Simplistic are from Sacramento, CA. and are about to take the world by storm. Their rocking sound can be heard on their official website SimplisticMusic.com. Linkin LINKS! caught up with bassist Nick K. to get the low down on the band.

For those of us who haven't heard of Simplistic yet, can we have an introduction please?

Ivan England - Lead Vocals - 20 years old
Nick Kellogg - Backing Vocals // Bass Guitar - 19 years old
Danny Cocke - Guitar - 20 years old
Justin Barnes - Drums - 19 years old

How did you all meet up? Justin is a "newbie" to the band?

Nick K.: Danny and I were in a band together called Another Dead Hero who played a lot with Ivan's old band No Reply. The two bands broke up at the same time and the three of us started a side project with the former drummer (Lance). We had been playing for about a year and a couple of months when we decided to find a new drummer. We actually found Justin doing some studio work at a local college in Sacramento where I had taken some music business and recording classes.

You have all been involved with music from a very young age, being in local bands. How important has that been for the group?

Nick K.: I think that experience is everything. In the music industry, you can learn a lot in a really short matter of time and the longer you play and make connections, the better off you will be, obviously.

At present your playing a lot of local gigs in Sacramento, CA. Have you been mainly concerned with building a fan base in your hometown?

Nick K.: We would love to play more out of town and travel to play, but our strategy right now is to build a strong fan base in Sacramento and work our way out gradually. We are working on getting street teams started to build our out of town fan base as well.

Has Simplistic played any gigs out of California and what's been the your personal favourite gigs to date?

Nick K.: We have played some small shows in Nevada, like Reno and Tahoe, etc., but nothing worth mentioning. We are about to book some shows in Arizona for mid-April. Our favorite shows have been the shows that there have been the most people at. We played a show here in Sacramento at the Hard Rock Café and there were about 300 people there. That was a really good show. We usually play better when there are more people because it gets us more excited to play and put on a good show.

What are the tracks you play live that are getting the best response? Does an audience's reaction make you decide the set list or possibly what record you would be releasing? Nick K.: We change up our set list quite a bit but there are some songs that we play at every show like Far From Found, Simple Lines, and So Close to Zero, etc., because those songs always get a good response. Our set list is 100% about the crowd. We want to play a set that tells a story and has ups and downs and keeps the crowd into the show and having fun. We try to end every show with a really big ending. The debut record will be the same way. It will have a certain order of songs for a reason.

What's the best part about playing live?

Nick K.: Crowd Reaction! When the crowd gets into it, we do too. We are playing our hearts out on stage and to see people responding to that is the best thing in the world. Watching our local fan base grow has been really cool to watch also. The shows keep getting more packed every time.

How is the demo deal going at the moment?

Nick K.: We are still in the middle of negotiations with the attourneys right now, but as soon as that all gets ironed out, we will sign the contract and get started on the demo with Mike.

Having someone interested in your music like Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) is a massive complement for the band and your songs. How did he get to hear about your music?

Nick K.: It was actually a lot easier than I ever thought it would be. I just went to a Linkin Park show here in Sacramento and gave Mike a CD when he was out front signing autographs about a year ago. He talked to me for a second and that was it. He called about two weeks later and has kept in touch with us ever since.

How crucial has the internet been in Simplistic getting attention for your music and gigs? www.simplisticmusic.com

Nick K.: The internet has been huge for us. We probably would not have a quarter of the fans that we have now if we hadn't been passing out flyers for the website and telling people to download our music from there. It's been something that has been extremely beneficial for us to connect with the fans on a personal level and I think it will continue to be a really big part of spreading the word about Simplistic.

You have a fansite called www.Fan4Simp.com. How involved are you with this site and would you like other fans to start Simplistic fansites?

Nick K.: We actually don't really do anything as far as setting up that site. The guys that put that together pretty much do that themselves with a little bit of help from us every once in a while. We would love for more people to make Simplistic fan-sites like that. It would just help get the name out that much more and it really shows us that people are into the band and would take the time to help us out like that. A few friends of ours have actually said that they are going to start fan-sites themselves.

"Far From Found" is the first track on your websites MP3 page. Is this the song that sums up what Simplistics music is about?

Nick K.: I think it's a good example of our all around sound because it has a little bit of everything we do. It has a catchy chorus to remember the song with harmonies and background vocals, a soft breakdown, a hard screaming bridge, and good song structure. It's probably our favorite song to play and it's one of those songs that we always do live.

Is there any message your trying to get across with your music? Where do you get your influences for your lyrics?

Nick K.: We're not really trying to send any particular message in our songs or lyrics, but I think that we just try to write about things that mean a lot to us and put real emotion into it in a way that lets a listener relate his/her own life to it. We would love for people to be able to listen to our music when they are going through something and have it make them feel better. We want our music to be the soundtrack to your life.

What do you think so far about the reaction of people who have heard your music? (Fans or Industry)

Nick K.: We are really happy about the responses we are getting. People have been so supportive and everything is growing like crazy. With the progress that we have making lately, we are really excited to see what is going to happen in the next few months and the next year. It's going to be incredible to watch.

As far as industry response… It's kind of like when you get a girlfriend and now all of the girls seem to want you, even though they never gave you the time of day before. We never really got any attention from record companies or anything because we had no experience, but now that Mike and Linkin Park have put some faith in us and we recorded this new demo, I have returned phone calls to more record companies than I thought I ever would. It's pretty cool.

Has local radio picked up on your music or magazines? And has there been any interest from radio or magazines abroad? Nick K.: Local radio has been pretty good to us. The two big radio stations in our town have both played a song or two from the new recording and they put us on their local music shows almost every week. We have been in local magazine, but just for show advertisements and stuff like that.

We have been played on a few radio stations in the bay area like San Fransisco and places around there, and I'm sure we have gotten played on other stations too, but that a really hard thing to follow unless you live in that town. A magazine in South America just named us International band of the month for March 2002 and we are actually up for an award in their magazine for international "Break Out Band of the Year". They have recently told us that they want us to come play for the awards show that they are putting on to give out these awards.

How did the gig go recently on support to Vent? (At the Scratch 8 Billiards in Old Sacramento)

Nick K.: That show went really well. There were quite a few Simplistic fans there, despite the fact that we were booked three days before the show. I thought we played well and we love to see VENT. They put on an amazing show every time I see them.

What interests do the band have away from music?

Nick K.: Lately, we really haven't had time for anything outside of music. We have been practicing, playing and promoting so much that it kind of takes up a lot of our lives. We wouldn't have it any other way though. Except for that fact that we are all still working regular jobs on top of all the band stuff… we would change that in a second.

The group seems to be very enthusiastic about local bands. Is it important to keep your roots with music?

Nick K.: There are just a lot of really good local bands in Sacramento and we like to support them. If things do start getting bigger, we are going to really emphasize the importance of supporting your local music scene. Not enough kids get involved with it and that is something that we would really like to see change. Every huge band comes from a local scene. More people should go to local shows, find those bands now, and help out the ones they like.

Is there anything you would like to promote about Simplistic? (Tour dates, records, etc.)

Nick K.: You can get everything you want to know about Simplistic from our website which is www.simplisticmusic.com. On it, we have tour dates, merchandise, downloads, message boards, an email list, and all kinds of fun stuff to play with.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to say or a message for your fans?

Nick K.: We can't say thank you enough to all of the people that are supporting us, listening to our music, and telling the world about Simplistic. We appreciate it more than you could ever know and we are looking forward to seeing where this crazy dream is gonna take us.