Interview w/ Jeff Rains of Rains

This Christmas, the guys in the band Rains might want to send a thank you note to the guys in Rev Theory. Early in November, the band behind the hits “Hell Yeah” and “Justice” had a unfortunate accident when one of the band’s guitarist suffered a hand injury and was forced to drop off the tour. This opened up a well coveted spot on the large hard rock tour headlined by Five Finger Death Punch.

The band from Fort Wayne, Indiana didn’t hesitate in accepting the opening slot on the tour. The band has been touring pretty relentlessly since the 2009 release of their album, “Stories”. The album is a deeply personal collection of songs, detailing the life of frontman Jeff Rains. With the band doing tours with many big names in the rock world during that day, this current tour with Five Finger Death Punch could be their biggest to date.

Before a date in Massachusetts, Jeff was getting a bit of a break before they played that night when I had a chance to speak with him. We discussed the dilemma facing the band when they got the offer for the tour and how the band ended back up releasing musically independently.
Here’s my interview with Jeff:

AM: The band wasn’t originally scheduled to be on this tour- how did the offer come about?
JR: We were originally asked on November 8^th after something happened with Rev Theory- I don’t really know what happened with them. I got asked one night around midnight and it was a week before the tour- but at the time- we just had two guys who had left the band. So, we had to scramble to find two new guys within a week and learn all the songs to start the tour. But we did.

AM: How did you find the new guys in the band on such short notice?
JR: Our new drummer played in a band called Ra (“Do You Call My Name”) and he had worked with us before, as well as recorded with us. We asked him if he wanted to hop on a tour in 3 days and he was on a plane immediately the next day. As for the bassist, we talked with our bass tech who knew a guy named Matt that used to play in a band called Surface with him. After meeting with him and rehearsing with him twice, it was a good fit. We seem to work best under pressure (laughs).

AM: Care to explain how “Stories” made it’s long journey to a wide release?
JR: Well, the band was initially signed to a major label, but the album never got pushed the right away. About ten months ago, we left the label and started to release everything anew. I think by doing this on our own, we’re finally getting the right push and radio is starting to pick up on the songs.

AM: What was the main message you wanted to convey with “Stories”?
JR: I was just getting sick and tired of the bad rock radio songs out there, it was like a never ending batch of songs about drinking and drugs that’s been done before. I decided to take a different route, I took stories from my life and went from there. There’s songs like “Liar” which was a reflection of a scary time in my life and a time I particularly wasn’t fond of- but it’s become one of the most popular songs on the album.

AM: What were some of the music that you grew up early on that inspired you to start a band?
JR: I really got into country music at a young age- which I think helped with the storytelling that I bring forth today. My dad went and bought me an acoustic guitar when I was younger, but in exchange- he would give me a list of songs he wanted me to learn to play. It included a lot of Led Zeppelin, John Mellencamp, Van Halen and stuff. But when watching Woodstock ’94 and during that time, I started getting heavy into the grunge stuff- like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden- which changed the way I do music.

AM: How has the band dealt with the pressure of the music industry and the touring market these days?
JR: The fans are fantastic, and the bands we’ve toured with have been great. Some of the stuff we deal with is with some of the stations, like the station in Fort Wayne- that even though we’re doing a tour like this, they still consider us a local band and haven’t given us much support. When you get on a tour like this, it’s kinda tough to just be considered a local band anymore, so you gotta tour everywhere, just to get the name out.

Rains opens up for Five Finger Death Punch at Compuware Arena on Friday, December 16^th. Tickets are $25 and are available at www.compuwarearena.com. Additional tour dates and band info can be found at www.rainsmusic.com.