We are from the suburbs just outside of the historic capitol city of Richmond,Virginia U.S.A.
I play drums,percussion and back-up vocals,plus i am also the band's webmaster.I take care of all internet contacts and maintain the band's website.
Carlton Kelly is our vocalist and does keyboards and is my business partner in all of the band busi-
ness and promotions.Steve Lewis plays lead/rhythm guitar and vocals and is also our own resident
'producer'since he knows how to get a better sound out of our CD's.And lastly,Rodney'choade'Pitts.
He plays bass guitar,keyboards and vocals,plus he also handles all of our merchandise production.
Him and i do all of the merchandise designs suchs as hats,T shirts and CD booklets.
* Since when UNIT 53 does exist and was it your idea to build up a Metal band or not?
UNIT 53 was formed back in 2000 out of the remnants of a local Richmond Death Metal band called
METALSMITH.It started out with Carlton and Rodney,then Steve and the former drummer Trae
Bullock joined afterwards.Actually,Unit 53 is comprised of members of at least three different bands.
I joined Unit 53 back in late october,2002 after the guys went through a six or seven months audition
process looking for another drummer to take care over where Trae left off.
* Did the rest of the band played previously in other bands?
Oh yeah!I played in 3 previous Metal bands,Carlton has been in the most bands.The guy is a gifted musician and singer.I think he's been in at least 10 bands...i'm not sure!
Ridney has been in about 4 or 5 bands that range from Country,Hardcore to Death Metal.
Steve has been in a few himself and is one helluva guitarist.He's very unique in his style and sound.
* Discribe in your own words the sound of UNIT 53 please and what are the influences within?
Oh man,the best way to discribe our sound is to tell our influences.Our sound is a mix of ......
Queensryche(vocally),Gamma Ray/Helloween(drums/vocals and guitar)and Iron Maiden(bass).
It's an interesting mix and is heavily influenced by European bands.Power metal is our chosen style
because it can be so heavy and symphonic all at the same time.The big plus is the lyrical style.
Carlton was an English literature major in college and uses his studies to come up with great and
powerful stories about anything such as Celtic and Norse mythology or use religious overtones without being too heavy handed.
Our main influences are:Queensryche,Iron Maiden,Rush,Gamma Ray,Helloween,Rhapsody,Strato-
varius,Coal Chamber,Judas priest,old Metallica,Anthrax,testament,deep Purple,Dream Theater,
and many,many more...
* You just released a debut CD as far as i know,right?Tell me something more about the results
and how's the resmonse from the world-wide Metal maniacs?
Yes,this is our debut CD,but isn't our first recording.Back in 2001,the guys made a demo CD called
Sands Of Time!Then in 2002,the guys went into the studio and recorded a CD that was to be called
Oblivion,but it wasnever released to the public and for good reason.Trae(the former drummer),left
the band for other endevours and the CD was VERY subpar.Two and a half months after i joined the band,we went back into the studio and redid the whole CD and nrenamed it into-Power&Presence-
The results were just killer!Granted,it does have a -rushed production-feel since we had set date for
it's release and money and time issues also prevented us from spending more time to iron out all of
the bugs.But over all,the response has been AWESOME!We had a tremendous response for more CD's and have been selling the hell out of merchandise.Not to mention we've been getting a few
offers from a few independent labels(though we haven't decided on who to go with).
The biggest suprise for us is thet the CD is getting radio play in germany which is cool since Europe is our main focus!
* I guess there is only an American release of that album,any contacts for a European record deal?
Right now locally,the CD only available in Richmond,Virginia,but internationally,it's available online at CDBABY.COM via our website.We hope to hook up with a record label so we can put the CD out even further.Right now,we mass-produce all of our own CD's,labels,booklets and so forth.
I'm surprised that my computer and printer haven't died yet from all of the work i've put it through.
As for a European record deal,that's what we've looking for intensely.Europe is our main focus.
Don't get me wrong,we still focus on the U.S.since right now it's too expensive for us to move to
Europe without help and backing of a record label.I'm constantly looking for indie labels in Europe for us to submit our CD to and we'll keep on hitting on till we get it!But with the radio and magazine
exposure we've been getting lately,we might get lucky.
* Did you have played some gigs so far and how does it feel to play for the first time for a Metal
audience with a new band?
So far,the only show we've done was our CDrelease show on the 30th of january 2003.That was also my debut with the band live.The crowd was wild and they bought alot of CD's and T-shirts from us.
The downside of the show was that we had a bad ice storm that day and well over half of the people we were expecting to show up,didn't come.Nut overall,we had a really good,rowdy,loud crowd there.Since then,we've been getting shows set up for the late spring and summer months.
Plus during that time,we've been working on new material for a 6-track EP that we plan to put out this summer.We caal this project''Wrath Of heaven''.It'll be faster and more symphonic than the current CD.Playing with UNIT 53 has been a dream come true for me.It's great to play with a Metal band that have the same ideas,thoughts and morals as i do.Not to mention,they really have their stuff together.
* Is it hard to stand tall in the US METAL scene of today?
YES!It's very hard to stand out in the Metal scene in the US,especially in our city.
Richmond is more Punk and Hardcore than Metal.Our style is very euro-influenced and some people have a hard time adjusting to it.Real,genuine Metal in the US has gone underground since the early 90's.Nowadays,all you hear on the radio or MTV is Nu-Metal or Mall-Core bands claiming to be Metal.
They're pop sounding and they sell out.They claim to be Metal,but they sound like Pearl Jam,or Creed or Limp Bizkit.It sucks to no end!People would hear us and say,''Oh,y'all sound like an eighties hair-band...''or some crap like that.We're not!!We are a European-influenced Power Metal band with the drive and attitude to succeed and overcome.
The US music scene is heavily influenced by pop-radio and MTV.In the early 90's,MTV said that-Metal was dead-and people stopped listening to it because it wasn't the(In-Thing!).
So in turn,Metal went underground again!!
* We had legendary US Meatl bands such as:Helstar,Medieval Steel,Attacker,Manilla Road ,Heir Apparent,Savage Grace,....during the eighties.For me personal,it was a big Metal Union!!
Is it different now?
Very different man!The scene is like i mentioned before,driven by MTV and pop radio.
It's very anti-Metal to a certain degree.The fans here are different and very picky,but you still have the Hardcore groups of metalheads out there that are starving for great bands like us to come along and break out.
* The bands i've just mentioned,did you like them too or not?
Unfortunately,since the US is so big,we had little access to those bands back then.I mean you could be famous on the east coast and be unknown to fans on the west coast.It saddens us that we never got to know those bands.Had the internet been around back then,then maybe we might have.
* What's your biggest ambition besides palying Metal?
For m,raising my two beatiful children,Tyler and Katarina,fulfilling my wife's dream of seeing her mother's homeland,Croatia and meeting the rest of her family in germany and the Czech Republic.Plus,i would like te eventually build my own recording studio.
Carlton's ambition is enjoying what he's doing and spending time with his family and tour Europe.
Not to mention,meet his family in Ireland.
Steve...well,he just wants to have our CD on every music store shelf in the world!
* Maybe one last and final comment to the MTI readers?
UNIT 53 is coming!Our shows are powerful and emotional...we are brothers in Metal and we can't be denied.Weare serious in what we do and we give 200% in every thought,every process and every note we put to this band.We want to bring our music to you and by the time we leave...you'll be begging for more.Most headline bands refuse to go on aftre us...and most other local bands beg to open for us.
Feel the 'Power & Presence'of UNIT 53!!