D I R G E
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On location interview in Dec. 2005
By P~Kramer at RockWatch
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Dirge is Kevin on guitar and vocals - Mitch on drums - Eric on bass
Interview with DIRGE - Dec. 29, 2005 at Star Central in Columbia Heights, MN
PK : We are here with DIRGE !
Kevin : We were actually booked as Dirgeus once.
Eric : Because our website is Dirge.us - - there is a band called Dirgeus and I think we got a free gig out of that. Otherwise we problely would not of got booked there. It worked out okay.
PK : When did you all come together as a band?
Eric : About two years ago. ( 2003 )
Kevin : We came together in September. In about two months we wrote eight songs and then we played in a battle of the bands in Sparta, Wisc. We were in the top six finalist and thats when we pretty much decided to keep going.
Eric : We played over sixty, around seventy some shows in the first year. Then we backed off a little bit this year.
Kevin : We put the album out. ( The Art of Betrayal , 2005 ) We backed off for a while and got a set together based on the album in support of the album. We recorded the album in Chicago at Pressure Point Studios. It's like a major Hip Hop studio. A good friend of mine works there and did the album. So we got a good studio rate.
PK : If they normally do Hip Hop, was it a major challenge for them?
Eric : The guy that was doing the recording and mixing was in a heavy metal band and new the metal genre. He landed a internship at the studio. They booked us in the studio for like 11pm at night to 7am in the morning. There was like no one there. It was a really cool studio.
Kevin : It took two and a half days of recording and two and a half days of mixing.
Eric : So we took a week off last December and stayed in a hotel. We finished the album and being in nowhere Wisconsin it can be hard to get gigs and get out and sell the album.
PK : Do you have two albums out or a EP and a full length album?
Eric : We've have around five or six different demos floating around out there. This album is a ten song full length. The real deal.
Kevin : The recording quality sounds really good.
PK : Is there a great place in Wisconsin that you like to play?
Kevin : You can play the Rave which is a rather good venue.
Eric : It's one of those deals where you sell tickets.
Kevin : We did a Megadeath pre-show and for Black Label. The Black Label show was the best show we have played. I think we played our best show there and the crowd was awesome. For the Black Label show we made some sixty demos and they were gone like instantly after we played our set.
Eric : We met all sorts of people that liked our show and still get e-mails on that show. And, a couple of months ago we opened for Corrosion of Conformity which was really cool.
Eric : The Rave is like the big well known venue in Wisconsin. But, there are alot of cool little clubs.
Kevin : Some of the best shows are in little towns in the middle of nowhere.
Eric : The kind of towns where its to far to drive to a major city. When bands do come into town, like everyone shows up and are really into it.
Kevin : When you play the bar scene, it can be hard to get any kind of recognition when you're the out of town band that no one has ever seen. Unless you're playing with a local band that has a following in that town. Then there are gigs where we find out that the bands pay for sound.
Eric : The first X amount of dollars goes to pay for sound and then the rest goes to the bands. Which can be good when its a good crowd night. But, if a hand full of people show up, then the bands have to make up the difference. But sometimes they can be cool about that.
PK : These days as bands begin playing out there tends to be more expense than actually is any money being made.
Kevin : If we were playing strictly to make money we would of quite playing along time ago. Not only the club scene but also the music industry in general. You don't see bands like you use to making it really big.
Eric : There's no big arena tours like every year and so forth like there use to be.
Kevin : I think the last arean band I saw was Pantera. Which was like 2001. Like, Godsmack was playing in the South Hall in La Crosse. Not the arena, but the extension which is smaller. And if you look at what technology is doing to the industry, you can't sell things like you use to while recording costs are cheaper. It doesn't need to cost much to make a good demo. While everyone is able to market themselves with the web and so forth. Which means you have to think of something that will stand out and draw people.
PK : Were you all three of you together from the beginning?
Eric : Kevin and Mitch were in another band before Dirge.
Kevin : We were in another band which we started like when we were thirteen. I played guitar and Mitch played bass. That was Vile Plague which went through name changes and member changes.
Eric : They never really went anywhere. Kevin and Mitch stuck with it and needed a bass player. I told myself a long time ago that I would never be in a band. Because I didn't really like the whole local band scene. Local bands never really went anywhere. They did't do it right or were playing cover songs.
Kevin : That was my thing. I didn't want to do any cover tunes. We did a couple early on but dropped them.
Eric : It's kind of cool that we stuck with doing only originals. Which has actually worked out really good.
Kevin : We're all huge fans of old school metal. Like Metallica, Megadeath, Slayer, Pantera and back to Sabbath.
PK : Any great metal bands that you like from Europe?
Kevin : Anyone from the Scandinavian countries. They blow everything away.
Eric : Anything from those old ancient conquering nations. Those are the best bands right there.
PK : What do you all want to say about the album?
Eric : I'm very glad that we did it. I never thought we would put out a series of songs that we could call our own.
Kevin : To be able to say that we completed an album.
Eric : Not a demo which anyone can do. A full blow professional recording. It's hard to put the money together and put the time and effort into it.
PK : So, Dirge has played mostly in Wisconsin?
Eric : Yes, mostly Wisconsin and occasionally Minnesota. About three weeks ago we played a midwest Metal Fest in Columbus Ohio. That was a kind of cool road cruise.
PK : Any closing comments?
Eric : Lets say, Kevin is a border line alcoholic. I'm a border line psycho case. And, Mitch is just a mello dude.
Eric Olson - Kevin Clark - Mitch Larson
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www.dirge.us www.myspace.com/dirgesparta
D I R G E is based in Wisconsin