Back with a new album “Blood Money” and doing a
tour, Dope is
and they are showing us what we have been missing in their absence.! We had a chance to sit down with Edsel for a one on one exclusive interview and find out what he has been up to and to hear about the new album and his future plans. We also covered his show here in Vegas and picked up a copy of the new album “Blood Money and share our thoughts on this brilliant album. Dope is back!!!
Jamie Paullus
Jamie Paullus continues to WOW our readers with the BEST Spokane has to offer - this month: music greats Halestorm and
Page 36
Sherry Keith
Mystic Photography continues her up close and personal view into the Vegas music scene with Dope and Motograter... Page 20
<CV> Let’s start off with introducing the band and their roles.
<EDSEL> That is a loaded question. The band is like a fraternity at this point. There is no set line up and there never will be one again because it doesn’t make sense for me to tie myself to a certain group when I have so many guys to choose from and all these guys also have other gigs. So this a cool experience for us because me and Virus have played a million shows together in the last how many years. Acey has come back to do this, Racci I have not played with him in a while but I did go to the UK with Acey and Racci without Virus a little while ago, so again it’s weird it’s just always filling it up with whoever is available and whoever is excited, but I have such a robust list of guys that have the look and that know the songs, and again every album has had a different line up. Without putting myself in company that I may not deserve, it’s very much like a Nine Inch Nails. Trent Resnor always fields a great band but you don’t always know who it’s going to be, but you know it’s going to be Nine Inch Nails and it’s going to have the spirit of Nine Inch Nails, so we are kind of following that same suit.
<CV> It has to be cool to have so many close friends that are willing and ready to tour with you at any moment.
<EDSEL> Oh yea, it’s really cool but then again, you say any moment but it’s based on availability too. These guys are busy. Acey is doing the Misfits gig which is ridiculous, Virus was doing that Device thing for the longest time, my current drummer is playing in Marilyn Manson now. I seem to be a window too for a lot of these guys to come into the business. I don’t know if I am a
good scout or I groom them right. Whatever it is, a lot of these dudes I know how to pick them ya know, they all continue to succeed and do well and I encourage it ya know. I’ve never been one of those guys who tries to own anyone.
<CV> I understand you originally formed in 1997. Give us just a little history on that.
<EDSEL> We got signed out of New York City to Epic Records in 1998 and released the first record in 99, we did two records with Epic and then moved to Chicago. We did a few more records in
Chicago and I recently relocated to the West Coast so I am an LA guy now.
<CV> Tell us how you came up with the name for the band?
<EDSEL> Me and my brother who was in the band in the early days, I liked all kinds of music when I was growing up and I was very fascinated with the NWA story of how Eazy-E sold drugs and started a record company with the money financed from his efforts and got with Ice-Cube and Dr. Dre. If they did not have the finances from Eazy –E to make that happen, it would have been a very different road for them. They really did not have to play by any rules and I had a very similar idea creatively of what I wanted to do and I knew that I needed financing for it so I decided I was going to follow the Eazy-E route. So me and my brother had a very successful underground drug operation in New York City at the time and it just made sense. We recorded a lot of the music and we knew what the spirit of the band was and we did all this behind the scenes and when it was time to pick a name, as soon as it was said out loud we were like well that’s it.
<CV> What originally got you into music and at what age did you know this was the path for you?
<EDSEL> It was really young for me, probably 12 or 13 when I knew it was that or nothing. I started out playing drums when I was a kid, I was really good and really thought that is what my future was going to be. As I played in bands I learned more and more that bands are ultimately sort of branded into the singer and I could never find a singer that I felt had work ethic and the same aggressive,
<CV> Ambition?
<EDSEL> Well, beyond ambition but that’s a great word, just the never say die attitude. I was very disappointed in the lead singers that I played with as a kid when I was playing drums and I said to myself one day I need to figure out how to become that guy so that I don’t have to rely on somebody, because if I put my entire heart and soul into this and that guy turns out to be a flake ,well then I am at square one. That is what
encouraged me to take the step and to start writing songs and figuring out how I could find my voice and all that good stuff. I knew pretty young that I wanted to be an entertainer and that I wanted to play music.
<CV> My friends and I will sometimes get into conversations and a few of them have gotten upset with me for this but I can’t stand a lot of what’s coming out right now, to me it all sounds the same and it’s just redundant . I just don’t care for a lot of it. I like when I hear something that is different from what everyone else is doing and reaches out and grabs me.
