In this interview spotlight, I chat with veteran rockers Rte. 2 Sniper about their music, how the times have changed from the 70s until now, challenges, staying motivated after 35 years and much more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We call ourselves Rte. 2 Sniper.
We are 3 old guys from Boston, MA.
We use to play all the big clubs in the Boston area when the scene was at it’s peak in the 80’s and 90’s.
Since then we write, record and discard one CD after another in our outdated studio.
No fancy production here, just 3 unsigned guys doing what they love.
We literally have hundreds of songs in the can. Maybe it’s time to let them out? Or keep the lid shut?
Growing up in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, it has been a wide range of influences.
We try to shove it all into our style, which is super hard to pin point. But, simply put, we think it’s Rock.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Well, me personally (Tim Dooley, bass player, singer), I was brought up with music all around me. My mom was a radio singer and a member of the USO in the 30’s and 40’s. She was singing as an amateur and professionally since she was 10 years old. My dad and his brothers were all musicians and were all playing Irish and Celtic songs in my grandmother’s triple decker in South Boston (Southie) and eventually started playing out around the city. That legacy lives on through sons and grandsons. The Dooley Brothers.
Chris Raffi, drummer for Rte. 2 Sniper. I knew instantly that I was bound to play drums from the minute I saw a live drummer playing a live drum kit. It was magical and I knew right away that’s what I wanted to do.
Denny Cahill, Guitarist for Rte. 2 Sniper. I don’t remember NOT wanting to play music. It’s been a significant part of my life as far back as I can remember.
Obviously, there is something in our souls that motivates us, because we have been playing together since the early 80’s and we haven’t been paid or played any live shows since the 90’s. (except one in 2012 at a Halloween Party, what a blast)
Call it passion, love for music, love for band mates, or just call it something to do creatively.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Nothing specific. Sometimes it’s all about what comes out at the time.
Sometimes it’s because we got a new pedal or effect and we want to use it. haha
Over the years, it’s gets more challenging to write. There are only so many songs you can arrange with 3 chords : ) The older we get, the energy starts to fade and some of the songs are starting to reflect that. I love that we change yet we stay the same. As we go, the “new release” is really just a collection of songs that get put together once we reach a certain number of completed songs to fill an album.
So, collectively, there really isn’t a theme, but you might hear common sounds because of that new pedal we got or a new effect. We all chip in to making the songs, sounds. For the most part, songs usually don’t finish the way it was originally intended, or written, and that’s attributed to collective input and our limited abilities!
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
As an indie artist there are certainly challenges. You are absolutely correct when you say the oversaturated, digital music age.
I will give you a “when I was a kid” example. Back in the heyday, there were only a couple of ways to learn how to play, and most of it was taught from friend to friend or you listened to an album and played along. So, it was difficult to be super technical, so most bands were playing with more feeling an emotion. It was also a lot of work to get to the “play out in the clubs” stage. There were also more clubs than “good” bands back then, so bands would actually get paid either with actually money or at least free beer and food. Also, it made the band circuit more of camaraderie thing. You would get on a bill with bands that you have been booked with before. Sometimes, multiple times. We all got to know each other and we either supported each others shows, or went to shows just to heckle each other.
NOW, everyone and their brother can play an instrument. Specifically guitar, and everyone is fucking pissa! I have never seen so many
talented people out on youtube, facebook etc. and they get younger and younger and more pissa and pissarer…… It blows my mind.
Like I said before, we are rocking the same chords to make songs and these kids are tearing up the neck!But drummer Chris Raffi ALWAYS says to me when I get annoyed by all this talent that is saturating the digital music age, “Ya, they are GREAT, BUT, can they write a fucking song? Can they write something that you’ll remember, or not want to make you shut it off? Most of the time my answer is no, they can’t. or at least I haven’t heard a hit come out of any of these prodigies. As a way to learn now, there is so much information, learning tools, technology, apps, sounds etc. That I hope the human soul doesn’t get lost in all of it. Back in the 90’s you could see the tip of this saturating ice berg and songs started to lose that personal, real, speaking to me feeling.
Superdrag said it best. “Who sucked out that feeling?”
All we can do is keep going, and NEVER lose the love or the built in passion. We still love getting together weekly, even after 35 years and still get excited that we are getting together to either write, record, play live or just have a beer and reminisce, create, but most of all, we make sure we laugh our balls off at least once per visit. There are lots of laughs, but you need that one gut wrenching, can’t breath one……fun times.
I told myself, when I start saying “I don’t feel like going to the studio”. Then it’s time to hang it up. I hope I am in the ground before that happens.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
We really don’t participate too much in the social media world, but in order to get our music to good folks like you, we needed to get some of the stuff out there. And I do mean some.
I don’t think the internet could hold all off our songs! ha….
We have about 50 songs on Soundcloud, that was their limit. And not realizing that there was a limit and no control of song order, the songs that are on there are a mixed bag of crap. Some recorded on 8 track cassette! hahaha We have never been up with the times, technically speaking. We have upgraded to (2) 16 track digital recorders that have been out dated for about 20 years now. But, really, who cares. Music is love, and you have to love music to hang in there that long. Here is a couple of links to some of our stuff
Anything else before we sign off?
Thank you for your time and hopefully we will hear from you soon. Keep up the great work, and thank you for giving old garage folks like us an opportunity to leave some sort of print out there.
