Interview with Wikkid - part 1
On New Years Day, January 1st, 2011, I had the pleasure of sitting down with all 4 members of one of Tampa Bays newest and hottest bands, Wikkid, for a lengthy interview.
Wikkid consists of:
- Tim Knisely - Lead Vocals & Rhythm Guitar
- Dave Seifert - Lead Guitar & Vocals
- Brad Davis - Bass Guitar & Vocals
- Jay Diesel - Drums.
Being that the interview was scheduled on the day after New Years Eve, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to expect from the band when I showed up at their rehearsal studio in Pinellas Park. Would the band be hung-over, sleepy, irritable....all these possibilities, and more, ran through my mind. What I found in that rehearsal studio on that day was a band that was disciplined, welcoming, friendly, informative, and more then eager to be interviewed by me for nearly an hour and a half. What was even more impressive was the fact that after my interview, the band went on to rehears for 10 hours straight!!!
Out of all the interviews that I have ever conducted, Wikkid’s was both the easiest and hardest one that I have ever done. Allow me to explain: After I conduct an interview and then enter the editing process, on average nearly 50% of an interview is throwaway...unpublishable. This is due to the musicians going off on tangents, and simply talking about stuff that has nothing to do with the original questions...stuff that the “readers” would find unintersting. With Wikkid though, 99.9% of the interview was publishable. The band stayed on topic and answered my questions before I even asked them....like they were reading my mind almost. This made for one great interview...but at the same time, a lengthy interview that would take me forever to write, edit, and publish.
Due to the length of this interview, it will be published in several parts. The following is part 1 of the Wikkid interview conducted on January 1st, 2011:
Keith:
“First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your rehearsal in order to sit down and talk with me. Being that it’s new Years Day, I’m sure you guys had a long night of partying last night, like I did.”
Tim:
“Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule and making us work.” [laughs]
Keith:
“Sorry I had to be the one to make you guys work.” [laughs]
“I’d like to start out by getting a little background on the band for my readers. Wikkid formed in the beginning of 2010. Can you take me back and tell me how it all started?”
Tim:
“Yes, actually Brad and I played in a band before Wikkid, for about a year or two. After that band, we took a little time off and then put out an add in the winter of 2009, that’s when Dave responded. We auditioned Dave with another old member of our old band.”
Brad:
“We knew Dave was It [on] the first song. We didn’t need to audition anymore, it was that obvious to us.”
Tim:
“Dave was very smooth, very much into trying to perfect anything he does, He’s never satisfied with how well he plays. That’s a work ethic that obviously I really liked personally, and I know Brad liked too.
“We started looking for a drummer in early 2010. A bunch of candidates came out and we eventually settled with a guy named Tim Sharp.”
Dave:
“We narrowed it down to two guys.”
TIM:
“Yes, yes, we had a second candidate who was a young guy named Mike.”
Dave:
“Who I voted for!” [laughs]
Tim:
“He [Mike] was my second choice. It was hard for me, I could’ve gone either way, and Brad was with Tim. Personally I went with Tim because he had the experience...but I felt just like Dave, that Mike was still somebody that was young, up-and-coming, and had a decent work ethic as well. So we went with Tim and I called Mike and said if anything happens, you’re the first person we’ll call.”
“We played a number of months with Tim and it just wasn’t working out, so we called Mike. Mike said, “Well, I’m playing with another band now, but I have a friend I’d like to turn you onto.” We said, yeah, sure...and it turned out to be Jay!” [laughs]
Dave:
“It all happened kind of fast. All of us were at the point where we were frustrated with not being able to progress musicly as far as getting tight and being in the pocket, and that sort of thing, it was like the missing link.”
“We then got a call from Jay through Mike. Tim says...”We got this guy coming down, he’s the drummer for Crossbreed.” I was kind of thrown off a little bit. I’m like, if this guy is in a band that tours and has a record deal, why would he wanna come play with us? So I was a little laery at first, ya know.” [everyone laughs]
“But he showed up. The first guy we actually had [auditioning] that night didn’t show up.”