<EDSEL> My opinion on that is I feel like it depends on what you are listening to. I feel like what the industry still embraces in the “active” rock world, there are the top dogs that have “earned” their place. Disturbed, Slipknot and those bands, but then for whatever reason Octane and Active Rock Radio, everything they wanna play still sounds like 2002 . It’s very odd to me when you listen to it, and it’s just like you said, it all sounds the same, it all sounds like Theory of a Dead-
<CV> *laughing* Nickelback
<EDSEL> Yea, it all sounds like that except maybe it’s a little heavier.
<CV> Exactly
<EDSEL> At the end of the day it’s that same style, Three Days Grace, that shit. That shit has been popular since ’02. How has that scene NOT evolved? But the truth of the matter is, if you wanna see, and I love it when I hear people say “Rock is dead” . I say, well you’re a moron. Go to Warped tour.
<CV> Oh yea!
missing.” That’s because everyone that is into Active Rock is FUCKING old!! *everyone bursts into laughter*
<EDSEL> That is where the future is. That’s where Motionless in White and Atilla ,Falling In Reverse and Black Veil Brides and all of these bands that people want to dis count because they say “oh,I listen to Active Rock and I really don’t understand that music and it’s for the kids.” Well there was a time when what “You” loved was for the kids, the kids dictate where shit goes.
<CV> This is very true.
<EDSEL> That’s the future. So I think that Asking Alexandria and those bands are really fucking good bands with really good songs. They are just a little different. like their break downs and their grooves, they are a little different than the Active Rock thing is because it’s being translated differently from a younger generation and that’s what it’s “supposed” to be. Like the world that I come from, the Disturbed and Slipknot came from and Korn was very different from 80’s metal or Nirvanna. If you listened to Nirvanna and then all of a sudden Slipknot came on the scene you probably were like “I don’t know about this.” So if you only listened to Slipknot and Disturbed and bands like Asking Alexandria or Atilla come on the scene you might go “I don’t know about this.” If you “actually” listen to those bands or more importantly go to a show, you will be blown away by how many 14 to 18 year old people there are that know every single word that are in the pit going fucking crazy. Then you go “oh this is that electricity that Active Rock is
That’s the difference! It’s got youth and where youth exists, exists a different type of energy or type of fandom. So when I hear people say that rock is dead I go you’re a fuckin moron go to Warped Tour. It’s there, it’s live, it’s fun, it’s youthful it’s just different. Like I don’t care what you think of the Band Black Veil Brides, go see a show.
<CV> *laughing* Yea, one of them is friend of mine and I shot a few of their shows in Seattle, it was insane.
<EDSEL> Yea, go to a show and watch 2500 14 to 20 year old people scream every word at the top of their lungs and act like it’s Bon Jovi, it’s like holy shit.
<CV> Oh yea they do, and they cry, it’s crazy to see all of that.
<EDSEL> I have nothing but respect for anybody that can move people like that. That’s what it’s all about, it’s not about my opinion on whether I like the band or not, the proof is in the pudding. It’s the fact that you have an army, a legion of kids that bleed for it, that love it and it affects their life to where like you said, they cry when they see it. That’s fuckin real, you can’t fake it, you can’t package it, that’s real.
<CV> You absolutely hit the nail on the head 100%.
<CV> Who would you consider your biggest music influences and why?
<EDSEL> I think for Dope, at the time that we came out, I think you could look at Dope and hear a combination of Motely Crue, Ministry, and like Rage Against The Machine. That sort of made up early Dope. It had a political element to it, it had an industrial element to it and then it had a cock rock musical element to it. Me as an individual it was like Gene Simmons and the blood and Motley Crue, Shout At The Devil and Animal from the Muppets. It was those things where I was like, I belong in music.
<CV> *laughing* Nice! I actually posted a video the other day of Animal and Dave Grohl and I was like omg this is so awesome! *laughing*
<EDSEL> Yea, no doubt!
<CV> Ok, let’s talk about the new album that actually came out today correct
<EDSEL> You are correct!
<CV> “Blood Money” Part 1 and you plan on doing it in two parts? Tell us about that.
<EDSEL> Who knows, it might be more. It’s definitely going to be more than one.
<CV> So give us some insight on this album.
<EDSEL> It’s our first record in several years. It represents a larger chunk of my life because there is a longer gap between albums, so there was a tremendous amount of material written. That is why I chose to make it a multi part album because it would feel very weird to me to have all these songs written in the same time frame and then call it something different. So that’s what that is all about. It’s a bit more of an internal record, meaning that there are kind of two kinds of songs I write. I feel like I write songs that are looking inward and that sort of reflect what I’m feeling as a human being and experiences that I am going through that are very personal, and then there are those outward songs where you are looking out at the world making your judgements and casting your stones at what you feel the world is at the moment. This is a bit more of an internal record because that is where I have been with my life. I can feel
one of those outward records coming especially with where our politics are and all that stuff. This record was definitely me being away from the road for a little while, purposely trying to find more balance in my life because I spent about 12 years doing nothing but touring and making records. I sacrificed a lot to do that. I missed several children being born in my family, funeral of my grandparents, I missed weddings. Everything came second to the band. So when I kind of reached a point where I needed to find some balance in my life, this record represents a lot of that for me. A lot of what I was dealing with on a personal level, so it’s a bit more of an inward look.
<CV> As far as the writing, do you do all the writing or is it a joined effort?
<EDSEL> I would say I’m the filter. So I write all the lyrics but I collaborate with a handful of
dudes that bring me riffs or I will bring them riffs and together we will embellish them and make them better. I feel like the word filter is really good because even if one of my guys brings me a riff and says “here’s the riff” usually I will listen to it and be like “wow, I really that but let’s do this to it or let’s do that to it.” Then it kind of takes on its form that makes it dope.
<CV> Tell us about the recording process, anything you like or dislike?
<EDSEL> That’s a hard one for me. I do it all myself. I’m a producer and an engineer and I direct our music videos.
<CV> Oh wow, very cool!
<EDSEL> I’m kind of a record company’s wet dream, I’m a one stop shop. All they have to do is call me up and I go ok, here it is, manufacture it. I do it all. I think that the part I like the least as time goes on is you have to do the same thing over and over again. Like when I put my hands on a guitar there are certain places my hands like to go naturally and then I’m like damn, that’s that song. Truthfully as an artist, I feel like I’ve always been very honest and I’ve also been very wide. We have songs like “Die Mother Fucker Die”
<CV> I love that song *laughing*
<EDSEL> Well then we have songs on that same record that are arguably acoustic songs. We are very wide in where we go and the reason I have always been like that is because I feel like that’s me honestly being an artist and expressing where I’m at. Whether it’s an outward look or whether it’s looking internally. I’m not one of that guy that looks at my band and says “oh, we can’t do that.” Some bands will be like “oh well that is a song about a relationship, a song that is expressing that emotion and we don’t do that, we only write stuff about this.” To me that’s like are you marketing right now? That’s a marketing decision, not an artistic decision.
<CV> I think it’s great when bands don’t limit themselves to one type of music, topic, etc. I love when I see different sides; it makes it more exciting to NOT know what is coming next. It’s almost like they are afraid to go out of the box, or
their comfort zone.
<EDSEL> Well for me, I write where I am at and I hope that it connects with people that have taken this journey with us. We always continue to grow and expand our sound based on what is happening currently. I definitely draw influence from new bands as much as I do from stuff that got me into this originally. That’s why I think if you listen to Dope albums and if you come out you can see the band has gotten much more intelligent with the delivery, the musicianship has increased because when we came out originally it was 1999 and the world was going to end and it was very punk rock spirited and very simple new metal riffs and that’s expanded through the years. Our last album “No Regrets” was a really smart record, this record “Blood Money” pretty smart record. There are songs on this record that if you can’t play guitar really well and you can’t play drums really well, you won’t be able to play this shit. That wasn’t the case of our first album, it
was very rudimentary, it was very punk rock and simple. So the band just continues to expand and do what we do and somehow the spirit of “Dope” remains. I don’t know if that’s because I’m the filter. I love it when people tell me “that does not sound like Dope”. I’m like “who the fuck are you to tell me what Dope sounds like.” I’m fuckin Dope. *everyone laughing* That’s the most ignorant statement of all.
<CV> I agree.
