Interviews: Cÿanide
The Cÿanide sound is basically a marriage of the styles of Mötley Crüe, KISS, RATT, Van Halen, and Def Leppard with the heavier influences of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Anthrax, and Slayer. There’s a little bit of all of that in our sound.
The band was initially created at a time when Mötley Crüe had announced that they weren’t going to be making any more new music, back in 2008. I did not take that news well! Ha ha.
At that point, we were making our first album, Lethal Dose, and I decided I was making that record for all the Mötley Crüe fans who wished they were going to continue making albums. That’s really how the first album came to be.
Later on, when I was creating the new album on my own after our original guitar player, who had been my songwriting partner, left the band, I decided I wanted to incorporate all of my influences into Cÿanide. That included Metallica, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, along with Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, RATT, Van Halen, Def Leppard, and bands of that nature.
I had always wondered what the Mötley Crüe John Corabi album would have sounded like if Vince Neil had been singing on it. So when I started writing 21 Gun Salute, that was kind of my angle. I wanted to create a musical journey that encompassed all of the glam and all of the metal that I had loved throughout my life.
2. What inspired the title “21 Gun Salute,” and what does that phrase represent for the band?
Our original guitar player, Marc Mersol, was the one who initially brought in “21 Gun Salute.” At that point, it was actually called “21 Gun Saloon.” It was a fun little drinking song, but we already had a couple of those. When I heard it, though, I instantly heard “21 Gun Salute.”
This was back in 2016, and I was looking for something—anything—that might unite us.
At that time, I really just wanted to write a heartfelt tribute to our troops, who have done so much to protect our freedom. That was the entire idea of the song. I wanted to pay tribute and show respect to our troops.
At the same time, I’ve always liked to tell our audience, “We salute you!” We salute you for supporting this music, for supporting this band, and for supporting heavy metal in general.
So it’s really a dual tribute—to our troops and to the fans of heavy metal music.
3. Your music carries the spirit of classic Sunset Strip hard rock while incorporating metal influences. What drew you to that combination of styles?
I fell in love with KISS at the age of six. From that moment on, that band dominated my entire life and existence.
Then 1983 rolled around. Shout at the Devil came out, and I became fascinated with Mötley Crüe. That same year, Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind came out, and I became fascinated with Iron Maiden as well.
Of course, Van Halen, Judas Priest, and Def Leppard were already there, and then there was Metallica, RATT, Guns N’ Roses, and so many more.
Back in eighth and ninth grade, most of the kids at my school either liked bands like RATT and Stryper, or they liked Metallica and Slayer. I was the weird kid at school who loved all of it. I could walk into a record store and buy the new RATT album and the new Slayer album at the same time.
I did not give a fuck!
Even back then, I wanted to have a band where all of those influences could be represented, but that really wasn’t possible at the time. Once I started working on 21 Gun Salute, there were no rules. I could do whatever the hell I wanted, so I decided I was going to bring all of my influences into the picture.
4. How does “21 Gun Salute” compare to your previous album “Lethal Dose,” and how do you feel the band has evolved?
Lethal Dose is a complete, 100% Sunset Strip party album from front to back. There’s no real metal to speak of on that album, and that was something that bothered me after it came out.
We ended up opening some shows for Grim Reaper and Doro Pesch, and once we got in front of those audiences, I realized we didn’t have any real metal for them.
So we started covering “Freewheel Burning” and “Jawbreaker” by Judas Priest, and those songs worked really well for us.
When I got around to writing the new album, I knew it was almost required that we have some songs like that in our arsenal. That’s really how the heavier side of 21 Gun Salute came to be.
5. The album channels influences like Mötley Crüe, KISS, and Metallica. What elements from those legendary bands inspire Cÿanide’s approach to songwriting?
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, and Nikki Sixx—those are just some of the songwriters who inspired me. I’ve always been fascinated with the classic periods of those bands, and those are the songwriting influences I bring to the table.
None of those albums have ever left my playlist.
I always admired the way Lars would arrange a song that James had brought the riffs in for. I also always dug hearing what one of Nikki Sixx’s demos would turn into after Bob Rock got a hold of it.
That whole process of taking the initial idea for a song and turning it into something bigger has always fascinated me.
