Mark talks to Tom Harte from up and coming Irish rock band Trucker Diablo about the story so far.
MD: OK and obvious one to start with then! Where does the name come from?
TT: Trucker: Diablo is a trucker handle, so the trucker is called Diablo. The name represents the band well as we want to hit the road, raise hell and make some friends along the way. It’s a huge road, but we are in long haul.
MD: How did you all meet up and what was the plan from day one: world domination?
TT: We had all been friends for years and Terry (Drums) and I had played in a band before together. When we got the band together it was more for fun and we really didn’t do much the first year. The songs just kept getting better and better and people really started to dig our sound. So now we love every minute and are full steam ahead for World domination.
MD: What would we expect from your live show?
TT: Plenty of laughs, loads of crowd interaction, name calling, mum tweeting and some quality hard rocking tunes.
MD: What is the most rock ‘n roll thing you have done as a band?
TT: We played recently with Ricky Warwick (Lead singer with Thin Lizzy) and we did three songs together on stage and it completely blew the roof…It was amazing…..
MD: What is the biggest gig you’ve played to date?
TT: We play the Pentrich Rock and Blues Custom show in the UK last year and it was amazing, crowd and people were great.
MD: How hard is it to get recognition as a young band these days?
TT: I find it can be hard as there are a lotta good bands out there, we did things totally differently this time, and we tried not to be a part of any scene, to walk the line on either side to appeal to a bigger audience and not to listen to anyone and to do our way, in our own time. We have worked to push the band and its now paying off. The crowds we play to are really receptive and get behind us, without them there would be no band.
MD: So with the industry as it is today, why form a band? What drives you?
TT: The love of the music and our families and fans. Pretty much any decent band can make people band their heads, we want to write songs that people can relate to and when they listen to them it makes them feel something. To make people feel an emotion through the music we write is an amazing thing.
MD: Who do you site as your major influences?
TT: I will try and give all our influences Skynard, Creedence, Metallica, Megadeth, Therapy?, Anthrax, Thin Lizzy.. There’s more, but we will be here all day….lol
MD: Tell us about the first single release ‘Juggernaut’ and how Ricky Warwick got involved? (Check out our interview with him from earlier in the year)
TT: We played a show with Ricky 18 months ago and he liked the band, we asked him to do it and he said yeah. We were like….ehh…..Brilliant. We got him in around Christmas to the studio and we just blasted it out…It was brilliant. Four months later we released it and it went straight to number 1 in the Amazon rock charts….It blew us away….
MD: We love the CD ‘The Devil Rhythm’ it shows a lot of promise and has some great songs are they all recent or have some been kicking around for a while?
TT: We’ll now they are lol…it was a mixed bag, but they were all relatively new….But we pretty much have another album of stuff ready to go…We don’t mess about.
MD: Drink Beer, Destroy is a helluva track, I hear the flash of the eighties the modern edge but something deeper in there too maybe a bit of Husker Du? (Tell me if I’m way out!)
TT: Nope, our influences vary and there’s definitely a bit of everything….I love the Husker Du reference I always thought they had great tunes with loads of melody and I guess we try and do the same and Bob Mould is a great song writer… And thanks, Drink Beer, Destroy has become a bit of an anthem and coming from Ireland it goes down like an ice cold pint….lol
MD: How would you categorise you sound to the uninitiated. We hate labels so be creative!
TT: It’s Beer Soaked, Good Time,Petrol Stained, High Octane Hard Rock….
MD: OK, you get to open a festival what’s your best line up for the show?
TT: Us, Black Country Communion, Black Stone Cherry, Lynard Skynard,Metallica, Dio
MD: What does rock music mean to you?
TT: It’s the religion I live by, it’s the air I breathe, it hugs me when I’m down, it hi5’s me when I do a good job…..It is LIFE!
MD: If you had a cocktail named after the band what would be in it?
TT: Jim Beam on the bottom layered with Kalua and flat coke(cus I hate the fizz) with chilli/chocolate sprinkles around the rim…I just made that up….I should get a life lol….
MD: What are your plans for the rest of 2011?
TT: We are currently pushing the band hard to labels and publications, we were featured on the front of Classic Rock this month and that was amazing. We are playing a few festivals and shows and will be starting the new album at the end of the year….So hopefully we will see you on the road.
MD: In 5 years time, what would you have liked to have achieved?
TT: I would just like to be a musician playing full time, if we made enough money to keep us going that would be great. Of it would be amazing to be touring the world, rocking out, making new friends and fans…its hard work, but I think we have it in us…
MD: Where can we buy your CD?
TT: You can get in on iTunes and a direct link at www.imcreative.co.uk/Truckershop. Go buy it and be our friends…loll
MD: If you could have been involved in any album, past or present, what would it have been?
TT: Cry of Love – Brother an amazing band, sadly not about any more…
MD: Great choice Tom, I got to see those guys back in the day and they were awesome. So finally, the easy question we ask everyone: What is the meaning of life?
TT: “Be excellent to each other”
Many thanks to Tom for talking to www.therockpit.net and special thanks goes out to Darren Seaton for introducing us to a great band.
Support local live music people wherever you may be in the world!
