Like the hometown of their inception, Long Time Divided is a band of blue-collar musicians, carving a name for themselves in the Pittsburgh music scene as one of the hardest working acts today. The wealth of musical knowledge that the members of the band bring to the group gives Long Time Divided a very polished hard rock sound. As they embark on the stage of fine tuning their next album, Long Time Divided had a chat with Brad about genre tagging, how their name defines them as a band and the tips they’d give to upcoming bands.
Hello Long Time Divided How are you today?
Hi there! Doing great as always!
How did you the band form?
The band started as a different animal than it is today. DJ (singer) went to audition with the 3 founding members and they got on so well, they wrote 3 songs that night! Then I joined about 3 months later. Our drummer, Slick, joined about 6 months after me, replacing the original drummer and then last year, Dean came on board. Bob, our bassist, is the only original member remaining now.
Why did you choose your name and how do you think it defines you?
The name originally came up as a song name, but it become evident that it was suited to the band name as each of the original members had been in bands together, then went their separate ways, only to come back together. It fitted perfectly.
With a heavy focus on ‘genre’ tagging recently, some bands like it and some don’t, do you like being labelled a certain genre? – and what genre do you consider yourself?
Personally I (Paul) am not a fan of the genre tagging, we’re a hard rock band, rock band, metal band, whatever you want. We love what we do and do it as well as we can.
When can we expect new music from you and can you give us an insight into the progression that you have made from previous material?
We have an album’s worth of material ready to go, there’s some tweaking to be done here and there and maybe another one or two to complete before we choose a final track listing to record……but its coming! This time round I think it’ll be a heavier album, exploring some faster, darker music and with more time together, hopefully a very polished album.
What does being in a band mean to you? Is it something you just decided to do or is it more of a dream come true?
We all do it because we love it. Its hard work, no question there. If you aren’t passionate about what you do and have a dream, then you can’t expect to get anywhere. It doesn’t matter what level you play at, if you can’t bring it for every show and treat it professionally, you’ll never get far.
What one piece of advice would you give to upcoming bands?
Spend the time and money on a professionally done recording, even an EP. When you try to book shows and sell yourself, that’ll speak volumes about what to expect from your band. Listen and learn from every band you play with and respect the other musicians around you. Help create or maintain your scene and above all, love it and enjoy it.
Where would you like to be in 5 years time?
On a beach in the Maldives haha in an ideal world, we’d be touring full time, signed and playing on shiprocked and all the huge festivals world wide!
If you could have one musician feature on a song with you, who would it be?
For me (Paul), it would have to be Brian May from Queen. His tone and playing is just legendary and apart from being a dream come true, I’ve heard he is an absolute gentleman.
Who are some of your most-listened to artists at the moment?
We all like Stone Sour right now and the new Tremonti album is just insane. Looking forward to some releases this year from Lamb of God and Bullet For My Valentine.
Are you a fan of Spotify? – do you think it helps or hinders artists like yourself?
It’s a double edged sword. Yes getting out there is nice, however, it’s not paying any bills, that’s for sure. It’s the way the industry has progressed and as we’re not at Taylor Swift’s level and can deny our music to all the streaming sites, we have to accept that that’s part of the deal to try and get heard.
Does any of the band members have any guilty music pleasures?
I won’t drop names, but Taylor swift and some EDM haha maybe some oldies in there. I don’t know if there’s such a thing a guilty music pleasures, is there? Good music is good music, right?
Tell us one fact about the band that not many people know?
Two of us have served in the military!
Thanks so much for talking to us!
Thanks for having us! Check us out on social media for updates on the album.
www.facebook.com/longtimedividedband