When it comes to Tim Montana, there are no gimmicks, just natural, full circle moments that evolve the art at large.
There is no urgency to what Tim Montana does, just an intimacy in both the tales told and the musicality that backs them. The country rocker has been vulnerable from the start, but the songs he has begun to make in recent years were so raw in the creation that they had to branch out. Montana’s history, livelihood, and reflection is based in the growth that occurred. People see that. Fans see that. We see that. The icons, legends, and heroes he maintains healthy, musical relationships with see that. Therefore, it was only fair that the sound of the music grew with him.
That it did, too. With Savage, the new hard rock-centric LP out today, Tim Montana has found a way to expand his horizons while somehow simultaneously tap into his inner child, his rockstar truth, and the formative years of his artistic life… of which continue to come back around in present day.
I’m a bit curious about what came first for you: Savage, the album title, or “Savage,” the title track turned single release.
The song was written before we knew what the album would be called. It might’ve even been written before we knew we were doing an album! I wrote that with Nathan Barlow, who is from the rock band Luna Halo, and also plays with Keith Urban as his lead guitarist. He’s all tatted up, which is rare in Nashville – seeing a rocker dude like that. We also wrote it with my producer Michael Wilshire. We just knew there was something special about that song, and if we got the approval to do a full-length rock record that we would put that on there. Then as we started compiling the songs, that one just stuck out, and then we did the photo shoot in the middle of wintertime in Montana and we kept saying, “Boy, this is savage.” Everything was savage because we were about to freeze to death [Laughs]. It just kind of followed the theme, like, “Wow – the photo and the imagery of me when doing my first full-length hard rock project really shows that song sticking out, so this album has to be called Savage.” It was like a no-brainer – I had to use that title.
Very cool – literally and, and figuratively! How do you go about picking what songs become singles over others that just have their own life on the record? Two of my favorite songs at this moment – because it has changed – are “Die Today” and “Lovely.” I’d like the record to also show that my first favorite song on my first Listen was “Ain’t Coming Down.” When you have favorites, though, and you have to decide what goes out to the fans before everything else, what’s the process – if any?
It’s interesting; I kind of pick my favorites (and you just named three of them) that I think could be singles, but I kind of lean on our radio guy, Nick Attaway. He lives, eats, and breathes that, so I said, “Here’s my picks!”
You know, I’m good at writing and creating music, but I’m not a guy that listens to a ton of radio. I have to ask, “What are your thoughts?” I believe he said that he woke up from a dream singing “Savage,” then he decided on that one. He’s like, “Shoot! I want that to be the radio single! I woke up from a dream one night and ‘Savage’ was just playing in my brain. Let’s do it!” I was like, “Awesome, that was on my top list!” I don’t usually get picky with that stuff. I’m like, “Alright, here are my faves. You guys are smarter than me about this stuff. You tell me what you love ’cause I wouldn’t have put it on the record if I didn’t love it, too.”
You mentioned that “Savage” was kind of done and created and in your repertoire before actually getting the go-ahead for the record. Does that mean it was the first song ready for this album? Was that the track that kicked off this project?
“Devil You Know” was definitely the first one – that was gonna go out on a four or five song EP that had a mix of hard rock and country rock on it. It was edgy, but when I turned that song in, everybody was like, “Whoa, this is a really cool sound,” and they went to radio with it. It became an iHeart ‘On the Verge’ track and got played on every station in America and ended up going Top 5 on Billboard. We’re all like, “Let’s chase it, like whatever it is.” So, we went back to the drawing board and just followed that kind of writing style and production style to write the rest of the stuff, which is kind of a throwback to the nineties and 2000s stuff that I grew up listening to, but with my own spin on it. “Devil You Know” was first, until we just started writing like crazy because of it, and then it was a pretty fast writing process. After years of writing in the country music space, I had learned that you gotta follow all these rules and restrictions of what works at radio, what you can and can’t say, but with rock… it’s whatever. I really felt like I got to have this freedom I haven’t had in years to write songs that I wanted and have a lot of guitars and guitar riffs. The rest of the songs just kind of fell in after “Devil You Know.”
Tim, that’s amazing, and I’m glad you used the word ‘freedom.’ That’s the operative word here, and in my notes on the album, I wrote about how it feels inspired by grunge, but motivated by self-assured freedom and the influence of the modern rockers of today, however, that was without going over the heads of the more classic rockers, too. I can hear that little bit of Creedence [Clearwater Revival] in your music as much as I can hear the Foo Fighters and Aerosmith. The rootsy Americana stylings a lot of people know you for are definitely there, but there are classic rock tendencies that are vibrant. The balance you create between the gritty, fuzzy nuances that rock and roll have with more sleek riffs and memorable melodies of more country music… you strike that balance well. Freedom is definitely your key, your ace in the hole.
