Quick CHAT with Michael REESE Meyers.....
Oscar nominated actor Michael Reese Meyers is the most recent Hollywood thespian to switch gears and try his hand at being a rock star. Other successes have included Ev Rachel Woods and her group Dryleaf and Jared Leto and his group 30 Second to Mars. Meyers' band Chants of Reign, who pride themselves on being a combo of "relaxing indie rock, cinematic techno, and other influences, including reggae, R&B, and even dubstep", are going on tour this fall with Leto's band and Meyers sat down briefly with Rolling Stone to discuss his favorite music artists, where his group gets their musical inspiration from, and of course, romance.
RS: How did you come up with the band name Chants of Reign? What does it mean?
MRM: One day the band and I were in the studio debating on what to call the band. We couldn't come up with anything we all agreed on and decided to all go home and sleep on it. Take the weekend to brainstorm and meet up again on Monday. I was driving on the LA freeway from that meeting on a traffic filled Friday evening thinking about band names and I heard on the radio a weather report that there was going to be a chance of rain for the weekend. I looked to the sky and saw it get cloudy and just had this strange epiphany. The whole concept of there being a chance of rain, an impending storm, it's like a warning of something dark and bad to come. Our music is about love and losing it. The risk we take when we enter a relationship that this very person who makes us so happy right now, could be the cause of our pain two months from now. The chance of pain. Sorrow. I liked the sound of it. The symbolism of it. There's always a chance of rain that will cloud up our happy skies. And the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea of spelling chance like Chants and rain like Reign. That just came from me being pretentious and wanting people to say 'I heard about this band called chance of rain, but it's not spelled how you think, it's spelled like THIS'. It just seemed cool to spell it different. There's no real deep meaning behind it's spelling, haha.
RS: Your band has a very eclectic range of sounds. Not your typical rock group. Where do you guys draw inspiration from and how do you decide what genre to make each song?
MRM: All of us in the band have very eclectic interests in music. We love all genres and we wanted our band to be like the bands we all admire, genre bending groups like 311, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police, etc. An album that really influenced me and the sound I wanted us to have was True Hollywood Story frontman Tito Craig's solo album "Sing Tito Sing". I know those guys and directed their music video for their song "Ghosts", first single from their second album. I love them. One of my all time favorite bands. And Tito, man he can sing. Voice of a generation, and his solo record was so bluesy and funky and jazzy and, just different. We want to be known as a band that can tackle any genre and make you feel something. Our sound is new though. We mix cinematic techno, or cinematech as it's called, with everything we do, every genre we tackle. It's the one genre we always fall back to because it evokes that epic cinematic feel we love and coming from acting and movies, I love movie soundtracks and scores and how they add to a scene and the emotion you want an audience to feel. We want our music to paint a story and do that same thing. On the last album we added cinematech to a few genres but on this one we experiment way more and it makes for a much more epic album and array of sounds. As far as the sound of each song, that just comes from one of us getting inspired by a song we hear and wanting to do something similar. Alan, our guitarist may hear a reggae song by Bob Marley and come to us and say 'I heard this song, it made me think of this melody'. He plays it, we write a hook to it, and it goes from there.
RS: Speaking of the difference of sounds in your albums, your first album with the group was quite depressing. This one is decidedly happier? Why the change in tone?
MRM: Haha, well on the last album I was very very depressed, as was other members of the band. We were just in a very dark and sad mental space as a group when we made that album. All of us. I was coming off the most painful break up I've ever had. Alan, our guitarist, was recovering from a devastating injury to his leg that ended his soccer career, Mike our bassist was depressed due to his acting career not going where he wanted to plus he had some serious family issues going on. Our drummer Roman was going through a bad breakup plus his father was diagnosed with Cancer. Our DJ's mother recently passed away. We all were in a very dark place. But now we are all much happier. Roman and his girl got back together and are engaged now. She's actually our road photographer and did all the photos for our album artwork. She comes with us everywhere and is our official behind the scenes photographer. She's very talented. Mike's acting career is picking up. He was in Cabin in the Woods with Chris Hemsworth, Evan Ross, Brittany Snow, and Emma Stone. Alan is dating a super hot model so he's much happier, haha. Everybody's happy. As far as the genres it depends on the producer we work with. On this album we wanted a bright array of sounds and we all love dubstep, reggae, trance, pop, etc. So we added what we do best to those sounds and it came out awesome. The first album was influenced by a lot of different things. Cinematech being the biggest one. Indie rock as well. Another we didn't expect was Irish folk music. Alan is Irish and I'm part Irish and when I told him I wanted our (first) album to be incredibly depressing and was looking for genres to inspire us, he suggested I listen to Irish folk music and I looked at him like he was crazy. But he played it for me and I was blown away by the pain and sadness that music evokes and it actually influenced songs like 'With This Knife' and 'Beautiful Girl'. In fact it did so much when you listen back to those songs, you can hear a subtle Irish accent in my voice, haha. Didn't even know I was doing it.
RS: You and the band rarely did any interviews around the time the first album came out and did not tour, due to your busy acting schedule. You just came out of nowhere with the album and didn't really promote it other than that one performance on Carson Daly's show. You just sort of snuck in there, built around the rehab and Mel breakup, used that buzz, and let the album speak for itself. Explain how you guys met.
