Review Projection: Grande Rock

Hi Troy and welcome to Grande Rock. Well you have a new album out with Slow Burning Car, almost 3 years after the previous one “Defection”.

T: Yes it is called Projection and will be released to the public through Amazon, Itunes, and Cdbaby.com on January 1st , 2021.

How and under which circumstances did you start Slow Burning Car more than a decade ago?

T: I was tired of being a spare part as a bassist in my previous bands so I decided to start my own focusing on my own songwriting with the help of my friends Mike Zimmerman and Victor Bishop.

And how did you come up with the band’s name Slow Burning Car initially?

T: It was actually the title of a song I had written and recorded. I decided it would be a good name for the band.

How would you describe SLC’s music style, in a few words? Do you think that it is influenced from the 90s, the 00s and the 10s era or what?

T: Definitely 90’s rick/grunge with an ode to late 60’s/early 70’s garage rock.

What does the album title “Projection” declare?

T: The act of emitting a sound or vision or statement as it pertains to a current point in time.

Give us a hint about each track…

T: “Public Cynic”: rebuke of government infringement weaponizing a helath pandemic
“Lad-ish Man”: a carefree man in his late 20’s/early 30’s
“Diamond in the Rough”: written by our bandmate Krista regarding a romantic interest of hers.
“Funnybone”: A tribute to the Bat-Villain “The Joker”
“Memoirs of a Gentleman Ghost”: A fictional account of the life and death of a 19th century colonial landowner in the infancy of the U.S.
“The Quantum Mariner”: Fictional space character
“Seems So Nice”: An anthem to balance and order much needed in today’s world
“Gardens in Space”: A fictional story of a humanoid diaspora in the future.
“Meraki”: a parent’s lamernt on the death of their child.
“Transfer Terminal Twelve”: (Instrumental) an opus of a dramatic space invasion.

How did you decide to write a song in Greek and also use a bouzouki?

T: It was an old piece of music I had entitled “Meraki” which I wrote lyrics for over a period of weeks. I asked my Greek-American friend Andy Georges to play Bouzouki on it to add a Byzantine touch.

Where did the album recordings take place and who did the mixing, the production and the mastering?

T: The album was recorded by at Total Access Studios in Redondo Beach, California (USA). My good friend Steve Ornest engineered the album and co-produced it. The mastering was done by Wyn Davis (who mastered GNR, Dokken, No Doubt, and Great White to name a few).

Do you plan to release a music or a lyric video anytime soon?

T: Yes we will be shooting a few videos next year but not sure to which songs.

Even though there’s the coronavirus thing, you have done some live shows, right? How was the response and what’s your view on the covid-19 thing that has changed our everyday lives so much and has caused so much fear in general?

T: I resent the fear and overreach created by civic institutions in regards to Covid. I don’t believe global economies should have been closed for more than 8 weeks over it, but this is only an opinion. I think it has been weaponized for political purposes since it is an election year in the U.S.
We have performed three times in outdoor settings since the US lockdown and have thoroughly enjoyed each show, as have the crowds we have performed to.

What are your expectations from the new album and what do you wish to achieve with Slow Burning Car over the next years?

T: I would like the album to pick up traction on terrestrial and internet stations globally with the opportunity to license tracks from the album for film and Television.

Now with the “lockdown” around the world which is the best way for the fans to support their beloved bands?

T: To continue streaming, downloading, and purchasing the music as well as other merchandise if possible (shirts, cds, buttons, stickers, etc…)

It’s time for our “weird questions”!!! Are “social media” a “compulsory part” of the music business these days or bands, artists & labels can do without them as well?

T: Yes absolutely compulsory…we as bands can reach many more fans much easily without a “middle man” nowadays due to social media.

What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?

T: There is no money to be made in it unless you are a session musician or work behind the scenes as a studio engineer. Record companies are obsolete and airplay/streaming hardly generates the revenue it once did.

What do you think about the “downloading & streaming issue” of our time? Do you prefer the streaming services better or not?

T: I prefer the old days where units were sold (vinyl, cd, cassette, etc…) There was more revenue to go around between the artists and the label there by making it a “business”.
Streaming is better for the listener, not the musician.

Fill in the phrase… “Rock wouldn’t have evolved the way it did, if it hadn’t been for…”

T: the risks taken by the artists of the 60’s and the labels that kept their hands off of these bands and allowed their natural evolution.

Which are the best 3 Rock albums of all time according to you?

T: Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf, Anthrax – Among The Living, Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet…but that’s what I think today, there are hundreds that I love…tomorrow I would pick a different three.

Which is the composer/songwriter who influenced rock music the most?

T: Too many to name.

Which do you consider to be the best male & female vocalist in rock history?

T: I like Arthur Lee (Love) and Alice Cooper vocally…Females, Janis Joplin and Karen Carpenter

Which is that band that you’d like to be part of (any time & era)?

T: Slow Burning Car…forever.

Which is the record you wish you had written and why?

T: Songs For The Deaf – Queens Of The Stone Age…12 incredible tracks back to back to back

If you had the opportunity to invite any musician, living or dead, to play on your album whom would you choose and why? Ace Frehley of KISS or Josh Homme of Queens OF The Stone Age…both heroes of mine in songwriting and playing.

T:

If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?

T: London/Los Angeles 1967 or New York 1977

Thank you very much for talking to Grande Rock Troy. Just say anything you feel like saying before we close … take care dude!

T: Pethia harika pou sas vrika, efharisto yia tin ethiaferon sas, kai na eiste kala panta!