RANDY MATHIAS (LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT) – Your Best Nightmare in Los Angeles

Interview with Randy Mathias

1) Hello Randy, how are you? Most of the people know you due to your popularity with London After Midnight. Can you tell us a bit more about your career?

I first started playing guitar when I was 14. A few years later I joined a cover band. To be honest with you, I was never really too good on guitar. It wasn’t until I moved to Hollywood years later from Miami, that I really started taking music seriously. When I first got out here I noticed there were way more guitar players then there were bass players so with what little money I had I bought a bass. I started learning covers from different genres but being that I had a drug problem I didn’t put a lot of time into my craft. To be honest, no one really wanted to play with me because I was a really shitty musician at the time. After about four years of living in Hollywood and not really doing anything besides a lot of drugs, I realized I needed a change in my life and that what I once thought was cool and fun was now running me out of control and holding me back from accomplishing my goals. I started going to AA meetings in Hollywood which completely turned my life around in a good way. Anyway, I got sober and then I signed up for the BIT course at Musicians Institute in Hollywood because I really wanted to be a professional musician. Through out the early 2000’s I played in a ton of different bands but the main act I was in was a band called Pinhead. I was with them for about three years and then one day I kind of realized that we probably weren’t going to go very far due to alcohol and attitudes. Tommy the guitar player was super talented and what he wrote was nothing short of amazing. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t totally horrible, there was a lot of fun I had in Pinhead and it was a very good learning experience but in the end it just wasn’t for me so I quit.

I started looking for gigs that could at least pay me a little money here and there. I placed adds in Music Connection magazine and any place else that I could. I got a lot of work that didn’t really pay well but at least I was making money at what I love to do. One day while going through Music Connection I saw an that said “Looking for bass player – must have look, gear and BE WILLING TO TOUR ASAP!!!” My first thought was “another bullshit ad,“ but what the hell, I decided to still answer it. Turns out it was DH Peligro the drummer from the Dead Kennedys and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he was looking for a bass player for his side project Peligro. I did the audition a few days later for PELIGRO and thought I did ok. A few weeks went by after that and by the third week I figured that someone else probably got the gig. Next day my cell rings and it’s DH. For a second I panicked, The conversation went something like

ME: hello
DH: Hey Randy, this is DH, you came and auditioned for my band a few weeks back, remember?
ME: AHHAHHH oh yes yes
DH: Well, im getting ready to do a tour threw South America which will include a live performance on MTV Brazil, we will also be playing the music festival POARO DO ROCK and the attendance for that will be around 35,000. Also a bunch of club dates. Do you think you can go on this tour with me?
ME: Silence
DH: Randy you still there?
ME: oh ya ya, FUCK YA I CAN GO!!!!! SHITTTTTTTTTT

When I hung up the phone I was yelling so loud with happiness that people driving by were telling me to shut the fuck up, I think I even scared some couple that was walking down the street with their baby.

That was the 1st big thing I got to do out of Hollywood. What an amazing experience that it was! I still thank DH everytime I see him in Hollywood for taking me on that tour. DH is a really good guy and I really look up to him. He’s the first person to give me a chance to do some big things with my career. Only thing that sucked was coming home and going back to my day job working the graveyard shift in a supermarket stocking shelves.

A few months after that , I got a call from Ginger Fish, the drummer from Marilyn Manson. Ginger and a friend had this band called Martyr Plot that needed a bass player. We chatted for a little while and then Ginger came by my place to drop off a cd. I learned the material and we went into the studio and did about 6-7 rehearsals. Shortly after I guess Ginger wasn’t that into it so he quit and that was the end of that band.

Not long after that I was hanging out in a Hollywood Goth club called Bar Sinister, which I frequently went to. A friend of mine told me about his buddy Joe, the drummer from the band London After Midnight, was coming down to the club and that they were looking for a bass player. Joe shows up, we chatted for a bit and once again I was handed a cd. That was in December 2005. During the time Sean was working on the bands next CD Violent Acts of Beauty.

London After Midnight then got an offer to do a tour with Kirilian Camera, Dope Stars Inc, Lola Angst. The tour was called The Orkus Festival Tour and that it would take the band through Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Spain. All of these places I had never been and I was super fucking excited to go!!!

In 2008 LAM was asked to be the main headliner for the Festival called WAVE GOTHIC TREFFEN in Leipzig, Germany for one of the nights on the main stage at AGRA HALL which was a huge open airplane hanger. Now, prior to this all the shows I did with LAM were around 500-900 people in attendance so I really didn’t know how big the band was, on this night I finally found out. I remember in that airport hanger there was about 12,000 people and it was sold out. Anyways After that we came back to America for a month long US tour that started off on the west coast with Mindless Self Indulgence and The Birthday Massacre. That tour also included a couple of sold out shows, San Francisco Ballroom Theater and here in LA at the Wiltern. After that we went back to EU for another European tour, all those dates were so much fun, my most memorable moments though were in Moscow and Greece.

2) What kind of influences do you have as a bass player?

