Roctavia Archives - Rock Band t-shirts

Hello all! Roctavia here and I’m back again with some more wonderful Rock ‘N’ Roll for you my Lovelies. Today I had the privilege of snagging an interview with a band whose music is making some strong vibrations in the UK Rock scene. In this write-up I get to bring you along with me as I was allowed access to take a peek into the world of The Dust Coda.

Per the band’s main page, The Dust Coda was founded in the melodic prowess of Adam Mackie (lead guitar) and John Drake (vocals, rhythm guitar) and completed by the richly rugged groove of Scott Miller (drums) and Tony Ho (bass guitar). These London rockers have thundered into the New era of the Classic Rock style scene with enticingly unforgettable riffs, gravel-soaked vocal soul and sheer swagger.

Once you’ve given The Dust Coda a listen, you’ll be able to pick out the deep & buttery bluesy elements of Led Zeppelin, to the nasty muscle of Guns N’ Roses. This is most definitely the recipe that has brought them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

I myself was very impressed upon doing my listening research on the band prior to preparing my write-up questions. This band has dealt a respectful nod with a taste of classic rock, but they bring something new & special to the table that I just can’t quite put my finger on. So naturally, being my usual rock-mindedly inquisitive self, I just had to find out a bit more about the band. In this interview we were able to chat with guitarist Adam Mackie.

Roctavia: Hi Adam! Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today! Let’s get right to it shall we?

Roctavia: Your band name, The Dust Coda seems pretty unique. So I gotta know, what’s the story behind it?

Adam: So …..

The Dust part represents ‘biker dust’ so it resonates with the imagery of route 66, freedom, bikers, the open road and rock n roll.

Coda is the name of the symbol at the end of a repeat passage in musical transcript. Translated it means ‘completion’.

So for us The Dust Coda is just helping repeat all the great parts of rock n roll and keeping it alive and kicking in modern times.

Roctavia: That’s a pretty inspiring answer! It really fits in with all the Rock ‘N’ Roll power that you guys are bringing to the table!

Roctavia: How did your band end up forming?

Adam: Myself and John met many years ago in another project. I then wanted to start a rock band and asked John to write some songs with me. The early signs were promising and they both liked what they were coming up with. After months and months in my room in Brixton fuelled by copious amounts of Red Stripe, they made garageband demo’s to start attracting a rhythm section to complete the band and form The Dust Coda. A few years later they were well rehearsed, gigging, and self funded the production of their debut album in 2016, which was released in 2017. Things have been getting louder ever since ….

Roctavia: Musically, what was it like growing up for you?

Adam: For me I was lucky to grow up around good music with my parents having good taste, there was always the latest album playing on cassette in the car. Back in the 80’s this would include OMD, Tears For Fears, Simply Red, The Stranglers, Fleetwood Mac and Eric Clapton. That’s how I fell in love with the guitar. I then discovered Guns N Roses and my world changed!

Roctavia: Yes! GNR! I can relate haha!

Roctavia: What’s the story behind getting the first instrument that you were really proud of?

Adam: It wasn’t the instrument, but ….

When I was 13 I got my first electric guitar – a stunning black Epiphone Les Paul. The deal was, if my Dad buys the guitar I had to buy the amp. My only income was from a weekly paper round at the time. I saved up for months and was able to buy the amp. I still own both now and love them!

Roctavia: That’s awesome. I always love hearing stories about how fellow musicians came across their first vessels of musicality. Whatever they may be.

Roctavia: So who are your greatest musical influences? Which of them do you feel shines through most as inspiration for your music?

Adam: As a band we all share the same love for the rock n roll greats – Led Zep, Guns N Roses, Rolling Stones, and AC/DC. These guys are all a string part of our sound.

Myself and John write the songs and we definitely draw upon wider influences between them that come out in The Dust Coda albums. These include (to name a few!) Sound Garden, Bruce Springteen, Ryan Adams, Free, Black Sabbath, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine.

Roctavia: Haha, I just have to say I’m very impressed with the taste in music here.

Roctavia: If you could map a dream tour, what would it look like?

Adam: At the moment – anywhere!!!

