The Killer Hayseeds -
Interview with Ross
Here's an interview that was done with Ross of The Killer Hayseeds. Thank you Ross!
Question:
"Names of the band members and the instruments they play?"
Answer:
"Ross - bass and vocals. Todd - guitar, vocals. Darin - fiddle,
acoustic guitar, vocals. Jeff - keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals.
Zac - drums."
Question:
"How did the band get its name?"
Answer:
"The Killer Hayseeds. Actually we knew, collectively we knew a promoter up
in Canada when we were in some other bands. He said that he always thought
a cool name for a band would be 'The Fabulous Hayseeds'. When we put this
band together we were just tossing names around and somebody mentioned it.
It was like, well, fabulous sounds like a 50's band or something like that.
So then we just started throwing other words around and the world killer came up
just because killer was kind of a buzz word. If you're a 'killer' golfer, or a
'killer' bartender, it means you're good at what you do. So we thought 'The
Killer Hayseeds'. We kind of liked it. We really liked it. We
thought if you're going to put a hook out there you might as well put a big hook
out there. We've had people that have said they've been going down the
road and they heard on the radio The Killer Hayseeds were playing someplace and
they've said they actually pulled off the road and come to see what a 'Killer
Hayseed' was. Our agent even said, when we first talked to him, he said,
'You know, I don't think I can book a band called The Killer Hayseeds.'
But when you don't look at it as far as the killer part as far as blood and
stuff, it's not what it's meant to mean. That's how we got it. It
just stuck."
Question:
"How long has this group of people made up the band?"
Answer:
"The three of us, Darin, Todd and I have been together for almost eleven years.
Jeff's been with us since '96. Jeff plays keyboards. And Zac, the
drummer, has been with us almost two years."
Question:
"Albums you've released and the years they were released?"
Answer:
"I want to say that the Christmas album was released in '96. Rural
Electric was released just before that. I'd say in '95. The first
one was in '93. And now, The Good Old Days."
Question:
"Where can people find out more about your band?"
Answer:
"Website: www.killerhayseeds.com or
our hotline: 651-649-4845 or contact our agent at The Music Works."
Question:
"What's your favorite thing about entertaining?"
Answer:
"Just seeing the smiling faces. At first it starts out by just a feeling
on stage. When you get five people playing things even though, when you
get to a certain level it should be consistently good every night, but some
nights, it's almost like you're really tuned into each other and you can really
feel what everybody is feeling. Those are the nights that you really yearn
for. Same with a car driver or a golfer. They just have those days when
everything is going right and everything's tuned properly and all the cylinders
are firing. So on stage, that's when it happens. It makes you feel
really cool. And then because of that you see what it does to the people
out in the crowd. You touch them in one way or another. Either
rhythms, or the vocals, or what you're singing about or just the vibe, the
feeling that comes into a room."
Question:
"What's your least favorite thing about entertaining?"
Answer:
"You know what, I don't really think I have a least favorite thing about
entertaining because even on a bad day, I still think, at least I'm doing
something that I love. So even if I'm bored I think to myself at least I'm
bored doing something that I love. So I don't know if there is a bad
thing. Of course there's always the typical obnoxious one person out of
five hundred. But you know what, every job deals with people like that,
you have a person with a bad attitude and then you add alcohol, it's not always
pretty. But
with that, there's five hundred other people that are just great.
Basically our fans and stuff are just great."
Question:
"What's your most memorable moment on stage?"
Answer:
"Wow, there's been a lot of them. One is when we backed Gino Ruberto at
the Target Center in '96 when he opened for Toby Keith and Joe Diffie. Not
only was it an interesting and fun gig (Gino's a lot of fun!), it also showed us
some of the political sides of the music business. Another one that I'll
never forget was the very first time we played WeFest. And it wasn't
because of us being on stage it's just because, at the very beginning of the
day, before they open up the gates, people camp out there and they get in line
to get in the gates at night. Then some of them sleep in their lawn chairs
and stuff so they can be the first in line so when the gates open they can get
the prime seats. So because they go through this process, the stage people have
a countdown. I don't know if the people outside the gates know this is
going on but they have a countdown on stage over the main stage PA system, you
know ten minutes and counting, nine minutes and counting... Just when it
gets down to 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, they open the gates, everybody gets up on stage, and
then they open the gates and they play the William Tell Overture really loud
over the main PA. When they open the gates, people literally come running
in there with their lounge chairs and stuff under their arms and they're all
trying to get to the best spots and in doing so, they trip, they fall, things
are flying in the air and you just stand up there and watch the pandemonium,
It's just so funny. Because they're playing the William Tell Overture and
it's like watching a movie. And they come in from both sides, both gates
open at the same time, these people are running in and stuff's flying in the
air, as they're playing this really, really loud. And the people on stage,
all the musicians and the crew people and stuff stand up there and just laugh,
because it's like watching a movie or something. It's just a unique
experience."
Question:
"What's your most memorable moment off stage, music related?"
Answer:
"I think one of the first times we played with Neal McCoy. We did our sound
check, he did his sound check, he wasn't a huge star yet. He had a few
singles out and was doing pretty good but he wasn't a huge star yet. And
we just sat on the top of a table with our feet up on the chairs and we just sat
there and just talked about the music industry. What he was dealing with
at his level. The same thing at the Medina ballroom talking with Diamond
Rio before they were huge. It was the same thing. Talking about, you
know just the little things that you don't think about. I told them that I
had seen their CD in the used bin and they got a kick out of that. Because
it was like, 'Here we are just had our first single released and we're already
in the used bin.' That was pretty funny. So I think some of those
conversations that you have off stage with your peers, and people that you
admire, or look up to, some of those conversations are a lot of fun."
Question:
"Is there anything that your fans don't know about you that you think they
should?"
Ross:
"About the band?"
Me:
"Yeah."
Answer:
"I don't know if the fans always realize the passion that people in the
band have. That performing is just one part of what we do. I also don't think
they realize just how much everybody in the band cares about their fans.
Without them, we might as well be
playing in a basement someplace. There's no sense going on stage without
them. Sometimes your feelings get hurt when you hear things or people
misconstrue things that might have been said on or off stage. But on the
other side of it, you see all the good you do. We've had people meet and
get married listening to us. We've seen songs affect people in alot of
different ways. This last couple months, since getting back into playing outdoor
events, the e-mails coming into our web site have just been so great.
Because there's more families coming out. You see people all year long in
the bars, and you hear them talk about their kids, but you never get to meet
them. All of a sudden, you put faces with the names, and you get to meet
their kids and they're so excited to meet you because they hear their parents
talk about you, so you're almost like a star in their eyes. It's just
kind of fun. We've been getting a lot of e-mails lately, saying thanks for
taking the time to talk to our kids. What they don't realize is that's
what the whole thing is all about, playing music and watching everybody's
families grow up,we play music, but it's also meeting people. It used to
be, I think the music had to be separate. In order to do that, you had to
separate yourself from the people, but I think that country music changed all
that. Fans became more like family."
Question:
"Is there anything you want to say to your fans?"
Ross (laughing):
"That I already haven't?"
Me (laughing):
"That you haven't already said."
Answer:
"We'd just like to thank them for supporting us through the years. Because
we've been together for ten years, almost eleven, and there's people there that
have been there since day one. Some of the fans, I swear to God, want us
to be successful, sometimes more than I think that we do. Even though
we're working at it daily. They go out of their ways, they do things for
you, and they encourage you. I just want them to know how much we
appreciate that. We appreciate all the stuff that they do for us."
Question:
"Is there anything else that you want to add?"
Answer:
"Go out and buy 'The Good Old Days'!" (laughing) "Hell buy 10 copies for
all your relatives!!" (laughing) "Call your favorite radio station and request
The Killer Hayseeds. Other than that, I just hope that everybody, the
people in our lives and the people that
we all affect in our lives can stay happy and healthy and God bless everybody."