The Last Vegas - Jon Wator

The Last Vegas are the return of trashed-up, guitar-driven, leather-clad rock. They rule the nights in United States and Europe, touring consistently throughout 2006-2008, delivering hi-energy rock action.

Check out their website at www.thelastvegas.com!

The Last Vegas could very well be the band that clears the slate for the future of hard rock’n’roll. Strap it on and turn it up.

 

Chris - First off, Can I ask you…….What’s it like as a fan/musician to be out touring with Motley Crue????  (I’ve been a big Crue fan since high school listening to Shout at the Devil, Kickstart My Heart, Girls Girls, Girls)  If it were me, it would all seem very surreal.
Jon - Yeah, obviously its great to be able to be out there and watch those guys every night, and they have been very cool to us.  Well, more than that we kind of enjoyed it more as a break as a band to finally hit where we get to go up to the next level.  We’ve been doing this very hard for like 4 years straight.  Than finally get that opportunity with a big leaf.  That it is with Crue makes it so much better.

Chris - How was last night in LaFayette, LA?
Jon - Yeah it was good.  All the fans that we played in front of were very receptive, a really good response.  Its been a lot of people taking pictures, autographs.  I think they are really digging it, giving us a fair shake.  I think they are giving us a fair shake because a lot of people feel if Nikki Sixx thinks its cool than it must be alright.  Yeah its been good.  By the time are set is done, they are fully on board. 

Chris - When touring, do you guys get to mix it up with the other bands (Crue, Hinder, TOAD)
Jon - Yeah, we definitely got to know those dudes and hang out with them.  Its been really cool.  Everybody is on the same page as far as just want to put on a good rock show.  Just make it bigger and louder.  That’s what this whole tour is. 

Chris - The lineup of bands seem like straight up rock, party music.
Jon - That’s what we want.  We want to bring back good time rock.  We want it to be a party.   Its not about getting up and being angry or sad, which seems that’s been the trend for quite awhile in mainstream music.  That’s not what we are about.  We want people to go to a show, have some drinks, have a great time, and let loose.   

Chris - Is it intimidating to be performing in front of Motley Crue?  Or is that something you don’t think about?
Jon - Well I mean a little more excited, a little less intimidated.  I think the first night we saw the Crue set.  Their set is just so big, so much fire and light.  It’s over the top.  I don’t care what band you are, you aren’t going to be able to compete with a band like that.  I watch it every night.  If anything its been a huge learning experience.  I mean with a band they know about pure rock and roll.  A damn good teacher right there is a band that has been doing it for over 27 years. 
 

Chris - Being the opening band, How do you get the crowd going, (energy wise)?
Jon - We took our favorite tunes off the new record that’s coming out.  Its due out mid April.  We just kind of took the stuff that we thought we liked the best and that would translate best live.  It seems to be working out pretty good.  That’s kind of how we have always done things.  We take our favorite stuff and go for it.  It just turns out that we are a high energy band.  Our singer runs around all over the place.  I mean overall pretty active on stage, which I think translates pretty well to everyone else in the crowd.  To have a band come out of the gate with lots of energy really gets the crowd going from the get.  Whereas normally people come and see an opening band and go yeah whatever, we get to see two crappy bands than whatever than Motley Crue.  These people have been like wow!  The response has been huge! 

Chris - So, everyone’s been pretty receptive of you guys?
Jon - Oh, yeah we have been winning over tons of fans which is great!  Its great to be on a tour this size.  We are at a point in our career where that’s the whole name of the game right now is get as many people on board as possible.  You know reach as many fans as possible, which is what we are going for. 

Chris - How did The Last Vegas come about?
Jon - There’s two brothers in the band.  (the drummer and the guitar player)  and they put this together when they were young and going to school.  We all live in the same town.  I met them they were in a really cool rock band The Last Vegas, before I was in The Last Vegas.  We all moved to the city together.  They had a lineup change so I jumped in.  A couple of years after that we met Chad - our singer.  We became a five piece for the first time.  That was great.  That’s how its been for the past four years.  Its really taken off.  We put a lot of hard work into it.  We have played at least a hundred shows a year for the past four years.  Been to Europe a few times and really just laying down the groundwork.  Doing it from the underground has paid off. 

