Going Places with Dina Guzzardo
Dina: Today, we’re talking with Tim Louie, who is the bass player of the awesome heavy metal band Rahway. Before we talk about your group Rahway, I’d like to know a little bit more about what inspired you to get into the music business.
Tim: Well, I got into the music business a long, long time ago. I started playing guitar in high school and then I went to my first concert, Motley Crue live at the Meadowlands Arena. And then I said, you know what, I could do that! And ever since then, it’s been like a long journey in and out of bands. till finally landed in the right one, in a band called Rahway. It’s made up of two brothers, the Cardenas brothers, Dave and Steve. They’re the guitar player and the drummer. And we have a singer named Nick Fielding who is also in the band. But I’m the most recent member of the band. And, you know, together we just make magic. I don’t know what it is.
Dina: I read somewhere that you’re a big fan of Nikki Sixx, and that’s probably why you started playing the bass?
Tim: Yeah, he’s the reason why I picked up the bass. I actually play his style of bass.
Dina: Was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith the one who gave Rahway its name? Can you tell me a little bit about how that came about?
Yeah, so, the band Rahway used to be called Sun many, many years ago, and the brothers were recording with a producer named Jack Douglas, who used to produce Aerosmith at the time. And he actually was talking about the band to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. He played a couple of songs and Steven Tyler really liked the songs. He goes, Who’s this band? And Jack Douglas says, “these guys are called Sun” and he goes, “That’s a terrible name! Where are they from?” And Jack Douglas said, Oh, they’re from Rahway, New Jersey. He goes, “Why don’t they just call the band Rahway?” Ever since then, the name stuck.
Dina: What about the second half of the name, The Slumlords of New Jersey. Where did that come from?
Tim: That’s a funny story, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Juliet Huddy. She used to be on Fox in New York. She was a reporter up there. And one day she interviewed the band, and it was one of those emailed questions that we had to answer. And for some reason I called us the slumlords of New Jersey as a description of the band. And it all of a sudden, we started using it as a hashtag. And our producer that produced our new CD, Slumlords of New Jersey, said to us, that’s a really bad ass name. And I said, why don’t we just call the CD Slumlords of New Jersey? And everyone was like, yeah, that’s a good idea. So we stuck with it.
Dina: Speaking of nicknames, while doing some research about Rahway, I learned your nickname was Chigger, How did that come about?
Tim: I’ve had that since I was a kid. You know, we all we always knew that I was the annoying one in my group of friends. And then, what’s more annoying than being bitten by a Chigger? It was either that they’re going to call me or tick or they were going to call me Chigger. So, they stuck with Chigger.
Dina: Is there a certain artist or band that’s influenced your journey as a musician?
Tim: Yeah, it’s definitely Motley Crue. The entire band is influenced. You know, everything that I’ve done, they’ve influenced my attitude in life and they’ve got me through some tough times as a teenager. I mean, there’s also bands like Pantera who, you know, I became friends with the entire band. Actually, Rex Brown is a good friend of mine. There’s also the guys on Skid Row, fellow New Jersey guys, Guns and Roses, of course, Metallica, like a lot of those hard rock bands or what I grew up listening to, but Motley Crue is still my be all and end all, my ride or die idol for sure.
Dina: So Rahway just released a new 11 song CD titled Undefeated and a five song EP entitled, Slumlords of New Jersey. Can you tell me a little bit about these new releases and where your fans can purchase them?
Tim: Well, Undefeated is about I think that I think that would be two years old now. Slumlords of New Jersey just came out last week. So that’s the five song EP. Two of those songs were written by my guitar player and I while we were doing our side project and before I joined Rahway, that’s how old the two of those songs are. But they rock and we actually have a cover on there also from Paul McCartney and Wings, called “Jet”. So yeah, we rocked it out. Undefeated is actually a really good CD, too. [laughing] Is there 11 songs on it? I don’t even remember!
Dina: Can purchase them on your website?
Tim: Yeah. Rahwayband.com. They’re all for sale on there. iTunes have it, CD Baby has it. But the one that we’re really trying to push right now is Slumlords of New Jersey because I just love that CD and it’s got attitude. I mean I’m not sure if you heard the song “Sugar” yet, but that has about twenty-five thousand views already, which we’re ecstatic about.
