(ROLEN):Brian (The guitarist) had heard some of my vocals on tape, and was in dire
need of a vocalist. He REALLY wanted to get in touch with me but had no
idea how. He only new I lived in a town about 40 miles away. He drove there
and put up little business cards in all the music stores that would let
him. A few days later, yup you guessed it..I saw one of them and said to
myself, what the hell, and called.
We set up a time and date to meet at his place and I listened to some of
his recordings. I was blown away. I did'nt show it of course, LOL, but I
was! He told me months later, that he felt like a little kid before the
board of enquiries.
Needless to say, we hooked up and formed ROLEN.
(EDDIE):Where is each member from and their history ?
(ROLEN):Brian (Guitars), Jason (Drums), and Tim (Bass) are from Chattanooga, TN
David, is from Orlando, FLorida.
Brian, Tim and Jason has had their share of the "Road Warrior" styled
tourcher tours for years. Each playing with various bands through-out the
USA and Canada.
David Rolen is the former vocalist for CBS records' MadamX. Dave took the
place of Sabastain Bach when he left the band to join 'Skid Row'. MadamX
has had it's share of the spotlight, sharing the stage with the likes of
Bon Jovi, Moter Head, and the list goes on and on. Video on MTV, the
parties, booze, women, etc. The drummer for MadamX went on to join Vixen.
Dave left the band to persue his own career,
and rejoined ROLEN and the best guitarist he's 'EVER' shared the stage with.
(EDDIE):Where can everyone find out how to get a copy of your cd ?
(ROLEN):Through the ROLEN web site. A direct link to the order page is here
(EDDIE):What was your most memorable experience making the cd and or playing gig ?
(ROLEN):Brian and I are the ultimate perfectionist, so EVERY mistake is memorable.
I mostly laugh at them, but DAMN....they chap my ass, hehe. Believe it or
not, the majority of the stuff you hear on the CDs are done in 1 take. We
own the freeking studio, so it's not a matter of time of course. Hell, we
could and do accationaly spend the night in it for christs' sake. But we
practice so hard, that we know the songs as we know our own name.
(EDDIE):Who produced the cd, and where was it produced etc..?
(ROLEN):All recording,engineering,burning,mixing,writting and any other "ing" thing
you can think of was executed by ROLEN. As I said, no brag...just fact, we
own the studio,CD burners, etc.
(EDDIE):What is rolen major influences ?
(ROLEN):Wow! Now that's a hard question. You would think after all these years and
as many times as it's been asked, we could provide a reasonable answer,
LOL. I guess it depends on who you ask. Jason is going mention several JAZZ
greats right along with the Neal Perts,Aldridges and the like. Tim would
mention several bassist and so on. As a group though (Bands) I can give you
a few, but it's only going to scratch the serface. Older: RAINBOW, DIO,
OZZY with Randy (If you don't know Randy's last name...GET OUT OF MUSIC! At
least Metal, hehe), JUDAS PRIEST,DOKKEN..
you get the pic. Newer stuff: DREAM THEATRE, METALLICA, HAMMERFALL, BLIND
GUARDIAN, you now, power/progressive rock.
(EDDIE):What musical style does rolen consider themselfs ?
(ROLEN):First and foremost: METAL! Now, you can tag on any sub titles you like
i.e., progressive,power,goth,heavy...whatever. Give it a listen...YOU DECIDE.
(EDDIE):For people who never saw rolen live what can they expect ?
(ROLEN):PRODUCTION. A lot of equipment is an understatement. You will see quite
possibly the LARGEST production for an "Un-Signed" band EVER. Over 150,000
watts of lights, lazers,flash pots,dry ice,and smoke machines...over
100,000 watts of POWER (70,000 to the house), (30,000 to the monitors).
Brian plays through 5 Marshal stacks "3" high, Tim 8 monster cabinets, etc.
PROFESSIONALISM. The show works like clockwork. Everything on cue. Timming
is important, BUT...spontanious combustion is certainly innevitable,LOL.
THE TUNES. Nuff said.
(EDDIE):Where can we see rolen next, and where are you playing in the future?
(ROLEN):Rolen is in the studio at the moment, so live performances are on hold :(
(EDDIE):Anything to add, current news or information you would want the people to know about?
(ROLEN):We keep the site pretty updated. But at the moment, I guess the biggest
news is the release of our newest album "The Unexplained". It was released
in June and we are pounding out our 4th album as we speak.