www.facebook.com/theamperesmusic
From: Duluth, GA
Sounds like: Rock
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name “The Amperes” and is there any meaning behind it?
The three of us came from pretty different places musically. Even still, we don’t listen to the same kind of music, and that helped us synthesize a sound that pulled from a lot of different places. Braxton started out with mostly older rock from the 60s and 70s: lots of Beatles stuff. However, his guitar playing was much more influenced by the old school metal he got into later on. Thomas is a classically trained pianist, actually, but moved pretty quickly toward percussion a few years before he joined the band. He really digs progressive music, so blame him for anything that confuses you. Trey jumped into music fairly late, not learning an instrument until high school; he ended up learning bass to play in the band. Most of his influence prior to joining was music written before 1960, and is still not cool to this very day.
The name was just something Trey came up with. However, he loves to tell people about the time the generator outside his house exploded in the middle of the night. He said the sound was “so terrifying and awesome” he knew he had to incorporate into his music, and went with something electrical themed. No one is able to corroborate this story, but it sounds great at parties.
2. What do you want listeners to take away from your ""Godlessness, Sex & Suicide Vol. 1" EP?
Hopefully, an erection.
Also, maybe a sense that rock n’ roll still matters, and can be as badass as it was when our parents thought it was badass. But, you know, actually badass.
3. What can people expect from your live show?
A sex freak, an androgyne, and a white guy trying their best to play the best music possible as loud and passionately as possible, so complete strangers will give us attention on social media. Life is weird, man.
4. What's your favorite track to play live?
We’re divided. Trey’s is "Liar’s Dice" because he feels he gets more personal with the crowd in that song. Braxton likes "Kiss Me, Softly" cause he gets to move around and interact more. Thomas likes "Black Lace" because he wrote it. Thomas is our Ringo; he only gets one.
5. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
We’ve met some great people that would be awesome to tour with from playing around Atlanta. Ramparts are some cool dudes; we’d tour with them any day. We met Go Robo Go! at Swayze’s when we were just starting out, and they kick serious ass. They’re going places, so they’d be good to shack up with. In our fantasies, we’d love to tour with Royal Blood or the Red Hot Chili Peppers or something. Dream big.
6. Any crazy show stories?
Well, one time we all got the flu right before the biggest show we had booked at that point. We got through it, though. Trey drank about a gallon and a half of pineapple juice beforehand, too. For some reason, he was convinced it would help. That’s as crazy as it gets. Sorry.
7. What’s your take on the current state of rock?
That’s a tough question. It’s a really big conversation, but from we’re standing, we are cautiously optimistic. The 14-year-olds in YouTube comment sections that insist the only real rock music was written before 1985 are the lowest forms of life. Rock is not dead, it just needs a kick in the pants.
8. What’s the current music scene like there in Georgia both locally and state wide?
We’ve been surprised at how active people are in the Atlanta community. There are a lot of subgenres of hardcore that you wouldn’t normally get to see, and it’s been a lot of fun to see how different everyone approaches it. It also gives us the opportunity to play with bands that are very different than we are. The scene’s been very welcoming of us, and we’re grateful.
9. What’s your take on legal/illegal music downloading?
We think everyone has their own opinion about this, but we feel pretty strongly that music should be as accessible as possible. Listen a lot; buy the albums you love, and we don’t think anyone could criticize you for devaluing music. We especially want our music to reach as many people as possible, so we certainly won’t charge a dime for the foreseeable future.
10. What’s next for The Amperes?
Another EP is absolutely in the works for later this year, but we’re not planning too far ahead. We’ve gotten a lot of exciting opportunities in the past few weeks, and we’re trying to be as open to all of them as possible. We’re going with the flow at the moment, but we will definitely keep everybody updated.
11. Any shoutouts?
Yeah, shout out to Nina Rossi from the Vinyl who booked us our first true shows downtown, and, of course, Lee Satterfield at Swayze’s for giving us our first shows ever. Shout out to Lee Jennings for making the EP so fun to record, and also our buddy Steven Sattler for carrying our stuff and being a bro. Also, our social media guy, Andrew; we’ve got great friends.
