Daniel J

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by Deb Rao
Staff Writer

Against The Wall is a new band that hails from New York City and doesn’t play by the rules. They write songs that deal with real people and real situations. In a city that has so many musical trends, Against The Wall is making quite the impact on their current tour with Framing Hanley with their fresh new approach and catchy pop lyrics and riffs.. Lead singer Daniel J checks in with Hardrock to Haven to discuss the debut of the band and what they hope to accomplish with their latest release The Truth.

HRH: Daniel, thank you for checking in with Hardrock Haven. Against The Wall is currently on the road with Framing Hanley and Veer Union. The band is in the south slated to play in Atlantic. How is the tour going so far?

DANIEL: Hey there, tour is going insane, crazy shows, crazy crowds; we are having lots of fun with the other bands. They are all good people and there is a great vibe. The crowd is totally connecting with us and feeling the energy, getting our CDs and it’s awesome that we can spread the word and share our
music with everyone.

HRH: Tell us about the set list? Is the band performing a lot of new songs from your debut album The Truth?

DANIEL: We are performing songs from The Truth and also new songs from our next album, which will be done at the end of the year.

HRH: Any funny road stories that you would like to share with us so so far? Any favorite cities etc?

DANIEL: Funny road stories (Laughter) Well-being on the road with my band and with the other bands is just a funny thing on its own. Crazy times lots of partying lots of music, joking around, good times…. can’t share the things that I can’t share.

HRH: When was the album The Truth released? Also, tell us about the writing process for the CD? I understand the band has a good theory to write about the truth. Does that mean every song has a story behind it?

DANIEL: The Truth has been in our possession for a while, we don’t have it in stores, and we sell it online www.vmmrecords.com and www.myspace.com/atwband. And at our show. Regarding the writing process. I write the songs, the song The Truth was a co-writing thing between me and Danny Rojas the drummer, and the concept is left for the listener to understand and speculate. All songs mean something whether they come from a true experience or from a thought process of mine. But they are all real and lots of thought goes into them.

HRH: The new single is slated to be “Nights Of December.” What is the concept behind that song?

DANIEL: (Laughter) there is no concept, I just had a cheesy moment of writing about my upstairs neighbor I was into once upon a time; the song is 5 years old. It’s one of the first songs we played as a band when we started. We played it at our first show ever at the Delancey Club in NYC.

HRH: Tell us about the making of the video “Nights Of December.”

DANIEL: My brother David Jakubovic, does our videos, directing and editing and all. We have three videos, for “Nights Of December”, “Walk Away” and “The One.” They are all very different from each other, “Walk Away” talks about school shootings. We shot it right after Virginia Tech happened. My brother had this strong concept and we all went for it, talks about how someone could get to a place mentally where he would go and do such a horrible thing. It’s pretty intense. “Nights Of December” is just about energy, lots of rocking out, making out and action. “The One” is us in the studio playing having a good time joking around and being ourselves. It’s a fun video.

HRH: How would you describe the sound of the band?

DANIEL: Versatile, we don’t do one thing. Some songs are heavy killers, some our more progressive, lots of instrumental sections, some songs are soft ballads, or acoustic. It’s a ride. We don’t do the genre thing. We just play music.

HRH: How did the band get together?

DANIEL: Very simple. Posted an add on Craigslist, found Jon the bass player through that, and regarding Danny. I got a friend request from some Jersey Spanish rock band on MySpace and listened. I liked the drummer so I found his personal MySpace, which he by chance opened up that day. I contacted him, stole him from that band and we all clicked instantaneously. We started rehearsing and started playing shows within a month.

HRH: Against The Wall hail from New York City. How would you describe the music scene in NYC these days? Is there a good hard rock scene in New York?

DANIEL: No, there is no scene, sometimes you will see good bands and sometimes you will see really crappy bands. (Politically correct answer.)

HRH: As a singer who were you influenced by growing up?

DANIEL: As a musician all around, so many artists, Billy Joel, Metallica, Dream Theater, Yes, Genesis, Phil Collins, Meatloaf, Anouk (amazing Dutch artist), Pantera. My biggest influences are also local from where I grew up, I grew up in Israel, my dad is a professional musician so everything he was involved
in and working on, I learned from. He is my most important influence, also taught me all the theory and all…and all the amazing local artists over there are big influences to me.

HRH: As a young band on the scene, what do you hope to accomplish with your unique sound in 2010?

DANIEL: To rock the fuck out and to spread the word about “Against The Wall.”