Photo by Acute Perception
What makes a new band standout in the earlier stages of their existence lays in the uniqueness in sound and the honest approach in which its members manifest and contribute to it. In many occasions, when you, finally, decide to start a band the first thing that comes to mind to see if you can excite anyone into joining could be sending them your wonky demos over e-mail or you can airdrop them (the modern times here’s my mixtape), inviting them to jam or just convincing them on a drunkenly fueled night out that your musical abilities are heavenly sent and making music together is the only way to live. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Meeting the right minds and sharing with others your own view in music can become a challenge, a jam could go awfully wrong and create awkward environment where half smiles of ‘this is not what I want to be playing, but I don’t know how to say this’ come thru teeth’s from possible members that after a session aren’t really a perfect match. There’s nothing to do to really step away from that, anything can happen, and the key is to be fine with this and continue searching and writing no matter what. Fortunately for Fever Beam, formed in St. Petersburg, Florida, making music together is not only a creative release, they are extremely passionate about the project and happy they’ve encountered each other and clicked in the right way. Kasey Maloney, Samantha Loder, and Dane Giordano are re-imagining rock and roll music together by experimenting with an agglomeration of styles that’s been candidly named as “cowpunk rock and roll”. Their first single “Young Guns” encompasses the trio’s playful and catchy vision with Kasey’s vocals gliding with determination for what it feels is a Tarantino movie scene.
Lola Pistola: What does “cowpunk rock and roll” mean?
Kasey: Cowpunk Rock n Roll comes from the spirit. Rock n roll is a dime a dozen, in the best possible way. It has been re-imagined so many times over the years, that it’s become a blanket term for a wide variety of genres. When you slap on the “cowpunk” bow tie. you’re entering fresh walks of blues, punk, surf rock, and garage.
Dane: Cowpunk isn’t really one specific style or genre, it’s a twisted spicy concoction comprised from our love for blues, country, punk, and everything else we listen to all culminating into one hell fire bastardized take on rock & roll.
Sam: Cowpunk is a sub genre of punk that combines the sounds, styles and attitudes of punk rock with some blues, rock n’ roll, and surf rock roots. It’s fueled by an insatiable need for kicking ass, taking names, and making friends along the way.
What inspired experimenting with country and western sounds?
Kasey: Experimenting with Country and Western sounds came from my personal idea of rock n roll. My vision for Fever Beam came from influences like The Gun Club & Southern Culture on The Skids. I love that dirt and grit sound that they have from incorporating the blues, that certain sloppiness, the attitude, & the slide. We’re barely teetering on blues and we know that. I have yet to master the technique, however I appreciate the culture enough to keep driving it home until we can slither out of more punk influences and into the grimy side of Rock n Roll.
Sam: Kasey is where the country and western elements come in to play. She does it in a very tasteful way where she’s cherry picked her favorite parts of what makes a song good and extracted it from her brain and onto her twangy guitar, which makes it fun to play along with. With percussion I like to add a few jazz and hip hop elements with some classic/hard rock and, of course, punk.
Fever Beam sounds very sudden and reactive, the same with the name “Young Guns”. Is there a theme behind the band’s process in creating music?
Kasey: When writing Young Guns I was feeling a little jaded because I was still 20 and all of my friends would ditch me for the bar. I got my fake ID swiped pretty early on so I would stay home and pout. Eventually I got a VCR and built up quite the collection of vhs tapes. Young Guns being my favorite, one night I was feeling really good about staying in and watching the film…. Naturally I wrote a song about it. The method behind writing the songs we have, dwells within my inability to speak my feelings in the moment, but the ease of writing takes the edge off and directs it into something I can express freely.
Dane: There is a freedom to the process in which we make music that I really enjoy. A song could come out of anywhere. We are always jamming and improvising with each other. It never feels like there are rules.
Sam: Fever Beam is a sudden and reactive force in itself. We’ve been moving and shaking since day one and aren’t going to slow down any time soon.
How did Fever Beam get started?
Kasey: Fever Beam started because I was writing a lot on my own, and taking guitar lessons. I had started and joined 2 different bands but neither of them really worked out for me. In retrospect, I think it’s because I was a brand new musician with only a taste of what it was like to fully immerse myself in the music. I would jam with people and it wouldn’t go anywhere… I didn’t let it discourage me though, just kept writing and practicing. Then I connected with Sam & Dane. We all feel super passionate about music and they really dig my song writing. We’ve been playing ever since. Boom, hand in a glove!!
Dane: When I moved from Miami to St Pete, Sam was one of the first people I started playing music with, she was playing guitar and I was playing bass. We both wanted to be in a band but nothing ever seemed to click when we played with other people. I had seen Kasey’s old band the Spuds play and wanted to make music with her since then. One night after leaving a house show, I asked her if she ever wanted to meet up and jam, she was down and told me she had been playing with Sam on drums. I didn’t even know she knew Sam or that Sam played the drums! The three of us meet up one day to play and just like that, something special just clicked right away. Lovely freak accident really.
Sam: When a few super chillers who love to rock decided to get together and shred hard, Fever Beam was born. I had seen Kasey play with The Spuds and then later with Glove and I had a few things in the works as well. We ended up dancing together at a few shows and I thought to myself “This is someone I can work well with” and it was true. Dane and I had known each other through mutual friends and he had just moved back to Saint Pete from Miami around the same time I had relocated to The Burg. After a good amount of jamming with Dane, he suggested we meet up with Kasey and try jamming, so we did and it was so right, I’ve never looked back. It was serendipitous to say the least.
I read you’re saving money to buy a tour van. How important for independent artists is to be heard across the country? What’s the expectancy behind touring for Fever Beam?
Dane: We actually saved enough and got that van! Sweet baby “Corn Flake” we call her. Today is actually our first day back from our first tour. Touring is a great way to connect with people first hand, no better way of knowing a band better than by seeing them live. It’s also always worth it to travel, to explore the world, have different experiences, and meet new people. Running into old or far away friends who you wouldn’t have seen unless you’re on tour is also always the best. I think there will be plenty of touring in the future.
Kasey: Without touring I believe every musician is spinning their wheels. Playing locally in St. Petersburg, at least in my opinion, is really taxing. I enjoy traveling with music because that’s where you see the most reaction. You meet incredible people that share similar interests, and you get real authentic feedback from those who have no connection to your personal life, they’re people in their own towns who are going to a show purely for the music. You play with bands that are a important part of their scene, I get a huge kick just from chatting with them and picking their brain on music and their influences. I can’t say for sure what our expectations from touring are, because I don’t have any personally, I just know i love to do it. You never know who’s in that crowd. If you’re not putting yourself out there how do you expect to be heard, ya know?
Do you get inspired in your hometown? Why?
Sam: I get inspired by everything. It can happen anywhere, at anytime, my home town especially. Sometimes if I just need to play something or clear my head, I’ll go to the dog park with a guitar and walk around until something that I can’t stop playing comes to mind. Or I’ll set up some drums in my room and bang on them furiously in a nice groove until I have to leave for some other obligation.
What does it mean for an underground artists to make it?
Sam: If an artist is doing what they love and consistently working to make it better, I believe they have made it already.
Dane: When I was a kid, I once asked my dad, “Are we rich?” He laughed and responded, “Rich with love” I think the answer is somewhere in there.
If all social media platforms were to disappeared, how would that affect the way you look at making music and putting it out there with no help from a label?
Kasey: If social media platforms were to disappear then we would rely heavily on word of mouth and playing as much as possible. Naturally I’m a wild one when it comes to playing a show, but I could always get a little looser. Honestly not having the pressure of social media could be bittersweet. Making an impression without an instagram profile to back it up. Challenge excepted.
Sam: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Whether we have to go on a million tours to get our name out there or print a zillion flyers, or talk to all of the zines, we’d still be distributing just as strong with or without social media.
When is the next single coming up?
Kasey: We just finished recording with Glenn from Boytoy and Lena from La Luz, on our way home from tour. They’re masterminds so we’re saddling up to have something out in the next few months.
Making music and playing means what to Fever Beam…
Kasey: Making music is my release. When I sing and play my guitar, I am the cat with a bird in her mouth. I am a clock wound far too tight. I am a dog with a bone lying on my back. I’m a man with a sickness too weak to fight. I’m a gal and her whiskey after dancing all night. Fever Beam makes it easy for me to express myself, I have fun with these goons. They understand me like no other. Yeehaw!
Dane: Music and making music has always been that little piece of the world that gave me hope, defied all odds and norms, and transported me to a place outside myself. In Fever Beam, I’m just eager and grateful to play with two people who are open minded and fearless while still challenging me. I’m just excited to keep exploring this sound we all found and created together.
Sam: Playing music means ultimate freedom. It takes me to my happy place and allows me to bring other people there with me. It helps to play with people who constantly strive to be better because it challenges me to try harder. And it’s just plain fun!
Follow Fever Beam on Facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp.
