Rolling the Stones – The Interview

Last year was one of the more fantastic finales we’ve seen at Ultimate Music Challenge. It was a battle between four UMC heavyweights: Monsters of Rock, who perform hard rock music in a monstrous fashion; Siren’s Crush, a spectacular funk and Motown Unit featuring three irresistible “sirens” at the fore, Don’t Stop Believin’ (a Journey tribute in which we never stopped believing) and Rolling the Stones, a Stones tribute that would make Brian Jones roll in his grave with jealousy.

Going in to the finals, the judges pretty much felt – based on a couple of underachieving sets in the semis by Monsters and The Stones  – that it was going to be a shootout  between Don’t Stop Believing and Siren’s Crush. But that was until Rolling the Stones took the stage. And from the moment they began, well, it was magic.

Here’s what I wrote about that performance on last year’s blog.

From the moment Mick Adams (A.K.A. Mick Jagged) came bounding onto that stage, till their full-band, theater-bow at the end, it was pure rock and roll delight. . .

What a chill-spilling performance, what with Mick gliding back and forth on the stage while the colored girls sang “ooh-ooh” over and over again, and sounding more like a wind instrument (flute perhaps?) than vocals, and “Keith” again, nailing that gorgeous “Sympathy” slop-solo that just spills out of the PA like an upturned bottle of KickAss.

The song list was to die for. They opened with “Brown Sugar,” which was a great, set-launching choice, followed by the spine-tingling “Gimme Shelter” (featuring Sherr Aquino’s oh-so-witchy co-vocals), then “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” with that awesome percussion jam at the end, and Jackson Martin (Keith Riffhard)\ nailing Keith’s guitar parts on tone, style and spacing. That was the shit! Or so I thought, until they started playing “Sympathy for the Devil,” and realized that was the shit and the previous shit was just a bit of flatulence in comparison.

Anyway, as I do every year, I interview the winner of the previous Ultimate Music Challenge; mostly because I want to know what they did with the money, but also, to ask what their strategies were, and if they have any advice for current contestants, and to just get inside their heads and see what they were thinking at crunch time.

What follows is an interview with Vince Lupo (A.K.A. Charlie Swatts), Jackson Martin (A.K.A. Keith Riffhard) and some limited commentary from Mick Adams (A.K.A. Mick Jagged) – so, follow along with me, Bloglodytes, as we turn back the clock  and relive the glory of the champions of Ultimate Music Challenge 3, introducing, Rolling the Stones.

THE INTERVIEW

Ed Decker: So, 20 thousand dollars eh? What did you do with the cash?

Vince Lupo: Right out of the chute you ask me this? Really? What did we do with that cash, anyway? We cut it up nine ways (it’s easier to transport that way), set a little aside for a rainy day and held a small victory party months later. Seriously, in this economy, most everyone paid bills, bought food, the usual. Sorry, folks, no wild parties. Next time we promise debauchery to some degree. Our ‘after parties’ are getting a reputation.

Jackson Martin: I told my wife if we won, she would get half of my share, and she did, which was $2000.00. . . The other $1000.00, I pissed away in grand fashion.

Ed: What was your game plan for the contest?

Jackson: Our overall game plan for the UMC was to devastate any competition, shine like the sun, and get our hands on the prestige, glory and cash. We did use some secret weapons which I cannot divulge, but trust me, there are ways of wringing points out of the system.

Vince: Jackson and I started to come up with a game plan the very first night that we were accepted into the competition. I remember that conversation. We felt all along that we could win. After all, you have to have faith in your abilities. As rehearsals rolled along, we started to gel and believe we could indeed win it all. One major strategy was going to all of the shows each Sunday. We took it all in, listened to all the advice/criticism of the esteemed judges and rehearsed all the little nuances that have become a trademark of RTS shows.

Round One and the Semis pretty much went according to plan except for one very important piece of info we found out during the semis. Keith and I noted that one of the groups in the semis repeated a few tunes; we falsely heard that you’d lose judging point for this. We asked Judge #2 [Alicia Champion] about that and found repeats to be well within the bounds of good strategy. Bingo! We repeated a show stopper in the finals which we believe was one of the reasons we finished on top. Then, all heck broke loose when we were announced the winner. What a special moment, exhilarating; thrilling even.

