Project Description
Interview with
TOMMY ROGERS
from
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
Interview by VICKY HEBBS
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You have been making music together for almost 20 years now, let me ask a couple of questions to start with. For any new fans, how did it all begin?
Paul Waggoner (our guitarist) and I were in a band called Prayer For Cleansing, I was playing guitar and the two of us and the drummer of that band started BTBAM when that band ended. We wanted to start a metal band that didn’t have any boundaries which was our goal from day one. We liked a lot of different kinds of music and hadn’t heard any bands that were putting all that together. From there we organically became what we became. There were some early line up changes but we’ve had the current line up since 2006.
With so much touring, and so many albums, how has your sound evolved over that time?
It’s evolved a lot! When you listen to our early stuff compared to now, it sounds like a different band. Its like anything, we started almost 20 years ago and there’s been a lot of growth in that time. We understand ourselves better now than we ever have. We are better musicians and understand songs, recording and working together, running the business etc – You live and learn. One thing I’m very proud of with us is that throughout the years, we’ve been very genuine as to the time periods. Every album represents us in that time period as people as best as it can. Now, we aren’t trying to be as technical as possible, we just want to write good songs and have our albums take you on a journey. We’ve always said that but the later albums in particular have that feeling.
Which music did you grow up listening to? How has it inspired you?
Just like any kid I went through a lot of phases. I was a big metal head growing up. When I was really young I was into the 80’s metal thing and then graduated to thrash, Metallica, Pantera and all that and from there into the more extreme black and death metal. When I was a teenager I got into hardcore in a big way and then in my 20’s I realised, hey I love it all! My dad listened to classic rock around the house so that’s always been in my DNA and is an especially big inspiration to me now. Inspiration is a weird word cause when I sit down to write, I’m not trying to write like something, my style involve things I listen to and grew up on as a natural thing.
Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Hopefully they just like it and it sounds good! But I think a lot of people can connect with five guys that grew up together that are very down to earth people. We treat the band on our own terms, with our music and the business side of things. We’ve always done things our way, and not followed a path that we didn’t feel was genuine to us. I think that resonates with people.
Again, for anyone new, who has yet to listen to your music, what song or LP/EP would you tell them to listen to first?
If they’re into the really heavy stuff then go for Parallax II record and if there into more experimental stuff then go for the newest album (Automata I & II)
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Over the past two decades, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced as a band?
I guess just living and learning the business side of things. Just like any business that’s lasted 20 years, there’s good and bad decisions you’ve made. On the music side of things you naturally evolved and learn as you go. Accept that things aren’t always going to be on an incline and there will be some downtimes. You live and learn! I’ve already said that but its very true!
About the music, what does your creative process look and sound like?
It’s varied over the years and different for each one of us. For me, I like to write on my own and I write a lot on the road, on the bus where I am write now actually. It just starts with a laptop and connecting a keyboard or guitar and going from there. Sometimes I record voice notes if something pops into my head. I can tell if its going to happen quickly or not and learning to know when to push and when to let it happen on its own. Also learn to filter. Know when something sux, if you think everything you do is really good, you’re going to end up with a lot of bad music.
Does everyone write or is that reserved for 1 or 2 people?
We all write but it changes for certain songs. As the band has evolved, we’ve all written.
Any new music on the drawing board?
As of now, no. Ive got some stuff written Im keen to show the band but as of now we aren’t in writing mode. Hopefully next year? Who knows?
What makes one of your live shows unique? What can fans expect from your upcoming Australian tour?
We change up our set list every tour so it’s always different. We try and keep things fresh and treat the set like an album, for it to have a good flow and fit together well. And we’re pretty tight right now. We’re playing together really well.
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Can you think of a highlight on tour, or in your work, that you will always remember and hold dear?
We were nominated for a Grammy and went to the ceremony, that was something none of us expected to ever happen in our career so yeah that was a pretty surreal moment.
What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
The energy! When you’re recording or rehearsing its all good but when you play in front of a crowd and see the emotion coming out of the fans and how excited people get. Like any genre, the crowd feeds off the band and the band feeds off the crowd, that’s always been something special for us and we’re very lucky to have the fans we have.
You have worked with so many super artists over time, if you could work with any band or musician, Alive or Dead, who would they be? And why?
Oh that’s tough. I’m going to say Trent Reznor cause I was just listening to The Fragile. I don’t know him personally but I think his ideas and my ideas, we would have fun together.
Where do you see yourselves in a few years’ time? Do you still have major goals or aspirations you are yet to realise as a band?
We’ve never been a super goal-oriented band. We take it year by year with the goal to write the best music that we can and get to as many people as we can. Things either naturally happen or they don’t happen. I wouldn’t say down the line I know exactly what’s going to happen but Im looking forward to writing the new record and surprising our fans and ourselves!
Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Very tough! Radiohead’s OK Computer, any Beatles, Mr Bungle’s California
Artist – Artist is too broad, that could be anything
Movie – Godfather II
Place to visit – Home haha – Outside of that, I like walking around European cities, Scandinavia etc
Venue to play – There’s a lot of good ones! The Observatory in Santa Ana its 25 mins from my house!
Food – Pasta or Asian food
Drink – Latte with oat milk
Person in History – Probably a really awesome person no one knows about!
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I don’t like my tattoos haha I kinda wish I didn’t have them.
Thank you!
Tommy Rogers
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Photo – Brett Cullen
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BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
2020 East Coast Australian Tour
One of the most innovative prog-metal bands in the game, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, has announced its overdue return to Aussie shores for February 2020.
Renowned for their relentless touring, consistently delivering dynamic shows – a frantic, theatrical feast of intense, riffing raw energy – the American five-piece will tear through Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne for three intimate shows only this summer.
The shows will see Between The Buried And Me play two sets each night, with bassist Dan Briggs explaining:
“The ‘evening with’ set is a curation of almost 20 years of music with the specific intent on realising what it all means in 2019 – how did we arrive here and where do we go?
“Sometimes the process of realisation comes from breathing new life into old material.
“Over the two sets of music, there’s a four-part arc that will play out in the form of one cohesive night of music spanning 2002-2019.”
Tickets are on sale now.
For complete tour and ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au.
The North Carolina quintet – Tommy Giles Rogers, Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals), Dustie Waring (rhythm and lead guitar), Blake Richardson (drums), and Dan Briggs (bass, keyboards) – broke-through with the 2007 the album release Colors, followed by The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues EP in 2011 and The Parallax II: Future Sequence a year later. 2015 saw Coma Ecliptic elevate them to new heights yet again. Not only did it hit #12 on the Billboard Top 200 but it also garnered widespread acclaim from Noisey, Revolver, Alternative Press, and The Guardian who welcomed the album with a rare perfect score.
In 2018, Between The Buried And Me delivered their two-part, eighth full-length and introductory offering for Sumerian Records, Automata (Automata I and Automata II), acclaimed by fans and critics alike.
In between studio sessions, the band launched countless sold-out headline tours and support runs including a few Aussie adventures, their most recent back in 2016 in front of packed out rooms.
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An Evening With
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27
THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28
CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
(ALL SHOWS 18+)
For complete tour and ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au.
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