It's starting to be a great time to be alive for rock music in Detroit. With more bands starting to branch out and hit the road on their own tours or a part of big festivals, Detroit is leading into a new chapter of its "Rock City" legacy. One of the new faces of Detroit rock music is the four-piece band Citizen Zero consisting of members Josh LeMay (Vocals/Guitar), Sammy Boller (Lead Guitar), John Dudley (Drums), and Sam Collins (Bass). Citizen Zero is set to release their debut album State Of Mind on August 12th via Wind-Up Records and I was able to chat with the band after their performance at the recent Rock On The Range festival about their influences and the new album.With all these other Michigan bands on the road doing shows and festivals together, and now you guys are here, how does it feel to see all these different sounding bands coming from Michigan out here like this'Sam: It's really cool. It's nice to see someone from your hometown out doing it. We know the Wilson dudes and all of them. It's a lot of fun. It's definitely cool to see Detroit bands out doing it.Josh: It's pretty inspiring too just to be able to see that what they have done with their careers and to know that we could be doing that next. That's just our goal to get out there and to do what they're doing.What is it about being from the Detroit area that influences the band'Sam: Pretty much Detroit is like a nitty, gritty city. You got to be true to your craft and really mean it. Stick with it really. There's so much talent there that if you're going to try to be in the scene, you have to take it seriously. There's this good pressure all around to put yourself.The single "Go (Let Me Save You)". Talk more about that.Josh: The song was inspired by the way the TV media kind of reported on just tragedies over time with their own political agenda, sort of not thinking about the respect and human element that comes with situations like that. From anything from Paris to Sandy Hook to all of that kind of stuff, its just upsetting to us the way that's normally handle by the big news affiliates. How did you guys meet'Josh: Me and the Dudley brothers grew up in the same town, Rochester, Michigan. It was a small town then. We heard about each other through mutual friends and just started playing music. Sammy came in the mix later on down the road, way later on down the road when we found him on YouTube of all places. What influences the band, musically and personally'Sam: Just having integrity. We've been through a lot and you just keep on keepin' on. I think it's that kind of mindset of "no plan B". That's always been our motto. What are your aspirations for the future'John: We're at the point right now that we're on our first tour and we're all in the same headspace that we just want to tour until we have to beg our managers to give us a break. Where is your heads at right now while you get ready to put out your debut album'John: We're just super excited to put it out. It's been a long time coming. This album's been in the works for like two and half years now, so the fact that it's even coming out, we're just super excited about. It's kind of a step away from any of the other music we ever put out, so I'm really excited to let people hear the newer material. What's the scariest part about being a music artist'Josh: I don't even know where to begin with that one. Every single dark corner of the music world is scary. Obviously, you hear horror stories about the music industry and life on the road and bands getting screwed and shit. It is all true' Yeah, it turns out a lot of them are very turn, so you just try to not think about it but also think about it a lot. Makes sure your team has your best interest.What do you think is the most rewarding'Josh: I've had two instances near and dear to me that constantly reminds me why we do this. Number one, after every single show, we go over to the merch booth and we get to sign autographs and we get to be in that situation where people kind of present their best to you just because something you did moments before, so that's a really powerful feeling. The second thing is, from a lyrically standpoint, watching people sing is up there, but I've had people come up to me after a song and literally cry and say 'you have no idea what that song means to me', which is literally how we dream of people perceiving our songs. That's what every musicians dreams of that moment when you connected with somebody on such a level that they get emotional and they come out and have the balls to actually tell you.Sam: For me, one time, I forget where we were, somebody told me after we played our set that 'your music touched me in a way in a way that I have never been touched before'. The fact that you can do that through songs is pretty incredible. What inspires you to write about what you end up writing about'Josh: It could be anything. Literally anything. When you're as engrained in it as we are, anything and everything inspires you. You could have a moment literally sitting at a Taco Bell drive-thru or you could be listening to another song spark something. With "Go (Let Me Save You)", just sitting in front of the TV not expecting anything to move to you in the way that it does and all of a sudden, boom, right on the spot, you're there. Sammy: For me it's turmoil (laughs).... Kind of kidding (laughs)How do you feel you were able to eventually break out of your local scene into doing so much more'Sammy: Honestly, probably just not giving a shit about what local bands have to say about you or anyone has to say about you and just going out there and doing it, crushing it. The bubble is kinda life draining. We're just working as hard as we can to be able to get out there and do what we want to do. We have a great team behind us and having that is really important to be able to find your way out of the basic first level of the music scene. It's literally cool for us being able to branch out now and travel around and get to see other people's reactions to our music besides just our hometown. Citizen Zero's debut album "State Of Mind" is due out August 12 via Wind-Up Records and play The Crotfoot in Pontiac, Michigan on August 10th. For more information, visit wearecitizenzero.com. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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