They say a little rain never hurt anybody. If that’s the case, Red Reign certainly wouldn’t hurt anybody. This burgeoning Virginian powerhouse of a band are on the verge of releasing their debut album, Don’t Look Back, and are set to hit the road with none other than the legendary Nazareth. The album is truly a labor of love, a homage to the days when hard and heavy music dominated MTV, radio, and arenas alike. Full to the brim with big riffs, big choruses, and big melodies, it’s a traditionalist’s dream. We sat down with founding drummer Sammy Lee to discuss keeping the retro sound alive, working with George Lynch, the mighty Van Halen, and more.
Greetings Sammy and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Sammy Lee: I’m doing great! Thanks for having me on.
Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Admittedly, a lot of the bands and artists I feature on this site are acts people are familiar with. They’ve been around for decades and have countless albums. We’ll usually tackle 30th and 40th anniversaries and so forth. Red Reign, on the contrary, are a brand new band. Taking this into consideration, how would you describe Red Reign’s music to somebody who has never heard of the band before?
SL: That’s a good question. I call it “power rock”. We’re not really a heavy metal band. We’re more of a rock n’ roll band. Van Halen, AC/DC, Aerosmith: That type of rock n’ roll, but with a harder edge to it. “Power hard rock” would probably be the best way to describe it.
When did Red Reign first come together? Did any of the members play with each other prior in past outfits?
SL: Yeah, the singer (Carlton “Bubba” McMichael) and I are the founders of Red Reign. Bubba and I played in a band prior to Red Reign, which was an original and cover band. I had the idea initially to take some of Bubba’s originals and say, “Let’s do this separate thing.” It took a little convincing, but we finally did it. We then picked up Larry Moore, who’s our bass player. Larry’s been in many bands and has a lot of years in the music business. Then we picked up (guitarist) Stevie Shred from another band. That’s what completed Red Reign.
When did that happen?
SL: Bubba and I got together at the end of 2014. Then it rolled a little bit from there. The full band was in gear by about 2015/2016.
Growing up, who were your biggest musical influences? Was there any one drummer in particular who inspired you to pursue the instrument?
SL: Absolutely. Anybody who knows me or has seen me or heard me, it’s the same answer: Van Halen. The original Van Halen is my favorite band. When I first saw them, it just did something to me. Obviously, Alex Van Halen is who got me into drumming.
When did you first see them?
SL: I first saw them live at the Hampton Coliseum on Halloween night, 1982. To this day, the greatest show that I ever saw.
I believe it. I’m so happy you mentioned Alex. As much as we praise King Edward, and rightfully so, right behind him was Alex, literally. What he was doing with the double bass drums for that time was unheard of. I don’t think enough people realize how groundbreaking he was for drums. The older I get, the more I’m paying attention to the drumming on songs like “Light Up the Sky” and “Bottoms Up!”.
SL: I believe he’s an underrated drummer. I don’t even know why. I can’t figure that out. If you ever look at your polls of “Top 10 Drummers”, he’s rarely in the top 10. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. “Hot for Teacher” alone, that intro. Now, and again, this came out later, it’s all on tablature. Nobody knew what he was playing. Nobody knew if that was electronic drums. It’s amazing, the work that he’s done. I was glad to see that he made the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame this past year.
Rightfully earned if you ask me! I feel like the “Hot for Teacher” intro is to drums what the “Stairway to Heaven” intro is to guitar. I can’t imagine how crazy Guitar Center employees get hearing amateurs attempt it!
SL: *laughs* It has to be frustrating! But yeah, he’s my go to. Van Halen are my musical gods.
We are a couple weeks away from the release of Red Reign’s debut album, Don’t Look Back. What did the band set out to achieve with this album and how have you grown since the release of the self titled 2021 EP?
SL: I think most bands, as you can see, usually have a bit of maturity in their writing from step one to step two and so on and so on. I think that’s where we are. The sad part is, in reality, COVID hit the world. The world shut down and the world stopped. Bubba, who’s the main songwriter, writes all the lyrics, really wrote the album based around COVID. If you look at the songs, they’re somewhat COVID related. “Don’t Look Back”, he wrote that as if the world stopped, you look back and have time to look back on life. You see that you made some mistakes in life and it’s time to move forward and make new memories.
“Here I Am” is about mental health. The world shut down. People were going through depression. Everybody had it, but there’s also other depressions out there. This is a message that says, “Hey, no matter what you’re going through, there’s always a friend that’s there to help you.” That’s what the album was based on, this time period in our lives where it was so different. We have a song called “Bury Me”, but the original title was “Bury Me Up to My Eyes”, which is about somebody looking through a mask all of a sudden. We’re wearing masks these days.
