The road to respect in the Cleveland rock scene has been a long one for Kris Jones. After being ousted from his longtime band and having yet to secure a major recording contract, one might expect Jones to lose steam. Instead, he sang louder, promoted harder, and plotted his revenge: IAMREVENGE, his latest musical endeavor.
In this exclusive interview for AssociatedContent.com, I sat down with Kris just days before IAMREVENGE’s debut performance to examine what he’s survived, where he’s headed, and how he’s regained his footing as vocalist for one of the city’s most promising new groups.
Gary Rumley II: So what have you been working on as of late?
Kris Jones: IAMREVENGE’s self-titled EP. We’ve been working on it for a long time. It will have nine songs on it, an intro, and a hidden track at the end – a cover of a song by someone known in the area. I’m actually curious as to what the younger crowd will think of it, but the older fans – 21 and up – will probably get it and think that it’s pretty funny. Then have this show at Peabody’s on August 20th – it’s our make-or-break moment. Cole Martinez – who’s been in numerous signed bands and is well known – and our bass player, Brian, are also in Salt the Wound, the band we’re opening for. So they’re going to be working double duty that night. It’s also going to be interesting because it will be my first public appearance since the falling out with Along Came A Spider, and they’ll be there, too, playing the show.
Gary Rumley II: What was it that triggered the rift between you and Along Came A Spider?
Kris Jones: I’m not trying to point fingers or call them out in public, but I will explain it. I did the majority of the work for the band. In the band, Justin and Mike did most of the writing. Justin did all of the graphic design work; he handled a lot of things from the business end, but I was the promoter. I was the face. I was the road warrior. But what it came down to was just — I don’t like to be told who to be. I’m not going to be told how to talk or how to write, what not to say. This is rock and roll. It’s music. Say what you want to say. Basically, me swearing on stage was what eventually led to my removal from the band. You just get so caught up in the energy, your vocabulary – you’re not thinking about that. Anyway, Justin called me up and asked to meet me at a bar in Wadsworth. He was acting really weird, so I knew something was up. They had already went out in public with a new singer before they even talked to me. They tried to hide it, but I found out anyway. I asked Justin about it over the phone and he said he didn’t know what I was talking about. So I drove to the bar, and sure enough, they kicked me out five minutes later. We tried to keep it professional in the public eye, but the rift grew, and eventually, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. I wasn’t going to sit there and let these guys do this to me after all the money and time I invested in this band. I’m not going to let them get away with it, and that’s what spawned the name: IAMREVENGE. This band represents me doing all the things I wasn’t allowed to do. It’s me getting back at the music industry in general. I’m not going to be censored or told how to talk or act on stage. It’s just us doing what we want to do; that’s our motive.
Gary Rumley II: How will the overall presentation of IAMREVENGE differ from that of Along Came A Spider?
Kris Jones: It’s a lot heavier. It’s faster, just more aggressive in general. It’s angrier. It’s in your face; constant break downs, ridiculous drums. The melodic side of things has been cut out.
Gary Rumley II: Is it darker?
Kris Jones: Very.
Gary Rumley II: More personal?
Kris Jones: My lyrics have always been personal. If something happens in my life, if there’s something I’m feeling, I write a song about it. Music is the ultimate weapon. If someone breaks your heart, you can call them out in front of everybody. It allows you to discuss those issues that you don’t feel comfortable talking about, without people necessarily knowing that’s what you’re talking about. It’s poetry in motion, and people have the freedom to decipher your words into whatever they want. They can take it however they feel to fit their situation, or they can listen to it and understand exactly what you’re saying. In the end, if you write a song that can help somebody cope with something, your job is done, to me at least. Mission accomplished.
Gary Rumley II: What was the recording process like for this new EP? In what way did the group approach the project?
Kris Jones: When you have a guy in the band who owns a studio, you have unlimited time. So we would go in late at night, early in the morning, whenever, and just plug away until we got exactly what we wanted. I’m in the vocal booth, and we’re doing cuts and edits on lyrics as I’m recording. I did some of the songs line by line. Eventually I started getting the feel and the flow of the sound. I got more prepared and more comfortable. This is the first time I’ve written music without rehearsing it a million times first. The entire record was written in the studio. It’s something that most bands don’t get the luxury of doing until they’re signed to a major label, and even then, they’re paying for that time. So we definitely have an advantage.
Gary Rumley II: That type of freedom probably adds a lot to the finished product.
