JOHN RUSSO OF REVERSE ORDER - Interview

I had the chance earlier this week to sit down with John Russo, the lead singer of one of my favorite up-and-coming bands, Reverse Order. The rest of the band had other obligations (probably a good thing; the interview might have been an hour long if they’d all be there), but John filled me in on their upcoming tour, new music, a new video, and even answered a fan’s Twitter question.

Reverse Order came together in 2008 and consists of brothers John (vocals, guitars) and Cruise Russo (vocals and drums), bassist Frank Spangler and guitarist Drew Katsock. They’ve opened for Action Item, Allstar Weekend and others, and through Twitter and Youtube their fan-base is growing nationally.  You may have seen them on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT last season, and that’s where our chat started:

ANTHONY: So the last time I interviewed you, via email, was before you were on America’s Got Talent.

JOHN: Okay, That was a while ago.

ANTHONY: Yeah. What did you guys learn from that experience and how did you apply it moving forward?

JOHN: That’s definitely an interesting question. That’s the first time that’s been asked. I mean, being on America’s Got Talent, you have to be very professional, very punctual, things were a lot more complicated than people think they are; you have be there 9 days beforehand, every single day you’re training with music directors, different vocal coaches, you’ve got b-roll taping, all the different cameras are outlined, they place you along the whole thing, you practice your exact positions you have to move into because there’s like 100 cameras programmed around the stage that you have to hit your marks at the right times because the cameras are programmed to switch. I mean, I guess it was more just learning more professionalism in that kind of environment. So that was definitely a good thing for us.

ANTHONY: And I remember Howard was not as impressed as we hoped he would be.

JOHN: Yeah.

ANTHONY: So how did you respond to the criticisms? There were little snippets of post-interview with you guys, but now that you have some perspective on it?

JOHN: Yeah, I mean the best – the only thing you can really do is take what they say and try to apply it as much as you can. Certain things you just kind of ignore (smiles) because you really don’t connect with what they’re saying, but other things you try to apply to yourself and at least do something to better yourself.

ANTHONY: True. So let’s talk about the new music. When is it coming out?

JOHN: We’re trying a new approach this time. Instead of just releasing one cd at a time … because we’ve found, nowadays at least, when you release a cd, everyone’s really into it for about a month, they’re really excited about it, and then the rest of the year, you don’t have anything to offer them. What we’re doing this time is we have about six songs recorded but we’re going to release them slowly. We’re going to release them maybe once a month. So this month people will be into this song, next month they’ll be looking for something new, we’ll release another song. So that’s kind of how we’re doing it. Three of the songs were recorded with Rob Freeman who did a lot of production on like Warped Tour bands, he was in a band called Hidden In Plain View, he produced Hit The Lights, he on “Stereo Hearts” by Adam Levine and Gym Class Heroes, so he’s doing some songs.  There’s a guy in Staten Island named Armando who’s doing a song for us; a guy named Mike Lisa and a guy named Kevin Kumetz. Kevin is actually the guy who recorded our last cd, so we’re working with him again. The music’s … for the most part it’s still rock, it’s still alternative rock but it’s slightly different from what we’ve done before. Right now, there’s a lot of our stuff that is very pop-punk and then there’s some pop-dance and there’s like keyboard and stuff like that. This is more alternative rock, you know, Fall Out Boy, One Republic, The Fray, so it’s more Top 40 alternative rock than like Top 40 Pop. So it should it be good.

ANTHONY: So you’re doing away with keyboards and stuff like that? Stripping it down to the basic instruments, or..?

JOHN: No, we have the keyboards and synthesizers and stuff, but whereas like Save For … is a dance song, synths in that respect, it’s going to be more synths and keyboards in the respect of like One Republic, big sound arena rock, or like The Killers, kind of like that.

ANTHONY: It’s funny, the other band I talk about a lot, The Dalliance, who are guys I went to high school with, that’s how they released their music. It was almost a year’s worth of “a song a month,” and then they culled from that to release the album they released last year, and rerecorded some stuff. I don’t know if they’re going to do the same thing with this next EP.

JOHN: They put all the same songs together on one EP at the end?

ANTHONY: Yeah, although they did remaster and retrack some stuff.

JOHN: That’s what we’re planning to do, put it all together on cd at the end.

ANTHONY: And that way, people who wanted a physical CD could still get one at their cd release party or later. And yeah, that seems to be the way lots of bands are doing it now. Seems to be the smarter marketing.

