Interview with Dave Bone from Dunsmuir

By JJ Ulizio

On 07/13/16 I had the distinct pleasure of having a telephone interview with Dave Bone, guitarist for the new super group Dunsmuir, who also consists of Neil Fallon (Clutch, The Company Band), Brad Davis (Fu Manchu, The Company Band) and Vinnie Appice (Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, & Kill Devil Hill). This is one I really enjoyed doing, and in talking to Dave it was blatantly obvious he loves this project and is having some serious fun with it. We discussed various topics ranging the bands origins, recording the album and tour plans amongst other things.  Enough of my rambling time to get on with the interview!

JJ Ulizio: How are things going for you?
Dave Bone: Good! We’re gearing up to get this record out the door finally. Everyone has been pretty across the board stoaked on it, so things are good right now.

JJ: That’s awesome, I actually got a chance to check out the record to review it for our website and I think it’s amazing.
DB: That’s awesome, Thanks JJ,

Vinnie

JJ: I was actually doing a bit of research behind everything and I had actually found an interview with you, I think it was with Metal insider for The Company Band. It said in the interview, I’m not exactly sure how old it was, that you were actually working on a project with Brad, doing instrumental New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) Type of stuff. Is that project what kind of morphed into this?
DB: Wow, yeah man. That is right! Yeah, at that point it had just been Brad and I quietly working on the stuff before we really talked to anyone else about it. It’s funny that you mention that, that is it.

JJ: How did things get rolling into what the project is and how did you get Vinnie involved, because I know you already knew Neil.
DB: Yeah, we basically, well to start from the beginning. Brad and I, as soon as he joined The Company Band, it was really good partnership, like before and it resulted in some good stuff. After we put out Pros & Cons, the last Company Band E.P., it was so fun that we just wanted to keep on doing something. We did want to stop and wait forever for what would be the next opportunity to throw stuff together. So we decided to do something simple, you know? Music we love, with as few people as possible. Just to play. It didn’t matter if it was in a garage or in some dive bar in the back of an alley

Dave

JJ: Just to jam and be loud huh? Ha-ha
DB: HAHAHA! Absolutely man. That’s really just the best, that’s the best thing to do.  With my time and Brad’s time, we just jammed. So then we mentioned it to Neil and instantly he was like “Cool, I’m going to sing for it.” So we were like “Well that’s fantastic! That’s great!” We were stoaked, and that kinda kicked it into high gear. So we were like “Okay, okay, let’s be a little more ambitious than the garage.” We knew that we wanted to have the core musicians of the band in the same state. So we could jam our butts off, record, write whenever, call each other up and be like “let’s get together, right now” you know?  We didn’t have that with The Company Band. With them it was very few and far between. This way, having the instrumentalists in town there was no stopping putting together a really really strong record that we could whittle down, hone, or toss around and not have to be rushed or anything like that. Not that every Company Band record was, but we just didn’t have the time of being in the same space together. That was new for us and we wanted to get an L.A. drummer we talked among the three of ourselves, and everyone agreed. Top name, first, second third, Vinnie Appice. He’s just the man. So Neil reached out to him and asked him if he was interested in doing the project we were working on and he was all about it. Then we started jamming and it really just took off from day one with all the guys in the room together. There was a chemistry that was really unique, powerful and instant and it kinda just lit a fire that didn’t stop.

Neil

JJ: That’s awesome. How would you describe, musically for someone who hasn’t listened to it, the difference between The Company Band and Dunsmuir?
DB: I’d say it’s more aggressive. It more leans towards the early metal than the early rock. Some of the riffs have a little more dexterity to them, in that “metal” sense you know?
JJ: I notice a little more fuzz.
DB: Yeah, yeah, more of a heavier sound. Really, the whole idea was just aggression and heaviness. Really kicking those things up, on the next record you will hear us do that to another level.
JJ: You have plans to make it more aggressive from there?
DB: Yeah man, the new stuff is SLAMMIN! But I guess right now the new stuff is the old stuff. Ha-ha. The new stuff I’m talking about is the future! You following me?! Do you have a Flux Capacitor?
JJ: hahaha! Yeah, I keep it mounted on my wall!

JJ: Do you have any insight on where Neil’s lyrics come from or is it basically just “Neil being Neil”?
DB:  You know, it’s hard for me to speak about where he pulls his stuff from because I hear it just like you. I read the lyrics and I’m like “Oh my god, that’s amazing!” He has this concept of this 19^th century ship wreck on this island, and everything just goes totally haywire. Each song has its own story, or own chapter if you will. I honestly think that you could spend days talking about just one of these sets of lyrics you know? Trying to dissect them and find out what they’re all about because you will never really know. But it’s fun to try.

Brad

JJ:  I’ve been trying to dissect his lyrics for years, because I’m an old “Clutch-head” of course and a lot of times you will sit and wonder “Where the hell did he come up with that?”   But as for you personally, when it comes to writing, who would you say are your biggest influences in coming up with your riffs and who have you been listening to lately?
DB: Oh man, really for this record its mean influences like Lemmy, KK, Priest, Attack, all that sort of British metal from UFO to Motörhead to more American stuff like that early Danzig with John Christ is a big influence on me. Lately, well, I’ve never stopped listening to the same records I’ve listened to.
JJ: Yup, everybody has their regular rotation.
DB: Right! And once you start going a little grey, your rotation gets huge!
JJ: Right, believe me I know the feeling.
DB: So I still listen to all that stuff, all the new wave bands,  classic metal, you know, now that its summer, Rock. It’s the summer time, used for rock. The Scorpions were in a pretty serious rock block the other day on my stereo.

