You didn’t think we’d be taking any more time off, did you? Carrying on from where we left off pre-mince pie fest, here we go with another Band of the Day. This time it’s Divided We Stand all the way over in that America place…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Knoxville, Tennessee.
How did you meet?
It started out with Mike Russell (drums), Phil Zimny (guitar) and Trevor Tucker (guitar) jamming out and writing songs. Later they added Randy Krouse (bass) after a random try out. Joe Turner was just hanging out with the band one night and asked to play a song for us. To our surprise he had a golden voice and we quickly added him to the band. After Trevor left to pursue other ventures we had a few guitarists come and go until we found Jake Wilson. He was in other bands that we had played shows with and caught our attention with his strong stage presence.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Our band name is Divided We Stand for a reason. We have such different views and ideals. While we were in the first phases of our band we had so many different ideas of what direction to go in. Someone said don’t be so divided and it dawned on us – “Divided We Stand” literally.
What are your influences?
We all listen to a wide range of music like Avenged Sevenfold, U2, 12 Foot Ninja, Fear Factory… even James Brown, but we never try to take from other artists.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We are a modern heavy rock band that combines haunting melodies, infectious grooves, tightly synched guitar riffs and clean, melodic vocals. We try to play whatever direction our emotions lead us. The key to great music is emotion.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Some songs have poignant meanings, some have more hidden obscure meanings, but we always try to have unmitigated truths in our message. Our newest single “New Era”‘s lyrics are somewhat obscure but it has a strong message about how critical our world is becoming politically.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Very high energy on stage. We like to jump up and down and throw our guitars around. Off stage we like to greet our fans and supporters, even have a few rounds with people. We like to give away items at our shows like CD’s or stickers. We want people to have fun and we try to make sure people are getting their money’s worth of entertainment when we are in their town.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
The craziest thing we have seen was a band who threw sex toys into the crowd as part of their act. Things got pretty wild. The craziest thing we have done is our bass player Randy got into a fight with a rowdy fan during our show. The man was taunting us, making crude gestures, knocking drinks out of people’s hands on purpose, even touching female fans inappropriately. The bouncers were busy outside with another ordeal (come to find out later) so Randy takes his bass off and throws it down still plugged in. He jumps off stage and precedes to whoop this guy’s ass. Well some of the bouncers had come in by this point and think Randy is the culprit and tackle him. Now our drummer gets involved and it turns real ugly for a good minute but when it was all over the fans told the bouncers everything and the bar gave us free drink as a thank you/sorry.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Our guitarist use Schecter guitars. Our drummer is endorsed by Saluda cymbals. He currently uses Pearl shells and Remo skins. Our bass player uses Ampeg head and cab. He uses Dean basses.
What are your plans for the rest of 2016 / 2017?
The rest of 2016 is just trying to enjoy the holidays. 2017 we plan on touring, with a possible trip to Mexico for recording. We have new concepts for our merchandise and we most definitely have some more cool music videos on the way.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Well we have opened for some key bands in the past but we actually have a good shot to open for Killswitch Engage in the near future. It is always so amazing to open for a band you have listened to for years and have respect for. As far as the support, we love our friends in Heartsick. They gave us a shot awhile back letting us jump on a national tour with them. They are very awesome and we had so much fun touring with them.
Divided We Stand: facebook
