“I push myself everyday to be better than the day before. I love to learn, you can never be too old to learn new things.” – @AandLmusic
Episode #296 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/02/10/episode-296-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW LANA MARIE & ANTHONY CASUCCIO
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
3 ways I push myself to Succeed…
Lana: I push myself everyday to be better than the day before. I always try to become a stronger vocalist. I workout everyday so my body and mind stays healthy. I keep an open mind, never count on anything until its definite, because a “let down” is a bitch!
Anthony: I love to learn, you can never be too old to learn new things. I always practice my guitar so I can write and perform better. I try to grow as a person so I can be a better husband, father and person.
I would like to…
Lana: to perform as long as I can, I love entertaining, making people smile and its something I’m good at.
Anthony: I would like to have a hit record with A&L. I think we are on our way. My Personal goal, is to have a healthy, happy family.
Music Business…
Lana: Its hard, a lot of politics, “who you know” always helps, its hard to trust or believe people. The hurdles and pit falls always help to give us ideas to create new music.
Anthony: I agree, the music industry is very cutthroat. I work a lot behind the scenes with music production. Even there the chances of getting screwed are quite high. We have all be taken at some point in our career.
Social Media…
Lana: I really don’t like social media too much; it is just a lot of drama for people in the music scene. You need it for advertising and letting people know what’s going on. The challenges I find are back talkers but if you are being talked about good or bad you are still on peoples minds. It’s when they stop talking that you should be worried.
Anthony: It’s a double edged sward. It allows you to reach a huge audience, but so can every other band. So you need to work very hard to stand out. It takes a lot of time to maintain your social media sites.
The Music…
Lana: I was the lion in a school play and got a standing ovation and ever since that moment, In 9th grade I wrote my first song and had a friend in the musical with me play it on piano and we got another standing ovation. I knew right there that’s what I wanted to do; entertain and sing. I loved being in the spot light and have not looked back.
Anthony: For me it was hearing The Beatles. I was hit by the songwriting and the fame. I thought it was so cool even though they had not written anything in 20 years. I became more interested in the technical aspects of recording and songwriting. That led me to getting into recording production. I have been fortunate to have worked on some amazing projects. But I have always worked on original music.
Hot Mess…
Anthony: We wanted to rock out a little harder on this release. Hot Mess takes a comedic look at the various characters (some unwanted) that you often interact with at a bar or club. We are sure that you will recognize these misfits that Lana sings about. I wrote the music first and then came up with the lyrics. I try to write from Lana’s perspective. We both have laughed at our experiences playing live music in various venues and the crazy people that we see. I figured that everyone could relate to this song.
Lana: We have fans reach out to us telling us of the cast of characters that they have had to deal with. We get a kick out of that. Hey, tweet us your hot mess stories.
Making The Music Video…
Anthony: We had a great time making the video and it really shows the humorous side of bar life. Our video genius, James Grimaldi created this amazing, funny awkward video that nails what we were going for.
Our Music…
Lana: I feel our music reflects basic life events, if not ours, other people. Our songs definitely relate to everybody at some point of their life. We are having fun with it right now but we want it to be heard everywhere! We have received a great response from YouTube, radio stations, and people sharing it.
Anthony: we want our music to make the listeners want to sing along. We craft music that is very catchy and easy to sing. We may have an off the wall topic or idea, but the melodies are always easy to sing.
Music Trends…
Lana: I’m definitely neither, I just live day by day and go with the flow. I don’t like to follow the crowd. I like to do my own thing, my own style. When something hits me and inspires me, I do it, definitely spontaneous.
Anthony: I try to keep up with the fashion styles of what is happening now but I seem to always miss them. Ha, so I just go simple. Look at our pictures. When it comes to musical production, I pull from new and old. What does the A&L song need to fulfill the musical vision? I’ll listen to current artists that move me and pull from their ideas.
Buffalo, New York…
Lana: Buffalo, New York is kind of cut throat I don’t get out much because my weekends are consumed with my cover band. We are booked year-round. So when I have off, I like to snuggle up with my dog Cody and watch TV.
Anthony: I live in a suburb of Buffalo NY, too. I live and breathe music, so I find it fun to writing songs. I have a family, two little boys that keep me and my wife busy. I also teach recording technology at the college level. One thing that is very unique about A&L is that we are not some twenty-something’s. We both have successful music careers. We are over 40 and kicking ass in a field that is dominated by young artists.
Singles vs Albums…
In this day and age, its all about singles and EP releases. Listeners have a limited attention span. Also if you release an album and it does not do well, you are out of the public eye until you record new material. Releasing singles gives you multiple times throughout the year to stay in the news. Stay out in front of your fans.
I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…
Lana: J.K. Rowling. She was poverty stricken and by using her imagination and talent she wrote the Harry Potter series which sold over 400 million copies and became a multi-millionaire after a matter of 5 years. Truly inspirational, you can do anything with your God given talent.
Anthony: John Lennon, enough said!
I’m most afraid of…
Lana: Failing, being laughed at.
Anthony: suffocating. I know weird right. That’s my fear and wetting my pants while in front of a large group of people!
I’m most proud of…
Lana: I am in my cover band that I created and have run the past 15 years. I manage, booked it, set up the equipment myself night after night. I have held it together through many personnel changes. As a vocalist (and the band) we have won top Buffalo Music awards for 10 years straight. To open up the competition, we were retired into the Buffalo Hall of Achievements.
Anthony: Wow, I try not to look back and only look forward. I wrote a book and am very proud of that because it talks about my successes and struggles in the music industry and life. I was very fortunate to have worked with some great people on some great projects that have been nominated for Grammy awards. My personal definition of success is happiness and being content. That is very hard to do in this day and age.
A&L Social media links.
Video: https://youtu.be/XP9Ge8d3nbA
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/buzzrecords-1/hot-mess
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AandLmusic
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AandLmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/AandLmusic/
Purchase https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hot-mess-single/id1055236838