<EDSEL> It may not sound like “your” favorite Dope song, but that’s why you have six other albums to go fuckin listen to. You like what you like and you don’t like what you don’t like, and that’s all good. It is what is and it’s hard. I never judge art as saying it’s really good or bad, it’s a matter of opinion. There is no right or wrong, there is no crystal ball, and there is no barometer for it. If there was then everyone would know how to make hits, and no one does. That’s why it’s all left to public opinion. That’s why your favorite band or your favorite song might be completely opposite from somebody else. Which is another thing I love about this band, this band has been around a very long time and we have never had a top ten hit ever, we have never had a big huge single. So you can pull Dope fans, you can grab 20 fans from the show tonight and say “What’s your favorite Dope song, and I bet you won’t have a really clear favorite. You will hear oh I like Bitch, oh I like this song Violence, oh I like their cover of “Rebel Yell”. You will have a bunch of different vibes. That has been very beneficial to us as well that we are very wide.
<CV> I’m glad you brought that up because I was listening to some videos as I was getting ready ,and I actually feel really bad now because I did not know you had done “Rebel Yell” and I heard that and I was like Holy Shit!
<EDSEL> Oh we killed Rebel Yell
<CV> Oh yea, that fuckin rocked! I was like whoa, gotta hear that again!
<EDSEL> I’ve hear a lot of covers of Rebel Yell and I have not been impressed by a lot of them, but that’s my own personal preference because I love Billy Idol, but for whatever reason that one
really worked for us. It just fit my voice well and it fit the band’s sound really well, it just really worked. I have heard other bands do it and I was like oooooft…
<CV> That whole, you shouldn’t have done that. <EDSEL> I really feel like it suits us well.
<CV> Well and you also put your own twist on it.
<EDSEL> Yea, we did but we really didn’t have to do much to that one. We just kind of put it in the key that would work for my voice and embellished it a bit. I don’t know but it just really fell into place. It goes over great live and it’s one of our favorite songs to play live and the fans love it. It just works every night, it’s really become a staple for us.
<CV> Tell us about the music industry today and where you think "Dope" fits in?
<EDSEL> I don’t know and I don’t care.
<CV> I like that answer. *laughing*
<EDSEL> I am my own industry, I have been around for so long. You have to kind of look at it like you’re a mom and pop pizza shop. I have a really cool recipe for my sauce and certain people really love it and they come back for it, but I am not dominos, I am not pizza hut and I’m not going to be on a door hanger when you walk home and say that’s the most commercial pizza shop in the world. I’m ok with that. We have our special recipe and it works for some people and a lot of people don’t even know about us or they heard of ten years ago and may have forgotten. I can’t live my life trying to find or chase after everybody trying to convert them. We’ve done enough; we have succeeded to a level that is very comfortable. I always hope that more people find it because I think we do good work. I think we always go a step above what I think is expected. Whether it be with the amount of songs we put on a record, the art work of the record or the music videos we make. The record came out today and there is already 3 full length music videos and a lyric video, most bands don’t do that for the entire life cycle of a record. We still have 2 or
3 more videos that we are in the process of shooting and editing, so we do put a lot of content out there.
<CV> You do make some great videos.
<EDSEL> Thanks; I have been working my ass off on them.
<CV> Tom’s been sending to me as they were put out for me to check out and I loved them.
<EDSEL> Thank-you. It isn’t easy but then again it’s one of my other legs up if you will on my compadres. The fact that from a very early onset I had a lot of ambition and desire to learn. I produce my own records and because I direct my own videos, a lot more of the budget ends up in the content. When you have to go hire a bunch of people to do those jobs you have to pay them. If I’m the director and the producer of the music video, it’s a lot of work and I don’t sleep for a week when I make one, but all of the budget can go on the screen. I’m not going to take a salary to make my own video. I’m going to do the work because it helps promote my art and to get my vision out there. I can look at the music video we just did for the title track “Blood Money”, I can look at that video, and this is a band that is as independent as they get and compare that to videos we made when were on Sony that we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. Our quality hasn’t shrunk. A lot of bands that are at our level take the video budget from the record company or however else they may get it and they have to pay somebody to make it. You look at it and think, that kind of looks like Barbies first music video. It does not look like they had much money. I don’t need a lot of money to make my shit sound and look good because I do the work myself.
<CV> What are your thoughts on the use and necessity of Social Media?