6. How do you balance the attitude and swagger of classic hard rock with the heavier edge of modern metal?
Simply put, I don’t. I love a lot of the new music that’s out there, but I have no desire to create music like that. The only music I’m interested in creating is the music I grew up listening to and falling in love with.
When I write a song or an album, I’m writing it for my 15-year-old self. I’m always hoping to create something that little 15-year-old dude would freak out over and ride his bike to the record store the next day to buy the album. That’s really the standard I hold myself to.
7. Can you walk us through the songwriting process for “21 Gun Salute”? How did these songs come together?
Every one of them is different.
“Fireball,” for example, I knew I wanted to write something fast and heavy that could open the album and the show. I was looking at Judas Priest’s “Freewheel Burning” and “Rapid Fire” for inspiration. The Rob Halford influences just came shining through on that one.
“Sweet Little Trash” is a completely different story.
I was asleep in the midst of a dream, and I was listening to the radio in the dream. The DJ said the words, “Here is the new single from RATT.” The song started playing, and it was so good it woke me up.
Normally when that happens, you don’t remember what you were dreaming about. But in this case, I remembered all of it.
I rushed into the studio and got as much of it down as I could so I wouldn’t forget. That song was pretty much finished in a dream.
Other songs like “Slip N Slide” and “Get Up and Dance” were tunes I started working on when I was a drummer as a teenager, and my songwriting contributions weren’t necessarily welcomed at that time! Ha ha.
There was one exception, though. Around 1990, I was in a band called Crocodile Smile, and we actually did play those songs. So I definitely want to acknowledge my bandmates from that period—John Foley, Adam Taylor, and Dave Suzuki. Those guys were part of the early history of these songs long before they eventually found their way onto 21 Gun Salute.
The ideas lay around for years after that, and I had pretty much forgotten about them. When it came time to write this new album, I went back to those ideas, and that’s how those songs finally found their way onto a Cÿanide record.
Then you’ve got stuff like “Social Media Disease” and “As the World Burns.” Those songs were like pulling teeth because I knew I wanted to make something heavy, but I really didn’t have any lyrics or riffs.
I just kind of sat there in the studio and conjured them out of thin air.
I don’t use any AI whatsoever when it comes to writing my songs, recording my songs, or anything at all like that.
8. Rob Hussey’s vocals bring a powerful presence to the band. How important is the vocal performance in creating the larger-than-life sound of Cÿanide?
I think you would have to ask each individual person their feelings on that. For me, it’s very important because I really love wearing my influences on my sleeve.
In my vocals, you’ll hear influences from every singer I grew up admiring—Vince Neil, Steven Tyler, Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield, Michael Sweet, Joey Belladonna, Joe Elliott, David Lee Roth, Stephen Pearcy from RATT, Sebastian Bach from Skid Row, Klaus Meine from Scorpions, Steve Whiteman from Kix, Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and of course, the four KISS voices that I could never get enough of.
I’ve never been shy about paying homage to my heroes. So for me, the vocal performance is extremely important to the sound of Cÿanide.
9. What was the recording process like with Ty Sims producing, Rob Hussey co-producing, and Jason Constantine engineering the album?
Jason Constantine was actually the original producer of the album. We worked really hard and were very close to finishing the record. It was just him and me in the studio.
I had special guest guitar players coming in, but I played all the drums, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar. Later on, I had really cool cats like Jeff Duncan from Armored Saint and Oz Fox from Stryper come in to lay down solos.
We were about three songs away from being finished when Jason quit the project quite suddenly.
I’ll never be able to understand why, but that is what happened. There were actually a few moments where I didn’t think he was even going to give me my sessions, but he did end up doing that. He did the right thing in the end, even though the way everything happened was pretty shitty.
At that moment, I was very distraught.
My good friend Mike Floros from the band SteelCity recommended a cat named Ty Sims to me. He put me in touch with Ty, and we had a great conversation.
One of the first questions Ty asked me was, “What would you like your album to sound like?”
I immediately told him I wanted it to sound like an authentic Bob Rock production. I have always admired Bob Rock’s production—his drum sound, his guitar tones, and the overall fatness of his recordings.
Ty simply said, “No problem. I’ve got you.”
From that moment on, we had to go through the sessions and unravel the maze we had been given.
