The Lucky 13: Q & A with The Red's Marco Aiello
MARCO AIELLO (guitar/vocals, The Red): Fine. You know, that’s a cool question. I think that would make a good album title. I just might call my next album, “How’s Life?”
ADAM: What's in your CD player these days?
MARCO: The new Sade record (Lover’s Rock). Can’t say enough about it – it’s such a great record. She turns me on. And the production is brilliant. The whole thing is brilliant.
ADAM: The world ends tomorrow and the Ticketmaster Upstairs starts recruiting for the Eternal House Band. Who's playing?
MARCO: Sting, John Lennon, John Bonham, Bono - like to see what those guys come up with..
ADAM: How about the House Band down in Hell?
MARCO: Ricky Martin, and all the boy bands....
ADAM: The characters in your songs cover a pretty wide spectrum of humanity, both the savory and unsavory sorts. How much are they rooted in real people you've met?
MARCO: They’re all real people. One character from a newspaper article – so I didn’t technically Meet all of them. But for the most part, these are people we interacted with. Personally, I find the actual songwriting easy. It’s finding the story that’s the most challenging part. Give me a story and i’ll hash out a song. So on this record, it was fun to go for stories that were detached from my own personal experiences. Instead of using things I was feeling – I kept thinking about what everyone around me was feeling – and why.
ADAM: What's the most important thing an indie act should know before making the decision to create their own label, as The Red did with Bella Records?
MARCO: Very few things will go like you planned them – so flexibility is the key. I think great business men must be organized and have vision. But at the same time, you must be strong and smart enough to shift and evolve as situations arise. You have to think different and be very creative to survive.
ADAM: How does the indie music scene in L.A. differ from other cities you've played in?
MARCO: It’s very different. In other cities, bands tend to be more supportive of each other. They’re perhaps just more interested in each others music – and constantly inspiring each other.
My question is – Is there an Indie scene in LA at all? I know there are some Indie bands – and even a few Indie events – but there’s not what I would call a “scene”... No organization, no leadership...
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