Firing All Cylinders Interview
Firing All Cylinders is an up and coming metal band from Ontario, California who really know how to get a crowd fired up. Their CD release show is quickly approaching so By the Barricade dropped by So Cal Summer Noise to talk with the band and find out what makes them tick. Find out all about this energetic metal band in the transcripts below!
Ricky Boker – Rhythm Guitar / Vocals)
Daniel “Kurly” Lucero – Lead Guitar
Brandon Hill – Bass
Cameron Hamilton – Drums
By the Barricade: Ricky; I saw you at Get Busy Living Festival awhile back. Can you explain the camaraderie between bands in the Inland Empire?
Daniel Lucero: Festivals like Get Busy Living allow bands with different playing styles to get together and have fun.
By the Barricade: Speaking of getting together with awesome bands, I heard from Clearview that you’re gearing up for a big tour. Can you tell the By the Barricade readers anything about that?
Ricky Boker: It all started with Sirian Productions. We decided it would be a great idea to get some label mates together for a tour. The tour is going to consist of Clearview, The Sex Tape Scandal, and ourselves. That tour will be happening sometime this November if everything goes as planned.
By the Barricade: Coincidentally those are the three bands we are interviewing here at So Cal Summer Noise tonight.
Daniel Luccero: We are really good friends with all of those guys.
Brandon Hill: We really love to go support each other.
By the Barricade: What originated the name Firing All Cylinders?
Ricky Boker: We used to be a band called Wasted Away, but we hated the name. After a couple member changes we found Brandon and Cameron.
Cameron Hamilton: Brandon came all the way from North Carolina!
Ricky Boker: I searched google for two weeks for a name closer to what we wanted.
Daniel Luccero: The challenge was to find a name that wasn’t already taken.
Ricky Boker: We ran through hundreds of names, and one day I was watching Death Race and they said “firing on all cylinders” and it totally clicked.
By the Barricade: Can you describe Firing All Cylinders in five words or less?
Cameron Hamilton: Fast, fun, loud … funner.
By the Barricade: What do you guys like to do when you’re not playing a show?
Cameron Hamilton: If it involves a board I do it.
Ricky Boker: I used to skate for years before I picked up a guitar. Daniel and I met that way and have been writing songs together since eighth grade.
Daniel Lucero: It’s been going strong ever since. We started jamming in a garage, and we still play one of those songs onstage now.
Brandon Hill: I snowboard in the winter, but most of my life is centered around music. I’m always writing new material and playing my acoustic when I’m not playing my bass.
Cameron Hamilton: If we aren’t playing music together, we are still playing music.
Daniel Lucero: I’m a pool guy so if I’m not cleaning pools I pick up my guitar and practice. If I come up with something I send it to the boys and that’s been going good. The chemistry with this band is interesting. Our bass player (Brandon) is more into the alternative side, I’m into classic rock and blues, our drummer (Cameron) is into metalcore, and our lead singer (Ricky) listens to metal and punk. All of our inspirations are mixed together within our music so we’ve been called thrash, hard rock, metal, and a bunch of other things. You can call it whatever you want but we are still Firing All Cylinders. I don’t look at genres. I just look and people’s faces when they see us play and love to see people having fun. That’s the key to this band.
By the Barricade: What does the song writing process look like for Firing All Cylinders?
Cameron Hamilton: It’s very diverse. Some songs take five minutes and some take days. Whether it takes a month to polish and fine tune it, or it’s done in five minutes it’s very democratic. It usually starts with having fun at practice. Sometimes we are just messing around playing riffs having fun and record it. “Anxiety” was recorded that way. Daniel started playing a riff on guitar and I threw my drums into then Ricky started getting nervous and singing about having anxiety.
Ricky Boker: most of our songs start off as jokes, but sometimes it’s catchy and totally works.
By the Barricade: Do you have plans for new music before your tour?
Ricky Boker: We are preparing to go back in the studio now.
Daniel Lucero: We are, but still have some work to do and in the process of writing new material.
Cameron Hamilton: We are performing a brand new song tonight actually called “Earthquake”.
Brandon Hill: It’s going to get crazy!
Cameron Hamilton: We will be going back to Sirian productions with that new song and tucking it away for the next album so fans at So Cal Summer Noise are in for a treat.
By the Barricade: What has been your biggest achievement so far?
Ricky Boker: Keeping the band together!
Cameron Hamilton: It’s hard to start a band, and even harder to stick with it. It’s not just musicianship but also chemistry and friendship.
Daniel Lucero: A lot of bands don’t have that, but the bands we have met definitely do. We go to their parties and have fun, but are also going to tour with them.
By the Barricade: You’ve mentioned videogames in this interview. What’s your favorite way to nerd out?
Ricky Boker: I go to Comic-Con and like to dress up. My family also runs a professional haunted house called Fear Farm.
Cameron Hamilton: We’re all in it so dressing up and scaring people is always supper fun, but I love to get a bunch of friends together and play Call of Duty Black Ops 2 for hours.
Daniel Lucero: I play video games, but I’m a huge comic fan. I usually play Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy.
Brandon
Hill: I read a lot! It’s rare that I’m not reading. I love to read Spider Man comics and stuff like that.
Ricky Boker: I just rip out the Lite-Brite to nerd out.
Daniel Lucero: 90’s Toys are the best!
Cameron Hamilton: It’s all about Bop It!
By the Barricade: Is there anything else you want to say to the readers of By the Barricade?
Cameron Hamilton: Shout out to tonight’s promoter David Christopher Flores, Clearview and The Sex Tape Scandal who we’re going on tour with, and to Sirian Productions.
Ricky Boker: Shout out to all the fans who came out tonight!
Daniel Lucero: Shout out to our friends and family who have supported us along the way. We wouldn’t be here or have inspiration without them.
Brandon Hill: Shout out to everyone back home in North Carolina. If it wasn’t for all my best friends and family I wouldn’t be here.
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