staff writer
Traci: How long has your band been together?
Marty: Around 15 years. Early in high school, we all bought instruments and decided hey,start a band… I've been in this band over half my life and it's the only band I've ever been with.
Traci: With the recent release of your self-titled CD-Marty Casey and Lovehammers,
What do you feel is most important to a song and getting people to listen?
Marty: First to hook people in, have a song out there that gets people interested in the band. You want something that catches peoples ear, (for us) that would be" Trees" you know, that I was lucky enough to do on the show and have it garner some popularity…so that people get involved either on the internet or listening station and check out the entire album. We consider it a really tight album, basically we've had our entire lives to write this record, kinda the best of everything we've ever written, before, during, and after the show. I think we've put out something that we're really proud of.
Traci: It is a really great record. I really love "Casualty," and "Trees."
Marty: Awesome! I've gotten a lot of compliments on Casualty. It's a song I wrote after the show, I didn't really know what to think of the tune but then there were a lot of great reactions to it.
Traci: What's your favorite song off the new CD?
Marty: I'm always about what I did last so Casualty is hot on my mind since I just recently (recorded) it. When you get off of the show, you know, you are kind of left in the abyss so I decided to start writing songs. Its kind of cool that Casualty came out of that… yesterday I saw a girl with 'I live this life for me' which is a lyric from that song, tattooed across her belly and it blew my mind!
Traci: I know this is not your first tour, but what has it been like touring with INXS?
Marty: This has been a huge step up tour. We've done tours with Cake and Nickelback but we've always just kind of been the opening band. But on this one, we really feel like people are coming to see us also. When we come out on stage, its exciting to see that, you know people are not just there to see INXS but also there to see the Lovehammers. INXS has been treating us like gold. It's definitely the real deal, class A tour and its nice to be a part of it.
Traci: So what's the band's reaction to the love they've been receiving wherever they go?
Marty: They've been pretty blown away. At first people would come up and be like, 'Hey Marty' (from Rock Star) but now they are starting to get those experiences too, you know, they walk out of the show and there are just people running up to them wanting autographs. People are starting to get to know the Love Hammers. It's really fun to watch and to see them be appreciated, go through interviews, get the VIP treatment, its just fun to watch them go through it.
Traci: What is the best and worst thing about touring?
Marty: The best part is getting to meet all of the fans, and to meet them face-to-face and say thank you for their phenomenal support, which from since the show has been overwhelming. The worst part would be sleeping on the bus! And hanging out with nine dudes for days on end… sometimes it can get a little rough!
Traci: What types of music do you listen to?
Marty: I like a lot of modern edgy stuff, you know, I like to know about the latest things going on. Arctic Monkeys I like and I'm always going back to Interpol, I just think they are absolutely phenomenal. I like a lot of the new wave-vibe type of vibe stuff. I'm a big Killers fan, Franz Ferdinand fan. On the bus I've been going back to a lot of the classic 80's rock. Just the ridiculous hair-metal 80's. Jut how brilliantly terrible it all was and how much they got away with! It's just so fun to dig back and think, wow, I can't believe we lived through this! It was just so beautifully terrible. I love it, just listening to an old L.A. Guns song or an early (Motley) Crue song. I'm kind of falling in love with all of those albums that I dug when I was a kid all over again because I just haven't heard them in so long. Now with satellite video on board we're getting to hear it a lot more.
Traci: For all those that don't know yet, tell me about your debut CD, what's it all about ?
Marty: I compare it to like a Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers-era album because it wasn't just like, lets go in the studio and lay down ten songs in thirty days. The thing is that this album has been recorded all over with different producers, different sounds and different instruments. It's perfect to me because its just a mishmash of instrumentation and experimentation on different songs. We got to record with Steve Albini who has recorded Nirvana records and PJ Harvey records. We got to record with Johnny K who has worked with 3 Doors down and all of the Disturbed Records, Marty Frederickson who did the last two Aerosmith records, did a Mick Jagger solo record. We got to work with some phenomenal people and we're really lucky.
Traci: What can we expect from Marty Casey and Lovehammers in the upcoming months?
Marty: Tour, Tour, Tour! You know, coming out of a reality show and now introducing this band Love Hammers to the world, you know its called Marty Casey & Lovehammers for reasons of the show because people know Marty Casey (from the show) but we just consider ourselves Lovehammers, and we want people to come out and hear that it's the real deal. It's a big show of rock& roll and we want people to understand that it's a band thing and it ain't about a solo act.
Traci: How can people find out more about Marty Casey and Lovehammers?
Marty: Lovehammers.com or Martycasey.org. There are a bunch of fan sites popping up which is great. I think the best way to find out about what's going on is to come check out one of our shows.
Traci: Marty, thank you so much for your time and I look forward to your show on Feb 25th at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Fla.
Marty: See You there!