Hardcoremix interviews Rock band Riversyde

We took the name from a road in Austin that was near our original practice space where we formed our band. We added the Y to represent the roads as a map. Our logo with the 2 horizontal lines represents the 2 major highways in Austin, and the “Y” is a great place to eat.

Right now, it is more of an “indie” scene. I think people are surprised when they come to our show – we have a lot of energy, progressive bass, heavy drums, guitar solos and strong vocals. We love to entertain, so we even bring our own special effects. Shane Blake, the lead singer, goes off stage to interact with the audience, we buy drinks for our fans, etc. We want you to have as much fun (if not more) than us. It is different than what most people are used to around here.

Our latest CD was recorded at Arlyn Studios located downtown Austin. Many famous bands have recorded there – Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Sublime to name a few. We also had our CD mastered by the Ben Blank. He has 7 gold records under his belt and we were thrilled to have him work on our CD.

Blake writes the lyrics for all our songs while the rest of us throw in our styles for the music. The 4 of us are into several styles and eras of music from 60s to the present and styles like Metal Core, Screamo, Progressive, Grunge, Rock, Blues, etc. Our latest CD has 16 tracks with songs that have a different flavor, but uniquely Riversyde.

We don’t have any data yet on our new CD, but our EP that came out in 2011, we enjoyed download success. We were able to take much of what we earned to produce our latest 16 tracks CD! I think that the CD format is
going away, but part of it is the failure of the artists to create more than just a cool cover. When we produced our latest CD “See Us Now”, it includes an 8 page booklet with lyrics, photographs, etc. Not only do you
get a CD, but you get some insight to our band!

We have awesome fans! I think the best feeling is having our fans know our songs. We released our CD online 1 week before our official release date. When we did the release party, we had our fans singing with us! We have Youtube videos up that are just spectacular with the entire venue singing with us. Many of our songs use catchy hooks, so they are easy to pick up.

We call ourselves alternative rock, but we have such a wide range of influences that each of our songs has a different feel. Shane, our singer is greatly influenced from the 90s era, but he also has influences from Sinatra and many country singers. Mark our drummer is into screamo and Metalcore – and he brings many of those influences from ballads with double bass and percussion that are not just a beats, but have a rhythmic melody. Our guitarist Paul has influences from the greats like Hendrix to Satriani. Our bassists Christian has probably the widest range of influences – you can hear bits of 50s grooves to 80s pop and rock such as Rush.
All our songs have some familiarity, but with the mix of influences, the final product is different. We have ballads with double bass, a pop song with an interesting guitar synths, even a heavy Rock song with Screamo breakdowns. One track is a piano and acoustic love song with a guitar solo reminiscent of Van Halen. The entire CD is over an hour long, but you won’t hear 2 songs that are the same.

We are already working on our next CD for 2014! Though we are working hard to promote our latest CD, we are always writing music. We are also heading to Las Vegas for the Indie Music Fest, then NY for a radio station, plus a tour later this year.