Nicole Brice
May 16, 2023
Drawing inspiration from Southern roots
Southern rock is distinct and heavy. Southern rock also has soul and can be very melodic at times and that is exactly where the music of Electric Age fits in.
Formed in 2011, Electric Age is a southern sludge rock band out of Louisiana comprised of local music mainstay, Jason Ogle on bass, Shawn Tucker on guitar and vocals, and Kelly Davis on drums. With influences such as Corrosion of Conformity, Black Sabbath, Pantera, and Led Zeppelin these guys are forging their own path in the oversaturated music scene with their nonconformist approach to making music on their own terms. Paying attention to the artistry of the music rather than making tunes that are catchy, Electric Age’s songwriting approach is a refreshing nod in an industry full of prefabrication.
With prior projects such as Execution, Guilt Trip, and Slaves of Freedom, Electric Age’s Jason Ogle adds a veteran touch to the band on bass. Vocalist Shawn Tucker’s previous projects include Soul Erosion and Black Market Halos and his southern rock vocals show hints of influence from Dax Riggs amongst other notable southern vocalists. Kelly Davis’ savage skills on the kit round it all out and brings the sound full circle.
The band has released three albums, Sleep of the Silent King (2016), Live at the House of Blues – Nola – EP (2017), and Painter of Saints (2022) with all being heavy, melodic, and just plain incredible.
Getting ready to begin work on their third album, I recently had the pleasure of taking these gentlemen to breakfast where we sat down and chatted about anything and everything. Personality, precision, and sheer talent are what makes the music of Electric Age so enjoyable, so sit back and dive into this entertaining conversation and then be sure to go stream all their music.
MaM: Thank you for sitting down with me today. I was listening to your music on iTunes, because I’m an Apple girl and prefer it to Spotify and have a few notes I’d like to share with you about it. “The Threshold” – love it, “Priestess- Part 1” – wow, amazing!
EA: ::in agreement:: Yeah, that’s all Shawn.
MaM: Painter of Saints, the song = could be a soundtrack for WWE Monday Night Raw or an action film.
EA: (laughter)
MaM: I’m a wrestling fan, so that’s why that popped into my brain. (laughs)
Shawn: We’ll take it.
MaM: Seriously, though, that song is so action packed, I could see it being on a soundtrack. Oh, and “Soothsayer” – ripping off Kashmir a little bit? (laughs)
Jason and Shawn: We called it “Kashmir” when we were writing it. (laughs)
Shawn: You don’t hear that too much. Just people straight ripping off “Kashmir”.
MaM: My husband was sitting next to me and goes, “Are you listening to Zeppelin?”
EA: (laughter)
MaM: …and I go, “Noooo”. He goes, “Why does that sound like ‘Kashmir’?” and I pulled up the actual song and did the comparison and was like, “Holy crap”.
Shawn: Yeah
Jason: We talked about doing it. We were like, “You know what?”.
Shawn: Yeah, you don’t hear too many other people using those chords. That’s why it’s so recognizable.
Kelly: The white board in the room during recording, on it the song was called “Kashmir”.
MaM: What was the inspiration behind having a song that sounds so close to the original? As far as the riff…I mean, it does, but it doesn’t. It’s that riff.
Shawn: We didn’t really think too much about it, honestly, we had the riff and were just like, alright.
Jason: We didn’t really make a decision like “ok, we know it sounds like that”, but we do love Led Zeppelin, so why not do it?
MaM: Well, yeah, of course. It’s a tribute to a legendary band.
Shawn: We do a lot more power chording than Zeppelin ever did in that song.
MaM: Also, the production sounds great. Who mixed it?
Jason: I did all the mixing, but I didn’t mix the first album.
MaM: You guys are a solid rock band that is hypnotizing in moments because of your breakdowns in songs.
EA: Thanks
MaM: COC with soulful vocals, too. I hear the Corrosion influence a good bit, which is awesome. You don’t ever hear people saying Corrosion is such a powerful influence on them with their sound.
Jason: Oh yeah, definitely for us.
MaM: I used to be obsessed with Pepper Keenan in high school. Don’t ask me why, though. (laughs)
Jason: Most reviews we’ve gotten have been COC, Thin Lizzy.
Shawn: Down, of course, too. It’s in the water, you can’t get away from it honestly.
MaM: Well, yeah, it’s all part of the whole southern metal scene and culture. Shawn, your vocals are incredible, and you have such a soulful voice.
Kelly: I tell him daily. (laughs)
Shawn: Thank you.
Jason: The first record was his first-time doing lead vocals.
MaM: Really?
Shawn: Yeah, I didn’t start singing until 12 years ago.