Chris - How did you guys get signed to a record label initially?
Jon - We had an independent deal for our first two records.  That contract ran out.  We were on our own for years.  We put out our own album.  We signed up for the onstage thing, which obviously Motley was kind of the head of that.  It went from 8000 bands down to us.  We played for the Crue guys back at The Whiskey.  Nikki was like, I want to take you guys under my wing.  Help make you guys as big of a band as possible.  He believed in what we were doing, and the label believed in what we were doing.  That’s kind of the best scenario you can get into signing with the majors.  You definitely want to make sure they are behind what you are doing.  Its been great so far.  I can’t wait until the record comes out. 

Chris - The ‘Be a guitar Hero Contest’ in ’06.  How did that happen? 
Jon - Yeah, we got one of our songs off our second record on guitar hero 2.  One of those things where you can submit your mp3’s online.  We got picked for that.  That was the first big step we had as a band, as far as getting people to hear us on a wide scale.  I think the game sold over 6 or 7 million copies.  We were featured in that.  That kind of got the ball rolling on the bigger scale. 

Chris - How did you decide on which single to promote for that? 
Jon - You know it was kind of weird.  I was at home one day and saw it.  I figured a game like that.  I really didn’t know what the game was, but I thought they would want something with a pretty cool riff.  I picked that tune.  It had a pretty cool intro. 

Chris - The song, does it come with the game or do you have to purchase it for the game?
Jon - I think it was one of the extra tracks that you could (I’m not really a big video game guy) unlock.  You get to a certain part of the game, and it was sort of a hidden tune, along with some other pretty cool independent bands.  That was one of the things we dug about guitar hero.  They weren’t afraid to put some independent bands on there. 

Chris - Do you guys have any future plans for video games promoting of your songs?
Jon - You know what.  I don’t really know.  It’s kind of a new way of approaching things.  We have always done things ourselves; you know whatever the hell we wanted to do.  Now that we have a whole team of people helping us out, obviously there’s going to be a lot of interest in that, and other sponsors we’ve been working with.  I’m sure their going to try to get us into a lot of new stuff, New games that promote rock and roll.  I think we are a great band. 

Chris - It just seems like a new different angle to promote music, using video games, instead of just relying on cd sales. 
Jon - Yeah the current music and modern music the way the approach marketing thing is a whole different thing than 10 years ago.  I think everyone is learning new ways to get music out to as many people as possible.  People are viewing videos and listening to music in different ways.  Its pretty good to be with a management company that understands that things need to go in a new direction.  Instead of being with a label that’s been around a long time and wants to keep doing things how they used to be, which isn’t going to work. Most of the bands are going to get stuck.  That’s what happened to our first record label.  It fell apart because they weren’t willing to adapt

Chris - That sucks to be with a company that isn’t going to back you.
Jon - Yeah, we have always been a hard working band.  If you don’t feel the same way as us than its just not going to work out, but this case it has.  Its been awesome!  The tour has been great!  The record is coming out mid April. We got a new video that is coming out on Monday for the single I’m Bad.  That is on radio right now.

Chris - Yeah, I’ve been hearing it a lot on the satellite radio I have in my car. 
Jon - Yeah, Octane has been playing our song A LOT.  The people have been picking up on it so we should have another single out in a couple of months.  Everything is starting to really take off.  This is really just the beginning. 

Chris - What was it like working with Nikki Sixx on your new cd?  What was his contribution?  (writing lyrics, music, etc)  When will the cd be out?
Jon - We took pretty much half the record that we put out ourselves, because it was still pretty new.  We put our favorite tunes from that on the record, and worked on four new songs with Nikki  to put some new stuff on there that we could improve upon.  That’s when we came up with the single I’m Bad.  Its kind of a mix of something flashier and some cool tunes.  The next record should be all new.   But for this, for us being new to the label we wanted to get something out there right away, that way we could start touring a lot. 

