Chad Cherry and Nate Arling – The Last Vegas – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Ben Hughes
Sunday, 22 June 2014 03:00
Chicago rock ‘n’ rollers The Last Vegas recently toured the UK for the first time supporting their recently released album, ‘Sweet Salvation’. Uber Rock caught up with singer Chad Cherry and drummer Nate Arling on a bus in Wakefield to find out what the band are all about. So read on if you want to know what influenced them, why American Rock radio sucks and if they really know where Robin Zander buys his cereal.
Hey guys, so first up how’s it been going on your first UK tour so far, how many dates have you done?
Nate: This is the 6th show and, yeah, the tour’s been great, it’s our first time playing the UK. We’ve been to Europe a few times and done countless tours across North America and were having a great time, the fans have been really good.
Chad: It’s great to hear people singing our songs at shows.
That must be a great thing to hear?
Chad: Yeah, it’s been great.
What’s it been like here compared to the rest of Europe, do you get the same response?
Chad: Yeah absolutely, we have die-hard fans that really enjoy the music and it’s great to come over to a different country and see people really appreciate what you bring to the table music wise, it’s a blast.
Nate: We have a history in America of Hard Rock and Metal music, but I think over here, obviously, you know, playing last night out of Birmingham and tonight outside of Leeds, there’s a lot of rock history and a cool rock scene happening over here which is exciting to see.
Yeah, I mean we don’t have rock radio over here like you guys have in the US, you know like national rock coverage really, so I mean how do you get the word around over here?
Nate: It seems like the press is real supportive of rock music and I tend to think that is a better resource for bands. I trust the writers that I’ve met or read I guess, versus some of the American rock radio promoters. I guess there’s a lot of politics and trends involved in American rock radio, it seems a lot of the writers over here take a lot more chances on trying to break a new band or just writing about Hard Rock music.
At Uber Rock we don’t bow to any trends, we just follow the bands we like and push them as much as we can. You know, bands like Metallica don’t need the publicity but smaller bands do, it’s about passion and a love of music from the heart.
Chad: Yeah right, and it seems to work out with social media too, it catches on like wildfire nowadays because a lot of people don’t really care for certain genres of music and we’re playing raw, straight out rock ‘n’ roll and it’s an acquired taste. Not everyone is going to be into it, but the die-hards they are into it and they love it and they are the ones that spread the word and get the message out to the people.
I think it’s better and easier than it has been in years for bands to get their names out and their music heard?
Chad: Yeah I would think so.
Nate: It definitely helps you target different areas all over the world, it’s a cheaper, quicker way that it used to be back in the day.
So, you guys toured with Mötley Crüe a few years ago, obviously playing bigger venues than you are used to: what was that like compared to smaller shows?
Chad: Yeah, we did a 7 week arena tour with Mötley Crüe, it was definitely different, just bigger, there’s more…everything. You know, when you’re playing on a massive scale like that of course everything’s a little bit more organised, there’s a lot of money involved and it’s great, I mean it’s probably one of the greatest tours we’ve ever done. We’ve had the opportunity to be a support act for a lot of really big bands. It’s nice playing big shows but before we did that we were playing small clubs and we like playing in smaller clubs and we like playing in bigger clubs, we just like playing music and everywhere we go where there’s a lot of fans there, then it’s going to be a good time big or small. It’s like I said earlier, this is an acquired music, not everyone’s going to like it, so any place you play and people love your stuff then you feel really good about doing it and it keeps you going.
I love seeing bands in venues like this, tiny little rooms really capture the energy for me, whether it’s 100 or 200 people.
Nate: Yeah, as long as you look out into the crowd and people are happy, rocking out and having a good time that’s what counts. You know, a lot of the bands that we’re influenced by were big bands like Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses and Black Sabbath and Zeppelin but also bands like Iggy and the Stooges and The Ramones, you know bands that played clubs for years and we grew up seeing bands in clubs and that’s what influenced us to do what we do. As you said, I’ve seen some of the best shows in a room full of 100 people, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the size of the venue that makes it better or worse, it’s the energy of the crowd.
So what’s the rock scene like in Chicago, did you get to see a lot of the bigger local bands like Cheap Trick then?
Nate: Well, we all moved to Chicago about 10 years ago, I actually grew up with my brother in Rockford, Illinois which is where Cheap Trick are from. We used to see not only their concerts but we would see them around town. I mean Chicago is a great mid western rock town that still has tons of concerts. Geographically it’s in the middle of the United States, so it gets all the touring bands criss-crossing through, but I think, you know everyone says Chicago crowds are great and in New York or LA they joke about how some people at the shows have their arms crossed and are just kinda staring at the band, in Chicago people like to let loose, party and have a good time.
That’s what you want isn’t it?
Chad: Yeah, it’s the 3rd biggest city in the US and there’s something going on every night you always have that to look forward to.
