When you think of Nashville, Tennessee, it’s hard to think of anything other than its long history of great country and southern rock musicians, like Hank Williams and the Allman Brothers.
With places like the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville has been an epicenter of music for many years. It recently has helped catapult four young men, known collectively as American Bang, into the rock spotlight. I had some time to speak with lead vocalist, Jaren Johnston about the band’s current tour with The Pretenders and recent EP release Move to the Music.
While the band has only been together since 2005, they have already opened for the likes of southern rock giants ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Jaren attributes his rapid success to his love of music from a young age, being inspired by bands like The Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys.
Their swift success, however, came by a combination of solid music playing and smart marketing skills. As they were starting out in Nashville, the band would plaster the town with flyers for their shows, hyping the band up as if they were already a nationwide act. Well, it appears they do, in fact, have the goods to back up the hype, as Warner Bros. has recently signed them, and in addition to their EP, they have a full-length album scheduled to be out in Aug. 2009.
The band did have a small controversy when they started out. As they began playing shows on the east and west coasts, their original name, Bang, Bang, Bang, was not as original as they thought. Worried about other bands with similar names possibly accusing them of stealing it, the band needed a new one. They sat in a hotel in L.A. for two days coming up with, as Jaren put it, “some of the worst names you could think of,” in search of one that would help push them over the top. While drunken brawls and controversy over who actually picked the name ensued, the band knew they were just a bunch of good ol’ American boys from Nashville and thus became American Bang.
Speaking with Jaren, there was a strong sense that the band loves nothing more than to play music, party and have fun. Their laid back attitude helped get them on their current tour, which they were asked to join only two weeks before it began. The band will be touring throughout the Midwest in February and finish up in Texas on March 1.