Red Handed Denial
Interview conducted April 15, 2022
By Dan Locke
Canadian Metalcore powerhouse, Red Handed Denial, have released a brand new single today. The track, titled “Father Said”, is the band’s first new music in 2 years and is accompanied by an official music video. Find the track on streaming platforms here and watch the video here or by clicking the image below.
Speaking on the band’s brand new release, vocalist and YouTube sensation, Lauren Babic shares
“We’re so excited to release our first single to kick off this new era for the band. “Father Said” marks a huge accomplishment for us – it’s a perfect blend of the heaviness from our album Redeemer and the cheekiness from our EP Wanderer, mixed with new pop and synth elements we’ve never experimented with before. This is the most innovative sound we’ve ever achieved and the most vulnerable message we’ve ever put forth. We especially can’t wait to bring it to the live stage.Thematically, it’s about growing up with toxic family members. It’s a very personal song to me and KVLTURE who I wrote it with. I hope people connect to it. “
Red Handed Denial Are
Lauren Babic – Vocals
Tyson Dang – Drums
Chris Mifsud – Guitar
Dominick De Kauwe – Bass
You are from Toronto Canada. What is your upbringing?
Lauren Babic: Each of us grew up with various genres in our ears. Anything from radio pop, R&B, rap, classic rock, hair metal. Each part contributed to the development of what eventually became RHD. We all grew up in cities around Toronto, which has the benefit of being a mosaic of cultures and ethnicities.
How did you discover music?
I think music was always introduced to us by our parents. Music always surrounded us at home while they raised us.
How did you start to write music?
Emotion always drives us to express ourselves through sound. Our guitarist Chris formed the band with then guitarist Levar, Steven on drums and Stephanie on bass. Lauren had later joined the band after auditioning.
How did you get your bands name?
The name precedes many of the current members, but I believe it’s a snippet of an Every Time I Die lyric.
Describe your music.
It’s sharp. It’s soothing. It’s accessible Metal, mixing brutal growls and angelic singing. Metal your parents can enjoy!
Royalties never appear like magic. Royalties are only sent to you through work undertaken by a PRO to ensure that their members are getting paid. If you’re not yet signed up to a Performing Right Organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, you may not be receiving all the royalties you deserve.
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP ?
We’re part of SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada)
What makes a good songwriter?
Writing from the heart, not from the wallet.
What is the process of writing your music?
The usual process for an RHD song starts in Chris’ mind as he writes a massive bulk of the song. It can often arrive as a “riff salad” or many segmented ideas, which eventually gets pieced together as a skeleton for an RHD track. From there a song goes through the filter of each member providing their part or idea. Sometimes a song would be restructured many times before it hits the version you hear on an album.
You have done cover from everyone from The Backstreet Boy/ The Red Jumpsuit/ Apperctus/ Flyleaf/ Kelly Clarkson/ Mariah Carely/ Slipknot/ Britney Spears/ Adele. What was the most surprising thing that happen after you released Telephone?
Telephone was a DIY cover we had wanted to do for a while, and decided to pull the trigger during the pandemic since we were unable to finish our album in the studio. The biggest surprise to us was the amount of growth the song had provided for the band. It also became the first RHD song to hit 1M streams!
Tell me about your EP “Wanderer”?
The story of “Wander” examines humanity’s fixation with greed, wrath and lust for power through the perspective of our Wanderer- the main character of this narrative.
What is your favorite track on your album?
There’s a little something for everyone on our new album. Collectively we agreed “Father Said” is a strong start to the new RHD chapter, and can easily be our favorite track… for now…
You have over 5 million streams. How do you feel how streaming has help your career?
Having music on streaming services has definitely helped! It’s easier to share and is cost-efficient for the audience to taste.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, pound sign and a sharp sign in music. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.
Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
As we continue to move forward in the digital age, words and symbols start to inherit new meanings and serve new purposes. I think it’s less the fact they’re “forgetting”, but rather a new generation not having learned the origin.
Digital vs. vinyl?
It’s all personal preference! Each has its pros and cons!
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
Our latest single “Cloud 9” is in our head right now. It means a lot to us regarding our next stepping stones as a band while we prepare for the album release!
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Absolutely.
Do you think that Covid-19 has been a plus to an artist career?
Definitely a plus and minus. For some it had withered their progression, for others it allowed something to blossom.
How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?
Being aware of food intake, doing physical activities when possible (even if it means walking around at home), and doing your best to keep a positive attitude during negative times.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Video games.
How was it to share the stage with Trivium? Did they give you any incites on the world of music?
Sharing the stage with Trivium was a dream come true! We’ve been big fans of them for a while, so when the offer was provided we had to accept!
Recently the virus has come back with the Delta outbreak, then you Omicron, which as cause many people in the industry to worry about the future of live music.
How would you like live shows to be held and still keep you and fans safe.
