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onestowatch · 3 years

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Clubhouse Is Making Their Way Through Life, Curveballs and All [Q&A]

Photo: Dillon Matthew

Feel-good indie-pop outfit Clubhouse continue to entrance listeners with their happy-go-lucky arrangements and introspective lyrics with their latest single, “No Way.” Following the success of their previous release, “Flipside,” the track, which frontman Max Reichert expressed was about a toxic relationship, is yet another example of the band's ability to sonically and visually create emotional and provocative storytelling that makes listeners want to dance.

The band is comprised of five best friends forged from a middle school garage band in Columbus, Ohio, made up of Max Reichert, twin brothers Ari and Zak Blumer, and Michael Berthold and Forrest Taylor, who they met in college. The five-piece have gone through the ups and downs of life together, especially while their frontman dealt with cancer. Now, with an EP and a national tour on the way, the band is eager to tell their story with the hope that they'll be able to help someone else who is dealing with a similar bump in the road.

We had the chance to talk with the band about "No Way," their upcoming tour, and the curveballs of life.

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Ones to Watch: Can you walk me through the creative process behind "No Way?”

Max: We wrote it with this producer named Cooper, and this songwriter/pop star named Claire, who goes by spill tab. We wrote it with them at their house. It was our first session writing with them, our first time meeting them, and we wrote pretty much the whole song with them in a few hours. So it just came together really, really quickly. In terms of juxtaposing the lyrical content, which talks about a toxic relationship and how two people just don't fit for each other, I think we just love juxtaposing more profound lyrics or lyrics that are not necessarily crazy deep but aren't about having a good time with dancy beats. I think it kind of goes along with our mantra for what this EP is about.

Zak: Which is about not taking ourselves too seriously.

Max: Yeah, like rolling with the punches and going through hard things in life but not getting too bogged down on matters and still being able to have fun even when you're going through hard things. I think that's kind of a common theme throughout the EP. We talk about heavy things but try not to put too much weight on them.

How has your songwriting process evolved?

Max: I think it's certainly changed. I went through cancer a few years ago in 2018. I had bone cancer in my left leg, which was honestly a turning point for us as a band. We took a step back when I was going through all that, and we refined our craft from a songwriting standpoint and just our general outlook. We've always taken music really seriously, but when we went into writing, I think we took the pressure off ourselves. I think we used to be like, “okay, this next song has to sound like this and has to sound like our favorite band, and we have to be like the next biggest band ever.” I think for years, we did that, and it would confine us in this box. As soon as we just went to the session and were like, “Hey, let's just enjoy each other's company and let's just have fun together and be friends and write music that feels good to us and not think anything more about it,” I think that was when we had this significant turning point. The songs started sounding better, and the storytelling got better because it was just more honest. We weren't trying to emulate. We were just writing from our gut.

What are some of your inspirations on a larger scale outside of music?

Zak: I think one we can sort of all agree on is, we all sort of shared partially in Max's struggle while he went through this crazy shit. People our age, or at least us, and we think our friends as well, have been going through a quarter-life crisis. So you start to ask yourself, “Am I achieving my goals? What are my goals? Am I getting there fast enough?” So skipping ahead to the title of our EP, these are questions we have and still always ask ourselves. But through partially having gone through what Max went through and being there alongside him, I feel we can now see the question as what it is and accept that we may not always know the answer, but we can try to remind ourselves to enjoy every day. I think many people relate to that over the past couple of years, and I think the meaning of life has shifted for a lot of people and we just kind of wanted to share our two cents.

The music video for this single is overall lowkey and seemed super fun to shoot. How did you come up with this concept and execute it? Did y'all originally have other ideas?

Zak: We had tossed around a couple of other ideas. Some were more narrative-driven and focused more on the actual lyrical content. We could have taken it more of an expected route, like maybe following an argument between two people and becoming more intense that way. But we were thinking about this sort of single frame, elevator-style, elevator shot video kind of thing where the frame doesn't really change much, but everything inside of it's changing all the time. So we were pulling references from the opening credit scene of That ‘70s Show where they're all singing in the car and the Wayne's World scene where they're singing “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and the guy in the middle is hammered drunk. Once we kind of were thinking along those lines, it came together really fast. I think we shot everything for this video in like one afternoon evening.

That's super-efficient.

Zak: I mean the team that we had, our manager Cole together with Justin [Kaminuma], the director, and Carlos [Ramos], the DP. Those guys killed it. Kind of like creating the song; once we got that idea, there wasn't much like back and forth. It was kind of like, “Okay, what if we just kind of have a good time with this track?” The track is fun and energetic, so we thought to just give them that in the video. So we just goofed off and had a good time and jammed, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Max: Yeah, and it kind of matches with the lyrical content because, as I said before, the song is really about a toxic, chaotic relationship, and I think in chaotic relationships, there's good and bad. There's craziness, and there are good times, so I think we kind of wanted to lay that out and in front of the video where there are shots where we're all just like sitting around, and there are shots of us going crazy in the car having fun. So I think we wanted to match those moods together with the visuals.

Michael: From start to finish, everything happened so easily and quickly. After the first writing session, I remember we played the track in the car, and we were bumping it, and it was pretty much like the video. We were all just like damn.

Max: I think we actually drove that car to the session too. I remember after the session, all five of us drove back in that car, and we were all like bumping the demo. It was hard. It's my dad's car. He got it back in 2008, but he had it in Ohio forever. The thing is, in Ohio, with how the seasons are, you can't really drive that car that much because it just won't run in the winter. So when I moved out here, it had just been sitting in his garage forever, so eventually, he said I should take it out there.

Michael: I just want one thing to be known about the whole video. All of that hype and headbanging and everything is the most authentic thing in the world because we were doing it for so long. At one point, we had been just head bopping for like two hours straight we had to sit back.

Forrest: Yeah, it was as much fun to do it as it looks. We were having a blast.

What makes for an excellent creative collaborator when it comes to crossing over mediums?

Zak: One of the biggest things I noticed was that there was a moment when the plans we originally made weren't working out. So a lot of us were just not really seeing them and just trying to keep pushing forward and try to make it work. So one night, basically, Cole, our manager, Justin, and Carlos, the three of them had a meeting, and they were like, “Look, we got to make a hard pivot, and we need you guys to trust us right now.” So we were just like, alright, you know you guys are the bosses here. We trust you. Let's make this work, and it ended up turning out beautifully, so I think one of the one things that we really, or I really admired from this team, was how quickly they were just able to just shift.

Yeah, you for sure got to have that trust there.

Zak: I'll add one thing to that, which is that both Justin and Carlos are really young guys in the scene, and part of that is—we also view ourselves as up-and-coming, young people in the scene, and we kind of want to bring in people that sort of are not necessarily—I mean obviously sometimes when you work with like more established people, it comes with an ego, but it's not so much that we wanted to avoid that as much as it was to bring in the eagerness and the excitement. I mean, they were so stoked as soon as they landed to just get working on things and to start brainstorming ideas and that kind of energy we just feed off of. So for “No Way,” it was literally all of us just feeding off of each other's energy. I remember in the scene where we were in the car, parked, Carlos and Justin were outside filming and just jumping up and down with us. So, yeah, they were as excited as we were. It was fun.

So now walk me through the day you found out that you were going on tour with The Wombats? How are you feeling about the upcoming tour?

