Deb Rao has issued the following interview with drummer Cory Proctor of FREE REIGN (the band featuring Marc Colombo, offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys), in which he discusses the making of the band's Tragedy EP, and the tracks featured on the release:

Q: How did Free Reign come to fruition? Did the band get together one day in the locker room and jam?

A: "Yes, it started off as Marc Colombo and I jamming a bunch every once in a awhile and here and there. Leonard Davis joined up and played the bass. We started doing some Charity gigs for guys in the scene. After the season was over two years ago, we brought Justin Chapman on. He kind of puts the sparks on the music and became our fourth member and lead guitarist. All of a sudden we are doing some cool stuff."

Q: The bands debut EP, Tragedy, was just released. How would you describe the sound?

A: "We are all over the map with our sound. (Laughter) I would say we are into the hard rock and a little bit into the metal. We label our genre as metal. But two out of the three songs on there are more metal and three are more hard rock. 'Tragedy', Rise Up', and 'Last Goodbye' have a little more melodic singing in them. 'In Your Head' and 'All In Vain" are a little more hard rock, more guitar riffs. We dipped into both sides. We are going out and making some music."

Q: I read that ZAKK WYLDE is a fan of the band?

A: "Yes. It is pretty cool. He was actually supposed to do the guitar solo for 'In Your Head'. But he had something come up. He agreed to it and everything but then something came up. He was in the hospital for a little bit. So he wasn't able to do that. We would have liked for him to do it, but our guitarist Justin put a pretty awesome one on there too."

Q: When did you start playing drums? Did you always want to be a musician from a young age?

A: "Shoot, I started playing really in Elementary School in the school band. I got my first drum kit in Middle School. I liked it ever since. I finally started making my bigger strides over the last couple of years when I started taking it more seriously and having my fun with it."

Q: What is your upcoming tour schedule?

A: "Marc and I are going to the Pollstar Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. It is pretty cool. I guess we are going to be presenting an award to ROB HALFORD and JUDAS PRIEST. That will be pretty cool. From there we are going over to Vegas. We are going to play with STEEL PANTHER at the House Of Blues on February 20th. If you are in the area, everybody got to come. We got some cool shows coming up - March 12th in San Antonio at the AT&T; Center, March 25th with SEVENDUST and DROWNING POOL in Lubbock, Texas. Then we will try to pick up a few more shows from there."

Q: How is the music scene in Dallas these days?

A: "It is pretty cool in the downtown area. They've got a lot of local bands. It is pretty heavy. There is also a lot of country music around Dallas too. I am into country too. It is good all away around. That is for sure."

Tragedy track-by-track:

'In Your Head' - "It is actually a song almost completely by Marc, then Justin added a little spice. It is a little more in your face and listen to me, listen to what I got to say sort of deal. It is like listen to what I say is good. He did a good job with that song."

'Tragedy' - "We kind of have an ongoing thing from our music kind of stemming from football. It kind of goes on with the cover of the album with the Gladiator on front trying to pull him down with chains. We kind of used that to a degree. We are trying to be controlled all of the time with football and this game. When you are on top of the world everybody is patting your back. When you are down and not doing so hot everybody wants to jump on that train to get out of town. They want to be the first ones to say I told you so if we weren’t good. That is what Tragedy is about. I guess people who don't stick with you to the end."

'Rise Up' - "That is on our MySpace page. We wanted to come up with a song for the stadium. 'Rise Up' has been one of our top sellers on iTunes. This song is for the players and fans. This song is 'Rise Up' for the occasion. You are in my house sort of thing what are yeah going to do about it? It is about the fight and getting ready for the fight and occasion. They played it at every game this year. Which was real cool. They also played 'Tragedy' a number of times toward the end. But 'Rise Up' sounded really cool in the stadium with the drums. It is a real simple drum beat."

"The last two songs 'Last Goodbye' and 'All In Vain' were written by Justin Chapman our lead guitarist. Those songs are a work in progress. It is an EP, so they are not the whole finished product. We are going to work on them a little more. 'Last Goodbye' is a little more of a ballad song. You could be talking about a relationship. 'All In Vain" - Is about what are we doing here on earth. Are we wrong for what we are doing? Or could we better for what we do? It is another kind of in your face song. It is real powerful. Big time."

More on Free Reign at this location.

Free Reign @ House of Blues/ Dallas from Foundation Sound on Vimeo.