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Anyone who likes raw, sleazy, heavy, and in your face metal, will love the band dope! Anyone seeing the band perform Live will be blown away even more! This isn’t a band for the weak at heart, and if you don’t want to be offended by the loud, rude ass kicking, blunt profanity of singer Edsel Dope and his band, you probably shouldn’t have gone to the show in the first place!
Dope’s debut album “Felons And Revolutionaries” came out in 2000 grabbing the metal world by the balls, with songs like “Everything Sucks,” and “Wake up.” Since 2000, dope has released “Life” in 2001, and “Group Therapy” in 2003 which led up to one of their best albums yet, “American Apathy.”
“American Apathy” is a very strong record with some of the bands best work yet with songs like “No Way Out,” “Survive” and “Bastard,” just to name a few. The album is set to explode on the shelves July 26th followed by an American tour with Mushroomhead!
Glam-Metal recently caught up with Mr. Dope himself for the second time to discuss the new record “American Apathy,” the 2005 summer tour, and a bunch of other shit, so kick back and read what Edsel Dope has to say, and keep a watchful eye open, because they may be rolling into your town soon! Enjoy!
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Edsel Dope, welcome back to Glam-Metal! How the hell are you man?
Hey Doobie! I’m great man! I’m causing trouble, making records and staying out of jail, and oh... I don’t know...occasionally doing something stupid! (Laughs)
(Laughs) Staying out of jail is a good thing man. Ok, I’ve got a couple of questions for you. I want to start out by saying we at Glam-Metal don’t care about your hair or your dick size, it’s the music that matters most.
(Laughs) Alright man, I like that!
You have a new record coming out this month titled “American Apathy,” how does this record compare to previous dope records, musically, and lyrically?
I think that this is the record that probably everybody expected us to make after our debut album, “Felons And Revolutionaries.” It’s really heavy, it’s really politically driven, and truthfully...Um, what’s the word that I’m looking for... It probably represents dope better than I think any record that we’ve made yet, just in the sense that it gives you that same feeling you get from the band when you go see us live. So...anybody that’s into the live aspect of dope, and was into the first record, the gutter like vibe of what it was all about is what we’ve really tried to capture in this record.
Yeah, I’ve heard some of the tracks man. I fucking love this record. It’s heavy.
Yeah, it’s heavy, but it still grooves, and it’s still fun, and it’s you know... like I said, It’s a dirty, sleazy, rock, metal record that chicks dig and that dudes will throw down in the pit. I think it’s the right record to represent where this band is at right now, and really encompasses I think what the favorite parts of what most people like this band for.
Last time we talked with you, “American Apathy” was scheduled to be released in February. What was the hold up?
A lot of just figuring out exactly what we wanted the record to wind up being track listing wise, and ah, we were going through some different ideas of what we were going to do label wise to put the record out, and then the label that we were on, which is Artemis Records, the person who ran and operated Artemis Records, Danny, left the company. He was the guy that actually signed us, so...it was just a lot of political nonsense and by the time everything got straightened out, it just kept getting pushed back until the time where it is now, so...one stupid thing after another man.
I thought maybe it had something to do with you being the perfectionist that you are.
It’s always got something to do with it, but at the end of the day it was more so just trying to get all the ducks in a row. We’re still on our album every two year cycle, so that’s alright, and I’m sure that we’ll have another record out within a year or two, so...you know, it’s all good.
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Are you the sole writer, and where does your creativity and inspiration come from?
Well, originally that’s the way it started, but nowadays I pretty much write everything with my guitar player Virus, so...inspiration I’d like to say is lacking these days, just because we’ve written so many songs in this band, but I think the inspiration for writing this record was just coming off the road and trying to continue with the feeling that we get from playing live, and going into the studio, we wanna write songs and record songs that we know are going to be fun to play live. The last couple records, that really wasn’t the goal, the goal was just to try and broaden the bands sound and try to prove to ourselves and to everybody that the band was a little bit more broad than I think we had a reputation for being, but fuck all that, we’re done with that! Now we’re ready to bring the band back down to the gutter where we started and just let this record be the live, dirty, raw, dope record that we wanted to make, which is like I said, represents what we do live. So that was the goal, to make a record that people can pop into their cd players, and go “ this reminds me of what it’s like to see dope live.”
What’s your favorite song on the new record?
