You might recognize the name Randall Flagg from Stephen King’s The Stand (or other King novels), but it’s also the name of a Jersey City-based hardcore band.
The band got together 2000 and played in their first show at Club Crannell in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The twentysomethings play two to three times a month in and around New York City at venues like Don Hill’s, L’Amore’s, and Downtime. They have an EP, “Issue #1,” available, and plan to release a full-length recording this spring. They will play Uncle Joe’s this Saturday, Jan. 8. We caught up with guitarist Ryan Fleming for an interview before the show.
Current: How do you describe your sound?
Ryan Fleming: It’s always hard to describe your own sound, but we do have a definite metal base with hardcore and other influences mixed in. Some of our friends say we remind them of Poison the Well and Deftones at times.
C: Who are your musical influences?
RF: Right now we’ve been really impressed with bands such as Dillinger, Escape Plan, Botch, and Poison the Well. Growing up, though, it was bands like Nirvana, Primus, and Nine Inch Nails that inspired us.
C: Tell us a little about one of your favorite gigs.
RF: Our favorite show was a few years ago at L’Amore’s before it closed. We played with Diecast and it ended up being one of the craziest shows ever. There were these two fill-in sound guys who seemed as if they’ve never done a live show ever. We tried to get them to mic our drums but they weren’t really sure how to. Their solution was to throw a vocal microphone in the kick drum hole and call it a day. Then, Tom’s bass stack wasn’t working because sound guy number one kept bypassing his cabinet to an in-house system that wasn’t turned on. Tom fixed it, and low-and-behold sound number two came back to switch back to the non-working system again, and we finally realized what they were doing and explained to them that it wasn’t going to work that way and 20 minutes into our 40-minute set we finally started playing. The crowd was great and everyone was getting into it. With all the energy, Adam the singer lost sight of his surroundings. He ran up to the drum kit and jumped off the kick drum right into a ceiling duct that was three feet lower then the ceiling itself. After Adam regained consciousness in the middle of the song, we finished up a great set. All in all, it was an awesome show.
C: What other bands have you been in?
RF: Adam used to sing in a band called Sutter Kane, and Jeff has played for Gravesend and Mother Flux.
C: Do you listen to any other bands from Jersey City?
RF: We love Mezzanine C-14. It’s a great band. They’ll be playing with us on Jan. 8.
C: What was the most challenging part about recording “Issue # 1”?
RF: The most challenging part of the recording was split between little mistakes and figuring out the final overall sound. Plus when you’re confined to one little room for hours and hours working out one piece of a song, you start to go a little crazy.
C: What was the most fun part about recording that album?
RF: After adding each instrument to the mix, the songs would get better and better. We could hear it all coming together piece by piece, and the final product is more then you thought it could ever become.
C: Do you prefer playing live or in the studio?
RF: Live, 100 percent. There’s nothing like the give and take between us and a good crowd.
C: Do you get nervous before a live show?
RF: We actually get anxious and end up tired sometimes. We hate waiting to play. But once we are onstage it’s instant mayhem.
C: How do you prepare for a show?
RF: We have a pretty regular practice schedule, so we usually don’t do anything different to prepare for a show.
C: Who decides how you dress for a gig?
RF: Our moms still dress us. We usually like dressing in a way so it’s hard to tell what kind of band we are. It’s fun to throw people off and keep them guessing what we sound like. People who’ve seen us know what we mean.
C: What is your favorite song to play live?
RF: “Evolution” off our EP is our favorite. It’s a fast and heavy song that we start most shows off with to get the crowds attention.
C: What’s your advice for other artists who are trying to make it?
RF: I think the best advice is know that you need a lot of time to practice and play in order to do it right. And just be patient.
C: What’s your next project?
RF: Doing a full length album this spring.
Randall Flagg will play Uncle Joe’s in Jersey City this Saturday, Jan. 8. Visit www.randallflag.net.