Rewind With Edsel Dope, 12/12/02

  

METAL SLUDGE REWIND WITH…

Dope Singer Edsel Dope

 

We last talked to Edsel and did 20 Questions on October 10, 2000. His answers were alright. Then around October of this year, we got the following email:

Hi my name is James Wright and I’m doing press for “The $12 Riot” Tour feat. the likes of Dope, Primer 55, Skinlab and Society 1.

Edsel Dope of Dope would love to do 20 questions for Metal Sludge (Or in his case a Rewind). He has a lot to talk about with their upcoming tour with Primer 55/Skinlab and Society 1, dissing the Murderdolls, his ex-bandmates and his love of the 80’s.

Edsel would like to finally clear up the air on the issue by doing a rewind if possible. I’m currently helping him out with press and the first place we agreed to attack was the Sludge! Hook Edsel up. I can provide you with his e-mail asap.

Then Edsel emailed Jani, Donna, and our main account with the following email a couple of days later.

Hey again

My buddy James asked me to tell you to contact him to put this together when ever you guys are ready

thanks again

Edsel Dope

So we sent off the questions and time went by and we didn’t hear anything. Eventually we got an email from Olivia “Ette” Daniel saying she saw Dope and that, “When I was getting a picture with Edsel I made mention to Victoria.. that I should have been wearing my Sludge shirt.. Edsel said “Do you work for those guys?” and I told him no, that I was just a fan.. and he goes “I dunno if I like those guys” or something like that.. And I asked him why, and he said that it was because of the questions you asked him for his rewind.. He said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to send them back or not.. he said that the questions weren’t “accurate” or something to that effect..”

We then emailed Edsel and asked him what was up and why he couldn’t hang since he did 20 Questions before. What was the problem? We said we had heard he didn’t like us all of a sudden. He wrote back:

I can hang just fine, THANKS.

I’m a little busy right now. I don’t know if you bothered to look at my tour schedule over the last 2 weeks but the drives have been pretty out of control

and I am tour managing this tour myself on top of everything else.

I will have my answers to james by the morning.

But to answer your question. NO, I don’t think I like you guys much after reading your questions to me. You said NOTHING even remotely positive about me or my band and did nothing but try and drag me through the mud.

I don’t care if you bust my balls. I am a big boy and I actually like a bit of that. It fits in with my personality.. I just think it could have been accompanied by 1 thing that wasn’t negative. . I refuse to believe that you listened to my entire second record and couldn’t find one good thing to touch on or to ask me about.

Take this how ever you want.

Edsel

Well Edsel, we did listen to your last CD and if you read along with this interview, you’ll find out that and a few more things. We felt it was necessary to throw in our 2 cents here and there. Sit back and let the games begin!!

1. What are you currently up to?

We are almost finished recording our 3rd record and we have taken a break to headline the Jagermeister sponsored “12 Dollar Riot Tour” with Dope, Primer 55, Skinlab and Society One. Really it’s the same ole shit in the Dope world. Working on new songs and playing loud rock shows for the kids.

How is tour going?

The tour is going killer. We had some incredible shows in the Mid-west and a couple of unexpected sell outs in the middle of nowhere in Montana. We had never been there before and those kids were insane. We have about 2 weeks left and I don’t think anyone is ready for this tour to end. The shows have been great for all 4 bands and have reasssured us that our Dope fans still love us for our fuck You attitude and our Dope music. Its been great to get to know the Skinlab guys and to hang with our old friends in Primer 55.

2. Do you have anybody left in your band?

No I’m touring with one of those bass drums strapped to my back, a guitar in my hands and a record player….. the kids dig it. It reminds me of how i recorded the first album.It’s a very original concept.. I’m hitch hiking from city to city too. what kind of dip shit question is that?

Yea, I have a band. I have a great band. I’ve always had a great band. Let me know when you want to come see it and I’ll put you on the list. My guitarest “Virus” is killer and we are writing the bestsongs Dope has ever written. He’s been in the band for 2 years now, if you didn’t notice.

I have one of the most kick ass drummers in rock n roll in my drummer Racci Shay. Everyone under the sun has tried to gethim to play in there band. Even Joey the sick ass drummer from Slipknot wanted Racci to be in his Murder Dolls band when he started putting it together way back. Racci’s been in Dope over 2 years now too. My bassist Sloane “Mosey” Jentry is my original guitarest who was in the band selling drugs with me and my brother way before any of the guys who have come and gone even knew who Dope was. There is a natural chemistry between these guys that you cant fake or deny.

3. Wednesday 13 said the following about you: “He now claims to have copyrights on Dreadlocks, the color black, people holding microphones, walking upright, and middle fingers…because “he did it first.” What are your thoughts about that and how hard was it for you to obtain the copyright to those things?

It was kind of difficult. Bob Marley owned it first and after he passed away, I had to track down the person that he willed it to and convince them to hand it over. It took a while but they saw it my way and gave it up.