Jay:
“I remember that.”
Dave:
“So we’re sitting around waiting for Jay and I’m like...yeah, I think we’re gonna go 2 and 0 tonight...but he showed up. We played for 3, maybe 4 hours. I remember my wife threw a fit because I didn’t get home until Midnight.”
Brad:
“We didn’t stop but once...a piss break basicly.” [Tim laughs]
“We played non-stop, he [Jay] was just in the pocket all of the time, which made me happy as a bass player.”
Dave:
“We were all looking at each other with big ‘ole, ear to ear, sh#t-eating grins going yeah, this is the guy, ya know! The timing was good, the meter was awesome, and he [Jay] kept wanting to go and go. We were really impressed and all so...umm...so we thought about it for a day or two...” [everyone laughs]
“Then we told him yeah, we’ll let you in.” [everyone laughs]
Jay:
“It was just a good fit, it was a good mix, we Jelled, the chemistry was there.. Like Brad was saying...for me...the back bone of any band is the rhythm section.”
Keith:
“Absolutely, yeah.”
Jay:
“That’s [the rhythm section] the driving force of what’s behind the whole thing. It’s not just me, we’re a complete unit. With me coming in, just doing what I do, fully endorsed, I play for a national act, good at what I do. In the same circumstance, I’m able to raise everyone of their games up, and their level up higher which raises up the whole band as a unit, which also projects our entertainment value, our show value, which is gonna make people wanna come see...”
Keith:
“Right.”
Jay:
“...because I had to do the same thing when I was auditioning for Crossbreed. I was with a semi-garage band, starting over, that was in the area for about 5 years and going through new members. When Crossbreed came to kind of recruit me, I was kind of blown away, probably just like you guys [the other Wikkid band members] were blown away by me, ya know. So I had to...with all the drummers they had that played with them and the shoes that I had to fill, I knew I had to step my game up, ya know. So in according with that, it was able to take every bodies game up as a unit which, ya know, projects in our show.”
Dave:
“That ‘s exactly what we were missing and looking for, was somebody that...we actually used that key phrase a lot...was bring it to the next level. We couldn’t seem to get over that little hump, and when jay came, it was like Christmas. It just fit perfect, we all just got along real well [when] we played. Real well...in the pocket. Brad was happy that we played in the pocket and had a great meter. The work ethic was like a blessing to us, ‘cause that’s exactly what we were looking for. We got lucky the first time out. He [Jay] is the first guy we tried out, and that was it.”
Tim:
“It’s kind of funny, we [Tim & Jay] were on the phone and I’m like...I don’t know how you audition somebody who is, ya know....Do you just wanna come out, hang out, and play a few songs? Forgive me, I’m kinda new at this here.”
Brad:
“Dave touched on it to, with the work ethic thing. I think you [Keith Wilkins] have noticed that we don’t drink and we don’t party at work [rehearsal]. We’re here to get tight. We’re serious about what we are doing. We wanna be the best around, and we’re gonna put the effort into being the best around.”
“For the new year, our position was to start incorporating original music, so we’re not gonna be just a cover band. We’ll start seeding our live sets with original songs as fast as they develop, to a point where we are satisfied with ‘em.We’ll interject them into our live set...we’re not gonna tell anybody that they are not covers, we’re just gonna do them and see how they go over.”
Keith:
“That seg-ways into my next question, because I was going to ask you if you currently have been writing or performing any original material together.”
Brad:
“With Tim, in the last band, he has a couple of songs that he felt would fit the format of what we were doing...so we have done a couple [songs] that Tim has written. I’ve got songs I’ve written, Dave’s got songs he’s written...we’ve got a catalog of songs that we have written. I think Jay’s got songs too. We’re gonna throw those out there, check ‘em out, see how they feel to us, and whether they’re gonna work or not. Also in that same time as we progress, the osmosis of things, we’ll start creating our own originals together as a unit. Right now we do have enough to probably do two sets if we incorporate everybody’s music, we just haven’t yet. This year we are gonna work on it.”
