Interview with 'Divided We Stand'
Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?
My name is Randy Krouse from the band Divided We Stand. It started out with Mike Russell, Phil Zimny and Trevor Tucker jamming out. Later they added after a random try out. Joe Turner was just hanging out with the band one night and asked to play a song for us. To our surprise he had a golden voice and we quickly added him to the band. After Trevor left to pursue other ventures we had a few guitarist come and go on till we found Jake Wilson. He was in other bands that we had played shows with and caught our attention with his strong stage presence.
What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?
Well I had been in other bands and come from a music background. My father played trumpet in a band, and most of my family plays or sings. Joe was in the military and played acoustically for years before he met us. Phil had grown up in church playing music for his praise group. Mike had been the sports star growing up but had a similar start in music as Phil. Jake is a little bit younger than the rest of the band and actually saw our band as his first concert. He said we had inspired him to play music and years later got the chance to join the very band that inspired him. We all found our musical talent at a young age and never really wanted to do anything else. I feel like even when band reaches an end eventually we will still find roles in the music industry because it is our life.
Tell us about your latest Album and why our readers should check it out.
Earlier this year we recorded our single “New Era” with Tony Gammalo at Spider Studios. They have produced for artists like Machine Gun Kelly, Chimaira, and even did the Freddy VS Jason Soundtrack. We also shot a theatrical music video with Post Retro Productions. The video shows business men playing chess while ignoring the fact we are playing our instruments and screaming in there face. The crowd gets rowdy and storms the stage a one point. If you get a chance check it out.
Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why.
Oli Herbert from All That Remains. We had opened for All That Remains a few years back and it was our first sold out show 1000+ crowd. Before the show Oli was backstage just hanging out and our drummer Mike is a huge fan. So we all get to meet these guys who we have been listening to for years and its just surreal. A lot of the famous artists we have opened for are not very extraverted and stay on their bus until their meet and greet or their performance. Not All That Remains, they talked to everyone and were really awesome people who love their fans.
If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?
We combine haunting melodies, infectious grooves, tightly synched guitar riffs and clean, melodic vocals to create a pleasing high energy show. We love to hang out with fans. We would even buy ya a beer if your old enough.
If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?
There are so many artists that it would be an honor to travel with but I think Gwar would be so awesome to tour with. Have you ever seen their show, just over the top performances and they have a reputation to party hard. Each night would be utter craziness and loud music. I respect that they are carrying on after the loss of their singer Dave Brockie and would love to throw down with those guys even for one show. You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?
I would pick Jim Morrison. It would probably be at some old pub and as we knock back a few brews I would ask him what he thought of the modern music like dub step and rap. I would ask him how he would try to fit into music like we have today where musicians are replaced with machines. I would ask what drove his madness, was he acting or was he really seeing some unmitigated truth that everyone else failed to see.
And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
I think so and I will tell you why. One, the movie starts off at a company Christmas party. Two, there are Christmas decor throughout the movie. Three, just because there is violence doesn’t make it not a Christmas movie. Frosty the snow man got melted by an evil magician in his movie and its considered a Christmas classic.
Website - dividedweband.wix.com/dwsmusic