It’s a reflection, not just on COVID, but that time period in life in general. The words are powerful. On every song, Bubba just knocked it out of the park. The guys in the band knocked it out of the park with the parts that they added. I’m biased because I’m in the band, but this is a great album. It really is. It’s a great rock n’ roll album.
From a lyrical perspective, how could you not be influenced by the happenings of the past few years? A couple weeks ago I interviewed Tommy Victor from Prong. He said their latest album practically wrote itself. I totally understand where Red Reign is coming from. When we accept the philosophy that music is the healer, it makes sense that you’re going to release those feelings that maybe can’t be vocalized in a conversation like we’re having right now. Put it to a great rocking tune and it works.
SL: Thank you.
It’s funny because I was going to ask if there were any recurring musical and lyrical themes on this record that we should keep an eye out for. You basically answered it with that response. It seems like the band is putting forth a sense of positivity, just in the album title alone, “Don’t Look Back”.
SL: Sure! That is a good way of saying it, positivity. That’s hard for me to explain because I didn’t write the words. I don’t write the words. I don’t wanna speak for Bubba, but I know that he really dug deep on these. For the majority, it is positivity. Again, there is some sensitivity to it, especially with “Here I Am”. It’s about suicide and not taking that step when you’re at the end. Again, I’m not in somebody else’s mind, because I know everybody goes through everything, but when you feel like you’re at the end, there is another step than ending it. There’s calling a friend. It’s positivity, but there are some serious issues on the album as well. We don’t do political, so if anybody hears any political ring in there, they’re not really getting the song. We stay away from that.
This album was produced by David Ivory, who has worked over the years with acts like Molly Hatchet, Silvertide, and Halestorm, just to name a few. What was it like working with him and how did his input impact the making of this album?
SL: Working with David is wonderful. He’s a great guy. Just so you know, David did the EP as well. David did the EP and now the full length album. Just to go back with the EP, you get a little nervous with those kind of credentials. You walk in and you don’t know what to expect. Is he gonna change everything we do? Is he going to say, “These stink. We’re going to start from the beginning.”? He doesn’t, and that’s the great thing about working with David.
I know I sound like a broken record if anybody listens to interviews that I do, but it’s the same I say about David. David takes our ideas. He keeps our ideas intact, but he makes them flow better. In other words, we’ll add a piece here, drop a piece here, add a bridge, add a verse, add words, add something just to make it flow a little better. As bands, we always think what we write is the greatest thing in the world. You know that. It’s like, “Hey, look what I wrote! This is great!”
For us, we’re a four man band. This is like the fifth ear that says, “Hey, hold on. That’s not great because this part’s terrible and so on.” That’s what makes him so great. He has that ear that can take it a little bit further than we did. It’s just wonderful. We have such a great relationship now because we’ve known David for about 10 years. It’s just a wonderful relationship.
Knowing now that he did the EP, it sounds like he was one step ahead of the game. He already had a feel for the band’s sound and took it into account when making this full length.
SL: That’s correct. When you work with somebody more than once or twice and you get to know them, then you know everybody’s strength and weaknesses. He knows that. He pinpoints that. That’s big, you know? Again, to go back, Red Reign started as a three piece band. It was Bubba, Larry, and I. We put out a CD called Chasing Shadows. We did it ourselves, so when you listen to it now compared to the stuff David did, it’s so self-indulgent. When you’re playing in the middle of a verse and all of sudden I just break out into all these drum licks that absolutely shouldn’t be there and has absolutely no bearing on the song, but you’re so self-indulgent as a musician. I only bring that up because David was like, “We’re not doing that. This is what we’re doing.” It’s great. It’s always great to have that kind of feedback.
I didn’t know the band started as a trio. For you, what are the differences between being a power trio and being a quartet?
SL: That was a bit of a struggle from the get go. Bubba not only is our singer, but he generally, in the years that I’ve known him because we all grew up in the same area, Bubba’s more of a lead guitarist in all the years he’s played in bands. He kind of wanted to do that and play lead. We tried it. I’ve always been a two guitar guy. All the cover bands I was in, growing up in high school and so on. I like a two guitar attack. It sounds full. It’s better. It’s heavier. When we got to David the first time, we all agreed we needed another guitar player. Luckily, we got Stevie. Stevie’s been a great addition to the band, as well as Larry when we got him. Again, Bubba and I started it. We didn’t realize it would go where we are, so we’re very excited.
