I first ran into Michael Meade at a coffeehouse of all places. He spoke glowingly of his band and all the work that they were doing on their CD. He gave me 4 song CD demo of his band. I played it in my car on the way home that night and I must have played it a thousand times now. I found myself thinking “I can hardly wait for the full CD!”

To me, that says something about a band and their music. So I got in touch with him to see if the CD was done. He told me that they had finished the recording and were going through the final steps to get it put out. As a journalist, I thought this would be a good time to get some of his thoughts down.

He is a very friendly person, and excitement just flows from him. When he's talking, you can't help but get caught up in the excitement as well. So here is how our conversation ran.

Sherry: Michael, The music that you play is really very interesting.

Mike: Thank you, we like it too!

Sherry: You call this style of Music RockGrass?

Mike: That's right. It's really very different than other music genras that are out there.

Sherry: But hasn't "NewGrass" been out there for a while?

Mike: Yes, but NewGrass and RockGrass are really very different.

Sherry: What makes the difference?

Mike: Well, NewGrass is taking Rock and Roll tunes and converting them to a bluegrass style, with the harmonies, the bluegrass twang, banjo, etc. RockGrass is really still Rock and Roll, just done with bluegrass type instruments. To relate it to something in the popular rock and roll world, you might think about R.E.M.'s "Losing my Religion" where they had a rock song but with a strong Mandolin presence. I would guess that song was the first of what might be considered RockGrass in my impression.

Sherry: The Mandolin does have a very stong presence in your music too.

Mike: Yea, Ed is a great mandolin player. It's really a signature sound to our music.

Sherry: But you don't use it in all your songs.

Mike: No, that would get boring pretty fast.

Sherry: But you still consider yourselves to be Rock musicians and not Bluegrass musicians?

Mike: Pretty much so, yes. I mean, we like bluegrass, don't get me wrong. We will frequently play traditional bluegrass and even some NewGrass, but we also like to play Rock and Roll. You never really know what to expect from us.

Sherry: You do use electric guitars and drums don't you?

Mike: Sometimes, sure. A couple of the songs on our CD are straight up Rock and Roll instrumentation. There are also a couple of bonus tracks that include a mix of a couple of songs that use drums. We like to experiment!

Sherry: Cool! So let's talk a little bit about the Band. There are three of you, right?

Mike: Yea, currently. Our basic group is Ed, Karen and me. Over the years, we've played with other people in other bands, but there has always been Ed, Karen and me. So this time around it is just us.

Sherry: How long have you known each other?

Mike: Well, we met to play some bluegrass together in either early 1994 or late 1993. Ed was working with a rock and roll band but wanted to put together a bluegrass band. He heard that I was interested in bluegrass and gave me a call. Since then we've been through several bands together, and now we're concentrating on our own sound and putting out this CD.

Sherry: What kind of bands have you all been in.

Mike: Together?

Sherry: Yes.

Mike: Well, we started out just them and me doing this bluegrass thing. Then on top of that we did some stuff with a guy who played keyboard and sax. That really sort of gave us that Jersey, Springstein type of sound, at least for some songs. We had a guy playing congas with us for a while too. That kinda got us leaning into a Santana kind of sound. Then we worked with Alan Farmer, a guitar player for a while too. Now, all through that, there was Danny, who billed himself as Mr. 50's and the Yakety Yak Band. We were the Yakety Yaks! It was an honor to work with him really. He taught us alot about stage presence, and especially about backup vocals. Danny passed away, and Alan decided to go do other things, and there was just the three of us again, doing the Guitar, Bass, and Drums thing and that's when we decided to go back toward that bluegrass sound. But we just couldn't make it. Our bluegrass started to sound too much like rock and roll. One day we decided to stop fighting it and boom, RockGrass was born.

Sherry: Now you were in other bands before joining Ed and Karen?

Mike: Well, sorta kinda. Back around 1976 I worked with a guy named Scott Jameison Riley in Houston Texas, and we had a band we called "Legend." We liked to say that we were a "legend in our own minds," HA! I was a drummer only, when we met. But I decided that it would be fun to play a guitar, so I had one for about a week or two, and knew about two songs and Scott got us a gig as a duo. My mom likes to talk about how shocked she was when she walked in that night to see us play. She had never seen me with a guitar before. But, I digress... I also in that time worked with Clyde and Judy, of "Judy Sing Your Songs", and we worked together in kind of a weird way. We just sort of supported each other. Today, it was Judy and the band, and tomorrow it would be Mike and the band. Yadda Yadda. But then Judy's family left the area, and she went with them. They moved out to LA. I heard from her once, and I wrote back, but she never came back to me. Then, because of my just having a kid, and the loss of my day job, my wife wanted to move back up to the jersey area to be with family. So we did, and for a long time, I barely picked up the guitar. Then of course, many years later, I met Ed and Karen.

Sherry: Now how about them? They've been in several bands too, haven't they?

Mike: Oh yeah, I don't think Ed ever lost his focus like I did. He's been in some kind of band since High School. It really shows too. Ed is much more of a master musician than me. I'm not sure when Karen started playing but I know that she started off playing guitar, and switched to bass when one of the bands needed a bass player. She still picks up the old accoustic once in a while.