Max: It felt very surreal. We've been fans of them for so long. I grew up listening to them and still listen to them. I guess it was just this crazy full-circle moment of, I don't know, I think I might have teared up. Growing up and being such a massive fan of them and wanting to do music, not really knowing how to play an instrument in high school, learning how to play an instrument in high school, going through college, into the cancer thing, and then to come out on the other side of it and to get to tour with a band that I'm a genuine giant fan of. I mean, it's just like a real-life childhood dream coming true. So it's like, it's... I don't know. I can't really describe it other than that. Our dream realization moment, and we're so excited.

Zak: Yeah, we're grateful to them for giving us the opportunity, and we're gonna work our asses off to make it the best shows we've ever played.

Be sure to catch Clubhouse on tour with The Wombats, starting January 2022.

#clubhouse #no way!#no way #the wombats #interview #pop #indie pop

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rhapsody-under-pressure · 7 years

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Save Me pt 8

Breezes of winter’s strong approach blew back each side of his coat as he forced himself against each gust of wind. He shut his eyes to block the sting of the cold from drying out his eyes anymore so. Through his tight squint, he looked across the street. Many others were copying his actions, trying their best to keep themselves warm with the clothes they had on at the moment. Another harsh wind made the branches of one of the small trees rustle violently, almost as though they were all going to snap off and fall onto the pavement.

John shivered as he approached their building, opening the door as fast as he could and sighing as the warmth hit his red face. After placing the small bag on the ground, he pulled off his gloves and stuffed them inside of his pocket, grabbing the key to their flat in the process so that he wouldn’t have to hunt for it when he got to the door.

He opened the door to their flat, taking notice of that affectionate giggling coming from the pair on top of their couch. As he hung up his coat, he leaned back and watched the two of them whisper to each other. Roger was still fairly underneath his partner, looking up at him while mindlessly playing with one of his many curls on the back of his head, lightly pulling it and letting it spring back up to its original shape. His shirt was disheveled, as was his hair and his eyes held a vibrancy that he hadn’t seen for a few weeks after that hard day in August. Brian’s own outfit was in rough shape too. A few buttons were undone at the top, the back of his shirt looking as though someone had been tugging at it rather viciously. His eyes also held that brightness that was shining in his lover’s, something he was glad to see back in him as well.

“Please don’t ruin our couch, I like that thing.” John told them, earning a glance from both of them as they broke their own eye contact.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t. And we cleaned up too.” Roger said sultrily.

“I don’t need to know that, but thank you.” He replied, sighing in defeat as he laid his bag on the counter, Brian pulling away from his partner and resting in the opposing corner of their sofa.

“Freddie get back yet?” John asked as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

“No, and he better come soon. I’m starving.” Roger commented as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

“That’s your own fault. You can cook something, you’re not a child.” Brian told him in a playful tone.

“Do you want another fire? I kinda like the place we’re living in to be honest.” Roger replied in a smug voice, leaning forward and poking at the center of Brian’s chest. “You could’ve been oh so kind and made me something.”

“I’m not your father Roger.”

“Oh, so now you don’t think that.”

“Roger!”

“I swear I’ll kick both of you out if you both keep that up, I don’t need to hear about that right before we’re going to eat.” John interjected, hearing Roger snicker playfully as he snuck a quick kiss on their guitarist’s mouth, Brian smiling and pulling him down to his chest.

A soft set of knocks came from the front of their apartment as the door swung open, Freddie balancing himself with the few boxes stacked in his right hand. “Someone mind helping me?” he asked pleadingly.

John shot up and gladly took the boxes off of the palm of his hand, seeing him shoot a thankful smile his way as he quickly tugged down the sleeve to his shirt, trying his best to cover up the middle of his forearm. Before he could catch a glance of whatever he was hiding, Freddie rushed off to his usual spot on the chair opposite him and crossed his legs over each other. He sighed sadly, already knowing that he was trying to hide those marks once again from the last time he visited his lover. It’d started to become routine, him coming home and wearing those longer, baggier items to try and hide as much skin as possible from either of them. But the ones that occasionally showed up around his neck or hands were the ones that he found the hardest to have to see.

“Well come on John!” Freddie said suddenly in a contrasting, excited voice. “We’re hungry!”

He smiled and brought over the boxes, passing the metal, circular holder to Brian that contained his salad, the Italian sandwich in Roger’s direction, and held out the small box that contained Freddie’s pasta dish. Their singer’s fingertips touched his, causing an involuntary blush to spread across his face as he fought to ignore the jump in his stomach. Freddie thanked him as he sat down in his own seat, taking his own pasta dish that was still sitting atop the table and the accompanying plastic fork.

“You know, I must compliment the two of you for keeping our living room nice and clean after you did whatever while John and I were gone.” Freddie said out of nowhere, focusing on the other two as he took a bite of his dinner.

“Oh it’s not a big deal.” Roger said in response. “Took less than two minutes.”

“The session or the cleaning?”

“Guys! It’s dinner, can we please not discuss sex right now?” Brian begged as he laid his salad down on his lap. “I would like to keep my appetite.”

“Don’t be so humble baby, you just wanted to fool around anyway.”

“Roger!”

Roger broke out laughing at Brian’s reaction, Freddie following soon after. John couldn’t help himself and let out a small snicker at the embarrassed look upon their guitarist’s face as he crossed his leg over his lower body and tried to focus on his salad in front of him.

“Brian you’re such a prude.” Freddie commented.

“And you’ve got the control of a five-year-old.” Brian snapped, shooting a vicious glare at their singer and adding a heavy sigh afterwards. Freddie winced back, panic spreading through his face as he looked down at his food in front of him.

“Sorry…” He said in a small voice, Roger giving him a curious look.

“Fred, it’s nothing.” Brian began suddenly as he took notice of the quiet expression on his face, his own cross expression vanishing as one of concern took over. “I’m sorry for snapping and-”

“No, no it’s my fault anyway.” He replied, once again moving to pull down the sleeve of his shirt. “I’m sorry again…”

Roger shot Brian a brutal look before laying his half-eaten sandwich back into its container and turning his attention onto their singer. “Fred it’s not a big deal. We’ve all yelled at each other before and that definitely wasn’t the worst to happen between us. Don’t let that eat you up.”

“Forget it…” Freddie whispered as he turned his attention back to his food.

“Fred you okay? You don’t sound too good…” Roger continued, ignoring Freddie’s request as he moved closer towards their frontman.

“I’m fine Roger.”

“You don’t sound fine. Maybe head to bed early tonight. Might-”

“I said I’m fine!” He shouted, slamming the rest of his food down onto the table, launching himself up from his seat, and stormed off down the hall, the bathroom door slamming shut and echoing through their apartment.

John stared dumbly in the direction that Freddie had left in, looking back at the spot he had just inhabited. Thanks Brian, that’s what he needed right now. He thought bitterly as he laid his own plate on the table, his hunger vanishing quickly after Freddie’s outburst. He flashed a glance towards Brian, whose expression was laced with guilt and regret as he tossed his own dinner onto the table too, his face starting to turn sick as though his stomach was shrinking inside of him. Their drummer didn’t look any better, almost as though he was starting to blame himself for Freddie’s disappearance as he avoided looking at either of them.

