Gretchen Reavis: Seasons has gone through some seasons of their own. Wasn’t there a recent lineup change?
Nick Gober-Keller: Yeah. In the last year, our singer decided he would like to pursue a different musical venture. So after discussing our options we proposed to our then drummer, Randall Sykes, that he take over the duties as the frontman. Randall has a great screaming voice and a lot of charisma on stage, and I think we all knew he could do it. We were so excited when he said he’d like to be the frontman, and we got to work right away writing the songs that would feature Randall as the singer. We then spent a few months trying out different drummers trying to fill Randall’s old position. In the last month, Joshua Woolcott came in to try out on drums, and right away we knew it was the right fit.
GR: How did the band decide on how to shuffle this? Was it difficult?
Nick Gober-Keller: We talked a lot about what would be harder to replace: a drummer or a singer. While we knew it would be hard to find somebody who could do what Randall was doing on the drums, we thought it would make the most sense to move a current member to vocals and try to find a drummer.
GR: Do you all feel you have settled in with the line-up?
Nick Gober-Keller: We have only played with this current lineup for a few weeks now, so it is still somewhat fresh. But it already feels like the chemistry is there! Bands are unique in that it takes a lot of things for a band to click. The musicianship has to be good, the mindset among the members needs to be there, but it’s really important that the band has the right chemistry. And with this lineup it definitely feels like the chemistry is there.
GR: What have you found the newest member bringing to the band that has created a projection that Seasons is tighter as a band now more than ever?
Nick Gober-Keller: Rhythm tends to come to Josh very naturally, which is really important. He can listen to a song once and know how to play the parts. It hasn’t been like that with all of the drummers we auditioned. When you have to explain a part to a new member over and over again, it can become exhausting for the band. But since drumming comes to Josh so naturally, it has really helped with the process of onboarding him.
GR: Congratulations on working with MVK. How has been different for the band working with a management group as opposed to on your own? You have been known to be quite independently taking care of things.
Nick Gober-Keller: MVK has been such a huge help to us it’s incredible. All of the people involved with MVK are very responsive, hard-working, and committed to helping the artist succeed. Their motto is Artist First and they truly seem to live and operate in alignment with that.
GR: Who is it in the band that is the most outspoken would you say?
Nick Gober-Keller: I would have to say, Randall. Being the frontman, he almost has to be somewhat outspoken. Plus he is the comedic genius of the group so he knows how to keep an audience entertained.
GR: Seasons never seems to be afraid to get out there and go for it. AEW and now a Friday the 13th song – very cool. How did all of this come about?
Nick Gober-Keller: Yeah, we had the walkout song for the AEW pro wrestler Alan Angels in the spring of 2020. It was an incredible honor that he walked out to the ring to our song during this! This came about largely thanks to Mikey Rukus, who is very heavily involved with the music for AEW. He was the one who asked Alan Angels to walk out to the ring to our song “Violence Is A Virtue”. It was actually through Mikey that we met the actor Peter Anthony, who starred in a Friday the 13th movie. Peter introduced us to Jason Brooks who is the director for Friday the 13th: Vengeance 2. Our bassist, Matt Poe, reached out to Jason and asked if he needed a song for the movie, to which Jason basically asked us to submit a song to us and he would consider it. Matt came to the band and suggested we write a song about Friday the 13th which we were glad to do. Once the song was written and recorded, we submitted it to Jason Brooks, who seems to be really happy with it.
GR: Talk to us about the writing (lyrical content) behind the track “Killing Season”.
Nick Gober-Keller: The lyrics were written from the perspective of the masked killer who is the protagonist of the Friday the 13th Series, Jason Voorhees. When we wrote the lyrics we sat down and thought, “if Jason could write a song, what kinds of words would he put into the song?” That is essentially the frame of mind we had when going into writing this song. If you listen closely, you can hear references to different episodes throughout the Friday the 13th series.
GR: Was it a challenge writing this song? How many Jason movies have you watched now?
Nick Gober-Keller: I think between all members of the band we have probably watched every Friday the 13th movie out there haha. I wouldn’t say writing the song was particularly challenging. I find when songs are challenging to write, it is typically because the writers are running into creative roadblocks. With this one, the ideas just kept flowing so there weren’t many roadblocks we encountered.
GR: Do you have a deeper sense of understanding the mind of Jason would you say now?
Nick Gober-Keller: I would think so. I think when you try to imagine another person’s perspective, whether it is a real person or a fictional character, it kind of forces you to understand them better than you would otherwise.
GR: Any idea when the movie and soundtrack with your song “Killing Season” will be available?
Nick Gober-Keller: We understand the movie will be out in the fall of 2021, but we don’t know more specifically than that.
GR: Any exclusive teasers you can throw out to your fans of what Seasons RVA has coming?
Nick Gober-Keller: We’re very excited that we’re getting to play Metal In the Mountains festival this year. It’s going to be August 26-29, 2021 in Pipestem, WV. They’ve got some incredible bands on the bill this year, such as Attila, The Butcher Babies, Soulfly, Flaw, Dying Oath, Blackwater Drowning, and many more.
