INTERVIEW: Of the Wasteland have a story to tell
Photo: Of the Wasteland’s new song is called “Trigger.” Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Atom Splitter PR with permission.
Of the Wasteland — the Miami rock band consisting of vocalist Stefan Rhoades, guitarist Johnathan Flannagan, bassist Alvin Cespedes and drummer Steven Neevs — recently released a music video for their new single, “Trigger.” The song comes on the heels of another new single, “Midnight Vampire,” according to press notes. The band is gearing up for more recording news in the future, but right now they are soaking in the good vibes coming from these debut tunes.
“‘Trigger’ started off basically as lyrics,” Flannagan said in a recent phone interview. “It’s just a story. Coming from that perspective, you find the lyrics to be a little more on the non-repetitious side. They move along. It’s about propelling yourself and propelling your career, which is where I was at at the time. I was very young. I think I was about 18 when I wrote that, so I really wanted a song that reflected how I felt about music, which is boundless. There’s no end to the possibilities, and I think people are the ones who create their own limits.”
The song deals with two characters: Mr. Trigger, who is the villain, and a vigilante who goes against all the odds to match the “life energy” of Mr. Trigger.
“So it started off like that, and very simply on an acoustic guitar to be honest with you,” the guitarist said. “As grandiose as the song is, it started off on an acoustic. … You know how the song has that boom-clap kind of vibe, well, it started off just me alone in my room hitting the guitar with my fist and slapping the strings. … You have to imagine it in an arena, for example. That’s how I like to write. I always try to push the bounds, like I said. I never write a song to be played in just a small club. I try to think, well, what would happen if we were to play this in an arena? Would it still fit?”
“Trigger” was actually recorded three years ago. There was such a delay that there was even talk of re-recording some parts of the song, but for the most part the band members kept to the original recording. The creative team at Apocalypse Record Label and InnerCat Music Group liked the song and told the band that they should stick with the tune as one of their first singles.
“They assured us that it was good, and we just rode with that,” he said. “Sometimes you just capture that magic, and it’s just a matter of what the best time to release it is. … You might as well make every single song worth it.”
Flannagan is 29 years old, and he has been writing some of these songs for the better part of a decade. He recognizes that bands sometimes don’t last, and members come and go. Of the Wasteland is no different.
“Most bands just reform and reshape over the years a trillion times,” he said. “We swapped so many members at a certain point that we just reformed the band and created Of the Wasteland. That was about two or three years into us playing, so we’ve been Of the Wasteland for about seven years. … We’ve been writing these songs for a long time. I don’t know why we didn’t quit. I just don’t feel the need to quit. I love it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Of the Wasteland’s new single is “Trigger.” Click here for more information.
