iNTERViEWED
BY BRiAN LUSH
The potent mixture of BULLETPROOF
MESSENGER’s heavy metal
thunder and digital beats originated in a basement back in the year
2000. After
having perfected this bold sound, DJ / programmer MATT LITWIN and
guitarist
VOLEY MARTIN were anxious to get it out there for people to hear. The
one
obstacle was that this edgy sound didn’t have a serviceable vocalist.
After
three years, vocalist MARCUS KLAVAN came knocking and BULLETPROOF
MESSENGER was
ready to roll. Having been tapped by INCUBUS to open for them on a
world tour,
the band quickly gained a reputation for getting a crowd energized.
That very
synergy was captured on the band’s much-too-long-in-the-making 2006
debut album
‘THE CRUCIAL LINE’. Four years later, BULLETPROOF MESSENGER has grown
in
musicality and band members with the release of their sophomore album
‘ARM
YOURSELF’ and the expanse has co-founder VOLEY MARTIN looking back in
disbelief. “For the first album we had years of stuff that had built up
and we
just went through the best songs that we had and spent hours and hours
a day
until the sound got where we wanted it to be before we could go into
the
recording studio.” says MARTIN “For the second album, we signed up for
the
SELLABAND thing where a band can reach up to fifty thousand dollars in
investment
money. We ended up reaching fifty-thousand dollars in ten months so we
had to
work under the gun a little bit. Despite not being around as much, I
was still
involved in the writing process over the internet. The big difference
between
both albums is that the first album was two people where as ARM
YOURSELF was a
true band effort.”
ROCKWIRED
spoke with bassist JESSE DOWNING and guitarist
VOLEY MARTIN of BULLETPROOF MESSENGER over the phone. Here is how it
went.
How’s
it going?
JESSE: Things are
bit hectic. How are you doing?
Why are things
hectic? Are you on the road or something?
JESSE: Yeah.
We’re doing a show in New York
tomorrow and we’re getting finished with a last minute rehearsal and
packing up
to get down there for the show.
I got a chance to
listen to the album today and it’s great!
JESSE: Cool!
Thanks!
Now that all of the
work that has gone into it is behind you, how do you feel about the
finished
product?
JESSE: We’re
really proud of it.
You’re kind of a
recent addition to the band. How recent are you?
JESSE: About
three and half years ago.
Were you there for
the recording of the previous release?
JESSE: I started
a couple of months after they released it.
Talk about how music
began for you as an individual.
JESSE: It started
when I was a kid playing violin in the third grade. It was a long time
ago.
How did you go from
violin to bass?
JESSE: I’d say
that was my dad’s fault. He was really into rock music.
What kind of music
got to you in the beginning?
JESSE: Everything
that he was listening to like JIMI HENDRIX and LED ZEPPELIN. I grew up
in the
nineties and got into things like PEARL JAM and ALICE IN CHAINS got to
me. I
think everyone in this band was influenced by that whole grunge thing
at some
point.
Was there a
succession of bands for you before being in BULLET PROOF MESSENGER?
JESSE: I’ve been
in a ton of bands and I don’t really know how to answer that question
briefly.
What was it that drew
you to this band specifically?
JESSE: The fact
that they integrate the electronics and that the singer is really
strong. Some
of their influences are actually my influences. It’s kind of a common
thread I
guess. I just really liked the music so I auditioned and I got the gig.
Your perspective on
the previous album is limited to being a listener since you weren’t a
participant. What do you think is different this time around with the
release
of ARM YOURSELF?
JESSE: Two things
– the style has changed a little bit. The sound is a little more
diverse. The
production of ARM YOURSELF has a very different feel. It’s got more
guitar
solos and more of a funk influence. Some of the songs are mellower and
have a
kind of PINK FLOYD/DEPECHE MODE vibe. We got a little more experimental
this
time around.
Talk about each of
the members of the band and what it is you think each of them brings to
the
table musically and personality-wise that makes it work.
JESSE: Oh this is
a cool question! I guess I’ll start with our new guy. We have a member
that has
been with us for about four months. We got a new drummer around the end
of
October. Musically, he’s got a really tight, tasteful style. He does a
lot of
cool stick tricks that makes the show pretty interesting.
Personality-wise,
we’re all a bunch of clowns really. When we were auditioning the
drummer, we
were hoping that he was going to be a little eccentric and he is. He’s
really
dedicated and wants to work hard and he keeps us driving along. His
name is
VINCE DORSKI. SCUBA (aka MATT LITWIN) brings the electronic vibe to the
project. He is also the business man of the group. I guess you could
call that
a strength. SCOTT MARTIN brings the classic rock influence to the band.
He is a
really calm person. If you ever want to chill out and have a mellow
conversation, he’s there. He’s like a walking encyclopedia. He knows
everything
about everything. He’s pretty much ready to be a history teacher. He’s
an
opened book. I’ve really been influenced by metal, funk and reggae. I
try to
make the bass sounds a little more interesting. VOLEY MARTIN is the guy
who co-founded
the band with SCUBA back in 2000. VOLEY is
serving
in the Army so he’s a got a drill sergeant vibe about him. He’s in the
guard.
He’s a Black Hawk pilot and he just got back from Iraq
a little while ago. MARCUS KLAVAN is the lead singer and he's been
withthe band since 2003. We’ve got
a lot of great guys in this band but MARCUS has the most interesting
sense of
humor. He’s got a very big personality and he’s always good for a
laugh. He
likes a lot of music but I really couldn’t say what any of his
influences are.