There was a lot of stuff missing and a lot of stuff that was unusable, including the drum tracks. I ended up having to redo the entire album’s drum tracks because the existing tracks weren’t usable.
It took us an entire year from that point to put everything back together and mix the thing.
When it was finally done, Ty Sims had delivered exactly what he said he would.
I had the best time working with Ty. When I was working with Jason, he really fought me on my obsession with the Bob Rock production style. He wasn’t a fan of it and didn’t support that direction, so we butted heads quite a bit about that.
Ty had no problem with it, and I think he made a fantastic-sounding record.
I would go ahead and say Ty Sims is my favorite record producer.
10. The album has already surpassed 200,000 Spotify streams. What does that kind of response mean to the band?
You have to take it with a grain of salt. I know we have quite a few superfans out there who are constantly streaming our music, and I appreciate the hell out of that.
It does skew the numbers, though! Ha ha.
I’m just honored that anybody likes our music enough to play it that much.
It really does mean a lot, and I appreciate each and every single stream anyone out there gives us. I know the pay itself isn’t great, but it really does add up when the numbers are like that, and it definitely helps pay for expenses.
You certainly aren’t going to make any money off of it, though.
I’m fine with that. I don’t do this for money.
I also have to give a huge thank you to 97.1 The Underground in Baltimore, Maryland, and KNAC.COM Radio out of California for adding Cÿanide’s music to their heavy-rotation playlists.
Having our music actually played on radio alongside the bands we grew up listening to is something I will never take for granted. Their support of Cÿanide and this album means a great deal to us.
11. Rock and metal have always been built around unforgettable live experiences. What can fans expect from a Cÿanide live performance?
Well, I go back to the old-school Mötley Crüe way of thinking. I want to put on an arena rock show in a rock club.
I haven’t graduated to the giant showroom yet, but I still make sure I put on a show no matter how small the stage or venue is.
You can always expect to hear a ton of our original music and a few choice covers by all of my heroes. I’ve even managed to sneak a few Beatles songs into the setlist recently.
You can expect high energy, attention to detail, and people who really care about how good they sound.
I take every precaution necessary leading up to a show to make sure I can give the best performance possible. I never drink before a show. I do all the things I’m supposed to do so that I can sing as well as I possibly can, because I know the consequences out there can be ruthless! Ha ha.
12. What do you think makes classic hard rock continue to connect with listeners decades after its golden era?
Very simple: the songs are fucking amazing.
This is the soundtrack to our lives. These songs have lived on for 40 and 50 years after they came out.
I have to laugh when people say this music was as popular as it was because of the hair.
This music has stood the test of time because the songwriting is undeniable.
13. Are there any songs on “21 Gun Salute” that hold special meaning or stand out as favorites for the band?
For me personally, all 12 songs on this album are deeply embedded in my heart and soul. I became extremely attached to all 12 of these songs while I was recording them.
“Rock ’N’ Roll Army” is incredibly special to me. It was the first song I ever wrote with my dear friend Danny Goldstein, who passed away in 2021. That song is actually what caused Danny and me to become friends back in 1986. We formed our first band together, Damage, and “Rock ’N’ Roll Army” was the first song we ever wrote together.
Before Danny passed away, we had been talking about finally recording the song together, but unfortunately, we never got the chance. Before I knew it, he was gone.
The next day, I went into the studio and recorded “Rock ’N’ Roll Army.” It ultimately ended up making it onto 21 Gun Salute, so having that song on this album means an incredible amount to me. It represents where my journey as a songwriter really began, and more importantly, it will always represent my friendship with Danny.
This album also carried me through some very difficult periods in my life. I went through a very painful divorce in 2022 while I was recording it, so there are a lot of emotions from that period of my life tied into this record.
“Back to Fuck Off” is meaningful because I went through a really hard period during the recording of this album where an employer was being very abusive. When you’re in that type of situation, you can’t really do anything about it but try to endure it.
During that time, I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to make it through that situation. There were many very dark days during that period where I really just didn’t have the will to live anymore.
I’m certainly glad I was able to find that again and leave all of that in the past.
Being able to express my feelings toward those people through a song, without doing any damage, was very gratifying. Then you’ve got a ballad like “Never Let Me Go.”
