Interview: The Action Blast

The Action Blast is undoubtedly one of the coolest new bands in Chicago. They played their first show in December and formed shortly before that, but their sound is fully-formed and exceptionally confident. We were lucky enough to score an interview with the band’s guitarist, Kevin Singleton, and he explained who the band is, what they do, and why they’ll never compromise or water down the intensity of their rock attack.

Assault.it: Since there isn’t very much info about the band online (besides I’ve recently learned that Anthony was in Inept and that you all have a connection to them in some way or another) can  we get a basic introduction about everyone in the band, who they played with before, how you all met each other, and how The Action Blast formed?

Kevin: Me and Anthony formed Inept. I was actually the first original member of a previous band to Inept that fell apart. We needed a new singer and found Anthony, and Inept formed. Dan was also the last drummer for Inept for about 4 months. Eric (Guitar) and Joel (Bass) were in some local bands here and there in Chicago as well.

You mentioned honest rock music on your tumblr studio blog, how would you classify yourselves into a genre of music, and who influences your style of music most?

We are a rock band. Some of our songs are aggressive, some are a bit upbeat; we are just first and foremost a rock band, though. We are seriously just all about rocking and having a good time. We write our music for ourselves and we’re not trying to follow any trends or be anything besides our band.

I noticed some of your songs had funny names – like “Sports Center” – while you were tracking them in the studio. Besides music, where else do you find inspiration?

Yeah. “Where We build A Life” was called “Devastator.” “Let This Go” was called “Boom Da Boom.” We have a few other songs with weird names like “Thunderdome” and “Gunslinger.” We don’t take anything too seriously; we are just dudes who love having a good time and hanging with people and such. We like sports, video games, and the norm. We’re just dudes who happen to be in a rock band.

On Assault.it we’re all about spreading the love around, are there any local acts right now that you’re following closely that you’d like to someday play with?

All the bands we follow we ususally play with. With our old bands we pretty much played with everyone in Chicago, and now it’s just all about rebuilding and such. Our current local favorites are Made Avail, On The Front, Seven Day Sonnet, and our singer Anthony is really digging this new band Trainwreck Symphony. I’d also like to give a shoutout to my boys in Artifex Pereo, they are our best friends on earth and their band is amazing.

Being that we’re all from Chicago, it’s important to us at Assault.it that you like a baseball team. Sox or Cubs?

Well, it’s funny – three of us are diehard Sox fans, and one of us is a Cubs fan. He gets roasted about it all the time.

What are the plans on releasing the full length album in its entirety?

We have big plans for the future and a full length is for sure one of them.

What separates The Action Blast from the majority of the bands out there now?

We are just trying to do our own thing, not mock anyone else. We have a bunch of newer music coming out that goes into a few different areas. We are also very hungry, excited, and are not slowing down for anyone. This is our band, our terms, our lives. Hopefully people can find the sincerity in how we are approaching this band lyrically. This is real life, no sugarcoated BS. This is who we are.

If you had to choose a career path of another band that you’d like to model yourselves after who would it be and why?

It would probably be a band like Metallica. They toured and toured and toured till the end of time. That is what we want to do. If we can play 400 shows in 365 days we’ll do it.

Ever cover any other bands live or have any plans to do so in the future? If so, what songs?

Nope. Probably won’t, either. If we had to do a cover, though, I always wanted to do “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal.

I was lucky enough to see your live show in December. What’s different about your live show that makes it worth seeing?

Our show in December was our first show ever. We were very blessed to play with Lucky Boys Confusion for our first show. What you can expect from us is the fact that we live up to our name. We want to be 30 straight minutes of energy. We leave everything we have on the stage and we’ve only played five shows now. It’s just going to get more and more and more intense.

Was there ever a time that you hit a crossroads and decided that you wanted to make music your life? Can you describe that moment?

I was 15 years old and I wanted a guitar. Since that moment I first got my guitar, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

From concept to realization, can you walk us through your song writing process?

