What music projects do you have going on now?
We have new soon – it’s been our pattern over the last decade. Our last full record was in 2016 – The Loner. But it was a tough lesson we learned – the listening patterns of fans became more dynamic – they changed. So we started putting out singles instead of records. The one we just put out is called Never Give Up on Yourself – it’s performed well so far.
We’ve done some cool shows as well – opened up for The Clarks and Cheap Trick.
It was incredible to be asked by them and play with them at the Palace Theater – it’s an historic place.
It’s funny – we’ve played here for 30 years now. Only once were we given a sheet by a tour manager saying “Don’t do this or that.” Ironically that was with Bret Michaels. He sometimes does a lot of cover material so they were just watching out for the audience. If he’s playing Highway to Hell we better not do that!
The local guys – The Clarks, Donnie Iris, Joe Grushecky – we’re blessed that they took a liking to us and let us do shows with them. As kids listening to them, I never expected that the legends of Pittsburgh would take interest in us.
How did that come about – how do those things work?
Usually a local promoter will come to us and ask first if we’d be interested in opening for a band. In the case of Cheap Trick it was Drusky Entertainment. Then the weird thing is you then are in a long waiting stage until the band’s agent approves us. Once in a while you get a “No.” but you never really learn why.
Cheap Trick was wonderful. When you play with bands that have fallen out of the stadium stage and into the arenas and theaters, some can be positive and some are less fun to be around. When we fronted for Third Eye Blind we ran 30 seconds over, which granted we shouldn’t have done, they cut the sound on us! You learn those lessons sometimes the hard way.
How did the city influence you and your music?
Massively! We are huge fans of the local artists that I mentioned earlier. I grew up in the late 90s – there was a lot of punk music like Anti-Flag and Carsickness. In fact Gene did an acoustic song on the North Side and Karl Mullen joined him on the harmonica. That inspired us to use a harmonica on our record later on.
Another major thing was WDVE. As a kid all my dad listened to was WDVE. It’s an institution here. And it’s amazing now for us to hear our songs on WDVE – it’s a great honor. They are great supporters of local music.
How did you guys all meet and what prompted the start of the band?
We were all in separate bands prior to Gene (who’s real name is John). I had a band and was going to Chicago to sign with Victory Records there and Gene asked to come along – he was a friend. He told me then he was woking on his own music and played a demo for me. Here I was going to Chicago to get a record deal and his stuff blew ours out of the water!
So a year later Gene made his demos into reality. He had a drummer from my old band – we had broken up. So I emailed Gene asking if I could get involved with his project. That began the swell of Gene the Werewolf. Four of the six original bandmates are still with the band.
As a rock and roll band – is it hard to see the music scene seemingly forgetting its rock and roll roots right now?
It really has fallen out of favor with the mainstream, I agree. We started in 2007 – that was the most dead era for rock. But it does seem to be coming back now. Our shows are getting bigger – so something is happening. But they don’t even televise the rock category on the Grammys!
Legacy bands are still getting their flowers, but we need a younger band to pick up the crown!
Who were some of your early influences and how as a musician do you navigate influence while still maintaining you own direction and identity?
AC/DC was a big influence – we wore that too proudly at times. There are European record labels who sign both new and heritage acts – we were looking to sign with one – Frontier Records in Italy. The agents there gave us some feedback then – they told us that AC/DC already exists – they didn’t know what to do with us. So we learned that you can’t wear that on your sleeves too much!
Now as a bound we found our own sound more. We are inspired by bands like AC/DC but also by our early punk sound we started with – that’s coming through our music again. We’re refurbishing what we cherished from our start. All the styles of music – from the 80s, classic rock – we’re not afraid to explore any of it. We even did some electronica stuff. It’s fun to keep testing ourselves.
What are some of the experiences that stand out most to you playing in Pittsburgh?
Early in our 20s we did shows at the Diesel and sold those out – that was a big thrill for us at the time.
We still play at the South Hills Amphitheater – we’ll do that next year probably – Bill Deasy books those.
Then there are just the weird odds and ends things that happen. Spin Magazine and Rolling Stone both wrote about us once – we have no idea how they heard of us – they never spoke with us. Our keyboard player’s cousin was a teacher in Florida, and she had a student come into the class with a copy of Spin and showed it to her because they name-dropped the Steelers. She read it and said “This is my cousin’s band!” She called us and we had no idea what she was talking about. We were on the WDVE Morning Show – afterwards I ran to the bookstore and bought a few copies and met the guys for breakfast and all asked each other how that happened!
I still can’t believe that as a 40-year old with kids and a career I can still be doing this. Now, my kids come to the shows at the South Point – my daughter even came up on stage and jumped around once. Some of the other guys are having kids now….it’s become a family affair.
Any good Steelers or other sports-related stories? I know you are a big Steelers fan!
Fox SportsNet has licensed some of our songs for Pirates and Penguins game highlights – for those montages. I think we make music that syncs well for that. I’ve begged the Steelers to have Gene sing the National Anthem. We are massive Steelers fans – we’ve done arenas and theaters in town but we’ve never played in the stadium. We would love to be able to play for 70,000 Steelers fans!
Lastly – what are your thoughts on the music industry now – do you worry about its direction or are you excited by it?
That’s a loaded question – I like the business side of music as much as I do playing it. I play close attention to what’s happening – and it’s a mess. For the artists its a conundrum – you can be a good act but you have to be great on social media now too. I think that’s unfair to the music – to the fans. So many good artists are undiscovered because they don’t play that game.
If I had advice for people now I’d tell them to put time in to be really good promoting yourself on social media – but that’s not for me. But for a younger artist that would be my recommendation.
I used to send out press kits – we were judged by talent then – now acts are judged more by their social media presence. I’m glad we’re not fighting that battle. I’m excited to be a legacy Pittsburgh band that is paid attention to locally, and happy I can still make it work.!