Rock N Roll Experience - Night Kills the Day

NIGHT KILLS THE DAY

March 30, 2007

Sonar

Baltimore, Maryland

It's always interesting how you never quite know how an interview, or a live show review will go...more times than not, they are usually standard, I'll get to the venue, check in with the bands, it'll be a rush of hello's & goodbye's & there's very little interaction & bonding...I mean occassionally it happens, & that's when it becomes a special moment, where you get the best reviews, best interviews, & you actually build a friendship with people, as opposed to just doing a job of interviewing a celebrity. Well, when I was about to do my interview with Luke Brian from Night Kills the Day, I was pleasantly surprised that Luke was a very down to earth, soft spoken guy.

I wouldn't even say that I interviewed Luke, because we actually were talking like 2 friends, & rather than just give you note for note excerpts of what Luke said, I'm gonna tell you what he said & whet I got from him. Luke was telling me that Night Kills the Day is really what saved him, because he had a serious drug problem several years back, & it was the music that totally saved him & gave him the purpose to stay clean, because when he tried to create music while messed up, as he put it, it just wasn't working! The song "Dive!" is actually about when he worked in nightclubs in New York & as Luke described it, he was in the bathroom & heard all this commotion & rumbling & you'd assume that there was a big fight, but when he went out to see what was going on, there was nothing!

All of the artwork on the "The Story of Man" CD was created by Luke, & this CD is actually the first of a 3 part trilogy that will tell an interesting story about mankind, & one thing that Luke said that I thought was really amazing was, That even though he's been through alot of bad things in his life, he still believes in good & doesn't want to believe that everything is bad! The Cure & Depech Mode are the bands that Luke cited as being really huge influences & I totally agreed that those 2 bands are really dark & the influence on Night Kills the Day is obvious, which is a cool thing!

The bands current tour with The Electric Six is actually Night Kills the Day's first major tour, & when I asked Luke why he had a pin of Albert Einstein on his jacket, he just quipped that Einstein created the Atomic Bomb in a joke, but his serious answer was just that he thought it was cool, & it's interesting to note that although you might get a very bleak impression from Night Kills the Day & Luke's lyrics, not everything the band does is depressing..Luke was quick to point out that "Rainbows in NYC" actually has an upbeat vibe, & then we got into an interesting conversation about going to shows & seeing concerts & Luke told me that was one thing that he really missed, because he lost about 7 years of his life & having fun, to his demons & addiction, & as a music fan, all I can really say is that I'm truly glad that Luke beat his demons, because he's a really creative spirit & his lyrics, art, & vibe just radiat! Check out the artwork inside the bands cd...ALL of the pictures are creations from Luke, & there's ALOT of hidden meanings & "things" going on that you really have to see to appreciate!

I got to go inside the venue after my conversation with Luke & meet the entire band, see them soundcheck, & I got to talk with guitarist Izzy Lugo, & Izzy is such a tiny guy, but onstage he seems as big as Jimmy Page! Izzy was telling me that he just loves all the great Blues guitarists, & we shared our love for Freddy King, Johnny Winter, & Hendrix, among others, & he was telling me that as a guitarist, he just loved the George Clinton P-Funk stuff, because he likes the stuff that's just so funky, that it's got the total groove & vibe & he also mentioned David Gilmore as a big influence on him. He showed me his guitar rig & his pedal rack is awesome! He's got alot of vintage stuff, & his 2 Strat's he has on the road with him are vintage & beautiful...Izzy actually re-wired them & made some modifications to them & he let me pick on up & his guitars just have "that vibe" that you want from a guitar!

So, flash forward now to about 9 PM, Night Kills the Day take the stage to a small, but nicely packed Sonar club stage, & the band opened the show with "No Evolution", which I thought was just amazing, because that song has alot of vibe, depth, & Luke's vocals are the icing on the cake for that song! "Dive!" was the 2nd song of the set, & this was my personal favorite, because Luke goes, "We'd like to dedicate this to our friend Bob" & he gave me a nod which I thought was far beyond cool...I'm sure no oe else "got" that, but I was smiling! The band played a cool cover of "Hanging Garden" & closed their set with "Sharks", which is actually the bonus track on the CD & it's a really epic track that just leaves you feeling fulfilled, because a Night Kills the Day live show is energy driven, moody, & just very original...every member of the band frings their own vibe & you can't even understand what I am talking about if you've never seen the band live...their CD is amazing, but seeing them play these songs live is really interesting..it's like watching Nascar on TV, as opposed to driving an actual racecar...the experience, & yes, seeing Night Kills the Day IS an experience...the vibe, the energy, the passion..it's all there & there's not that many bands out there that can bleed like they do onstage..when I say bleed, what I mean is, Night Kills the Day just give all they've got, & it defintiley shows 110%!~

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