JJ: Actually in the song “Our Only Master “I hear a lot of Motörhead in that song.
DB: Yeah, yeah, that rhythm is like Lemmy’s own “Bo Diddley Beat”
JJ: Yeah exactly, I never thought of it that way, that’s a good way to put it.
DB: Some new stuff, some new CDs I bought, I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing this right, but Kvelertak?
JJ: Kvelertak! I have their first album, it’s amazing.
DB: Yeah, I bought the new one, I’ve been tripping out on that, it’s great. Lots of cool variation.
JJ: Oh absolutely, I think they’re Norwegian. Some of their riffs are amazing like classic Scorpions, some of it, I don’t even know how to describe really, like AC/DC, then it just gets brutal heavy.
DB: Yeah, I really like what they are doing.

JJ: When it came down to recording the album, what was the recording process like and where did you guys do it at?
DB: Neil does his vocals separately with Jay Robbins out in Baltimore I believe. He’s always done those, it’s kind of like satellite recording and Jay Robbins always does an amazing job. So that covers the vocals. The rest of the music was done out in the back of the Valley out here and it was a very very very hot summer when we laid this stuff down. The recording studio by day is actually an auto body garage shop. It has this amazing ambience in the main concrete room, it’s incredible, and the room is so huge you know?
JJ: It’s just one of those magical spots.
DB: Like totally, you go in there, you clap, and you’re like “Wow! Listen to that!” It was really really really freaking hot though because there was no AC, no windows, no nothing and it was like July in the back of the Valley so we were just dripping sweat. But somehow it was the heavy metal glue that we needed because it didn’t hurt the recording. It got us into a similar mindset somehow, like a collective madness or something.  The co-producer was a guy by the name of Andrew Giacumakis and he is the singer/guitar player for a band called Moab who are a very cool, very awesome band. Everyone should go and check them out. We worked with him in a way that was very cool. He has vampire hours; he will stay up all night, working on things to get them just right. He is very creative, and very free with his opinion. He’s not worried about hurting your feelings. He’ll just tell you, “Hey that sucks”. But he also has a lot of great ideas, and suggestions for what to put into it. It was very cool vibe of people bouncing ideas off of each other. It was a very cool experience.
JJ:  It sounds like it was a lot of fun.
DB: It was. Hot, but fun.

Dunsmuir – Dunsmuir

JJ: For some of the tech heads we have out there, could you talk about the gear that you use?
DB: Yeah, pretty traditional in that there’s Gibson Guitars and Marshall Amps. More specifically I was playing a ’58 Custom Shop Les Paul, a Gibson RD which is a very cool guitar. The Marshall amps were the Super Bass from 1973 & a JCM 800 100watt from 1984. Those were the two main amps, we have a few other ones sprinkled throughout. We were hitting it with all the classic stuff, like treble boosters, tube screamers, and all that fun stuff.

JJ: It sounds like everyone in the band stays fairly busy with other projects like Clutch, Fu Manchu, all the things Vinnie does, and I think I read that you do some other stuff in the entertainment industry. Do you think you guys will find the time to play any shows or tour?
DB:  We really hope so; I mean everyone is on board to continue with this. We are going to be making another record so it’s not a fly by night project that some record company pieced together, but right now with only one record it will be kinda hard to be top of the bill. But with the second record hopefully we will be able to do that, but in the meantime hopefully we can get out there and be jamming some shows, opening up for people or make some festival appearances. Wherever there’s somewhere to plug in, we will do it.

JJ: What other hopes and expectations do you have or is it to just tour and be heard?
DB: There is not too much beyond that really, it would be absolutely awesome to get out there and play for everybody. It just depends on scheduling and things out there in the metal world, and a load of other factors.

JJ: Do you personally have any other plans for music outside of Dunsmuir coming up? More from The Company Band?  Something new?
DB: Well, I think there will be some other projects that happen, but right now I just really have my head buried in writing the next Dunsmuir record. I know Brad has been out there writing riffs separately, in the outer pockets until we can all come together and do it.

JJ: This is another one for you personally, if you could tour and play with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? Other than the people that you are currently playing with of course.
DB: Oh god! You could name 100 bands that would make me jump up and down you know? But it’s always fun to go after the really big ones. With the band sound the way we have it I think it would match up well with bands like Metallica, Judas Priest, or bands that are from or share our influences. But I’m going to have to say Metallica and Priest are at the top.
JJ: That would be a pretty sweet tour. Well that’s all I really have for you man, do you have any parting comments or anything before I let you go?
DB: We got the record for sale, for pre-order right now. It comes out July 22^nd. Indiemerch.com you can find the vinyl, t-shirts and all that kind of stuff. You’ll be able to get it digitally on iTunes. You know, it summer. Like I was talking about earlier, it’s time for this kind of music, so be sure to get out there and play it loud!

JJ: My neighbors know the album exists, trust me. Ha-ha
DB: HAHAHA! That’s awesome man!
JJ: Ok man, thank you for taking the time to talk to me, and I hope you make it out east here in Pittsburgh, because I would love to see you.
DB: Awesome JJ thank you for your time as well man.

The Album is out now; make sure to go pick it up!! For more info and news check them out at www.dunsmuirband.com

About Author

JJ Ulizio

JJ has been a contributing writer and huge asset to Empire and Empire Extreme since the very begining. He is always digging for new bands and has a true heart and desire to see the bands grow and succeed.

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