STUCK MOJO Guitarist: 'I Feel Sorry For Those Who Never Experience The Passion For The Art'

France's Hard Rock magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist/songwriter Rich Ward of the Atlanta rap/metal pioneers STUCK MOJO. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Hard Rock: Around the mid-Nineties and beginning of 2000, crossover metal such as yours was quite big, STUCK MOJO anyway really contributed to inventing something there. But nowadays this kind of mix between rap and metal seems to be less popular, how do you feel the band can place itself today in the music scene? What kind of feedbacks do you have compared to the "old" days?

Rich Ward: In all honesty, I never question whether or not there is room for us in today's music scene. I'm not a marketing expert or a music industry insider, I'm a just guitar player and a proud member of the band I formed 18 years ago. I write and record albums that I would go to the store and purchase, and night after night, I set a high standard on what a live performer should look like. These are the only things I can control. The rest is up to the supporters, a little luck, good timing and the universe.

Hard Rock: A lot of lyrics seem to turn around newly discovered artists that are propelled on TV and radios, but also about normal people that get famous by entering into realty TV shows which seems to be what our modern society has hunger for. False bands that were made up by labels have always existed everywhere in the world, but do you think that nowadays this extensive need of popularity shows something about what's wrong in our societies? Do you think that this also is bad for true artists that are lost among crappy persons that are famous by doing only useless things?

Rich Ward: The only part of it that bothers me is that in today's culture, the pursuit of fame has become the goal. Not the pursuit becoming a good singer, song writer, musician, actor, actress, comedian, or whatever passion you have in life. When I was young and first started playing guitar, all I was focused on was practicing, with the goal of constantly improving as a player. Honestly, the idea of becoming famous never entered my mind. It could have been that I was being what my parents referred to as "realistic", or maybe it was because I was just not the daydreamer type. I just loved playing along to my favorite songs in my bedroom, and then later jamming with some friends from school. Even when STUCK MOJO first began playing in the local Atlanta clubs, we never actually thought we would become some big band. We did it for the love of making music. I feel sorry for those who never truly experience the passion for the art and the process of creating. Now it all seems to be about the immediate gratification and the pursuit of being important. Pretty depressing.

Hard Rock: Another theme that sticks out quite easily from the lyrics, is the fact that you seem to want to thank people that helped you all the time, that remained with the band no matter what. Is it aimed to your close circle, friends, families, collaborators, or also the fans that supported you throughout the years?

Rich Ward: Yes. The reason that albums/CDs used to be called records, is because they are a record of who that band was at that point in time. A real snapshot into how the band thought, and what they felt at that moment in time. We didn't sit down and consciously write an album full of songs that were a tribute to our friends, family, and supporters, it's just what organically occurred. It's an album about reflection and appreciation toward those who have been such an important part of our lives. I think this album reads like an open book into who STUCK MOJO is in 2008.

Hard Rock: Can you tell us more about the "Country Road" song. Is it a cover of the classic JOHN DENVER song? I must admit that I don't really know this traditional country song, but listening to it on the internet, the only strong similarity I could find between both songs would be the steel pedal guitar playing, since both the lyrics — except for a small part of the ending chorus — and the melodies have nothing to do with JOHN DENVER's song, at least not exactly. So, is it your own version of this song or has it nothing to do with it? Was it a song that just inspired you and from which you drew a few elements to write a very specific song? It really sounds different from the rest of the album, it even doesn't sound as if Lord Nelson was singing it. Is it Rich on the vocals?

Rich Ward: I took the chorus from the original JOHN DENVER song and built an entirely new song around it. I sing the first verse and Lord Nelson on the second verse. The idea for recording the song came from a request that my mother made over 10 years ago. On some level, I'm sure my mom was proud of me for teaching myself to play guitar and for sticking with it, but she never understood the music I chose to play. You know, in her mind NOISE! For the longest time she would ask me, "Could you just play a song I know?" I asked her what song she would like for me to play and she said, "How about 'Country Road' by JOHN DENVER?" I agreed to learn and play it for her the next time I came home for a visit. So for the next 7 or 8 years, every time I would come home, she would ask me if I had learned the song. After all these years, I finally realized that for my mom, it was more about living up to my word, my commitment, than it was about playing the song for her. Keeping your word means a lot to my mom and I'm glad that I can finally keep my promise and play her the song she loves so much. As for Lord's connection to the song, his mother died of cancer when he was young, so he wrote the second verse as a tribute to her.

STUCK MOJO performing in Osnabrück, Germany on October 25, 2008: