Track of the Day – Brake Vegas

Sleazegrinder has the skinny on today’s free MP3…

Brake Vegas are not from Vegas, they are from Dallas, and they sound like Mötley Crüe, if Mötley Crüe were grizzly bears from Texas. Five months after getting together, they released the hot-off-the-presses Strap Up Ep, a six-song bruiser full of full-on sleaze metal and 80s tinged cock n’ roll. We will hear one such track in just a bit, but first, the mandatory gauntlet of gibberish. I talked to lead screamer Kyle Ainsley, and this is how it sounded.
First, the vitals: How’d this all happen?

It started in a dark basement bar over double jack n cokes, and it was finalized at Vinnie Paul’s strip club, The Clubhouse. Sounds so cliché, I know, but it’s the fucking truth.  It’s amazing how quickly shit comes together when your five dudes deep with nothing to lose all willing to risk everything to take on the world.

So far, is it easier or harder to get laid, now that you’re in Brake Vegas?

Getting laid is always hard when you’re in your 20s still living at mom and dad’s, but we all figure out a way to get by and take care of business.

Is Can’t Stop Cookin’ about ribs or meth?

Or Ass? You left that one out. It’s pretty much about a night on the town, to be quite honest. On any given night, whatever the night brings, there is always a party to be had. The last thing it would ever be about is meth, we found ourselves accidentally at a meth house not too long ago. Let’s just say we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

What was it like recording the EP? Where there any tears involved?

It’s the first record we have ever recorded, so with that being said, we worked our asses off and saved every dime to pay for the recording, mastering, and packaging. We were broke as hell but we all had a vision of what we wanted, and it had to be perfect in every way. Everyone had there frustrating moments when it came to tracking, but everyone picked each other up, and I think we came out with a fuckin kickass EP exactly the way we wanted it to sound. Just wait till the full length comes out…

Can you give us asome highlights of your live show history so far? Also, any gigs from hell you can recount for us?

Lets see, so far at our live shows in the past year we’ve, blown numerous amp heads, blew other bands’ amp heads, fallen off stage,  passed out while playing, stopped the show to fight the sound guy, broke a guitar in half, broke a nose,  broke a leg – literally,  and played on top of a crowd while stage diving inside an art gallery. We go hard at each show, and on any given night anything can happen. Whiplash hangovers always feel good, too. As far as shows from hell there aren’t really any to speak of, but we did play an L.A. Guns show back in February in Dallas, and that was pretty damn close, but we went out swingin’. Cancelled shows on tour suck, too.

Being from Texas, people just naturally assume you all are capable of all sorts of manliness. So, for the record, what’s the biggest thing any of you have killed, preferably with your bare hands?

Killed? I’m sure each of us have a few things come to mind we would like to get our hands on, but not much you can get away with this day in time. One of us did conquer a broad close to 250-300 lbs on tour… Now if that doesn’t take a man to do then I don’t know what does. Being from Texas is kickass, we take a lot of pride saying this is where we come from.

Does anybody in the band have weird/awesome/worrying hobbies outside of rock n’ roll?

I don’t think anyone in the band has any really weird crazy shit going on in their private lives. We all pretty much hang out. We like to hit up the bars, shoot some stick, party, listen to music, party, and sometimes, if you catch us on a good day, we will be poolside catchin’ some cosmic rays and, well, you know, partyin’. We all consider each other brothers and I think that really comes across well on stage.

Joan Jett or Lita Ford? I mean, if you had to pick one?

Gonna go with Lita Ford for 500 on that one Sleaze. That’s a bad bitch. Especially in the Kiss Me Deadly video. She didn’t look too bad on That Metal Show a while back either.

Can you name three bands, besides Brake Vegas of course, that Classic Rock readers would love, if only they’d heard of them? Lay your obscure faves on us!

There are alot of badass rock n’ roll bands on the rise, especially here in the state of Texas. It’s hard for a lot of those bands to be heard, given the situation of today’s radio standards, and the fact that most bands either aren’t willing to bust their ass and go get it rather than waiting for it to come to them, or most just don’t see the importance of taking their sound out on the road. But, we hope to change all of that soon enough. If enough people want the rock back, it will come back kickin’ ass harder than ever. Choosing three bands is tough, most classic rock magazine readers have got there shit together as far as music knowledge goes, but I will say this to all of you readers out there, get your asses out on the town and go to shows, get out of your house spend a few bucks and support some live music coming through your area. You’re bound to find one that will catch you off guard with a sucker punch.

Finally, when on the road, what’s the policy for pee? Is it bottles or jugs, or do you hold it until the next rest stop?

Adam, Matt, and Kells do the van pissing thing with supreme accuracy, I think the Sunny D bottle got the most work this past tour, Beers shits all the time, and I can pretty much hold it in for hours on end if needed. I must say though, two-week old spilt curdled milk takes the cake over any piss bottle leaks, throw up, or B.O. as far as rancid van smells go.

Good to know!

And now, onto the Rock. Here, courtesy of the band, is Born On The Blacklist, the opening salvo on StrapUp.
http://rapidshare.com/files/255834269/01-Born_On_The_Blacklist.mp3

If you dig what you hear, you can buy the EP from ‘em on their Myspace page. You can also, if you’re inclined, vote for them to open up for Mötley Crüe next month in Dallas. They’d appreciate it. I mean, imagine the chicks and booze they’d have access to? C’mon, they live with their moms, give the fuckers a break. Details in the links below.

www.kdge.com
www.myspace.com/brakevegas

- Sleaze