Bret Michaels, former frontman for Poison, is coming to Quincy for not one, but two nights. Well, he and his band aren’t coming alone. Attention of Minneapolis, Minn., is coming along on the Roses and Thorns tour.

Attention’s guitarist and vocalist, Eric Malmberg, contacted me about the show. Below are some of his thoughts on the tour, his band and the Quincy show. It turns out they have previously toured with The Graduate, a Quincy band.

Attention

Attention

MEMBERS
Jeremy Tappero – lead vocals and guitar
Eric Malmberg – guitar and vocals
Robert Lindsey – bass
David Jarnstrom – drums

ABOUT THE BAND
“Attention is based out of Minneapolis. Our current lineup has been together for about three years. In the past three years, we have released three albums — ‘Stand Strong,’ ‘Everything Takes Forever’ and our latest release, ‘Through the Wire.’ We have also had the opportunity to play shows in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom with artists such as The Forecast, Jonah Matranga, The Graduate, Jimmy Eat World and of course Bret Michaels.”

MUSIC
“I would call Attention a pop-rock band, but we lean more towards rock than towards pop. Some of our favorite bands are Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Led Zeppelin and Green Day.”

TOURING WITH MICHAELS
“Our booking agent is also Bret’s booking agent. When Bret was getting ready for his 2010 tour, our agent asked us if we’d like to join him for the first leg. And of course, we said yes! The tour with Bret has been awesome. All of us grew up being big fans of Poison, and so the chance to tour with him has been both surreal and tons of fun. The crowds have been great, and the shows have been some of the best we’ve ever played. Our hopes for this tour were pretty high, and it has definitely lived up to, if not exceeded, all of our expectations.”

QUINCY SHOW
“We realize that a lot of the show goers haven’t really heard our band before, so we try to get everyone involved in the set right away. We’ll do some crowd sing alongs and even throw in some familiar surprises at the end of our set, but we are mostly playing songs off our new album, ‘Through the Wire.’ Overall, we’re just really excited to play in Quincy. We know the shows have been generating a lot of buzz, and we’re pumped to be a part of it. As for Bret’s illness, we’re all glad he caught the problem before it turned into something more serious. He’s had to cancel a few shows, but as far as I know, everything looks to be on schedule for the shows in Quincy.”

Attention will be at Backwaters in Quincy at 8 p.m. April 28 and 29. Tickets are available at TNT Action Sports, 5101 Oak.

Jessica Martin
jmartin@whig.com