Sherry: So you all have quite a bit of experience behind you.

Mike: Which is sort of a nice way of saying that we're old, right?

Sherry: Hey! I didn't say that!

Mike: HA! It's alright. We know that we aren't the youngest of new bands on the block. We realize that it's sort of late in life to be putting out our first CD too. But, if we don't do it now, we won't ever do it. Besides, there's no getting around it, we're no spring chickens. But, we are a part of that generation that brought Rock and Roll alive. We were the ones who survived our parents breaking our "Devil Music" 45's. And just like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and Brian Wilson, there's still a lot of music in us.

Sherry: Do you think your musical style will catch on?

Mike: You mean Rock and Roll? Nah, it's just a fad. It'll never last. Heh Heh, I don't think that there will be a lot of Lackawanna Rail "look a-like bands" showing up anytime soon. But you never know, as soon as the Record Suits decide they've had enough of the "16 year old blonde girl singers" to promote, maybe they'll look at us! Stranger things have happened. But we see ourselves filling a niche and not being the next "big thing."

Sherry: So who do you think is your biggest audience?

Mike: Well, we did this study, if you can call it that. It seems that our music appeals mostly to the over 35 crowd. Which I guess is ok, since they are still the largest part of the buying public. Our fans go to folk festivals, and folk venues. That's really the type of person that we think our music will appeal to.

Sherry: You consider yourself a folk artist?

Mike: Yeah, I mean, because we aren't main stream rock and roll, and we certainly aren't country, ... and I don't think we could even attempt hip-hop, our music is generally more accepted by folk music fans than any of the others. Besides, they seem to be more willing to accept an independent band like ours. They aren't so tied to the "star maker machinery" like so many other groups. Besides, folk, rock, bluegrass, and even country all seem to be merging together. But I'm getting up on my soapbox again. You'd better ask me something else.

Sherry: OK, let's see... Who is the leader of the band?

Mike: Humph! I don't know that you could say that we have a leader. Ed makes most of the decisions about what we play, and where we play, that kind of stuff, so I guess you could say that in that way, he's the leader. But Karen is the one that says HOW we play stuff. We call her the musical director. I'm the songwriter, and lately I've been handling the buisness aspect of the CD. So everyone has a role, but in all honesty, most decisions are made through discussion. If any of us is really against doing something, we just don't do it. But for the most part, the chemistry is there, you know? So usually if someone comes up with an idea, we all go along with it.

Sherry: Now, how about your kids. Can you talk about them a little? Your songs sometimes seem centered around them.

Mike: Yeah, I love my kids. John and Colleen are out of the house, and I don't see them too often but there is nothing but love between us. Scott is younger and still lives with me. He's a trooper. I love his attitude. Everyonce in a while he says things like "Dad, when we get the tour bus....." HA! He's got us playing the big venues already. The thing I like best is he doesn't say "IF" we get the tour bus. It's "WHEN" we get it. Absolute confidence. I really think that helps to push me.

Sherry: But you are a single dad, right?

Mike: Yeah, my wife passed away in 2001. That was a real kick in the pants too. Made me realize that dreams must be followed right now, because who knows what will happen tomorrow? But it's been tough. Scott is real good about it. He comes with me pretty much everywhere. Sometimes he's bored out of his mind, but he still wants to hang out with his dad, and I am going to eat up every second of that if I can!

Sherry: Do your other kids play or sing?

Mike: Well, Colleen has been trying to pick up some guitar. She's borrowed one of mine, but I think she's stopped playing for a while. John also plays guitar, but for a while there, he got so into the DJ thing, that he dropped it. But he bought a new guitar a while back and has been getting back into it. Last summer we got together and played all night long. It was a great evening. I hope we get to do that again!

Sherry: So what is up next for the band?

Mike: Hmmm. The band has pretty much finsihed the CD, and now we are going to start playing out and promoting it. It'll be a while before all the mixing, mastering and duplication is done. We should still have the CD before the July deadline though. I think now we'll start to show up where ever we can and push the CD. Letting people know where it will be available.

Sherry: And that is?

Mike: It'll be available on the Web in several places. Websites like Borders.com, Target.com, CDNOW, and CD Baby. And of course, on our website at www.lackawannarail.com. Part of the promoting that we intend to do is to start getting it into the independent CD stores too.

Sherry: Do you have any festivals set up?

Mike: No, not yet. We've been concentrating on the recording so much that we haven't been able to think about much else. It has been our complete focus for.... since about the middle of last year. We may be a little late to get into any of the summer festivals this year, so I think we'll concentrate on next year for those.

Sherry: So we should expect to see you at the festivals in 2006?

Mike: I sure hope so! That's what we love the most. Being up in front of people and playing our songs. We like all the small venues the best though. House concerts and folk venues excite us! The interaction with the crowd is just the best!

Sherry: Well, thank you very much for your time. I look forward to seeing you down the road!

Mike: Thanks. Let's hope that the next time we meet, that we're talking about how successful we've become! Take care.