“RELENTLESS” so says vocalist James Eason when asked to describe DROID

After completely listening to DROID’s newly released endeavor, one will get the sense of returning to the days of when metal music possessed something special - a singer with vocals laden with emotion (James Eason) backed by hard-driving, neck-snapping riffs (Jamie Teissere and Bruce Childress) and a solid bass and percussion foundation (Duke and Nick McWells). Signed to Korn guitarist “Munky” Shaffer’s Emotional Syphon Recordings label, the band’s self-titled debut surely is a standout of 2007.

While stopping in Tampa for the Family Values Tour , Fears had the opportunity to not only attend the gig, but to speak with vocalist James Eason. We caught up with James about an hour after the band’s second stage headling performance and as the phrase goes – here is what he had to say.

Fears: How is the word success defined by you? Has the band, in a sense, “made it”?

James Eason: No where near it. We have to pay our dues for a lot more years to come. I think once you think you’ve made it, it would seem like kind of a way to stop being creative. Stop driving yourself to do more things. But U2 made and they still make great records, so my statement could be wrong.

Fears: Well, you all have been around the scene for some time now and I’m sure the “dues” bucket is occupied, so what more dues has to be paid in order for DROID to reach the top of the ladder? What steps must be taken?

James: Tour, tour, tour. Play good shows. Leave all our energy on stage. Just basically give people a reason to come back and see us. If you come back to the bus or van or whatever the hell your in and you come back full of energy, I think you have shorted the fans. Right now (and hour after the show) I’m like (drained).

Fears: In order for DROID to continue moving forward and to become more successful, each of you must possess the same vision. What has kept the band on track thus far?

James: There are a bunch of things, but I would say the most important is our love for music. But there are bunches. There is the love for playing live, but to put it all in one lump sum, we’re all gigantic fans of music.

Fears: So I presume when the days are not the brightest, that love will bring you all back to center?

James: That’s it. The bug bit a long time ago. We love to play music.

Fears: How long ago did that bug bite?

James: About ten years. DROID has been around ten years. I mean we’ve been playing music longer than that, but ten years of really trying to make something. You know, you have your regular bands that are content just to be garage bands and it makes them feel good, which is awesome. Then, we as a group, decided we wanted to go to the next level. We wanted to do this for a living and maybe one day we’ll go to that for a living (laughter breaks out).

Fears: (laughing) Well, as longs as the bill are paid…

James: …yeah, yeah. You know, we don’t have mansions or anything like that. We actually downscaled our lives a little bit to be able to go out and do this. Kind of like get a cheaper apartment cause in southern California a cheap one-bedroom is like a thousand dollars.

Fears: What steps are taken to maintain creativity when it comes to writing and arranging? Collaborative, each person does his own thing and then brought together?

James: It starts off with our guitar player Bruce (Child) and Nick (McWells), the drummer, they work out some riffs and little ideas they have together and they work it. They get a bunch of parts and then the rest of us come in and help arrange it and maybe add something or like cut the fat off the song. We just make it a song, but at the very end, I’m by myself writing lyrics. Sometimes I have lyrics before the song. A lot of times I write lyrics to the song. How the song makes me feel when I listen to it. I’ll listen to it a bunch a bunch of times and get how it makes me feel inside. Then I use whatever experiences in life I go through.

Fears: What lets you know what is right or wrong for a song?

James: It’s never right. Nothing is ever perfect. There are some songs on the record right now that I can think of a new idea and I go, ‘Oh, I wish I could do that again.’ So, it’s never perfect even though I’ve heard some pretty damn perfect songs in this world. It just happens. You kind of just listen to the song, I don’t know, you just get into the music. Immerse yourself in the song and become one with the song as cliché as it sounds. It kind of tells you what to do if you listen to it.

Fears: In order for a band to stay viable in the music industry, it must always stay many steps ahead of the game. Freshness and innovativeness is the key to longevity. Does DROID have what it takes to maintain an existence in the metal genre?

James: This band will always evolve. We will not write the same record over and over again so that will give the people that like our music a reason to continue listening to our music. To me, the music is going to get better and better. The last couple of songs on the record, I felt we just started to tap into something, not the last ones in order, but the last couple of songs we recorded , I felt like we started tapping in on something that makes me can’t wait to get back into. Yeah, we’re going to evolve, we’re gonna write music, we’re never gonna cut the music short. It’s always gonna be there.

Fears: What about the live shows? How will they grow and define the band.

James: The live show is always going to be the same. All I can do there is have more stuff to jump off, but it’s going to be intense no matter what from beginning to end. Five pissed off looking dudes, not even looking, just pissed off dudes. It’s how we release everything.

Fears: The industry is flooded with new artists and bands every day of the year and each has aspirations to become the next star(s) of their chosen venture. The members of DROID, I’m sure, have those dreams as well, but what is setting you apart or at least making you all a little taller in the crowd?

