What Dickie has to say...
(like we care a pig's rear end)
From: The Music Corner
West Virginia's Karma To Burn has now hit the scene with their
incredible full-length debut. As the band prepared
to head to Europe to play some of the major festivals over
there I had a chance to talk to Dickey about the album,
the upcoming tour and a few other odds and ends.
MC - Do you feel that coming from West Virginia has hurt or helped you?
D - It's hurt on some things and it's helped on others. People say
"Wow, West Virginia", but at the same time you
have alot that say "just a bunch of dumb, fucking hicks."
MC - It seems like Roadrunner is pushing you out there with a sort
of backwoods image, or is that the band?
D - I think that's mostly us. I don't know what they're doing with us,
because we're getting alot of people calling us gothic.
MC - How would you describe your sound?
D - I don't know, we always say hard rock.
MC - Has the response to the album been good so far?
D - Yeah, except there's a couple of people that really hate us.
We've played alot in Cleveland, so we have a really
big following there and they don't like the fact that we got a
singer, but they have no idea how hard we tried
to get an instrumental record out.
MC - Nathan played on the album, but he's now been replaced by
Nicholas. Is that correct?
D - Yeah.
MC - Does he bring something different to the sound?
D - Oh yeah, he's a lot better. Nathan's pretty good, but
Nicholas is crazy.
MC - Did it change the dynamics of the sound?
D - It made everything a little more aggressive.
MC - You did a cover of Joy Division's "Twenty Four Hours", which
I think fits the rest of the album really well,
because while you definitely don't sound anything like them,
your sound has a really dark side just like they did.
Were they a big influence?
D - Yeah, especially where the bass playing comes in.
MC - What other influences come into play?
D - Mountain, Robin Trower, ZZ Top.
MC - How did getting a vocalist come about?
D - The label wouldn't put out the record unless we got one.
We tried to get them to put it out as all instrumental,
but they wouldn't.
MC - Are you okay with they way it is now, or would you rather go
back to that?
D - We're fine with it the way it is, but live we play over half
the set instrumental, because that's our favorite way
to play. Baka is just one of our friends. He'd never sung before
ever, but we had to do it in order to get the record out.
MC - So you just had to grab somebody?
D - Yeah, so we figured we'd just get one of our friends.
MC - Are there a lot of effects on his vocals?
D - Yeah, there's all kinds of distortion on it, but no pitch
shifting or anything like that.
MC - It almost makes him more like another instrument.
D - That's what we were trying to do.
MC - Do you just write all the music and then have him put lyrics
on top after the song's done?
D - Exactly.
MC - So the songwriting process didn't change?
D - Not at all.
MC - I know you had an EP out that had four cuts with numbers
for titles and then there a few more on this one,
but there's some missing numbers. Where are those cuts?
D - They're all in there, although we've thrown away some.
MC - Are some of them on here, but renamed and with vocals?
D - "Three" is on there, but is "Appalachian Woman". "One" is
"Twin Sisters and Half A Bottle Of Bourbon".
MC - I didn't pick up on the fact that those were EP tracks, but
with vocals.
D - They're exactly the same recordings, but the ones on the EP
were just rough mixes.
MC - Do you think the intensity of your sound comes across live?
D - It sounds alot more intense live.
MC - What do you think about the West Virginia music scene?
D - I think it's okay. Better than most places. Chum's really good,
and we've already got 9000 pre-sold in Europe,
so we've really got a chance to do something over there.
MC - Is there any story behind the CB bit at the very end of the disc?
D - It wasn't even supposed to be on there, but they liked it and
put it on there.
This interview was done by Geoff Melton of
Charleston, WVa for his E-zine Music Corner.
Click here
and go there...
If you're ready for the next interview, click
here!
D - It's hurt on some things and it's helped on others. People say "Wow, West Virginia", but at the same time you have alot that say "just a bunch of dumb, fucking hicks."
MC - It seems like Roadrunner is pushing you out there with a sort of backwoods image, or is that the band?
D - I think that's mostly us. I don't know what they're doing with us, because we're getting alot of people calling us gothic.
MC - How would you describe your sound?
D - I don't know, we always say hard rock.
MC - Has the response to the album been good so far?
D - Yeah, except there's a couple of people that really hate us. We've played alot in Cleveland, so we have a really big following there and they don't like the fact that we got a singer, but they have no idea how hard we tried to get an instrumental record out.
MC - Nathan played on the album, but he's now been replaced by Nicholas. Is that correct?
D - Yeah.
MC - Does he bring something different to the sound?
D - Oh yeah, he's a lot better. Nathan's pretty good, but Nicholas is crazy.
MC - Did it change the dynamics of the sound?
D - It made everything a little more aggressive.
MC - You did a cover of Joy Division's "Twenty Four Hours", which I think fits the rest of the album really well, because while you definitely don't sound anything like them, your sound has a really dark side just like they did. Were they a big influence?
D - Yeah, especially where the bass playing comes in.
MC - What other influences come into play?
D - Mountain, Robin Trower, ZZ Top.
MC - How did getting a vocalist come about?
D - The label wouldn't put out the record unless we got one. We tried to get them to put it out as all instrumental, but they wouldn't.
MC - Are you okay with they way it is now, or would you rather go back to that?
D - We're fine with it the way it is, but live we play over half the set instrumental, because that's our favorite way to play. Baka is just one of our friends. He'd never sung before ever, but we had to do it in order to get the record out.
MC - So you just had to grab somebody?
D - Yeah, so we figured we'd just get one of our friends.
MC - Are there a lot of effects on his vocals?
D - Yeah, there's all kinds of distortion on it, but no pitch shifting or anything like that.
MC - It almost makes him more like another instrument.
D - That's what we were trying to do.
MC - Do you just write all the music and then have him put lyrics on top after the song's done?
D - Exactly.
MC - So the songwriting process didn't change?
D - Not at all.
MC - I know you had an EP out that had four cuts with numbers for titles and then there a few more on this one, but there's some missing numbers. Where are those cuts?
D - They're all in there, although we've thrown away some.
MC - Are some of them on here, but renamed and with vocals?
D - "Three" is on there, but is "Appalachian Woman". "One" is "Twin Sisters and Half A Bottle Of Bourbon".
MC - I didn't pick up on the fact that those were EP tracks, but with vocals.
D - They're exactly the same recordings, but the ones on the EP were just rough mixes.
MC - Do you think the intensity of your sound comes across live?
D - It sounds alot more intense live.
MC - What do you think about the West Virginia music scene?
D - I think it's okay. Better than most places. Chum's really good, and we've already got 9000 pre-sold in Europe, so we've really got a chance to do something over there.
MC - Is there any story behind the CB bit at the very end of the disc?
D - It wasn't even supposed to be on there, but they liked it and put it on there.
This interview was done by Geoff Melton of Charleston, WVa for his E-zine Music Corner. Click here and go there...
If you're ready for the next interview, click here!
(interviews of the)
Playboy Pallbearers
reviews
album
articles
interviews
index page
biography
discography
lyrics
Nino Brown
pictures
sounds
tour
biography
discography
lyrics
Nino Brown
pictures
sounds
tour
last update: 17th july 1998
Free Home Page
also for Oregonites...