<EDSEL> I think that it’s all good. I have been around for a long time; I’ve lived through every single part of this business. I was a part of the dinosaur music business back in the old days that when my record came out it was on cassette. There was a lot of money to be made by records
and then I watched the industry rebel against digital. I watched Myspace come and go and now it’s a whole different medium. What I will say is there has never been a better time to be a young new band. To be a band that is already established it’s quite different because or fans are late 20’s to mid-30’s. People in that stage of their lives, their lives and their social media are not based around their favorite bands or their hobbies. Their lives are based around their jobs and their kids T-ball and that sort of thing. If you are a new band and you are reaching 16 year old kids, kids that when I was a 25 year old guy with 16 year old fans, my posters were all over their walls and they ran out to buy Metal Edge Magazine. Those kids today go to Instagram and fb and the power of that is that the bands are able to connect with those fans on a one to one level and they are able to keep that connectivity point for years and years to come. I’m doing what’s considered a reunion tour right now with a classic line up of a band from 2002 when we were a very very commercially viable band. We had
tons of 16 -25 year old fans following the band. Can you imagine if right now I was able to connect to all of them and say hey guys this is what we are doing, but I can’t because in order for those people to know what I’m doing they have to find me, they have to go to fb and like my page and go, yea that band Dope, I still listen to Metal but I have not thought about Dope in years because I don’t live my life for music anymore. The bands today they have that ability to connect with those kids on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and ten years from now they will still be able to get to those people as they have the connectivity thread. As for us we had a clip board at the merch booth that said sign up for our e-mail mailing list and no one has an e-mail address, so it’s very different. I was able to experience some things that new bands won’t experience. I was on MTV and I had all the major labels and all that cool stuff, but if I could take one or the other, I would take being a new band today all day long. If you have an independent spirit and mind and you want to have direct connectivity to your fans and promote directly to them and sell them your products whether it be music or shirts or whatever it is, there has never been a bitter time. You can look again at Black Veil Brides or Falling In Reverse and it unbelievable the power that they have with the hundreds of thousands of fans that when they put a picture on Instagram it’s like a fucking feeding frenzy. It’s insane. It would have happened to me too if that had existed back in the day, but it was a different model back then. It’s hard for bands that have been around a long time to prove their current value because social media is used a social barometer. So again, you can take a band fresh off Warped Tour who is very young and very new and there is a very good chance that their social media presence is larger than mine. Can they sell as many tickets and have as many fans, no. They have the social media stats which is a big part of what people look at to view your popularity and theirs is impressive because you have younger people engaging it. The same thing can be said about record sales. When you have a band that has been around for years and has put out 5-6 albums, you can have true fans that come
to your shows and by your shirts and they go well I bought the first 4 albums but I didn’t buy the last one because I listened to it on Spotify or I bought a few tracks off I-tunes that I liked and it’s in my play list. I’m still a diehard Dope Fan but I didn’t buy every album. Where as when you are a brand new band with only one or two albums on the market place, people are much more compelled to buy the albums so that they have 20 songs. When you are a new band it’s easier to show record sales and easier to show social media presence because a: the fan base is younger and b: there is more of a feeling from a fan perspective to commit and buy because you don’t have anything in the past. For the bands that have been around awhile, the fans are older and they don’t engage in social media as much and they are less compelled to go buy your music because they already have a bunch of it at home. So when you’re an older band in today’s day and age it’s harder for you to get a fair shake at being able to properly gauge your value. It is what it is, you either adapt to it or you die. I will say clearly again that the bands that are new , they really don’t understand because they are young and still doing it for the experience and chasing girls around and having parties. They don’t realize how good they have it. If I could somehow put myself in a 20 year old kids body with my mind and go out there and start a new entity, I’d fucking kill it. I’d make so much money and they would go how? Well back in the day it was all about selling as many units as you could at $10 a unit. Let’s sell 200,000 records at $10 a record. Now it’s like fuck all that, let’s sell 20,000 bun-
dles at a $100 a bundle with a t-shirt and a poster and a meet and greet. It’s the same concept but if you focus on it like that there is so much opportunity for the younger bands if they just work smart.
<CV> So how do you feel about music download sales, would you prefer a return to CD's and Vinyl?