I had the music finished for four months, and I could not for the life of me come up with a melody. When I finally did come up with one, it reminded me of something.
later realized that melody was from the Climax Blues Band song “I Love You.” Once I rediscovered that song because of this, I ended up putting it on the record, and soon after that, the melody for my ballad finally came.
It was a pretty special experience.
"Social Media Disease” is also quite meaningful to me simply because of how much abuse I see online. It’s really gotten out of hand, the way these trolls try to torture people on social media.
I thought it was time somebody stood up and said something about it, and that’s what “Social Media Disease” is about—the idiots who have nothing better to do all day than sit around and fuck with people on the Internet.
Guess what this album means to me personally is that even when you think your life is completely done and there’s nothing left you can do about it, you can rise from that and become something better than you ever were before.
It’s really what 21 Gun Salute represents to me.
14. What has been the biggest highlight of the journey from “Lethal Dose” to “21 Gun Salute”?
When Marc, my songwriting partner and the original guitar player, left the band, I really didn’t believe that I could carry this on by myself.
I had never really written alone, and I wasn’t convinced that was something I could do. I'm never one to back down from a challenge, so I revised my entire existence to become a person who could do this.
I sold all my gear, built a brand-new studio, and set out on the course. At one point, when I had three songs, the mission seemed impossible. Soon after that, I had five songs. Then I had seven. Then I had nine. And eventually, I had an entire album.
So for me, the biggest highlight of the journey was proving to myself that I could, in fact, write and perform an entire album on my own. That was very gratifying, and it built a confidence within me as far as songwriting goes that will serve me well throughout the rest of my career.
15. What are the band’s goals moving forward? More touring, new music, or taking Cÿanide to an even bigger stage?
My current goal right now is to beat cancer. That is number one, first and foremost. I was diagnosed back in May, and my battle continues right now. I decided that I was not going to let this stop me from performing or continuing to write the next Cÿanide album. So instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I went right into the studio and started writing the new album. I didn’t cancel any shows. I’ve been active the whole time, and I believe that is why I am kicking this thing’s ass. So the short-term goal is to kick cancer’s ass. The long-term goal is to have this new Cÿanide album out sooner rather than later. And then from there, we build this thing into the monster that it deserves to become.
16. What message do you hope listeners take away after hearing “21 Gun Salute”?
Don’t ever let anybody stand in your way. Don’t ever let anybody fuck with you. And don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do something.
17. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Breathing The Core Zine?
I would just like to thank anybody out there who has taken the time to listen to this music that I’ve created. It means more to me than just about anything in the world. I put everything I have into this, and the fact that people actually like it means everything to me, so I just want to say thank you to everyone.
I would also like to thank my band members, LaHi Cassiano, Greg Montoya, and Ryan Gillan, for taking this journey with me. I also have to acknowledge the tribute bands that I perform with here in Las Vegas. Red Höt, our Mötley Crüe experience, Flight 666, our Iron Maiden experience, and Play Dirty, our Poison experience, have all played a huge role in making it possible for me to continue creating and performing original music with Cÿanide.
Las Vegas has an incredible tribute scene, and those bands have given me the opportunity to spend a tremendous amount of time performing the music of the artists who inspired me in the first place. We also often book Cÿanide as the opening act for our tribute bands, which gives us another opportunity to get our original music in front of audiences who already love this style of music.
In a lot of ways, everything feeds into everything else. Those bands keep me performing, keep me singing, and help make it possible for Cÿanide to continue doing what we do.
I also want to express my deep, heartfelt thanks to Oz Fox, Jeff Duncan, Keith Robert, John Zito, Jeremy Varao, and Erik Johnson for their lead guitar contributions to this album. They really helped me take this thing to the highest level it could go, and I could never thank them enough. And I always have to thank Ty Sims for making this album sound like I spent millions of dollars on it. Thank you, Ty Sims!
I also want to let you know that I am three songs deep into the writing and recording of the next Cÿanide album, and it will be out much quicker than this one was! Ha ha.
Please don’t forget to check out all of our music and social links at cyaniderocks.com. Follow us on Spotify and Apple Music—every stream and every follow counts. And please check out all of our latest music videos on our official YouTube channel, @CyanideLV.
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