So how does it feel to be interviewed by your biggest fan?

Well if you’re our biggest fan, you sure don’t know how to show it you son of a bitch!

I’ve been plenty nice to you, Todd.

haha, I’m fucking kidding. It’s awesome. It should be interesting…

Well we’ll start off on a kind of a low note. Since you last spoke to SMN, you were dropped by Artemis, so what happened and how did you end up on Rotten Records?

With the Artemis thing, we had been referred to them by Paul Schrader, Sam’s dad, famous director. He had a friend Danny Goldberg over at Artemis and we were looking for a label at that point since we left Spitfire. Paul Schrader reffered us and some of our music to Danny Goldberg and he was all about it and liked the band a lot and made it happen. He shortly thereafter left to run Air America liberal radio or whatever. Once he left we pretty much got lost in the shuffle and they did the live record, which was their idea to do. We were very apprehensive about the idea from the get go, but we went along with it hoping they would put out an actual release of new material, but that never happened. So we got lost in the shuffle and got bought out of our contract because they dropped a bunch of bands on their roster and we were one of them. So we found ourselves with no label and we had always talked to Rotten Records. They always said, “if you guys ever find yourself without a label, you have a home here.” So they were the first label we contacted, Ron and Rotten Records, and things pretty much worked out quickly from there.

There’s also been yet another lineup change with the band, with your original drummer John Ensminger returning to record the new album. How did that come about and is he officially back now?

Well, our old drummer Ollie went back home to upstate New York. He seemed like his focus wasn’t with the band and his obligations to us, like coming down for shows. He kind of made it seem like, what’s in it for him? So we were like, “well if that’s the attitude you’re going to take, then we have no other choice.” So Jasan and I started writing the record without a drummer, and basically wrote the whole thing without a drummer, for the most part. So I ran the idea past Jasan, because John had come out and seen us in Orlando, since he moved down there and got married and had a kid. He came out to a show that we played on the last Tub Ring Deja Zoo tour and everything was cool. We used to have our problems, but that was all washed away. I spoke to Jasan and said, “we should give John a call and see if he’d be up for it.” John was all about the idea, but hadn’t picked up drum sticks in two and a half or three years. We were like “all right, just start playing your drums and fly up here, we already have the shells of the songs recorded, just play to what we have.” He came up and just floored everybody. It seemed like he was a better drummer than he ever was. It worked out great and we extended the offer if he wanted to do some tours and become a member again, and he agreed to it. He quit his job about three weeks ago and is ready to go on the road.

We’re all very happy about that.

Yeah, I’m definitely happy. It’s come full circle. We’ve had so many lineup changes, at least it’s somebody who started the band with me, instead of another drummer and another new member. When you’re a band that’s been together for a long time and has had a string of bad luck and been through the gutter and seen hope on the other side, and then that hope is shit on…you kind of get frustrated and you’re like, “is this really what I want to do?” So I can completely understand why the previous members jumped ship. I’ve had that notion many times, but just never did for some reason. But it’s good to have him back. Everything’s going good.

I also noticed on the new album’s cover that Matt Rippetoe is listed. Is he a full member of the band now?

Umm…I wanted to give him credit because he’s played on four records of ours and, actually on Committed we forgot to thank him at all. I felt so horrible because he basically wrote horn parts on all of that stuff and did a great job and made our records even better than they would’ve been without him, so we felt really bad. He was such an integral part of Adultery and wrote out all the music for the trumpet and trombone players. He took so much time and effort, so we put him on the front, and it’ll help him out in his business as a session musician. I would love to have him come on tour, but I don’t think his wife would let him leave for more than five days and we’re going out for three months. If there was ever a situation where we could pay him enough and his wife would be happy we definitely would, but at this point it’s just not possible.

Your new album, Adultery, is finally coming out on April 4th. Are you happy with how it turned out?

Yeah, I’m more than happy. Words can’t even describe how pleased everybody is. I personally think it’s far beyond anything we’ve ever done. The way it turned out with us writing it without a drummer, basically Jasan and I wrote the whole record, just played guitar on Pro-Tools and mismatched up parts that we had from random pieces of music laying around and put it together like a puzzle. Then had John come in and play to it and then just started adding instrumentation to it. We lucked out. A lot of it was intuition, a lot of it was good luck, and a lot of it was Steve Wright being gracious and letting us experiment. We definitely had that creative freedom that we hadn’t had before.

