Julien Jorgensen - Rev Theory
Pure rock n roll is hard to come by these days. The take no prisoners, unapologetic rock n roll that Rev Theory serves up that is. They are back with their third record in the form of Justice and it does not let up. Julien Jorgensen, Rev Theory’s hard hitting rhythm guitarist, checked in to give Exiles the lowdown on what it took to get the fans Justice!
An interview with Julien Jorgensen of Rev Theory.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: It has been a few years since you guys released Light It Up. How eager was the band to get back to the studio to record a new record?
Julien Jorgensen: We have been on the road for the last few years with some different bands and we have been writing while we were out so when we came off the road we were chompin at the bit to go back in and start recording. We took a few months to write it and we had tons to say so we came together and we found out that the two years of touring really inspired the writing.
Metal Exiles: What does a band see on the road that they want to write about the most?
Julien: I think that you are inspired by the bands around you. Also to me it can be a relationship thing, whether you are missing somebody, whatever you are going through or what you are seeing on the road. You are seeing different people, how the economy is affecting different people, it is inspiring at different levels. You just have to capture it mentally.
Metal Exiles: Dave (Agoglia, drummer) was quoted as saying”That the band collectively worked on this”. Is that different from the past?
Julien: I would say so. We just wanted to capture the live energy of the band for this record which is why we got terry Date. We wanted to get back to our roots and not use computers, pro tools etc. Just use a live off of the floor type of recording and Terry did that.
Metal Exiles: That being said, do you think that a lot of bands have gotten away from cranking out a real rock record, that they are depending too much on technology.
Julien: Absolutely. Pro tools has changed the whole game and everything is homogenized now, coming out sounding to slick, too big and too perfect. Terry is the type of guy that was known for producing Pantera, Soundgarden, the Deftones, bands that have a true character and we wanted to find that true character in us and have it to translate to record.
Metal Exiles: On the subject of Terry Date, musically, the record feels like a brick wall hitting you. It is a thick sounding record. How did Terry affect the way the record sounded?
Julien: We recorded it at Henson Studios in Los Angeles and the actual studio itself has great history and character. We got this incredible drum sound which set off a great foundation but we did work for a few weeks before we finally found something we could really dig our teeth into. Terry has all of these mic placement tricks so he can get these different sounds especially with the bass and the drums. He was able to capture the sound live off of the floor, just capturing the weight of the record.
Metal Exiles: As far as writing the record, was this a band effort or were you separating yourselves and writing on your own?
Julien: We all write on our own which is where the ideas start but we all come together for a writing session but there has to be a genesis for an idea and typically that will come from Matty (McCloskey) or myself. We usually build from that but with this record we were getting the whole band involved earlier almost right off the bat. On this record we wrote with some outside writers but we were very selective with who we wrote with but everything basically came from within which we were very proud of.
Metal Exiles: What did you collectively want to get off of your chest when you were writing this album?
Julien: We were filled with a lot of emotions, a lot of piss and vinegar. We are upset about the state of the music industry. Listen, we do not do this to sell records, we do it to make music and we love to play. We keep hearing that “If you guys had of been out 10 years ago you would have sold a million records no problem, five years it would have been a gold record.” You keep hearing this over and over. It is a sad state in the music industry with the downloading issue: Sales are down every quarter, people are getting cut, bands are getting dropped and a whole generation of new music is being lost because radio is not playing new bands because there is no familiarity with the bands anymore. Being musicians and artists we have to hear all of this stuff and we have to submerse ourselves into that side of the business and we are not business people. It kind of pisses us off and then in a rational way it inspired us to write a song like Justice and to be inspired by a song like Guilty By Design. It is cathartic for us to write those songs because with the economy or the music industry in general , it was just weighing on us for the last few years. That was what fueled the writing for this record.
Metal Exiles: There are a lot of pissed off feelings, I can feel that through my speakers. You made the comment that this record was a “realized vision”. Care to elaborate on that?
Julien: Revelation Theory started out as a four piece and we have been working hard since then. That first record I was very proud of, it was a stepping stone for us. People started calling us Rev Theory so we went with that and then we enlisted our lead guitarist Rikki Lixx but this record, as a five piece, is the first time we had time to make the record (we had a year to write and record it)and focus and refine what we wanted the band to be. This is a true evolvement from the last two records, I think this is Rev Theory at its core and this could be a defining record for us.
Metal Exiles: So you think Rev Theory has hit its stride and you can say this is the true band?
Julien: Absolutley, we are proud of this record. Every song has a true character and a great quality to it. We feel like this is our best foot forward as a band which is why we went and got Terry Date. We feel that he captured the band at its true essence but it is a looser record, its not a perfect record but we are better off for it and its going to show. People have been reacting because of that.
Metal Exiles: The album starts out in a heavy way with Dead In A Grave but ends on a much quieter note with Hollow Man. Is this the way you wanted to sequence the record?
