Dave: There`s a lot of anticipation for your new album; can you give us the lowdown on when we can expect it, length, etc?
C.T.: The new record is called If You Walk Before You Crawl You Crawl Before You Die. We just got finished recording it last week in Chicago, and it comes out in May on At A Loss Records, right before the Emissions Festival and the tour with ATP. It`s six songs, 40 minutes, and we like it a lot. Sanford (the engineer) rules!
Dave: Hell Is A Door To The Sun might be tough to follow! What about the band`s back catalog; is there a possibility some of that stuff may get a better release later on?
C.T.: Our first (and shittiest) CD (Xenoglossalgia) is being re-released on House of Mumm. It`s a small label out of Chicago run by these stoner art dudes. We`d rather not release our old shit - you know just keep moving forward, but at the same time those are CDs we can sell on the road for gas money. Who knows, maybe someone will re-release Absence Due To Projection as well. It just needs some mastering.
Dave: 2003 saw you guys on the road a lot, and you have another full run coming up with Alabama Thunderpussy this summer. How has all that roadwork strengthened your sound?
C.T.: Incredibly. There`s a reason Dixie Witch kicks so much ass. It`s called extensive touring; well, and good tunes. Plus, being from Arkansas I think it is crucial, because there truly is a whole other world goin` on out there, and if you don`t go play it over and over you will get stuck in an Arkansas funk. I don`t mean funk like Parliament, I mean like a molasses kind of shit, and the only thing you can dig is what`s around you. Like playing local clubs once or twice a month. Expand your band by touring! Thanks to Tone Deaf, we have been able to do this. Being from Arkansas your connections can sometimes be limited.
Dave: What regions of the U.S. are the best for the band so far? I know there are Rwakeheads in all four corners.
C.T.: In Chicago, our shows are great and we have friends. Also, Wilmington because of Weedeater and their family and friends. The towns we probably feel most at home in - and there has not been one bad show in the past two and a half years - are San Francisco, Philadelphia, Akron, and Albuquerque, definitely. Lots of people are real cool to us. We appreciate it a lot.
Dave: Six members is a lot in a van! Who runs the stereo, and who`s the best poker player?
C.T.: Well, we just got a new van, and you can control the music in the back if you want to watch a movie. If we play a concert or something, we just hook it up to our van for surround. Try driving to another town with �Commando� blasting through the speakers. As far as poker, B`s the only hard-core gambler. I think I can hold my own though!
Dave: There are a lot of astrological and cosmic themes in general in the lyrics, but tempered with a sort of apocalyptic pessimism. Is there reason for hope, or are we doomed?
C.T.: I think everyone`s doomed at one point if not all the time. I think karma and past lives play a big role in the lives we live today. Other than that, politics suck. If no one votes, no one gets voted in. I`ll never write about that boring shit.
Dave: How does the songwriting break down? Is it squarely a band thing as a whole, and you and Brit handle all your own lyrics?
C.T.: Jeff (drums) and Gravy (guitar) do most of the songwriting. They`ll write a song together and either write a whole piece or Reid (bass) or Kiffin (guitar) will add some shit. As for lyrics, I write most of them. Brit writes her parts as well unless we have ideas for each others parts. We usually listen to the song and see how the lyrics might fit. A song doesn`t have to have vocals over the whole piece sometimes. We just go with the flow of the music and work together with ideas.
Dave: Time for the mandatory queries, bro! The name: just how is it pronounced, and what`s with the "R" anyway?
C.T.: OK here`s the story for all the stoners. We were originally called Wake. Lots of bands all over gave us shit saying they owned the name and all this bullshit. So we tried coming up with shit and hated it all. Then Finally in Aug. �98, me, Gravy, and Newman (guitar 1998 � 2001) took our first Voodoo pills, which is pure Dextromethorphan (heavy trip drug found in Robitussin) after practice one night. That`s like 14 ounces of Robo in one pill. It usually only takes four ounces to get off. So we were fucked! About an hour an a half after we took it, all three of us were throwing up off the front porch in unison. It was a vomit orchestra! Well, after that we were out there like past Pluto. We couldn`t even speak words. They came out sounding Neanderthal. It was a heavy psychedelic digression! So Jeff comes in the living room, and he`s talking about the band, and none of us can hold onto anything he`s saying, but we know it`s about the band. So I try to say "Wake" and it comes out all slurred and fucked up with an �R� before it; like you were trying to teach a caveman how to say it. Jeff was like "We can call the band what you just said." An hour later, I wrote out the name "Rwake" and it`s been like that ever since. Most people call us "wake" or "R" wake". We don`t really care, we are just glad people dig the music.
Dave: Best Show Ever?
C.T.: Hard one. Our first Milwaukee Metalfest show in 2000 was real good. In 2002, we played with Agnostic Front, Weedeater, and Dead Is Dead. We went on right before A.F. in front of like 450 people, 300 being skinheads. It was different and great. I guess hands down was our set at Emissions 2003. Ypsilanti, maybe Jacksonville, FL, where ever the band Pigeon is from, as well. The more we play out, the less bad shows will happen. It`s inevitable. There is always someone cool in these suck-towns though. The soundman with the suicide door on the second floor of his house in Ypsilanti was cool as fuck! In Jacksonville, we happened to be on the road with Dove, so that was the shit every night with them.
Dave: You know the drill, bro. You`re getting sent to Siberia for forty years, and you get to only bring three albums.
C.T.: This is hard as fuck. Metallica�s ...And Justice For All. Greatest metal songs ever. Please, someone write one better than "Eye of the Beholder," or "To Live Is To Die.� Led Zeppelin�s Physical Graffiti, or Presence for number two. And number three would be High on Fire, either one of the two, preferably Surrounded By Thieves with songs from The Art of Self Defense in the extra time on the CD. For the record, Kiss is my favorite, but I have everything they�ve ever done already programmed in my head! |
