Getting to Know… Children Of Atom | Interview 🎤

In the 326^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, Michael Fenris answers our burning questions about his rock band, Children Of Atom.

“We want you to shake your hips and bang your head – in the same song if we can.” Killer, 🎙 Children of Atom 🤟! 🎙 Michael Fenris (vocals/guitar), who answers our burning questions for the band expounds,  “We’re basically a rock ‘n’ roll band, but we mix in a lot of other flavors, and we probably don’t have two songs that sound the same.” Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the rock band’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Children Of Atom: Interview No. 326!

For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Children Of Atom distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 Michael Fenris: We Just try to keep it groovy and heavy all at once. We want you to shake your hips and bang your head – in the same song if we can. We’re basically a rock ‘n’ roll band, but we mix in a lot of other flavors, and we probably don’t have two songs that sound the same.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Children Of Atom form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 MF: I (Michael Fenris – vocals/guitar) met our original drummer 🎙 Gabe in 2013 and we started jamming in our garage playing Megadeth covers and just kind of screwing around. We added bassist James and started writing songs and playing local shows. After our first album in 2016, Gabe left the band to focus on family. We had a couple guys fill in for a while, but nobody really stuck. 🎙 Josh (McClure – drums) joined the band a week before our first tour and saved our asses from having to cancel the whole thing. 🎙 Myles (Weaver – bass/vocals) started on guitar but moved over to bass when James quit the band during covid lockdown to go and “buy a boat.” 🎙 Shane (Birdsill – keys) joined as well when we realized we could force a guitarist to play keyboard. In the beginning we just wanted to make music, but the more we got the opportunity to share it with people, the more we wanted to quit our jobs and go on tour.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 MF: Well In the beginning we wanted a million bucks and a three-story tour bus. We thought we’d never have a chance to do things like record albums and play shows, so why not aim big? Now – I’d still take the million bucks, but I’ll settle for enough to keep the train a-rollin for now.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 MF: Definitely the obvious 70s rock: Sabbath, Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy. For me I basically learned guitar through Hendrix and Dave Mustaine. I learned to sing listening to the Doors. We’re into metal, funk, country, whatever, but our overall fuzz rock sound is pretty clearly influenced by bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Monster Magnet, Graveyard, and Clutch.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.  

🎤 MF: On our first tour we played this tiny little town in Washington built essentially around a cult compound. So, we’re playing like the only bar in this surreal little town, and the dude who owns the place is telling us all these stories about how the cult kept harassing him and leaving him messages and cassette tapes at night trying to, like, recruit him or scare him out of town or something. We were supposed to crash there for the night, and we ended up driving an hour to sleep in the van at the nearest Walmart.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 MF:  Probably our latest single, 🎵 “Bloodlust Boogie.” It’s been a fun song from the beginning, throughout the process of writing, recording, and adding it to our live sets. It always gets everybody moving and dancing.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 MF: I think it’s important you know that we are very awesome, cool, and left of center, and that our secret talents are our surprising tidbits. I dunno, we’re just dudes who play rock ‘n’ roll. No astrophysicists here or anything.

Closing out, what is Children Of Atom currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 MF: We just premiered a new video for 🎵 “Bloodlust Boogie” over at TheObelisk.Net, you can check it out there or over on our YouTube channel. The single is streaming in Spotify and everywhere else, and you can pick up our music and some merch over at our Bandcamp page.

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

🎤 MF: We appreciate you having us, thanks.

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Getting to Know… Children Of Atom: Interview No. 326 [📷: Brent Faulkner, Children Of Atom, Darkmoon_Art, luis2500gx, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, OpenClipart-Vectors]