Blackout 101 (Pop/Punk)
Blackout 101
Posted Jul 18, 2007.
Big Smile Magazine:Hi my name is Jonny Havoc. what's yours?
Chris Bowman
Big Smile Magazine:you play guitar and are you lead vocals?
Chris: I also write the songs
Big Smile Magazine:What are the names of the other 2 guys in the band and what do they play?
Chris: Our Drummer's Name is Diego Freedman and Michael Soffa Plays Bass and has a couple songs that he wrote and sings
Big Smile Magazine:I know you guys have a myspace ( www.myspace.com/theblackout101 ) but do you have any other websites?
Chris: No not at the moment. But when you type in Blackout101.com it takes you to our myspace page
Big Smile Magazine:i am sure this get brought up a lot and i am sorry to do it again but how old are you guys and when did your band start?
Chris: Everyone's 12 and 13 and we started out playing as a band in the spring of '05
Big Smile Magazine:Did you guys grow up going to a lot of shows? Are your parents really into music?
Chris: Yeah, our parents are really into the band. We didn't really grow up going to lots of shows. My first concert was blink-182 in June '05. I've been to lots of shows since then but the real reason I started a band was because of the movie "School of Rock" which inspired me to start playing guitar.
Big Smile Magazine:I noticed that you guys are from LA and are playing some shows in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver Canada and who drives you guys, who books the shows?
Chris: We're going on a tour this summer and most of those shows that you mentioned are part of a Music Festival Called the International Pop Overthrow Festival which also took us to England. It's really cool and got us a lot of publicity and experience.
Chris: My dad does the booking, or we'll get an invite on myspace to play a show somewhere.
Big Smile Magazine:It looks like you guys have done more since 05 than most bands do in 10 years.
Big Smile Magazine:What do you think about ufo's?
Chris: haha yeah. I'm a fan of blink-182 and especially Tom Delonge is really big on that kinda stuff so yeah, i think they're out there. The Universe is too big for only one planet of intelligence.
Big Smile Magazine:You mentioned that your first show was Blink 182, where was that at?
Chris: I think it was the Hyundai Pavilion Center
Big Smile Magazine:was it the kroq inland invasion?
Chris: Nah, they were doing a Tour With No Doubt
Big Smile Magazine:What do you think their best album is?
Chris: "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket" With "Enema of the State" as their runner up
Big Smile Magazine:have you ever listened to cheshire cat and Buddha, those are my favorite. What are some of your favorite bands other than blink?
Chris: yeah i have every cd including "The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show" The Old stuff was really awesome. I'm really into Taking Back Sunday, Green Day, (old) Good Charlotte, the Pink Spiders and a lot of other bands.
Diego's favorites are Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Bob Marley
Michael's into blink, Incubus, and a lot of new indie bands he discovers on myspace
Big Smile Magazine:I saw on your myspace something about a cd coming out, tell me more about that.
Chris: Oh yeah. We Finished Recording our Debut Album with Producer John Ryan(Santana, Styx) and Engineer Matt Thorne(Trapt) and he was the old bass player in "Ratt" so it was a really amazing experience working with these guys. We're having two CD release shows, one on July 20th and one on August 11. Both taking place at the Knitting Factory, Hollywood.
Chris: It's Fun playing shows and we wanna come down to Orange County pretty soon because we have a pretty decent fan base and they have some cool all ages venues to play at like Chain-Reaction
Big Smile Magazine:What inspires your lyrics?
Chris: Most of the words are inspired by my everyday life, and the rest are written by my take on other people's everyday life. so it's a good mix.
Big Smile Magazine:how does it feels to already be better than most people out of high school?
Chris: it feels really cool. We got a good start out in the beginning and we've all been growing as people and musicians since then so we're really growing up together as a band.
Big Smile Magazine:Is their anything that you would like to say to your fans and friends reading this interview?
Chris: Yeah, thanks for all the support and keep listening and telling new friends about our band and come to all the shows! thanks for all the support
Big Smile Magazine:Oh yea a few more i almost forgot. What's the name of your cd and where can we get it?
Chris: Well the CD is self titled and we're not currently signed with a record company so for now, coming to the shows is how you can get it and we're gonna be putting it for sale on the internet soon.
Big Smile Magazine:What do you think of Big Smile Magazine?
Chris: We're really glad you guys stumbled upon us and it's really cool you guys are interviewing us. I'll check your magazine out.