<EDSEL> I love download sales, what I don’t love is Spotify and YouTube. It’s a cool entity for people to discover music but you don’t make any money on it and there is no real ability to gauge the value. If everyone’s listening to it on Spotify, my phone’s not going to ring from The Mayhem Tour or for Slipknot to say hey we want to bring Dope out on tour with us because we know they have a lot of fans. They have a lot of streams on Spotify but is anybody actually buying the record? That’s the barometer thing. 1000 people in Chicago bought the new Dope record when it came out so we better bring them to Chicago. That’s still the Barometer unfortunately. The other worse part is the record companies have no motivation to develop and promote young acts and spend money on them like they used to. To market them and to push them because they don’t make any money when people don’t buy the music. That’s the biggest suffering in all of this, that there is no more developmental music business because there’s no record companies out there able to spend money to develop.
<CV> That is true.
<EDSEL> That’s the tough spot. I don’t mind the digital format; it’s just unfortunate that people don’t see the value in it. I understand why and the music business has itself to blame because they fought it and resisted it for so long. Had they taken this back in 2002 when it first started and when Napster first came along, they would have been like this is a great thing. Fuck trying to charge people $20 for a CD when you can buy the digital format and it sounds great and comes with a digital booklet and it’s only $10. I think people would have been groomed to value it more and would have felt like Oh, I buy this or I buy a subscription service and that’s how I get
my music. Because they fought it so much and smart kids realized they could just upload shit and download shit on torrent sights, it became this thing that people really devalued and felt like well I don’t have to pay for it and there’s no option to pay for it so I’m just going to take it for free. My only option is going to buy a $20 cd or download it off a site for free, I’ll download it off a site for free all day long. I think that got passed down to the next generation and now we are also dealing with a very weird society of entitled people.
<CV> Oh yea, that’s for sure.
<EDSEL> It’s a fucked up business. You either adapt to it or you die.
<CV> I guess I’m one of the weird one because I like the physical, I mean I will transfer it to my Ipod and such,but I just like having it.
<EDSEL> That’s why I try to make packages that are cool. I try to make something cool that
<EDSEL> It’s a fucked up business. You either adapt to it or you die.
<CV> I guess I’m one of the weird one because I like the physical, I mean I will transfer it to my Ipod and such,but I just like having it.
<EDSEL> That’s why I try to make packages that are cool. I try to make something cool that you can hold in your hands and say I want to pay $10 for that.
<CV> Exactly, and that’s a great price compared to what they used to be.
<EDSEL> Yea, no doubt.
<CV> You started this tour September 13th, how has it been so far?
<EDSEL> It’s been great. This is the first full national tour we have done in 6 years. We have done a lot of regional stuff, two weeks here and two weeks there and going overseas, but this is the first time we’ve promoted a full tour and had a record around it as well. The turnouts have been really good and the fans have been excited. Everyone has been really pumped for the new record that came out. I think tonight could be a really great show but I’m not sure it will be because we have 5 Finger Death Punch and Sixx A.M. playing down the street as well.
<CV> Yea and Sixx A.M. is having an after party as well at D.J. Ashba’s store at the Stratosphere after. I am curious as well.
<EDSEL> Yea, all that might destroy us tonight, but what are you going to do?
<CV> Speaking of overseas I see you guys are going back.
<EDSEL> Yup
<CV> How do you like playing over there?
<EDSEL> It’s great, the fans are great!
<CV> I hear that a lot.
<EDSEL> It’s a different way over there in the sense that it’s not as trendy. If they like it and think it’s cool they back it and they kind of stay with it. Here in America it’s a lot more like here today and gone tomorrow and then on to the next thing.
Americans, especially in the big cities, you have those certain towns where people are to cool to clap and like they are to cool to get involved. Now Europe and Russia are like let’s just fuckin throw down.
<CV> I have quite a few friends over there and quite a few friends who have played over there and I would love to go and cover some of the big festivals like Wacken and The Download Festival etc. I would fit right in. *laughing* Even though I may be interviewing and shooting a show, I also will be that girl you will see totally getting into it, singing along and jumping all around and having a great time. To me that is what it’s all about.
<EDSEL> That’s cool, no doubt. Europe and Russia will blow your mind!
<CV> Before I forget, I have lived in Seattle all my life, I came out here almost three years ago. My Seattle music family and friends told me they absolutely loved your show out there, some of my friends opened for you and they had a blast.
<EDSEL> Where at again?
<CV> Seattle at Studio 7.
<EDSEL> Oh yea that show was off the chain. It was packed as fuck! It was a GREAT show!
<CV> Seattle definitely knows how to rock for sure! Studio 7 is a great venue, the owners are cool. I miss shooting out there, it was always a great time.
<EDSEL> Yea that show was great!
