Project Description

Interview with
PISTOLS AT DAWN

(October 2020)

Interviewer – Dave Bruce

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Pistols At Dawn is an American professional hard rock band formed in 2015 by drummer Adam Jaffe, guitarist Devin White, guitarist Mike Buffa, and bassist Billy Sullivan. Virtuoso guitarist Buffa died tragically in 2018, and the band reunited in 2019 with its first worldwide releases in early 2020. Pistols at Dawn released 2 new singles in early 2020, “Cold” and “Gauntlet”. The singles were recorded/engineered by famed producer Jeff Tomei (Smashing Pumpkins/ Matchbox 20) at Cock the Walk Studio in Atlanta, GA.

Pistols At Dawn is a high energy, heavy hitting, heart pumping, radio ready hard rock band with lyrics and visuals of the times pushing the listener not to accept the status quo. PAD has been compared to a combination of Godsmack, Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown, Tool, AC/DC, Metallica, Disturbed and other universal hard rock acts, while retaining a uniquely electric, powerful, and vintage sound singular to Pistols At Dawn. 

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How did you all find each other and decide to share your musical talents as a group?
We all grew up playing in the Atlanta, Georgia USA rock music scene. Devin – Lead Guitar and Adam – Drums played together for 20 years in multiple bands growing up and decided to put together this very special group of talented artists to become a full-time global touring professional hard rock band. We knew we had the ingredients for a successful band and put together the pieces carefully to take it all the way. 
We all got into music because of the way that our favorite bands made us feel. That first concert, that first cd, and that first instrument all changed our lives. Music is all about making people feel and experience amazing emotions. It’s an escape from reality. Taking someone on that ride is a rush we could never put into words.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Our sound is a unique, powerful and vintage mixture of all of the biggest rock, hard rock and metal bands we all love and grew up with combined with our own modern twist. It truly resonates with our fans as they generally feel like they have heard us before and that we are familiar. We engage with all of our fans so they truly feel close to us and the music. It gives the listener new and older influences and a fresh plug your gear in and play hard rock sound that you want to repeat over and over.

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Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
We are inspired by Metallica, Slayer, Foo Fighters, Sevendust, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Guns & Roses, Slipknot, Tool, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and the 90’s seattle sound. All of them play with power and passion – like us.

Your Pistols At Dawn EP is out now! Describe its origin and evolution. 
We released 3 new singles in early 2020, “Cold”, “Gauntlet” and “All You offer”. All on the EP.  Cold and Gauntlet were recorded/engineered by famed producer Jeff Tomei (smashing pumpkins/ matchbox 20) at Cock the Walk Studio in Atlanta, GA. All You Offer was recorded by producers George Marlow and Chris Pierson at Ionian Music in Atlanta, GA.  All three singles include lyrics and vocals by Rockstar Supernova Finalist and the band’s long time friend and elite rock frontman, Chris Pierson. Our current EP showcases the origin of our sound which is straight forward hard pounding vintage rock and roll with a twist, and awesome melody and vocals. Straight forward and simple heart pumping make you want to move music.

What are the signature pieces on the album, and which is your favorite track?
Our signature pieces are the three singles: Cold, Gauntlet and All You Offer. They truly show our abilities to play professional hard rock at its best. Our favorite track is Cold. It was our first single and it is a true epic rock song. We wrote it in just a few hours and it is really powerful from beginning to end. It has an incredible incredible incredible guitar solo played by our deceased original lead guitarist – Mike Buffa. He spent a gazillion hours on it and it speaks to the gods every time we hear and play it!

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Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We released our 3 new singles and lyric videos for “Cold”, “Gauntlet” and “All You Offer” this year and have been promoting them globally. We recently wrapped up filming our new music video for “Cold” at the Central State Hospital abandoned insane asylum in Milledgeville, Georgia. It was the first ever music video filmed there and the video is incredible and very spooky.  It will be released worldwide next week. We also just completed recording our new EP with Jeff Tomei at Cock the Walk Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It is really powerful, and will be released by the end of 2020. We are also filming our new Music Video for “Gauntlet” on November 14th and will release it by Thanksgiving. Finally, we are currently in planning stages for a live stream show. We play constantly and want to share our energy with our fans no matter how we can do it!  We are full speed ahead and hope to tour the World the second the insanity ends!
We do not expect any concerts or festivals in 2020 so we have spent all of our time creating new music, videos, posts, and other content all for online distribution and marketing. Despite the crazy world we live in now, we have adapted fully to using this incredible online world we have at our disposal. We haven’t stopped creating for a second, and we genuinely feel our band will stand out big time if we continue to provide content to our currently homebound audience. The response has been amazing, and we will continue til we can see them all in person in 2021. 

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
We would love to collaborate with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin since they are rock gods! We would love to work with the top video animators in the world as it is always cool to add new art to our videos.

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Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist? 
Yes. Tour the world and make amazing music for 40 years and create the largest supporter base possible.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
The out of this world feeling you get when the entire band is locked in and playing perfectly and with absolutely authentic feeling and power, and the visually and physically stunning response to that feeling from our supporters. The career highlight so far was filming our recent music video at the central state insane asylum in Milledgeville Georgia USA. It was spooky, twisted, so fun and so cool! I’ll change my answer when we get the chance to play the biggest arenas in the world!

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – 10 – Pearl Jam, Appetite for Destruction – G&R – The Black Album – Metallica
Artist – Metallica, Slayer, Foo Fighters, Sevendust, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Guns & Roses, Slipknot, Tool, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and the 90’s seattle sound.
Movie – Goodfellas
Place to visit – Europe
Venue to play – Anywhere anytime! 
Food – Alaskan King Crab  
Drink – Beer
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) We have a ton! Come see us live!

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Check out PISTOLS AT DAWN below
Website – Facebook – Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – DB