Amherst Drive, which formed in Los Angeles in 2017, is the brainchild of experimental multi-instrumentalist Derek Kortepeter. Kortepeter uses his lifelong influence of growing up with Southern California’s punk music scene to create a sound that is unique and also true to his roots. Both new songs were produced, arranged and written by Derek, as well as the instruments and vocals.
Check out their latest singles Breakdown and Better Way below!
So how has the release of Breakdown and Better Way gone down so far?
Better than I could have ever hoped. Starting Amherst Drive, which moved me away from performing experimental music under my name “Derek Kortepeter,” was an aggressive attempt to make a creative U-turn in my music career. I had a very niche audience and was burned out with the lack of attention my music at the time was getting.
So with Amherst Drive, I was getting back to my punk roots and people have shown incredible enthusiasm for this direction. I really am stoked at how many people connect with the two singles. It is an amazing feeling.
Can you tell us anything no one know about the two releases?
Breakdown was formed with just a bass line initially. It was the first stages of any songwriting for the debut releases, and I just kept noodling on my bass until I got a bunch of lines I liked. I proceeded to build the entire song around it.
As for Better Way, that song was probably the easiest time I’ve ever had writing a song. It was fully recorded, mixed, and mastered over a weekend in my free time. I actually did the end guitar solo in one take. That’s all it took for me to get the right feeling. When you know you know.
Will there be an EP/album released this year?
Yes! I have actually started working on a 4 track EP that is, hopefully, going to be released in the fall of 2017. So about three months if it all goes according to plan. I’m in the early stages at the moment, but I’ve got some really rad drum tracks from recording sessions that happened recently.
If you could work with any band on a new song who would it be and why?
Oh man, just one band? Haha, if I really think about it I would probably choose Catherine Wheel. They aren’t together anymore, but that band was so different from anything on the radio at that time in the 90s. They never fit in a genre, some called them shoegaze and others called them alt-rock, but really Rob Dickinson’s songwriting and vocals along with the band’s musicianship put them beyond simple categories.
Taking the punk edge of Amherst Drive, along with my experimental past, and melding it with the massive force of creativity that created songs like Kill Rhythm, Heal, and Black Metallic would be a dream. They’d have to get back together first! So Rob, if you are reading this, call me up and reunite the band dude! Your Porsche restoration business can take a break! haha
What’s the alternative rock scene like in California?
It’s very strong. There is so much musical diversity in this state that, especially in Los Angeles where I was born and raised, you see a lot of amazing alt-rock bands. The creative spirit that led to so many musical movements being born here has not died out. They are at clubs in all corners of the region, and it is pretty awesome.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not writing music?
Well I actually work as a cybersecurity journalist, so music is more or less what I do in my free time. I haven’t been lucky enough yet to make music a full-time gig, but I gotta believe that will happen soon.
But I do have hobbies, especially in hand-to-hand combat training. I was a Taekwondo practitioner for many years, starting as a kid, but in my 20s I switched over to the Ip Man tradition of Wing Chun Kung Fu.
I’m very passionate about that as well as Wing Chun’s counterpart in some ways; a moving meditation practice called Qigong. It helps me center myself, as does my practice of Zazen which stems from my practice in the Soto Zen school of Buddhism.
I’m also a boxer, and I’m actually training to get into the amateur fighting circuit sometime next year. Hopefully I don’t bust my hands up at any point, that’d be bad for my guitar playing! Haha.
Besides that I’ve always been a huge geek and have played video games since I was just a lad. If I could write music for video games at some point that’d be so cool. I can just see it now, “The Witcher 4, soundtrack by Derek Kortepeter.”
Will there be a tour at all this year?
I’m not certain. You have to understand that Amherst Drive is a solo project in the most literal sense. I do all vocals, instruments, and production. I’ve said this in other interviews but I look at it like a punk version of early Nine Inch Nails since Trent Reznor did pretty much everything on his own for albums like Pretty Hate Machine. Obviously I want to play live, so I will be on the lookout for musicians to join up with and hit the clubs when the time feels right. I was educated at the UCLA School of Ethnomusicology with an emphasis in composition, so maybe some of my old friends from there will want to jam.
How about it guys? ☺
Would you ever consider touring in Europe and the UK?
Absolutely 100 percent yes. I love Europe and the UK, especially because I am very connected to my ancestral roots. My mom is Welsh, Cherokee, and Irish and from my paternal side I get Dutch and German influence (my last name means “Short Peter” in Dutch, funny considering I’m fairly tall). Getting to go back to where a lot of my roots are and playing music as a sort of homecoming (totally accidental U2 reference there) would just be a dream.
I have toyed around with the idea of moving to Wales at some point, I speak Welsh and of all my ancestral ethnicities I have the strongest bond with that part of me. It’d be like an extended artist residence, playing punk rock all over, from Cardiff to Swansea and beyond. But anywhere in Europe would be badass. I love that continent and have had many musical connections and friendships over the years stem from there.