Ever wondered what your favorite player’s first concert was? Curious which tune he sings in the shower? Then each week join Jon Langford, bass player for The Chevin, for his series of Q&As with the soccer scene's biggest music buffs.
This week’s DJ is New England Revolution defender A.J. Soares.
MLSsoccer.com: What was the first album you ever bought?
Soares: When I was 10, I bought Tupac’s Greatest Hits and Usher’s My Way. Tupac probably wasn’t the best album for a 10-year-old to buy, but…
MLSsoccer.com: Too many expletives?
Soares: Yeah. There were so many curse words on it I’d never even heard of before! I still listen to it though. It’s the only “greatest hits” album I’ve ever bought.
MLSsoccer.com: What was the most recent album or single you bought?
Soares: I just bought the Ben Howard album Every Kingdom. He’s awesome. In offseason I was listening to it driving down the coast, driving down into Mexico.
MLSsoccer.com: Who is your favorite band or artist of all time?
Soares: That’s tough because I like a lot of different genres of music. I can give you a few: Van Morrison, Tupac, and Modest Mouse.
MLSsoccer.com: Do you have any guilty music pleasures? Are there any songs you’d be embarrassed to admit you own?
Soares: I do have guilty pleasures, but I’m definitely not embarrassed about them. Sometimes, when I’m in the mood, I’ll blast Katy Perry when I’m driving home from training.
MLSsoccer.com: Who has control of the stereo in the Revolution locker room?
Soares: We have two guys. There’s Darrius Barnes, who is always putting his iPod on and getting us pumped up. He likes a lot of hip-hop and when we’re lifting weights that’s what we’re listening to. Then we have Matt Reis, who’s more my style, a little more alternative. He’ll throw stuff on anytime we’re chilling, early in the morning when we first get in or after training. If anyone else gets up there and puts something on the rest of the guys don’t like ... that’s the last time they’ll ever go up there.
MLSsoccer.com: Which musicians, dead or alive, would you have over for a fantasy dinner party and why?
Soares: John Lennon. He’s such an influential person in music and just a cool dude.
MLSsoccer.com: What song do you like to sing in the shower?
Soares: I haven’t been singing in the shower recently because I just shaved my head bald and I’ve been practicing the Bane voice from Batman. So that’s been taking up most of my time in the shower. But when I do sing in the shower, sometimes I’ll take it all the way back to “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by the Rolling Stones, if I’m in a rock ‘n’ roll mood. Other times I’ll just do my own little freestyle rap.
MLSsoccer.com: What do you think about Justin Bieber being snubbed by the Grammy Awards?
Soares: I don’t know if it’s a snub or not. I think there are so many great artists out there and it’s all just opinion. He’s great for people that like him, and he’s terrible for people that don’t like him, but I don’t think there’s any snubs. I don’t listen to his music, but having learned a little more about him, I know he’s a musician and I have respect for him for that reason.
MLSsoccer.com: Now, you’re in a band. They’re called Catch and Shoot. What do you play in the band? Do you write any of the songs?
Soares: I’m in a couple of bands, actually, but Catch and Shoot is one of them. Yeah, I write songs. I play guitar and I write lyrics. I’m a terrible singer, but I will sing a little bit for my friends. I would sing in class sometimes, for a final project, but I’m an awful singer. Without question, I’m the worst singer I know. I also play a little piano, and I can play bass, of course, which is basically like playing guitar, but I would say I’m a guitar player mostly.
MLSsoccer.com: Which song should be used in a montage of your game? In other words: What’s your "Rocky" theme tune?
Soares: If it were my retirement montage, I’d want it to be “Time To Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli. If it was me now, just making tackles and stuff, I think it’d be “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by the Stones. That song rocks.
MLSsoccer.com: OK, time for some 1-v-1. Cee Lo Green or Green Day?
Soares: Green Day.
MLSsoccer.com: iTunes or Spotify?
Soares: Spotify.
MLSsoccer.com: Bob Marley or Bob Dylan?
Soares: I can’t answer that. Both.
MLSsoccer.com: Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
Soares: Nirvana.
MLSsoccer.com: Carly Rae Jepson or Miley Cyrus?
Soares: Neither.
MLSsoccer.com: Country or metal?
Soares: Metal. I guess.
MLSsoccer.com: Prince or Queen?
Soares: Queen.
MLSsoccer.com: Eminem or a packet of M&M's?
Soares: Definitely Eminem. I don’t eat chocolate.
