The World Famous Amber sat down with Ultraviolet in Pittsburgh.In a backroom off of stage left, Sarah Hudson takes a breath. The hardcore redheaded beauty just rocked her show in front of a whole new group of screaming teenagers — and they loved it.
Sarah is the lead singer and, along with keyboard player Sami Diament, co-founded a new musical group called Ultraviolet, and they are making big plans. Merging together with other west coast bands, they have created a musical movement called "Electro Riot" and they want you to know about it. Poised and professional, Sami, guitarist Brad Ackley and drummer Ryan Brown sat down with me to discuss the ambitions we can expect from this rising band and their musical revolution.
Let’s start our conversation with Electro Riot. What is it, exactly?Sami: Electro Riot is a community of artists in California. It’s kind of our way of providing a place for kids to just come and hang out and hear good music. It consists of several different bands and we've all sort of joined forces so we can promote each others' music because all of the acts are from different parts of California.
Who came up with this idea and how did it get implemented?Sarah: We started it with another band called A Kiss Could Be Deadly and we just basically wanted to promote the sound of electro-rock, which is what we like.
Sami: Since all of the acts involved are from different cities, with “Electro Riot,” we can give our fans a unique show that they can’t get anywhere else.
Photo Below: Sarah Hudson at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh, PA
I’m a huge fan of yours and I love the sound of your craft. What can the fans like me expect from the Electro Riot bands in the near future?Sami: We just finished the “Electro Riot Mixtape” and it’s for sale now and we’re working on promoting that. It features music from all the Electro Riot bands and each group has one or two songs on it. We’re pretty excited about it and it seems to be getting a warm reception from those who have heard it.
Who are the other groups credited on the album?Sarah: Um… Jeffree Star, A Kiss Could Be Deadly, I Hate Kate, The Breakup, Metroid, and Taxi Doll.
I noticed online that there is something called “Electro Riot Radio” out of New York. Is that the same Electro Riot that we are discussing here now?Sami: YES! There’s a DJ with a radio show in New York who heard the Electro Riot music and liked the sound. His name is Joey Fashion and he actually changed his show for this because he was so impressed. It airs every Friday on WPUB.org.
Photo Below: Brad Ackley on guitar.
The sound of Electro Riot is very different and Ultraviolets’ contribution to the uniqueness of it certainly stands out. Where does your inspiration come from?Sami: It comes from a bunch of different stuff. I grew up in a time where we didn’t just listen to one kind of music—you had Hip-Hop, Alternative, Rock, Techno, Classic Rock… and now with iPods, all your music wrapped up into one. That’s what we’re trying to do. Mix it up
Photo Below: Sami
Sarah, I’ve been following your career since you released "Naked Truth" in 2004 and what you’re doing now is very different from what you were doing back then. Was your relocation from New York to Los Angeles the biggest factor of your new creative direction or is there more to it?Sarah: Well…I had a bad experience with my record label back then. No artistic freedom. And later on, I met Sami and we just started writing together and this is what we discovered. The relocation definitely played a part in it, but also the ability to write and record what I want also has a lot to do with it, too.
I was thrilled to hear you perform [your unreleased track] “Brainwashed” tonight. Do you plan on releasing that anytime soon?Sarah: Yeah. We’re going to put that on the next EP that we’ll be releasing in a few months, along with some other songs you may have already heard, but haven’t been officially released.
So you plan to do another EP next? What about a full-length album?Sarah: Oh, definitely! We may even have that out by the end of the year!
Oh, yeah? Will you attach any extras to it, maybe a DVD of videos?Sami: Yeah, we certainly want to include a DVD of videos. In fact, we’re working on some videos right now.
Brad: We currently have announcements out where we want our fans to send in clips of themselves lip-syncing to [our new song] “Gimme My Electro” and we’re going to put those clips into the video we’re creating for the track. The lyrics say “get into it” so that’s what we want our fans to do—get into it. That makes it fun for everyone. Why not?
Photo Below: Pretty in pink ruffles: Sarah brings electro rock to a whole new crowd.
I’m thoroughly impressed by all the projects you currently have going on! I heard that you also have done some production work for Jeffree Star, as well as your own material. Would you like to continue producing other artists or do you just plan to concentrate on your own projects and ambitions?Sami: We produced [Jeffree’s track] “Eyelash Curlers and Butcher Knives (What’s the Difference?)” and it was a blast. We plan to remix and produce oursleves and other artists and tracks. Those are our own ambitions.
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www.ultravioletsound.com.
Visit their profile on MySpace Music to hear some of the new songs at
www.myspace.com/ultravioletsound.
Labels: A Kiss Could Be Deadly, Brad Ackley, Electro Riot, I Hate Kate, Jeffree Star, Metroid, Ryan Brown, Sami Diament, Sarah Hudson, Taxi Doll, The Breakup, Ultraviolet
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