MRM: I wrote 'With This Knife' in rehab and found songwriting great therapy and wanted to do more. I already knew Mike, our bassist, from the acting world, he himself was a struggling actor from L.A. and he said he would love the idea of starting a band. He really was the one that talked me into really doing it for real. He's a close friend, one of my closest friends, actually. Sort of a George Costanza type. Always down on his luck and complaining but has such a great sarcastic wit and charm about him. So he introduced me to a drummer friend of his named Roman who was this crazy surfer dude daredevil guy who loves women and Ferraris as much as I do. He is Jeff Spicoli personified, haha. But child-like in his optimism about life. Everyone who meets him loves him or is annoyed by him. Within 15 minutes you know how you feel about him. There's no in between. He is always ON. Hyper doesn't describe him. He'll jump off a balcony into a pool for no reason. He's fuckin' nuts and I love him. After that we needed a guitarist and I ran into Alan at a female friend's birthday party. The girl who invited me introduced me to him. He was her cousin. We actually almost got into a fight that night because we both accidentally tried to hit on the same girl. We bumped into each other at a second party and he was drunk out of his mind but was so humble and smart and told me his story about how he was a soccer star in Dublin and got hurt and how he plays the guitar and I asked him to join the band. He is a very handsome guy. Like a young Irish Robert Redford. He's charming but also down to Earth and a deep soul. Just a good guy with a very warm energy. Most guys that look like that are asshole, cocky womanizers and what not but he couldn't be further from that. He's the sweetest guy and would give you the shirt off his back. After that we started hitting the studio and one night while recording heard some amazing beats coming from another studio. We knocked on the door and met James producing a song for another artist. He's this British whiz kid who loves hip hop, trance, techno, dubstep, grime, reggae, you name it. He's no wigger but he has way too much swag for a tall scrawny white kid with glasses from the east end of London. He came to a few of our sessions and liked our stuff and at first he was just gonna produce some songs for us. He had a lot of great tips and advice for us as far as sounds and really understood my vision for genre bending and we just vibed with him really well. He started to perform with us at local shows and over time we just sort of adopted him as an unofficial member of the group. He didn't really officially join until we started working on the second album. And we needed him on this album because of all the sounds and samples and techno sounds we use. This album wouldn't have been possible without him. But I truly love all these guys. They all would be my friends if they weren't a bandmate, and that friendship and chemistry is why we all get along so well and make such great music together.
RS: Speaking of close friends, who would you say are your closest 5 people in your life?
MRM: Um, well other than who ever I'm dating, excluding that person, I'd say my two best best BEST friends are James Franco and Secrets and Sunsets singer Alley Vendetta. Our bassist Mike is in there. My older brother Joe is someone I would consider in there as well. So that's four right there. And the fifth is whoever my girlfriend is at the moment, so that spot is always revolving, haha. But I have other close friends too. I am still very close to Kristen Bell, my ex. We talk all the time, usually though text or Facebook, but once in a blue moon we'll chit chat at a bar. Catch up. She probably still to this day knows me better than anyone, maybe too well. Olivia Wilde and Keira Knightley are also good friends. (I've) Worked with them both before and will work with both of them in the Phone Booth sequel next year. Me and Olivia have been working alot on the Truth or Die script and will play husband and wife in that film so we will be spending even more time together in 2013. I also been hanging out a lot lately with Michelle Rodriguez. I think she's one of the most amazing, down to Earth, funniest, chillest chicks I've ever met. There's something about her. Really cool chick. I just felt like we known each other forever. I'm really glad I took the time to get to know her and let her in my life. She will be my friend for a long long time.
RS: Speaking of acting, who are some young actors right now who impress you?
MRM: Not many but if I had to name two I'd say Alex Pettyfer and Sebastian Stan. I'd say I'm a fan of those guys a little bit. Alex is sort of a chameleon. I see him in different roles, from Beastly to I Am Number Four to Magic Mike, and he changed his look in each one. You don't see that much these days anymore, from anyone. Even Gary (Oldman) has calmed down on that. I feel like I'm the only one (doing it), then I see Alex in a film and I'm like "Yes"! And I've heard he mentioned me once as an influence so that's pretty cool. Also Sebastian is super intense. He is a very powerful and effortless actor. I love that about him. Alex is starting to get some due and is blowing up a little bit now with some big roles. He's about to be in The Butler and Cali with Mel (Morley). Sebastian seems stuck in TV land. I know he was on Gossip Girl for the longest time and I can't remember what show I saw him on the other night. Some show. Last movie I remember him being in was The Covenant back on 2006. I'm sure he was in something else recently but I can't remember what. He has talent but needs to be in more films to show he is that next guy. He ain't gonna do that on TV. I mean, I've done TV but I went back and forth and still did major films people actually saw. He needs to do the same if he wants to make his mark. Maybe he needs a new agent or something, haha. But yea I'm a fan of those guys. I'm always looking for who the next real talent is. Leo, Gosling and I can't hold it down forever. Who are we gonna pass the torch to?
