Today I spoke with Mark Nawara, a founding member of The Outfit about the formation of the band and the new album:
- Could you talk us through how the band got together?
“I’ve been playing in various bands with my brother Matt for years now, and we wanted to create something that was in your face, and no frills rock and roll. And from there I recruited a legend in the Chicago music scene, our bassist Mike. We recorded Just As One, I think it was in a studio, and it sounded great. The only thing we needed then was a singer, who was in your face and followed the attitude of what we were going for. That’s when Andy Mitchell came to mind, I’d done some stuff with him in Arizona, so I sent him an email asked him if he’d sing on the song, he said yes, I sent it to him and he recorded it, then he sent it back and it sounded amazing. We then sent it to four people in the industry to get a feel of whether we were on the right track and the response was really positive. As for our name, well we’re from Chicago, and it’s famous for being the home of Al Capone, and we’re all a bit gritty so we called ourselves The Outfit, and it just sort of stuck. We were writing the songs and sending them to one another back and forth, Andy recorded his stuff via pro tools in Arizona, and then we put them together. Everyone’s been really positive about the record so far.”
- What inspired the music and the writing of the songs?
“We all brought something to the table. Right from the off we agreed that we were going to play in our individual styles to convey what we were about. We weren’t going to try and copy anyone. I followed a straight ahead rock approach, no frills, kind of like Cheap Trick in a manner of speaking. As for the lyrics they’re very much about life issues. The listener can interpret it however they want, but the core theme is life and whatever happens in it.”
- What plans have you got for the future?
“We’re currently putting the live show together, and preparing to go out on tour with Soil for a few dates. We’re looking to play in the States and hopefully come over to Europe. We’ve also just given the first single Soldier Boy to radio stations and the response has been good.”