Louisville Rock Lowdown

By Jason Koerner

Rock `n' Roll, plain and simple - this is the philosophy of Magnetic Flux.

Rock is fun, at least for some people. That is a foundation for the music that Bobby and the other "one - name - wonders" in MF write. They have tons of it and encourage their audiences to engage in the same. What a concept... they play music and actually enjoy it! This nostalgic feeling has been lost in many bands and it is refreshing to see a group of individuals who are so in to what they do and want to "make it" so bad. I spoke with Bobby (vocals/guitar), David (bass/backup vocals) and Christian (lead guitar/backup vocals) recently (Chico, the drummer for MF, was unable to be present) and here is some of what they had to say...

LMN - Bobby, why did you move back to Kentucky (from New York) to find your band members? Were there other reasons for coming home?

Bobby

MF - There were other reasons for coming home; I had to come back and do some business things with (his former band) Cornbread Mafia... The real reason though was to come home and put together a band that has some Kentucky vibe in it. I knew I could come back and find the players in this scene, the ones I wanted to play with... I wanted to find players that would be a part of the band and that would be into the band and would grow with the band.

(Bobby went on to explain the acquisition of each member in band and how it happened... pretty interesting stuff, but too lengthy to print - go to a show of theirs and ask the band!)

LMN - When/where was your first show together as Magnetic Flux? How was it and what where your afterthoughts?

MF - The first show was in April at Expo Five, at the 100.5 the Fox show with 25 bands. We were definitely looking forward to playing out again.

Chico

(Chico calls at this point and is asked the same question... then Christian says on his end in response to Chico, "A trick? No, this is not a trick." I assume it was over being put on the spot, or maybe there is another story within that one... we may never know!)

David continues, "I don't know about those guys, but I tried to jump through the floor at that show, knock everything over that I could, spit on everybody... anything I could do to be as aggressive as I could. It came out that way and we played good... we proved that it would not take long to achieve our goal... In the next six months, everybody will know who we are - not just in Louisville - everybody will know who we are and I promise you that."

LMN - Has there been a turning point for the band?

Christian

MF - There have been several. Every time Magnetic Flux gets down, something happens to bring us up. The scene is supporting us. People are doing lots of things for MF. Everything is always turning for us. We have just got news from this one very important person that we hope to be able to tell everybody in the next interview you give us, but we have just reached a high in this band that... it is going to take a long time to come down from. We up in this level right now that I don't think anyone has ever felt. I hope we can share it with everybody real soon.

LMN - Has there ever been a time where you wanted to quit?

MF - No. One word answer.

LMN - Tell me about the CD...

David

MF - It rocks. We rehearsed for it for two weeks. It was just chemistry ... We had these people who invested in us who are doing this label thing. We had forty - four songs to choose from and the band picked the songs to record (at Headfirst Media) after listening to all of them. It was just kind of weird. It's an album, one song follows the next song and the next song follows the next. It's made to listen through; it's not just made to go to a song. We all grew up on Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Cheap Trick and KISS - they write albums instead of just worrying about a single. We love singles, but we are worried about having the whole album rock.

LMN - What can you tell me about your show coming up on August 9 at the Derby City Tattoo Expo?

MF - It is going to be at the Executive West, which is kind of spooky, playing at a hotel. There is going to be a band from Chicago called American Motherload playing with us. Odesa is playing with us and I have heard a couple of their singles and it's slammin'. We don't know what to expect other than to go in there and rock out.

LMN - Describe your roles in the band, in terms of personality.

MF - Christian states, "My role is kind of a musical thing. My biggest concern is the material..."

The band interrupts, "Christian is our little spacey dude! His personality is very peaceful and it is a comfort to know he is in the band."

David describes himself as the guy who makes everyone laugh at any given second. "I'm insane, I'm nuts..."

The band interrupts again, "He's LOUD!"

He continues, "I'm over the top about everything I do, I have to be calmed down a lot. I work hard for the band and try to lead by example."

One good example of this would be the fact that David just bought a conversion van for the band's travels... the shaggin - wagon. Nice.

Bobby speaks about Chico; "Chico is kind of like the calm before the storm. He really doesn't say a lot, but when he does say it, he makes sure that he is heard. Before he goes onstage, he is real mellow, but when he gets up there, it's over. Plus whenever we need to get in some real trouble, we just hang out with Chico!"

Christian goes on, "Bobby started the band and is the reason we are all here. A lot of the songs are his tunes that we kind of tweak out. He's all business, but he's still kind of silly..."

LMN - Like a mullet - business in the front, party in the back!

MF - Yeah!

David expands, "Bobby is passionate about stuff, pretty spiritual - he is a `meant-to-be' person. It's all positive... there are times where he will bitch at you, but at the end of the day, it makes sense."

LMN - Why all of the stars in your art work and gear?

MF - It is kind of an accident. When I (Bobby) started building the MF web site, I came across this star that rotated and I kept staring at it. The way I look at it, 4 points are us and the 5^th point is the fans. But that's just me...

David simply puts it, "Why not, stars are cool? It's an eye-catcher."

LMN - Lastly, what do you feel is next for Magnetic Flux?

MF - I (David) feel like everything is next for us. Everything that we have ever worked for is next for us. I think we've got the right everything: the right members, the right songs... I think everything is lined up just like the stars you were just talking about. It is the right image, the right time for us.

Bobby elaborates, "We have a goal in this band and that is to be self - sufficient... we ant to sell 10,000 CDs. We want to make a video that people like so much that MTV wants to play it. It keeps us focused as a band... we are going to create "rock and roll junkies." I think that is what bands should do, set their goals, stick to them and make them happen. Who cares if you get a record deal, it does not f***ing matter. It would be nice if it happened, but you have to have an inner peace with yourself and a strong stomach. If you have those goals, you know you are going to go to the future, whatever it brings for us. We are going door to door and we are going to find the people who want to be involved with us. That's what we are working on."

The band definitely has their goals set and is working hard to obtain them. They would like to thank the following people for helping them get this far: Scott Connor and the staff at Music-Go-Round, Todd Smith of Label X, Mom's Music, Ryan Murphy, Rain Dog Salon, Catch 5 Records, Headfirst Media, 11/32 Studios, Kent O' Bryan, girls and every m*f*er that likes to turn their stereo up to 20...

Check out more about the band at www.magneticflux.com.

As always... Rock on, Louisville!