if I can make a couple of bucks from it that’s even cooler if it ever becomes a headache of any kind, that is when I will throw it all in.
What is your typical writing process?
I will either come up with an inspiration for a song, or I might even play some of it on my acoustic guitar and give it to the guitar player and then give it to the rest of the band, or the guitarist will come up with a riff, and we start to build on it and I start writing the melody and lyrics, and then we give it to the band, or sometimes after we rehearse our set, we just start jammin, and we might just write a song on the spot in the jam room, so really various ways.
Is there still value in printing CD’s or do you believe the Digital world has taken over completely now?
That’s a tough question I mean with us in particular it’s good to have them for our live shows to sell at the merch table, we also sell quite a few online as well, but I do see it fading fast and a lot of people don’t buy CDs in music stores any more or even Walmart or target, I see a lot of bands switching to digital USB flash drives now.
Are you prepared to sacrifice money and comfort in order to progress your career?
Ha I have been doing that my whole life lol but YES my music is a part of me and look at it all as an investment, I’m investing in myself 🙂
Can you see modern Rock music returning to (commercial) radio in the near future?
Oh, absolutely, it always comes back around and around. I think people are going to want to hear real musicians and singers again instead of autotune singers and beats made on computers. That’s always going be popular musicians.
Was Lars Ulrich right?
Yes, because An artist that pays money to buy their instruments, pay for the rehearsals, put all the blood sweat and tears into making the music, then the cost of recording the music, promoting the music, making the music available on CD or vinyl or cassette etc. It all cost money and to have someone just basically steal your music, it’s like giving your work away for free.
Has Rock Music become too safe?
I don’t think it’s become too safe; I think it’s become very watered down, not much originality lately. Even newer bands that I tend to like, still sound like bands I used to listen to. Which can be good and bad when it comes to looking for something new and fresh.
Do you think it’s important to play in multiple projects or solely focus your attention into one?
Me, personally, I only have time to focus on one, but also depends on you as a person, for instance our drummer plays in a few tribute bands as well as with us. It works for him.
What have you got going on or coming up that we should know about?
We have two CDs released available in all major digital outlets worldwide, you can order physical CDs and merchandise through our website www.stonebreed.com. We have 3 singles released recently as well. We have a Texas tour coming up in September 6 cities , 6 nights. We have a few festival dates including NOMAD FEST in Phoenix Arizona in November. And our first gig booked for 2022 in March with KIX at the world-famous Whisky a Go-Go in Hollywood Ca. For everything Stonebreed visit www.Stonebreed.com
Listen to The Whisky HERE
Stonebreed Links
www.ReverbNation.com/stonebreed
Stonebreed Tour dates https://www.bandsintown.com/a/965154?came_from=206
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0f7iftFcxCp3NAEYqzNrvj?si=VWSVSKiXTzGLQ5MfJJIRAg