Describe how songs
get written in this band. From what I’ve read, you guys have been
swapping
mp3’s because of MARCUS’s obligations to the Military.
JESSE: For the
first album it was just VOLEY and MATT in their basement or one of
their
basements. They programmed drums and recorded everything on their
computers and
brought in the vocals at the end. For this one, we had to swap mp3
files back
and forth. Me SCUBA and VOLEY were all bouncing tracks back and forth
and kept
refining these ideas as time went on. About three quarters of the way
through, VOLEY was stationed in Alabama
so we went down there and we did a lot of writing and recording for the
demo.
Everyone in the band gets a rough idea and then we all collaborate and
we
really needed the technology to make that happen because we were all in
different places. I was three hours away from all of the other band
members. We
were all kind of spread out. Our old drummer was living in Maryland
at that point and a bunch of the other guys were in Long Island.
That sounds pretty
spread apart!
JESSE: Yeah.
What songs off of ARM
YOURSELF resonate for you the most and why?
JESSE: I’d have
to say the title track because musically, it’s a lot of fun to play. I
like the
lyrics of that song as well.
How easy or difficult
is it to translate what is on the CD into a live setting.
JESSE: This album
is definitely harder to play because we tried to expand on our
musicianship. As
far as the sequencing goes, that stuff’s not hard at all. That’s kind
of MATT’s
job. He handles all of the sequencing and plays the keyboards and the
turntables.
What would you like a
person to come away with after they’ve heard ARM YOURSELF?
JESSE: I would
want them to listen to it again.
Maybe buy a t-shirt?
JESSE: Hey, if
they would buy stuff that would be great. Maybe I should turn this one
over to
VOLEY.
VOLEY: We take
pride in musicianship. We would want people to walk away thinking that
they
just listened to a band that really takes pride in the way they play
and how
they play but not to the point where it sacrifices the commercial
marketability
of the music because we feel that a lot of great technical players just
sound
like they are playing speed drills. There needs to be some kind of
balance
between the selling out aspect of it and taking pride in the parts that
they
play if that makes sense.
Because you’re the
founding member I have to ask, what do you think is different this time
around
with the release of ARM YOURSELF?
VOLEY: The change
comes from having six guys in the band as opposed to two guys recording
in
their basement. On the second album, the other band members really
stepped up
to write and come up with stuff because I was out of the picture for a
while.
For the first album we had years of stuff that had built up and we just
went
through the best songs that we had and spent hours and hours a day
until the
sound got where we wanted it to be before we could go into the
recording
studio. For the second album, we signed up for the SELLABAND thing
where a band
can reach up to fifty thousand dollars in investment money. We ended up
reaching fifty-thousand dollars in ten months so we had to work under
the gun a
little bit. Despite not being around as much, I was still involved in
the
writing process over the internet. The big difference between both
albums is that
the first album was two people where as ARM YOURSELF was a true band
effort.
What drew you to
music in the beginning?
VOLEY: Let me
think about that one for a second. I think it happened when I saw
someone
playing guitar back when I was in middle school. They had a fair and
there was
so much going on but there was this guy with his amp in the corner of
the
gymnasium playing all of these popular songs that everybody knows and
not the
stuff that they teach you in school. He had a bigger crowd around him
than anybody
else. As a matter of fact, every time I saw an older guy with a guitar
I would
notice that he would always have a bunch of women around him so that
kind of
helped. It just seemed like something cool. I’ve always had an artistic
sense.
I’ve always been into drawing and different things but music seemed to
be
something that I could really express myself with. I know that sounds
gay but I
really felt like I could put my personality into it and have something
that I
could really proud to show other people.
Talk about the
genesis of BULLETPROOF MESSENGER. How did it begin?
VOLEY: I was away
at school and far away from home and I had no money. I had one guitar
with me.
I always wanted to do something with music so I thought about majoring
in music
as a guitar player. I was never great at reading music but I could play
pretty
well by ear. I ended up not doing much with music so I ended up
transferring to
a school closer to home and played with a band over the summer. There
are so
many crappy bands out there but I found this one project that was
interesting.
We were a totally different band back then – like a progressive
electronic rock
band. It was like PRODIGY with electric guitars and other
instrumentation. I
joined as the drummer and we played a bunch of shows and opened for
DEREK SHIRINIAN of DREAM
THEATER. We were really looking for a niche and trying to figure out
who we
were and then we found a singer. Finding MARCUS kind of brought it all
together. We just started honing the thing from there.
What songs off of ARM
YOURSELF resonate for you the most and why?
VOLEY: I really
agree with JESSE’s pick of ARM YOURSELF. Another song that really
stands out
for me is called STEP OUT. It adds a lot more flavor. My musical
interests are
so widespread. I love the way our first album came out but it was very
narrow
in terms of the width of genres that it encompassed. STEP OUT added a
more
mellow, ethereal vibe to the music. I like DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, I like
311 and I
like DEPECHE MODE. The song ends in a very hard rock way but the intro
of the
song is more like a jam. The whole meaning of the song is about
thinking about
taking a step back and thinking before you act.
From the time you started this band up until now,
what has been the
biggest surprise for you?
VOLEY: I guess that we’re still around. If you had told me
that was
going to have all of these guys in the band and that it was going to be
totally
different than the band that I joined then I wouldn’t have believed
you. It’s a
totally different band with a totally different vibe. Everything has
changed. I
never would’ve expected something like this and that’s pretty cool.
MARCH 29,
2010
BRiAN
LUSH (FOUNDER,
EDiTOR-iN-CHiEF)
