I recently
caught up with Secret Society at the 21st Amendment Bar & Grill (Holiday
Inn) in Washington, DC; where you can attend their live performances on
Wednesdays 6 PM - 9 PM. After sitting
down for a one on one with the band's leader Bryan Mills; I now know why they
are one of the hottest bands in the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, &
Virginia). Having an all star lineup of talented artists/musicians doesn't hurt
either. They played renditions of old skool jams such as Black Sheep's
The Choice is Yours, The Show by Doug E Fresh (who
happened to be in the house), and who can forget Whodini's Freaks Come
Out at Night. Check out the interview below and find out more about
Secret Society!!!
The WIRE 4 Artists: How and when was Secret Society formed?
Bryan Mills:
How and when?
The WIRE 4 Artists:
Yes
Bryan Mills:
Okay, well when first that’s the easier one… that was back in 2008….
I’ll say 2008 is when we had our official first performance. How is an even
better question. I had my own group before this, it was called Soul
Sponge…..don’t laugh at the name. It was a similar project however, we got
caught up in the realm of doing all cover songs and playing other people’s
music, then we started doing Go Go. We had Little Benny perform with us on a
lot of our shows people just kind of got accustomed to that. Where as I felt if
we didn’t do a show without certain people it wouldn’t have the same effect.
Basically the band and the music got away from me from what I wanted to do so I
shut it down. The drummer and I, who is Dewayne Thomas we kind of stuck
together and said we’re going to something again but under different pretenses.
We carefully selected the group individually by the members not necessarily by the
talent level, but it’s a lot more to it than just how well you play. Any musician
can tell you, any band can tell you that professionalism carries as much weight
as talent. What I mean by professionalism is….Are you on time? Are you
trustworthy? Do you have good work ethics? Are you going to learn the music?
Those kinds of things that people sometimes surpass, they don’t think about. So it took a while….…it took a few months to get the band
together and get everyone in line and on board to what we were doing but it’s
been a blessing. Everyone is not only talented but professional and we all get
along and we all understand the common goal of the band. Everyone is on the
same page. I don’t want to say it’s rare but it’s not common.
The WIRE 4 Artists: Who are the members that
make up the band?
Bryan Mills:
The core members of Secret
Society, my name is Bryan Mills, I play saxophone. Mike Madison who is our
vocalist, David Dyson, bass player, Robbie McDonald, guitar, Patrick Cooper,
keyboards, and Dewayne Thomas on drums.
The WIRE 4 Artists:
Who are your greatest influences?
Bryan Mills: My
favorite artist of all time is not a saxophone player at all....is Stevie
Wonder. Stevie Wonder to me encompasses so much you know….talent, the instrumentalism
that he posses, his songwriting abilities, his voice quality of course. He just
has so much depth. His music is ever transforming…...you can listen to ten
Stevie Wonder albums and each one is different…which I like. Without a doubt
Stevie Wonder is probably the greatest influence. As far as being a saxophone
player John Coltrane…. the list goes on it’s so many. Contemporarily, newer….Kirk Whalum without a
doubt. I think his sound is awesome. I totally love his playing. If I could
play like him….wow…you know…. I’d be finished.
The WIRE 4 Artists: How has your music evolved
since you first began playing together?
Bryan Mills: It’s evolved greatly. When
we first started playing we kind of did a format where we’d play one
song…..stop….play another song stop, song stop, song stop. Now, we’re
incorporating a lot of arrangements into our music where we would play as a DJ
would play, kind of fusing songs together. We have a really great old skool hip
hop set that we do that the crowd seems to enjoy. Just the choice of songs, the
arrangements that we do…. I think that’s what really carries over for our fans.
The most compliments that I get are “Hey I really love the song selection”. “I
love what songs you did tonight”. Not necessarily how you played them but just
the songs….I hope they liked the way we played it. But the song selection is a
big part of what we do. If we do cover tunes we try to pick songs that are not
often done. That are not used and abused, that are not ran into the ground,
staying off the chitlin circuit…..trying to kind of keep it fresh.
The WIRE 4 Artists: What can fans expect when
they attend a Secret Society performance?
Bryan Mills: We’re really trying to reach
a certain demographic, I’ll be honest with you. In the DC area, that late 30’s
to mid 40’s, early 50’s; that group doesn’t really get out as much as the
younger folks do. But in that generation, there was so much good music at that
time. We’re talking about the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. What they can expect is
definitely that old skool feel, that old skool hip hop set….what I mean by old
skool I’m going back to The Sugarhill Gang, Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD,
Eric B & Rakim. Like when hip hop was different then than it is now and we’re
trying to take it back just to let people know that it’s not forgotten, keep it
alive. De La Soul, Naz, Public Enemy that type of thing. You can expect a
party, don’t come and expect to sit down…if you do than we’re doing something
wrong. We definitely want people to dance and have a good time keep it up beat
and partying ….as much as possible.
Bryan Mills:
It’s so many ways to answer that. Internally I have been blessed to not
have a lot of problems. Everyone has been on board with what we’re doing. Everyone’s
been willing to sacrifice here and there for the big picture…..the band. Everyone
just seems to be on one page. Externally….I think just dealing with club
owners and promoters. People just kind of think of us as being a jukebox and
all bands are the same…..that type of mentality. Well I can get this other band
to do it for $500 less. But bands are like cars and like wine. Some are cheaper
than others….some drive better than others….some perform better than others…..some
cost more than others. So that business type of relationship with the outside
world within the industry…..is difficult. The proof is in the pudding….and I’ll
say well hey we charge x amount of dollars and they will say well I can get
this band for $100 less. I’ll say go ahead…go ahead….I’m not that upset about that,
but if you want Secret Society….it’s going to be this much. I really don’t try
to get into a money thing a whole lot but…..I don’t want anybody trying to pimp
me either…. you know what I mean….so those are some struggles. That’s probably
one of the biggest problems that I have; trying to convince someone that
we’re worth the money that we’re asking for.
The WIRE 4 Artists: Where do you envision Secret
Society in 5 years?
Bryan Mills:
Well, I’ll tell you now….we’re working on an original CD. If you’re not
doing original music you might as well be complacent with being a quote on
quote local band. So I want to try to incorporate the live CD into what we’re
doing and making Secret Society a household name…and if it doesn’t reach that
status, that’s okay with me I want the music to reach people and make people
feel better than they did when they first got to an event. I’m more interested
in the value of the emotional affects than the financial affects. And that’s
great… everyone wants to get paid everyone wants money but money’s not what
motivates me as much as the other things do so….. that’s it.
The WIRE 4 Artists: Is there anything else you
want to add?
The WIRE 4 Artists: Where can you purchase it?
Bryan Mills: You can purchase it on our
website. If you come to a live performance we can do that too… in person get it
for $10 on the website it’s $15 for shipping and handling. We have some other
stuff too but it’s not really packaged. More like a PA tape where we record
some of our live shows to just to let people hear something fresh, new, and
different …..You can grab those at our live shows too for $5. Like I said it’s
not always about the money…we’re just trying to get out there and let people
hear us.
The WIRE 4 Artists:
Are the CD’s original songs?
Bryan Mills: No
they’re all covers….but like I said that’s fine for temporary but in the long
term you got to do originals…..and that’s the next step.
Secret Society performs @
Society Lounge 9:00 PM – 11:30 PM on
Thursdays
Half Note Lounge 8:30 PM – 11:30 PM
every 1st & 3rd Fridays
Many thanks to Bryan Mills and much
continued success to Secret Society!!!
Special thanks to Debra Johnson!!!
Peace & Blessings
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