Blacklite
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Blacklite

Lake Wales, Florida, United States

Lake Wales, Florida, United States
Band Rock Metal

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"20 Questions with: BLACK LITE, Battle of the Band Winners; Polk County Citrus Festival"

By Doc Herber

Winner of this year's battle of the Bands at Winter Haven's citrus Festival, Black Lite has been working the Polk County music scene for nearly 3 years. With a long list of original tunes and a polished stage show, Black Lite is currently positioning itself for the next big step.
Band spokesman and co-founder Joey Abbott recently sat down with Today and Tonight magazine to discuss the band's past, and it's future.

TODAY AND TONIGHT: How long has Black Lite been together?
JOEY ABBOTT: Approximately three years. There's been some changes in the group over the years.

T&T: What kind of music does Black Lite play?
JA: We play mainstream rock and roll, and some metal.

T&T: How did you come up with the name Black Llite?
JA: When we were playing in the garage we decided to turn off all the lights, and just use a bunch of black lights that were in the garage. I think it was Luke that said "we play under these black lights, why not that for a name?"

T&T: How many people in the group?
JA: There's five of us.

T&T: What's the lineup?
JA: We have Doc Abbott on drums. He's fifty years old, and he's my dad. I play bass and sing lead vocals. My dad also sings lead. And there's J Barnett, my cousin. He plays lead guitar and does backup vocals. Mark Hugo plays rhythm guitar and does backup vocals. That leaves us with Luke Love. He plays bass and sings lead.

T&T: You have two bass players playing at the same time?
JA: No. Me and Luke switch off. It's like we have two different bands. We both like to sing leads, and we both like to play bass. So we decided we's each play half the time and sing lead half the time.

T&T: Your dad's been playing music along time, hasn't he?
JA: He ussed to play with alot of local bands, like Missing Link and a lot of others. It's hard to name them all off. My grandpa used to play with him, and so did my Uncle Jimmy. My Aunt Brenda plays music with a band called Work Release. I come from a family of musicians.

T&T: How did the rest of the band get together?
JA: Luke used to come over to watch me and my dad jam. I was playing acoustic guitar at the time. Luke grew up with J, they used to play together One time Luke came over and sang a song he and his brother Matt wrote and I thought it was real good. We started playing in the garage, just for ourselves, but people kept coming over to listen. J's my cousin. He was fourteen years old when he started. We showed him some things and he just surpassed the rest of us. He's only seventeen years old but I've never seen anyone pick up on guitar like him. Mark started out as a fan. He could sing, and play guitar, so we decided to give him a shot

T&T: What bands have influenced Black Lite?
JA: We have all different kinds of influences. Like my dad, he grew up listening to CCR, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Molly Hatchet. He was a kid playing this music when it was new. I like Prince, I like new bands like Seven Dust and Slipknot. We like alot of different things. We have alot of different age groups in the band. My dad is fifty, Luke is ninteen, and J is only seventeen.

T&T: Do you do covers, or originals?
JA: Both

T&T: What bands do you cover?
JA: We do some Lynyrd Skynyrd material, we do Metallica, Blue October, Three Doors Down, a little Creed, Nickleback and others.

T&T: Who writes most of your originals?
JA: We all do. We have like forty original songs now, probably more.

T&T: What kind of mix do you play, covers to originals?
JA: We do mostly originals. We probably do about ten cover songs and the rest originals. We're an original band that plays a few covers.

T&T: Where do you play in Polk County?
JA: We've got a show coming up at the Rec in Lakeland

T&T; Are you playing anywhere outside Polk County?
JA: We're playing St. Patrick's Day at the Hurricane in Kissimmee. We've another one coming up somewhere in Orlando. We might also do a show for that wrestler, The Rock, down in Miami.

T&T: Have you done any touring?
JA: Not yet. Weturned down a chance to do thr Ernie Ball Van's Warped Tour because we didn't think we were ready yet.

T&T: Any recording plans?
JA: We're working on a CD. We're not sure of the title, it could be Concrete Babies.

T&T: What kind of equipment does the band prefer?
JA: We all play Ibanez guitar and basses. My dad plays Yamaha drums.

T&T: Got a best moment on stage?
JA: Winning the Battle of the Bands at the Citrus Festival last January. We tried for three years. The first year we didn't even place, last year we came in second. This year we won.

T&T: How can people get in touch with you about bookings?
JA: Our web site is at www.myspace.com/blacklite420.

- Bryan G. Vincent (bryan@todayandtonight.com)


"20 Questions with: BLACK LITE, Battle of the Band Winners; Polk County Citrus Festival"

By Doc Herber

Winner of this year's battle of the Bands at Winter Haven's citrus Festival, Black Lite has been working the Polk County music scene for nearly 3 years. With a long list of original tunes and a polished stage show, Black Lite is currently positioning itself for the next big step.
Band spokesman and co-founder Joey Abbott recently sat down with Today and Tonight magazine to discuss the band's past, and it's future.

TODAY AND TONIGHT: How long has Black Lite been together?
JOEY ABBOTT: Approximately three years. There's been some changes in the group over the years.