George Lynch makes a guest appearance on the title track, laying down those signature fiery leads that made Dokken a household name. What events led to him appearing on this album? I know you guys opened for Dokken. Was it one of those recent Dokken/Lynch Mob reunion shows?
SL: It was not. So there are two friends of mine that have helped the band over the years, Neeley and Chris Akin from The Classic Metal Show.
I love those two, especially Chris. Judge Akin!
SL: *laughs* Judge Akin! That’s exactly right! By the way, for people who may have heard Chris, he’s the same on the phone as he is on the air. I love Chris, but I’ve known Neeley. Neeley has been really great to the band and a really great friend. Neeley and I have been friends since 1999. A quick story there is somebody had told me to call him because Bubba and I were in another band. We sent him another CD. I sent it to Neeley and he wrote me. He seemed to like one of the songs and played it.
We talked on the phone for 14 years. We were talking like once or twice a month, got to know each other. I had never met him until we were on tour in 2017 and he came to a show. That was the first time I met him in person. They have really been defenders of Red Reign. Neeley is really close to the Dokken camp. When COVID hit and we knew we were doing the new album, I needed a splash. I needed something. Neeley, because he knows all those guys, helped me facilitate to get George to play on the song. That’s how it came about.
That’s awesome. No doubt, George is one of the best guitarists of his era, but there’s two sides to his playing. There’s the classic shredding Dokken side and then there’s the bluesier, subdued Lynch Mob side. I appreciate both, but when he lets loose that Dokken side like he did on your song, I was like, “Yes!”
SL: It’s funny. As we were recording the song, before we gave him the track, I had read an interview with him and he was saying, “I don’t want to be known as a shredder anymore. I want to be more musical.” I don’t know if you read the same article, but he was trying to say…he’s always a shredder, but I think he was trying to go in a different direction. When he put down the tracks on our song, I was like, “Yes!” If he’s really gonna quit shredding, we may have gotten his last shredding performance. Even though I know we’re not gonna get that, it’s what we wanted, the old Dokken/George Lynch shredding. It couldn’t be any more perfect. We thanked him relentlessly. It was very kind of him to do that.
Something I really enjoy about this album is how it’s melodic, yet has a raw edge remniscient of ’80s euro metal and even early Dokken when they were based in Germany. Was this the vibe the band was going for?
SL: I don’t think so. I can’t be 100% in saying that because that would be the mind of David Ivory. If you know David, that’s a great mind you have to pick through. I don’t know if that was really the mentality. I think the mentality was, or at least I know going into it…just so you know, I was there for most of the recording. I was not there for the finishing touches because I had some things I had to take care of. I don’t think there was a mindset of, “We’re gonna sound like this and do this.” I think it was more of a mindset of, “We’re just gonna put out a great rock n’ roll record.” That’s the best way I can answer that. I don’t know if there was any preconceived idea. I don’t know that. That would be a question for David. You gotta get David on and ask him that.
From a drumming perspective, what were your favorite songs to record on this album and why?
SL: All of the, obviously. The ones that stand out are “Don’t Look Back”, not because of George Lynch. I like a little bit more aggressive drumming. If you’ve listened to the EP, we have a title track, “Red Reign”, which is really aggressive. Those are the songs that I like, but I love every song. I like the melodic ones. “Bury Me” was a great song. “The Truth”, again, just another good, fun, rocking song. It’s hard for me to pinpoint, but if I had to, I like the more aggressive drumming, the double bass.
I don’t like to overuse double bass drumming. I still use two bass drums. I don’t use a double pedal. I like to use it as flaring and for some licks. I like to do some steady drumming, but I don’t like to go wild with it. “Don’t Look Back” is really the aggressive song. “No Peace, No Love” has some double bass in it too. Those two songs are probably my favorite because I get to let loose a little bit.
With 2024 on the horizon, what can fans expect from Red Reign going forward?
SL: What we’re trying to do now is we’ve laid out the three singles. For those who don’t know, we’ve laid out “Don’t Look Back”, “Here I Am”, and just recently “No Peace, No Love”. All of those videos are out now. The album is going to be released fully two weeks from tomorrow, the 27th. We’re gonna get that out and try to let it marinate, get it to as many people as we can. Then we’re gonna start working on shows for 2024.
The new Red Reign album, Don’t Look Back, is out now on Deko Music. Red Reign will be playing the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois with Nazareth on Thursday, May 16. For more information on Red Reign, visit www.redreignband.com.