Tim:
“I’ve got a lot of stuff, Dave’s got a lot of stuff, but again, we want it to be us, that’s the main thing. I’ve had some of these songs for quite a while when I played them with Brad in another band. But I also recognize, obviously, Jay’s talents and Dave’s talents. So maybe they can put a twist on something that I haven’t done with the songs that I have. Right now we’re just in a demo format. It could be put out there as they are, but that was just me and my stand-point. I’ve yet to see what Jay can do, and what Dave can do. We’ve all got riffs up the yin-yang. I’m excited to try and start working on stuff, but it could take a month or two to develop just one song, or we could develop a song in a couple of weeks. Whatever it takes to get that song the way we like it, we are gonna put that into it. I think the goal...one of Dave’s goals...is to try and have an EP, like by the end of this year.”
Dave:
“Yes, I would like to, by the end of the year.”
Tim:
“Five or six songs by the end of this year, if not more. I would personally like an LP [full length album].”
Keith:
“You’re making this easy, you’re answering all my questions before I even ask them!” [everyone laughs]
Jay:
“That’s the sign of a good band!” [everyone laughs]
Keith:
“I appreciate this.” [Keith laughs]
Dave:
“For the past few months we have been laying down the foundation of how we want to proceed into this [new] year. Being that we took pretty much all of December off, we are all excited to get back to it.”
Tim:
“We’re building our fan base. We’ve also got some new places we’re playing.”
Brad:
“We’re taking it to over six counties, at least.”
Dave:
“We’re setting up small, little goals. Within the first couple of months we want to hit this goal By the first of the year, we want to be booked into August. We want to pick up two or three new places, some good, big venues, and spread out a little bit so we’re not wearing ourselves thin in this little area. We want to get out towards Orlando a little more...a little further South [as well] so that we can still play a couple times a month, but people aren’t getting sick and tired of seeing us. That way when we do play near them, they’re not gonna be concerned about the other bands that they see every weekend. They’re gonna be like...”Hey, these guys are coming, they’re gonna play this weekend and we might not see them for another month or two.” So they’re gonna come see us. There’s a lot of planning gone into what we’re trying to deaths year. A lot of small goals that we’re trying to achieve, a little at a time. So we’re really excited to get started for the new year.”
Brad:
“He [Dave] said the operative...a couple of times a month. You take a couple of times a month and you scatter that over.....right now it’s gonna be Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk.”
Tim:
“And Citrus.”
Brad:
"So we are scattering those two times a month, but over a wide area. So the chances of us being in a certain area once a month, or even twice a month...’cause we’re only gonna be playing twice a month, unless it’s an exceptional gig, like say we get an opening slot once we develop some originals. Or if someone had a larger venue, we might stick another one [show] in. Our game plan is twice a month, and that’s it.”
Tim:
“Twice a month, meaning two weekends.”
Dave:
“Yeah, two stable gigs. There’s always room for the optional third if something comes up.”
*To be continued...
Part two of this interview with Wikkid will continue where part one left off. Make sure you subscribe to this column so you will get an email notification of when part 2 is published. You can subscribe to this column by clicking on the “Subscribe” button at the top of this article.
Keith Wilkins was the "2010 Most Read Examiner Columnist" in the St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) market. All articles published in the St. Petersburg Live Music Bar Scene column are written by Keith Wilkins, and are under copyright laws. Articles cannot be re-printed, re-posted, or re-produced in whole without written consent by the author (Keith Wilkins), KAM Music Publishing, or Examiner.com. Partial re-printing, re-posting, or re-producing with a link back to the original article is permitted. For consent, questions, or comments, please email Keith Wilkins c/o Amy Joyner at: kampublishing@aol.com.
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Want to learn more about Examiner.com Columnist Keith Wilkins? Read part 1 & part 2 of an interview with Keith Wilkins that was published in the San Antonio Single Parenting Examiner Column on October 4th & October 6th, 2010.
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