JOHN: Plus it gives you more time, while you’re working on other stuff, to still fix some stuff. You know, all the big bands on the radio, they have the luxury of having other people write their stuff so they can tour, release, tour, release, tour, release. Where we don’t have that luxury so you have to time it out.

ANTHONY: Exactly. So, the video you’ve been working on. Let’s talk about that.

JOHN: Yes.  The video we actually recorded in February. A friend of mine who I met years ago in California goes to film school so he decided to film us a video. And it’s just taking long to edit because he lives in California and I live in NJ, so we’re at that point in the communication where he sends me an email and it takes me five days to get back to him, so…  The video is actually for “Go,” so we’re really hoping to get that video out before we release any new songs. It looks weird releasing a new song then releasing a video for an old song, so we’re trying to do that. I’ve seen it, there’s only three small things that need to be edited.

ANTHONY: When it comes out, I’ll come back to this interview and add a link or embed it.

JOHN: Cool.

ANTHONY: Okay, so you’re about to leave on tour.

JOHN: Yep. We are leaving … our first date in June 25th, so we’re leaving June 24th and it’s essentially a full month so we should be coming back home around the end of July. We’re going to the Mid-west and the South. Our route: we start out in New Jersey, obviously; we’re going to hit Pennsylvania, like the Pittsburgh area; then [zig-zagging back and forth through] Ohio, Illinios, Indiana, and Michigan; and then on to Saint Louis, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, and then once we get back home the regular New Jersey and PA and New York shows again.

We actually have a show in New York though, before we leave, it’s our last local show June 15th at The Vibe Lounge in Long Island. We’re excited to hit the road. We’re going to a lot of places we’ve been to before, venue-wise, and some places we haven’t. We’re playing at a bunch of Six Flags, a bunch of regular venues, “concerts in the parks” that some towns throw where they have like big bands and stuff. A nice mix of shows, doing some nightclubs here and there since we have some nights off.

ANTHONY: And then living room shows.

JOHN: Oh yeah, we always leave time for the living room shows when people are interested. So we’re doing all of that, and the show on Long Island before we leave, and then the Stage-It show on June 2nd.

ANTHONY: Perfect lead-in. Let’s talk about that. How did that come together? I’ve seen a couple of things on Stage-It and they seem to be wildly variable in quality.

JOHN: Yeah. I’m going to try to make ours be quality. I have professional microphones upstairs just because we record our own demos here. So I’m going to see if I can work that into the computer without accidentally muting the volume, because that would be terrible. But a friend of ours … we’re friends with a band called Before You Exit and they had done one and they were telling us about it and we always try to do different things to keep our fans interested and they suggested this. It’s no cost for us to do, why not try it? So we figured we’d do a very small concert, limited to a small amount of people, try it out. It’s kind of a cool way for us to do a show for all those people that – you know, we have fans in Canada and Brazil and other places who can never see us, so it’s a way for them to see us, and I’m hoping it’s good. We’ve never done one before so it’s new for us.

ANTHONY: How do people connect with the Stage-It?

JOHN: They can search for it through the Stage-It site, but there is an actual link, and it’s on our Facebook right now.

ANTHONY: And I’ll post that link right here. So people reading, click here: REVERSE ORDER – LIVE FROM OUR LIVING ROOM and buy a ticket for Reverse Order’s Stage-It. The show starts at 7:30pm, on your computer, at that link.

I have a question for you from Twitter, from a fan in Houston, Texas.

JOHN: Houston!

ANTHONY: Yeah, I think she knows of you guys because she’s a big Before You Exit and Hollywood Ending fan, and she knows you’ve played with both of them. So when I asked on Twitter if anyone had any questions for you, she wanted me to ask you how you went from playing in the garage to the venues you’re playing, and any advice you might have for a singer-songwriter, who is also a teenager, as far as getting into playing the local venues, opening for bigger acts, etc.

JOHN: It’s a lot of work. (laughs) I mean, every local venue now, they want you to sell twenty tickets to play a show.  Our first thing was school talent shows, school Battle of the Bands. You kind of have to just go to a local venue, for us it was Croc Rock in Allentown, that’s where we got our start opening and playing bigger shows, ask the promoter “we’re a local band, do you have any shows coming up that we can get on,” and they’ll start you out with shows that are like five local bands in one night, no big headliners and they build you up from there. They say “sell twenty tickets,” well the first show, you’re going to be selling those to Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, grandparents. But from that show, maybe you’ll get five fans from another band, and the next show you play maybe fifteen are family and five are fans, and you kind of build that way.  It’s a long building process, and it takes a while but you gotta do it.

