Interview: Chris Brooks (Lead vocals, guitar, programming/synth, didgeridoo) & Matt Brooks (Lead vocals, guitar, programming/synth, percussion) – Like A Storm

Venue: Rock on the Range Columbus Crew Stadium

By: Amy Harris

Date: 5/22/2010

Like A Storm began in 2005 when brothers, Chris, Kent, and Matt Brooks first played together in their native New Zealand. They almost immediately decided to move to North America to pursue a career in music. Their song “Enemy” is featured weekly on ESPN’s College Football and their song “Chemical Infatuation” was featured in USA’s hit Royal Pains.

The debut album, “The End of the Beginning,” was released in 2009 and they have been touring almost non-stop to support it over the past 6 months in the United States with rock giants Creed, Staind, Hoobastank, Puddle of Mudd, Saliva, Skillet, Shinedown, and Burn Halo.

I sat down with Chris Brooks and Matt Brooks from Like A Storm after their set at Rock on the Range to talk about the tour and what’s up next for the band.

Amy: You guys are from New Zealand, one of my favorite places on earth. When you are touring, what do you miss the most about home?

LAS: Friends and family for sure and savory mince pies, a staple of boozy nights in New Zealand. To be given the chance to do this kind of makes it worthwhile. lf we stayed in NZ, we would never be able to tour and do this everyday.

Amy: I saw you guys with Creed back in the fall. What was your craziest Creed tour story?

LAS: It was a nightly occurrence to some extent. We played a show in Tinley Park in Chicago and it was the the last show for Creed. We decided to go out for a few quiet drinks and it ended with some of the band at 4 in a morning at a piano bar with us all singing and making requests. It doesn’t get any more rock-n-roll than that. We had a show the next day and it was very rough. Everyone was limping in one at a time barely making it.

Amy: If you could have one of your songs in Guitar Hero or Tap Tap what would it be?

LAS: “Chemical Infatuation” just came out in Rock Band this week actually. I’m not sure if I could play guitar hero. I would probably lose.

Amy: Do you still live in Vancouver?

LAS: Yes, but we kind of live on the road now. We are nomads. Any time off we have we try to go back to Vancouver or New Zealand.

Amy: What is up next for the band?

LAS: We are on tour until Mid-June and then we go back to Vancouver to make a video for our new single, “Into Me.” After that we will head back out to tour to enjoy the rest of the summer.

LAS: We played with Helmet last night and it was great and a huge  honor. They are such an influencial band.  It doesn’t get better than that.

Amy: Who would be your dream collaboration if you could work with anyone?
LAS: It is hard to pick one but I would say, Matt Bellamy from MUSE. I had a dream the other night that I met him. I would love to bring back Jimmy Hendricks and jam with him even though he would shame me on guitar.

Amy: I know you guys are family, brothers in the band? Does it ever get crazy? Do you ever have issues since you are all family and together all the time?

LAS: It makes it easier. You spend so much time together and even if they weren’t your family, you would still need time apart. We all have this bond to play this music that we love. It is pretty cool. I can’t believe we all ended up here. We all started in different bands so for the three of us to be playing here at ROTR with Deftones and Slash is amazing.

Amy: Who are you most looking forward to seeing at ROTR?

LAS: Limp Bizkit, I love Wes Borlund. He is one of my all time favorite guitar players. I can’t wait to see him play. Also, Definitely, Deftones and Slash.

Amy: Any message to the fans?

LAS: Thank you guys for all your suport and allowing us to do what we love to do more than anything else. We can’t wait to see you when we tour.

Amy: We want you In Cincinnati.

Amy: What is your favorite venue and city to play in?

LAS: The other night we played in Spokane for 1200 people at the Knitting Factory. This was one of our first headlining shows and it became my favorite place. We had played huge crowds with other bands, but this was our first big crowd as headliners.