Interview with guitarist extraordinaire, J.R. Bareis of Love and Death

Aftershock Festival last month was filled with so many great bands and one of those bands that I was excited to watch was Love and Death. I have really enjoyed their album “Between Here & Lost” as it has some of my favorite songs like Meltdown, Paralyzed, Chemicals, The Abandoning, and those are just to name a few off!

We had the opportunity to talk with lead guitarist, J.R. Bareis after their Aftershock performance and are pleased to bring you the interview here:

Music Junkie Press: HI JR. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us here at Music Junkie Press. We got to see Love and Death at Aftershock and you guys were awesome. How was it playing at Aftershock for you?

J.R.: It was good. We had a lot of fun. It was very good. I believe it. It was awesome. It was great all the people that showed up. It was very exciting.

Music Junkie Press: They reported that they had over 30,000 people there. Who were you most excited to see play?

J.R.: Honestly, I was really looking forward to seeing Skillet because we are good friends with them and we haven’t seen them in a while so it was great to see them again. It was great to watch them and it was a lot of fun.

Music Junkie Press: You being the youngest in the band, how old were you when you joined Love and Death?

J.R.: I was 15 when I joined the band so it has been a crazy ride.

Music Junkie Press: How is it touring as the youngest member?

J.R.: It has been awesome. I can’t complain. I got to get out of school to do it.

Music Junkie Press: You must have started young playing guitar. How old were you when you first started playing?

J.R.: I started playing guitar when I was 11 and it really came natural to me. I didn’t take lessons or anything, it was definitely a gift. I just kind of figured it out.

Music Junkie Press: Do you remember what your first guitar was?

J.R.: Oh ya, My first guitar was actually, well do you know Rudolf Schenker from the Scorpions, the guitar player (MJPress: YES!) His brother Michael Shchenker had this guitar out with Dean Guitars and it was like this little baby flying V, this black and white guitar. Ya that was like my first guitar with this little tiny amp with it.

Music Junkie Press: What do you play now?

J.R.: I play now Paul Reed Smith Guitars.

Music Junkie Press: What was your first concert that you went to?

J.R.: My First concert…. Man it was probably the NewsBoys, they are like a Christian band and I was like 3 or 4 when I saw them. I loved it though. That is when I got my first taste of music and concerts and I have always wanted to do it since.

Music Junkie Press: I love it JR. You are living your dream. Now, do you prefer playing the festivals or the intimate club shows?

J.R.: It is hard to say because there are like pros and cons of both. Honestly I think I like the smaller venues, it is more intimate obviously, the crowd gets into more usually when they are at a smaller venues. It is cool too because after the show, we get to like meet people too and talk and hang out together. I definitely like the more intimate shows. It is important for us to meet our fans because they support us and the least we can do is hang out and talk with them.

Music Junkie Press: That is great for the fans. They do love meeting you all. I have to tell you that I love your videos out. Meltdown is definitely my favorite one so far. Are you guys currently working on any more videos?

J.R.: We are talking about it right now. We have a new song that came out and is called Empty. So we are thinking about doing something for that or maybe for a different song. For now, we are touring for the rest of the year and see what happens.

Music Junkie Press: That is right, you guys are out on tour with Asking Alexandria and Korn. That is great. Now, If we could peak into your Ipod, what artist or song would we be most surprised at finding in there?

J.R.: Ha, you know probably the most surprising would be Katy Perry! It is funny because I don’t listen to a lot of music like that but she actually has like a really good voice and I actually like her stuff because she can actually sing and she really doesn’t use AutoTune that much.

Music Junkie Press: That is such a popular response. We have been asking that question for years now and Katy Perry has been our number one response! How about some fan submitted questions for you.

From Javi: I am 15 and my parents don’t want me to pursue my dream of music. Do you have any advice for me?

J.R.: You know I would pursue it honestly in my opinion. I was lucky to have parents that fully supported me in doing it. My dad is a drummer too so I always grew up around music and they knew I loved it. I was very blessed to have parents that support me in that. I thought about that too before, if my parents never supported me it would be really hard because you know want to make them happy and at the same time you want to do what you want to do and be happy in your life too. I think it comes down to, it is your life and I think you should do what you want with it and make it the best you can for yourself and not have to follow different people’s views on what you should do with your life.

Music Junkie Press: That is well said J.R. and great advice for any age. Kylie wants to know what is your favorite song to play live?

J.R.: Man, probably, honestly it is Meltdown. It is like my favorite song that we have and it is a lot of fun.

Music Junkie Press: Thanks JR. We are going to share your social media sites and let them know that they can pick up the new Deluxe edition out of “Between Here and Lost” that has some great remixes on there!

J.R.: Totally, we got the two new remixes for The Abandoning and Meltdown. Again, we have our new song that we made for it, Empty. Ya, I hope everyone goes out and gets it and hope they like it. Thanks for having me.

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I hope everyone does get the chance to pick up this amazing album and check their website for tour dates so you can catch their incredible high energy filled shows! I will leave you with the video for my favorite song, Meltdown.

~ Marisol

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