Roctavia: Yeah…I completely understand what you mean. I’d give anything just to be a girl at a rock show again.

We can’t wait to get out and see our UK fans again once Covid eases down, after that we want to get out as many places as possible – nowhere is off limits!

Roctavia: What’s the story behind your most favorite gig experience?

Adam: We played Brewdog’s annual general meeting a few years ago at Aberdeen Arena. It was a 10,000 string indoor crowd which was amazing, but without doubt what made it special was a whole day with free beer 🙂

Roctavia: Haha! A full day of free beer? That does sound like a pretty great day!

Roctavia: When the world opens back up, what’s next for The Dust Coda?

Adam: Like all bands we can’t wait to get back out there playing live again. Our new album Mojo Skyline comes out on 26th March, so we can’t wait to start playing a load of songs that fans have never heard before live

Roctavia: Thank you again for taking the time out to interview with me today. I really appreciate it. So I love to do this thing where I end interviews on a fun and off-the-cuff note so if you could meet with anyone in history, who would it be & why?

Adam: Oooooo – I think I’d go with George Martin. Just to hear his view on what it was like to work with The Beatles in that period of history which changed music forever, through his eyes.

For more on The Dust Coda & to keep up with their soon to be released album Mojo Skyline, you can check them out below.

http://thedustcoda.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheDustCoda
https://twitter.com/TheDustCoda

Rock Collaborations

The malaise of 2020 has definitely lead to the young & restlessness of regal rockers across the globe. It has been a pretty difficult year for those who are used to consistently touring, promoting, and globetrotting. One amazing phenomenon that has been produced by the year that the earth stood still is that more established rockers & up and coming artists alike are blurring lines by reaching out to each other across social media platforms and producing some pretty fine gems creatively.

Another thing that the time away from the world has provided many with are new perspectives & different points of view as far as the creative process as a whole is concerned. Whether it be production concepts, new & edgy soundscapes, or the good old ‘two heads are better than one ’ideals, there are some red-hot young artists bringing badass bops to the table for the world of Rock.

Our journey starts with Yungblud who is an expertly fresh, fun, and freeing performer that is quickly clawing his way to laying solid foundation towards becoming a household name. He is hands-down a new breed of rock star. As recently as September, Yungblud joined forces with Oliver Sykes of hard rocking Bring Me The Horizon fame to produce an exhilarating collab in their single “Obey”.

Some of Yungblud’s most recent singles also feature names like Travis Barker of Blink-182 fame as well as The Used and you can listen in on his Spotify profile here:

Another hot and ready band that recently unleashed a sizzling new album with lots of juicy collabs is The Struts with their October release of Strange Days. It features songs kissed by the magic touch of some pretty big names in Rock ‘N’ Roll fame. The cameos roll up with “Another Hit of Showmanship” which is an Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes collaboration, “I Hate How Much I Want You” which thunderously features Joe Elliot and Phil Collen of Def Leppard fame, rounded out by “Wild Child” that turns up the heat with scorching hot solos from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.

If you’re hungry for more from The Struts, you can check out their delicious catalogue of songs here:

Not to be outdone, Miley Cyrus is stepping up to bat and absolutely knocking it out of the park on her new album Plastic Hearts. It features more impressive cameos from rock history in the likes of Billy Idol on “Night Crawling”, Stevie Nicks on “Edge of Midnight” and the too too rad Joan Jet & The Black Hearts on “Bad Karma”.

You can listen to the whole speaker slaying album here:

The creative process can definitely stagnate and become stale especially in these trying times. Those who make a living on bringing people together seem to still be doing exactly that in the absence of the ability to congregate.

If you think about it (to the major benefit of the people of the world) we may not be able to see them perform these works of art live right now, but when the world opens back up we have loads to look forward to. In my opinion, there is a unique phenomenon that has occurred by getting more vetted artists involved in these new & exciting collaborations.

In a world that has been torn apart over the past year, these new tracks are bridging gaps between decades of fandoms & uniting us all in our love for our favourite artists again. There is something major to be said about the utmost level of respect that this collection of impressive young artists have for those who blazed the trails in Rock ‘N’ Roll before them. The very same trails that they are currently lighting up themselves.