Channeling the late 80's Los Angeles rock scene, Cream Pie brings something to the table that in many ways is missing from music today: attitude. That attitude comes across in their music and is one of the great things about these comers'. I recently caught up with them. The following is my account of our conversation.
Q: Tell me about how the band came to be.
A: Nikki: I started this band in 2004 with Joey Florenz (former singer/guitarist) in Italy and we went through some line up changes till this year. In 2006 we hooked up with Brian Kent (drums) and Michael Drake (bass). Then in 2008 Joey quit and we got Rachel O’Neill (vocals) and Vito Losito (guitar) which we had our first American tour together. Then later in 2008 Phantom joined the band as new guitarist and Rachel left right before the tour in Florida this year. So we got Alexander as new singer just in may.
Q: The band has had it's share of lineup changes. How has that effected the music?
A:Nikki: Well fortunately we always had really talented musicians in this band. And I’m not just talkin’ about instrumental abilities. The first thing we always kept our focus on has been the song writing.
Q: What's the first thing people should know about your band?
A: Nikki: I think everybody should keep an eye on us. We aren’t just another band and what we are trying to do is something really important. We’re really tryin’ to put together some great music.
Phantom: Nothing and none is gonna bring us down, keep that in mind!
Brian: We're really willing to become a new reality.
Q: What would you say makes your sound unique? What defines you?
A: Nikki: Well you know, we still sing & play guitars, I mean we aren’t one of those bands of today that make just noise and is loud as hell. For us the melodies are really important. And we are not tryin’ to copy anybody else’s music in 2009. We just play what we like and what we know to do. I mean we’ll never wake up tomorrow morning and change our music genre cuz Tokyo Hotel and Linkin Park are on the top of the charts!
Brian: And we don’t really care about the 80's sound or the new wave of Swedish glam metal. Usually we don't write music thinkin' what the style of the moment is. We just put in music our ideas so a song could sound punk, rock or metal…it doesn’t matter… the important thing is that our music is a glare of what we are.
Q: Talk about “downtown pirates.” When is it coming out, what is it's status, what has it been like recording it, etc.?
A: Nikki: All I can say is that after this tour in Florida we will keep our focus on the new album Downtown Pirates for the next months. We already have like 10 songs ready but we’re still writin’ a lot. We started the pre-production of songs like Downtown Pirates, Take Me Back, Have Fun, It’s All Gone and Missin’ You. You can hear the preview of a new song called No Love Remains on our websites (www.myspace.com/creampieblue and www.creampierocks.com). So anyway we still don’t have any release plan for this new album but we’ll try to release it next year for sure. I would say that it will sound a lot different from our first album Dirty Job.
Q: Talk about your single, “No love remains.” How did it come about, what was the writing process, what's the song all about?
A: Nikki: I wrote No Love Remains earlier this year (2009) in January. I didn’t plan about writin’ it but it just came out spontaneous. It was the best picture of my feelings at the time. I was going through a lot of stress and some personal crazy stuff. I first wrote the whole rhythm guitar and the vocals melodies at the same time in like 2 minutes. I didn’t even have to change any part of the song. Then some days later I wrote the lyric. We recorded this song in like a week right before to leave and go play in Florida. There’s a lot of stuff on it. Which every musician in the band recorded his own instrument, Michael took care of the orchestral arrangements too makin’ a great job, and our engineer Domenico Colonna recorded the harp. It has been always clear on my mind how to record the song and I’m really satisfied of the final result. Everybody put all his-self in this song and Rachel recorded a great voice on it. I recorded the acoustic guitar, the electric, some fills during the chorus and the first guitar solo. Phantom recorded the electric, some clean arpeggios during the pre-chorus and the second guitar solo. Brian did an awesome job on the drums. I think that if you listen to this song you can really feel that it comes from the heart and I can say that I still have chills listening to it. For me it’s a old style song, I can place it in the 70’s and sounds like Led Zeppelin style but with a modern sound.
Complete the following sentences:
Cream Pie sounds like: a mix between Guns N’ Roses, L.A. Guns, Skid Row, Motley Crue and Wasp.
Radio music today is: Nikki: No comment; Phantom: Business; Brian: I prefer to listen to my cds.
The best band nobody has ever heard of is: Nikki: I’m keepin’ an eye on this new band in California called Sick Loves…
Playing live makes you feel: Wild and crazy
- In 2012 Cream Pie will be: Nikki: Hopefully something big…; Brian: Probably dead cause the end of the world, ahahahahah!!!
