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The Next Big Thing? Maybe: A Conversation with Justin of Another Big Machine Br Brian Campbell  |
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The Next Big Thing? Maybe: A Conversation with Justin of Another Big Machine
www.myspace.com/anotherbigmachine
 Rock music needs new bands, thats obvious. It can’t stay stagnant for too long at one time or else emo and powerpop bands might look to take the throne. The boys from Louisiana’s Another Big Machine agree with me, and they want you to too.
The Baton Rouge outfit is looking to instill some flare in today’s rock scene. Their self titled record will drop later this year on Rising Storm Records, and it seems like it is going to be a good one. There are a number of comparisons that could be made regarding their music, so I’ll save that much at least. Their music should be able to make a wide variety of fans, soft, hard rock and everywhere in-between.
I had the chance to catch up with lead singer Justin McCoy to learn just what was the story behind their unique band name, what inspired them to record this album, and more details on their relationship with John Fogerty, leading to them covering a classic CCR track.
AtHome: Is there a story behind the band name?
Justin McCoy: It was actually a song title about half a year ago. We had a few member changes after Hurricane Katrina. After we got some new guys in the band we started developing this new sound. We used to be a band called Addavoy and we were working over this song title, Another Big Machine, and it basically just fit the band and what we were going through at the time, so we decided to change it.
AH: Tell me about the recording process of the new record.
McCoy: We got together as a band, and there are two ways we write music. A song is written on an acoustic guitar then we bring in the rest of the band and show them the changes and start going through it. The other way is we just start from scratch. We will just start with a guitar riff and go from there. We have a practice room back in Louisiana. We wrote all of the songs there, and wrote some more songs in the studio in Nashville. It was a quick process this time; we only had a week. We decided to do it in a week. We actually decided to record it live. We got in isolated rooms and we started jamming through the headphones and laid the drum tracks down. We kept some of the guitar parts while we were tracking drums. We had a really cool vibe in the studio.
AH: Who produced it?
McCoy: A guy named Charlie Anderson. His nickname is Chopper. He was actually Reba McIntyre’s bass player for the past 15 years or so. He is a friend of Bill Richardson, who owns Rising Storm records. We met with him and he had ideas for the record. He was all about letting us be ourselves. He made some changes during pre-production, but just let us be ourselves and shine on the record. He is a really great guy.
AH: Change the way they were playing?
McCoy: Not really. He just had a few suggestions. Say if a part of the song was going four bars, he would say, let’s just do it two bar. He just shortened some things up and polished what we were doing.
AH: Was it important to find the right producer?
McCoy: Honestly, yes. We’ve worked with a few different producers before in the past. Actually before we recorded this record we actually recorded another whole record. The only song we kept was Sedated. It just clicked with Charlie. He came in and said he wasn’t going to be a dictator, and he just wanted us to keep doing what we were doing. Once we saw that that was what he was all about that, we knew he was the right guy for the job.
AH: What inspired you to write this record?
McCoy: Everybody strives to be an artist when they are in the music industry and basically I just wanted to make a good record. Life experiences and things you cannot really say to people face to face I just put down on paper. My life in general definitely inspired to make this record.
AH: Did you have an idea of how you wanted the record to sound when you recorded it?
McCoy: It kind of goes both ways. When we started writing the songs I wanted them to sound exactly like they sounded when we performed them in the band room. That’s really where Charlie comes in. I just wanted the outcome of the record to as true and pure as it could possibly be. It goes back to the whole recording process when we just went in and tracked everything exactly how we did it.
AH: Achieved that goal?
McCoy: Definitely. I am certainly happy with what we have tracked on the record in its entirety.
AH: How did you guys decide to cover Born on the Bayou?
McCoy: We are all pretty big Creedence Clearwater Revival fans. We were in Los Angeles last summer and John Fogerty was in the practice room next to us at Center Stage. He was rehearsing for an upcoming tour and he actually popped in a few times to listen. There were a few times when we were outside drinking coffee and such, and we just got to know him and hung out with him. After we got home we thought we ought to cover a CCR tune. Being from Louisiana it was easy to pick Born on the Bayou as our cover.
AH: What can fans expect from this record?
McCoy: The record to me, through my perspective, is going to relate to a lot of people. This record could possibly be the soundtrack to a lot of young lives. The songs are written to where the listener can take the song and bring it in and relate it to something going on in their own life. The songs aren’t specifically written about a person or a story, they are written about an idea and real life experiences that people can relate to. It can definitely be a soundtrack that people can get a lot out of.
AH: Did you find that you were writing relatable songs more?
McCoy: Oh yeah, definitely. Even the ones that are written personally can be relatable to other listeners. It depends because I go both ways, depending on what the topic of the song is. If it is something really personal, you are writing it just for you and it does tell a story about something you went through. I honestly believe it is all in how you direct the song. You can write a personal song that can still be directed to the listener.
AH: What can we expect from ABM the rest of the year?
McCoy: Hopefully a lot of touring. The record comes out June 24. Hopefully we will have some singles that will be pushed off this record. Expect some good live shows because we try to match the sounds on the record to exactly what we do live. Maybe some videos will pop up on the MySpace page – we are just trying to push this whole thing in its entirety.
AH: Do you have any tour offers on the table currently?
McCoy: We are still working on setting up tours and hopefully something will work out soon.
Hitch your wagon to these guys ASAP - http://www.myspace.com/anotherbigmachine.
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