Take a shot of Injected

Conversations are kept light by interjecting sentences with humor, probably the only thing that keeps Danny Grady sane through his endless 30-minute phone interviews.

Grady, front man for the band Injected, along with guitarist Jade Lemons, bassist Steve Slovisky and drummer Chris Wojtal, are on the road supporting their debut album Burn It Black, which has helped steer rock away from the often heard phrase "pop/rock."

With its tight lyrics and hard-hitting guitar sounds mixed in with just enough melody, Injected has found what works. But Grady said he is concerned about staying focused and not losing sight of what is important to the band: the songs and their lyrics, not individual instrumental capability.

"A song can have as many layers as you want," Grady said. "Not to say that any of my songs already have their levels of proficiency to them, but I mean lyric writing should be good enough so that it can be interpreted on so many different levels. It can be as simple as you want it to be, or it can be as complex as you want it to be."

Injected has managed to create songs that are not weighed down like some music. Grady said some artists put too many words in their songs, or rather too many meaningless words into the songs. He said keeping a song compact, simple and meaningful is the key to writing. So what kind of music accompanies these thought-provoking lyrics?

If forced to describe Injected's style of music, Grady said it would be straight-up rock 'n' roll.

"It's just straight up, no frills and that's it," Grady said. "I don't know any other way to describe it. That's what I think when I sit down to write. I don't think 'Oh, I'm gonna write something that's a cross between Soundgarden and Van Halen.'"

Grady said the music is about the moment, which makes it worthy to be called rock 'n' roll.

"Rock 'n' roll is about youth," Grady said. "Rock really is a youth culture phenomenon, and youth is about the moment. All good records are just a moment in time captured for posterity."

Burn It Black, an album that took Injected only three weeks to record, holds on to that certain moment and incorporates it into the music.

"Spending eight months to make a rock record, that's just completely ridiculous to me," Grady said. "It took us three weeks to record Burn It Black, and that's long by my standards. You should know exactly what you're gonna go do, and you should capture the excitement and the energy of that moment. Taking eight months to do a record is completely contrary to capturing energy and excitement. You're not being spontaneous enough."

It is not only in its music that gives Injected the right to call itself a rock band, but also in its performances. Grady said one of the most important things about rock music is that it needs to have a certain degree of spontaneity. Not only in the recording process, but also in live shows.

"The fact that our shows are completely not planned ensures it will be a different show every time," Grady said.

Grady said a live show is one of the crucial aspects of rock 'n' roll. A live performance can sometimes make or break a band, Grady said.

"When you go see a rock band, there's a distinct possibility that it is going to kick the record's ass and that it'll be even better than the record," Grady said. "It'll be completely spontaneous and not planned out. That's the thing that keeps rock vital -- the live show and the spontaneity of it."