Julien: We spent a lot of time sequencing the record and Hollow Man is a great song that Matty and I had written while we were still out on tour and we felt like that was a great opportunity to show off Matty as a vocalist as well. We felt that they were the perfect bookends for the record.
Metal Exiles: One of my favorite songs on the album is Never Again. Explain that one to me.
Julien: That is literally one of my favorite songs on the record and it is one of the first ones we wrote for it. Matty and I wrote it when we had some time off before we technically started the album. It is a song about overcoming your demons and issues in your life and it is possibly the most dynamic song that we have written as a band and I am proud that you dig it.
Metal Exiles: Now I know you guys are about to go back on the road and Rev Theory literally lives on the road. What is the draw of staying on the road nonstop?
Julien: The state of the music industry is that you have to tour as much as you can. We understand that the work ethic is a big part of it. We love the live show and being front of people. We cant control a lot of things but we can control the amount of energy that we put out every night whether it is five or five thousand people. When you feel that confident about your live show then you want to showcase it to the world. It is just about pounding the pavement, we are just road warriors.
Metal Exiles: You said earlier that there is no familiarity with newer bands anymore. Do you think that staying on the road has Rev Theory overcome that obstacle?
Julien: I think so and we really love bands that have a draw other than a single on the radio. We love bands like KORN, Disturbed, Deftones and even Sevendust. These are bands that we admired when we started out and we liked the fact that it wasn’t just a song but when we got our major label deal the industry shifted to the single. Nickleback changed everything and now it is just the single, a kind of Tin Pan Alley thing, “give me something quick and snappy, here today gone tomorrow”. There have been a few bands that have risen to that top like that, hit the lottery, only to fade out. We have always tried to be a band to have great songs but it is also about creating a vibe, an energy and I think the live show we put on does that.
Metal Exiles: You guys are doing the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour. What are your thoughts on going out with a bunch of road hungry bands?
Julien: Our management came up with the idea and they went to Monster, who we have a great relationship with, to explain about a bill with some up and coming bands, bands that are on the verge of breaking through, high energy, hungry bands, just more bang for your buck. Monster was all over it and they knew that a bill with Pop Evil, Hail the Villain, The Black Cloud Collective as well as Rev Theory will bring the greatest show to the fans!
Metal Exiles: The Outbreak tour is a small run, when will you guys go out on a major tour for Justice?
Julien: We are testing the waters with this tour, get our feet wet again by just getting back out there. We wanted to get our first single to radio, get some traction to get some deman for a big tour for the Summer and Fall.
Metal Exiles: Final words for the fans?
Julien: Yeah, go support music in general, buy the records and go support Rev Theory on tour..
Justice, the third record to drop from Rev Theory, is out now and it is a full throttle rock record that does not let up.
Official Rev Theory Site
BUY JUSTICE!!
An interview with Julien Jorgensen of Rev Theory.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: It has been a few years since you guys released Light It Up. How eager was the band to get back to the studio to record a new record?
Julien Jorgensen: We have been on the road for the last few years with some different bands and we have been writing while we were out so when we came off the road we were chompin at the bit to go back in and start recording. We took a few months to write it and we had tons to say so we came together and we found out that the two years of touring really inspired the writing.
Metal Exiles: What does a band see on the road that they want to write about the most?
Julien: I think that you are inspired by the bands around you. Also to me it can be a relationship thing, whether you are missing somebody, whatever you are going through or what you are seeing on the road. You are seeing different people, how the economy is affecting different people, it is inspiring at different levels. You just have to capture it mentally.
Metal Exiles: Dave (Agoglia, drummer) was quoted as saying”That the band collectively worked on this”. Is that different from the past?
Julien: I would say so. We just wanted to capture the live energy of the band for this record which is why we got terry Date. We wanted to get back to our roots and not use computers, pro tools etc. Just use a live off of the floor type of recording and Terry did that.
Metal Exiles: That being said, do you think that a lot of bands have gotten away from cranking out a real rock record, that they are depending too much on technology.
Julien: Absolutely. Pro tools has changed the whole game and everything is homogenized now, coming out sounding to slick, too big and too perfect. Terry is the type of guy that was known for producing Pantera, Soundgarden, the Deftones, bands that have a true character and we wanted to find that true character in us and have it to translate to record.
Metal Exiles: On the subject of Terry Date, musically, the record feels like a brick wall hitting you. It is a thick sounding record. How did Terry affect the way the record sounded?
Julien: We recorded it at Henson Studios in Los Angeles and the actual studio itself has great history and character. We got this incredible drum sound which set off a great foundation but we did work for a few weeks before we finally found something we could really dig our teeth into. Terry has all of these mic placement tricks so he can get these different sounds especially with the bass and the drums. He was able to capture the sound live off of the floor, just capturing the weight of the record.
Metal Exiles: As far as writing the record, was this a band effort or were you separating yourselves and writing on your own?
Julien: We all write on our own which is where the ideas start but we all come together for a writing session but there has to be a genesis for an idea and typically that will come from Matty (McCloskey) or myself. We usually build from that but with this record we were getting the whole band involved earlier almost right off the bat. On this record we wrote with some outside writers but we were very selective with who we wrote with but everything basically came from within which we were very proud of.
