Interviews

Interview with Virus of Dope

Published

7 years ago

October 23, 2017

Ron

FishHead Cantina
October 18th 2017

Tonight in Baltimore, MD we get to once again witness the amazing band, Dope. I’ve can’t get enough of this band, they are such a class act. This will be the last time we see them in 2017 and after talking to Edsel we might not get to see them in 2018, since they will be touring Europe and other far flung parts of the planet. Before tonight’s show I sat down with long time guitarist Virus.

Empire: How has it been being with Dope for so many years?

Virus: Yeah, next year will be 18 years! It’s pretty crazy. I remember when I was the new guy here. I first got in and everybody was dropping like flies, and now it’s like I’ve been in the band the longest, expect for Edsel of course. I’m really proud of ourselves and how we built the band up from some very low lows.

Empire: What about Edsel has kept you here?

Virus: Well, he is just an absolute jerk (starts to laugh). From the beginning we have always done good work together, We learned a lot from each other over the years. We were just good friends too.

Empire: What was it like working on Device with David Draimen from Disturbed?

Virus: Yeah… Well, I first heard the album because Will Hunt the drummer he showed me the album. I really loved the songs. David’s vocal range and songs were different, but you could tell it was him though. There were great musicians all over the record, like Tom Morello and Lizzy Hale. When I got the opportunity to talk to David on the phone, I told him I would love to be a part of it.

Empire: How did you get involved with the Big&Rich thing? You’re more known for your rock and metal?

Virus: That was my whole idea of playing with other people. I didn’t want to be viewed as just a metal guy. I don’t listen to metal as much as you think. I like playing it and I’m good at it, and it was my first love as a child, but I wanted to break out of that as well.

Empire: Which Virus look did you like better? Spiked mohawk or cowboy hat?

Virus: My mom made a montage of my hairstyles throughout the years. You know what I like about all the stuff that I’ve done is that I look different. No one was doing that and that was important to me.

Empire: What has been your favorite album that you worked on in your career?

Virus: The first record that I ever produced, was a N.Y. artist called Lisa St Ann. She was like adult alternative at the time. She was like I love you as a song writer and I believe in you and give you total freedom with my album. This was the first time anyone had trusted me with their music and money. It came out amazing, and I learned the value of pre-production. That record is very special. It’s called Conversations From The Sidewalk and it came out in 1995. My favorite Dope Record is No Regrets. I got to co-produce that with Edsel. I got more and more work and more to do. I cut every note on that record. It’s some of the best songs we have ever written.

Empire: Any crazy tour stories?

Virus: I get this all the time, because I don’t do a lot of drugs it’s always something sexual (laughs).
( Tour Manager Eric “Dink” says tell him the time when with Lords of Acid).
So my whole guitar rig goes down on stage. The singer of Lords of Acid, her name is Mea. There is no guitar playing, and we are trying to fix it. She comes over and says “Dink, where’s my dildo?” And he is screaming at her “Are you fucking kidding me? We have no guitar!” He has wires in his hands and she comes out asking for a stage prop.

Empire: If you could bring back any musician from the dead who would it be?

Virus: It would only be for the music, because years ago I stop idolizing the artists. You learn they are just horrible people like we are and I don’t like how they get put on a pedestal. For example, John Lennon. I love his music, but complete asshole, huge ego, horrible father, horrible husband. I just idolize his music. I would love to see what Kurt Cobain‘s music would do now. He was one of my favorites. He really changed me. I started writings songs differently. I would love to see what he would do.

Dope didn’t disappoint tonight. They played the staple group of songs that if they didin’t play they get yelled at for not playing. Thrown into the mix was “Blood Money” off of the latest album Blood Money Part 1.
Drummer Daniel Fox was out touring with Marilyn Manson so Dope called in friend Chris Werner who used to play drums for Butcher Babies. He killed the set like he had been doing those songs for years.

It was an amazing night that ended with a chance to hang at the Meet & Greet, to hang in with the band and to BS with the band.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

See author's posts

Related Topics:Baltimore MD Dope Empire Extreme featured FishHead Cantina Virus

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

4 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

See author's posts

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

See author's posts

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.