“He’ll cool down in a bit, you know him. He blows up and then apologizes.” John finally said, trying his best to ease the air around all three of them.

“I guess.” Brain muttered. “I shouldn’t have shouted though. It was just-”

“Don’t you go beat yourself up now.” Roger ordered in a sharp tone. “It’s just as John said, he’ll be fine in a bit. He might just go out with Bret again anyway and come back fine.”

“You know that’s not gonna happen.” John retorted. Brian gave him a worried look as Roger’s face paled even more so. John felt his own blood drain from his face as he wished he could vanish from their stares. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He didn’t want to discuss what he thought was causing their frontman’s issues right now, especially with him just down the hall.

“I-I mean I think they might just need a…break? Just for a day or two, he was just over there yesterday a-anyway.” He managed in a shaky voice, adding a nervous glance towards Roger, whom he knew could see right through his lie. Roger didn’t say anything, but just nodded in response with Brian adding a small shrug and returning to his dinner, this time eating it much slower than before.

John abandoned his dinner for a moment, excusing himself and heading down the hall. Immediately he heard Roger whispering to Brian, but he couldn’t decipher what it was they were saying to each other. He couldn’t care less about the moment; his focus was more on what Freddie might’ve been doing while he locked himself in the bathroom. Despite what he knew was right, he pressed himself against the door of the bathroom.

A few muffled sobs made their way through the wood, John’s heart sinking in his chest. He heard the cabinets open and close inside of there, the tearing of paper mixing in beneath the sounds of Freddie shuffling around in there. He could faintly hear him whispering to himself under his breath in harsh undertones, almost as though he was angry with himself instead of the other two.

“Heal already. I don’t need them seeing this.” He said in a much louder voice as he closed one of the cabinets inside of there. He heard him make his way over to the door just as he pulled back, trying his best to make it look like he was leaving his room.

“Oh…Sorry, did you need-?” Freddie started as his face darkened to a deeper red color.

John stared at him for a moment. He took in the little details across his body that made his heart break. The wet lines that still hadn’t fully dried near the bottom of his cheeks, his puffy eyes that hadn’t gone down from him sobbing not even a few moments earlier, the new wrinkles that had formed in his loose clothing, and the now present rounded edge of a bandage that sat just underneath the end of his right sleeve that he had been fiddling with all night.

“No, I’m good.” He replied, halting for a moment as Freddie gave a shy nod. “Brian’s sorry for snapping at you.” He repeated.

“It was me anyway. I should’ve just shut myself up.”

“Don’t say that.” John countered. “Everyone gets a bit ticked off every now and then. Besides, it’s not like you two have never gone at it before.” He tried, earning a weak smirk from Freddie before his face fell once more.

“You gonna be okay?” John asked.

“Yeah, yeah of course. Why would you ask?” Freddie questioned, his gaze growing dark with fear as he looked back up at him.

“Nothing…I just, I just wanna make sure you’re alright.” He finished. I worry about you. So much. You’ve no idea…

“I’m fine love.” He told him in a soft voice, once again tugging down the sleeve to try and hide the bandage he’d tossed onto his arm while in the bathroom. “Come on, you wanna finish dinner or what?” He asked in a false, joyful tone.

All John could do was nod as Freddie gave him a coercive smile, allowing his front teeth to come out from behind his top lip before he tried to cover them back up once more. His heart gave another leap in his chest as his stomach continued to tighten its already present knot.

An even thicker air of awkwardness had grown over their living room as Brian and Roger halted their conversation, a look of obvious frustration being strewn across both of their faces, primarily Roger’s. Freddie said nothing as he sat back down in his previous seat, grabbing his food just as he sat down in his.

“I’m sorry again Fred.” Bran reiterated. “I didn’t mean to be harsh like that.”

“No big deal.” He said. “I overreacted anyway. C’mon, let’s see what’s on.”

Freddie reached out and grabbed the TV remote, turning it on and switching through the channels while he grabbed his own dish. Roger tossed his now empty platter onto the table, sighing loudly as he ran his hand along his stomach and moved over to his partner, Brian grabbing him and helping him get comfortable next to him. He pulled his legs up to just below his chest and laid the rest of his body up against Brian’s. John looked across the table at their frontman, who was staring at the two of them while absentmindedly flipping through the stations. His eyes were growing sad with longing, John’s worry starting to act up as he thought he was going to flee to Bret’s house once more just to be next to the one he thought loved him.

Once Freddie tore his eyes off of the sight, he paused on a random TV station that was playing some sitcom that he didn’t recognize all too much. Roger apparently did, as he perked up as soon as it came on. John finished off his dinner, not able to catch onto the show as his mind was busy with that look upon Freddie’s face that hadn’t left since he came out of their bathroom. That same desire to do more rose up within him again, but once again he had to force it out of his mind. He couldn’t do anything without giving out any of those secrets he’d been holding back from telling him. Any of them would just make it all worse. So he took to remaining silent and breaking himself away from that broken look upon their singer’s face, tuning into whatever comedy was now on their TV screen.

…

The night had calmed down after the small outburst that had happened at the start. Brian had left not long after the second episode of the sitcom had ended, claiming that he just wanted to get out for a bit. Roger hadn’t objected and merely retired to their bedroom, leaving Freddie and he out in the living room by themselves once again. Just as he expected, every coherent word had now left his mind and left him unable to talk to their frontman about what may actually be bothering him.

Freddie continued watching whatever came onto the TV, not bothering to change the channel. Almost all the energy seemed to have been drained from his face and body. He didn’t even bother tugging down the sleeve to his shirt anymore, his bandaged wrist now in full view. He hadn’t even done that good of a job with covering it up. Much of the redness that had been underneath it was clearly visible along with dry blood that sat near the middle of the many lines that were etched into his skin.

“Freddie?” He asked, earning a soft hum from their singer who turned to look at him. A sudden shadow passed over his face, violent yearning shooting through his eyes as he folded his arms over the bottom of his face.

“You sure you’re okay? You’re just really, really quiet lately.” He commented, earning that expected shrug from their singer with a barely audible. ‘Of course.’

He knew he was going to regret his next question, but all he could hope was that he’d get some kind of truth out of their singer. If he could get something, anything out of him about how he truly felt about Bret or his current situation, he hoped he could feel some kind of peace.

“How’s everything going with…with you and Bret?”

A short knife pierced his heart at the look of pain that passed over Freddie’s face at the mention of his current boyfriend. Once again, he shrugged. All the emotion drained from his face except a painful sadness. Yet he didn’t start to cry like he had earlier. Instead he pushed himself up and straightened out his mouth, trying to cover his teeth once more from view.

“Oh, it’s alright. He’s busy with work for the next few days. Said he’d call me when I could see him again. He’s been such a…such a lovely little sweetheart towards me. All affectionate and that cute shit.” He told him in an apathetic voice.

“And those cuts on your arm? They doing any better?”

Panic spread through his face as he looked down towards his arm, yanking the sleeve down to cover those red lines. “Ah…Um well yes, they’re doing a bit better. I’d accidentally tripped on something and hit myself on something sharp.” He said vaguely, an embarrassed blush spreading across his face as he folded his arms over his chest to fully hide his wrist from view.

“Just keep watch on them please, don’t need anything worse to happen.” John said, seeing a guilty light enter his brandy gaze as he nodded softly. “I hope you can go out with…with him again soon. You seem to enjoy your time with him.”

