Hey! First of all, for those who may not be familiar with your band - what is THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD all about?
The Chris Rolling Squad is a 3 pieces band, we like to claim we play Rock 'N' Roll, in the broad sense. A friend o' mine told me few years back that he was seeing us as the missing link between Bo Diddley and Slayer, and I wouldn't contradict him! To me we're a mix of Hard Rock and Punk Rock, and here and there we add "various" flavors, could be Rockabilly, Country and stuff, some also call us a "Speedrock" band, and it's fine to me, knowing that most of our songs are really fast indeed.
What can you tell us about THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD’s forthcoming album, Damn You All to Hell?
Well, even if you'll find some "similarities" with the previous ones there are also many things we have never done before. Some numbers are the fastest we ever played, but overall let's say the mood is really more aggressive and dark but you'll find funny stuff as well. I also tried new things with guitars and vocals, at the end it sounds like a big rollercoaster, each song has his own vibe, perfect to trash your flat or to get your driving license revoked to life!
Have you received enough positive feedback on your music so far (your previous works)?
Yes, a lot! Of course we wouldn't be against to generate more money and live in a big mansion in Hollywood and drive a $500.000 hot rod, but our daily life is a bit different (laughs)! But yeah, we always had great feedback from people who come to see us live, some get back home with our vinyls, we have a faithful following on Bandcamp also, selling records worldwide is always a good sign, right? But again, if tomorrow we start selling 10 times more, I'd be really glad, but it's 2025, huh, records buyers are a tiny minority!
Damn You All to Hell to be released via Cimex Records and Ghost Highway Recordings. How would you describe your collaboration with them? Do you plan to continue working with them?
My 1st exchange with Charlie (Cimex Records) was at the end of 2020 (if my memory's right), back then we were on another label, Wormholedeath, Italy, they've been great to us but I was feeling we were not on the right label, too much "metal" oriented, and about the same time on youtube I come across a band called "Knife for an eye", and, man, what a blast, their album "Damnation Rock 'N' Roll is a true masterpiece, I instantly thought, hell, I'd like to be on that kind of label, so I checked on Discogs and found it was a Swedish band, and the label was "Cimex Records", so I mailed the label (without knowing Charlie was "Knife for an eye" drummer) with our previous album "Cannonball Holocaust", 2 days later Charlie answered me he really loves the record but it's not really the kind of stuff his customers are used to buy, so he declined............ but again 2 days after he told me, "fuck that, I don't care, it's my label, my 1st motivation was to release music I like, so I'm gonna release it", and then I learned that he was not only "Knife for an eye" drummer but also the one of legendary punk band "Anti Cimex", and many other great bands, he's still the drummer of the mythical UK punk band "The Partisans", in short, the guy is a legend itself ! And when I've sent him our last one, he said instantly "I'm in", I asked him what he thought about it and he said "sounds great, I just listened only half of it" (laughs), I really like him, he's a one of a kind, and I'm really proud he releases our records ! Ghost Highway Recordings is another story, It's only recently that Marco join Charlie for a co-release, and I'm really glad about that, Ghost Highway released a lot of stuff I really love, as The Mud City Manglers, Electric Frankenstein, Imperial State Electric and so on, he started a long time ago, in 2008 I guess, so it's damn cool to be on their catalog too, I exchanged a bit with Marco and he seems to be a real Rock 'N' Roller, all I wish is to meet those guys in real someday! And we don't plan to sign with Universal or Sony for now (laughs), so yes I really hope we'll keep on working with them!
What keeps you motivated to continue making music?
Mmm, money, definitely (laughs). Well, seriously, the main reason is that kind of feeling we get sometimes on stage, I don't know how to really describe it with words, but anyone who got on stage knows what I'm talking about, it's a vibration that takes you in another world, like a perfect symbiosis with the others, this has a mystic side, it doesn't happen at every show, but when it does it's....... I don't know, I never experienced something that powerful, if ever our soul survives after death that would be what we'd feel! I also love making records, because it's the same with songs, it comes to you like that, without warning, I'm always stunned when a song comes to my mind, it's not something I planned, it just comes out, it's really weird!
How easy (or difficult) is it to play rock ’ n ’ roll and maintain a stable lineup in your part of France? Is it possible to make a living from album sales?
