Tool & Die
page 22
C
huck
I
nterviews
B
lack
W
ater
R
ising
Black Water Rising is a new rock band hail-
ing from somewhere in the murky depths of
New York City. Before I begin, I must come
right out and say if you haven't heard or seen
this band yet, drop everything and go check
them out! eir rst self-titled debut album
is currently available on iTunes and the CD
will drop March 2nd of 2010. I interviewed
their drummer Mike Meselsohn on Sunday,
December 20th , `09 in the parking lot of the
Lost Horizon right before they were about to
perform for Les Fest II. Trandon, the promot-
er of the show, invited us to pile into the Born
Again Rebels van to do the interview. Tran-
don sat back and pu ed, I sipped some Labatt
Blue and hit record, and Mike enlightened us
about many topics revolving around this kick
ass band.
T&D- Let's start with what other bands
the members of Black Water Rising
were formerly from?
Mike- Our guitar player Johnny Fattoruso
was in Stereomud. Our singer Rob Traynor,
who also plays guitar, was in a band called
Dust to Dust, which had a deal on Sanctu-
ary Records. And I was in a band called
Boiler Room which had a record on Road
Runner, then subsequently on Tommy
Boy... strangely enough.
T&D- How did Black Water Rising come
together?
Mike- I've known Rob since high school.
He used to be a bass player. My brother is
a bass player who played with me in Boiler
Room, so Rob and I never had the opportu-
nity to play together. So when Boiler Room
and Dust to Dust broke up, Rob called me
up and the timing was right. He said he had
some cool ri s and ask if I wanted to join
up. I got a hold of Johnny through a mutual
friend, and he heard the demos and loved it,
then he joined. We jammed as the three of
us for a while until Johnny brought Oddie
McLaughlin in on bass, and he was the -
nal piece of the puzzle. Johnny joined at the
end of 2006. Oddie Joined in mid 2007. So
we've been a full band for two and a half
years.
T&D- Your songs on the Self-Titled al-
bum are bluesy, classic rock and
"southern" sounding at times. Be-
ing from NYC, where does this sound
come from?
Mike- Rob is the main songwriter. I know
his in uences are mostly classic rock, like
Sabbath, Zeppelin and Skynyrd. e blues
ri ng comes from those bands. It's not like
we just listen to southern rock. e heavy
ri ng comes from those bands with a little
twist because we down tune. We really don't
aim to be southern. It's more of the vibe of
that because of the name [of the band] and
the dirty rock look- denim/cowboy hats.
But if you really just listen to the sound, it's
just a straight bluesy rock sound.
T&D- Bringing a similar question un-
der a different light, how does the NY
hardcore/metal scene bring infl uence
to Black Water Rising?
Mike- Johnny played in a band called Ste-
reomud with Joey Z of Life of Agony, who
came more from the hardcore scene. But
Johnny is more of a thrash guy. He's in to
the Bay Area thrash sound. at's what he
brings to the table for us. I'm an old metal
guy, into stu like Priest and Maiden. But
yeah, none of us ever played in hardcore
bands.
T&D- You guys have a really tight, solid
groove reminiscent of NYC hardcore
in every song...live and on the CD.
Mike- Yeah, our singer Rob is in uenced
by post hardcore stu like Quicksand and
Helmet. My biggest in uence is John Bon-
ham and he was always big on groove; keep-
ing it heavy and simple, and letting the ri
come out.
T&D- Are you guys on a label?
Mike- We were in negotiations with some
labels and had some o ers on the table,
but nothing panned out. So we're moving
forward with the record being put out on
our own through Sony/Red Distribution.
We hooked up with this guy who has an
imprint called Giddy Up Records, but
they're going to be more of a distribu-
tion arm for us. It's pretty much our
own label. We have a release date of
March 2nd, 2010 for the album to be
available in stores. It's available on
iTunes now.
T&D- Every song on the record,
beginning to end, is great! It's
one of those albums that you
let repeat over and over. As far
as the album as a whole, was it
all thought out or did the album
take shape and form as you went
along?
Mike- Most of the songs, except for
maybe four of them, were written at
the same time by Rob; ri s, melodies,
and lyrics. en I added my drum
parts, Oddie wrote his lines and John-
ny created his parts. But those songs
were written previous to me joining.
en as we came together as a band
we started writing more stu that we
wanted to include on the album, like
"No Halos" and a couple
others. So no, it's not like
Rob sat down and wrote a
concept album.
T&D- Many of songs
on the record could
easily have commer-
cial success, but they
are still really origi-
nal, heavy and raw.
As far as songwriting
and production, was
this potential for commercial appeal
intentional?
Mike- ank you and I agree. I think for
us, Rob doesn't sit down and try to write
a hit song that is going to be on the radio.
He just sits down and his in uences and his
experiences, whether personal or political,
just naturally come out. If it's commercial
and people want to buy it- great! If not,
then it's just the music we are making.
T&D- You guys have a song doing
well on the Sirius/ XM Radio channel
Octane. How did that come about?
And how's it working for you guys?
Mike- at's been great! It's given us na-