Here are the members of the band:
Bradley - Acoustic Guitar / Vox
Johnny - Upright Bass / Vox
Nic - Drums / Vox
The questions I asked Bradley Riot are right below, plus his responses:
1. What inspired you to play music?
When I was a little kid, I used to watch the MTV channel every day. By seeing all the bands on there made me want to be on stage and play huge shows, with tons of screaming fans. It just looked so cool to me :) I wanted to be those guys.
2. How has music changed your life?
Music has changed my life by becoming my life. In the beginning I would play music with no goal in mind. Music saved me from everything from: if I was lonely, had no food and no home then the only solution came to mind to me was to play the guitar. I could always find happiness in playing, no matter what situation I was in.
3. What bands do you listen to and how have they shaped your music?
I listen to a lot of old punk rock like The Ramones or The Sex Pistols. Dead Kennedys is also a big influence for me. I geek out on a lot of old punk VHS tapes with live shows and touring footage. I think these bands shaped me mentality about how a band should operate and what they should stand for. I can't deny that my early MTV viewing put a bit of corporate rock into my head with catchy lyrics and traditional song structures. I tend to combine both styles together in our music.
4. What advice do you have for others that want to make music their career?
Don't give up! Keep writing, keep playing, and don't get discouraged. I still think about some advice I got a long time ago: "Overnight success doesn't happen overnight."
5. Where did you get the idea for the name of your band?
I was reading a book about the Chicago "gangster": Al Capone. At one point in the book it talked about how the early extortion letters would have a big, black handprint on one side with a death threat on the other. The hand image was so daunting and bold, you could see it from blocks away. There are other relations to the black hand as well. It involves a special sect of the Mexican and Serbian Mafias; the latter of which was involved in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Leaves us with a lot of history to live up to, but we like the challenge.
6. What do you want your fans to know about you that they might not know already?
We are a fully d.i.y. (Do It Yourself) band. We hand-print and package all merchandise. Everything down to the cases our CD's come in are hand-made and each one is unique. We do things like this because we know how it was to be a fan of a band and get something like that. It feels special and like your part of something. We're all in this together and wouldn't be anything without our fans.
7. What do you guys think when you are on stage?
Before we hit our first note there are a thousand things to think about from: Plugs, cables, mics, instruments, set lists, expectations, is there enough whiskey and water on stage, (haha) more than I could or should mention. Once Nic starts the count and we hit that first note, my mind goes clear. From there it is just music and murder all the way.
The Blackhands are the most caring band you will ever meet because they hand make every merchandise they sell for the fans, since they want the fans to know that they love them and the support they give them. So I feel that the only good way to make sure that we pay them back for all the stuff they do for us would be to go to their concerts they preform in and buy the merchandise they sell because I bought already 5 of their CD's and I can't stop playing their songs. I am addicted to The Blackhands and you should be addicted too!!!!!!!
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