ANTHONY: If Cruise had been here tonight, I was going to end the interview with a “dueling super-heroes” thing. You know, “who would win…” Since like me you’re both big comic book fans.

JOHN: Marvel, clearly.  We actually have a thing we’re doing with a guy who just graduated from the Kubert School. Right now he’s submitting to DC and Marvel, we met him at Free Comic Book Day and he did like four of the covers I have upstairs. Probably the best artist I’ve ever met. But he’s actually drawn us individual trading cards, like Pokemon cards but in super-hero uniforms. He’s going to do a card for each of us but then blend the background so they merge into one big card. So he’s drawing that for us and since it’s like Pokemon we’ll have like cheesy power moves and stuff, how much Damage we do, etc. And we’ll have them at the shows, the only way to be able to get them will be from us.

ANTHONY: Pretty soon we’ll be able to play the Reverse Order Game. You’ll need arch-enemies, though, so you’ll have to work on that.

One more time: the link for REVERSE ORDER: LIVE FROM OUR LIVING ROOM, the band’s online concert on Stage-It Sunday June 2nd at 7:30pm. Tickets are still available.

You can find the specific dates for their Midwest-and-South June Tour right HERE.

You can buy their most recent EP, RIGHT NOW, from iTunes.

You can also join the band’s Facebook page, and follow them on Twitter: @ReverseOrder @ReverseJohn @CruiseRusso@FrankSpangla and @ReverseDrew.  They also have a Youtube channel, and of course I have to end the interview with one of their older videos, until the new video for “Go” comes out:

REVERSE ORDER, Singers - Interview

It’s MUSIC MONDAY, to steal a Twitter hashtag! It’s also the beginning of a week leading up to the one year anniversary of when I started running interviews here on my site. One interview every day, leading up to Saturday’s return interview with Evelyn LaFont.

Reverse Order

Today’s guests are REVERSE ORDER, a local NJ band poised for great things. The band is composed of brothers John and Cruise Russo, Drew Katsock and Frank Spangler.

ANTHONY: Hello, Reverse Order! Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with me. I’ve had the opportunity to see you guys perform live twice now: opening for Action Item at Starland Ballroom, and opening for Allstar Weekend at NJPAC. And I have to say: you guys have fantastic energy on-stage. So, how did the band form, and how long have you been performing together?

 CRUISE: The band was formed by John and I (Cruise) we are brothers.  We had been child actors (I was on the Soap, As The World Turns as Casey Hughes) then when we got to middle school we got interested in music.  At the same time the movie School of Rock came out, and my mom found out there was one opening in NJ so we were the first students (Mike the drummer from Hollywood Ending was also a student there, we are good friends).  Then we decided to start writing our own music and Reverse Order was born.  I’d say we seriously formed in 2008.  We had some band members change due to school, work, girlfriends but Drew has been with us a year and a half and Frank is going on one year.  We really like this line up.

ANTHONY: Where did the band name come from?

CRUISE: John and I were trying to come up with a name for the band for a school talent show and at the time he was being homeschooled and there was an Algebra problem and the words Reverse Order were on the white board in our house, after much brotherly arguing my dad said “Reverse Order” that’s your name.

ANTHONY: You describe yourselves as “pop punk / pop rock.” Who are some of your biggest influences, and what inspiration do you draw from them?

 JOHN: As we’ve matured our inspirations have changed. When I first got into writing I would re-write lyrics to Linkin Park songs along with some friends. As I started writing and building full songs with my own music, lyrics, and melodies, I started drawing inspiration from a wide range of both Pop Punk and Rock artists including the teen anthems of Blink 182, the wittiness and catchiness of Fall Out Boy, and the powerful honesty of Alice In Chains.

ANTHONY: I’m always interested in the creative process. So: who are the song-writers in the group? What’s your song-writing process like? Do the lyrics come first, then melody and instruments, or the reverse?

