Being in a band is many people’s dream. Being able to express your feelings through music and bask in the glory of fans is what many people hope for. It’s not always easy achieving this, but it’s well worth the effort. Dustin McBride and Rob-O, creators of American Murder, took the time out of their busy schedule to conduct an interview with the site. Here’s what they had to say.
1) Have you always wanted to be a musician?
Dustin- Absolutely. When all the other kids in the sandbox were dreaming about being firemen, cops, astronauts, doctors, all that kinda stuff, I was fantasizing about being Peter Criss or John Lennon. I was already playing drums by the time I started kindergarten, started playing guitar at 10 years old, and played in front of people for the first time at 13. So yeah, there was never any doubt about it, this was what I wanted to do with my life. My original goal was to just be a drummer, and later on, to just be a guitar player. Over the years though, being a lead singer was just kind of thrust upon me. I’ve finally started to kind of embrace the role, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
2) How long have you been performing musically?
Dustin- Like I said, I played in public for the first time at 13 years old, but I didn’t really get into bands until about 15, so it’s been about 12 years that I’ve been out playing seriously. And I’ve been playing with American Murder for the last 7 years, which is an amazing accomplishment in itself, just being able to keep a band like this together that long.
3) How did the band form?
Dustin- Rob-O (bass) and I actually met during my freshman year of high school, and almost immediately became best friends. When we met, Rob-O thought he was a guitar player, but my God, he sucked. I mean, he was really bad. But, I knew he could be a great bass player. It took some serious arguing and convincing, but he eventually did start playing bass, and as I predicted, he was great at it, a complete natural. I was in a pretty serious gigging band when we met, and American Murder was originally intended to be just kind of a solo project, something on the side of my main gig. My main band ended up breaking up in December of 2005, and within a few days, we were in Rob-O’s bedroom working on the songs that would eventually become our first album, ‘Chapter I: We Pledge Allegiance’. It was just such a natural fit, we understood each other so well, and the music just came out of us. We’re very lucky to have that kind of chemistry, both musically and personally (no homo).
4) How do you come up with your songs?
Dustin- We don’t really have a set way of doing things. Most of our songs come from just jamming together, and stumbling across a little piece of something that the other one can grab hold of, and we just go from there. Occasionally one of us will come into a rehearsal with a riff or a chord progression or something, but it’s usually a very spontaneous thing. Me and Rob-O will work out the different parts of a song together, and then I nail down the arrangement and write the lyrics. Rob-O also has the daunting task of acting kind of like an editor for me, as I have a tendency to sometimes want to go overboard with an arrangement, or get overly ambitious with the melody or something. He has a really cool instinct, musically, so it’s up to him a lot of times to kind of pull on the reigns and tell me when enough is enough. As for lyrics, it’s all just inspired by the things that go on in my life, and I think, the lives of people in general. I like to think our songs are very relatable, especially on our upcoming album, ‘After Yesterdays Disaster’. This is, without a doubt, the most personal recording we’ve done so far.
5) Do you have any pre-performance rituals?
Dustin- A little bit, yeah. They’re no so much rituals, I guess, as they are just things we like to do. Like, I really like to make sure I have ample amounts of caffeine before playing, generally provided via coffee or the occasional energy drink. Rob-O prefers Red Bulls. I also really enjoy having some good sweet tea before a show. Before we actually hit the stage, like when our opener is playing, we tend to freak out. Me and Rob-O both have horrible performance anxiety, which we deal with in our own way: I pace like a caged animal, and Rob-O throws up.
6) Who were your musical inspirations growing up?
Dustin- My inspirations were extremely varied. For starters, there was my Dad. He was a musician as well, and so I grew up around a lot of other musicians. Mind you, this was the 80’s, so I remember hearing Poison, Guns n Roses, Slaughter, all those kinds of bands very early on, both on the radio and in my Dad’s cover bands. At the same time, my Dad was a huge Beatles fan, and so that was the first music I remember hearing and just being completely taken in by. My Mom was a huge Stones fan, so I had that influence as well, which I see the importance of now. Kiss was a huge one, too. In a way though, I kinda think the defining influence for me early on was the Ramones. I distinctly remember the first time I knowingly heard the Ramones: I was in my uncle’s car, I was 8 years old, and I was completely blown away by this band playing faster than I ever thought possible. It was loud, it was raw, and it was simple. It was the Ramones ‘Loco Live’ album, and I was never the same again.
7)It’s been confirmed your music will be featured on ROH. How excited were you when this announcement was made?
Dustin- Oh man, the ROH thing is huge for us, and to me especially. I am a huge wrestling fan, and I absolutely love the ROH product. Those guys are exactly what American wrestling needs, and exactly what I look for in a company. I enjoy wrestling when it actually happens in the ring, not in backstage interviews and hour-long skits, and that’s exactly what ROH delivers. When we got word that they were looking for independent artists to license music from, I jumped all over the opportunity. Signing the paperwork was like a merging of 2 dreams; my music finally crossing over with my love for wrestling. It really is an exciting thing for us, and it has served as a kick-off for a lot of other exciting things we have brewing, including our newest album coming out, which is where the music featured on the ROH broadcast will come from.
8: Do you ever slip wrestling references into your songs (or any references, for that matter)?
Dustin- Not any wrestling references that I can think of, but we have a few other things we slip in there. For example, on ‘Chapter I: We Pledge Allegiance’, we have a song called ‘Lick My Love Pump’, which is a blatant nod to Spinal Tap. A lot of our stuff comes from inside jokes, though. Like, we call our fans ‘Dick Jokes’. It’s all a reference to our sense of humor, and to one incident in particular, which is a story for another time.
9) Where can people find your music?
Dustin- People may find our music at www.reverbnation.com/americanmurdermusic. The ReverbNation site is really cool because it not only hosts our music, but it’s a one-stop-shop kind of a deal. We have a calendar of upcoming dates, merch, apps, and a ton of other crazy s***. You can also check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/officialdickjokes. We really enjoy it when people click our like button on there. We also have our own YouTube channel now www.youtube.com/americanmurderband. That one is pretty new, and we just started posting stuff on it. You should definitely check it out though, as there are a couple of brand new live videos up from our recent acoustic show at Jamaica Jo’s. They were put together by our new manager/booking agent/videographer/jack-of-all-trades Brandon Waters. Pretty cool stuff.
10) Any words of advice for aspiring musicians?
Dustin- Quit now! Just kidding. Honestly, being a musician is a great experience, as long as you know what you’re getting in to. Make sure you are aware that you will be doing a whole lot of work for a long time, and you probably won’t see anything in return, at least for a while. This is an extremely hard business, and it can take everything out of you, not to mention take all of your money, ruin relationships, and make you smell like a dirty pair of balls dipped in ass for days on end because you are stuck somewhere and can’t shower. But, you also get to see a lot of cool places and things, meet a lot of great people, and form friendships that are stronger and last longer than in almost any other walk of life. Oh, and please, for the love of all things holy, learn to play your instruments and sing.
I’d like to thank American Murder for taking the time to conduct this interview!