MESSER – AN INTERVIEW WITH DEREAK MESSER
Messer is on a roll. The hard hitting Dallas foursome just put out a new single with an accompanying video. “Hope In This World” is the newest creation from the modern rock powerhouse. It packs a mean punch and delivers a strong social statement. The band is comprised of Dereak Messer (Lead Vocals), Johnathan Simmons (Guitar/Vocals), Kenn Youngar (Drums/Vocals) and Maddox (Bass/Vocals). Speaking about the new track the band expounds:
“Hope In This World is a song about bridging the gap between us that seems to be growing every day. The core message of this song is helping people find hope despite the negativity. It’s easy to get trapped in boxes of belief and confusion. This song is about the lifeline we cling to for change, the light at the end of the tunnel”.
In 2018, Messer released their debut self-titled album. That album yielded several chart topping hits including the audacious “Simple Man” The single peaked at #23 on the Active Rock Charts. It garnered extensive radio airplay and received multiple accolades from the press. Throughout 2019, Messer was relentlessly touring with such acts as Pop Evil and Scott Stapp from Creed. All the time securing a large and avid fanbase. Then as we all know the world stood still. Yet, Meeser survived and was reborn bigger, better and fired up.
Dereak Messer was kind enough to give AMP this extensive and interesting interview.
AMP: Can you give the AMP readers a brief history of the band?
DEREAK: Messer has been together a little over a decade so far and we’re based out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We’re a hard rock band that has had a few songs on the charts. We recently put out our newest single. The band is hungry and can’t wait to start playing live again.
AMP: The band hails from the “Deep Ellum” music scene in Dallas. How did that influence your music?
DEREAK: There has been a lot of great bands that have played around here through the years like Drowning Pool and HELLYEAH. In the old days, the area was known for its blues. So, Deep Ellum has had everything from blues, rock and hip hop. Everything has come through here. There’s also some really cool venues to play and great restaurants. it’s definitely a awesome place to visit especially for touring musicians.
AMP: How did Messer stay focused during the pandemic and how did you reach your fans?
DEREAK: During the pandemic things got crazy for us. Before Covid, we were on an eighteen months run including about 60 dates with Scott Stapp. We came back after the tour thinking we would just jump right into the studio and then go back on the road. Hopefully, Europe. That all came to a screeching halt. During that time we became depressed like everyone else. We were wondering if this was it for music. Maddox began doing some stuff in the studio. Kenny was doing things on his own. Eventually, we took stock in our lives and were determined to survive.
Maddox and our new guitarist Johnathan spent a bunch of time in the studio. We all did some goofing off and worked on some “Covid” covers. One was a Goo Goo Dolls’ song. Another was Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open”. I encourage your readers to check them out. They’re on YouTube.
Our fans were asking us for some new music. They needed something to hold on to. So, we felt that since we had invested so much of ourselves in this project, we had to give our fans a boost. The world needed to go on. We decided to persevere and went back into the studio to record our new single, “Hope In This World”. The whole idea is to keep going and this song is meant to energize people, especially our fanbase, with positive energy.
AMP: You have worked with Chad Gendason on your first album. How was that and are there any future plans to work together again?
DEREAK: Oh yeah! He’s our fifth member. A real brother. We recorded our whole album and new single with him. This marriage is never going away.
AMP: I’ve noticed that last year you released cool remixes of several tracks off your debut album. How did that come about?
DEREAK: That was for our song “Simple Man”. At that time, it was our biggest charting single. We wanted to bring some fresh ideas and new people into it. We did this deal where we uploaded all of the stems and allowed our fans to mix the song as they felt fit. They could basically do anything. Take the vocals out, bring up the drums, etc. Free reins to recreate the song.
To our surprise, we got over 150 submissions. We didn’t want to pick one winner, so we selected 25. Each a different version of “Simple Man”. Our number one winner was from Morocco. When we informed him, he was so overwhelmed and unbelievably elated. We gave him a few prizes including a laptop so he could create more music. It was really heartwarming.
AMP: Your new single, “Hope In This World” is truly dynamic. What was the driving force behind the song?
DEREAK: It came out of the depression everyone felt these past two years. We all needed something to look forward to. Some hope. People were getting lost and blurred. We wanted to come out with a powerful statement. A call to arms. Think positive. Turn off your TVs and turn up your music. Take your life back.
AMP: Messer has toured with a host of amazing artists. Does any one gig/tour stand out?
DEREAK: Man, we’ve toured with some great artists. We had an amazing time with Scott Stapp. He’s been and done everything. It was a pleasure learning from him. We really enjoyed playing with Pop Evil. Lee and the guys are super hyper. Love those guys. Love their passion and songwriting. Playing with them is always fun for us.
AMP: What’s next for Messer?
DEREAK: We will be releasing the video for our new song tomorrow. We are super pumped about that. Hopefully everyone will check it out. And we have a handful of shows already booked. You can check them out on our website or our new app. Yes, we have a Messer app. It’s on both the Google and Apple app stores. The app will have exclusive content you can’t find anywhere else. We are also trying to set up a larger tour. There are so many big things in the works.
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