Either “Survive,” or “No Way Out.”
“No Way Out” is my favorite man. A good fucking song!
Yeah, that’s a good one. I think “Bastard” is a fun one too.
I like “Always” as well... their all good tunes man.
Thanks. I’m happy with the way it turned out as a whole, you know? I think it’s good. There’s sixteen songs on the record, and then if you buy the limited edition version you get like another bonus disk with six more songs on it, which is twenty-two songs. If you buy the record at Best Buy, you get twenty-two songs, plus a twenty-five minute DVD, and the retail on the record I think is only like twelve bucks, so...That’s pretty good.
It seems like you’re trying to say something through your music. Am I correct, and what is it you’re trying to say man? Let’s let the world hear it now.
Fuck off! How about that? Fuck off is what I’m trying to say. Um, it just depends on the song and the mood, but I think as a whole, this record is a big FUCK YOU to everybody. If you look at the liner notes of the record, it’s kind of the same thing...
So, fuck you to everybody, but buy our records! (Laughs)
Hey, when I say everybody, I mean myself too! Fuck everything man, just...I mean, that’s what this record is meant to do, so um...there’s messages within every song. I think it’s up to the listener to listen to those songs and to see what it is that it does for them, but it definitely does a lot for me to get this crap out, and once again, it’s all about being able to play these songs live, and knowing that these are songs that people are going to be able to relate to and learn very quickly and fucking slam with the band. That’s what it’s about.
People do seem a bit uptight these days.
I agree.
Overall, how happy are you with “American Apathy?”
I’m happy with it, like I said, it’s definitely the vision of what I thought this record should be. And again, I think that the people that have been behind this band for a long time will be very happy with it. I think that if there’s people that maybe liked the first record, and liked the heavier stuff off the last couple of records more, this is probably a record that’ll be probably more up their alley, because the majority of this album is pretty in your face and brutal.
That’s the kind of music I dig, in your face with the middle finger up.
It’s the type of music that makes you wanna drive really fast! (Laughs) You should have seen me making the clean version of this album! It was a fucking joke dude! Every other word is “Fuck” on this record.
You’ve had some member changes in the past, who is currently in Dope?
Well, I’ve got the same drummer that I’ve had for the last three albums, same guitar player that I’ve had on the last three albums. I have a new bass player named Bricks, who replaced our former bass player that fell in-love with a drag queen. I think he got married and moved to Poland I think it was. Something weird like that, so I don’t know, that’s the deal, but the band line-up is great, it’s Racci Shay on drums, Virus on guitar, Edsel Dope singing and playing rhythm guitar, and Bricks playing bass. I feel like we’re as good as we’ve ever been, and I think Live we’re probably better than we’ve ever been, because we’re all more seasoned and more relaxed, got more material now to choose from than we’ve ever had, and it’s good man...the other thing that we’re really excited about is that we’re starting to break out internationally now. We’re doing great in Japan. This band does really good in America, but you go to Japan and it’s like we’re super hero’s or something. We’re looking to get over to some other countries, to Germany and some other places in Europe on this album which we haven’t been able to do in the past, so things are good, we can’t complain. Especially for being a band at the independent level that we are with independent labels, and not trying to be the next big thing, you know... and being the top ten on the radio and all that crap, which is not really what our focus is. Considering all that, we’re right where I think we should be and have a really good chance to continue to do this for quite along time. We’re not a trend of the month, you know?
Cool, maybe you guys can get over to Poland. (Laughs) That’s kind of funny him moving to Poland of all places. (Laughs)
Yeah, no shit! I think he took a boat to man, I don’t even think he flew!
He took a boat!?
Yeah, it’s really weird. It was a really weird story, I don’t know, but whatever man.
Are you still planning on recording a live DVD or CD, and when can dope fans expect this?
I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time, it’s just a matter of making sure that it’s done right.
Basically, it would be you and the band ripping it on stage, right?
Yeah, but it’s gotta be filmed right, it’s gotta look right, you know? I don’t want it to not be done right. The good thing is, there’s a DVD that we’re gonna have with us on the road, a version of the record with a DVD that’s got the new video that just went to Headbangers Ball for the song “Survive,” and that’s got a lot of the footage from us playing Live in Japan, which is pretty great, so I’m sure kids will get their hands on that. There’s all kinds of stuff floating around out there that if the real dope fans wanna find it, they’ll find it.
