Editor’s Note: It was a beautiful summer night and Madness To Creation conversed with Cinder on “The Machine”, their lyric video for “Gangsta Stereo”, and the role that dogs play in their mental health awareness. Vocalist Roger Young is talking about the comeback, that infamous concert at 3rd Street Live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the impact that “Soul Creation” had back in the day. Fans can find Cinder at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/OfficialCinderBand
www.instagram.com/OfficialCinderBand
Madness To Creation: Hi Roger, what’s going on today?
Roger: Not much, just feeding my dogs!
Madness To Creation: What kind of dogs do you have?
Roger: I like all dogs and I have a black and white American bulldog, a short-haired Wheaton terrier, and a brand new Weimaraner.
Madness To Creation: Do you get involved with rescuing dogs?
Roger: Yes, they’re all rescues.
Madness To Creation: Madness To Creation talks about mental health awareness, and I figured since you rescue dogs, that plays an impact on your mental health, how does that help with one’s mental health?
Roger: It’s good for the soul, I mean for one, dogs are just awesome as companions, and my fiance and I do what we can in situations where we can help, I mean you can’t rescue them all, you can push for it, and do what you can and it makes you feel better as a person.
Madness To Creation: Do you recommend for those that struggle with mental health to get a pet?
Roger: Absolutely, it can get incredibly lonely out there, and dogs or animals period don’t care about anything else except being loved, sometimes they’re better than people.
Madness To Creation: I think in a lot of situations animals are better than people. Let’s talk about Cinder’s music. I checked out the lyric video for “Gangsta Stereo”, it kind of brings me back to the 2000’s when bands like Saliva, got famous(not comparing you guys to Saliva), but am I interpreting it correctly when it’s a shot at how a lot of music sounds the same these days?
Roger: Yes, that’s what it’s about, I get a lot of flak for that song that it’s against a certain genre of music, and it’s not that at all, it’s about people being sheep when it comes to music and how when something brand new takes off, it’s great, but it’s followed by nothing by copycats and soundalikes, and you get this certain rap or rap-rock music and you get some great songs that are like that, and you have thousands and thousands that copycat it and people worship those songs because they’re told to not because they’re great songs, it’s about copycatting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAyBVufDtvYMadness To Creation: How do you make Cinder stand out from the pack in today’s music industry?
Roger: We really worked on that with this brand new album called “The Machine” and we’re very proud of this album because a lot of bands have each track on their album sound exactly the same, it doesn’t vary a lot in its writing nowadays, in this album, each track has its own entity, it’s own personality, so when you listen to the album in its full, it almost sounds like its own journey of sorts, because it’s not the same vibe, it’s not the same song, I don’t write the lyrics the same each song, I don’t sing it the same in each song, and that’s what we’ve always wanted to do, we produced the album ourselves, we wrote the album ourselves, without outside thinkers being put in the pod.
Madness To Creation: With what you just mentioned, not having outside thinkers, do you think a lot of bands and artists are going towards that nowadays?
Roger: I think it’s pretty much always been that way, the bands that really stand out in history are the ones that take it upon themselves and stood their ground for artistic integrity, we just got lucky to be able to do it ourselves without anybody forcing us to, but there are so many acts and bands, whatever genre it is, where there’s too many people, whether it’s their opinions or multiple producers that have songs that don’t sound like there’s multiple producers, if that makes any sense.
Madness To Creation: If you want to introduce someone to Cinder and “The Machine”, what’s one track they should check out to introduce them to Cinder?
Roger: Oh…that’s a disappointing question because I love all the songs on the album, but I can understand where you’re coming from. I would choose our single “Human After All” because it has all of the elements to the album and it has a taste of the old Cinder vibe back in the day when we were on Interscope Records, now we are on Art Is War Records, they’ve been giving us the freedom that we want and it really comes across in the songs like with “Human After All”, it pretty much sums up how the band comes across and how the album comes across.
Madness To Creation: Would you like to give a quick plug on “Human After All”?
Roger: Just call your radio station, every station in the country has the availability to play it, just get on the phone, text them and call them, email them, Facebook them, whatever you need to do so they know that it’s out there and make people want to hear it.
Madness To Creation: Do you remember opening up for Sevendust in the early to mid 2000’s, it was at 3rd Street Live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa when the show was shut down because the promoter sold 1,300 tickets in a venue that only held 400 people or so?
Roger: Absolutely I do, because for us and Sevendust to draw that many people in a place that couldn’t hold that many people, that’s what rock-n-roll is all about.
Madness To Creation: What was Cinder and Sevendust’s reaction when the club owner told you guys that they had to shut down the show?
Roger: Business wise, everybody was completely pissed off, we would’ve rather have set it up outside where everybody can enjoy the show, it was a little bit cold if I remember that day, we asked if it was possible if we could set it up outside and Sevendust agreed to play for all of the people that felt incredibly disappointed that they couldn’t have a show.
Madness To Creation: One thing that we appreciated was Cinder, Ra, and Sevendust all coming back to play at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids for a $5 fan appreciation show. What was the craziest moment that you have ever had on stage during a concert?
Roger: The craziest thing that has happened on stage was when we played our first show after we got signed by Interscope Records, it was in a small club in Fort Myers, Florida, we went from those clubs to going immediately on the Creed tour in stadiums, so going from playing in a little club in front of 20 people to playing the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of 25,000 people, that right there is a wake-up call, you gotta have your shit together.
Madness To Creation: Cinder’s staple song is “Soul Creation”, the video has over 600,000 hits on YouTube, what advice would you give to Roger Young back then?
Roger: What a question that is! I would tell him to stick to his guns, to not to be swayed by other people’s opinions about how to run your band and how to write your music, to be the artist that you know that you are or can be because the only person you know as an artist is yourself, and don’t be swayed by other people’s opinions. Be true to yourself.
Madness To Creation: I’m going to give you the floor to plug “The Machine” or add anything else you want to add.
Roger: “The Machine” is available on every platform, check out the video for “Human After All”, don’t just pick up the single, buy the album as a whole because from front to back, it’s a tiny little journey, it’s so much bigger than one song, request it on your radio stations, hit us up at Art Is War Records, and check out the other great bands that are on there, and please come out and see us live!
And there you have it! Cinder and Nagazi will be providing support for Smile Empty Soul on “The November Pain” tour. Check out the tour dates below:
Fri. 11/8- Signature Event Center in Rolla, Missouri
Sat. 11/9- Lefty’s Live Music in Des Moines, Iowa
Sun. 11/10- The Riot Room in Kansas City, Missouri
Tue. 11/12- The Looney Bin in Bradley, Illinois
Wed. 11/13- The Washington in Burlington, Iowa
Thu. 11/14- The Back Bar in Janesville, Wisconsin
Fri. 11/15- The Music Factory in Battle Creek, Michigan
Sat. 11/16- The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan (also w/Royal Bliss)
Sun. 11/17- Frankie’s Inner City in Toledo, Ohio
Tue. 11/19- Growler’s in Memphis, Tennessee
Wed. 11/20- Trees in Dallas, Texas
Thu. 11/21- House of Rock in Corpus Christi, Texas
Fri. 11/22- Scout Bar in Houston, Texas
Sat. 11/23- Stickyz’ RockNRoll Chicken Shack in Little Rock, Arkansas
For tickets and further information on “The November Pain” tour featuring Smile Empty Soul, click here.