MaM: So, have you had any formal vocal training, Shawn?
Shawn: Well, I’d sing in the room, but no not really. One day I just started picking up the acoustic guitar and started singing. And then I practiced for two years straight before I ever did anything.
MaM: Origins of the band. How did the band form?
Jason: It’s a funny story.
Kelly: It’s one of those stories where we all say, “We’ve got to get together and jam”. We ran into each other at a Slayer concert, and we actually did get together and jam.
MaM: So, you all already knew each other?
Jason: I called Shawn and said, “Man, I really want to go see this show.” And it was Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth.
MaM: What year was this?
Jason: 2010? 12? We’ve been together 10 years now, but Shawn was kind of hesitant to go, but he rides with me, and I hadn’t seen or talked to Kelly in years. We had gone to high school together, but anyway, we’re in the beer line and that’s when we saw each other and thankfully, The Facebook is how I found you.
MaM: I love how you call it “The” Facebook. (laughs)
Kelly: Everybody always says, “We should get together”, but we actually did it.
Shawn: Well, you started jamming together first ::looks at Kelly::.
Jason: Yeah, we started jamming and actually Matt Dupre of Big Frank.
MaM: I know Matt, I went to high school with him.
Jason: Yeah, he goes, get Tucker to sing and I was like, “Man, he’s not gonna do it” and then you said… ::looks at Shawn::
Shawn: I’ll do it with a guitar in my hand.
MaM: And that’s just how it came to be.
Jason: Cause I wanted to be the guitar player and I got kicked back to bass.
MaM: You got kicked back to bass, so you don’t enjoy being a bass player?
Jason: I didn’t at the time.
MaM: Well, what about now?
Jason: Well, now I do. It’s kind of like a ZZ Top type of metal thing. It’s a 3-piece.
MaM: Well, and then the beards.
(Kelly and Shawn have similar beards)
Kelly: (laughs)
MaM: So, last release was just in February 2022, but as far as new music…what’s the direction for the band going forward?
Jason: The first record was written as a concept record because Shawn had this vision and it was a big undertaking to make the first album, and it’s over an hour long and some of it was written with me on guitar. The second record sounds more like what we sound like now. On the first record, we hadn’t played a lot of shows and the third record will sound more like the second.
MaM: So, would you say the second record defined your sound?
Jason: Definitely. The 3-piece sound. The first record is so orchestrated. Some of the songs on the first record we can’t even play live, so we just don’t. Because they’re too complicated. We just can’t with 3 people. It was a concept record, so we didn’t hold back. We weren’t worried about whether we could play it live. When we do albums, we have album tracks. We know certain songs we can’t do live, but we don’t care. We’re making a piece of art.
Kelly: It’s got keyboards, tambourine.
Jason: Dog whistle?
MaM: Cowbell?
EA: More cowbell, please? (laughs)
Jason: We have not used a cowbell yet. We’ve used beer bottles once.
Shawn: Yeah, that was a failure.
Jason: And the guy that made the record said, “Uh, no.”
(laughter)
MaM: As far as the creative process, how do you come up with songs? Take me through that.
Shawn: Different methods. For the first record, I demoed a lot of songs on an acoustic guitar and a little Tascam recorder and that worked, but now, Jason will bring a riff and I’ll bring a riff, or we’ll listen back to a recording of us jamming and then we’ll go over it, but there’s not really no set rules. It just kind of happens. A lot of times, we just write in the moment. While we’re jamming. Spontaneous.
Kelly: Yeah, a lot of times, it’s just a free jam session and then we’re like, “What are we doing”?
MaM: As far as lyrical inspiration…what inspires your lyrics?
Shawn: I guess it’s more poetic and abstract, the way I write. The first album, no one knows what it’s about. That’s kind of a running joke. There’s no real meaning. It’s real ambiguous, but it’s up to anyone to decide what the song is about.
Kelly: In fact, that’s what he told me one day. I was like, “Dude, I was listening to ‘Sleep of the Silent King’ and when you say this…what does it mean? “Uh…it’s open to interpretation”, he goes.
(laughter)
Shawn: That’s the beautiful thing about art, though. You can make it whatever you want.
MaM: ::kind of hesitant:: May I ask what the title of the new album is?
Shawn & Jason: We don’t know yet.
Jason: Yeah, we have no idea.
Shawn: We’re not done writing songs yet. We have quite a few written, but they just haven’t been working.
MaM: So, when are we expecting a completion date?
Jason: We actually just signed to Argonauta Records again. They released our first record. Label out of Italy and they are going to take care of distributing it. We don’t want to rush the record, though. We’re pretty close, though, and my studio is set up, so we have plenty of time to record it. We’ll knock it out quick, though.