CRUISE: Up until 2012 it was totally John.  Now, I’m writing too and we’ll have sessions with Frank and Drew to try to come up with their parts.  John is still the main guy.  John will have some ideas and he’ll play them over and over and I’ll keep trying different drum beats sometimes we hit on something and it falls in place and sometimes we have some really good parts that never get finished because we’re missing something.

JOHN: Sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music. I start with whatever comes to me first and then work from there. Sometimes I just sit there for hours until something comes to me.  Sometimes I have a whole song and it is just missing one part and I can’t finish it so I put it aside.  Sometimes months later Cruise will say remember that song you were fooling around with let’s try to do something with it. So there are so many different ways we approach songwriting.

ANTHONY: You’re from Hackettstown, NJ, firmly up in the northwest corner of the state. Has living in the more “rural” part of New Jersey had any impact on the type of song you write, or the way your sound has developed?

CRUISE: For John and I our parents always took us to new places and even to concerts and plays to introduce us to new things. Some of our first concerts were Kiss, Billy Idol and Bruce Springsteen. We were born in Lincoln Park, NJ and then moved to the rural area in middle school. We live in a rural area but we’re more beach, or suburb type guys.

ANTHONY: I have to ask: you list “dancing in public places” as a band interest. Does this mean we can expect Reverse Order “flash mobs” around northwest NJ? And is it really the whole band that loves breaking into dance, or one of you in particular?

JOHN: We all love breaking into dance, but I’d have to say Frank and I are the worst offenders. We realized this at an H&M clothing store when we were on tour in Michigan. Frank and I started to dance in the middle of the store while waiting in line. There is also a video on YouTube of myself dressed in an afro and pleather pants ‘dancing in the 80s’ haha.

Reverse Order

ANTHONY: In terms of the band’s sound and energy: what does each member of the group bring to the stage that is uniquely “them?”

REVERSE ORDER: John is the front man of the group and has the ability to captivate an audience of any size. You can feel the power in every note he sings and plays. Cruise is the drummer but one of his greatest assets is that he is able to take over lead vocals as well. His drumming style is powerful and energetic and he draws from Pop/Punk greats like Travis Barker and Jason Lancaster. Audiences go wild for Drew as he struts the stage giving a dynamic and high energy performance, Drew and John really work well together getting right into the audience and grabbing their attention, they’re not afraid to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone is having fun and lost in the moment and Frank’s driving bass holds down the low end as he delivers a powerful performance.  Frank and Cruise hold everything together while Drew and John get the audience involved and pumped up.  Sometimes they just go right into the crowd.  One time recently the whole crowd just rushed the stage to jump and sing with them.

ANTHONY: You’ve got an album on itunes. How have sales been on that?

JOHN: Sales have been really good! It’s always exciting to get a new trend report every week, which shows where and when your music is being purchased or streamed. Sometimes we get really cool results and it says someone in Germany or Canada is listening to our music. It’s a great feeling to know you’re really getting out there!

ANTHONY: Is there another album or EP in the near future?

JOHN: There is another EP in the near future! We have been working very hard writing songs our fans will love. We have some really great ideas that we can’t wait to record and show the world! We were actually in the studio the first week of April to record. It should come out sometime in May J

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: for each member of the band, what is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

JOHN: I’m more of a wait till it gets to theaters kind of guy haha, but I do enjoy reading Graphic Novels and Stephen King books from time to time.  My song, Wake Me Up will actually be in this horror film “You Can’t Kill Stephen King.”  I love horror films so I can’t wait to see it.

CRUISE: Well I read a ton so it’s really hard to pick just one… But I’d say there are a lot of really good autobiographies from musicians. Both Clapton by Eric Clapton and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Six from Motley Crue were hard to put down. The obstacles they overcame within the music industry, and just in life in general, are astounding and reading them was very insightful, I tell everyone to read them whether you’re a fan of their music or not.

DREW:  Harry Potter, I grew up with it so it is a very much a part of my childhood.

FRANK:  Don’t really have one.

ANTHONY: Okay, thanks again guys! Looking forward to catching up with you in person soon!

REVERSE ORDER will be playing this Friday, April 27th, as the headline act at The Croc Rock in Allentown PA and at The Canvas Clash in Boonton NJ on May 11th. You can buy tickets HERE. Tell them Anthony sent you!

You can find Reverse Order online on Facebook and Twitter. Cruise and John have their own clothing line, Just Dance Apparel. And of course they’re on Youtube. In fact, here’s their video for THESE SUMMER NIGHTS: