The NAMM Show 2018 Interviews: Love Past Blue

The NAMM Show 2018 Interviews: Love Past Blue

Based out of the burgeoning Dallas music scene, Love Past Blue’s music and live shows are as grand and epic as their glorious home state of Texas!  The female fronted rock and roll extravaganza recently took up a temporary residency in Southern California, playing a good amount of shows in the area, including a standout performance at the world famous Whisky A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip. The band recently signed a management deal with Vicky Hamilton, best known for launching the careers of Guns N’ Roses and Poison.

With songs such as Vanilla, VIP, and the recently issued No Means No setting the imagination in flight, along with their critically acclaimed live performances, Love Past Blue is ready to break it on out into the big leagues!  Highwire Daze Online caught up with the Love Past Blue brigade at this year’s edition of The NAMM Show to discuss their musical instruments of choice, support from both their parents and Vicky Hamilton, their recent Los Angeles shows, and a whole lot more!   Read on…

We’re here with Love Past Blue at The NAMM Show. Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band.
Clio: Hi, I’m Clio Cadence. I’m the singer for Love Past Blue.

Logan: I’m Logan Sheppard. I’m 16 years old and I’m the drummer.

Jack: I’m Jack and I play guitar.

Joe: I’m Joe. I play bass guitar.

Since we are at NAMM, the main topic of the hour would be musical instruments! So what are your instruments of choice and why?
Clio: I play a Duesenberg guitar and it’s pretty awesome. But the boys here, they play Ernie Ball’s – and they are absolutely amazing guitars.

Logan: I play drums. Basically I have a DW Collectors Series Kit. My setup is basically a 15 ½ x 14 chrome over steel collectors series.

Jack: My main guitar is an Ernie Ball Valentine and I also have a Fender Strat that I like to use a lot.

Joe: I play Ernie Ball 4 string – and I have a Lakland bass as well.

Clio: And my microphone – I have a Neumann microphone and I plug it into a Sennheiser Wireless box. I love my microphone. It’s my baby!

How have your shows in L.A. been going so far and what have been some of the highlights?
Joe: The shows have been going awesome! We’ve gotten two epic reviews and it’s just amazing to get that feedback. Clio, tell them about the high school shows.

Clio: We’ve never played high school shows until now. We would play at their lunch here in California. They would just have fun – and at one point they were all getting up onstage and moshing with us. It was so much fun! I got to sign someone’s forehead. It was cool!

Let’s talk about a few of the Love Plus Blue songs. What is the inspiration behind the new single No Means No?
Clio: I wrote No Means No as a girl power song. We actually wrote it before the whole MeToo thing, but it really helped develop the song. It’s really standing up for yourself and saying No Means No.

And what is lyrical inspiration for the song Vanilla?
Clio: Vanilla is all about being yourself and expressing yourself however you want to – and not just being with the crowd. You could really stand out and be yourself. We all love playing that song – it’s really rockin’ awesome.

Is there a new album or EP coming out?
Joe: We’ll probably release a lot of singles. We’ve got an EP out already, but we’re just going to keep releasing songs as we go.

Jack: And I think eventually once we release however many singles, we’re going to release a full album at some point.

Vicky Hamilton as well as our Highwire Daze photographer Jack Lue have legendary Guns N’ Roses connections. How did Vicky Hamilton become involved with managing your band?
Clio: We were playing at The Music Box for Springboard West Music Festival. And Vicky Hamilton just so happened to be there that night and she saw us perform. She DM’s me through Instagram and I was like, “Hey! Do you want to come jump into our van?” We had this huge van and the whole squad was in there. We opened the door and she hopped in – we went to dinner – and that was the beginning of this whole journey. And Jack Lue takes the most amazing pictures – I do want to shout him out – he’s amazing!

What could one expect from a live Love Past Blue show?
Joe: They can expect mind blowing stuff man. We want to show everyone that we’re on top of the game. We’re not going to stop anytime soon. Jack’s solos are epic – he gets down and dirty! Logan is a powerhouse drummer – he kills it! Clio is just amazing – she is going to wear something awesome! I’ll be dressed in a kimono.

Logan: Do you guys realize how amazing Joe is? He is out there! He is moving and everyone goes crazy!

Clio: At the high school shows, Joe would scream and the whole audience would go “Aaahhhh!” and scream back.

If Love Past Blue could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Clio: I would love to open for the Toadies, because they’re a Texas-based band as well, and I’ve always been a fan of their music.

Joe: I would want to open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers so I could meet them. Just because that would be awesome!

Jack: I think I would say the same thing. Red Hot Chili Peppers would be cool to open for.

Joe: So Red Hot Chili Peppers, when you’re listening to this interview, we’re gonna open for you guys! So hit us up!

Logan: Red Hot Chili Peppers would be on the top of the list. I would love to do that! That would be cool!

If the music of Love Past Blue was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
Joe: I’m going to answer first because I work at a Dunkin Donuts. It would probably be the chocolate filled donut, because at my location, you can’t get it! We are exclusive! We are awesome! And everyone comes in and says “I want that chocolate filled donut!” And we never have it. But Love Past Blue has it!

That’s pretty good!  Anyone else what to try this?
Jack: Well it doesn’t have anything to do with Love Past Blue, but I really like apple fritters.

Clio: I think jelly filled or chocolate filled. I love donuts!

Logan: I would say like glazed with sprinkles? I don’t know why I would say that.

Clio: Glazed with sprinkles? That different! I dream of donuts!

And on to the next question. How supportive are your parents of you all being in an active rock band?
Logan: Very, very supportive. This is why I am for grateful that I’m here today for. My parents never gave up on me. Because when my parents found out about my diagnosis of autism, they were told to abandon all hope. They were told to give up –get your kid a job at McDonalds – he’ll be fine. Instead we took many years’ worth of therapy treatment – I got all of these different brain games. But my parents never gave up on me and I’m so grateful that they got me here today. I would not be here without them. And it just goes to show too – no matter what anyone is going through right now – whether they have a mental or physical disability – whether they’ve lost somebody close to them – or anything really. It doesn’t matter. You can climb right back up from the bottom. Because when you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere left to go but up.

Clio: You know, the parents are the very best in this whole world. And my mom is my best friend. I can tell her anything and we have fun together. They’re just the best and I love them so much. We wouldn’t be here without them.

Joe: I could say for certain that we would not be here talking to you right now if they weren’t so supportive. They really want us to do this and we do too. They see all the hard work we put in – it’s not taken for granted and we don’t take it for granted either.

And Jack, you’re 15 now and stared in this band when you were 13…
Jack: I guess whenever I joined, I was on a vacation. And on the first day we were back, we played a gig together. And then from there our lives were changed – we were really busy all the time. My parents were always really supportive of all that and encouraged me to keep doing this band. I’m one of six kids. I’m glad that my parents take a lot of time out of their schedule to help me do this. And I’m thankful for that.

And what’s up next for Love Past Blue?
Clio: We are playing the Dallas date of the Warped Tour and we’re so stoked about that! I’d like to give a big shout out to our friend Sarah. She goes every year and she’s just the queen and she’s amazing. She’s one of our best friends. We’re so excited to see her and everyone at Warped Tour. It’s gonna be a blast!

Love Past Blue is:
Clio Cadence – vocals (16)
Jack Hickman – guitar (15)
Joe Galate – bass (17)
Logan Ellis Sheppard – drums (16)

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

Love Past Blue on Facebook