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Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Dr. Living Dead! (21.11.2012)
HH: HeyHo, guys, from Germany's Heavyhardes and my sincere congrats to your newest effort Radioactive Intervention. Well done!
Dr. Rad: Thank you very much!
HH: First of all, what is it with that "Dr." in "Living Dead"? What kinda cure does he or you, as seemingly all of you are doctors, have to offer?
Dr. Rad: Before he was part of the project that made him more than human he was a doctor in physics working for the US government. Parts of this story are also revealed in the opening track of the new album. Now he's turning into something more powerful that is beyond our comprehension. But he is still a doctor in the sense that he now possesses the ability to cure humanity from it's diseased leaders.
HH: Who had the "Dr."-idea? Where did it come from? First thing that comes to my mind is The Ramones ...
Dr. Rad: It all originated from sketches that were done by our singed and co-founder Ape. He started expanding on the character and then him and Toxic decided to name the project after him.
HH: The new record sounds pretty diverse as I see a lot of different influences combined appearing on it... from traditional Thrash over Speed Metal to classic Crossover. Did that happen on purpose?
Dr. Rad: Perhaps to some extent. But basically we just did what we felt like (just like the last time) and tried to write better songs and more interesting songs. For us it's a natural progression from the previous one. We wanted to expand on the concept in all ways possible, musically and lyrically.
HH: Can you please give us a slight inside-look into your way of composing and arranging the songs?
Dr. Rad: It's different from each one but usually it is either me, Ape or Toxic who comes up with an idea. It can be a couple of riffs or almost a finished song and then we play it and see what it feels like. We make changes so that everyone is happy about it. Sometimes changes will be made in a certain song after like a year or so and sometimes it's all finished within a couple of weeks, it really varies a lot.
HH: Who by the way is writing the lyrics? There are many extra-cool passages when you go through the songs reading. I am mostly thinking of "They Live", "Life Sucks" or "Timeless".
Dr. Rad: For this album it was me and Ape who did all the lyrics, but with some input from the others. Those songs that you mentioned were mainly Ape's work.
HH: Of course there are still some parallels to the sound of The Suicidal Tendencies - e.g. in "The Meaning Of Life" or "Suffering". You still wanna cultivate that special influence or are you already sick of questions dealing with that topic?
Dr. Rad: I'm aware that no matter who you are and what you do these days you will ALWAYS be compared to other artists or bands. It doesn't even matter what style of music you're into. It really doesn't bother me. I'm ok with that. All I can say about this is that we've all grown up with ST and it's a big part of us as individuals so that it shines through a lot in the music is just the way it is. Some people probably give us a lot of slack for being unoriginal and stuff like that. I just wanna put my perspective on this real quick. First off, I feel that the most important thing when you're doing music is to be honest about it. Don't try to be something that you're not, that simply will not fool anyone. All that's going to happen is that it's going to be fake and boring. That's not what we're about at all, everything you see with this band reflects our personalities and that's the way it should be. Secondly, like I mentioned earlier, anyone who wants to play the good ol' "they're just unoriginal and a rip-off"-card should try and name one band formed in, let's say the last ten or 15 years, that was not compared to another band that existed before them. I mean the first thing people say when they hear anything that is new to their ears is, "man this sounds like this or that". It's just the way it is, that's simply what people do. For me the real question is: is it really important? The way I like to look at it is that there is always a place for good, honest music no matter what.
HH: Very exciting cover, by the way! Fits perfectly with the music. Who was responsible for it?
Dr. Rad: Thanks! As always it's Ape who is responsible for all artwork that has to do with the band. He's the man.
HH: Is there an audience in Stockholm for your kinda sound? I guess in Sweden the Sleaze- and Melodic-Death-scene is still on top... any cool clubs to go to in the next holidays up north?
Dr. Rad: Well, we do have some support here. Half of it is in the hardcore scene though. We've played quite a few shows in that environment and it's usually really good. Quite a lot of people in the metal scene dig us as well. Of course right now it's all about being into occult metal and stuff like that in Sweden, that seems to be the hip thing. In that scene people aren't interested in what we do at all for obvious reasons. But I kinda feel that we don't fully fit in anywhere, it's all good though. I don't have a problem with that.
HH: Could you please be so kind to assemble a list of your ten favourite Crossover-Thrash-records of all time?
Dr. Rad: I really don't care for lists at all, but I'll play along. No order or anything...
Excel - Split Image & Joke
Nuclear Assault - Survive
No Mercy - Widespread Bloodshed
S.O.D - Speak English...
Accüsed - Return
Suicidal - Join The Army, Laugh and Lights, Camera... I'm gonna say Controlled By Hatred too.
I guess that's a few on the top of my head.
HH: As I like the production of the record very much - way in between old school and "modern" - how did the recording-process go? Were you always involved in the production-procedure?
Dr. Rad: We recorded with Fred Estby once again. But this time in his new studio so everything went a lot smoother and we could start tracking pretty fast. We also knew exactly what we wanted to change from the first album so we pretty much just went in and "did it" so to speak. This time we were also there when the mixing was done which helped a lot and made it easier for both us and Fred. We're pretty happy out it!
HH: Satisfied with your collaboration with Highroller Records so far? There are many, many more very cool bands on your label...
Dr. Rad: Yeah, it's a cool label. They are in it for the music and that's what's important!
HH: Any plans for this winter to tour? How did the Hell Inside Festival go?
Dr. Rad: I don't have any touring-dates to reveal right now, unfortunately. Hell Inside was great! We had a good time both on and off stage.
HH: Thanks a lot for answering these short bunch of questions. The last words belong to you:
Dr. Rad: Thanks for supporting the Doc and check out the new album! Think for yourself and don't let the world fool you...
Fuxx