So do you think it was a good thing you were dropped by Artemis, since they probably wouldn’t of let you experiment so much?

Absolutely. Rotten Records told us to go with our vision. I don’t know what Artemis would’ve said, but Rotten’s main focus right now is Dog Fashion Disco and Adultery, and we wouldn’t find that at Artemis in a million years. So I think it definitely worked out in our favor.

Is there any central theme or story on Adultery?

Yeah. We didn’t write a script or anything, but it’s basically about a guy whose the 9 to 5 business man, white collared, has a couple kids at home, and the wife waiting for him with dinner ready and before he goes to work he kisses his wife and pats his kids on the head and then he goes off to do his daily job that he does the same thing every day and gets into a routine. Well he starts having these fantasies about giving into his darker sexual and sadistic impulses. And he does, he cheats on his wife and finds that he has an appetite for drugs, booze, and debauchery and then it leads to murder and he’s trying to cover up his tracks because he doesn’t want his family to find out. It’s basically a story that has no ending because it doesn’t need to at this point. A majority of the songs, it’s obvious what I’m talking about. “Desert Grave,” he takes the hooker out into the desert and buries her body. “Moonlight City Drive,” he’s driving down the street and he sees all this filth and scum on the street…all the pimps and the pushers and hookers, and it’s making him more hateful of everyone around him and that’s when he picks up the hooker and takes her to the motel, and that’s when the private investigators start following him.

Adultery seems to be a big step away from the Day of the Dead EP, which was some of your most straightforward material to date. Was it a conscious decision to return to the band’s more experimental sound for this album?

The only time I remember a conscious decision of what we were going to do musically…I know a lot of fans hold dear to their heart Anarchist of Good Taste, I do too. That’s when we really stepped up like, “hey this is Dog Fashion Disco and this is what we’re all about.” But playing those songs live, a lot of them were very mid-tempo and we wanted to write some songs for Committed that were more up-tempo and funner and more energetic live. So with the Day of the Dead EP, I don’t even really know what we were going for. I’m happy with the way those songs turned out, but would I want to do a whole record like that? Hell no. I’ve always been a musician whose been into more experimental bands, bands that you never know what they’re going to do. They completely surprise you with every record they put out, obviously like Bungle. So with the new album, Jasan’s more from…his old band Margaret Heater was a lot like, more radio friendly/pop song structures, and I’ve come from the school of more eclectic/left of center, weird shit. He came up with the songs that sound more straightforward and I came up with the songs that sound a little weirder and crazier and we just put them together and compromised on what we had.

You recently filmed a video for “Silent Film.” How did that go?

It turned out good, Carlos Batts the director who did “Leper Friend,” we went out to a friend of his’ house whose a high priest in the satanic church. He has this kitchen that’s filled with probably 300 license plates that are covering the walls and each license plate is from a different state but the main thing that they all have in common is that they say “666″ on the license plate somewhere. And he had a hearse and a coffin and all this weird shit, so Carlos is like, “lets go to this guys house in Baltimore and shoot some footage.” Then we put in some old super 8 weird, almost looks like the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre kind of footage, like real old and gritty 8mm film. And I think it turned out good. We had a shoe string budget, for what we had for money to spend on it, Carlos did a great job. It’s got a cool vibe to it. We’re thinking about doing a “Desert Grave” video too.

It’s no secret that the past couple of years for the band haven’t gone too well. What do you think was the biggest set back you suffered?

I think signing with Artemis and then having them drop us was a huge waste of everyone’s time, especially the fact they decided to do a live record first. We were all against it. Why the hell would we want to do that? Aerosmith live records don’t sell well, why do you think our’s would? That was what we felt would make them happy, but it didn’t work out. A lot of momentum was lost and a lot of time was wasted with Artemis. I think the only time where we had momentum going was with Anarchist and now we’re here how many years later, and now everything is focused and there’s that focus that we had back when Anarchist was just coming out. And there’s that push and word on the street and Internet that we’re not dead and we’re back with a bad ass fucking record and ready to tour.

Is it safe to say that this album is the band’s last effort, or do you think you’ll continue on if it still doesn’t take off?

