Words and language are up to interpretation. If one were to
travel around the United States and ask people what came to their mind when
they heard the word “magnum,” there are several answers you can expect to find.
In some areas you’ll hear a gun, or the wine bottle or in some cases people may
remember the work of Tom Selleck in “Magnum P.I.”
However,
if you ask fans of the Jersey Shore music scene, the response will more than
like be “The Magnums.” Starting off as a side project involving front man Nico
Santo Domingo and guitarist Garret Bayard, The Magnums have evolved into a
something that puts people on their feet when they perform.
DB: How would you
guys describe your sound?
TM: Sex jazz,
it’s like a sex bomb in your ear.
DB: Care to
elaborate?
TM: We’ve called
our original music a bunch of stuff over the years. We just tend to have fun.
We can be real loud at times. Sound guys are not fans of us. But we just try to
have fun, drink and play music.
DB: How do you
guys feel about performing cover songs?
TM: Well we’re
definitely not a cover band. We wouldn’t say covers suck, but we’re an original
band. When you’re at a bar, people just want to hear [stuff] they know and get
drunk. But at a few shows we’ve asked if people wanted to hear a cover or
original, and 99 percent of the time, they ask for originals.
DB: Do you think
people are more into your originals than your covers?
TM: Oh
absolutely. We hook people in with the covers, but once they hear our originals
they’re like “Oh Magnums, cool,” except for the 10 drunk girls that want to
hear “American Girl.”
DB: You guys are
friends with the guys from Temporary Grace and you’re all representing the
Jersey rock scene. How do you guys help each other out?
TM: Well you
know, we share equipment or plug each other’s shows. We’ll call each other up
and say we need someone to play with us and we just go help each other out.
DB: As a band you
guys mesh together very well. Offstage, do you guys have the same experience?
TM: We really fit. We call each other to
hang out as opposed to the past where it was more like a business relationship
with our original line-up.
DB: What can you
guys tell us as far as your studio work?
TM: We had our first six track album called
“Big Things” back in 2007. Right now we have a full length album coming out
called “Midnight Stealth.” It may be the best recording we’ve done and the
artwork is incredible. We put a lot of work into it.
DB: Do you guys
see this going far or is it just something to do for fun?
TM: We definitely
do it for fun. If something were to happen then cool, but if not we all have
other things going on.
DB: What’s next?
TM: Promote the
hell out of the album. We’ve never really pushed our albums. We just kind of
let them flub out. But this time we’re really going to push it and step out of
our [Toms River] domain a little bit.