Chris - How do you think this new cd is going to be compared to your older stuff like ‘Lick em and Leave em’?
Jon - Its right up there.  This is the first time working with producers.  The new tunes are good.  We all worked hard to make things better.  We are working with people who have done this a lot longer.  Nikki has had nine records that have gone at least gold.  Its kind of good to learn from someone that has a different perspective.

Chris - What are your plans from here?  (A spring summer tour?)
Jon - We finish this tour, and we are probably going to keep going.  Do a couple of mid west shows on our own.  We are going to be out probably most of the year supporting the record.  Yeah, no one knows whats going on with Cruefest 2 yet.  Obviously it would be great to do that, but that won’t be announced until the 16th.    Its going to have to be a wait and see. 

Chris - This past week 2/15 you guys were joined on stage by Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielson.  Was that planned or something that happened spontaneously?  What was that like?
Jon - Yeah, we came out and played in Rockford, which is actually where the two brothers are from.  Nikki kind of put in a good word.  We were kind of blown away.  He came up and played our single with us.  It was a lot of fun.  He came up and did a Crue cover as well.  Yeah, its been one awesome thing after another that’s been happening.

Chris - You guys seem to have a big following in Europe.  Do you think European countries are more accepting of new/different music?
Jon - Yeah, we’ve been to Europe four times.  They are definitely all about rock, American rock.  We’ve done really good at all our shows.  Usually the people over there have a better grasp on old real rock bands and punk bands, than a lot of us kids.  There its all about the Ramones, AC DC, Aerosmith, Sex Pistols and stuff like that.  This is great, because that’s our foundation for what we do.  ……..plus the bars don’t close, That’s always cool. 

Chris - The Guitar Center contest,  On Stage Your Chance to Make Rock History. What made you guys decide to enter the contest?
Jon - Well, anyone will tell you, trying to get a record deal now is pretty close to impossible.  To have something like that pop up, not to mention it’s a cool band to begin with.  The way we would’ve done things is go for as many things as possible, and sooner or later something was going to pop.  That’s pretty much why the guitar center thing.  Id pretty much be an idiot if I wasn’t about signing up for something where they were waving $20000 in your face.  Win a tour, and a record deal, it seemed almost too good to be true.  The fact that we came out on top of it blows our mind. 

Chris - Which song/songs did you use to enter the contest?
Jon - They wanted a couple of different tunes.  I think we put ‘Raw Dog’ up there, because that was the song from guitar hero 2, and a couple of others.  I think we got three tunes when we played the show at The Whiskey.  Pretty good, two are going to be on our record. 

Chris - How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
Jon - I would say its definitely raw arena rock, a lot of solos, sleazy kind of sound from Chicago.   There’s nothing put on about it.  It’s honest and it’s really aggressive.  I think that’s why people pick up on us so fast.  They know there’s no bullshit involved.  We are doing what we want to do.  We aren’t trying to hop on any trends. 

Chris - How’s the song writing process go with you guys?
Jon - Pretty even, we all contribute a lot.  Everybody sings, everybody plays guitar, except our drummer.  Its pretty open, I think that’s where we get all influences coming through.  It kind of mixes real well.  When one person does it all it gets kind of stale.  We all contribute which is probably why we argue like bastards sometimes. 

Chris - How do you guys decide what song your going to promote?  Does everyone have a say?  Does the record label decide?
Jon - We have pretty much done what we wanted.  When you play something live its pretty easy to tell what everyone is digging.  You just kind of go with your gut instinct.  If it kicks ass live, than its pretty simple on what works. 

Chris - I look forward to seeing you guys on 3/14 in Baltimore!
Jon - It will be great to be up north.  Its nice and warm down here now but we will be ready.

Chris - I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule while touring!
Jon - No problem!  See you at the show!