Hey man, all jokes aside everyone knows by now that 2 of my former guitarest have joined that band. And everyone knows that those same 2 guitarest didnt look anything like they do now until I got a hold of them. Saying all that, I don’t think i spoke out of line. They still to this day look like Dope guys. They just have a bunch of pancake crap on there face now in their “Murder Doll” band. The hair and the cloths are the same and I dreaded the hair and I bought the cloths and I even gave them there cool quirky names. No one can deny that……So pointing out that there spooky singer resembles me quite a bit as well is just simply fact. I still don’t think that I have spoken out of line and i never meant to insult joey or his band. I have spoken to Joey on the phone since Acey left Dope and i told him the same thing I am saying now. I know what you guys want. You want us to talk as much shit as possible so you have more crap to write about. I assure you. I’ve said my peace and don’t care to continue this after today. Keep one important thing in mind. If Wednesday wasn’t in a band that 2 dope guys have gone through, I never would have said word one or gave him a second thought. I would have just been flattered by any similarity’s I saw. I think that the fact that 2 people that I helped develop have been in his band, is more then enough to warrant my opinion on the matter.

SLUDGE SAYS: “You want us to talk as much shit as possible so you have more crap to write about.” Maybe that would be true providing we actually wrote about Dope. We never even mentioned the Dope guys leaving to join Murderdolls until we did 20 Questions with Wednesday, and then we only asked him what that was all about. Even when you posted that rant you put up on your website bitching about Murderdolls, we didn’t even put that on our page or mention it. The only person who keeps going on about it is you. You’re the guy who keeps talking shit. You talk shit and then try to make it seem like you don’t want to talk about it, but you still get your shots in. Don’t flatter yourself and think that we actually care because we don’t. All we do is ask the question and you provide the answer.

4. What are your thoughts on Tripp Eisen?

The same as they were when I fired him 2 years ago. I like his name, I like his hair and his cloths. But It takes more to impress me then the ability to do the robot move or jump high on stage.

He did a good job playing my songs live for me in Dope but he was never a guy I chose to really use in the studio. From what I hear he has done well at playing Wayne Static’s songs on stage for Static X. I am a song writer and songs are what people put in there cd players and sing allong or rock out to.

As far as i know. You can’t put the robot move on a cd yet. Ask me my oppinion of him after he has actually played or written on a full length album and I’ll give you my oppinion. But until then, He has yet to matter at all musicly. Key word being MUSIC..

5. Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who should keep their mouth shut and 10 being a vocal God.

Rob Halford = 9

Jani Lane = 4

Vince Neil = 6 but he gets a 10 for being in the coolest band ever

David Draiman = 9

Jonathan Davis = 9

Jon Bon Jovi = 9 even though he’s not my style. he can sing his ass off

Alice Cooper = 8

Marilyn Manson = 8 i like that he has a few different voices

Wednesday 13 = It wouldn’t be fare to rate him on just the 1 song I heard from them. I would need to hear more. you can send me a copy of the record if you want. I liked his lyrics about all the horrror movie guys. That was catchy.

Paul Stanley = 8 Gene is my favorite voice in Kiss.

 

6. If you could put together your ideal tour, what other bands would you like to go out with?

the dreams are Kiss, Motley Crue and Guns N Roses. but the old school versions and thats not possible. As far as our contemperaries, I would love to tour with Static X again. We used to tour with them all the time. Wayne writes killer pulsing heavy grooves and my Dope songs are a little more aggressive and choppy. It made for a great dynamic for the fans. I think we played like 200 shows in a row with them at one time and we share allot of the same fans. I got along great with those guys. Especially Tony. I unfortunately don’t think this one will ever happen again, since my former guitarist has gone on to join static X and has chosen to make himself my enemy by constantly running his mouth about me to the press and especially to the fans. I guess Wayne is okay with this because he has allowed his new guitarist to be a spokes person for his band and since doing so Static X via its guitarist has said allot of shitty things about Dope, and that’s too bad.

I loved touring with Sevendust. THEY ARE THE COOLEST GUYS IN THE WORLD and our crowds mixed great. Lajon was one of the first guys out there in the scene to extend his hand of friendship to me and my band. Slipknot was another pleasure to tour with. those guys were total pros and it was an honor to set the crowed up for them to knockdown everynight. we were out with them when they were just blowing up and it was something special to witness close up. I can’t wait to see what Powerman 5000 does next. Spider is my buddy and I introduced him to their new drummer Adrian. I would love to tour with them again. Especially with Adrian now being in the band.

Of the bands that we havn’t been out with, My number one choice would be Disturbed. I love there new stuff and David and Dan have always been the nicest guys when I run into them. I would also love to have the chance to open for Zombie. He was a big influence on the original Dope sound. He too rebuilt his band from scratch against popular oppinion when he made his Hellbilly record and i dig his whole new thing.

7. What 80s band do you think deserved more success than they had?

Enuff Z Nuff

8. Name your 3 favorite ways for chicks to degrade themselves on your tour bus?

I don’t like chicks to degrade themselves. I like girls that are into being dirty and getting nuts, but not if there gonna feel weird about it the next day. Thats no good. I like girls that feel good about being bad.