“It’s not bad…He’s so nice to be around and such a lovely person.” He repeated in a dull, robotic tone, as though he had been programmed to boost Bret up whenever he had the chance. John shifted in his seat, desperately wishing he could say something to bring up their singer’s spirits after they had been brought down from earlier. Even then he didn’t seem all too happy.

After giving up on his conversation with Freddie, he turned his attention back to the TV screen and stared uninterestedly at it, barely registering what the actors were saying and doing to one another. His focus was, once again, stuck on what could possibly be rushing through Freddie’s mind at the moment.

“Fred…” He began. That sympathetic gaze met his. The inner turmoil was effectively shut down and his eyes went empty. “Just…if anything ever starts…bothering you, just know I’m here if you…if you want to talk about it.”

All the emotions stayed below the surface, hiding behind that barrier that Freddie had built up over the past few months. His sentence didn’t seem to resonate with him, almost as though it had just been background noise to him instead. Eventually he nodded. Without another word, he pulled himself into a seated position, avoiding any eye contact as he stared blankly at the floor.

“You sure you’re okay?” John managed.

Again he didn’t respond. His face only grew darker as he laid back in the seat and continued the conversation in his head. John stood up and moved over to the closest seat he could find. Freddie only gave a quick glance in his direction before turning it away from him, not able to bear looking at him for whatever reason. John’s hand grew tense as he moved it over to the arm of the couch, his nerves keeping him from moving it over to try and console their singer. The words were caught at the edge of his mouth, his mind begging him to let just something spill out into the open so that he could have some kind of reassurance and safety away from his partner. His mind fought itself, holding everything back to keep Freddie’s emotions solid, or at least more so than they would be if he gave him anything else that’d send them into a frenzy.

He swallowed back all that he wanted to tell him and looked towards the hall and then the clock that was still softly ticking away, every passing second making his guilt worsen. “You wanna head to bed? It’s almost one in the morning.” John said.

This time Freddie gave a reaction, merely nodding like some scared child who didn’t know how to act independently. He pushed himself up, losing his balance immediately, flailing his arms in hopes of keeping himself from falling harshly into the chair behind him. John reached out, grabbing one of his arms and using the other to wrap around his back. Instinctively, he pulled him up and closer to him, letting go of his hold around his arm and holding him up. Freddie’s face went bright red, his own burning as he moved his eyes to break the contact between his and Freddie’s. He gave an uncomfortable cough, slowly releasing his hold around Freddie and letting him balance himself again.

“Ah…um…well…You…want to go to bed o-or stay out…here?” He asked as he stepped back a bit, internally slapping himself and forcing back his current panic. The blush upon Freddie’s face had yet to recede, but he did give him another nod as he followed him down the hall. He could’ve sworn he heard him mutter something under his breath, but when he looked behind him all he got was a wide-eyed fearful stare from him, like he had been caught doing something illegal.

“Get some sleep, you look…look like you need some.” John comforted, slowly bringing his hand up to his shoulder and motioning towards his bedroom. Freddie looked as though he was going to reply with something, but some sort of force stopped him from doing so as he silently walked down to his room at the end of the hall, regret filling his face as he disappeared behind the door to his room.

Only a moment later did he heard a loud bang from behind the door of Freddie’s now locked room, prompting him to go down there and check. He outstretched his hand, taking a small step forward but pausing and changing his mind at the last moment, giving up on trying to help out their singer any more that night.

…

“I’ll see you soon then.” Freddie muttered into the telephone, a hint of dread hiding under his monotone words.

“Bret again?” Brian asked from their couch, Roger humming questioningly as he barely lifted his head up from the couch while his partner continued running his hand under his shirt and across his back. John only shrugged and felt his shoulders go slack as Freddie confirmed Brian’s question.

“He said to meet him outside in about two hours. He’s just got some other stuff to finish up.” He told them, straightening out his shirt just as that old light returned to his eyes for a split second. “I think I’ll surprise him by getting there earlier. He should like that…”

None of them could respond before Freddie dashed down the hall, obviously eager to try and get some positive reaction from his lover. John merely looked away, unable to handle the idea that he was so desperate to try and make Bret happy when he could find someone so much better than him by just going out to a bar and picking up some random bloke again.

“You think he’ll break the record and spend a week with Bret again?” John asked bitterly.

“Probably not, he’s just gonna be out for a bit. Least that’s my bet.” Roger replied in a low tone, seeming as though he was more focused on Brian’s movements along his back than what was going on with their singer instead.

I don’t know anymore. John thought sourly.

In a few moments, their singer returned, clad in another casual outfit that they had seen him in countless times. A mere crimson shirt with his black coat buttoned up halfway and a matching pair of cobalt jeans. He had tried his best to fluff his hair up to make it look as nice as he could without taking the time he would need in the shower. Roger suddenly looked up, his eyes focusing on Freddie for a few moments while he continued to toy around with his outfit.

“Fred, when did you get that bruise on your neck?” He asked in a concerned voice, adding a nervous glance his way. He motioned towards Freddie, John looking down at his arm, thinking he meant the scratches that may have been making their way back out from under the sleeve of his jacket. Yet his focus was more upward, towards the crook of his neck where a reddish-purple bruise about the size of a golf ball rested. Freddie’s face went white as he looked over at the aforementioned mark.

He gave a tense laugh, tugging up that side of his shirt and shrugging. “I haven’t noticed it. I must’ve bumped myself against something again.” He told them in a forced, calm voice.

John once again looked back at their drummer, seeing that light of realization take over his eyes as he avoided looking him straight in the eye. He fought back the urge to tell him “I told you so” and watched as Freddie made his way over to one of the barstools near their counter.

“Anyway, as I was saying, we should be far past a few tracks on the album.” Brian continued, trying to alleviate the awkwardness that had been caused by Roger’s question. “It’s been months and we’ve barely gotten anything done!” He turned towards their singer. “Fred, when do you think you’ll get in the studio? We kinda need someone to sing besides Roger and I.”

“Hm?” Freddie asked a bit absentmindedly. “Oh, uh, probably next week or something. Maybe tomorrow if I’m not caught up in something.”

“Please just put Bret off for a few days so we can get some work on the album.” Brian pleaded. “It’d just be a few hours so we can get ahead and I know you’ve got to have at least three songs ready for the studio.”

“Actually…Just the one I’ve been dwelling on. I haven’t found much time and well…Not much is done.”

John made another glance towards Roger, seeing him sit back up and push himself up against the opposite side of the couch. “Oh come off it Fred, you always had time before to go write loads of songs! Where’s that vigor now?”

“Eh well…” He began, shrugging soon after. “Just not there to be honest. I’ll try later to get something together for the studio…” He finished. He looked towards the clock across the room. “Best to get going now. I really can’t keep him waiting.”

Before any of them could get another word out, Freddie ran out the door, grabbing his keys off the hook before closing it behind him. John’s heart sank as he disappeared from sight. He was just going to be in more trouble again and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. However, he couldn’t help but feel a spark of relief over the fact that Roger had to have taken notice of Freddie’s odd attitude and that brutal bruise on his skin. At least now he should believe him.

“Think he’ll be alright?” Roger asked. “He didn’t seem right.” The last part being directed more towards himself.