Ed: What has happened to your career AFTER the competition?

Vince: Our first year has become a whirlwind and we owe our start to the UMC! . . . As it turns out, we were being scouted during the shows by agents from both San Diego and Las Vegas which, in turn, led us to our management company, Mirage Tribute Bands. We’ve been told that our star has been rising far more rapidly than is usual by rock & roll industry standards and, in retrospect, we know that’s true to an extent. We’ve been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, to perform at only the best venues to the best fans ever! An enthusiastic, packed audience at the House of Blues, San Diego. Magical. Five days later an almost sold out legendary Las Vegas Hilton Theater, the house that Elvis built. Billboard, TV, forthcoming magazine article. Overwhelming, almost. Then to be moving about the nation a little starting this summer? Amazing! You’d be pinching yourself as I do every day, my friend.

Ed: What advice do you have for current competing bands?

Vince:

1. It’s a show – put one on.

2. It’s one round at a time, so rehearse 20 minutes of your best material until you’re sick and let go of it after that.

3. In the motto of the Boy Scouts, BE PREPARED! You’ll appreciate it when something goes wrong, and you know something will, right?

4. Put it all out there and hold nothing back. Show the world how bad you want it. Visualize winning it all. Believe.

5. If you think that it’s only about the music so you’re gonna kick ass, you’re mistaken. It’s about putting on an entire show, end to end . . . It’s so important to engage the audience. That’s your job as an entertainer.

Mick: Push the energy level of your performance right thru the roof. Also, even though we were a new band, we wanted to be really confident, to try to stay as relaxed as possible, and not get too rattled by what the judges said.

Jackson: The only advice I have for current bands is this: if you are going to do it, do it right; don’t half-ass it, I mean really go in there with your heart on your sleeve. If you do that and give your absolute best, you win where it counts (holy crap, do I sound like Tony Robbins?). You can say ‘corny’, but I know better; it matters to me what I do and everybody in RTS was the same way going in. All of us gave our all and worked our butts off.

Ed: What were some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen by bands this year so far?

Jackson: First, several bands that I thought would do well did not appear to take it seriously, did not bring fans or they did not really spend the time putting together a winning set list, along with presentation, and practice enough to insure the delivery that is needed to achieve the level of performance necessary to win. It seems as if there were some bands who were overconfident and took the win for granted.

Ed: Tell me about your last practice. What was going through your heads? What was said? What was argued about? Did it feel right?

Vince: We didn’t have any arguments, which is a stretch for this crew. . .  And, boy, when we were done, I remember saying to myself that was the tightest set we had done. . . We knew what the set was going to be like when we put “Gimme Shelter” back in as a repeat. That’s the tune I was talking about earlier.  Also, do you recall that we did “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” that night? Believe me, that was a huge risk but we all felt it would show another side of RTS, stretching our limits, not just another Stones bar band. We said at rehearsal that nothing would stop us, we’re gonna win this no matter what, no one has this kind of material left in their arsenal, we still gotta bring the crowd for the noise factor, still have to go full tilt for 30 solid minutes, yadda yadda.

Ed: One of the amazing things about your band is how much you look and act like your counterparts. Not a lot of tribute bands can claim that. Usually they have one, maybe two guys who look like somebody in the band they are tributing. Was this a happy accident, or by design?

Vince: We started as a Stones’ tribute but didn’t think it would grow to these proportions. We’ve noticed that same detail over time; one or two good likenesses. Maybe a Mick or Keith, or Mick and Keith, but not all five!

See, I never thought that I resembled Charlie Watts in a million years. Others saw that. You should have seen the “Ronnie” we had when I auditioned! Blond hair, blue eyes, built. Nothing like Ronnie Wood at all. Another was a lefty. Another wouldn’t do the note-for-note thing. The running gag is, we went through dozens of Ronnies until we met Ozzie who, coincidentally, answered an ad as a background singer. I kept looking at his photo thinking, Hmmmmm, sure looks more like Ron Wood.