Dina: Who writes the music for the band or is it like more of a joint effort?
Tim: Oh yeah, it’s a collaboration. I mean a lot of times our drummer, Steve is one of the brothers, he can come in with an idea and he tells me what notes to play and we’ll work on it. And then before you know, when we leave the rehearsal studio, we have a new song. There are also times where my lead guitar player, Dave and I, would come in with a really heavy guitar riff and then work on that, and all of a sudden, we have a song. So, it’s a collaboration. And Nick adds that that modern vocal styling to it.
Dina: So, there’s one person in your band who is a Bigfoot fan?
Tim: [Laughing] Haha, yeah. How do you find this stuff?
Dina: [Laughing] I don’t know!
Tim: Yeah, my guitar player, Dave he kind of looks like Bigfoot. So, we make fun of him a lot. But he yeah, he loves Bigfoot. And sometimes you watch some of the Rahway videos, you go back and look at some of the old ones. You’ll see an excerpt where there’s Bigfoot is involved somehow, like you’ll see his face flash on the screen.
Dina: Rahway has enjoyed huge success and has even had the opportunity to play with hugely successful bands like Skid Row. How did you get that opportunity and what was that experience like?
Tim: Well, I mean, I also am a writer. I write for a music newspaper up in North Jersey called The Aquarian Weekly, but I also worked for a concert promoter for five years. So that helped get my foot in the door with the entertainment industry. And I was able to lock in a lot of shows and tours with some of these bigger bands. We played a couple of festivals. A festival called the Rock Carnival up in Clark, New Jersey. Which had like everyone and their mother were there like Slash and Skid Row and Godsmack, and we got to open for these guys. And then we also got invited to play the Rock’n Derby Festival up in Schaghticoke, New York. I don’t even know where that is, but upstate New York. So, we got to open for Anthrax and we got to meet Nikki Sixx because we opened for Sixx:A.M. It was just an amazing, amazing festival. We got to break our teeth on some of those big stages.
Dina: Wow. That must have been incredible for you to meet Nikki Sixx. Was that the first time meeting him?
Tim: No, not at all. I think we’ve met him a few times before. But his band members in Sixx:A.M were all super nice. We had lunch with them. We got to pick their brains about how to record and how to write music. And it was interesting.
Dina: So what is the largest audience you’ve ever performed in front of?
Tim: I’d say about three thousand in Rahway ballroom.
Dina: What is what is the ultimate goal for the band? Where do you see yourself in five years … in ten years?
Tim: Just do what we love to do. You know, I mean, the goal is just really to make people happy and if people love the band, for us that’s awesome. Of course, we would like to make some money off of it. But, you know, we’re at the age right now where we just do it because we love doing it. It is weird, the less you care about making this a career, the more that happens.
Dina: Yeah, that’s actually true. So, you don’t care so much necessarily for making the big time or whatever. You’re just doing it. You love to do it. And if it happens, it happens.
Tim: Exactly. I mean if someone offers me a tour and a record contract tomorrow, I’ll take it.
Dina: Yeah, of course. You probably have a lot of contacts in the business to where that’s probably a reality?
Tim: Yeah, I mean, it’s weird. Obviously, you know, I worked the Hard Rock and now at Ocean in Atlantic City and, you know, it’s just like I’m running into the same people in the entertainment industry at every show that we put on. I’m running into the same people, people that I run into when I’m actually performing myself. And, yeah, you know, it could be a reality one day.
Dina: Tim, thank you so much for your time and allowing us to get to know Rahway a little better.
Tim: Thank you!
To learn more about Rahway and to see numerous videos and purchase some of the coolest swag ever visit, www.rahwayband.com or like them on Facebook. You can also pick up your copy of your Shore Local magazine to find out where your favorite local bands are performing. This is Dina Guzzardo reporting for Shore Local Entertainment. Tune in each week as I interview some of the hottest bands in our local area.
Dina Guzzardo is the President and Executive Promoter of Dina Media Group LLC. Dina Media Group is an innovative cutting edge event production and marketing company that produces and promotes large events as well as a talent agency that manages some incredible talent.www.dinamediagroup.com