Kris Jones: Yeah, it really does. You’re not under any time constraints, so you can just sit there and let the juices flow naturally and produce the best product you can. You can’t rush it, and if you do, your fans are going to be able to tell. It’s noticeable when bands rush a record, or when their hearts aren’t in it.
Gary Rumley II: I think that could unfortunately be said about a lot of music hitting the shelves today. It does sound rushed, watered down.
Kris Jones: Exactly, especially with the oversaturation of the market and what it is now. The music scene is a dime a dozen. Some people do this just because they think it’s cool. Some do it because they genuinely love the music, but there are just too many bands out there; too much of the same thing. A band will come out, get big, and then every kid out there gets obsessed with them. They pick up a guitar and want to write music like We Came As Romans. They want to sound like For the Fallen Dreams or Emmure or A Day to Remember, and then they all start copying each other. It gets burned out. The industry has also become too obsessed with image. It’s like, if you’re not wearing skinny jeans or if you don’t have that stupid swoop, nobody is going to take you seriously. The market is just flooded with a lot of the same thing, and labels have heard it too many times.
Gary Rumley II: What would you say is the biggest misconception about music and just the entertainment industry in general?
Kris Jones: The music business is the biggest mistake in the world to try and get into, but you can’t get away once you’re hooked on it. It’s like a drug. You know it’s a horrible idea. You know you’re pissing your life away, but it’s just too much fun. People have these ambitions and dreams and get, not delusional, but just these wrong ideas of how it’s going to be, and it’s nothing like it how it really is. Touring is not glamorous. You’re stuck in a sweaty van for months on end with fix or six dudes, making crappy pay, and that’s assuming you even get paid at all. Almost everyone in this business is out for one thing – a quick buck, and it doesn’t matter if it’s at your expense or someone else’s because there’s always going to be someone there who they can exploit. It’s ten percent talent and ninety percent luck and who you know.
Gary Rumley II: And of course sacrifice.
Kris Jones: Definitely. There was a point in my life when I didn’t even have a job, because my job was the band. And I wasn’t making any money off of it, but we were so determined to make it that I just put everything else aside. I lived off of whatever money I could scrape up – an inheritance that I got from my mom passing away – and just focused on that.
Gary Rumley II: Is that a typical sacrifice?
Kris Jones: Yeah, it really is. I was thinking about that actually, just before I got here. In order to make it, especially in Cleveland, you have to be prepared to do nothing so that you can focus on doing everything for the band. It’s not fun.
Gary Rumley II: Is there a particular song of yours that stands out to you, one especially memorable? Is there one that just seems to come to mind before the others?
Kris Jones: “A Pleasure Cruise Aboard the Titanic” was an emotional song for me. I really went all out on that. When I was recording it, I was punching the wall in the booth and screaming until I was red in the face. I wasn’t using proper technique. It was just raw emotion, and I think that really came through on the song. Cole produced it – twisted all the right knobs – and that orchestra at the end is just really cool.
Gary Rumley II: What about a memorable moment? What’s something you’ll always remember?
Kris Jones: Toward the end of my mom’s life, she didn’t get out much, but she did get to see me open for Story of The Year at Peabody’s. That was my second show with Along Came A Spider. She got to come and see me, and that was really, really awesome.
Gary Rumley II: Promoting is an essential piece to the independent puzzle. What do you think separates you from others, in terms of pushing your band to the public?
Kris Jones: For me, it’s not a question of playing the music. It’s just about making sure the people know who you are, where to be, and how to get there. And you’ve got to talk to people. If you’re anti-social, you’re not going to make it. The Internet has made things both extraordinarily easy, and extraordinarily difficult. Why? People hate being spammed. You’ll try to advertise a show on Facebook and half the people won’t even respond to it. Did they read it? You don’t know. You have no idea if your message reached them, so then you just have to find another way to get them. You’ve got to put posters up — wherever they’ll let you. A lot of places now won’t even let you hang a flyer in their store. Hot Topic lets you do it, The Exchange does. Most corporate stores won’t though. Promoting takes work ethic, and people notice work ethic these days. Jake Scott of Salt the Wound is probably one of the hardest working people I know, and not just in music, but also in everything he does. The guy is on his game. He’s only 22. He’s already a tattoo artist, a licensed arms dealer, and he is Salt the Wound. He told me that I was a promotions machine. To have somebody in a signed band say that to me is really flattering. I didn’t even know what to say.
