Saw*Kick Media

As a former Alternative Press unsigned band of the month, Amplexus have garnered the attention of fans coast to coast with its spicy blend of melodic hard rock. Running the mean streets of Cleveland and Kent, Northeast Ohio is lucky enough to have them hanging out in its collective backyard. We got a chance to talk to Mahlon, Chris and Billy about the advantages of being an unsigned band, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the bands lethal ultimate Frisbee skills.

S*KM: You recently traveled to New Jersey to have one of your live performances streamed over the internet. How was that experience for you, and where do you see technology taking the accessibility of music beyond the ridiculous heights we have already seen?

Mahlon: I think in two years we will be able to scuba dive and download albums over the internet at the same time. Underwater. Jammin. Its ridiculous and scary how far technology has come, so since its here we might as well take advantage of it. Its never been so easy to get your hands on music these days and without even having to leave your couch. So in a way the technology is good. But it also means that’s more junk I have to teach my dad. Might not sound that bad, but trust me, It gets old.

Chris: Overall the experience was amazing. It was something we had never done before and it’s always good to get out of town to do something band orientated. The opportunity actually came as a “prize” for being selected as musicemissions.com independent artist of the year. Thrice, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Underoath had all played there before so it was extremely cool to follow in their footsteps.

S*KM: We know Amplexus refers to frogs knocking boots and is Latin for embrace. Since there is only one founding member (Mahlon Rhodes Vocals) left from the original line up, is there anyone who can tell us how the name came to be? If I didn’t know any better it sounds like a WWE finishing move.

Mahlon: I think when we came up with the name; we were jackasses and thought it was awesome. We seriously considered changing it several times, but I guess it just wouldn’t let go. I’m really glad it ended up meaning something cool that we can actually relate the name to (thank god). Then again, band names aren’t really cool unless the band is actually good, thats when it starts sounding cool to people. I don’t know what that means for us. Names are pretty lame in general though.

Chris: The name actually was the idea of the first bass player. He was in med school and noticed the name in a biology book. I think the deciding factor was based more on how the name rolled off the tongue than the actual meaning. The “embrace” meaning fits us better in a variety of ways now with this current line up and we (at least I) have kind of dismissed the frog sex thing as being somewhat of immature for what we’re trying to accomplish. We’ve embraced music as our lives, we want the listener to embrace the songs, and we hope that we will always be able to do this as a career. But, before anyone wanted to get in to a huge inquiry about the name I would just say that we’d rather be identified by the music itself, rather than the band name label we use for it.

S*KM: Here at Saw*Kick we have dubbed 2008 the year for live music. What format do you think delivers the truest representation of the Amplexus sound?

Chris: I would hope that both formats represent us honestly. The studio and playing live are just two facets of how we want to be represented. From the studio, you get a crisp, clean representation of the music and songwriting and can most likely hear the nuances that make recording such an amazing art form. You can focus so much more effort into making things perfect, which translates into hours spent on one individual song. During a live show that normally only lasts an hour you don’t have that luxury of having everything sound exactly how you want it to. Stage presence is another variable that isn’t present in the studio. I know live I would much rather miss-hit a note on bass than just stand there with my thumb up my ass making sure I played like I was in an orchestra. I’m not saying its ok to mess up, because we try to play live as perfectly as we can but you also have to consider putting a memorable show and showing people that you feel the music you made through your presence on stage. Hopefully they will feel it to if you do a good job of this. We’re constantly fighting to make ourselves as open and vulnerable during our live performances as possible so that the entire venue sees and understands how much music means to us. Finally, most any live show is going to be more intense, heavier, more moving, and all around a better experience than popping a tape in your walk-man and going for a jog along the brook. We just really appreciate both forms and feel that they both bring out different things in our songs.

S*KM: You have been selected by a few national publications as unsigned artists of the month or year. Have you been approached by any significant labels looking to be in the Amplexus business?

Amplexus: No Comment

S*KM: In your experience has it been more beneficial to receive all this attention and praise for being an unsigned band, as apposed to being singed to a small local label?

Mahlon: I don’t know honestly. I think we would work with a small local label if it was a situation where they could help us in ways we couldn’t help ourselves. Otherwise there isn’t really a point. Somewhere down the line we”ll meet the right people and I think they’ll be able to help us reach people and places we wouldn’t get to on our own. Hopefully people stop giving us props for being unsigned and we fade into the sea of “signed bands” with Hummers, just kidding.

