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1. What about the title of the band? Any influences from Dali in your way of thought? <\/p>\n
1. What about the title of the band? Any influences from Dali in your way of thought? <\/p>\n
The title of a song off of our first cd (Pre Post Now) called \u201cArt and Meditation\u201d probably offers the best explanation. Dali\u2019s Llama is a play on words, referring to the artist Dali and to the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness The Dalai Lama. We were practicing mediation and learning a lot about Zen at the time. Art had always been a big focus for both of us, both aural and visual. So the two came together, both as a band name and a band influence.<\/p>\n
2. The world is yours…let them know a small bio of the band. <\/p>\n
We released our first cd in 1993. \u201cFull On Dunes\u201d is our seventh Dali\u2019s Llama cd. Our earlier cds were more power pop \/ punk with increasingly more experimental stuff. By the time we got to our 4th cd \u201cThe Color of Apples\u201d we had gotten pretty avant garde. After a Dali\u2019s Llama hiatus (a separate band project and a few solo cds in between) we went back to more of our original sound with our 5th cd \u201cChordata\u201d. Then we just went heavy from there (and then even heavier). See, Dali\u2019s Llama has never been about making the same cd over and over again. Sticking with \u201cone sound\u201d or style. Dali\u2019s Llama flows and changes like life, hopefully. We play what we like, and we are influenced by many different styles of music. That\u2019s why we never really fit into one genre.<\/p>\n
Dali\u2019s Llama has always been Zach on guitar \/ vocals and Erica on bass. We\u2019ve had various drummers and sometimes a second guitar player. We are very happy with our current line up (drummer Jeff Howe and second guitar player Joe Dillon) and we are looking forward already to our next cd.<\/p>\n
3. Your music is deeply in the 70s or 90s if we consider the stoner era as a parthenogenesis. Where do you place yourself in musical level and what\u2019s your music goal ? <\/p>\n
We\u2019re a tuned down, mid to fast tempo desert rock band. Mix FREE with KILLING JOKE or maybe BLACK SABBATH with BLACK FLAG. Because we always fall between genres we don\u2019t have any illusions of a big record deal or sudden fame. Our music goal is simply start working on the next cd and create something we like and are proud of. I want our next cd to be heavy, with attitude and atmosphere. I\u2019ve written about half of the songs so far. Also as a goal, we would love to play overseas someday.<\/p>\n
4. Please let us know about your latest work \u201cFull On Dunes\u201d <\/p>\n
I wrote about 15 songs for \u201cFull On Dunes\u201d and then we narrowed it down to 9 songs that we felt were the best songs and sounded good together. It\u2019s a very heavy cd with some good playing on it and I\u2019m very proud of it. Our new drummer, Jeff Howe, definitely added a solid driving rhythm the new songs needed. Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Goatsnake) did an incredible job producing it and he did some awesome bass solos on couple of the songs too. Other guest musicians included: Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man) laid down some amazing guitar on a couple of tunes and he read a spoken word piece I wrote for the song \u201cDesert Dogs\u201d. Capt. Sean Wheeler (Throw Rag, Charley Horse) sang some kick ass background vocals and did some cool ad lib stuff too. Last but not least was Joe Dillon, who added a little bit of everything – electric guitar, electric lap steel and background vocals. Joe added so much to the band\u2019s sound that we asked him to join Dali\u2019s Llama as a second guitar player and backing vocalist. He accepted the invite.<\/p>\n
5. What about the lyrics ? Any special concept or hidden meaning? <\/p>\n
Lyrics and meaning hey? Well….<\/p>\n
On Dunes – Escaping from the city into nature
Can\u2019t Catch Me – Big corporations and \u201cBig Brother\u201d watching and monitoring everything we do
King Platypus – One small amazing monotreme being the king of his little pond
Desert Dogs – Desert rats having a blast
Cheap and Portable – Nasty sex music
Smoke Tree – Ecology \/ Sex \/ Drugs
Floating – Young love tested
Full On – Live life to the fullest now, because you\u2019ve got only one life and that\u2019s it
Aqua Fuzz – Primordial forest song<\/p>\n
6. How easy or hard is the DIY way? <\/p>\n
There is nothing easy about DIY. It\u2019s exactly what it stands for – doing it ALL yourself. Promotion, marketing, booking, business records, accounting, building contacts, communication, mailing lists, press releases, graphic design, etc etc. And added to all of it in the last several years, is increasingly more and more internet opportunities.
The internet has greatly expanded the opportunities of DIY music through obvious sites such as MySpace and Last. fm for exposure, to CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon for distribution as well as more genre specific sites such as AllThatIsHeavy (StonerRock. com\u2019s online store). There are so many internet sites and blogs and zines it\u2019s impossible for a DIY label of two people to maintain contact and be on all that we should. However those opportunities are there for exposure, unlike 10 or 15 years ago, and we are grateful for it.<\/p>\n
With all that said, how much hard work and extremely time consuming it is (with very little financial return), there is one benefit – everything is done EXACTLY the way that you want it. Most importantly the music, but also the art work, the communications, everything. If people don\u2019t like who were are, we\u2019re sorry, but we can\u2019t stand the \u201crock star\u201d persona.<\/p>\n
7. How\u2019s the life for a band in Palm Springs, California? Does the climate have an effect in your music? <\/p>\n
The desert scene fluctuates. There is usually only a few of places at a time to play in the desert if you\u2019re playing original music. Bands thrive for a while, then switch members or form new bands and start again. We started Dali\u2019s Llama 15 years ago. We took a hiatus ourselves (Dali\u2019s Llama) for about 7 years to pursue other music projects, and then we started back up again in 2005. We grew up here in the desert and have seen the music \u201cscene\u201d go through many changes. As far as climate, it\u2019s a great place to live most of the year. In the summer it gets pretty hot, sometimes 120 degrees plus. That\u2019s when you head to the mountains to play a show or write a song up there instead. Also, where we live is pretty centrally located. We are only about 2 hours away from Los Angeles or San Diego for out of town gigs.<\/p>\n
8. What\u2019s your next music step? <\/p>\n
We are currently playing a lot of shows to promote \u201cFull On Dunes\u201d. We\u2019re also filming some videos for a few songs from the cd. We\u2019re done filming the video for \u201cKing Platypus\u201d. It\u2019s getting edited now and that video will be out soon. I have also been writing a lot of new tunes for our next cd. Now that we have added a second guitar player again, it gives me a little more freedom in how I write, and offers another dynamic to the songs. So far most will be a little faster tempo and yes, even heavier.<\/p>\n
9. Any feedback from the media till now? <\/p>\n
Most seem to really like it. It\u2019s hard because we don\u2019t really fall within one genre and some times we\u2019re too punk for one genre or too heavy for another. Some reviewers who really have eclectic musical taste and knowledge find all sorts of influences in our music, some that have influenced me and some who I haven\u2019t heard. It\u2019s cool because it gives me a different perspective on how people interpret our sound.<\/p>\n
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