Well, my two favorite bands of all time are the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Marilyn Manson, which I thought was so strange that I landed a gig with Ginger Fish from Manson and D.H. Peligro who was in the Chili Peppers for a little while. But going way back to the beginning, when I was growing up in North Miami Beach, I was the only white kid in my neighborhood so there really wasn’t any goth or rock music there at all. I mainly listened to R&B and funk. There was this one family that lived next to me and and they had a cover band that would play Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and a ton of other Motown hits. They would rehearse in there house so I remember being able to hear them play in my front yard, I don’t think the other neighbors were to happy about it but I loved it!!! One of the guys, Ronny (AKA Eugene Wilde) ended up being very successful and had a top 10 billboard hit with a song called “Gotta Get You Home Tonight.” This was very influential on me at that young age.

Later on I got in to the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, 2 Live Crew and some other rap acts. Then when I had to go to Junior High school my music taste took a turn in a different direction. I remember learning more about rock and metal while hanging out at my friend Manuel’s house. He pulled out one of his mom’s records (David Lee Roth Eat‘M and Smile). I was like “where the fuck did this come from?” THIS IS FUCKING AWSOME!!! Later that year I was introduced to Metallica, Gun’s N Roses, Queen, Van Halen, Marilyn Manson, Slayer, etc. I guess I can go on and on about these bands and what I’m into, I have influences for funk, rock, electronic, metal, pretty much everything but Country and Spanish. One thing that I have always said is “as long as it’s a well written song it doesn’t matter what genre its from, I will probably like it”.

3) London After Midnight is a band that has been characterized as gothic but I can view influences from various music genres in your lifestyle. Would you like to comment on that?

LAM isn’t a gothic band, there are drums, bass, and guitar. As far as I see it, LAM is more a rock band. But we do have a rather large gothic following which is fucking awesome We have the best fans.

4) How interesting is to tour with London After Midnight, any interesting stories to share with us?

There are so many great stories, even on the worst days I still love playing live with LAM, you never know what to expect, and usually I’m causing some kind of chaos off stage. Like the time I thought I was going to Jail in Mexico city for inviting people back to the hotel. I remember when I left the hotel room I took 3 of the hotels business cards and wrote my room number on them. I handed out those cards to just 3 different girls, later when we got back to the hotel there was something like 40-50 people waiting for us there. Or when We played Wave Gothic Treffin I stripped down to my platform boots, thong underwear and a mask and streaked across the stage when the band Fields of the Nephilim was playing.

5) Do you have any memories from your show in Greece around 2007?

Yes, very good ones, too. In 2007 I met one of my now best friends, Elias Aravidis. He was the promoter for our 2007 and 2008 concerts in Greece. I remember when we first met we talked like we were talking like Borat for the whole time. Very niiiice,, Sexytime, hi- five!! Then for the after party he invited a ton of HOT Greek women to hang out with us at this small club in Thessaloniki, and I will add that the Greek chicks are hot! I remember during one of the shows in 2008 I had a few people back at the hotel. This one girl kept asking which room is Sean in? I told her the room number of the sound guy instead. She goes to the phone and first calls him, she thought she was talking to Sean and she was saying I want to come sleep with you. Our sound guy answered her “I don‘t want to sleep with you! Then she ends up going to his room and knocking on the door. She was expecting Sean to answer but instead it was this little short guy. It scared the shit out of her, the next morning we all got a good laugh at the situation. Rosi ,our sound guy was really pissed at me.

6) The band is deeply into politics and animal rights through the lyrics in most of the songs, would you like to comment on that?

From what I have seen, from the beginning London After Midnight has always had some progressive political message, advocated for animal rights, environmental issues, or something similar. I guess Sean feels music with a message and a meaning is very important, especially now that most music is fairly shallow and message-less.

7) In 2006 one of the band’s song was featured in the OST “SAW II”, do you know how did this happen?

The film soundtrack with the LAM song called “Fear” was only released in Germany. Later the songs would be re-recorded and released on the LAM CD “Violent Acts of Beauty” (2007). This was all something the German label (Trisol) arranged.

8) What are you up to now? Any new recording with London After Midnight or solo work?

As of now LAM is working on a next record, we have been getting together in the rehearsal studio a few times a week, going over parts and seeing what fits and what doesn’t. The recording process with this band is long because Sean wants everything perfect, as he should.

In addition to that I’ve also I’ve been spending a lot of time on Murder of Crows, which is a Denver based band. I think I spent about five months in Denver last year rehearsing and writing. With Murder Of Crows we shot the bands first video a few months ago for in the foothills of Pasadena, California, for our song “Hiding.” Also we have been recording the bands first LP with producer Logan Mader from the band Machine Head. As of now what we have about 8 completed soungs that sound fucking amazing. Keep a look out for this band because there will be a lot to come from it in 2012! www.murderofcrowsband.com

9) Any plans for touring?

With London after Midnight we have been talking about doing a few shows in Greece and maybe Russia in the next few months but still everything is up in the air. I do know that Sean doesn’t want to tour until the new record is complete. With Murder of Crows we are talking about going out for a full US tour with a good chance of Russia this summer. Hopefully Greece too.

10) How do you manage to design such an impressive stage show with screen projectors and the beautiful lights during your performance?

Touring is by far my favorite part of the music business but it’s not easy. For the live shows Sean either creates or collects footage he gets from news sources, etc, and edits it together perfectly timed to the video. The videos always have something to do with the song itself so it’s a rather involved process to create, collect, and edit all that footage. Then I kind of just show up and do my thing.

Information about LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT: http://www.londonaftermidnight.com