1 - How did you start the band?
We started the band in late 2016. Mario (guitarist), Parker (guitarist) and Tripp (bassist) were in another band at the time and once that was dissolved, they started One of the Last! They found our old drummer Brian and our current singer John online and we recorded a few songs.
Unfortunately, Brian left the band back in February and we’ve been searching for a drummer ever since!
2 - Can the current moment be considered the best of the band?
We only have a few songs out at the moment so we’re praying that this is the best it’s going to get! Seriously though, we’re trying to make every moment count.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that life is too short and can be taken away at any second. We have so much left to offer that once the world opens back up, we’re going all in with this band. It will be our top priority because we want this to be our present and our future!
3 - What would you say about sonority? Where else do you fit into the acquired influences?
We like to call our sound Hybrid Metal, which is a mix of hard rock, metalcore and thrash. Some of our biggest influences are Metallica, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, and Bullet for my Valentine.
While we are influenced by them, we feel we have a unique but also familiar sound.
4 - Speaking of creation process, how much thought is there before creating new material? Is there a plan or do you let ideas flow naturally?
We have a lot of random guitar riffs that Parker and Mario record. We’ll listen to them and if we have an idea, we go with it and test it out.
The pandemic and lack of a drummer have slowed us down quite a bit but once we’re able to play again with each other, we have no doubts that the creative juices will be flowing!
5 - Have you ever thought of playing here in South America? Audiences in Brazil are very passionate about music!
Hell yeah! We want to play South America! We hear a lot of great things about their metal fans and we hear they’re true fans. It’s not like in America where the latest fashion is to wear a Maiden or Priest shirt.
We think it should be a requirement that you should know 5 songs of the band whose shirt you’re wearing! Here’s a quick story.
I (John) won some band shirts from a label about a decade ago. There was one shirt I liked, where the front had what appeared to be a skull and back were the words “Integrity” in big letters and “Hated of the World” underneath.
I proceeded to listen to them and liked them so I wore the shirt. I wore it at shows a few times and kept getting weird looks. I didn’t think anything of it. Then I wore the shirt home one day and mom asked, “why are you wearing a shirt with Charlie Manson’s face on it”? I ran to a mirror and looked and she was right. In my defense, looking down at the shirt, it looked like a skull. If you’re 3 feet away, it’s as clear as day!
Here’s a pic of the shirt:
https://deathwishinc.com/products/integrity-hated-of-the-world-series-01-black-t-shirt
6 - We know that the music market is no longer the same ... what does it take to stay fresh and relevant?
Consistency and quality are the names of the game. No longer can you go multiple years without new music if you’re a new band.
People have the attention span of a goldfish these days so you can be the hottest band one minute and then people move on 30 minutes later. Our goal, once we have a full band, is to release a new song every 2 months.
That’s 6 new songs a year. No filler. Just straight up singles.
7 - Do you like the idea of releasing videos in lyric format?
We love lyric videos! The hard part is finding someone that will do a great job. Luckily we found someone who absolutely did a great job for our song Shotgun! Spoiler alert: we’re going to be using him again for other songs! We’ll let you in on a secret.
We had no revisions for that video. We didn’t even tell him what it was about. He just wanted a high quality version of our song and the lyrics.
The rest was 100% his vision! The guy’s name is Mohamed Erfan and his company is called EVProductions.
We can’t recommend him enough!
8 - We finish here, the space is yours ...
Bad move haha. Here’s a pressing topic that has nothing to do with anything. The year is 1971 and a movie by the name of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released.
It’s a fantastic movie especially for the time.
One thing never sat right with me: Slugworth was not the real villain of the movie. There was one person that was pure evil and his name is Grandpa Joe.
Grandpa Joe, as we later found out in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, used to work for Mr. Wonka.
He got laid off along with the other employees and instead of getting another job, he stays in a bed for 20 years! Charlie is making literal change as a paperboy and his mother was some sort of maid/cleaner.
They live in a small place in what appears to be a poor area in England. Charlie and his mother work their asses off to support 6 people in that household!
When Charlie gets the golden ticket and chooses Grandpa Joe to come with him, he just popped out of bed like nothing was wrong!
If I was Charlie’s mother, I would’ve taken a bat to his legs!
For 20 years, you were completely fine and chose not to work?!? It gets worse. He goes to the factory with Charlie and almost gets both of them killed with the fizzy lifting drinks! Mr. Wonka clearly says don’t do it and the ADULT disobeys him and pressures young Charlie to drink with him.
He alone costs Charlie the lifetime supply of candy.
Thankfully, Charlie had a great heart and gave back the everlasting gobstopper. Wonka gifts him the factory and Charlie is allowed to bring his entire family to live there.
So let’s tally up the score: Unemployed for 20+ years, faked being bed ridden, disobeyed clear orders, almost killed his grandson AND he was rewarded with a multimillion dollar (potentially billion dollar) chocolate factory.
The movie should’ve ended with Grandpa Joe choking on an everlasting gobstopper. Poetic justice right there!
