Michael T. Seguin talks about his band “Heavy AmericA”

We recently interview Heavy America Band.  Michael T. Seguin- lead vocalist/guitarist of Heavy AmericA band answered on the band’s behalf.

Twist Online : First of all tell us about the start your music career?
Heavy AmericA :  I was fortunate to have parents who were very supportive of music growing up. When I was thirteen, my Dad landed a job as a photographer for a music production company in Boston, photographing outdoor rock festivals,. I had just started playing guitar and was in my first band. He would get VIP passes for a lot of the shows and take me with him. I got to meet and see so many great artists and bands. It was a world I fell in love with instantly. I knew that was the life I wanted and I knew I was one of them.
I moved to Los Angeles after graduating High School and enrolled at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood to do various music studies. A short time after classes started, I joined a band and started playing the L.A. club circuit. I was eighteen with a really good fake I.D. and needed to learn how to grow up fast. That is when I really started living like a musician. It’s also, in my world of music, when “crazy” got inserted. Years later, when I started to get an understanding of the business side of music, being a musician and being involved in the industry became a lot more enjoyable.

Twist Online : Who or what inspired you to start the band?
Heavy AmericA :  In 2013 we were asked individually to be part of a studio project for a mutual friend. We realized pretty early on in the project that we had a great natural energy together. I wasn’t singing at the time, only playing guitar. After the project wrapped up, we decided to continue playing together. Instead of going through the troubles of trying to find a singer and possibly messing up the chemistry, I decided to give lead vocals a shot. It took some getting used to but we all agree it was the way to go.

Twist Online : Our readers would like to know about the band members and their role in the band?
Heavy AmericA : We’re a three piece hard rock band based in Boston, Mass. USA. I (Michael T. Seguin) am the lead vocalist and guitarist. Budd Lapham plays bass, Dan Fried is our drummer and they both sing backing vocals. Rick Jamm once called us a “sonic meets melodic roller coaster ride that takes all the proper elements of good hard rock and slaps you in the face with them.” It’s my favorite description of our band.

Twist Online : Tell us about your music video “Pray For Me” ?
Heavy AmericA : It’s the first produced video we’ve done for a single release. It was produced by a good friend of the band named Frank Aveni. He’s also a gigging musician but he has a awesome eye for photography and video. He’s shot some of the best band photos of local Boston acts I’ve seen. Including our band. We were psyched when he agreed to shot the video, we knew it would be great.

Twist Online : Song has got very good response you must be happy with that?
Heavy AmericA : Indeed! The single is doing really well on college radio and it’s got a lot of press. We were pretty excited when ‘Pray For Me’ won an award in February for best new hard rock song by the Akademia Music Group. It really pushed up our video views. We were initially hoping to get around 100,000 views but we blew right past  that goal. The video was almost at 500,000 views the last time I checked. Having the ‘Pray For Me’ video to accompany the single has helped us gain a lot of new fans around the world.

Twist Online : How is your Album “Now” performing?
Heavy AmericA : We’re getting the first round of reports soon. It’s still a little too early to tell. The album’s only been out for three weeks. But from what I can see so far, I think it’s doing pretty well. There’s a lot of heavy promotion for the album right now so we’re planning on some good numbers by the end of the quarter.

Twist Online : What attracts you more performing on stage or working in studios?
Heavy AmericA : I love being a live artist but I think you need the studio to make a song great. We record a song, listen back to it, make changes and record it again. Letting the song tell us how it wants to be played instead of us forcing it to be something it doesn’t want to be. It’s a formula that works great for us and it helps make the live performances of the songs even better.

Twist Online : What’s better experience? Making music as part of a music group or going solo?
Heavy AmericA : I’ve always been a band guy. I love the comradery of a band. Especially being in a three piece. It’s raw by nature so keeping the music full sounding and interesting leaves no room for error. But when it’s all working right and you’re delivering a wall of sound, it commands attention, it’’s an awesome rush.

Twist Online : What’s your target to achieve as music band?
Heavy AmericA : Well my friend, keep climbing that ladder! Next step is getting some good management. Someone who can keep our forward momentum going and get us opportunities we can’t get ourselves. Although we pride ourselves on being a DIY band, there does come a point where you start to need outside help, and I think we’re fast approaching that mark. We do have some exciting stuff going on over the summer. Most of which has to do with the release of the album. We’ve started working with Tinderbox Music in Minneapolis. They have been a huge help with getting us college and FM radio airplay in the states, press and a few sync licenses for the new album. Hopefully all of which will pan out into more forward movement and opportunities. But right now our main focus is getting the new album in front of as many people as possible.

Twist Online : Are you working on any new project?
Heavy AmericA : The next single video! We’ve been back in touch with Frank Aveni and have been getting some ideas together. I don’t want to give away the next single from our ‘Now’ Album but I guarantee the video will be very cool. This one will have a bit of a story line and not just be a performance. Also writing, lots and lots of writing. This industry isn’t for the weak and lazy. Staying relevant means having an unforgiving work ethic and constantly pushing forward. Therefore, the projects never end.