Hey! Here's is the english version of Brad Marino's interview published in the french magazine Rock Hardi. Even if you don't speak french, buy it to get the CD with "Don't talk To My Baby" by the Connection.Click on cthe cover.
Lecteurs français, si vous n'avez pas encore le numéro, dépêchez vous de le commander en cliquant sur l'image
Last year was quite prolific for The Connection, one of the best R'n'R combo of the moment. Started by the release of a compilation of rarities, it ended in Boston for a concert with the Real Kids and Nervous Eaters. Meanwhile, The boys toured Europe and released "Let It Rock", superb album without low time, not so common those days. It deserved that an assessment is done with Brad Marino, guitarist-singer.
2013 was a fantastic year for you, 3 singles, a compilation, en album, plenty of concerts, what your most exciting souvenir?
BRAD:
Yes 2013 was quite a good year for The Connection. Our first "Full
Length" album, our 2nd European Tour and we got to play with a lot of
our favorite bands. Id say my favorite souvenir from it all is all the
cool autographed concert posters/fliers I got.
What feedback did you have on "Let it Rock" in sales and in the media?
BRAD:
We have gotten some great feedback for "Let it Rock". Sales have been
very good. It's almost out of print in America and it's done well in
Europe. Also the Japan market has been very good as well. The reviews
have been positive it seems like people are really digging it so we've
been glad.
There are only two years between "New England New
BRAD:
Well I'm not sure what you mean by this. We have had a revolving cast
of bass players and drummers thats true but The Connection will always
be The Connection as long as it's me and Geoff. We started the band and
write all the songs. If you mean that we've developed our sound- Yeah
that too. "NENH" was more of a stripped down garage rock/64 Pop album
and I think we've gotten to the point with songwriting that we can do
all kinds of different types of songs. Which we both like to do.
Let it rock" was released in the USA on Yum Yum, Ghost High
BRAD: Yes HAHA. Well we hope! We've toured Europe twice already and we would really like to do Japan sometime.
I read that you had an award for "Best Pop Band" at the Spotlight Awards. What's that?
BRAD:
Yes that's just a local paper here in Portsmouth, NH and we won "Best
Pop Band" whatever that means. I guess we're a "pop band". Its nice to
get some recognition in your hometown though.
In Europe you have played with and without keyboards, is the line-up fixed now?
BRAD:
Well we only sometimes-very rarely-play with keyboards. In the studio
we use Kris Rodgers on all of our stuff. He's very busy doing his own
songs as well as playing with many groups. He is a full time musician so
he's not always available. In Europe this past tour we started the tour
with someone for the first 2 Spanish dates but he turned out to be the
biggest loser crybaby any of us have ever met. He starting acting crazy
one night so we sent him packing back to America. We call it the "shame
plane". He couldn't cut it on the road so we got rid of him. Only made
it through 3 gigs. Never seen him since and hopefully will never see him
again! We really don't need keyboards to play live. We've only ever had
keyboards live about 10 times out of all the shows we've done in 2
years.
How was your European tour compared to last year? What are your best memories?
BRAD:
Europe is always a great time. People really care about music there and
the shows are always packed. Everyone's really nice to us. We really
appreciate the support everyone has for us over there. My best memory
was probably our show at LOCO CLUB in VALENCIA SPAIN. That was a crazy
night! One of the best shows we've had as a band.
On the occasion of your visit to France you recorded 3 tracks. How did you find this plan and how ithappened? A chance to see this on vinyl?
BRAD:
Yes well we had a show get cancelled one day so we decided to make use
of our time and booked studio time at WARM AUDIO in LEON(?) [Lyon] I think it
was Leon anyways. We did a couple covers that were in our live set and a
new original me and Geoff wrote in our hotel rooms along the way. It
was a very cool experience to record in France. The 2 cover songs "The
Kids are alright" and "First time"-The Boys will be on a very limited 5
inch vinyl on Ghost Highway Records sometime this year.
There
are also two excellent tunes of the New Trocaderos with Kurt Baker. Is
this just a studio joke, a kind of "million dollars trio" or will you do
gigs in this format?
BRAD:
This was just a studio thing only. A fan who became friend of ours Mike
Chaney wrote the songs and asked us 3 to record them. They actually are
cool songs and came out pretty good. It was fun to do it but I can't
say that anything else will ever come of it.
Brad, we did not know you were the New England's Ringo Star?
BRAD:
HAHA Yes I play a little drums. In another lifetime I was a drummer for
an old band of mine. It was cool to play drums on a recording it had
been about 6 years.
Geoff and Brad, you came from the pop punk "lookout style" scene. One has the impression that this scene turns around in circles for a while. What is your opinion on it?
BRAD:
Yeah growing up I fell in love with The Ramones which led me to all the
Lookout Era bands cuz they sounded like the Ramones. I think the whole
pop punk thing is pretty lame nowadays. There either a bunch of snobby
brats or they are just too obsessed with The Ramones. They need to
realize the Ramones were NOT a pop punk band. They were a rock n roll
band and were influenced by Rock n Roll. I think the whole things pretty
boring and lame quite frankly.
How was this Boston gig with the Real Kids and Nervous Eaters? How was the audience?
BRAD:
That was a great show our best in Boston yet. We played really great
and the crowd was really into us and it was a big crowd probably over
300 something people. It was a great time!
Brad, you told me about a possible recording with John F
BRAD:
Yes me and Geoff still talk and hangout with John at his place in
Boston. We started working on some tunes but we've all been very busy so
we have to get back on track and finish writing. There will be a
CONNECTION with John Felice record someday though! John has played us
the new album and it sounds great. It's like half new songs and half
older songs from "Grown up Wrong" that were never recorded in a studio. I
think it's great and people will like it.
You also played with the Groovies or Paul Colins Be
BRAD:
Yes we played with The Flamin Groovies in November it was a blast.
Really cool guys and a great band! Paul is great too- we did his "Power
Pop Fest 2" in 2013 as well. We've had a great year of shows all kind
of great bands besides Real Kids/Nervous Eaters/Groovies/Paul we also
played with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and The Raiders/The Muffs and
Dan Vapid and The Cheats.
Among the new bands Wich ones did you have noticed in 2013?
BRAD: Hmmm to be honest I haven't really heard any new bands lately. I'll say The New Trocaderos!
This year you had 3 songs nominated for the "coolest song of the world" in Little Steven's UndergroundGarage. did it made you reach a wider audience?
BRAD:
Yes it's always cool to get a "Coolest Song in the world". I think it's
helped a bit probably not as much as we would wish but it's definitely
turned some new people onto us I think.
What are your good resolutions for 2014? and your wildest dreams?
BRAD:
My resolution was to not make one this year because I'd probably forget
about it after a few days. But my goal for 2014 is to keep playing out.
Hopefully do a west coast tour here in the states and get back to
Europe or maybe even Japan who knows! And we've started to work on new
songs for a new record so maybe by years end we will have the follow up
to "Let it Rock" ready to go!
RT for Rock Hardi