Thank you, thank you! You kind of hit the nail on the head. As you were speaking, I was like, “Wow, you, you know more about this record than I do,” [Laughs]. Yeah, you’re right – CCR is the easy one to note, and grunge. I had an interesting moment on the Staind tour backstage in Milwaukee: this guy who came out was a bass player from the town in Montana where I grew up. He is probably 10 years older than me and part of a different generation of bands and he worked at this record store called On Q. It was the only record store in Butte, Montana. I would go in there and just harass those guys – asking them questions about their band and the bands that were cool and this and that, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I’m up there with Staind and I got him backstage passes to come back. He took me aside and was like, “Dude, hearing you play these songs? That’s the 14-year-old kid that came into the record store and bugged the hell out of us all the time. That’s the kid I know,” [Laughs]. He is like, “I’m so glad you found this, because you came in there with a Nirvana shirt on to buy ZZ Top albums.” You know, I did the country thing for a while, but was always too loud and aggressive – again, I didn’t have that creative freedom to fully be me in that space. It was cool hearing from a guy that has seen me since I was a child, coming full circle and seeing this show backstage with Stained, just being like, “That is the kid I know.”
I think that furthers just how much being proud and present in your music affects how it comes across, and on this one, the lyrics are really going to resonate. I love it, and I love that story.
Thank you.
I was thrilled to see you on that bill with Staind and Seether, by the way. Same with the announcement I saw today about touring with Myles Kennedy. We love all of them!
And touring with Jerry Cantrell and Candlebox starts this month! Oh my God. I’m like, “Did someone steal the CD I ripped when I was 14?” [Laughs] It’s like I was intentionally put on tour with everybody that I would make my mixed CDs on and with [Laughs].
Even more full circle! Those are some powerhouses and some legends, but you can hold your own without a doubt. Actually, Tim, having been on the road with these amazing artists that you’re a fan of, but also having been an independent act for so long, you have crafted such an earnest, evident respect for musicians. Fans from all eras of your career can see your respect for all facets of the industry and so many artists of different calibers. I saw a photo of you with one of our mutual friends, Matt Pinfield from MTV, who is just a true rock connoisseur, and also alongside Dave Grohl. He’s the best and known as one of the nicest guys in rock for a reason. Having these people that you’ve befriended and collaborated with and toured with, how do you cultivate that community and that camaraderie, whether it’s in the roots rock or hard rock or country rock worlds?
Yeah, it’s weird. I can’t really explain how I met some of these people. Bumping into Dave Grohl was just happenstance and one of the greatest moments of my life. We became buddies and he took me under his wing. God, I remember within a month of knowing him, I’m on his private jet with the Foo Fighters. I’m just like, “How am I sitting here right now with Taylor [Hawkins] and Dave and Chris [Shiflett] and Pat [Smear] and the whole band?” I was on their airplane and they’re just like, “Come to shows with us!” So it’s been a weird journey, and I feel that in a lot of ways, you know, it’s happened for a reason; whether you believe that’s divine intervention or whatever, in a lot of ways I feel like I’ve done my career backwards. Aren’t you supposed to meet all your heroes after you hit the big time [Laughs]? I’ve got very few left to meet and one of them is Jerry Cantrell, who I get to meet on July 26.
It’s been pretty wild, but there’s something there, and I don’t know if they see something in me that reminds me of them or whatever it is, but the night I met Dave Grohl, he sent me a text saying something about me being a ‘real one.’ I could probably find the text right now! There was some time with Dave where he just took me down the river and said, “Tell me your life story.” We walked the river in Memphis and I told him my whole life story from a single-wide trailer to all the Nirvana posters in my room. He just loved it. We hit it off and remained buddies.
I feel like that happens to me a lot with some of my heroes… like Billy Gibbons. I think I attract people of similar personalities, because it was the same thing with Billy. Why are Billy and I so close? I don’t know. He is my hero and I love the guy. He just got put in my path and we just hit it off.
That is beyond thrilling. The fact that your heroes gravitate to you (and vice versa)? The fact that they see some of themselves in you and they want to watch you evolve? They want to mentor you and champion you? That’s all on you and your music and your personable, ethical approach to such. Congrats, Tim. I think these magical instances with your heroes will continue once this record is officially out in the world and you come into your own on the rock side of the industry.
I seem to have always attracted rock stars. Even when I was shooting for the country thing, it was always an edgy country. It was funny – someone was like, “Who is on your closest buddy list?” I’m like, “Billy Gibbons, Dave Grohl, and Kid Rock are up there.” I’m naming off these people and they ask, “What kind of music do those people make?” I’m like, “Rock and roll,” and they’re like, “Do you see a strange connection there?” [Laughs] It was kind of like the universe was telling me that this was the road to go down. It’s not that I don’t have buddies in the country space, because I do, but when the giant, iconic rock stars are those that I consider close friends and are the ones that come to the forefront first and like my show or like my personality… Yeah, I think it truly was the universe talking to me and saying, “Tim! Go make a rock record! If you build it, they will come!”
SAVAGE, THE BRAND NEW RECORD FROM TIM MONTANA, IS OUT TODAY WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC!
