| Interview with "the rounders" |
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| 1. How did “the rounders” form? |
| - The Rounders formed at the turn into the 21 Century in an old three
bedroom house in Norman, Oklahoma. Three college
students put out an ad in a local entertainment
weekly for musicians needed and One other
college student and a college drop-out answered
the call. They learned as many old blues songs
they could and sought out to take over the world
by landing their first gig at The Blue Note
(same place as The Flaming Lips) in Oklahoma
City. |
| 2. Why did you name the band “the rounders”? |
| - We named ourselves The Rounders because it was the first thing we came
up with when questioned by the MC at a local
Sunday Night Blues Jam. It stuck and labels who
we are today. |
| 3. What genre of music do you play? |
| - It is hard to say…Rounders Music, perhaps. That’s what we hear from
those who listen. |
| 4. Who are your influences? |
| - Roger Miller, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, The Rolling Stones, The
Beatles…......…Too many to list. We find new
influences everyday. |
| 5. Did you guys study music as a formal
education? |
| - No, but we played music while gaining our
formal education. |
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BAND PROFILE |
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| 6. Do you play cover songs? Whose covers do
you usually play? |
| - When picking a cover we try to stray from the mainstream blues/rock
standards. But it’s not to say we haven’t tried
a few of them in the past. For our CD release we
tried a Canned Heat tune (Goin’ Up the Country)
with kazoo instead of flute and it seemed to
work out fairly well. |
| 7. What gears do you use? (Example Guitars,
Gadgets, etc) |
| - Gibson, Epiphone, Fender Guitars. Fender,
Rickenbacker Bass, Slingerland
Drums. Special Order Kazoo’s, Fender Amps. Any
tambourine we can find on sale. |
| 8. How many albums have you released so far? |
| - Two self-released and one for Blind Pig Records, total 3. |
| 9. What is music for you? |
| - Music is whatever moves you. |
| 10. Where do you see yourself a few years
later from now? |
| - Playing in the band. Making great albums. Seeing the world. |
| 11. What do you think is the blues? |
| - The blues is the true form of American Music. |
| 12. Did you struggle? |
| - Define struggle. |
| 13. When you guys started out, did you think
you would be musicians? |
| - Yes, and failure was not an option. |
| 14. Message to the young musicians? |
- Do Not be afraid to experiment and try new things. Learn from past
recording mistakes. Think of each record as a
snapshot of the band at that specific time and
nothing more.
Stay in school. Go to college. Vote. Make
friends and stay in contact with them. Find a
good match for a partner. Listen to old people,
you will be one some day. Find a soundtrack for
each day of your life… it makes it easier to
remember. Don’t take candy from strangers and
only you can prevent forest fires. :) |
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| -interviewed by Samik Kharel. |
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