Billy: Being unsigned and running our business the way in which we do is great at times and frustrating at others. We are currently in control of every facet of our business. We run the entire ship as if we were our own independent label. This is great because you don’t have to worry about others making decisions on our behalf, but at the same time we aren’t always free to focus on the most important part of it all which is the music. There will be a time when we will partner up and take on the help of a bigger team but for now we are focusing on ourselves and working as hard as possible.

Chris: That’s kind of hard to answer because I can’t speak from the side of being signed to a small local label. Most small labels are loan sharks or the band falls into a position of having to pay a label to do things they can’t do themselves. The way I look at it is the attention we have received is a result of us busting our asses. We work so hard and it, which makes it that much more gratifying when it pays off in different ways. We started off playing at the smallest clubs to about 20 of our friends and now we consistently draw 200-300 in Kent. A lot of this was a result of learning how to promote and what you need to do to get people interested in you as a band.

S*KM: With so many bands trying to “make it” they sometimes seem to lose focus of why they started playing music in the first place. At what point will you consider your time spent in the music business a success, or did that happen the first time you took the stage?

Mahlon: When I smell my arm pits after 9 days of not showering, a week straight of eating gas station hot dogs (gas station cuisine), and after my handle bar moustache fully comes in. I’ll look towards the eastern sun, call my mom and tell her that her boy is a man, and we made it. I definitely did not think “we made it” after our first show. In fact, I probably thought, “ man, this is really cool, but we should probably practice A LOT more.

Billy: Obviously the longer you play music and are on the level of an independent act you feel the gears of time grinding. It is an extremely gratifying job at times and one of the most trying paths in other times. Ultimately there really isn’t much of a choice for any of us because we know that nothing could make us happier than to play music for a living.

Chris: To me “making it” is being able to play music for a living, while having enough money to eat, pay rent, and go to good will to get t shirts. It would be unrealistic to have the goal of selling out the Q at this point in our careers. You can have successes along the way to smaller goals, eventually getting to an ultimate goal. For example, Deus Ex Machina was the most important thing I have ever been a part of in my life. The writing and recording was so intense and I really don’t know what I would have done if we weren’t able to complete in the way that we did (without anyone telling us what to do and how to do it). But I’m not going to call it quits just because we accomplished one amazing goal. Before we were even done recording we were planning a tour for the summer. In between playing a ton of shows in the fall we started writing new music, now were talking about demo-ing a couple songs for a new album. To do this for a living, in my opinion, you always have to be thinking about the next step. When I can afford clothes shelter and food because of plaing music, one of my next goals will be to get a murdered out LeBarron and a multi-flavored Gatorade fountain for my shitty apartment.

S*KM: You recently had to replace your drummer after Andy Mares who departed the band for the Air Force. Are there any Amplexus hazing rituals new members endure during the acclamation period?

Mahlon: Ever seen Full Metal Jacket?

Billy: No hazing rituals persay. The tryout process was intense and we tried to put each person through the most intense try out process as possible. Having to replace a drummer is so tough for so many reasons that we didn’t want to have to go through it again.

S*KM: Time to loosen things up a bit, which was the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, one or two? If you say three the interview is over, if you say the new animated movie, a Saw*Kick handler will immediately be on your door step to punch you in the face.

Mahlon: Secret of the ooze, easy. I couldn’t stand watching the foot soldiers kicking the crap out of Raphael in the first one. Plus that kid Danny sucks and the second April O’neal is pretty comparable to the first one. Also Kino was the man and Casey Jones looked like he was homeless.

Billy: I saw the first one in the theater and it changed my life for a long period of time. I still have all my original toys at home.

S*KM: Do you guys like to hang out as a band off stage, maybe taken in a matinee, or play a rousing game of Monopoly, if neither what is Amplexus’ favorite past time?

Mahlon: Definitely, I think we could form a pretty lethal band ultimate Frisbee team. Probably a devastating flag football team too.

Chris: Actually a lot of time we try to just hang out but someone will pick up a guitar and we’ll start working on something and before it’s the thimbles turn to pass go, we’ll be at the computer recording something. Normally we throw a football around as therapy, going to shows, watching our favorite shows like curb your enthusiasm, listening to new music that inspires us.

S*KM: What do we have to look forward to from Amplexus in the future?

Billy: Lots of new music and other good stuff.

You can listen to Amplexus for yourself at www.myspace.com/amplexusrock and catch them live next on Wednesday, July 2, at The Bar Fly in Akron, Ohio.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.