Nate: It’s the home of the Blues, which obviously was the birth of rock ‘n’ roll or at least the home of the Electric Blues, when the guys came up from the South, came up to Chicago and plugged amplifiers and them went on to influence bands like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and Zeppelin and pretty much every band that followed.
Chad: I think it’s great the biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands ever were influenced by Chicago Blues.
Yeah true, and of course back then those guys used to go in and record quick, like bang out songs in one take no messing about. Is that a reason why you went back to record ‘Sweet Salvation’ that way, more live and in one room?
Chad: Well, for most part we’re not a band that has Auto Tune, live we don’t use back up tracks, we like to keep it as realistic as it would be if we were just 5 guys in a room. Whether it be in a small club or an arena or a festival we wanted to capture that sound that we really are on record. We’ve done that in the past, we’ve done a lot of different things, we’ve put out a lot of music and we are always trying different things. But on this one we wanted to just have us in a room, we wanted it to sound honest, how it should sound. I mean we do overdubs and things like that, everybody does that stuff, but we kept it real minimalistic on this one and it’s raw.
You’ve kept it short as well which I like, 9 tracks, it’s a short album.
Chad: Yeah, well we recorded 12 tracks in all.
Nate: Yeah, we released 9 on the record and then we are going to, throughout the course of the year, release some bonus tracks for the fans. We just wanted to get back to the basics as Chad said, the raw, live energy of the band.
I think albums tend to get too long and overblown these days don’t you?
Chad: It’s easy for anybody to sound like a million dollars on a record, so why would you want to go about doing that when it’s so easy to do? You see a band that’s completely terrible live, then you listen to the record and it sounds so polished and well-produced but it’s not really real. We are a live band, the record doesn’t sound like a live record by any means but it’s a little gritty and that’s the kinda band we are anyway. We were recording in the same studio as 3 Doors Down, Disturbed and Cheap Trick. I was doing vocals in LA in the same studio where they had done Bruce Dickinson stuff and Sebastian Bach stuff, so it’s not like we are doing this stuff in our basement or whatever because anybody can do that these days. We are still doing it how we have always done records, we reach out to producers and friends in the industry that have worked with us and believed in us for years. So we are still doing the same thing we have always done, we are just not really throwing in the kitchen sink with all the effects etc… on our next record we might do that (laughs) but this one we didn’t.
So do you write as a band, as a collective?
Chad: We do, I’ll write a lot of the lyrics, John Wator will write a lot of the lyrics and we’ll combine it and maybe then working with our producer like Roy Z and he’ll have a great idea and were all hanging out and we all write and work on it as a band. It’s not one guy writing everything, we kind of keep it like I guess you would say, a democracy.
Nate: We’re like a gang or a team, we all have individual influences in our lives and in our songwriting that creates a melting pot of The Last Vegas, whether that’s a mix of Garage Rock or Heavy Metal, Punk Rock or Glam Rock.
Chad: All the stuff that we listen to filters down into everything that we do when we are together writing songs and that way, I’ve always thought, brings such a spirit to the music in our records.
Yeah it’s definitely a good mix, I mean I hear ’70s influences like Aerosmith through to sleazy ’80s stuff like Kix onto the more alternative Jane’s Addiction stuff.
Chad: Yeah we had all those records, I mean some of it is Classic Rock too, I mean when I was a kid everyone was listening to really bad ’80s and ’90s pop music and we were getting into our big brothers and older sisters records like AC/DC, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper, all this stuff that looked like circus sideshows on vinyl records and I think that’s still exciting. Nowadays you don’t really see a whole lot of vinyl and you wouldn’t recognise who big bands are on the street. If you saw a new modern rock band they just look like normal people but if you saw Steven Tyler walking around you’d sure know that guy.
It’s a strange time, there doesn’t seem to be any larger than life rock stars at the moment does there?
Chad: Sure, I mean you see some younger kids trying to do it, they’re young and it’s cool to see…maybe they’ll keep it alive.
Nate: We keep it on a real level, I mean it’s not the ’80s where there’s strippers and cocaine and everyone has money you know, it’s 2014 and we are a 2014 band, we don’t pretend to have tons of money and hang out with strippers all the time (laughs).
Chad: We are all involved with music when we are not touring or in the studio, Nate is working with every band I’ve ever heard of in America coming through Chicago and I have a clothing line and make clothes for The Alice Cooper Band.
Okay, so you have to do stuff outside of the band to survive?
Chad: Right, yeah and we are just taking stuff that we know and have learned, it’s all through the music basically. I mean we are not living in mansions or anything.
Nate: We pride ourselves on the fact that you hear and see what you get with The Last Vegas. I think it’s a real interpretation of what this band is. We all grew up in working class cities and homes in the mid west. Chad and Danny are from the Michigan area the rest of us are from the Chicago area, we started playing in bands at a pretty young age back in about ’85, we would cover songs from the ’70s and ’80s a lot and that’s where are influences started.