What’s the DVD that comes included in the Limited Edition CD?
There’s a couple of different ones. There’s the Best Buy version which has a bunch of little clips of us playing in Japan and the MTV version of the “Bitch” video which is really hard to find, and just a few other shenanigans. It’s not the greatest most highly produced thing, I actually literally did it in two days. Best Buy called us up, and they were like” We really want this added value, can we get a DVD?” I was really rushed to make it happen, but I just wanted to put a lot of content on there so that the people that went to Best Buy and bought the record and got this bonus disk would be happy with it, but by no means is it a big high production thing that I would sell, you know, it’s free. There’s a lot of cool stuff on it, I think people will appreciate it, especially considering that it’s free, you know?
You are about to embark on a tour with Mushroomhead, why did you choose them as your support act?
Actually, we’re doing the tour together. They’re going on last every night, because they have so much production and they’re just coming off their major label, but we just get along really good with them. We’ve played a bunch of shows with them in the last couple of years, we all get along, there’s no ego battles, and I think that the biggest thing that we both share is that both bands are dedicated to our live show, and to the production of a live show and making sure that the kids get their monies worth. There’s not a competitive attitude between dope and Mushroomhead, we work together to make sure that there’s enough stage space for both bands to do their full show, so that the kids get their monies worth and walk away thinking that dope and Mushroomhead both blew them away. That’s really important, and I think that’s missing in music, and us and Mushroomhead both agree with it.
My bad, I assumed they were opening up.
No, you’d be surprised, that band has sold a good number of records and done really well, they have a lot of fans out there, so the two bands together make a really good package, and in most parts of the country are able to sell a lot of tickets. It’s gonna be a good show.
Will they be on the whole tour?
Yes, doing the whole tour. The Jagermeister Music For Freedom Tour.
What can Dope fans expect from this tour?
Ah...probably to go deaf! The sound guy on this tour is a maniac, he’s gonna crank it up loud. It’s what to expect from anytime you go see dope. Especially when it’s a room full of rowdy kids.
How long is this tour expected to run, and are you going to be adding more dates?
As of right now, I believe the last dates gonna be September the 18th, so it goes about eight weeks. And we’re doing pretty much the whole country.
Being on the road touring, you are bound to run into many different walks of life. What’s one of the craziest things you’ve witnessed on the road?
It’s so hard, because I’ve been around so long and I’ve gone through all my good tour stories.
We haven’t heard any yet!
Yeah you have, your lying. I’m so tired of talking about all the pornographic things.
Well, I didn’t know if something really stuck out in your mind.
Well, the best story was when that he-she transvestite or whatever it was found my old bass player. It’s really weird, but I wanna say it stuck a lamp up his ass or something like that, it was really cooky! (Laughs)
(Laughs) You want this on the record man?
What do I care, it’s not my problem, he’s the one in Poland, not me! I don’t know man, there’s been so many stories and so many crazy things...lets say this, the goal on this tour is to create new stories.
Save it all for the Edsel Dope book then man.
That’s what I like! That’s what I’m talking about.
Last interview with us you mentioned that you were going to produce the new Twisted Method CD. Since then, they broke up what happened with that?
The band is now called Make Shift Romeo.
Same band?
No, not the same band, two guys from Twisted Method, a drummer from a band called Slithering and the bass player from MotorGrator. They are currently adding another guitar player to the band. So far we’ve done eight songs, they’ve been showcasing for some labels recently, and they’ve got some really good interest, so it’s looking really good. I expect for a Make Shift Romeo record to hit stores sometime early next year.
Are you currently producing any other bands?
I’m working on a band that all the metal people will hate, it’s called Suck Or Punch. It’s real pop, rock, fun kinda Green Dayish. That record’s coming out really good, and that’s pretty much it right now. I’m probably going to work on some of the Mushroomhead stuff with those guys while we’re out on tour, and I’ll be working on some other dope stuff as well. But yeah, those are the only things that are serious projects that we’re working on right now. Outside of dope is Make Shift Romeo and Suck Or Punch.
Metal Edge Magazine is doing a monthly column called “The Straight Dope with Edsel Dope,” where fans email you questions and you answer them. How did that come about?
