RUSTY SHIPP
How do your fans describe your music?
Most of our fans say we sound like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, or Chevelle. But one fan described our music by saying, "It really sounds like Alice in Chains and Led Zeppelin made a baby," so that's our favourite description so far.
If you could pick any music festival to perform at in the world, what music festival would you pick and why?
We heard there is a pirate festival in Florida, USA somewhere that we've been dying to find and play at!
What bands influenced your style of music?
Our songwriting is heavily influenced by The Beatles. Every single song has to have catchy melodies with catchy chord progressions. We try to take the best sounds from every era of rock'n'roll and put them together with a surf overtone to create "Nautical Rock'n'Roll."
What brand interments do you use?
Russ T: Fender Stratocaster, Blackstar amp
Elijah: Flying V
Michael: Hoffner bass
AJ: Gretsch Catalina Birch kit, Ludwig Black Beauty Snare Drum, Zildjian A Custom cymbals, and Zildjan Dave Grohl signature series sticks
Have you changed any member’s since you first started?
We've had a revolving door of band members up to now. The band has always been around our singer/songwriter and guitarist, Russ T. Shipp (actually his birth name, and the namesake of the band). And now we have the best musicians with the biggest hearts locked in place, and we're sailing strong.
How do you handle mistakes during your performance?
We act like we meant it that way!
How did you come up with your band name and logo?
Well, the name Rusty Shipp comes from our singer Russ T. Shipp, whose name obviously has a nautical ring to it. So we took our band into a nautical direction to be consistent with name, and the logo followed suit, resembling the style of letters on a navy ship.
What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue this career?
Raise your standards as high as the legendary musicians that go down in history and live in such a way that you'll go down in history and be remembered. Otherwise if you don't have standards higher than everyone else, you'll be lost like everyone else. Only the best of the best are remembered. But fortunately, all it takes to be the best of the best is intentional time spent on developing your craft and your psychology to cut through all the competition. The last thing this world needs is more mediocre music out there to clog the sound waves.
What type of music have you listened to growing up?
A lot of us grew up listening to classic rock music and oldies, and we're all really, really into the songwriting of The Beatles especially.
What is the most unusual spot you’ve played a gig?
In the corner of a parking lot at a dump bar on a side street where nobody ever went. XD
Who writes the music in your band or do you all write it together?
Most of the music is written by Russ T., and a lot of it is pieced together from music fragments he's made over the past ten years, although we're currently figuring out ways to incorporate the songwriting of everyone else as well.
Do you have any CDs/merchandise for sale and where can your fans buy it?
Right on our website! RustyShipp.com/merch
As we are promoting your band, is there anything coming up like album launches or tour dates you would like us to promote on our site for you?
We’d love for people to check out our Mortal Ghost album, which just won #2 Album of the Year from JesusFreakHideout.com Staff Picks, as well as #1 Album of the Year, #1 Album Cover Art of the Year, and #1 Artist of the Year by fan votes! You can find the album anywhere that you get music, or get a taste of it by watching our latest music video for our song “SS Naronic” on YouTube at https://youtu.be/5fXzocHk-jI