www.facebook.com/deadreckoningofficial
From: Columbus, GA
Sounds like: Metal
Answered by: Mike K-OS Spriggs, Founder and Lead guitarist
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name “Dead Reckoning" and is there any meaning behind it?
I got started in music very young, my father played guitar and had it in my hands as soon as I could hold it haha. I slowly developed my sound which you hear in most of the songs on Rise of the Fallen with tons of experimenting. Unlike most metalheads I like almost all the sub genres so mixing ideas to me became a big deal. The name Dead Reckoning is a military term in land navigation. When I formed the band 3 of us were all active duty Army so it was important to keep the ideals we had. So we look at Dead Reckoning as basically our direction to push forward and make sure everyone hears what we have to offer!
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
I want people to just have a killer time! Mosh or throw down in whatever way you like to or just set there and watch us do what we do. But at the end of the day come and relax and forget your problems! A lot of this album is focused on problems we face day to day in life!
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
It’s a mix of many metal sub genres. If you don’t like one song we have wait till the next one and the odds are we will get you with one of them! We like to think we are mix of bands like Lamb of God, Slayer, BLS and any other band that just likes to kick your teeth in and throw down! We are known for our live performance, you wont see us just standing around we try to bring you a show!
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
We have luckily played with some of our idols, but touring would be our biggest dream with these bands like Lamb of God, Whitechapel, Devil Driver Etc. Playing one show is fun and all but we would be honored to learn from these guys and push ourselves even further with their help!
5. What are your three desert island albums that you'd never get tired of listening to?
For me 3 albums I couldn’t live without would probably be…. As the Palaces Burn. Lamb of God. Master of Puppets by Metallica and just so I can have something different lets go with Girls,Girls,Girls by Motley Crue! All killer albums in their own right, different ideas of metal at different times! Love them!
6. What’s your take on the current state of Metal?
Honestly I see it getting better than it has been in the last 10 years or so. Who knows if it will ever reach great heights like it was in 80s and 90s but I still see it as an amazing community that im honored to be apart of. If bands will band together and help one another more often instead of only looking out for themselves we could build it strong as it can be. But the days of the million dollar record contracts is long gone, we have to do it alone almost!!!
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Georgia both locally and state wide?
Unfortunately what we would call local is not a thing, metal is too heavy for this town these days or clubs I should say and whats sad is we are part of an Army base with soldiers I know want metal. As a state they have high times where several shows will do amazingly but then something happens and they fall dead again. Might be a promotional problem because there are soooo many ways to reach people its almost impossible to find everyone in one or two places. Years ago we had one or 2 radio stations and you could see flyers up on walls but no people don’t even look at the flyers on the walls because they are on their phones…..This is why we are pushing to be a national touring band because we honestly have more success on the road!
8. What’s your take on legal/illegal music downloading?
I have always been against this, but I'm hoping with the new rules signed for streaming services and all soon we will start seeing some type of change. Funny all of us laughed at Lars from Metallica over Napster and he was sadly right.
9. What’s next for Dead Reckoning?
Now that we just released Rise of the Fallen and we now have what we call the final lineup. We have a ton of goals. Mainly start pushing our touring harder and harder, this year we are shooting for minimum 3 National tours where we hit all lower 48 states. We also are talking with a friend that is a label owner and with his help we can open the Mexico and European market up to us which is very exciting. And more exciting to us is just writing music again, we put a hold on all that to release Rise of the Fallen so we could get away from the older music and start working towards the new us! So we are very excited in what 2019 and 2020 have in store for us and we will be pushing hard!!!
10. Any shoutouts?
I just wanna say thank you to all the people who have helped us get this far! We have had people donate money to help us get big name shows and we have had some amazing people join the Dead Army over the years! So to all of you!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we will be busting our butts to tour to an area near you and new music on the horizon! Love you all!!!! \m/
