Interview with Illbreak

Chris Gonda recently had the chance to speak with the members of Illbreak. They chatted about their recent victory in the competition entitled “Search for the Next Rockstar”, their new album and what the future holds for their band.

You recently won a competition called “Search for the Next Rock Star”. How did you guys first come to find out about the contest and was it easy to enter into?
Illbreak: We heard about the contest from a friend and we entered without much thought of where it might take us. There were a lot of quality bands in the competition and we even faced a band that we are good friends with in the finals.

How did you guys learn that you were one of the final eleven bands selected for the contest and how did the news make you feel?
Illbreak: When we won the battle in Atlanta we knew we would be competing in Gulfport, but we really had no idea what the details of the grand prize were. Obviously, we were pumped when we found out we were competing for a record deal.

What was it like during the competition? Did you play different shows with all of the eleven finalists or was it more broken up? At the time did you have a good feeling that you could win the whole contest?
Illbreak: The finals were held at the Grand Casino in Gulfport over two nights. The first night all eleven bands played three songs. Then the panel of judges selected five bands to move on and play on the second night. The first night was a disaster by our personal standards (cords coming out of the bass, guitar out of tune for a whole verse, and the drums almost falling off the riser,etc.). Somehow we were selected as one of the five bands to move on to the next night and we knew we had a shot. We got up on stage and blistered a set the second night.

How awesome was it when you were declared the winners?
Illbreak: That was a surreal moment for all of us. We knew all the work we had done in our lives led us to that moment and things would be a lot different. It was unbelievable.

What have your lives been like since having won the contest? Obviously you were granted the recording contract and have in that time finished your debut album, but otherwise have you guys generally been busy as heck?
Illbreak: Well they say that everything in the music business is hurry up and wait. TRUE. But really in the grand scheme of things we are right on schedule and getting busier everyday. We have made a commitment to do this so now we’re like ‘cool we got 20 tour dates, what else?’ Before it was like ‘ cool we got a show in 3 weeks.’

For that matter, what does the average day currently consist of for Illbreak?
Illbreak: Fast food and lots of billboards.

Is the recording studio experience new to you and if not, was this particular experience any different from past ones?
Illbreak: Well, we’ve had two previous studio experiences before, the first being a one day live tracking of three songs. Never hearing our music recorded before, we were excited, although it was sort of rough. The next was a 5 song EP that we recorded with James Salter at Berkeley Park studios. We were able to spend about 4 days on that and were actually quite pleased with the way it sounded. But it turned out we entered the contest right after we finished it, and went on to win and make a professional record. We spent a month in recording time alone on this record, and had a blast doing it! It was very nice to have that much time to materialize our creative visions.

So many bands go a lifetime without catching that one break which ignites their careers. After roughly three years you guys already caught the break of a lifetime. In spite of your obvious hard work, how does it feel to be where you are today in such a short time?
Illbreak: We’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. However, there is a lot of hard work ahead and we’re eager to take it to the next level.

As per the archetypal rock interview question; where did you guys get your band name and what, if anything, does it signify?
Illbreak: It came about during the writing process. If we wrote a transition or break or something that we thought was particularly bad ass, we would call it an “illbreak”. So it stuck.

You guys have done so much in so little time. How did you guys initially form and what were you doing as a band up until the point that you enrolled in the aforementioned contest?
Illbreak: We all met in the town of Carrollton, GA and started jamming together in Matt’s garage. Many days of grinding practices happened inside those walls and I think we all felt that we had something that meshed creatively. We then focused on writing enough songs (or song ideas as we like to call them) to go out on the scene and start getting some feedback from the Atlanta music crowd.

Who are some of your musical inspirations and influences? Do you have a sound or band that you aspire to be like or is Illbreak about you exploring yourselves musically and creatively?
Illbreak: We have a wide range of influences including Tool, Incubus, 311, The Cure, The Police, Deftones, Jeff Buckley, Ours, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, and Radio Head just to name a few. But the best thing about Illbreak is that we strive to be original! All of us come from a different musical background and as a result, we broaden each others horizons to different styles and moods in our playing.

Your debut disc “The Flood” (scheduled to be released in September) had one heck of an impressive production team. Who were some of the people who helped you guys out and what was it like working with them?
Illbreak: We did our initial preproduction work with Chris Henderson and Todd Harrell of 3 Doors Down right after we won the competition. Then we went to Memphis to record with Paul Ebersold and Geoff Ott in Paul’s studio, 747. These studio greats have worked with the likes of Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Saliva, Nickelback, Sister Hazel, Spacehog, and of course, 3 Doors. It was an honor to have such a talented team producing our music and the proof is in the pudding, our record sounds incredible!

Do you think that you learned a lot from this experience? If so, can you elaborate?
Illbreak: Yes. We’ve learned a lot about the nature of the business. It’s a lot more than just playing music and having a good time. There is much work to do to be able to live that dream.

“How it Feels” is your first certified single. What other tracks on this debut album could potentially be singles? Furthermore, oftentimes singles are not necessarily an artist’s favourite song. Do you have any songs on this album that you like more than “How it Feels?”
Illbreak: We can answer both questions with the same answers, “Carry the Light”, “Mermaid Song”, and the title track, “The Flood”.

What are your touring plans like in order to support this release? Is your tour scheduled to be for the U.S. only or will it be more extensive?
Illbreak: Just the U.S. for right now, but the World is next.

This is no doubt an awesome experience for you all. Do you find so far that the music industry is as amazing and as crazy as you had envisioned? Have you encountered any of the stereotypical corporate BS yet?
Illbreak: This has been an awesome experience for us and we have come to witness first hand many positive and negative sides to the business. This is a crazy business with lots of BS just like in any other business. We just try to remember the reasons why we started playing music in the first place and focus on the next show. That is all that we have.

Now that you have a chance to make a big name for Illbreak and yourselves as musicians, what do you intend to do with this opportunity?
Illbreak: CAPITALIZE!  [ END ]