While making a stop through Denver, CO on the Last Calls & Liabilities tour with Pepper & The Expendables, The Pier caught up with Law Records very own Ballyhoo! who happens to be supporting the release of their latest album “Daydreams”. We were able to discuss the tour and their musical interest starting from the 80’s hair band days and so much more. Enjoy!
The Pier: Here we are at Last Calls and Liability’s Tour in Denver. You guys have been on this tour with Expendables and Pepper for about a month now. How has this tour been for you guys?
Ballyhoo!: Awesome! The crowds have been very receptive and we have been making more and more fans every night. Pepper and Expendable fans have really been digging us, so that’s been cool. It feels good.
The Pier: That’s great! You guys are no spring chickens and have been playing music for a while now.
Ballyhoo!: Very true. We have been playing music for 73-74 years now. We are gonna get there. Na, we have been a band for 16 years now and the past five years we have been touring heavily and really getting out, trying to make something happen and we feel like we are right on time now with everything happening.
The Pier: Since signing on to LAW Records this past year have you guys noticed a difference in the way your careers as musicians have changed?
Ballyhoo!: Everything started to really kick in as we got closer to September when the record “Daydreams” came out, which came out on September 6th so go buy it now on i-Tunes…So, it was kind of this long process cause we signed in January of 2011 and started recording in March and spent a total of three weeks in March and May recording the record to release on LAW. Then it was mixing, mastering and we did a whole summer tour in the meantime and finally, September came and the record came out and the day before that we started the Last Calls and Liability tour. So, now we are definitely starting to feel the effects and I compare it to a pregnancy term cause all of this took place over nine months and now the flood gates are open and we are making as much noise as possible.
The Pier: You guys are definitely being heard! Congrats on the album reaching #38 on i-Tunes by the way.
Ballyhoo!: Thanks! That’s so ridiculous. It was like at number ten on the heat seekers on Billboard and I think it made it to like 103 on Billboard as far as new alternative records or something like that.
The Pier: Great work! Looking on i-Tunes we noticed that pretty much 100 percent of the reviews are five stars. Especially since you guys have been playing for so long, how do you guys keep things fresh moving forward?
Ballyhoo!: We write everything down that comes off the top of our heads and continuously write new stuff. We try not to write the same stuff and do another “Cheers” or another “Do It for the Money”. Each album we write has to have its own personality to it. We really like rocking the fuck out and that’s why there is a lot of rock on this album.
The Pier: Howie, you and your brother whom is also in the band have been playing music together since your youth. How did you guys gravitate towards who played what instrument growing up?
Ballyhoo!: (Howi) I wanted to play the drums when I was a kid, so I played the fucking snare drum in 4th grade and I was bad ass. When I started to incorporate the rest of the drum kit, I sucked really bad, so I decided that I was not going to do that. I always wanted to be a singer too and that has seemed to work out for me. (Big D) I used to sharpen pencils and play drums to Motley Crue and many of those 80’s hair bands. We used to say “wanna go play band” and we would close the door to our room and play a new Skid Row or something off of that Def Leppard album “Rock of Ages” on cassette and jump around on the couches as if we were on stage. (Howie) Our dad ended up taking us to see Rat, Poison and Def Leppard when we were kids and we decided that that’s what we wanted to do and eventually I picked up the guitar and here we are.
The Pier: That’s funny trying to picture you guys as kids rocking out with pencils and broom sticks (laughs). What was the first song you guys played in it’s entirety?
Ballyhoo!: (Howi) Oh man. We played “Little Things” by Bush and that was the first for real cover song. The first song I ever learned to play on guitar was Green Day “When I Come Around”. JR came up playing Hendrix, Clapton and Led Zeplin and nobody knows yet but he is a really good guitar player. You’ve heard him if you heard the Sublime cover “Let’s go get stoned” that we did.
The Pier: After this tour is wrapped up do you guys plan on returning to the studio or are you guys gonna take some time off?
Ballyhoo!: (BIG DJ) I’m gonna go home and take a big dump in my own toilet and it’s gonna be great. (Howi) The thought of doing another record right away is kind of ridiculous to me but definitely not out of the question.
The Pier: Was your new track “Meathead” off of your latest album “Daydreams” inspired from a personal experience with that type or did it come from something else?
Ballyhoo!: We used to do a lot of bar shows and there is always that guy who is out to get completely hammered and fuck chicks standing there wearing his Ed Hardy shirt. We decided that we had to write a song about “that guy”.
The Pier: Much love fellas. Thanks for giving us some of your time.
Ballyhoo! Links:
Ballyhoo! Website
Ballyhoo! Facebook
Ballyhoo! Show Locator
You can read The Pier’s official Album Review for Daydreams by clicking HERE
Interview by: Chad Hillje and Kyle Hillje
Photos by: Kit Chalberg
