By Claudio Zelaya
Staff Writer claudio.zelaya@fiusm.com
We all have our secrets, but there are some that make a living with theirs. The first day in April, 2015 saw The Devil Wears Prada bring their Zombie 5 tour to Ft. Lauderdale, FL featuring The Word Alive, Born of Osiris and the exceptional Secrets.
The tour was to commemorate the Zombie EP that The Devil Wears Prada released only five years ago. With other industry juggernauts on the tour, the Secrets had a lot to prove opening for such a stacked card. We were able to sit down their singer, Richard Rogers, and talk about opening the tour, their new music and the highs and lows of the young band.
Q How’s the experience been so far touring with everyone on the Zombie 5 Tour?
This tour has been unreal. I actually used to listen to The Devil Wears Prada and Born Of Osiris when I was in high school so it’s crazy that I’m hanging out and playing shows with two bands that helped shape me musically.
How has the South Florida area treated you in the past?
Florida has been fairly good to us in the past and we have actually recorded all of our albums in Florida. It’s always a great time performing out here.
Looking at the other bands playing the bill, does it feel a bit intimidating opening for such juggernauts of the scene?
I think that being with these great, successful bands is only pushing us to perform better and work harder. We are more motivated than intimidated.
Being a heavier band, what was the decision making process like for taking a step back and making an acoustic EP?
We have been talking about doing an acoustic EP since we released Fragile Figures. It’s something I have always been adamant about doing, because I’m so influenced by softer music and there’s this side of the band that’s just been screaming to come out so we finally decided to do it and I am so excited about how it turned out!
Do you see yourselves doing more acoustic shows in support of the EP?
We probably won’t be doing any acoustic shows, but we will have some live performance videos.
With a new studio album also in the works, can you talk about the new elements you want to bring?
This new full length is just such a huge step up for us. We really wanted to keep our heavy aspects, but try not to use the basic chug breakdowns that we always used in the past. We wanted to be a little more technical, instrumentally.
If you had to pick any musician alive or dead to collaborate on the new album, regardless of genre, who would it be and why?
My dream team for an album would be Jesse Lacey, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Anthony Raneri and Dallas Green.
Is the band surprised of the feedback its getting seeing as your second studio album charted significantly higher than the first?
We’re just excited! When you work so hard on something and people recognize it and appreciate it, it’s the best feeling.
Seeing as you’re going back and re-doing some songs in acoustic versions, are there any moments in your lives that you also wish you could tweak?
There are definitely some things I would change in my past. I lose a lot of stuff on the road. I think I’ve gone through five or six toiletry bags just from leaving them in bathrooms or venues. I would go back and not be such a forgetful idiot and save myself money on soap and cologne.
In the same train of thought, what are some moments you’re glad they happened the way they did? Lots of moments in my life have gone smooth so I’ll give you a simple one. I once ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese and it looked exactly like picture. Best day ever.
Are there any tricks or life hacks you wish you knew about the music industry that you wish you’d known before touring?
There are too many, haha! I wish we had stayed in our van. We bought this large shuttle bus and built bunks in it. It was super expensive and broke down on our first tour with it and cost a ton to fix. Then it broke again and wasn’t worth fixing and now we are back in a van, full circle.
What’s next for Secrets for 2015 and why should we keep our eye on your journey?
Lots of touring, new heartfelt music with music videos and live performance videos!
Secrets’ acoustic album, “Renditions” is out April 7, 2015 and their second full length, “Fragile Figures” is in stores now.
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