“I hope so.” John stated, lounging back into the seat and staring at the TV set that continued to play the sitcom that they had been watching earlier, trying his best to push his worrisome thoughts to the back of his mind, knowing that no matter how much he fretted, Freddie’s fate lay in his hands alone.

…

Sunlight had long disappeared from the sky, only to be replaced with light grey clouds that filled the dark sky. Snowflakes had begun to softly fall from above and began sticking to people’s cars and their houses, slowly starting to cover the city in a giant, white blanket.

John lit a candle over on the counter, tucking his lighter back in his pocket as the berry-scented candle began to burn, it’s orange glow casting across the countertop as he made his way over to the tea kettle, turning off the stove and pouring himself a mug of black tea. The house had been silent ever since Brian and Roger had left for their film roughly half an hour ago.

He settled back down onto the couch, turning the TV on and this time taking his time to fold up the sheets of paper that held his song and music notes, that he had finally started to finish, instead of shoving it away to keep others from reading it. The light from the screen filled the room as he tuned into what was happening for once. He’d been fortunate to not be preoccupied with anything for the first time in what felt like years. For once, he actually felt at peace.

Lounging back and laying his head against the arm of the chair, having barely any sounds around him, and being alone for once was so much nicer than he had imagined. The canned laughter from the TV show mixed with his own small chuckles as he watched the actors do their shtick on the screen. He laid the remote on the table behind him, feeling every other part of his body sink even deeper into the couch.

Out of nowhere, loud footsteps slammed down onto the floor just outside the flat, soon being followed by a similarly loud knocking on their door, a fit of laughter following right after.

“Deaky baby! Come open the door for me please!” Freddie shouted from the other side of the door, continuing his insistent knocking that echoed through the apartment. “Hurry up! I know you’re in there!”

As soon as the initial shock wore off of him, John shook his head and got up. Just as he opened the door, Freddie lost his balance and nearly came falling down onto the ground. He instinctively reached out to try and help him, but he sprang back into place and laid against the side of the door, still softly giggling at whatever it was he found funny.

“Fred, you alright? Where’s-”

“Quite alright, just a bit to drink.” He replied, the sudden stringent scent of the alcohol finally hitting his face as Freddie made his way into their flat, stumbling over his own feet as he reached out to steady himself on top of the countertop.

“Well yes, but how much exactly? It’s like you downed the entire bar…”

“So?” Freddie replied carelessly as he leaned over the counter, his eyes wandering over the room as though he had never seen it before. John headed over, trying his best to get his hand around the back of Freddie’s jacket so he could try and get his minimal attention on what it was he was trying to tell him.

“Wasn’t Bret with you?” He asked.

Fury lit up his face as he swung his hand up and growled viciously, the back of his hand coming in contact with a stray glass and throwing it off the counter, the glass shattering against the floor instantly as Freddie slammed both his hands down onto the counter.

“Fuck. Him! He wants to think that way then why on earth should I bother with that bloody prat.” He seethed, hurt suddenly taking over the expression on his face as he continued to glare at him with that crazed expression.

“Freddie what happened? Did you two fight again?” He asked as he made his way over and laid his hand on top of his shoulder.

“Fight? Ha! I wish. Least then he’s more than a lying bastard who doesn’t have the nerve to tell me to my face he doesn’t want me anymore!”

He leapt up and muttered something else under his breath, but John wasn’t occupied with whatever it was he was actually murmuring. His focus was more on the fact what their singer had found out about his partner. He stood there, millions of plausible instances running through his head of how on earth Freddie had found out about Bret’s disloyalty. Before any could truly manifest itself into his mind, Freddie began stumbling around their flat, trying his best to find something to hold on to so he wouldn’t topple onto the ground.

Another fit of laughter filled their flat as Freddie got himself into a standing position, his body still swaying from side to side. “Like it matters anyway!” He said with an unnatural smile. “It’s only the third time anyway. Might as well try for four!”

He fell over the edge of the couch, laughing to himself once again as he looked up at him with an unfocused, yet sad, stare. “Heeeyyy John! Mind getting me one of those beers from the fridge?” He asked as he attempted to make his way back over to him. John reached out to catch him again, feeling him collapse in his arms as he giggled against his chest.

“Hmmm, my mistake darling.” He told him. “I’ve the balance of a hippo missing a leg.”

Freddie pushed himself out of his grip, his face turning an even darker shade of red as he stumbled over to their fridge. John shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the sudden shock and tried to grasp what he was supposed to do now that Freddie’s mindset had reverted back to that of a child.

“Fred, come on. You should go lay down for a bit.” John tried, earning a confused glance from Freddie as he rested against the counter with his hands on his hips.

“And whhyyy would I do that?” He asked. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“How much did you drink?”

Again this prompted another laughing fit from their singer who doubled over with his arms wrapped around his stomach. John took this opportunity to get closer to Freddie without him waltzing away from him and possibly hurting himself by falling down or breaking something else.

“How would I know? I lost count at seven.” Freddie finally said as he stood back up. “Besides, I know how much alcohol I c-can handle.”

“Where the hell was Bret then? He should have-”

“He should have done a hell lot more than he did!” Freddie howled, swinging his hand and hitting the candle, John freezing as he watched it skid across the counter and pause towards the middle. “That low-lying fuck thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants and has the bloody nerve to screw some other bloke behind my fucking back!”

Freddie slammed his fist down onto the same counter, his frame shaking as he collapsed onto one of the barstools. John’s heart weighed down his body as he headed over, laying his hand on top of Freddie’s back and softly running it along his spine.

“He could’ve just broken up with me if he didn’t want me anymore.” He confessed. “Instead he sees some other guy without me even knowing and thinks it’s a great idea to take him out to a restaurant right around the corner from where I live! And right before he was going to see me!”

“I’m sorry Fred…” John finally said, earning a hurt look from Freddie as the tears in the corners of his eyes halted for a split second. “What kind of prat does he think he is? If he thinks anyone is better than you, then he’s not worth it. There’s…There’s plenty of people out there who would consider themselves blessed to be with you.”

“Where the hell are they then?” He growled venomously.

“You’ll find someone. There’s hundreds of people out there and you will find someone. They might not be here right now but there’s definitely someone out there who loves you as much as you’ll love them.” John said, a bitter stab at his hurt preventing him from saying any more. He cared far more about Freddie being happy than him being with him anyway.

A sharp huff came out of Freddie, his eyes still bustling with hurt and anger. Freddie soon got up and wandered over to their couch, dragging his feet across the floor as he tried his best to remain in a straight line, failing abysmally as he crashed into the side table and the other armchair. Once Freddie actually did seat himself in their couch, John immediately got up to join him, knowing that he couldn’t let him be alone, not now at least.

“I thought it’d work for once.” Freddie continued. “Just for once I’d find someone nice. A real nice person who actually…ya know, cared about me.”

“You’re going to find someone, I know you will.” He repeated, seeing another shadow of doubt pass over their singer’s sullen face.

“I wish others were like that.” Freddie said, leaning back into the corner of the couch and looking directly at him with that bright gaze. He leaned forward onto the palms of his hands, setting himself up on his knees. “Anyone who’s actually supportive and just as nice as you are.”

John’s stomach twisted around nervously as his shirt tightened around his entire body, the room jumping a sudden ten degrees. “W-well it’s just courtesy a-and being…” His voice was lost to him as he met Freddie’s brandy eyes again.

“It’s just a nice thing to have. That’s all dear. I just wish Bret could be more like that.” He whispered. He paused, almost as though he was continuing the conversation in his mind as he continued to stare at the wall behind him.

His heart rose to the center of his throat, pounding furiously against it and preventing him from getting another sound out of him besides his heavy exhalations. The compliment had left him dumbfounded yet happier than he had felt in ages. His mind went completely blank, John now trying his best to not embarrass himself in front of their frontman, although he doubted he would even remember anything the next morning.

Freddie’s sudden laughter filled their apartment again as he snapped back into the present, seeing him fall back onto the couch with a loud thud.

“Come on Fred, you should really lay down or something.”

“Oh but what’s the point? I’ve handled faaarrr more than this!” He exclaimed proudly as he sat back up, placing his fingertips on his chest with the rest of his hand raised slightly above it.

“S-seriously, it might be good to just relax aft-” John’s sentence was quickly cut off, Freddie leaning forward and planting his lips on his, slightly pushing him back into his own corner of the couch.

His eyes went wide as he looked down at their singer who held his position, keeping his mouth locked with his as his whole body froze. Freddie’s eyes were lightly shut, his left hand soon moving up to the top of his leg while the other sat between his parted legs. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even think correctly anymore.

Immediately, Freddie tried bringing him into the kiss by moving his mouth across his, grabbing the couch behind him and pushing himself up against his body. Tension began filling the room as he moved his stagnant hand down his leg over to his inner thigh, now speeding up his movements along his mouth to try and get him moving too. However, his mind and body were still stuck, unable to even consider what he should do next after being stunned from the sudden kiss from their singer.

Freddie pulled back ever so slightly, his alcohol tainted breath coming out against his mouth. “Come on love, no need to be shy.” He tugged him back into another kiss, his eyes going even wider as he felt his hand move directly over to between his legs, softly pushing the palm of his hand against his nether regions. “Especially when you’ve got that in your trousers.” He said playfully.

Just as his words started coming back to him, Freddie continued to test his nerves, pushing even harder against his lower body as his other hand made a direct line for his shirt, eagerly tugging at the fabric. Oh God what do I do? He thought frantically, not sure if he should stop this even though his body was telling him otherwise. All he could act on was a few instincts, but besides his legs closing ever so slightly, nothing much happened. His emotions were still hysterical, switching between pure euphoria and utter fear. He hadn’t expected any of this to ever become a reality, let alone happen as fast as it was in that moment.

Finally, he began responding, his conscious far too absorbed in what was happening to even control what his body wanted. Every action fed into his mind running over the situation, completely keeping it at bay from letting him stop and think over what it was he was doing. As he finally began moving his mouth with Freddie’s in their fast paced kiss, he felt his arms snake underneath his and dig his nails into his back while he let his legs fall back open. His lower body twitched at the sudden loss of his touch, but he couldn’t care less at that moment. Having him doing anything to him was enough to keep him happy.

As fast as he had latched onto his body, Freddie tore himself off of him. John gasped suddenly, trying to recover from the onslaught of emotions that were still storming through his body. His left arm fell slack against the couch while he moved his right hand up to his chest, his hammering heart racing against his palm. Freddie made a sharp twitching movement as he laid down on the opposite side of the couch, parting his legs as far as he could as he gripped the cushions tightly.

“Oh God come on!” He begged as his chest rose up and down hastily. “I’ve waited five years for that and I’m not stopping there.”

The remaining sliver of breath that was in his lungs was punched right out of him as he stared dumbly at their singer. “F-five?” He managed, his hand tightening its grip around his shirt as he slightly pulled it off of him to try and cool himself down. F-five? He repeated internally.

“Yes five!” Freddie growled impatiently as he sat back up with his legs still splayed. “Five bloody years because I didn’t know what the hell to do and I’m tired of waiting. Come on love, no one’s home.” He said desperately as his back slightly rose from the couch.

John had heard everything Freddie had just told him, but he couldn’t find the proper response. All he got out of himself was something he had only dreamed about saying in reality. “He likes me…”

His heart shook in his chest as he looked up at Freddie’s desperate face, seeing him giving a quick nod of approval. That longing in his brandy gaze, the once unseen shadows of lust that were now rampaging above the yearning. He couldn’t help but move forward ever so slightly, earning Freddie’s tight grip back on his shirt as he brought him close once again.

“C’mon love…No need to be shy about a quick shag on the couch.” He told him in a playful tone, although the sadness was still hiding beneath it. The softness vanished in an instant as he yanked him back down into a vicious kiss, bringing both his hands up to the back of his head and tugging at his hair. John forced himself to ignore his rational for a few moments, wanting to just relish in the moment that he had longed for ever since they had first met.

Freddie once again brought his hand up to his lower body, grinding his hand against his covered member that had already begun to respond to his movements, quickly starting to push against his jeans. He heard their frontman snicker softly as a smile of pure joy made its way onto his face. His face broke out into one too just before Freddie returned to kissing him. He glanced down towards Freddie’s lower body, a sharp bolt of arousal making its way through him at the bulge between his legs.

“Now someone’s eager, isn’t he?” Freddie teased in a contrasting tone to earlier, moving his hand off of his lower body and up to his back, vigorously tearing at his shirt in an attempt to get it off of him. John followed his first instinct and cautiously moved his hands over to Freddie’s sides, pausing to see if he’d reject the action. Fortunately, he got nothing of the sort. He continued to move down, growing tenser and tenser at the knowledge of what was lingering ahead of him. A wave of fear crashed over him as he thought of what was going to happen. It was something he had dreamed about for years, but never once did he think it’d happen, even with someone besides Freddie.

Just go with it, don’t think about it for once dammit. He told himself, inhaling sharply as he moved his hands behind Freddie’s body, watching him writhe beneath him as a soft moan made its way out of his mouth, further encouraging him to keep up his movements. Freddie resumed his earlier ones, slipping his hands back to the front of his shirt and managing to move one of them underneath the top of his shirt. He shuddered at the touch. Each of those dastardly fears suddenly rose right back to the front of his mind. You’re gonna mess up, you’ve no idea what the hell you’re meant to do. God you can’t do this now, not now. But you’re probably never going to get the chance again. He likes you dammit! Surely, it’ll happen again, right?

“John…Come on dear, please…” Freddie begged softly against his neck as he moved his hand towards his chest, the touch of his hand against his skin bringing him back into the moment. He made a quick move downwards, giving his rear a hard squeeze, earning both a hard jolt of arousal through his body and a pleasurable sound from Freddie. Freddie brought his lower body up, trying futilely to get him to touch him even more than he had been. He scanned over a million possibilities of what he could do, trying one of the first ones and moving his mouth over to the crook of his neck, slowly moving his lips across his neck, giving another grab at his ass to try and elicit another groan of pleasure.

He brought his body down, pressing it against his. A heavy moan made its way out of his mouth as he felt Freddie’s growing member hit his. He pushed against him, sloppily moving his hips in an uneven fashion across his lower body to try and touch as much as he could with his own.

Freddie tugged him back into a kiss, this time the sudden waft of alcohol that hit his face bringing a sickening feeling to his stomach. John, you can’t do this. His conscious told him, his body starting to slow its movements. It’s not right. Freddie pushed up against his body again, trying to untuck his shirt from underneath his trousers. God but you’ve never done it before. Isn’t this what you always wanted? He looked down at the still intoxicated gaze of their singer and that slightly drunken grin that was plastered across his face. Not like this…He’s not going to even remember in the morning. He’s got no idea what he’s doing. The sudden touch of Freddie’s hand on his rear fought back those arguments of his conscious for a mere second before he heard that drunken laugh once again. You can’t.

He pulled away. Freddie reached out to bring him closer, confusion starting to mix inside of his eyes. The lost look was breaking him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to continue now that he knew this wasn’t Freddie’s own conscious decision. He may have wanted it as badly as he did, but he had yet to tell him when he could control himself.

Yet his member still continued to throb against his trousers, every ounce of his body still crying for him to forget it all and keep going. To finally live out its five-year-long fantasy. He leaned back in ever so slightly, his face scrunching up out of frustration with what on earth he should do. Do you really need to screw up like that? Are you that desperate you’d take advantage of him where he probably forgot his own name?

That final thought broke him as he followed the guilt that had been lingering in his mind behind the rational that had came back. He leaned back into the opposite corner of the couch and stared longingly at their singer who was now pushing himself back up. Think of something dammit!

“Don’t go dammit, it’s been so long…” He whimpered. “That bastard can’t do it properly anyway.” He spat.

John barely registered his sentence, focusing more on the growing tightness around his lower body as it continued to obey its natural desires. “I-I’ll be back.” He stuttered, getting up and dashing down the hall before Freddie could even open his mouth to respond.

He slammed the restroom door shut behind him, cursing himself for acting like an idiot out there once again. An influx of scenes from a mere few seconds ago flooded his thoughts, shoving the embarrassment back down for a few seconds as he undid his zipper as fast as he could, taking out his hard length and running his hand along it as fast as he could, trying desperately to stifle any noises.

His body tensed. Every scene was only throwing him even closer to release. Hovering over Freddie’s body, having his mouth pressed against his while he continued to run his hands across his skin beneath his damp shirt, and that rush of pleasure that ran through his body as he brought his hands down to his lower body. The mere thought of it all shoved him over the edge in a mere minute, his member overly sensitive from everything Freddie had done to him out in their living room. He covered the head of his length, swallowing back a loud sigh of relief and reducing it to a shaky exhale.

John groaned as he made his way over to the sink, rinsing off his load from the palm of his hand, quickly washing it off and tucking himself back into his jeans. A rush of mortification came over him as he leaned back against the bathroom’s wall before it was replaced with a sudden warmth and relaxation.

“He likes me…He actually likes me.” He whispered out of disbelief. How could he, of all people, find himself in a such a circumstance? Five years he had liked him and he hadn’t noticed it at all and now he was suddenly faced with what on earth he should do now that his greatest hope had been realized.

It suddenly struck him that their drunken frontman was still out in the living room by himself. He snapped into play and headed back out of the bathroom, relieved to see that he was still slack against the couch, dazedly looking up at the ceiling and muttering something in a singsong voice that he couldn’t quite hear.

“Hmm, where’d you go? I thought you went to get something from the kitchen.” He said in a much slower voice than earlier. He pushed himself up, his face faltering for a second before he looked back at him.

“J-just had to do something…” He said.

Freddie’s face fell once more as a sick expression made its way onto his face. “J-John gemme a bucket.” He asked quickly as he held onto his stomach.

After he grabbed the small waste bin from the bathroom, Freddie spent the next few minutes emptying the contents of his stomach out into it, somehow managing to keep it only in the bucket itself and a bit on his shirt. John held back some of his hair to keep it from getting soiled, using his other hand to rub his back to comfort him. By the time he had finished, his face had gone pale and the top half of his shirt was covered in vomit.

“Lemme get that off of you.” John offered as he started undoing the rest of Freddie’s buttons. He didn’t reply, he just stared emptily at the floor, still clutching the basket just in case anything else started coming up.

As John removed his shirt, he felt his own stomach lurch violently inside of him. Freddie’s entire body was covered in cuts and bruises that looked as though they had only been given the day before. Pink lines and sickly yellow bruises were hidden among the darker, swollen bumps of purple and blue. He hesitantly reached out, lightly touching the prominent one on his arm, feeling him wince at the touch.

“It’s alright, he’s not here.” John tried, gaining no reaction from Freddie.

“I’ll get a blanket and a shirt. Unless you wanna sleep in your bed?” Again, he gained no reply.

John took that as a yes and got up, giving a quick glance back at him to make sure he wasn’t moving. He continued to just stare at the floor, shadows of exhaustion starting to come through his eyes. He hurried down the hall, grabbing one of the spare blankets from Roger and Brian’s room from their bed. John then turned down to Freddie’s room, hastily looking for a t-shirt he could help him into. He grabbed an oversized shirt that was still laying atop his bed, rushing back out there so that he wasn’t alone.

“Alright, I hope it’s not too heavy for you.” He said softly. “It’s the first one I found but it should keep you warm.”

He looked towards their singer, seeing him laying across the couch, completely knocked out within the few seconds he had been gone

He unfolded the blanket, softly laying it across their singer as to not disturb him from his slumber. He folded the shirt and laid it on the table, making sure it’d be the first thing he saw in the morning when he woke up.

#Deacury #Save Me #Okay yeah it's been a while but shhh

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rockrevoltmagazine · 3 years

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INTERVIEW: Guitarist Sammy Boller

ROCKREVOLT: How are you holding up through the pandemic?

SAMMY BOLLER: I’ve been alright. I’ve been hiding out. Missing playing live especially over the last month it’s been really starting to get to me. Taking it one day at a time and looking forward to everything getting back to normal. We are hoping to starting playing again by the end of the year. How have you been doing, doing alright?

Doing pretty well thank you. I’m in South Carolina and things are pretty good here everything is mostly open. My first winter here as I just moved from New Hampshire, I’m enjoying no snow. You’re up in Michigan, correct? How’s the weather up your way?

I’m in Detroit. Things are getting a little less locked down. And the winter has been pretty rough here so that hasn’t helped. It’s been alright though, it’s starting to warm up, no complaints.

Are you keeping busy working on some new music?

Yeah, I’ve been working on a second instrumental album which we were just working on the demos at my drummer’s house. We’ll probably start cutting it in April or May. I started a new band recently as well called Pharaohs. This producer friend of mine, Al Sutton, introduced me to this singer from Kentucky, Cam Clark who is just awesome. We’ve working on a record together as well. Working on two albums right now. Other than that trying to stay busy, playing on friends records as well. Everyday is a little different.

At least it’s not monotonous, that’s a good thing. I’d like to dip back into your history a bit. Looks like you got your big break when you won Joe Satriani’s competition. What can you tell us about that experience and what that has meant to your career?

That was awesome. I was really young at the time. It was through Guitar Center. What happened was he picked a few winners and we got to fly to LA and have a master class with him. I never even been to California at the time which was really cool. Just to see him play up close was pretty amazing. It was really, really cool I’m a huge Satriani fan. Anytime you get to meet your heroes it’s always a good thing.

Would you consider that something that maybe launched your career?

