Warrant Is Coming 'Home' To The M3 Rock Festival

Written by John Guarnieri

This Monday, we had the honor to speak with Warrant guitarist, Joey Allen. I have heard rumblings that Mr. Allen was one of the most genuine rockers in the industry, and this interview only confirmed what everyone else has said about Joey. In our little talk, we discussed everything from their upcoming slot at the M3 Rock Festival, the success of their latest album, Rockoholic, how Jani Lane's death changed the band, and why Warrant wants to get involved with Fallen Blue.

Once again, Warrant will be tearing up the stage at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, MD on Saturday, May 12, 2012. The band has become a staple of the festival held at the Merriweather Post Pavillon, which lead to our discussion of how important it is to bring the rock & roll to the fans: "The M3 Rock Festival is always a blast for us, as we get to do what we love, which is put on one great show for our fans. We have been touring under our latest album release, Rockoholic, and we are also a year more mature as a band. Robert [Mason] has settled in perfectly, and we are proud to hit the stage again at this festival. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be 100% better than we were last year. Fans can expect to hear some songs off the new album, the hits, as well as songs we don't play live that much. Another added bonus is that we get to play earlier in the day, which allows us to really let loose...the later a band has to wait, the more of a chance there is for something to go wrong."

One of the songs off of Rockoholic that has been making waves is 'Home', a powerful ballad that just recently debuted on VH1 Classic. When I brought this up to Joey, we discussed how cazzy it is in this musical landscape to have a Warrant video played, when no one plays videos anymore! "We are really proud of 'Home', and to see the reaction from our fans has been great. We produced and filmed this video ourselves because we believed in this song; Robert did a wonderful job writing this song. For us, being on the road is one of our things we have to deal with, but nowhere as dangerous as the men and women who serve our country in the military, police enforcement, or fire departments. For them they are always in harms way, so when they are away from their families and friends, they can find their 'home' where ever they are and that us comforting." We continued to talk about police, which lead to why Fallen Blue was something that the band wanted to be involved in: "The whole idea behind Fallen Blue is great. People take police officers for granted all the time, which is a shame. People only want to point out when they get a ticket for speeding, but when they need ehlp, who do they call? It is one difficult job, that I am glad people are willing to do. Everyone in Warrant can't thank them enough for what they do."

Recently, the music word lost an incredible fontman, Jani Lane, who was the former singer of Warrant. I wanted to know how Jani's death affected the band, if it made them stronger, or changed them in anyway. Joey responded with this: "You know, the whole thing is a horrible situation. Jani fought so many demons, and its a shame that he is no longer with us, but his death should also be used as a learning tool, that no one can abuse their body like that and not have to deal with the ramifications down the road. As far as changing us, I am not so sure...we always strive to put on a great rock show, which is something we have done and will continue to do. Just this year, we hope to do 30-40 shows with Firehouse and Trixter, which would be the 21 year anniversary of the Cherry Pie tour."

Joey was a great man to speak with as he shared some great stories, and was incredibly passionate about still playing top-notch rock & roll. We are looking forward to building our relationship with Warrant, when they groove their way into Maryland for the M3 Rock Festival on May 11-12! See you there!

For more information: http://warrantrocks.com/