Tell us about yourself and your music
The drummer (Josh Prisk) have been playing together in the various band since 1992. And shortly played with bassist (Tony Greene) back then too. When we had the idea for this band, to write 70s style Power Pop, Tony happened to post a Rockpile song that same day so we asked him if he wanted to join. After practice, we started looking for a 2nd guitarist and then my long time UPS delivery driver asks “hey, do you play guitar?” so we had him over that weekend and bam! He was great!
Talk to us more about your latest release
Our album Night Driver was released one year ago, November of 2017. Two years after our self-titled 2015 debut EP, we released this first full-length album. The ten new tracks build on the late ’70s powerpop influences, but we had now moved ahead a few years into the new wave early ’80s with the addition of periodic synthesizer lines more akin to The Cars than The Knack
Any plans to release a video?
Not at this time. We certainly would if we had more money. We spoke with a friend that does these stop motion paper cut-outs but it was $2000 to have one done.
Any plans to hit the road?
We are about to shift our bass player to being keyboards only and explore more of a Cars sound. I will be taking over on bass. SO after we work that out (and there will be new songs with the newer direction as well) we’ll look at getting around to different towns.
As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
We are kinda Classic Power Pop / Rock n Roll. We felt Power Pop had mostly lost that rock edge that groups like Big Star, Cheap Trick, and the Raspberries had.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Thin Lizzy, UFO, Badfinger, Joan Jett
Who are your biggest influences?
The Beatles, Big Star, Thin Lizzy, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly,
Tell us about your passions
I’ve got 2 young kids. They are super funny and smart. Big readers and creators. They take up about all my time. So I have to fit in music around them. But they love music of course and know the lyrics to all our songs.
What else is happening next in your world?
The Drummer and I have a weekly FM radio show on KUZU 92.9 FM in Denton, TX called the Power Popular Rock and Roll Hour (Thursday Nights 7-8PM) and it pretty much takes all week of constantly listening to music to decide what I want to play each week. I’ve discovered tons on new artists this way that I really love. Patsy’s Rats, Baby Shakes, The Jeanies, Kurt Baker…
Thanks for an awesome interview, Dwayne
Connect with The Speedlights
Website: https://thespeedlights.bandcamp.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thespeedlights/Twitter: https://twitter.com/thespeedlights1Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thespeedlightsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJSh_LINXrh1pteoefxbrUg