I’ve known the editor for Metal Edge forever, and he’s just a great friend of mine, and we were just bull-shitting one day on how I have a pretty good handle on these kids because I’ve toured so much and been through so many things. I was just telling him how when I go on tour that my fans don’t ask me the typical questions like “What are your influences” and “How did you make it,” because they all know that by now, because we’ve been around for so long. I’ve got kids coming to me now going “ Oh man, I’ve got this problem.” I’m starting to feel like I’m Dear Abby or something man! We thought it would be a good idea to have kids email me with questions and stuff, and I could give them my perspective on things because people seem to think that it’s interesting or funny, so we thought it would be a good idea and we did it as a test and we got flooded with so many emails that it made us realize that there was definitely something to be done, so we went at it full steam, and it’s been doing really good.
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I noticed you are getting a bunch of emails man.
Yeah, I get tons of emails from it, and all the craziest questions you can imagine. It’s pretty cool. It’s not something that I ever really expected to do, but it’s been fun and it just makes me feel like it established me that much more as being that guy who’s been around for a long time that everybody knows, and makes me feel like I got a little bit of extra respect in the business for my two cents on life as a whole, you know?
Do you listen to your own stuff much?
Not particularly, I listen to the stuff that I’m producing a lot, like the non dope stuff. I kinda listen to it as I’m working on it. I’ve been listening to a lot of the Make Shift Romeo stuff lately, and the Suck Or Punch stuff.
What’s a couple of bands that you really dig these days?
The stuff that I like that’s out there right now... unfortunately, I like the same shit that everybody else likes. I love the new System Of A Down, that is a great album, I love Christopher Cross, he’s great...
Christopher Cross? (Laughs)
Yeah man, when you get caught between the moon and New York city, how can you go wrong with that? Um...that’s always good and I think that’s pretty much it. I mean I’ve got my old favorites, but everybody knows of that. Everybody knows that Edsel has a copy of Motley Crue’s “Shout At The Devil.”
What do you like to do when you aren’t working or touring man?
Ah...broads! I don’t know man, I work a lot, and I work for fun a lot.
Any hobbies?
Not really man. What’s really weird is that my whole life, music was my hobby. It was what I did every waking second when I wasn’t trying to make a living. Now that Music is how I make a living, it’s really fucked up, because now I’m working to get paid, when I’m producing a record, or making a dope record. Me and my guitar player Virus, do a lot of music for ESPN and for video games and stuff, so we’re constantly working on things that are bringing in revenue, but then when we’re not working on something that’s money related that’s our job, then it’s like... well, it’s a hobby. At the end of the day, that’s all we fucking do man. We don’t have a life, we just make records. That’s all we do. But hey, I’m not complaining, because we don’t have to work day jobs. I love the fact that I’ve been in this band since 1996 and I haven’t fucking worked a day job in ten years now. So, I have no desire to have a hobby because that just means that I’m making music that much less. I would like to play basketball a little more frequently than I do, but I live in Chicago where it’s either fucking snowing or hot as a bitch, so...
Dude I hear that. It’s brutal here today, I don’t know what it’s like in your area, but it’s fucking hot!
It’s ridiculous here today!
What’s one of the biggest things that pisses you off in this country?
Just the fact that we allow this President to run our country is a joke man. The guy can’t even speak man. That kinda pisses me off. The world in general doesn’t really piss me off anymore, because I’m just used to it. I’m more pissed off at things that effect me directly, which are more job related things, and dealing with electric companies that don’t know what the fuck they’re doing and everything else, but ah...I guess as a whole, I wish there weren’t so many lousy parents that don’t educate their kids, and don’t teach them right from wrong, and I wish there weren’t so many stupid people that just don’t realize how easy it is if you just put one foot in front of the other, you know? People over complicate things with their ignorance.
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Never Under estimate stupid people in large groups.
That’s true man, that’s true.
Is there anything I didn’t ask that you’d like to mention?
I don’t think so. I think you’re pretty good. I think we did it all, we got the tour and the new record, and the bands that we’re working with, and you probably have the website information, so, I think it’s all good man.
Anything you’d like to say to all the Dope fans out there?
I’ll see you in the pit!
Edsel, thanks a lot for talking with Glam-Metal, and Good luck with the new record and the upcoming tour!
Thanks man!
Want more dope man? check out www.dopearmy.com
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