Ever since the first time Tim Montana was a special guest on Loudwire Nights, he was crystal clear on his love for rock and roll.
Yes, he cut his teeth in the country world in Nashville for a decade and grew as a songwriter in ways he could have never imagined, but at the root of everything he did was always a burning love for rock.
After releasing his first official rock single “Devil You Know” in 2023 and seeing the response to it, he was encouraged by those around him to keep writing that kind of music.
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For Montana, that was an easy task to take on.
“Everybody got their hands on ‘Devil You Know’ and they were like, ‘There’s something there, go chase that,'” Montana told Loudwire Nights host Chuck Armstrong on Friday (July 12). “I’m like, ‘Okay, I can do that all day. Why didn’t you say so?'”
Montana called the next several months a “rush process” for his new album, Savage, officially out now.
“It was a fast process,” he admitted.
“‘Devil You Know’ started hitting and we just went and chased that and we did [Savage] pretty quick over the holidays and put the finishing touches on it in January. I’m stoked, man. We had a blast.”
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Tim Montana Was Feeling Like an Alien in Nashville
The timing of Savage came just when Montana needed it.
Even though he had already experienced some incredible highs as an artist — performing on the Late Show With David Letterman, becoming friends with Dave Grohl, being adopted by his rock and roll dad Billy Gibbons — he was ready to dig into his love of rock for his next album.
“I was pretty burned out of that scene,” Montana confided. “[I was] feeling like an alien in that town for a long time.”
Fortunately, Montana had always made friends with people in Nashville who, though they may work in the country world, had a deep love for rock and roll, too.
“They’re paying their bills with country, but they’re going home and headbanging to rock and roll,” he said, laughing. “You gotta seek those guys out.”
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A few of those guys who helped Montana bring Savage to life include all-star Nashville songwriters Erik Dylan and Nathan Barlowe as well as producer Micah Wilshire, who helped break Montana out of the country mold.
“I’d be like, ‘Should we call in a session guitar player to play guitar,’ and he’d hand me a guitar and be like, ‘You have your own style,'” Montana said about working with Wilshire.
“What if they had someone else play guitar for Kurt Cobain, it wouldn’t sound like Nirvana. I had to break that natural mentality of somebody else doing it and I think we got a unique sound by doing it that way.”
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Ultimately, for fans who dive into Savage, they won’t hear much country influence in that unique sound; whereas artists like Jelly Roll and Hardy tend to bridge the gap between twang and distortion, Montana and Wilshire dug their feet in the grit of rock and roll and nothing else.
“I think if it was a person that didn’t know me or my history, who didn’t see what I look like, where I live and they listened to it, they wouldn’t be pulling out any of those country things at all.”
What Else Did Tim Montana Discuss on Loudwire Nights?
- Why his mom is proud of him for Savage, but why it’s not her favorite music he’s ever made: “She’s like, ‘This reminds me of that terrible music you made me listen to when you were a kid.'”
- What it means to have a billboard on Sunset in Los Angeles promoting his new album: “I was hoping Billy Gibbons would crash his car into a fire hydrant when he saw that.”
- How he spent his Fourth of July, supporting the family of helicopter pilot Shane Barnes of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment who was killed in November: “I got a message that said, ‘Hey, when Shane was killed, we got his playlist and you were his No. 1 streamed act. He never stopped talking about you. What would you charge to play a concert in his backyard for his family and his troops and teammates?’ And I was like, ‘Okay, there’s my Fourth of July. A, I’m not charging you a thing and B, we’re bringing a BBQ truck.'”
Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below
Tim Montana joined Loudwire Nights on Friday, July 12; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.
