Modena Interview
By
Modena is a rock/alternative/grunge act hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina. They were recently featured as one or ReverbNation’s 10 Featured Bands of the Week and soon will be recording their upcoming album with Jim Wirt, who has worked with Incubus and Hoobastank, among others.
OV: So what’s the story with the band name? What does it mean/how did it originate?
M: Honestly, I was playing a racing video game when I first saw it. I chose the Ferrari 360 modena and I thought ‘that would be a AWESOME band name. I really hope it’s not taken.’ At the time I had a huge list of like, over 100 ridiculous names that I had been conjuring up in my head for over a month of different things ranging from random thoughts, places, objects, phrases, etc. I knew we wanted one word, at MOST two. Something short, sweet, & edgy kinda like our music. I was totally against long, drawn out band names. Only a select few can get away with stuff like that (i.e.: Stone Temple Pilots) and it seemed like every new rock band coming out had some stupid name referring to an ex girlfriend like ‘Finding Delia’s Heart’ or some lame emo crap like that.
As far as its meaning goes – it’s a city in Italy where the great Opera singer Pavarotti was born, and it’s a place where they make bad-ass Ferrari sports cars. If we ever sell a million records that’s the first thing I’m buying and that’s the first city I am visiting.
OV: Your MySpace page classifies you as Rock/Alternative/Grunge. What bands do you draw inspiration from?
M: Wow, now that’s a loaded question. Here’s a list of some of our biggest influences (in no particular order): Alice In Chains, Mr. Big, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, KISS, TOOL, Silverchair, Bush, Billy Sheehan, Steve Vai. I think this list could go on for days.
OV: Jaymz, I hear you will be guest conducting at The North Carolina Opera in June. How did that get set up?
M (Jaymz): Believe it or not, I actually won this at a live auction. My mom is really into Opera and hooked me up with a free ticket to one of their fancy get-togethers. I figured that any party where I can eat and drink for free would be worth my time, so I went. I got a little tipsy and when the auction started, one of the prizes was to conduct an orchestra @ an NC Opera event. I figured “what the hell?” and raised my number… I’ve always been really interested to try something like this out because I was in the school band from 2nd until 9th grade. It’s the total other end of the spectrum from our genre of music and I’m really looking forward to it.
OV: How excited are you guys to be working with Jim Wirt?
M: We are REALLY stoked. His track record and reputation precede him. We’re excited to be working with someone who is a well-versed veteran in rock & roll production as well as someone who can capture our sound the way we have always known we could sound.
OV: Is there anything specific that you really want him to focus on helping you guys improve upon in the studio?
M: We’ve really grown as musicians since our last EP effort in 2008 – especially with our new bass player Stew & lead-singer Terry. We have a much more matured & rounded-out sound. With that being said, we’re hoping Jim can harness this new machine we’ve evolved into and help us use the tools we’ve acquired and learned over the years to polish a sound so totally awesome & rockin’ that it will make your ear drums pop at the mere thought of listening to these new songs.
OV: There are a ton of rock bands out there…what are you guys doing to make sure that you stand out from the crowd?
M: Our musical discipline for perfection is unmatched by any act I’ve seen at our level. We can now proudly say that we have all the bases covered in both our studio and live performances. What you hear on the record, you will hear live. Having three singers will provide us with unlimited potential to do make the biggest harmonies possible. We’re all about an in-your-face, fat sound, both live & in the studio, that a lot of newer rock bands lack these days. Big drums, catchy riffs, pounding bass, in-your-face guitar solos, and huge melodic vocals. That’s Modena.
OV: What do you have on the horizon as far as tour/recording/etc. plans in between now and the end of summer?
M: Well after we record with Jim Wirt, we plan on promoting the new single with a local mini-tour around NC, VA and SC. Eventually we’d like to do shows in Tennessee, Georgia, or even Florida & beyond. We recently signed with a new booking agency called C&A Media that we are really excited about. In addition we are about to sign a deal with Filament Records, who will release our new single this fall. They have high hopes for us and they seem to share our same vision in terms of where we think the industry is going and how to make the new advances in technology, social media, marketing & promotion work in our favor in order to make Modena the biggest up-and-coming modern rock band possible. It seems to be a win-win situation for everyone involved.
For more information on Modena, visit the Modena MySpace Page.
