Interview with Red Sun Rising!
Red Sun Rising is an alternative-rock band hailing from Akron, Ohio. The band consists of five members, Mike Protich on vocals and guitar, Ryan Williams on guitar, Ricky Miller on bass and vocals, Dave McGarry on guitar and vocals, and Pat Gerasia on drums. So far, the 2016 year has been a super busy (but totally awesome) one for these guys. With their hit single "The Otherside" hitting the top of the Billboard charts, and the release of their new video and single "Emotionless," the guys have seen some great success. Just recently, the guys of Red Sun Rising were able to share with Stereo Noise some of what has been going on for the band.
For the record, could you guys introduce yourselves and give us a bit of a background about the band?
The band formed around 2007 by Ryan and myself(Mike). We wrote music for about a year before ever even playing a show. We threw together band of friends and musicians and started to play out in the Northeast Ohio area. After recording a first independent record in 2010 we started to venture out regionally and focused on being the biggest band we could in our region. We made 2 full length independent records and 3 EP's before signing to Razor and Tie in late 2014.
You guys have a pretty unique sound, who would you consider your musical inspirations?
Our influences are everywhere from The Beatles and Otis Redding to Tool and Soundgarden. We made one rule in this band and it was that the songwriting would have no rules. We took influences from all different eras, genres and styles and threaded them together. Today we call our sound "Thread". It represents the eclectic yet familiar sound we bring. We focus on melody and thought provoking lyrics we felt was missing in rock today.
So you guys just recently released a music video for your song, "Emotionless," has has the reception been from the fans in regards to the video? Are they loving it?
Emotionless has been accepted by many different types of people and many different ages. Again it goes back to our sound being familiar yet fresh. I think Emotionless really captures the uniqueness yet familiar sound of the band. Many people can connect to it.
I, personally, was very impressed by the video. Tell us about your experience on the set while filming?
Well the song Emotionless was inspired by a dream I(Mike) had. I basically began writing lyrics describing the dream. I later explained the dream to our director Dylan Marko Bell and he really did an amazing job bringing it to life. It's difficult to bring something from the subconscious to life but he accomplished it as we did through music. The video took a day to shoot and the band really performed well making the video as great as it is. We take pride in our live show so all we needed to do was perform like we do on stage and Dylan captured it.
You guys are also in the midst of touring at the moment, how has the tour been treating you guys so far?
This tour has been exciting because it's all over the country and its a mixture of festivals, headline shows, and support shows. So we kinda get something different each night. This keeps it interesting. Hard to fall into a rut.
What are you guys looking forward to most throughout the rest of the tour?
The festivals really start to pick up at the end of April and go through May. We are ready to show large crowds what we can do live. We are 100% live with no tracks and take pride in bringing that organic live sound with passion every night.
What can your fans and listeners expect from you guys after the tour is over? New music? More videos? Anything you'd like to spill?
We have some big tours in the near future cooking and we will continue to tour on Polyester Zeal until the end of the year at least. That being said, we have written a lot of new material and can't wait to record new music.
& Before we wrap things up, is there anything you guys would like to say to your fans and listeners?
Come see us live and listen to our record. You will find there are many different types of songs on the record. So there is a little something for everyone.