So you guys have a new guitar player now, you’ve expanded to a six piece?
Nate: Yeah, Bryan Wilkinson. Our guitarist John Wator doesn’t tour with us all the time, Bryan stepped in, he’s a great friend from Chicago. He started touring with us and it’s been a great fit. When John’s not on tour with us he’s still a full member of the band, he’s a songwriter and is involved in a lot of creative artwork, but he physically can’t tour all the time now, but it’s worked out great.
Chad: He fits in great, it’s kind of an unspoken thing, like “you’re kind of here now.”
Nate: He’s not like a hired gun that just comes out on the road, we don’t want anyone in our band to be like that, if you’re in this band you’re family.
Chad: We are very family orientated, all of us have been together so long we’re friends, we’re family and with Bryan it’s been easy for him just to pick up on that. When John can do the shows we are a six piece and it’s pretty outrageous, I mean we’re doing the Skynyrd Punk thing 100% then, it’s fun.
With ‘Sweet Salvation’ you used PledgeMusic, I think it’s a great platform for getting fans involved: how was that experience?
Nate: We didn’t know what to think at first, it was something our manager suggested we look into. I think the thing that was interesting and got us excited was the interaction with the die-hard fans and offering them a unique behind the scenes experience throughout the whole recording process. Whether it was updates or when we threw a couple of parties in this big loft we have in Chicago where people could come over and listen to the mixes, I think everyone who supported us and was involved in the campaign was really excited and happy to be involved in the process. I mean we really appreciate our fans and if we can do something that makes them feel like a part of the band then…great.
Chad: It has showed me how passionate people are about our music, it really is the meaning of die-hard fans to me, it was pretty fantastic. I had no idea what any of the Pledge stuff was all about, gradually I learned it from fan interaction and then I noticed that all the other bands were doing this stuff, so you know, how cool is that? To be able to get a record 2 months before it comes out or be able to come and hang out at a party.
Or have a band come over to your house and do an acoustic gig?
Chad: Yeah, well we haven’t done that yet, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. It’s great support because a lot people think there’s a ton of money involved in doing this stuff and sometimes there is, but it takes a lot of money to maintain all this, flights, gas, feeding everyone, band equipment. If something breaks it needs replacing, if the van breaks down or someone misses a flight it all adds up, so it’s a wonderful thing when people are supportive of you and understand that.
I think a lot of people don’t realise how expensive it is to keep a band on the road, bands aren’t rich, they are just making ends meet a lot of the time.
Chad: Yeah, most of the time, unless you’ve been doing it a long time and are successful with a lot of hits or been around doing it for 30 years doing this style of music. A lot of them have had to reinvent themselves and change with the times, but yeah it’s an expensive thing to do, you have to challenge yourself all the time.
Nate: We never started playing music to make money it has always been a release for us.
Chad: It has been something to fill up any kind of void we might have in our soul and I think a way for us to communicate with the world by playing music. If you’ve got something to say you might as well do it through music, I think that’s how we all got started. Then eventually you have a couple of people at your shows, then you play a couple more shows and you have a couple of hundred people at your shows. So that keeps you going and you keep doing it and doing it. We’ve had a lot of really great things happen to us, we’ve played everywhere, we’ve played small little clubs, we’ve played Madison Square Garden, music has taken us all over the place.
A great way to see the world.
Nate: Yeah and we are still seeing it. Like tonight, a tiny little club, I feel real fortunate to be over here in England on tour and just making people at the shows happy and maybe forgetting about their jobs or troubles for a night and being able go to a rock show and get loose.
Chad: It’s great to get messages on social media from fans saying stuff like “hey, I’m still thinking about that gig last night thanks so much” and that’s pretty cool that we can do that to somebody.
So what’s next for you guys after this tour?
Nate: We go to Europe then a bunch of American Summer festivals, then we are going to make plans to come back to the UK and Europe in the Fall. In the meantime we have a demo studio back in Chicago and we’re always working on new music, oh and we will also be releasing a new video for ‘You & Me’.
Oh yeah, I saw that video last night, that looked like a lot of fun to make.
Chad: Yeah, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Nate: We don’t really take ourselves too seriously and I think a lot of bands out there take themselves way too seriously. I started going to see bands because I wanted to forget about being pissed off, I didn’t want to go to a show and be pissed off and angry and depressed. This video has a concept and that vibe that we’re just having a good time and that is what music and life is all about. Making the video was a fun experience and I hope that translates when people see it. We did it in one night at a club in Chicago called The Double Door. Chad’s girlfriend was nice enough to assist doing hair and make up.
It’s not very often you get to dress up as a Death Metal band either is it?
Nate: Yeah, we weren’t making fun of those bands though.
Chad: We like everything.
Nate: Well, apart from Indie Rock (both laugh).
https://www.facebook.com/thelastvegas