Gary Rumley II: Would you say that a piece of the rock star – that aura, that mystique – is almost losing its way in this technological age that we now live? Do you believe that musicians can in some way hurt their brand by remaining so accessible online, or is it just a necessary evil?
Kris Jones: It’s a necessary evil. There are two kinds of people out there: the technologically savvy, and those still stuck in the Stone Age. They either don’t have the time, or they don’t want to be that easily accessible. But back in the day, it was all about the mystique. People didn’t used to know what you were doing all the time, not unless you made it into the news or they read a magazine article. Now it’s like, you can find out what anybody is doing at any hour of the day online, and yeah, I think that kind of takes away from the power of being a rock star. You just become a normal person, who of course we all are, but it does take the mystique out of it.
Gary Rumley II: Do you get a lot of people reaching out to you online?
Kris Jones: They leave me comments on my Facebook. They give IAMREVENGE feedback on the songs we put out. We haven’t got a negative reaction yet.
Gary Rumley II: In terms of dealing with those reactions, both positive and negative, do you at all have to desensitize yourself to it? Do you take the negative with a light heart?
Kris Jones: With me, it’s all about the way you present yourself. If it’s constructive criticism, I welcome it, but if you’re just blatantly insulting someone’s abilities as a vocalist or guitar player, or cutting them down as a person, then that’s different. Either way, you’re open to fire. Vincent Bennett from The Acacia Strain has a lyric that says, “My life is a shooting range”. And you are, you’re a target. You’re wide open, and if you didn’t want to be, you wouldn’t be trying to get into the public eye in the first place.
Gary Rumley II: Going into this performance at Peabody’s, what are you hoping to see come from it? What are you expecting?
Kris Jones: Well, you never know what you can expect. Anything can happen. But ideally, I’d like to see Along Came A Spider fans reacting to my music just like they did when I was in the band. I’d even like to see Along Came A Spider watching me on stage, because I’ll be watching them. Is there a chance that I might pop up on stage and do a song with them? Sure. If they asked me to, I’d probably do it. I want there to be a good turnout, and hopefully, IAMREVENGE can blow people away with this new music. Most importantly though, I just want to see everyone having fun.
Gary Rumley II: Do you think that playing on the same bill together might help close the chapter on all of the drama between you and Along Came A Spider? Do you think that it might help everyone get past it?
Kris Jones: I am past it. It was just such a big part of my life. From March of 2010 to March of 2011, those were the craziest 365 days of my life. Things picked up with the band, my mother passed away in July, I got kicked out of the band, all of the driving we did in between — just all kinds of crazy stuff. I don’t like to hold a grudge, but it’s like a divorce, like a family falling apart. And really, that’s what it was. When you put so much of yourself into something, and you lose it, you’re going to hold on to it for a while. But am I moving on? Yeah, for the future of IAMREVENGE, and that future starts August 20th.
Gary Rumley II: What’s next for you? What’s on the horizon for the band?
Kris Jones: We’re going to get our merchandise out there. We’re going to ride this horse until it passes out from exhaustion. I’m also entertaining the idea of recording an acoustic album, just for myself. I’m probably going to do five or six songs and just put them out there for free and see if people like them. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to try. We’ll see how it goes.
Gary Rumley II: Why an acoustic album? Why such a depart from the harder, more aggressive approach of IAMREVENGE?
Kris Jones: Honestly, I’m a sucker for a good melody, and acoustic music is just really cool. I like a lot of it. Two things in particular that really got me going in this direction were Eric Clapton’s Unplugged record – that was one of my favorites when I was young because my parents used to listen to it all the time – and Dallas Green from Alexisonfire. He has a side project called City and Colour and it’s just him and a guitar. I love it.
Gary Rumley II: What do you hope to be known for when you look back on your life and your career in music?
Kris Jones: After it’s all said and done, I just want to be known as a guy who never gave up on his dream. That’s the thing that makes me sad – seeing people who just kind of relent. They have the idea, and either tried it and gave up too quickly, or never tried it at all. If I get famous, that’s great. If not, I don’t care. I just want to be that guy who never stopped trying.
Gary Rumley II: Any closing words?
Kris Jones: Yeah, don’t start a band.
Kris Jones and IAMREVENGE will be performing with Salt the Wound, Legion, Along Came A Spider, Elevation, and Ruled by Reason at Peabody’s on Saturday, August 20th, 2011. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com.