Reign of Fire, also known as ROF, is an American hard rock band, whose members are all originally from Chicago, Illinois. All of the band currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the exception of vocalist Joe Booe, who lives in Sarasota, Florida. Utilizing a unique approach to song writing, the band’s entire writing and recording process is accomplished through online file sharing. All recording, mastering and music video are done in-house by Reign of Fire. The members of ROF have all worked together through other bands, including StrictNine, Geneva, Markette, Skullcandy, and Joe Booe and The Dog, compiling decades of published music and live performance, and bring together an aggressive, progressive sound.
Reign of Fire is currently in the process of completing their debut album, with several of the album’s singles already released. ROF music and music video can be found on all streaming services, including Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and other streaming services. They can also be found on YouTube, Reverb Nation, Facebook, and Twitter and other social media and multimedia services.
Read our first interview with the band back in 2023.
Where can we find you right now and what are you up to?
Geographically, Reign of Fire is still a remote-recording project. Joe Booe (vocals) is in Sarasota, Florida. The rest of the band, which includes Rob Christman (guitar, keyboard, synth), Pete Bartolomei (drums), and Jim Davidge (bass), are in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. In terms of a musical presence, Reign of Fire can be found in all the streaming platforms, with video content available on YouTube. We are also pretty active on Facebook, and can get found on ReverbNation, X, Alignable, Indietown, and our website, ROF.rocks.
What changed since the last time we spoke?
We’ve completed the single and video Call of Vikings and are working on our next song, which is an 8 minute Celtic progressive metal piece. I think people will be blown away by it.
Jim Davidge (bass player) has also been busy building us an online environment that allows us to do what we do with more ease. As a long-distance recording project, we’ve had to rely on file-sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive to send wave files and video content. Jim built a comprehensive system for us to share and store a virtually unlimited amount of both on a system that also houses our website, email, and even an online audio/video conference system. It’s been an incredible resource for us and our unique recording needs.
How would you define success in music?
The definition of success in the music industry has changed from when we were younger artists. In our youth, we wanted it all…a major label deal, national, and eventually international, touring, merchandising, and to become a household name. These were the hallmark of success in the industry. Now, success is measured by the number of followers and listens you have on streaming platforms, social media, and the like. In the past, touring was a must. I think it’s become easier for artists to generate a lot of success without touring, now. In fact, a lot of artists can’t afford to tour. Online broadcasting, merchandising and streaming are now allowing artists to reach fans anywhere in the world. Online live performance has allowed fans to watch artists without leaving home or the artists having to physically come to them. All of this has become a vehicle for streaming platform success, with CD sales being replaced by streaming revenue and downloads. Follows and listens are the new measure of success.
Is there any way for an upcoming artist to stand out during these days?
It’s very difficult to stand out these days. 100,000 uploads a day to streaming services means that there is a massive amount of competition for listeners. One way that appears to be a really effective method for relatively unknown bands to get attention is to cover a well known standard. There’s been an awful lot of new bands who get worldwide attention by doing a new version of another artists popular song. This has always been common for label artists to do, for instance, Van Halen used to do it on a lot of their early albums, Led Zeppelin did several blues covers on their albums, and half of the Abominog album by Uriah Heep was covers. But now, it’s become a great means for new bands to get discovered, too.
Another way of standing out is by crossing over musically styles. This gives the artist access to more radio stations and playlists and audiences, thereby multiplying the number of fans they can access. So if your primary musical style is punk, for example, doing some crossover into something like country, for instance, is going to raise some eyebrows. It’s going to get people’s attention, because it’s different. Some audiences may not embrace it, but it’s definitely going to get you noticed, and it may induce fans to do a deeper dive into your catalog.
I think it requires a lot hard work by artists to get their music noticed. So I encourage every artist to test their boundaries, try new things, and be confident enough to get it out everywhere. It’s critical to send your music to as many applicable online radio stations, as many playlist curators, as possible. They are hungry for good indie music, so give it to them! Request reviews and podcast interviews, get you face, name and music everywhere!
What is the best way to acquire real fans?
I don’t think anything beats performing for an audience to hook fans in for the long haul. While touring has become difficult for a lot of newer bands, nothing beats it for finding a dedicated fan base. And it’s all relative. Starting with smaller gigs local builds that initial fan base, those fans follow the artist on social media and streaming platforms. As the buzz builds, artists open up for larger acts, acquiring additional fans from those larger acts. Over time, they become the larger acts, expanding the geographic scope of where they perform. It’s the oldest and truest means of connecting and establishing a real and loyal fan base. We all remember the concerts and even small shows we’ve gone to. It has a much more lasting effect on long term loyalty to a band. While revenue generation has shifted to streaming, I still think there is great value in live performance and touring.
Another is accessing social media. Platforms like Facebook allow you to join group pages of like minded people. Bands support other bands, as we’ve recently discovered, and will introduce your band to their fans, once you’ve established a rapport with them. We post about other bands to our social media pages all the time, and in return, those bands help promote us, too. This way, you gain fans in both other bands and their fans!
What do you think about AI in music?
AI in music is a stain on the art! There is no place for it in music. The major labels have established a formulaic approach to music, and now that’s all that they are willing to distribute. If artists don’t fit in that box, the labels aren’t interested. AI in music exemplifies and amplifies this music-formula approach. Left to AI, music would have no soul, it would be computer generated according to known popular tastes and would turn music into a cookie cutter assembly line. I hope the fans recognize this and reject it soundly!
Tell us about your newest or soon-to-be-released work.
We’ve been completing a concept album about a soldier wounded in battle, who is trapped in his unconscious mind somewhere between death and insanity. He’s experiencing past lives, and deaths, with each song. We have just released our 6th song from the album, Call of Vikings, which finds our hero reliving his life as a Viking, on an invading party into medieval England. We are also working on the 7th song, which we hope to have completed by the end of the summer. It will be an 8 minute epic, it’s a progressive metal song with deep Celtic roots at its core. I think fans with really groove on it. It moves from a beautiful acoustic guitar intro to a soaring, heavy-metal, bombastic, arena-rock ending. It freaking awesome! It works really well in bringing the protagonist’s story closer to a resolution. We haven’t disclosed what the ending of that story will be, so fans will have to wait to see. The goal is for the album to conclude with 10 songs, and they are at varied stages of completion. It’s been an amazing journey for us, we are grateful that so many have come along for the ride..