MaM: So, you mentioned studio? Tell us a little more about that? So, you built your own studio at your house?
Jason: Yeah, pretty much. Volume 10 Studios. I’m doing Branded for Exile’s record right now. I’ll be wrapping that up soon. But I’m fully functional. Ready to be recording bands and I’ve been recording since…I was always the guy that recorded. Whether it was a jambox or a phone, I was the guy putting it in the right spot and all that.
MaM: Now, I want to know…of all the shows you guys have played, have there been any funny happenings or stories you could share?
Jason: Kelly pissed off Meat Loaf’s daughter.
(laughter)
Kelly: Oh yeah, I can tell you that one.
MaM: Oh, now I have to hear about this one.
Kelly: We were playing at the Varsity and I’m stuck unloading everything by myself and I get it all in and then I decide to go sit outside. We’re opening for Anthrax and all of a sudden, a car comes zooming in and they block me in. I’m like “ah, man…what is this” and so I’m boxed in. Suddenly, I see Scott Ian and Meatloaf’s daughter, which is his girlfriend, start walking up to their tour bus. Nowhere am I thinking about this dude being like my high school idol, instead I’m like, “Hey dude, is your car going to stay there all night?” (laughs). Scott Ian, though, super cool goes…”I don’t know, talk to my girlfriend” and he goes in the tour bus and she comes up and says, “Oh, I have to go get the guys some food and I’m going to be in and out all night, but I’m going to be moving it” and so I tell her that I’m going to just get out of her way, right? It’s crazy, though, because there was Scott Ian.
So, I tell Jason and Shawn about the story, and they go, “So you cussed out Scott Ian’s wife?” and I said, “No, I just asked her if she was going to move her car” and they’re like, “You were yelling at her, right?”, but the legend is that I cursed her out and there was a confrontation.
(laughter)
It just sounds cooler.
Jason: There was one time they left me at TSA by myself.
(laughter)
Jason: When you left me at the airport? ::looks at the guys:: I bought an amp I could fly with and so I had the amp in my luggage and I didn’t unload all my electronic devices and when they slid it through the x-ray machine, it looked like a bomb. TSA grabbed me and I looked up and the guys kept walking and just left me.
Kelly and Shawn: We didn’t know.
(laughter)
Shawn: I didn’t know you brought a bomb, bruh.
MaM: So, memorable shows…are there any shows that are memorable you have played?
EA: Anthrax…Crowbar and Goatwhore at the House of Blues.
Shawn: Oh, and the Acid Bath benefit show at Twist of Lime after the flood.
MaM: What was this benefit show? I must have missed this.
Shawn: It was a benefit show after the flood of 2016 and Jason played bass in Acid Bath with the original members and Ben Michon filled in for Sammy, because he was on tour.
Jason: We played a set, though, but they had these jam sessions, too with everyone. It was fun.
MaM: I can’t believe I missed that. So, as far as bands you have not played with, but would like to…who are they?
Jason: I know of one. COC.
MaM: COC comes here a good bit, too.
Jason: We had King’s X.
Shawn: Yeah, we were gonna play with King’s X except COVID got us.
MaM: I remember King’s X was going to be at The Varsity.
Shawn: Yeah, we were on that show.
MaM: As far as the state of local music now vs then, do you think things have changed for the better or worse? Of course, things are different post COVID, but things are starting to look up.
Jason: It’s worse. The all ages shows, I mean…I don’t understand why they don’t have all ages shows like they used to. We used to have them all the time. I don’t see any bands doing that anymore. All you have to do is go rent a civic center. There’s really no venue, though, for the all ages shows…I mean, Mid City ballroom, but…
MaM: So as far as aspirations for the future, where do you guys see the band headed?
Jason: I think we all agree that we’re comfortable right where we are…writing records and putting out music. We like to play shows, but we just kind of pick what we want to play. With no pressure, it’s fun.
Shawn: Yeah, it’s just about creating at this point.
MaM: Any parting words or anything else we can let our readers know about you?
Shawn: We’re just out here having fun and if people like what we’re doing, that’s an added benefit.
Kelly: We’re just good friends.
Jason: Yeah, we’re not just a band, we’re a family.
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To experience all that is Electric Age, be sure to hop on over to their Spotify and then download their tunes via Apple Music. Be sure to check them out on social media, too, and give them a like and follow.
Jason Ogle (@electric_age) • Instagram photos and videos
Nicole Brice likes music, but it must be good music. Got something you think she’d dig? Shoot it her way at the_nicolebrice@mixedaltmag.com.
Cover photo courtesy of Gary Governale