On Rotten Records, not down playing what they’re about or what they can do….but with the labels we were on before, if we would’ve sold 30,000 records there would’ve been a question of whether they would want to put more time and effort into us. If we were to sell 30,000 records on Rotten, then absolutely. I think Ron would be very eager to do another record. As long as he’s happy and everyone’s making enough to pay their rent, then we’ll keep going. As far as I see, everything’s going in the right direction. The album is getting great reviews and a lot of attention because it’s so different than anything out there right now.

What do you think will be the band’s biggest tool towards gaining success with this CD?

MySpace. MySpace and the record itself. MySpace is free advertisement, it’s unbelievable, that’s why every band and their mother is on MySpace.

So have you fucked any girls you met off of MySpace yet?

Umm…

…or guys…

Right, right. Umm…no. I’ve gotten re-acquainted with old fuck buddy..girls on MySpace. Like, “hey, how’ve you been? We should meet up.” No new ones. I’m not really on there to patrol for women. All of us look, but I’m not sending them messages trying to get in some girl’s pants in fucking Albuquerque.

Getting a different bitch in every city.

Yeah, you know, keep it real. I got my bitches in all digits. If I’m on MySpace, I’m trying to get new fans for Dog Fashion Disco.

haha, so are you excited for your upcoming tour with Tub Ring and Look What I Did?

Yeah, we had such a great time with Tub Ring, the two bands go well together. Look What I Did, I recently saw them at Sonar in Baltimore and they were really cool and had a lot of energy. After that we’re doing probably about a week’s worth of dates on the Warped Tour. Then hopefully heading over to Europe and then coming back to the States to start the Fall with another tour that I can’t really say what it’s going to be right now. So touring for the rest of the year.

What kind of set list can fans expect? And will you be playing any older songs?

Yeah, some Anarchist stuff that we…you know, through all your criticism and frustration you’ve caused me, one thing that I have taken advice from you is that…we play the same set over and over again, and you’re exactly right. A lot of that has to do with the newest members only knowing about 12 songs. John and the rest of us know probably 18 or 19 songs that we can play. There’s definitely going to be some ones that we usually play like “Rapist Eyes” and “Worm In A Dog’s Heart” or “Love Song For A Witch,” but then we’re definitely going to throw in “Vertigo Motel” a lot, 6 new songs from the new record, “Cartoon Autopsy,” “Pogo The Clown” will definitely always be there, “The Acid Memoirs,” “Fetus On The Beat,” there’ll be some songs people haven’t heard in a real long time live.

What bands are you currently listening to?

Umm…I don’t listen any music really anymore, I don’t like any bands. The only band I can think of, as of late that I listen to, is System of a Down. I don’t like any bands, I’m really picky….you know who I do like, that’s a newer heavy band, Every Time I Die.

ha, you actually like that shit?

I do! I don’t fucking roll the windows down on a sunny day and rock out to it or anything, but from what I’ve heard, I think it’s cool.

What about Dillinger then?

Yeah, Dillinger is amazing. I don’t own any of their CDs, but I think they’re a fucking retardedly amazing band. I can’t even imagine being able to play those songs.

Hypothetical question: who would you rather play with, a reunited Faith No More or Clutch?

Definitely reunited Faith No More, because that’s just like my youth. We’ve played with Clutch before, they’re probably my favorite band, besides maybe Radiohead and System of a Down. Clutch is a band I grew up listening to, but they’re more tangible, I’ve hung out with those guys and seen them in small 200 capacity clubs. Faith No More, I got to see probably three times, and there’s still a mystery there. It’s something that happen so long ago, it’s almost like it wasn’t real. That would be the biggest music news story to happen in a long time, Faith No More reuniting. They’ve influenced every band that we listen to. Opening for them would be amazing, but that aint going to happen.

haha, sadly. Well that’s pretty much it, do you have any final words for everyone reading?

Just pick up the record, come out to the shows on the tour starting in April. Spread the word!

www.dogfashiondisco.com
www.myspace.com/dogfashiondisco

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 12:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

57Sprinklesofpain wrote:

Fucking liar. We demand another album!

January 31st, 2007 at 10:27 am

ASOmartin wrote:

^ what he said ^

April 3rd, 2007 at 12:34 pm

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