[Author’s note – Ozzie Mancinelli has departed from RTS and is currently fronting semifinalist group, The PettyBreakers]

But it all started with Keith and Bill. I came along two months later. We were on our second Mick when we decided to go see another Stones band in Orange County. The guy playing Mick was fantastic! Riveting! But the band lacked everything else. On a second occasion, our Keith —that little social butterfly—approached him, got a phone number, talked two days later and the rest is history.

Ed: Who would win in a cage match to the death between you and your counterparts and why?

Vince: I would beat the real Charlie Watts. Italians know how to fight dirty. Watts would be asleep with da fishes.

Jackson: Keith always carries a knife in his boot. Really. So if they took that away from him, I would kick his wrinkly old ass. Well, I would have to; he would be in there trying to rip my eyeballs out!

Mick: Mick and I would never enter into a cage fight. We’re lovers, not fighters.

Ed: What are the psychological issues of being in a tribute band?

Vince: We can’t blur the lines between reality and fantasy. That would be a danger, wouldn’t it? Gotta keep the identities separate. . . You can’t believe your own smoke and mirrors.  Who you are on stage is not who you are day to day.

Jackson: I don’t have any issues of any kind being in a tribute band, or any cover band; I was made for it. I never liked my originals, or being in an original act. I absolutely love, love, love playing other people’s music, and if you peruse old video of me from past bands, you can see that I love to get it on when I play. It’s not so much what I play, but performing the act itself and doing this job is really an acting job, with some guitar playing along the way.

Ed: What is your opinion of the judging process and the judges themselves? Are they a necessary evil or a cool, fun part of the process? Are they knowledgeable and fair, or inept and unnecessarily cruel?

Vince: The judges continue to prove themselves each show, just like the bands do. We have told you all repeatedly what a tough job that is. Not only is it cool to have immediate feedback but that feedback is usually, with exception, on the money. I don’t see criticism as cruel if the intended party learns from it. Egos occasionally need a slap down.

Mick: Ahhhhhh, the judges.  Since we won, I would have to say they were fabulous and at the same time a necessary evil.  Someone has to do the dirty work!

Jackson: I feel the judging process works. It needs refinement. The audience/noise factor really should be reduced. It would level the playing field between non local bands and the guys from Lakeside with thousands of fans. . . I like the three judge format; it works.

1. David [Patrone] is very no nonsense (he’s a Marine dammit!) and that works. He is also very blue collar in the sense that he is a hard working musician. He is the yin to Ed’s yang, and tends to balance the frivolity of Ed. He also surprises me (don’t judge a judge by its cover) with his extensive knowledge of the music scene, history, and its genres.

2 Alicia [Champion] is a much more liberal judge, this is reflected in her scores, although she tends to be more critical vocally, more bark than bite if you will. I am biased about her, because she is a woman, and she’s hot (damn I love an accent on a hot woman). I feel Alicia will, every once in a while, wield her extensive knowledge in a blackjack fashion, but it is her prerogative and she does have the information bank to back it up.

3. Ed [Decker], well, what can we say about Ed (that someone has not muttered under their breath, or publicly lamented in the men’s room at Viejas)? Ed is a horse of a different color, the only non-musician of the trio. He does have what I consider a crucial ingredient for his job, a true love of music. It’s almost as if he represents the fans themselves, and I bet a few of the blogsters will cringe at that comment. Ed does tend towards the comedic relief in the group, and he can sling an offensive comment around like a scythe swung at harvest time, and yet, he feels the music, takes it seriously . . .  and whether he has purposely assumed the role of unofficial leader or not, it is his and he does it well. All in all, the judges are critical (had to say it) to the process, and make it fun as well as valid.

Ed: What’s next for the band?

Vince: Wish I could say that we’re releasing our next album or that we’re going on an international tour and raking in millions of dollars. Ha. Looks like we’re slowly but surely turning this thing into a full time opportunity so we’re about to go into the real estate business. By that I mean we’re heading into markets where our competition has a foot hold and, little by little, taking their towns away.

“Hello Cleveland!”

It sure looks like we’re headed to Atlantic City and New York City real soon, a thrill for me as a native New Yorker. Coast to coast and some international travel seems to be on the horizon, too, but one thing at a time. A friend of mine said the truest words ever, “Just enjoy the ride.”