James: In the metal music scene, we offer pretty much the whole gambit, the whole realm of metal. We’re not like super Death Metal or anything like that, but we love it and there are aspects there sometimes. I feel like we’re bringing the groove back to metal. Bringing the people back to metal not where you just got to be like an outsider, shake your head a lot and then leave. We want to make you shake your whole damn body. Know what I’m saying? Get in the pit with us and have a good experience. There’s a lot of bands that are like, “Look what I can do. Look what I can do. Look how fast I can play.” and I love a lot of those bands. You know like a lot of those bands are my favorite bands and the band that I’m in we try to bring it back a little bit. Bring the groove back into it and at the same time shred. Have all the different elements. So you’re gonna get a well round metal record. You’re not gonna get every song the same, the same, the same same same.

Fears: But that does happen and when a formula is hit upon, it is hard to break away from something that is working. That goes for anything.

James: And some bands have longevity because of that because they have core fans that love.

Fears: True and being a fan of music, it’s hard for me to hear or want changes in the bands that I’ve listen to for years. I guess the fans also place the pressure on musicians to produce something safe. But I presume all musicians need to step out of the box and be venturous regardless if they loose some older fans. In fact, they may gain many new ones.

James: Yeah. Exactly. Well, when it all comes down to it, you write music for yourself.

Fears: Let me ask you this – Is that true? I have heard that countless of times, but in the end, money ultimately must be made and sacrifices will be made. Yes, the musicians love their craft, but the pay off is something that is sought after as well.

James: I couldn’t live life without writing music. I couldn’t do it.

Fears: But you are writing to persons not yet tapped as fans and that potentially could be life long fans.

James: Some songs could be about what you go through and how fans have made you feel, but you write the song not to get you rich. That’s not how we write music. You know where, ‘this song is gonna make us so popular.’ No. We write music the way we want to write music; for ourselves and for everybody else at the same time, but it originally comes from just how it makes you feel to play music. Now if a lot of people like it and want to come see you and want to get your records, that’s the sweetest thing there is - for somebody else to appreciate what you love to do.

Fears: After the set, I saw how you walk off stage and sit down completely exhausted. But as you have alluded to, the adulation of the fans and the drain of energy you all experience must make all the hard work worth it.

James: Means everything in the world to me. It’s the number one thing in the world to me. To play music and have people feel how I feel and have them raising their hands up and go crazy – that’s it.

Fears: Munky (from Korn) must have seen something special in you all for him to sign the band to his label. You may one day be in the same position to help another up and coming band. Would this be something down the road for you IF behind the microphone runs its course?

James: Never really thought about cause the last ten years of my life and been on focus and this focus is still there. It’s not straying whatsoever. That focus is there for the next ten damn years. But I would love to do something like that in the future. You never know. If I’m blessed to be able to do something like that, I’ll do it. There’s a lot of great out there. I am a firm believer the best musicians in the world are unheard. They do it for the love of what they do. I’ve met a lot a lot of super talented people that aren’t even playing professionally or they aren’t so successful. That’s what kind of Munky did for us. He thought we were a gem or whatever, special…

Fears: A diamond in the rough?

James: Yeah. He scooped us up and gave us the opportunity of our lives.

Fears: Even though the CD just hit the streets, have you started thinking at this early stage in the again about writing for the next DROID masterpiece? During your downtime from the stage and tiring trips on the road

James: The album has been out for just a short time, I’m not really…I mean I’ve got lyrics for days. My job, writing wise, I have a whole catalog of stuff I can write about and have written about. But the music, we’ll probably start working on something in a couple of months. Just start thinking about things, putting riffs together because we’re going back out with Korn starting September 20th. We’ll be home for about three weeks, and then go back out with them. So we’re gonna be busy boys for another year on this record.

Fears: When do you think DROID will be tapped to headline its own tour?

James: In a couple of years. You want to be well known. You don’t want to go to shows and you are the headliner and no one is there. That will kind of put the moral of the band down a lot. We’re just working our way up. We’re gonna tour, tour, tour and give the people a reason to come see the headling band DROID.

Fears: When not performing or in the studio, what is it that gets your mind off the riggers of the music biz and keeps you sane?

James: I’ve been skateboarding all my life. I actually grew up close to Tampa in Winter Haven (approximately and hour’s drive from Tampa).Yeah, I’ve skated all over the place. I’ve skated here at the Skatepark of Tampa (http://www.skateparkoftampa.com/spot/general_home.aspx) all the time. Traveling around to contest and stuff like that. Then the music bug bit real hard. I still skateboard in Southern California where I live. There are skate parks every darn where. I’m really fortunate.

Fears: Well, since you are so familiar with Tampa, have you ever played the clubs of or gone to Ybor City (a historical Spanish, Cuban, Italian area of Tampa)?

James: Yes I have. I loved it. I played at Masquerades a long time ago with my first band.

Fears: First band?

James: Yeah, one of my first bands when I was growing up in Winter Haven. We were called Faceless. We played the Brass Mug as well.

Fears: Know it well.

James: There’s a couple of other bands, it’s been so long ago. But yeah, I used to play all over the place.

Fears: Okay Jason, it has been a pleasure and thanks very much for your time.

James: No, thank you. Thanks for your time.

Check out DROID on the web at :

http://www.droidmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/droid

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