Well, so far the writing has been myself writing the music at home. All the songs so far I wrote for this project aside from one of the riffs Anthony brought to the table. The songs were mostly too aggressive for my older band, so I took the music home and worked on the songs for myself. I present the music to the band and everyone puts in their part. Then Anthony comes in last and lays his vocal ideas over the music.

What’s the hardest part about being an opening band?

The hardest part about being an opening band is that sometimes people don’t pay attention to you, or don’t think you are worth their time. Just remember all those headliners that you see were all opening bands at one time too. Everyone starts somewhere.

To date what’s the best show you’ve ever played either with TAB or when you were all in other bands?

The best show we’ve ever played with Tab so far was probably this Saturday at Beat Kitchen, it was our first headline show and we were very stoked about it. The first show was great too, I can honestly say that so far every show we’ve played has been a great time.

When you’re not working on music what do you like to do?

Watching some TV, playing games, hanging with friends. Normal stuff, go catch new bands, book shows, keep working.

Zombies or vampires? (Pre-Twilight vampires)

Vampires. When I think of the word “vampire,” I never think of Twilight. I think of The Lost Boys or Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Spike and Angel were bad ass.

Is there any band you wouldn’t play with? Be honest.

No. We’d love to get our music out to everyone. Although I don’t think playing with Kenny G would go over so well.

If you were going to play a dream tour with 4 bands (including yourselves) who would it be?

Rise Against, Story of the year, Thrice, and Deftones. That would be one of my favorite shows ever.

If you were a force to be reckoned with in the industry, with a huge loyal following of fans, what would be one thing you’d to to mobilize the troops and change the world?

I think I would just keep everything the same, and just tell everyone of our fans to check out smaller bands. We’re all about helping as many people as possible.

Some bands – in fact, a lot of bands – don’t party anymore because of contracts with labels or their moral beliefs. Do you party?

We party. However I do not drink. The other guys do but there is no drug use.  Although I don’t think you need that kind of stuff to have a good time. We can get down all night and get rowdy until the break of dawn without that kind of stuff.

What are your deal breakers when it comes to compromising your song writing, music style, and or beliefs as it pertains to music?

We write our songs for ourselves, we don’t write songs that other people think we should write. Our music style will always be what we want. It has to be done our way. Nobody else’s opinion counts aside from our own. One thing this band has is artistic integrity.

With the evolution of the web, and the removal of “the gatekeepers,” how has that changed the way you market yourselves as a band?

We don’t really care about the internet right now. We’re using real personal connection to get out there. We like to go to shows, meet new people, and really go out there and show people that this band is more than an internet-based band. We want to really get to know our fans and have them be a part of something. I feel that the whole internet thing has really made things impersonal and we would really like to change that.

Do you ever think you’ll sign to a record label, and if so, do you have any in mind that you think would be a good fit?

We would love to sign to a label. We don’t have a specific one in mind, we just want to be given a fair chance of showing our music to the masses. So if any labels are looking for a band that is willing to tour forever, and write honest rock music, we are your band! We’d like to be on a major label because we feel that radio play and promo is crucial for a band like us. However we’ll take anything that can help us advance our musical career.

One of my favorite things about your live show is getting the crowd involved, specifically at your show at Beat Kitchen on the 23rd Anthony had everyone turn to the right and left and introduce themselves and make friends. Who was the best friend you’ve ever met at a show?

That’s something Anthony has been doing for years. We’ve actually had a couple meet at a show and get married – how rad is that? I can honestly say that via shows I personally have met some amazing people. Other amazing bands, and one of my best friends I’ve met via my music is this dude Justin Roelfs. If it wasn’t for music I probably would not know that dude. Same with a few of my current and past band members. I owe my life to music and am thankful for it every day.

More Action Blast:

• MySpace
• Tumblr
• Twitter

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About the Author

Tim is the co-owner of Assault, and tends to think he can party twice as hard as anyone. Follow him on twitter @assault
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