I took some time recently and sat down with Markus Lachendro, guitarist for the band Xfactor1 formed in Ohio, before their album release show at King of Clubs in Columbus, Ohio. Markus recently joined the band after being rearended on the highway and having to go on short term disability to get full use of his hand again. As we all do, he was tired of waiting and asked his doctor what he could do to speed up the process and was told to pick up a guitar if he knew how to play. He did just that and ran with it. Being this was my first in person interview,

I won't lie I was a bit nervous so I decided to have a quick drink to calm the nerves...this is when I got busted! Thankfully, he's a cool dude and said it was his first interview and he had been nervous too so he had just done the same. I guess this is where I say we busted each other's interview cherry? If you're curious to know more about Markus read on!

Me: If you guys like well you in general, like if you could open for one band like who would it be?

Lachendro:
Ooh, that's a good one. I've done like present day?

Me:Just any band that you could open for, who would it be?

Lachendro:
I'm a huge Slipknot fan. I mean, because when I grow up, I want to be just like Corey Taylor, like how he does like the slipknotting is like heavy and stuff, he does like Stone Sour.

Me: Yeah and then he's got just Corey Taylor

Lachendro:
Yes, that's that's the kind of stuff I mean. I mean, I got to meet him at a Burger King, one night too.

Me:
Oh, wow, no way

Lachendro: (laughing) We talked about burgers.

Me:  Okay, so what would you say is like your most useless talent then?

Lachendro: I can tie my shoes were out looking

Me:
Got some muscle memory on that one?But that's pretty useful though, so you're not tripping over everything.

Lachendro: um... I can tune the guitar by ear.

Me: Do you read music or you do not read music?

Lachendro: Not at all, I mean shit, I taught myself how to play by ear.

Me: That's definitely not useless but is there nothing that you ever do thats like stupid that you just like go up to some people like, look, I could do this. So for me, I can pop my pinky in and out of place

Lachendro: I'm left handed but I can play guitar right handed.

Me: Oh dang, ambidextrous! So do you sing in the shower?

Lachendro: Doesn't everyone?

Me: Fare point. Do you have a favorite song that you like to sing?

Lachendro: Sublime, yes, I love some sublime let's see what else Red Hot Chili Peppers. Oh, yeah, I do karaoke sometimes

Me: Oh, karaoke's fun.

Lachendro: That's kind of useless, right?

Me:
So what would you say has been like? I'll put you on the spot, your least favorite venue that we play

Lachendro:
I probably have to say Fantasy in Lakewood

Me:
I don't think I've been. There was the crowd just like super suckish owner.

Lachendro:
The sound was horrible. The owner was a dick, it was like on a Wednesday.

Me: Okay, um, so you feel like like like so the internet has obviously blossomed. It's, you know, gone from nothing to everything like. Do you feel like that has helped hurt?

Lachendro:
I'd say it's helped cause I'm not a very big people person, I guess, and I'm not. It's kind of weird because I play on stage, but I mean, large crowds kind of get to me.

Me:
And do you help write any of the music yet? Or

Lachendro: Not yet, but I'm going to. I've got a lot of ideas. I got a lot up here. Just got to get it, put down.

Me:
So what is your favorite song to perform from the band or just in general? It can be a cover or original

Lachendro:
I like playing We the people and I like playing peace, love and alcohol.

Me: That one was really good. I listened to that one.

Lachendro:
I like playing that one that one's a good that's gets gets the crowd going so high. It's like high energy, so I'm really hoping we play Fall down. That's going to be awesome.

Me:
Ah, so we'll go personal. What's the most trouble you've ever gotten into.

Lachendro:
A lot, oh gosh. I'm uh. 5 time felon. Nothing violent, just uh, I liked. I liked drugs. I liked I liked drugs and I like to go fast in my motorcycle. My sobriety date off the hard stuff is May 13th 2020

Me:
Nice, congratulations!

Lachendro:
That was a that was a turning point. Because I mean, honestly, I was bad on heroin.

Me:
What made you quit if you don't mind me asking like what did you wake up 1 day and you're just like I'm done.

Lachendro:
Uh, well, that day was Friday the 13th and I was on my bike and a cop got it. Behind me, I did nothing wrong. He flipped those lights on and I was like the fuck I'm tired of this and gunned it

Me:
Oh, so you ran from him.

Lachendro:
I got away, and then he was going to pull into a field to back out, and I was laying down, and I guess the sun hit my Chrome on the exhaust. And he had seen it but I mean thank God, that happened. I had bunch of drugs on me too, and I was just like, all right, I'm done with this shit. I can't

Me:
So what's the best advice you've been given? Something that you would just tell anybody you could tell

Lachendro:
character over reputation.

Speaker 3 (16:29)
Yes, 100% agree.

Lachendro:
Its acore belief of mine now for sure. I don't care what anybody else thinks. That's what I think about how I carry myself is just be yourself.

Me:
Be yourself, that's the big one, right? If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?

Lachendro:
Ticket sales.

Me:
It's so hard to even get tickets. You get on like an hour beforehand and you're 7000 in line.

Lachendro:
Well, because like people buy them often them resell them

Me: So if you could collaborate with anyone any one person obviously alive? Who do you think it would be?

Lachendro:
I would definitely record with Tayllr

Me:
Corey Taylor that would yeah, that would be pretty awesome.

Lachendro:
Him or Aaron Lewis.

Me:
Oh, gosh I love Aaron Lewis

If you read this far, go check out Markus and Xfactor1. I didn't get a chance to sit with the rest of the band but I will say seeing them live was really fun. They brought the energy for sure, unfortunately the crowd was not giving that energy back. I don't know if the venue itself dropped the ball on advertising or the band but there definitely should have been a bigger crowd. Honestly the only thing I could even critique about the band is their social media presence. I scrolled back a bit and tried looking all over but they don't really interact with the fans. That is one big thing to get the ball rolling if you want to go far. Look at Silly Goose and local favorite Fight From Within, they definitely put themselves out there and it shows.