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Heed the siren song of Lady Luck at America's most sinful city where
with a roll of dice dreams can come true. Las Vegas, "Sin City" is the
town where glamour and glitz go hand in hand along with the 10 million
plus tourists who visit America's entertainment capital in search for
gambling, clubbing and partying hard. So, being a local rock band in Las
Vegas must be one of the best places in the world to break out, right?
Well, for Vegas local boy's Clockwise, it was just the opposite. "There
were hardly any bars that would support an original live band,
especially a band like ours, it was so hard, man." Says Clockwise
founder and frontman, Austin Leduc who understands fully well that in a
city overloaded with gamblers and tourists there was very little demand
for an original music scene. "The whole friggin' city is catering to
tourists and they don't want any of us in there scaring them away."
So, the town the band grew up in gave little support to their dreams of
rock stardom. Having to compete with the likes of Engelberg Humperdink,
Celion Dion and 500 Elvis impersonators isn't as easy as it you may
think. "First off, its hard to find a club that would even let us play
and second, its friggin' hard as hell to get a crowd together because
there's so much else to do. It's hard to get people to stop what they're
doing at some club or whatever just to come and see us play."
It was a constant struggle for the 5-piece to find an outlet for their
music within a local scene that was stagnated to say the least. Still,
Clockwise somehow managed to stir up a buzz amongst the locals and began
filling up clubs like "The Boston Grill & Bar" which would ultimately
become they're main stomping grounds.
"That place was there when we first started 6 years ago and it was
pretty much the center of our local music scene," says Leduc, "that
place was cool." Clockwise quickly became local hero's and earned a
solid reputation for their balls-out aggressive style and intense live
shows. As news of the band spread it eventually made its way to the
major record labels. Leduc and the boys ultimately caught the attention
of RCA Records and signed with them in 2000.
With influences from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Rage Against The
Machine to Sound Garden and Stone Temple Pilots they created a
post-grunge sound with funky grooves, soulful stylings and powerful
vocals that hits hard in the mid section. Their RCA debut "Healthy
Manipulation" is a solid rock album that pounds the ears with funky
rocking tunes and lyrical subject matter that we all can somehow relate
to. "This album is a nice piece of bitching, complaining and
brotherhood," Leduc describes. "I don't make up stories or any
mumbo-jumbo shit. They're all true to heart and shit that's going on
around me. A lot of the songs are just me complaining about shit, but I
gotta get it off my chest."
Their first single "Lay Her Down," about a love/hate relationship, is
the strongest representation of the band featuring tearing guitar riffs
and explosive beats along with the edgy lyrical content that make
Clockwise tick. "That song is the classic vicious cycle of the 'fight &
fuck relationship.'" Explains the singer, "It's about this girl I dated
for 3 years and that song explains that she's a kook and I was just
caught up in the vicious cycle with her. I hate her and then she comes
and begs for forgiveness on her knees, then I go and give it to her and
then the next day she's bitching cus' I was givin' eyes to the check-out
lady at the grocery store. Just a crazy bitch "
Leduc also writes songs about his High school years. "Leverage" for
instance, was a song written about the times when he would run from the
jocks and jerks that wanted to beat him up. "I was a real punk, ya know.
I just never took anybody's shit. From the time I started getting' into
puberty and started diggin' on chicks till' this very day there was
always somebody tryin' to kick my ass. No bullshit, there was always
someone who wanted to kick my ass," he says with a grunting laugh, "I
think I have this face that says, 'beat me up' when I was a kid. I was
this skinny little fucker and there was always some meat-head jock who
wanted to kill me all through school." A skinny non-athletic punk has a
set of balls as big as Texas and earned a reputation in town for being
fearless. "I never back down from nothin' even though I really don't
have a lot to back my big mouth up with. , you can't be in rock and roll
and be a pussy."
Clockwise, (who includes bassist Alfonso Bernal, guitarists Jason Tanzer
and Justin Pasquale, and drummer Dave McMahan) got their first taste of
the road while touring with David Lee Roth a Sammy Hagar. Although they
performed on the second stage it was still an experience they will never
forget. "It was kinda gay being on the side-stage, but I got to watch
Sammy Hagar play every night and we met Sammy's band and those guys
would even come out and watch us play. That was a real thrill, dude."
Leduc remembers, "Sammy and his band were just flawless, they rocked.
Then you go and watch David Lee Roth and what a joke, bro.. He was
awful, just awful. David Lee Roth is a serious ass-clown, man. He came
out in his leotards and shit and it was just ridiculous."
Currently, Clockwise is heading out on the road with Kittie in support
of their RCA Debut which drops on October 29th. For more info and
updates on Clockwise log to: www.clockwiseband.com
© 1998-2002 Sinbad Productions / BallBusterHardMusic.com
No Material, Written, May Be Reproduced Without Permission From SinBad
Prods/Communciations and or the Recording Artist and Their
Representation
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