There’s a lot of accountabilities that should be in play to keep everybody safe. People need to be sensible and understanding of the current situation and all that’s involved with making a show safe for the performers and their audience.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
“Pay to play” still exists unfortunately.
The show Star Trek introduced people to the holodeck: an immersive, realistic 3D holographic projection of a complete environment that you could interact with.
Today holograms are already being used in a variety of way, such as medical systems, education, art, security and defense
Performers like Tupac, Michael Jackson, Roy Orbison, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Buddy Holly, Ronnie James Dio, Marylin Monroe, and Whitney Houston have done it already. The band ABBA just announced that they will be doing a comeback together after nearly 40 years as holograms on their next tour. With ABBA it was with the help of George Lucas .
If the cost was down to the point you could do it also, would you be willing to do Holographic concerts in our living room?
The idea is a fascinating one that we’d like to dabble with. At least with holograms you can play around with different costumes, characters, and even scenarios. The sky’s the limit with creativity!
In the past if a musician stop doing music they find a new career. For example David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants.. If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
If we couldn’t do music, we’d still do music.
What is your happy place?
On stage, in front of RHD fans!
Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to sell their entire song catalog for $140 Million. In the past year a lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks ($100 Million) , Bob Dylan (over $400 Million), Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, K.T. Tunstall, John Legend, ZZ Top and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Neil Young song 50 percent of his worldwide copyright and income interest in his 1,180 song catalogue to Hipnosis Songs Fund limited . Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative then the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial.
The lump sums being offering by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning.
On January 19, 2021 Hipgnosis Song Management acquired 80% of Kenny Chesney’s recorded music royalties, covering the country superstar’s discography from his 1994 debut In My Wildest Dreams through 2017’s Live in No Shoes Nation.
Someone who was totally against selling his rights was David Crosby. He did not want to sell his publishing rights. In addition, it was not an easy thing for him to do. However, by making a deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, it took a big weight off his shoulders. He could pay off his house and cover other bills. Now he does not have to work for a living. It should be noted that David is battling tendinitis in his hands, which hurts his ability to play guitar.
Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is will to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs?
There’s pride in every artist owning their songs. Once the catalog is sold, it’s gone. I think what many artists don’t understand is that the imprint will always remain with your name involved. RHCP may not own their songs anymore, but the legacy of those songs are still enough to sustain the band for future releases. In my head, the transaction works similar to an investment- you no longer make continual revenue but rather have it staved off for future projects. If Universal bought the entire past RHD catalog- anything I can foresee them doing with it will only grow the band’s footprint for future accomplishments, which will then resupply consistent revenue back towards us.
There are many platforms out there that allow artists to get their music heard. Artist Republik, DistroKid, Tunecore & plenty others offer distribution services. These services enable independent artists to put their music on some of the most popular streaming services globally, from Spotify to Apple Music & everything in between. If you’ve been in any part of the music industry in recent years, you probably know someone that has distributed a song.
Spotify reports that in 2021 there are about 8 million artists on the platform. Of those 8 million artists, about 57,000 are raking in a whopping 90% of the total revenue from streams. That means that .71% of the artists on Spotify are making good money. In 2020, there was a total of around $5 billion paid out to artists on the Spotify platform alone.
Therefore it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, SPOT will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time.
What do you think what that could mean to independent artist?
It would push artists to think about and potentially reconfigure their next moves. Do they adapt? Will they learn more about the industry? Do they revert back to “the old ways” of word-of-mouth? It’s interesting to see how different artists treat their paths.
Over half a billion active users around the world share their favorite music on TikTok either with something like a dance challenges and lip-sync videos or creating a funny skit or candid camera moment.
TikTok has became a great platform for music promotion, sharing songs, and finding new listeners. In which it has become a place for music artist to earn revenue when people use their music. Which in many cases the daily promotion on TikTok has led to hug boosts on other platforms like Spotify, Facebook and YouTube.
TikTok does this with the the algorithmically generates a feed of content for each user, which you see as the displaying of #. The more a user engages with content, the smarter TikTok gets at guessing what kind of videos the viewer wants to watch. Because a song can go viral because of this.
Sony Music and Warner Music Group- , The ByteDance-owned video app revealed that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
At the end of the day, it’s definitely worth the effort!
Breaking news: TikTok is launching TikTok Radio, a full-time SiriusXM music channel going live this summer.The station will be available in vehicles and as a streaming channel on the SiriusXM App, desktop, and all connected devices.
Some of the on TikTok include Cassyette, YukoEXE, Ashinikko, Palaye Royale, Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots), Yungblud, Morrissey, Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Gene Simmons, and Mick Jagger.
The station will be part of a new TikTok collaboration with SiriusXM and its subsidiary,Pandora, to jointly promote emerging talent. Do you think this platform could became a force in the future of streaming music?
It has a very strong potential to become a notable music streaming platform!
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Thank you so much for having us! This interview has been incredibly thought-provoking and with a lot of insight to the back-end of the music industry. Our new album “I’d Rather Be Asleep” comes out June 3rd 2022!