RS: Who are your favorite musical artists right now?
MRM: Drake and Lana Del Ray. My iPod is full of everything from Backstreet Boys to Linkin Park to the latest French Montana song. I love hip hop, I love B5, I love early 90's dance. I love it all. Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Aaliyah, you name it. Reggae, Dubstep, whatever I'm in the mood for. 420 is like the new 311, I love those guys. They will be on the tour with us. True Hollywood Story I love, I mentioned them. I listen to a lot of mid-90's post grunge rock, like Tonic and Duncan Sheik. I love it all. But right now, I'd have to say Drake and Lana Del Ray are my favorites. I think both will go down as some of the best artists of our time. I really do. A lot of the most significant moments of my life in the past 3 years, Drake was playing in the background for some strange odd reason. He invented a new sub-genre, romantic hip hop. He really did. He raps and sings about relationships and love, all the time, and I love that! No rapper does that. He approaches hip hop from a R&B singer's mentality. I can't relate to gangster rap but I can relate to his songs about breakups, wanting love, waiting for a girl to call. He's sensitive and represents a new type of man. I think the work him and Noah "40" Shebib do is incredible. I'd love to work with 40 one day. And Lana is insane. She's like classic 60's era pop glam mixed with Beyonce. She's amazing. I love her stuff. I'm trying to convince Sam and the Broccoli's to let her do the next Bond theme for Moneyball.
MRM: I truly love both. Two years ago I would have quickly answered acting. Singing started as a hobby. But acting is my job. But now both are my passions. Either way you are expressing yourself. With singing you write your own songs and put your words and experiences out there so in that sense it is more therapeutic and revealing and really you out there. With acting you're just playing a fictional role. To be honest, I never thought this band would become something long term or have fans or go on tour or do more than one album. I just did that first project as a way to express the agony I was going through at the time I got out of rehab and was reeling from Mel. But now I see how much our music means to the fans and how far it has gone around the world and people want more. We have songs that got over 14 million hits on YouTube. I've met fans with Love Misled tattoos on their arms. It's sick. And I love being in the band and making new music more and more. I love it now and the bug has bitten me. I'm already thinking and planning ideas and sounds for a third album. Chants of Reign isn't going anywhere. I will still act of course but music now will come in a close second as a big priority in my life. Music is so powerful. It can heal people. That's what I want to do.
RS: What's your favorite part of being on stage and in a band?
MRM: Getting energy from the fans. Seeing complete strangers singing lyrics I wrote in my room with tears in their eyes word for word because it means something special to them. I can't put in words what that means to me and how it makes me feel. It's really magical and addictive and powerful.
RS: Do you find yourself writing your best material when you're in a good mood or in a bad mood?
MRM: Unfortunately, when I'm in a bad mood. Happy music is cool and fun but for some reason when I am happy and listen to happy music, I don't THANK the music because it didn't change my mood, it just accentuated it. But when I am sad and listen to sad music, it has the strange power to make me feel better and get over what ever it is that is making me sad. Therefore it's more powerful. It can literally alter my emotions.
RS: Gina Rage recently came out and admitted you guys broke up because she aborted your child behind your back? How did you take the news and where do you and her stand now?
MRM: I was pissed to be honest. That's not a decision a girl still dating the father should make on her own. I would have wanted her to keep it. I wanted to be with her, long term. But she has commitment issues, which she admits to, and was shying away from things in the relationship already. A baby, I guess in her mind, would have made us even tighter, which I think scared her. She knew I wasn't going to be cool with it and that's why she did it behind my back. That's what angered me the most. We agreed to keep it private so that's why I never brought it up. That's why I made up that story in a recent interview about why we broke up. I respected her wish on that. We didn't want anyone to know. But it was a trip man. I almost was a father, haha. But I still care about her a lot, despite what she did. We still talk from time to time. I'll always have love for her and I hope she will always be in my life. She's one of the most special human beings I've ever come across. She truly is.
RS: Did Minka Kelly inspire any of the songs on the new album?
MRM: Well we're on a break right now, but to answer your question, no she didn't inspire any of the songs. By the time I met Minka the album was already finished. The only girls I'd say I consciously was thinking of when working on this album were Mel and Gina Rage.
RS: Out of all your ex-girlfriends, if you could re-visit one relationship and give it another try, which one would it be?
MRM: Gina (Rage). She was special. There's something about her. She's incredibly shy but also incredibly sexual, which is a rare and strange and unique combination. She has one of the sexiest voices I've ever heard and when I look in her eyes I feel like she really sees into me, you know? It's weird. She's the only one other than Mel to change my heart rate when she walks in a room. She's got that special something about her that not every woman has. I love that about her. But I met someone new who does that too which I'm excited about.
RS: What are you looking forward to most in the coming fall season?
MRM: NFL football is coming back. My tour with Chants of Reign. New album. I also may be directing my second film. We lost our director on Truth or Die so I may direct it myself. Olivia (Wilde) and I are trying to figure it out. We're working on the script and are executive producing it so it's on us now. Next year will be huge. And Moneyball of course. A lot of big things happening. I'm like a stone, I keep on rolling.
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