<CV> Do you have a favorite place to play and why?
<EDSEL> This is how I will answer that. It doesn’t really matter to me as long as there is a good crowd and they are ready to rock. I will say as I have been around the world, there is nothing like Asia. I can play Russia or the U.K. or somewhere like that and while the show is happening you can look out into the crowd and it’s very much like America. All shapes and sizes and color and hair color and eye color and everything else. So until you say What’s up London or whatever you don’t even really realize that you are not in your home country. When you are playing Asia there is not a moment where you are not looking out into the crowd and going holy fucking shit. I’m on the other side of the world and all these people are like I’m somewhere else because they obviously look very different than us. The shows are great but it’s that feeling of wow the music has crossed the ocean and it’s a different culture and a whole different thing and these people are here and it’s happening. There is just something really cool about that.
<CV> That has to be an amazing feeling like holy shit! I hear like Doyle told me and Jeff LaBar were both telling me how much they love Japan. Doyle was telling me how he wanted to go back and live there and I was like really? He said yea, I just really love playing over there.
<CV> Any funny stories from tour life you would like to share?
<EDSEL> I’m like Kelly Bundy, for every new experience I have I lose an old one. I’ve had such an amazing and crazy run and I used to be a lot more nutty, hell we all were when we were
young. So for me to try and recall the story that will be impressive, it wouldn’t do it justice. When we all get together we start telling stories and then we all start one upping each other and after 20-30 minutes into it your like going wow… *everyone laughing* For me to just pull it, it’s just not worth it. *laughing*
<CV> What do you like to do in your down time?
<EDSEL> I don’t have much down time. I’m the producer and the director and the fuckin singer and the song writer and the manager. I do it all. So for me to get down time I get on a plane and I go to the Caribbean. I kind of turn everything off for a couple of weeks at a time and I put my toes in the sand and look at the water. If you follow me on Instagram you will see me on tour, me and my little nephew or me at the Caribbean.
<CV> Is your family supportive of what you do?
<EDSEL> Well my dad was scared of course when I was a kid. I’m a grown ass man now what can he say? I’m successful. *everyone laughing* When I was a kid sure, my dad was scared because I dropped out of high school when I was 16 years old and I didn’t have a backup plan and my dad is very conservative. He was terrified. Once he saw me as direct support for Kid Rock in front of 30,000 people night after night, he was like I guess I have to hand it to the kid, the kid’s got it figured out. 16 years later it’s not a job it’s a career at this point. In a year it will be 20 years in this band, we started in 97.
<CV> Wow, congratulations!
<EDSEL> Thanks !
<CV> What advice would you give to a band just starting out?
<EDSEL> Just look yourself in the mirror and try to realize if you’re really serious or if you are just pretending. It’s a hard question to ask yourself and answer honestly, but most of the people I meet are just pretending , they are just visitors, they are just visiting and they are not lifers. They act like they are but they’re not. If you’re not willing to run your mother over with a car and then back over her after you have run her over. You’re not made for this. You have to be committed to it beyond any sense of logic or reason. There is no turning back. You are going to get the door slammed in your face so many times. Everyone quits man, there are only a few people that don’t quit. Not only do you have to withstand all that you also have to be good enough and have a package that is sellable. You have to acknowledge whether or not what your doing is. You can be like that guy who is willing to run his mother over but you suck. I say suck as a matter of perspective. You have to be able to be realistic and be honest with yourself and say is this marketable? Is this sellable? What’s the path for this to become successful? There has to be a path for it, there has to be a market for it. Then you have to be willing to run your mother over. You have to be willing to get no said to you a million times and not quit.
Then you also have to get a little lucky on top of all that. So it can be brutal, it’s never been worse, but then again at this point in the game, I feel like it’s turned the corner now. So my advice is make sure you are real and not one of the fakers.
<CV> What does "Dope" have planned for the rest of 2016? I know you are going oversea.
<EDSEL> Russia, the Ukraine and the U.K. The record coming out and that’s it. Then we will start to figure out plans for 2017 which I have not really thought about yet. I don’t want to yet.
<CV> What would you like to say to your fans and our readers?
<EDSEL> Thanks for having interest in what we do. I will always continue to put 110% into it when I’m into it. I appreciate people remembering and coming back because I really needed to take a minute away. My life was very incomplete dong this and only this. I feel like the band will be better for it.