T&T: What kind of music does Black Lite play?
JA: We play mainstream rock and roll, and some metal.

T&T: How did you come up with the name Black Llite?
JA: When we were playing in the garage we decided to turn off all the lights, and just use a bunch of black lights that were in the garage. I think it was Luke that said "we play under these black lights, why not that for a name?"

T&T: How many people in the group?
JA: There's five of us.

T&T: What's the lineup?
JA: We have Doc Abbott on drums. He's fifty years old, and he's my dad. I play bass and sing lead vocals. My dad also sings lead. And there's J Barnett, my cousin. He plays lead guitar and does backup vocals. Mark Hugo plays rhythm guitar and does backup vocals. That leaves us with Luke Love. He plays bass and sings lead.

T&T: You have two bass players playing at the same time?
JA: No. Me and Luke switch off. It's like we have two different bands. We both like to sing leads, and we both like to play bass. So we decided we's each play half the time and sing lead half the time.

T&T: Your dad's been playing music along time, hasn't he?
JA: He ussed to play with alot of local bands, like Missing Link and a lot of others. It's hard to name them all off. My grandpa used to play with him, and so did my Uncle Jimmy. My Aunt Brenda plays music with a band called Work Release. I come from a family of musicians.

T&T: How did the rest of the band get together?
JA: Luke used to come over to watch me and my dad jam. I was playing acoustic guitar at the time. Luke grew up with J, they used to play together One time Luke came over and sang a song he and his brother Matt wrote and I thought it was real good. We started playing in the garage, just for ourselves, but people kept coming over to listen. J's my cousin. He was fourteen years old when he started. We showed him some things and he just surpassed the rest of us. He's only seventeen years old but I've never seen anyone pick up on guitar like him. Mark started out as a fan. He could sing, and play guitar, so we decided to give him a shot

T&T: What bands have influenced Black Lite?
JA: We have all different kinds of influences. Like my dad, he grew up listening to CCR, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Molly Hatchet. He was a kid playing this music when it was new. I like Prince, I like new bands like Seven Dust and Slipknot. We like alot of different things. We have alot of different age groups in the band. My dad is fifty, Luke is ninteen, and J is only seventeen.

T&T: Do you do covers, or originals?
JA: Both

T&T: What bands do you cover?
JA: We do some Lynyrd Skynyrd material, we do Metallica, Blue October, Three Doors Down, a little Creed, Nickleback and others.

T&T: Who writes most of your originals?
JA: We all do. We have like forty original songs now, probably more.

T&T: What kind of mix do you play, covers to originals?
JA: We do mostly originals. We probably do about ten cover songs and the rest originals. We're an original band that plays a few covers.

T&T: Where do you play in Polk County?
JA: We've got a show coming up at the Rec in Lakeland

T&T; Are you playing anywhere outside Polk County?
JA: We're playing St. Patrick's Day at the Hurricane in Kissimmee. We've another one coming up somewhere in Orlando. We might also do a show for that wrestler, The Rock, down in Miami.

T&T: Have you done any touring?
JA: Not yet. Weturned down a chance to do thr Ernie Ball Van's Warped Tour because we didn't think we were ready yet.

T&T: Any recording plans?
JA: We're working on a CD. We're not sure of the title, it could be Concrete Babies.

T&T: What kind of equipment does the band prefer?
JA: We all play Ibanez guitar and basses. My dad plays Yamaha drums.

T&T: Got a best moment on stage?
JA: Winning the Battle of the Bands at the Citrus Festival last January. We tried for three years. The first year we didn't even place, last year we came in second. This year we won.

T&T: How can people get in touch with you about bookings?
JA: Our web site is at www.myspace.com/blacklite420.

- Bryan G. Vincent (bryan@todayandtonight.com)


Discography

singles :

Memories
Believe
Not Free
Medicine
Black Lite
Polk Co. Rap
Fallen Away
Hopeless Reality
Live To Die
Coma Patient
Mirror
Take Control

Photos

Bio

In January 2007 we won 1st place at the Florida Citrus Festival Battle of the Bands. What sets us apart from other bands...We have 2 Lead Singers Joey and Luke. They switch roles (Bass/Mic) after each set, when they switch it gives us a whole NEW sound. But it's all Black Lite. Black Lite has been together for almost 4 years. We started out with just five members, there were some personal problems with one of our band members and he had to leave the band. Mark Hugo came in as his replacement and has added some new flavors to our music. But now all the original members are back in the band as well as Mark, so we are 6 members strong now.We started out just playing for fun, we had no intentions of going anywhere with our music, until people would come to watch us play and they told us that we were awesome and that we needed to start booking some gigs. We had no P.A. and only little tiny amps to play through. But we kept trying and the first year that we entered the Citrus Festival Battle of the Bands we didn't even place. Our second year in the competition we came in second place. And just this year at the battle of the band we took home FIRST place. At this point even if we wanted to stop playing we couldn't, because we owe it to ourselves and each and every one of our fans...we love you all.

Some of our influences are:
Lynryd Skynrd
Metallica
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Guns N Roses
Collective Soul
.....and sooo many more.