I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it. It was definitely a cool thing at the time. I remember it being in the paper at the time when I was in high school and people texting me “I saw you in the paper.” I never really thought of it like that but definitely a cool thing for sure.

Then you went on to play with Citizen Zero and achieved some success with them. Was that a one off deal or are you still in communication with them?

The band broke up a couple years ago. We’re still tight. It was just one of those things that ran it’s course. We put one album out and were kind of working on a second but it didn’t go anywhere. Sometimes things just run out of juice. Everybody wanted to work on other stuff. That was the middle of 2018 I believe and that’s when I started working on the instrumental stuff and getting enthused about that.

That brings us to 2020 and the release of your debut instrumental album Kingdom of the Sun. One of our writers reviewed your album and stated the album should land you on the upper side of Rolling Stone’s top 100 guitar players at some point. Take us through the process of recording an instrumental album as opposed to an album with a vocalist.

Thanks man. It’s definitely a different thing. When I first started working on it I was doing it more to see if it would even work. I had never really considered or thought about making an instrumental record before. The way I was treating it, a lot of the songs were based on a two hand tapping arrangements and melodies. My goal was to see if I could make a record with just as kind of the voice instead of having a singer. It started turning out cool after we got a few songs. My buddy Steve who produced the album said I should do a whole record. I’m really proud of it. It’s one of those things I wasn’t sure we could get it done. I feel like I just scratched the surface with it. I decided to do another record.

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Now lets circle back to the band, Pharaohs, what can we expect from that?

We first met in August, we’ve only known each other for a few months. We played a New Year’s Day set for fun just to kind of announce we started a band. It went really well, it was well received. And it was really fun. We immediately went into the studio and started writing some more. We are hoping to start recording that in April. We have more than enough for an album but sometimes you’ll finish up a record and you’ll sit on it. I’m hoping it comes out this year. It’s cool and Cam, he’s been in a couple bands, is just an amazing front man. We also have John Dudley on drums who also played in Citizen Zero and Steve Lehane who produced my instrumental record is the bass player.

Can you give us an idea of the sound. Maybe a comparable band style wise?

Yeah I’d say it’s like heavy alternative rock. When you start a band all your influences kind of come together. Everybody’s likes and styles kind of meld together. Even though I’m into more heavy stuff, Cam is into soul music. It’s a cool blend of styles. I’d say it’s like Indie Rock.

Would you consider having a vocalist with your solo music or do you think it would take away from it?

No I would definitely try it. I feel really lucky to work with an amazing singer. You never know if I end up with an instrumental track and think it would be cool to have vocals. Ask Cam hey check this out would you put some vocals to it, I’m sure he would do that. I feel really blessed, I’ve worked with some great singers of the past few years. I would definitely consider that. Like when Slash was doing records with a different singer on every song. That might be really cool to do someday. I know after David Lee Roth left Van Halen Eddie was thinking of doing a record like that. He never got around to doing that. I’ve always been intrigued with that idea as well.

I never heard that about Eddie Van Halen. That would have been very cool if he had done something like that.

Could you imagine. That would have been awesome. But it worked out the way it was supposed to.

Speaking of David Lee Roth, would you welcome the opportunity to play with someone like that, a high profile artist? Ozzy Osbourne has brought along many great guitarist along the way. Obviously Steve Vai with David Lee Roth. Would you consider something like that?

Absolutely. My dream growing up was to play with Ozzy. I would consider it, it would have to be somebody I really love. I love playing original music so much, that’s my main thing. But if it was a great opportunity, of course. That would be a dream come true to play with Ozzy or David Lee or someone like that.

Who tops your list? If you could pick any frontman or band to play with who would it be?

It would be Ozzy. The other one I’d love is Wolfgang, that would be really cool. But I’d say Ozzy, that’s been my dream since I was a little kid.

Speaking of Wolfgang, I use to take drum lessons from his drummer Garrett Whitlock, he’s amazing. He’s was great in Mark Tremonti’s solo band.

He’s a beast, he’s a really good drummer. I remember my old band opened for Tremonti in Flint at the Machine Shop year’s ago and I remember he was warming up for hours. He’s such a great drummer. I was watching them (Wolfgang Van Halen’s solo band) on I believe it was Kimmel last week and he just slayed on that. He’s a really great musician. All the guys in Wolf’s band are great.

Opening for Tremonti that must have been pretty special.

I’m a big fan of his and everything he’s done. I think it was his first tour or second. I’m a big fan of Mark he’s an amazing song writer and amazing player obviously.

Do you have a most gratifying moment in your career thus far?

I don’t know, nobody has asked me that. I never really thought about it. I think with me, my dream with playing is to serve others through music. Anytime I get a message on Instagram or something like that or I see some kid playing one of my riffs that’s probably the coolest thing. That knocks me out every time I see something like that. If I can be an inspiration for a young guitar player that has always been a dream of mine. Anytime something like that happens I just feel so lucky and blessed.

That has to be special someone playing back something you created.

That blows my mind. I can’t believe that. When I was a kid and first discovered Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, my favorite guitar players that changed the course of my life. Thinking of that recently now that Eddie’s gone, when he passed away it’s like losing a close friend which is really weird. You get to know someone through their music, they become such a big part of your life. Music is such an incredible thing.

I’ve always had a huge passion for music. I remember when I was eight years old and my cousin just purchased AC/DC’s Back in Black when it first came out. The first time I heard that, the impact it had on me it still sticks in my mind today as a major influence on me. As well as all the people I’ve met through music. I can only imagine in your position the connection you get through that music must be pretty amazing.

It’s a blessing to be a musician. But even like you said just being a fan of music, especially in the rock and metal world everyone is friends and gets along pretty well. You end up meeting a lot of wonderful people.

What are the top five records everyone should own?

That’s a good question. I have Van Halen I on my wall so that’s probably number one. For guitarist that’s as good as it gets. The tribute album from Ozzy for Randy Rhoads that was amazing. You have to have a Zeppelin album, my favorite Zeppelin album is House of the Holy we can put that on there. Are You Experienced by Hendrix. I’m trying to think of another live album, I’m a big fan of live albums. Ah shit maybe it doesn’t have to be a live album, Appetite For Destruction by Guns N Roses.

How old are you?

I just turned 28.

You’re into the old school, nice. Typically your age group doesn’t get that deep into the old school rock.

I grew up on all the classics. I love a lot of new stuff too. But if you could only have five records you’ve got to go with the classics.

Where did the influence come from, who got you into the older music?

My parents are both musicians and into rock. When I was a kid rock was still really popular. When I was a kid Green Day and stuff like that was back. There was a lot of good indie music at the time like Death Cab for Cutie and stuff like that I really liked. There is still a lot of really great rock bands now. I think it’s a really good time for rock. Especially once there are shows again. I think everyone is going to come out swinging (laughs).

Appreciate your time today. Any tentative plans for a tour?

Yeah we are booking stuff right now and hoping to get out in September/October time frame. We have one date in Detroit at the Crofoot. It was supposed to be a record release party when the record came out, we had to push it back to October 15th. There will be tour dates around that.

I’ll be paying attention would love to see you live. Your solo album is fantastic.

Thank you very much. I love SC and hope to make it down there.

Congratulations with the solo record, very impressive. I’m sure you’re going to be a star. Thank you.

Thank you so much Brett.

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INTERVIEW: Guitarist Sammy Boller was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

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