THE BAND
inna Rude Mood formed in 2000 as a boogie-to-the-max power trio fronted by two lead singers. They deliver original blues-rock channeling the best of their musical influences, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sheryl Crow, George Thorogood and ZZ Top. Their song lyrics range from serious reflections on life experience to celebration of juvenile humor that would make even Adam Sandler proud. The band reflects the fun-loving spirit of the beer-soaked roadhouse biker bars dotting Highway 1 near their home base of Ventura, California.
In late 2003, the band released their debut CD of original classic rock music titled "We're inna Rude Mood." Their live performance skills and original songs have been honed and "audience-tested" during their continuing residency at O'Learys Sidebar in Ventura, California.
Scott Carlson plays incendiary blues-rock guitar that bears the fingerprints of his mentors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Billy Gibbons. His vocal style is best described as being like George Thorogood on a hot night. Scott grew up in Beverly, Massachusetts and has played guitar since being taught by a nun when he was 13, all the while performing in gigging bands. He enjoys applying the writing skills he learned in law school to craft humorous song lyrics.
Maggi Hall sings across three octaves as soulfully as Sheryl Crow while holding down the bottom end with her pumping bass guitar. Raised in La Cresenta , California, she began playing piano at age 9 and performed with garage bands in her teens. After earning an MBA and climbing the corporate ladder, she resumed her piano studies while expanding the curriculum to include bass guitar and voice. Maggi enjoys putting a fresh spin on the blues by incorporating funky rhythms into her original creations.
Ruben De La Rosa anchors the trio with the solid foundation laid by his drum kit and backing vocals. A Southern California native, Ruben has been pounding his skins all over Ventura County since high school with the battle cry "get off your cheeks and onto your feets!" He brings the funk to the band and always finds interesting variations to that driving Texas shuffle that Scott loves so much.
Attracting new fans and supported by long-term converts like Leo Shoemaker, DJ host of Bluesland on KCSB 91.9 Santa Barbara, inna Rude Mood is building awareness of their debut CD. You owe it to yourself to grab a cold beverage of choice, stick the CD into your player and relax while you enjoy their blues-based classic rock. Check out samples from the CD tracks.
THE STORY
The members of inna Rude Mood were happy playing classic rock covers for a few years while they burned through the standard roadhouse band repertoire. As they sought new material, they were frustrated by the music being released by the major labels and marketed by corporate-owned radio stations. Surely the music industry must recognize that there exists a huge baby boomer consumer group that is currently being ignored except by artists such as Sheryl Crow. They loved classic rock artists such as Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and George Thorogood, however, even they got tired of the same old same old. Rather than wait for some good new covers to be released by the majors, the band decided to take matters into their own hands.
The band sought to apply what they loved most about the best blues, classic rock and funk covers that they were performing and create their own songs to please their blues-rock audience. Guitarist, Scott Carlson, sought to incorporate his twisted and sophomoric sense of humor into his song lyrics, while Bassist, Maggi Hall, sought inspiration from a higher road.
A major breakthrough occurred for Scott when meeting a friend for dinner. His friend had spent an entire afternoon wine tasting around Santa Barbara and she showed up for dinner a little on the intoxicated side. In contrast, her companion for the wine-tasting was a wine distributor from New York who could easily have passed a field sobriety test. Scott's friend explained that she had experienced difficulty throughout the afternoon each time she was expected to spit out the wine sample being tasted. Rather than spitting her mouthful of wine into a bucket each time like her male companion, she experienced "spit anxiety" and instead swallowed all the wine at the tasting. Always on the lookout for good double entendres, Scott recognized that her wine-tasting concept of "spit anxiety" with a chorus using "are you gonna swallow or spit" would make a great lyrical vehicle for a boogie-woogie slide guitar rocker. It's interesting to note that this same friend of Scott also inspired him to write a song about cheesy pickup lines titled "Natural Born Playa." Depending on how these songs fare in the court of public opinion, Scott will determine whether to continue using this good friend as his muse or seek alternative inspiration.
Maggi also wrote her first song for inna Rude Mood's debut CD based upon a personal experience. After she had joined the band in 2000, some of her friends questioned whether she was wasting her time playing bass in a rock band in pool halls. She was surprised that her friends, some of them musicians, would not understand why she chose to pursue this kind of music. In "Blue Kitchen" Maggi responded that she's doing exactly as she wants to be doing, and playing the music that she loves. Maggi has observed that because people experience and appreciate music in a great variety of ways, it's useless to judge people on their preferences. Maggi then also wrote "Georgia's Shoes" about a woman who was strikingly beautiful and very talented, but everything in her life seemed to keep getting derailed. It was only later--when Maggi found out that the woman had been physically and sexually abused by her father--that the pattern became clear. Victims of abuse often have a negative self-image that prods them to push success away with both hands.
Hot on Maggi's heels, Scott found inspiration in the band's female fans who wore their signature "I'm in a Rude Mood" thong underwear to the band's concerts. Since the beginning, the band has distributed custom-printed black thong underwear to female (and sometimes male) patrons as promotional material. Another brilliant marketing scheme by Scott that has yet to bring fame and fortune, although it has produced some fun times for many people. Maggi swears by the thong as the most comfortable she has ever worn. When fans began showing up in their thongs in droves, Scott was inspired to write the lyrics to "Rude Mood Panties."
After getting these initial songs under their belts, the members of inna Rude Mood continued to write until they had enough material to record a debut CD in 2003. They recorded the material in both Scott and Tack Anderson's home studio on a Korg D1600 sixteen track digital recorder. Much was learned through trial and error during the recording process that will make things a whole lot easier for the band's next CD release. Remembering the album that had introduced him to the Beatles ("Meet the Beatles"), Scott thought that "We're inna Rude Mood" would work in a similar manner for the band's debut title. As they continue to perform at local venues and also pay tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, the band is slowly replacing their cover songs with original material that stands up to the high expectations of their classic rock audience. inna Rude Mood is proud of their debut and also confident that their best work is yet to be recorded. Please support independent music releases by purchasing "We're inna Rude Mood" and also subscribing to the band's monthly e-zine through their website.
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