ROCKNATION ISSUE 21
PAGE 13
BABYLON A.D.
Interview by Tom Mathers
Rocknation: Hello Derek Davis of Babylon A.D. and
welcome to Rocknation. Your band will be releasing an
EP CD called “Lost Sessions, Fresno CA 93”. Please tell
us about these tracks on the EP “While America Sleeps”,
“Love Blind”, “Love is a Mystery” and “Bang Go The
Bells”.
Derek: We had recorded the first three songs at a studio
in Fresno in 1993 and we all thought at the time that they
were really good, but had too much low end on them. They
sounded muddy to us we never put them out. Years go
by and I just kinda forgot about that session. Turns out I
had the master tape in an old trunk I have that has a lot of
Cd’s and tapes and demos from people I’ve worked with
and such. So I put the tape on and thought, “wow these
are very cool songs and I can fix the low end. Technology
has made it possible to do such tweaks to music that was
not available in 93. I spent some time in the studio on them
and now they sound great. “Bang Go The Bells” was
re-recorded in 2010 and I remixed and mastered that also.
So we have a pretty cool collectors item for any true
Babylon A.D. Fan.
Rocknation: I see Babylon A.D is booked at the Firefest
Rock Festival in Nottingham England on Oct 25th, 2014.
This is a huge event in England one of the top festivals.
You must be very excited to play in Europe, Have you
been in contact with any of the other bands, and are you
getting allot of fans contacting you on the Internet about
this show?
Derek: We have a lot of fans in Europe that contact us all
the time. We’ve got offers to play in Greece and also
Germany, which we are working on. Its gonna be a blast.
Rocknation: What other shows does the band have
booked in 2014?
Derek: Were playing selective dates across the states this
year. We’ve go two in CA, in April and May, One in Denver
on June 7th. The Firefest in Oct, The Rock and Skull Fest
in Chicago in November and were working on some more
summer dates. Any one that would like to find out more
about the exact gigs can go to our facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Babylonadband
Rocknation: I think it is great you have all of the original
members involved since so many bands only have one
member or the original roadie in the band. LOL. What kind
of fan response do you get from fans having all the original
members?
Derek: I think it’s better because it’s the real deal, Fans
expect to be paying for and want to see the band the way
they remember and still follow. It really does make a
difference. Plus we are pretty tight playing live after all
this time being together.
Rocknation: Let’s do a flash back to 1989 you caught the
attention of Arista Records president and industry music
mogul “Clive Davis”, who signed your band at a live
showcase in Los Angeles. How excited was the whole
band after this and what highlights come to mind?
Derek: I remember Clive jumping up out of his seat right
when we hit our last note and he said “welcome to the
family boys” We went out later that night to the Rainbow
and got totally wasted. We were out of control. Got in at
least 3 fights that I can remember and kept the party going
back at our band apartment with a house full of chicks for
the next couple days. Total Mayhem.
Rocknation: Please name of influences of other bands that
help create your music.
Derek: That’s hard because not only do I
write hard rock. I write Blues, industrial,
acoustic ballad stuff and I am working on
an R&B soul record at the moment.
So it’s just a balance of different
influences depending on the style I am
writing at the time.
Rocknation: What is some of the music
you listen to now?
Derek: I listen to a lot of different Music
when I am not writing and producing my
own. Anything from soul, blues, hard rock.
Amy Winehouse, Al Green, Monster
Magnet, Son House, Eminem,Just about
everything but Country. And I also still
listen to My own “Re-Volt” record that I
released last year all the time.
Rocknation: Thank you for taking time for
this interview and last words to the fans?
Derek: Ya come out to the shows. And
thanks for still being there for us. Babylon
A.D. fans ROCK!