Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Manny Huerta- Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Brandon Biggers - Lead Guitar
Mondo Flores- Bass Guitar/Vocals
Christopher Lara- Drums/Vocals
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Modern Racket? How long has the band been around?
Our drummer Chris has been in lots of bands ranging from Soft Rock to Metal. Those bands include Scars Of Sorrow (Metal) Corruptive Youth (Punk) Sober Spike (Pop Punk) Absense Of Presence (Metal) Lenay (Soft Rock) Time To Rise (Metal) and finally Modern Racket (Indie/Alt)
Brandon was in Severed Reality (Metal) Carnival of the Massacred (Metal) Currently in The Odd Advantage (Ska Punk) & Ricochet (Ska Punk)
Manny was mainly just him and his acoustic and although never being in a band prior, he just started his own; Modern Racket.
Mondo learned bass to join his first band Modern Racket.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
We are very big musically and wanted a name that really stated something. We chose the name Modern Racket from a song by Never Shout Never not only because they are a huge influence but that name captures what we represent and also has people look twice in our direction. The name speaks for itself. We had the idea that you can take a piece of OUR music and put us in any generation and the fans could relate to at least one song. Modern Racket. Catchy isn’t it?
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
We all have our own twist in each song but the two main song writers would have to be Manny and Chris. Manny has pretty much written 90% of the first album between lyrics and the rhythm section. When Chris joined the band in 2015 the album was almost complete and he came in with additional help lyrically and structure wise. What goes where, and how the songs should be carried out. While we work on the new songs a lot of credit goes back to Manny and Chris for the same collaboration they gave in the first album. Mondo works diligently as a key carrier in how the tone of the song is generated as well as sustaining atmosphere.
Brandon has joined us in the writing process a bit late for he has joined the band in early 2017. As far as his writing for the new songs he does all lead work that really sows the songs together giving it that complete feel. Without lead your song is dry. As far as the themes we work on its usually your typical make up break up story and party life if we are talking first album. We are diving more creatively as the focus is much more than love songs. As we are growing up, the pains, struggles, and fruits of life are an everyday aspect so we are diving more into relatable topics and different styles of tone, structure, and vision. Anything is possible at this point. Change is inevitable. And we are looking forward to it. :)
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
We each have a different background in music and music preference but if we can all agree on the few bands that share a part of our inspiration They would definitely be The Growlers, The Arctic Monkeys, Street Light Manifesto, Cage The Elephant, and Ghost. Each one of these bands have such a unique sound and a way of writing that you can't help but appreciate and want to learn more about that band just because of their way of playing and we think that that is something truly special and missed in today's music.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Speaking for all of us it is the excitement to see someone on stage and to be a witness in the moment and just think to yourself that this is what I want to do, this is what I was born to do, and that this is what I'm going to do. It's one thing to be someone who captures the magic but we would rather be the ones DELIVERING the magic. Who ordered magic? Right here.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
Alcohol and Weed. Jk. We like to get ourselves pumped up and pre organize before going on stage. No time for mess ups. Double check everything. Volumes, strings, tighten all bolts and lug nuts, once you are physically prepped you can get emotionally prepped by drinking alcohol and smoking weed. Jk. Again.. or are we?? Dun Dun.. DUUUUNNNNNN!!
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We like to set goals for ourselves. Last year in 2017 we said we are going to release our first album, Today's Riddle, and we did. We said we wanted merch, we got it. We said we wanted to be on the radio and play House Of Blues. Nailed it. Now we get to explore additional goals to keep us ahead of ourselves but to us the most important and biggest highlights are our fans and people that believe in us. The struggle for musicians is real out here and when you have a fan base that loves and supports you and people that hit you up out of the blue to do special gigs or interviews it's truly an amazing feeling and such a great opportunity for us and we are highly grateful for this as well. Thank you.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Definitely would be the same bands we mentioned as our biggest influences. To us it's like dinner with the President, just the highest honor. And we also feel that if we went on tour with these bands we could definitely fit in with their fan base.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We would just like to say thank you to Kill The Music for featuring us! Really happy for this thank you. We would also like to give a shout out to our fans and family who have supported us from the beginning and continue to support us we do not know where we would be without you. We would also like to add to please check out our first album, “Today's Riddle” on Spotify, YouTube, Itunes, Amazon play, etc. Shout out to Jesse Vivanco from Derby’s Bar & Grill (Hemet, CA), Vergeworthy, and Blue House House Sound Studio. We would also like to add that we are currently working on new songs so please stay tuned for that. Thank you all! Sending good vibes your way!
M.R.