ION INDIE MAGAZINE December 2015, Volume 19 | Page 87

By DR X
In original rock bands there are all different levels of success...from zero to a bazillion
and everything in between. The way things are today in the music world, it just isn't
talent alone that determines where a band finds itself on that scale of success. Shit,
talent is everywhere...EVERYWHERE! It is the place where talent itself is created that
make these bands successful: DEDICATION and HARD WORK! Just look at your local music
scene. There are bands that you have never heard of and never will, because they come
and go as fast as the pages on your calendar. How much devotion did those cats have?
How dedicated? How hard did they work? Then there are the bands that rise to the top
of their regional music scene. These bands, more times than not--many more times than
not--aren't made up of the hot new talent in the area. They are made up of the veterans
of the local pool of musicians; the remnants of the bands that came and went before that
and fell apart for as many reasons as there are bands…Jimmy quit, Jody got married...
I'm so sorry--I couldn't resist. OK, I'm not sorry. But you see, Jimmy and Jody had a limit
of dedication and hard work--Brian didn't. OK, I guess that was kinda lame. But the talent
and sacrifice and the suffering for the art and dedication and hard work are what make
these top bands who they are.
CIRCLESWITCH is one of those top-tier bands--hailing from the Midwest music hot-spot
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. CircleSwitch is Kenny James (vox), Danny Rodic (guitars),
Johnny “ROCKit” Wahlen (bass) and Eddie Gunz (drums). CircleSwitch puts it this way: “A
band with an artistic, melodically driven, and straightforward brand of Hard Rock.
Together they found chemistry very unique to their previous endeavors and decided to
pursue a sound that paid tribute to the old school, yet different enough to be on the
cutting edge of something entirely new.” HELL YEAH! I mean, shit, isn't that the point?
To do your thing and find your own sound? I sure as hell think it is!
These guys have all been in tons of bands before the incarnation of CircleSwitch. What
did we say earlier? The best bands are the ones made of musicians from other groups
that came and went...out of the guys and chicks that stuck it out; the ones that probably
couldn't stop if their damn lives depended on it. The crème de la crème. That is exactly
what these guys are--minus the ego and drama and bullshit. Salt-of-the-earth musicians
from southern Wisconsin and Chicago-land that somehow have come together and
become something greater than the sum of the parts: CircleSwitch.
After drooling over their new-to-me gear, as gear-heads do, we headed out to the lounge
area to find out a little more about CircleSwitch. When a band gets to this level, the music
is only half of the word that is most applicable: Music-BUSINESS. CircleSwitch doesn't
come off as a bunch of guys with day-jobs and a nice little rock-n-roll hobby on the side.
It feels to me like the jobs are there to make sure this musical addiction and need and
life are fulfilled. I, for one, can relate with that on every level. The tools of the trade,
AKA...PRO gear, doesn't just fall off of the UPS or FedEx truck in your driveway. But, these
guys have transcended that level and have pooled their collective experience to make
some killer music AND make the business end work. At this point the band generates the
revenue needed to sustain itself with DVD, CD, merchandise and ticket sales. That's a
pretty damn good place to be if you ask me. Hell, I make more money than I ever have at
my day-job and I pour it all into my band. Not these guys. So I had to ask, “How the hell
do you guys get this to work for you?” The answer was in the question...WORK. They
work at it and keep as much of it in house as they can. One of the ways they achieve this