From a 2025 perspective, France ain't the hardest country to play Rock 'N' Roll, I know, I know, many of my fellow frenchies will disagree, but those who think that, have never set a foot outside our damn country, I know Rock 'N' Roll musicians from many countries and believe me the picture is not so rosy as it was, ask to someone who lives in the US, Australia or UK if it's easy to play Rock 'N' Roll, they will all tell you it's a hell of a mission, now every western places are like Hollywood, for one successful, thousands has to fail! So, for sure, there must be better places than France for Rock 'N' Roll, Spain is well known for the best Rock 'N' Roll audience ever, Germany is well placed too and so on, but France ain't the worse, far from there, but it could be way better, it's true!
About stable lineup, it's like any "association", how many weddings end up with a divorce? A lot, huh, so it's a mix of many things, you got to be lucky for sure, after you need to be able to talk and share about every topics, If you hide something under the rug, it will explode to your face later, and the most important is to have a common vision, when you're together it's to push the band, to achieve something bigger than individually.
To make a living from album sales these days? Mmmm, seems impossible, I mean, to make a living only on album sales today, you got more chances to win on a lottery (laughs), even the most famous bands of today would quit if they had to rely only on album sales.
How did you manage to establish a solid and permanent lineup?
I got lucky I guess, but I also always been clear with all the people I played with in the past, I always wanted to do things the right way, I don't have time and patience with wankers, that's why with the Squad we have had 3 drummers, for several reasons it didn't work out with those guys, and we met Thib by accident, one night he came to see us play and came talk to us at the end, he was a bit drunk but he was really nice and he had something, I don't know, something special, anyway, he became our drummer a month after, again it was really an accident, same for Brice (bass) I know him since 1990, we played in our 1st band together, then we've lost sight of each other for a while and we came accross each other again in 2013, by accident too, it seems that everything happens by accident, but it's not enough, to be able to keep the ship moving on you need to set rules, and stand to it, no matter what, thing is when we're together, on the road, recording, or when we rehearse, it's THE BAND, there's no place for anything else, this has to be the priority BUT we're not living together, we all have our own lives beside the band, so it's really important to let the others breath, when we don't play we barely see each other, and it's important, it's vital, and through years we really learned to talk and communicate together, so like any band it happens we disagree on this or that, but then we talk and 'til now it worked for us, and we love to play together, I think individually we're not better technically than 10 years ago, but in my eyes we succeeded to built something unique, that only the three of us together can do, a sound, a band sound, and that's Rock 'N' Roll is all about!
If you had to introduce a new listener to THE CHRIS ROLLING SQUAD, which song from Damn You All to Hell would you choose and why?
Today, I'd say "Blind (so fucking blind)", 2:12 mn, simple, straight to the point, super speedrock number, a good introducing of who we are, even if there's many other "flavors" on Damn You All To Hell.
Was there a specific band that made you say, “That’s it - I’m starting a rock band!”?
I've been influenced by many, many bands, and I was long time Rock fan before touching a guitar, for a while I was only a guitar player, things radically changed when I started to sing, I was fed up to work with singers, I thought if I sing I won't have to deal with singers anymore, and I wanted to make a band with the minimum of people, the less people, the less problems, so a trio was ideal, so back then I was inevitably influenced by trios, especially by those I've seen live, 1st name that comes to my mind is "Peter Pan Speedrock", I saw them many times and it was pure armageddon, "Mother Superior" I saw them 4 times and they always blown me away, another one from NYC "The Devil Dogs", their 1994 Saturday night fever is one of my favourite record ever, another band I saw in L.A "The Burning Brides", Dimitri Coates killed me that night, of course Motorhead and ZZ Top mattered a lot and many others! When I was a teenager the absolute master on guitar was Eddie Van Halen, and god knows I loved him, but secretely, if I could have had a magic stick I'd have had changed myself into Brian Setzer, I loved the Stray Cats and Setzer embodied absolute class!
Any final words for the readers of Iron Backstage? Thanks for your time!
Who ever you are and wherever you are, if our music moves you enough to listen to us, to come to see us live or buying our records, let me tell you one thing, you have our eternal gratitude, we couldn't do it without you! And thanks a lot to Iron Backstage!
https://www.instagram.com/thechrisrollingsquad/
