SOUTHLAND: Inspired Rock the US Marines Love!(read more)
By Thomas Giannini
November 26, 2013

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SOUTHLAND's blend of Southern chain saw intensity combined with an alt-rock, bone jarring, fierceness strikes a chord with it's listeners - and it's a forceful chord. The band combines honest partriotism with comendable melodies evocative of Skynard and Hatchet, but with an origniality that puts the listener into a new vibe. Check out "Fever" and "Sneak Attack" for a lesson in clobbering bass lines and balanced percussion. The US Marines like the music too, as you'll see below. Originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and still located in South Florida, founding member Rick Recchi tells us his story.
"I picked up a guitar kinda late. I was 23 and had just had major major knee surgery. I was home stuck on the couch with pins through my leg and a cast on it. My roommate had an old cheap acoustic guitar he never played, so I just took it everywhere, and this was the mid 80's - the MTV time - so out of sheer boredom, I picked up the guitar while watching MTV and tried to copy what I saw the guitarists on MTV were doing. It soon turned into an obsession, and I was playing 6 to 8 hours a day"
The band was formed by Recchi in the early 2000's. Recchi concentrated more on writing and recording originals and putting out quality original music rather than playing cover tunes locally. The band's first song "The Americans are Coming" was written after the 911 attacks, and is obviously not a "boo hoo crying song". Singer Alex Whalen came from London to record some vocals on the band's first CD. Recchi plays most instruments and Whalen handled the great job on the vocals. The other vocals were covered with a new singer because Alex couldn't stay in the US due to immigration issues.

"The Americans are Coming" rang true with the US military as well. After sending a CD overseas to the military, Recchi got a call from a Marine sergeant from Kajistan, Iraq informing him they loved the song so much they were making it the official fight song of the 4th Marine Division. The Marines wanted 20 more copies for other branches of the military. Later the US Army contacted Recchi about making a short video using the song which is now on YouTube. The remaining tunes on the CD were recorded in a friend's digital studio with singer Marcel Pilon on vocals. The final song "Better half of Me" features singer Curtis Lema.
Recchi's early influences on guitar were Tom Scholz and Ritchie Blackmore - his later influences were Rik Emmet of Triumph, Steve Morse and Joe Satriani. Recchi also plays keys. He writes on guitar by playingt 5 to 6 hours a day, hoping to be inspired. Recchi himself describes his music as "plain old rock." A SOUTHLAND fan told him she thought it was "meat and potatoes" rock, just the good stuff and none of the bad.
SOUTHLAND is going through some personnel changes at the moment, but as soon as the line-up is back in order, the band will again be playing around South Florida. (Recchi is looking for a drummer.)
A new CD is currently in the works.
Thomas