Album Notes

Overloaded is a Hard Rock band based in Detroit, Mi USA. Formed in 2004, the musicians are Chris Gillen – vocals, Erik Kluiber – lead guitar, John Sullens – rhythm guitar, Michael Massie – bass, Lorenzo Gonzalez – drums. The band’s newest full length cd is entitled Regeneration. The self produced cd was recorded, mixed, and mastered for $3000 at Midwest Studio (R.I.P) in Detroit. 2005’s Hail the Kingdom ep and Hellfire ep both sold out and have been re-issued as an 11 song full length cd entitled Hail the Kingdom (2007). Both cd’s are available for online purchase at cdbaby.com and itunes.

About Overloaded’s music, what does the term “Hard Rock” mean? Today, the term “Metal” really refers to death metal or metal core. The hard rock genre is essentially extinct, so few people have any sort of understanding of what hard rock is. First off, hard rock requires a singer who can sing with out relying on effects to deliver his voice such as distortion, auto tune etc. The voice has to come from a blues based foundation. Note, this is the opposite of progressive rock which is based on classical and operatic themes. Most people do not know that Prog rock and Hard rock are polar opposites. The guitars must have a warm sound. The amps are distorted, but not too the point of over-saturation. It is very important that a hard rock guitarist can strum an open chord with the distortion full on, and the listener can pick out every individual note. The riffs are geared to be a driving foundation for the vocals. The leads are written to be sing-able. In hard rock, the beat comes from a sense of “feel”. The emphasis is not about technicality, it’s about getting the point across. Different songs have different feels, and it’s important that the listener physically feels movement underneath the melodies.

Lyrically, there are many issues that Chris Gillen writes about and it’s up to the listener to read the lyrics themselves and figure out what the songs are about. Chris writes straight forward instead of hiding behind poetic excess or confusing tangents. One concept that Overloaded believes is to say the most with as little as possible. It’s simple quality instead of quantity. Everyone knows that anyone who uses too many words to get their point across is full of shit. A reoccurring lyrical theme that is the backbone of Overloaded is message to stay alive. In a world that encourages weakness, inescapable debt, and geriatric values, it is crucial to fight for a life worth living. Too many people have given up and are essentially organic revenue machines for bill collectors.

An official Jagermeister sponsored band, Overloaded has played hundreds of shows and opened for all kinds of touring hard rock and heavy metal bands. In June of 2007 they won the WRIF radio contest and opened for Godsmack for 2 sold out shows. They’ve shared the stage with metal bands such as Hellyeah, Mushroomhead, and Soil, as well as hard rock icons such as Motely Crue, Skid Row, and Krokus to name a few.

The heavy metal/hard rock media has blown a wad over Overloaded. The Talking Metal tv show on the fuse network showcased Overloaded as a must listen to new band on their Metal Detector segment. Germany’s Heavy magazine featured a full page interview with Overloaded in their March 2006 issue and included the song Cyclone on their Metal Crusade XI cd sampler. Turkey’s Rock Station magazine featured Hellfire on their TnT sampler cd. Japan’s Burrn! magazine gave the Hail the Kingdom ep an outstanding review, and Metal Maniacs calls Overloaded “on fucking point” in their January 2007 issue. In late December of 2006 the number one downloaded metal podcast in the world Talking Metal featured an interview and played Hellfire on episode 117. The infamous Metal Sludge.tv also gave the nod of approval with an interview segment in June of ’06. In March of 2007, Italy’s Rock Hard magazine spotlighted Overloaded as band of the month on their Rough Sounds page.