Metal Exiles: What did you collectively want to get off of your chest when you were writing this album?
Julien: We were filled with a lot of emotions, a lot of piss and vinegar. We are upset about the state of the music industry. Listen, we do not do this to sell records, we do it to make music and we love to play. We keep hearing that “If you guys had of been out 10 years ago you would have sold a million records no problem, five years it would have been a gold record.” You keep hearing this over and over. It is a sad state in the music industry with the downloading issue: Sales are down every quarter, people are getting cut, bands are getting dropped and a whole generation of new music is being lost because radio is not playing new bands because there is no familiarity with the bands anymore. Being musicians and artists we have to hear all of this stuff and we have to submerse ourselves into that side of the business and we are not business people. It kind of pisses us off and then in a rational way it inspired us to write a song like Justice and to be inspired by a song like Guilty By Design. It is cathartic for us to write those songs because with the economy or the music industry in general , it was just weighing on us for the last few years. That was what fueled the writing for this record.
Metal Exiles: There are a lot of pissed off feelings, I can feel that through my speakers. You made the comment that this record was a “realized vision”. Care to elaborate on that?
Julien: Revelation Theory started out as a four piece and we have been working hard since then. That first record I was very proud of, it was a stepping stone for us. People started calling us Rev Theory so we went with that and then we enlisted our lead guitarist Rikki Lixx but this record, as a five piece, is the first time we had time to make the record (we had a year to write and record it)and focus and refine what we wanted the band to be. This is a true evolvement from the last two records, I think this is Rev Theory at its core and this could be a defining record for us.
Metal Exiles: So you think Rev Theory has hit its stride and you can say this is the true band?
Julien: Absolutley, we are proud of this record. Every song has a true character and a great quality to it. We feel like this is our best foot forward as a band which is why we went and got Terry Date. We feel that he captured the band at its true essence but it is a looser record, its not a perfect record but we are better off for it and its going to show. People have been reacting because of that.
Metal Exiles: The album starts out in a heavy way with Dead In A Grave but ends on a much quieter note with Hollow Man. Is this the way you wanted to sequence the record?
Julien: We spent a lot of time sequencing the record and Hollow Man is a great song that Matty and I had written while we were still out on tour and we felt like that was a great opportunity to show off Matty as a vocalist as well. We felt that they were the perfect bookends for the record.
Metal Exiles: One of my favorite songs on the album is Never Again. Explain that one to me.
Julien: That is literally one of my favorite songs on the record and it is one of the first ones we wrote for it. Matty and I wrote it when we had some time off before we technically started the album. It is a song about overcoming your demons and issues in your life and it is possibly the most dynamic song that we have written as a band and I am proud that you dig it.
Metal Exiles: Now I know you guys are about to go back on the road and Rev Theory literally lives on the road. What is the draw of staying on the road nonstop?
Julien: The state of the music industry is that you have to tour as much as you can. We understand that the work ethic is a big part of it. We love the live show and being front of people. We cant control a lot of things but we can control the amount of energy that we put out every night whether it is five or five thousand people. When you feel that confident about your live show then you want to showcase it to the world. It is just about pounding the pavement, we are just road warriors.
Metal Exiles: You said earlier that there is no familiarity with newer bands anymore. Do you think that staying on the road has Rev Theory overcome that obstacle?
Julien: I think so and we really love bands that have a draw other than a single on the radio. We love bands like KORN, Disturbed, Deftones and even Sevendust. These are bands that we admired when we started out and we liked the fact that it wasn’t just a song but when we got our major label deal the industry shifted to the single. Nickleback changed everything and now it is just the single, a kind of Tin Pan Alley thing, “give me something quick and snappy, here today gone tomorrow”. There have been a few bands that have risen to that top like that, hit the lottery, only to fade out. We have always tried to be a band to have great songs but it is also about creating a vibe, an energy and I think the live show we put on does that.
Metal Exiles: You guys are doing the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour. What are your thoughts on going out with a bunch of road hungry bands?
Julien: Our management came up with the idea and they went to Monster, who we have a great relationship with, to explain about a bill with some up and coming bands, bands that are on the verge of breaking through, high energy, hungry bands, just more bang for your buck. Monster was all over it and they knew that a bill with Pop Evil, Hail the Villain, The Black Cloud Collective as well as Rev Theory will bring the greatest show to the fans!
Metal Exiles: The Outbreak tour is a small run, when will you guys go out on a major tour for Justice?
Julien: We are testing the waters with this tour, get our feet wet again by just getting back out there. We wanted to get our first single to radio, get some traction to get some deman for a big tour for the Summer and Fall.
Metal Exiles: Final words for the fans?
Julien: Yeah, go support music in general, buy the records and go support Rev Theory on tour..
Justice, the third record to drop from Rev Theory, is out now and it is a full throttle rock record that does not let up.
Official Rev Theory Site
BUY JUSTICE!!