 

9. Is it still Now or Never?

Sure, either you do it or you don’t. I’m not afraid to take chances in order for the hope of a better tommorow. That song represented a lot of things for me and it let the world see that I had the ability to do more than what the first Dope album’s sound was limited to.

 

10. Give us a touring memory about the following cities:

Tampa = threw up on my drummer Racci

Atlanta = Racci threw up on me

Dallas = Caught a former band member kickin it with an ugly broad with realy, realy, realy, big cans

Denver = Killer fans

Chicago = recorded Fuck Tha Police live a couple months ago. Sounds awesome.

Detroit = Almost got shot out front of Harpos. Our tour mgr got robbed. I opened for Kid Rock in front of what felt like a million people.

Philadelphia = fired our whole entire road crew one night.

Boston = Mistresss Carrie at WAAF is always good for a memory or 2

Los Angeles = Drugs and sluts

New Orleans = Drugs and Booze and ugly sluts

 

11. Of all the bands Dope has played with, who were the biggest dicks and why?

Probably us. I am a dick because I don’t take shit from people and I don’t hide behind my tour mgr. I can’t say one thing to your face and then hide on my bus while I send my tour mgr to go say the opposite. Thats made me a lot of friends and gained me a lot of respect on tour. It has also gotten me into a couple little instances that have gotten way overblown. The fact that we have toured with a million bands and have only had 1 or 2 issues aint too bad. But some how the few overblown things have shadowed all of the good ones.

 

12. The last of Edsel Dope:

Last CD you purchased = NIN pretty hate machine. mine got ripped off

Last horror movie you watched = Return of the living dead

Last band you watched from the crowd = Primer 55

Last book you read = How to kill a terrorist

Last time you were in jail = 3 months ago. I punched the shit out of some fucker who pushed some girl down on the pavement outside of a club back home. I got off though. I have a good lawyer and the judge appreciated my concern for the girl’s well being. The guy found out I’m in a famous band and thinks I got a bunch of money. Now he’s trying to sue me for his medical bills. Lots of luck buddy.

Last drug you did = smoked Dope

Last time you had unprotected sex = Yesterday

Last porn magazine you saw = a day or so ago, but I don’t remember which one it was

Last video you can remember seeing on MTV = Nelly, “Hot in Her”

Last autograph you asked for = Lars of Metalica when I was 13. He was hanging out at a Dangerous Toys / Cult concert in Fla.

 

13. Aren’t the dreadlocks played out yet?

I don’t know. Ask Tripp, Acey, or there singer in the Murder Dolls.

14. Recently you said, “I was a little, rinky-dink, redneck from South Florida going to rock ‘n roll shows back in the day goin, “Someday I’m gonna be a fuckin’ rock star! Someday I’m gonna be hanging out with hot fuckin’ chicks and going to strip bars with my band!” Why does it happen? Not because I’m the greatest songwriter in the world, but because that’s what I wanted and I wasn’t willing to accept anything but that.”

If you’re a rock star, what does that make Steven Tyler, Paul Stanley, or David Lee Roth?

First off. Allow me to decode such a complex statement for you. I was speaking to the kids about goals in life. I was saying “Hey kids, you can be anything you want. You just have to work hard and put your mind to it. Don’t take no for an answer, don’t give up and one day your dreams can come true. I don’t care if you want to be a rock star or the god damn President of the United States. Dedicate yourself 100% to what ever it is that you want and don’t give up.” Secondly. Those guys you speak of are legends and I am but a hard working man continuing to survive in this rat race of the music business, and I’m doing pretty well. I never said I was a big rock star nor would I compare myself to the greatness of the individuals that you spoke of. I have had one goal since I was a little kid and I have accomplished a great deal of that goal. I can’t and don’t complain. I’m on my 3rd record. I’ve toured my ass off, played in front of millions of kids, been in a ton of magazines and had videos on the big MTV. I love what I do, Its more then I would have ever needed to accomplish in order to have my own piece of mind with my dreams of playing rock n roll. It could all end today and I would be content…People know who Dope is and no one can take that from me. Not even you and the negative spin you try and put on everything I say or do. And I got news for you. I’m not done by a long shot.

SLUDGE SAYS: Is it hard for you to walk with that giant chip on your shoulder? We don’t try to put a negative spin on everything you say or do because we hardly even talk about you. We gave the last Dope CD, “Life,” a rating of 9 out of 10. Coming from us, that’s good. The whole “everybody is out to get me” gimmick is over, dude. It’s ok, everything doesn’t really suck.

 

15. Yes or no, has Edsel Dope ever:

Got stuffed in a locker during high school = nope

Banged a midget porn star in the last year = nope

Seen a royalty check = yep

Thought about having Paul Gargano manage your career = nope, but i do ask him for advice from time to time.

Met Howard Stern = nope

Snorted coke off a chick’s tit before = yep

Gotten high on your own supply = yep

Touched a penis other than your own = nfortunately my brother is kind of sick.

Wanted to quit Dope and join the Murderdolls = every single day. Please guys or dolls, if your out there…. Save me from my uncool band. Help me not have to be the guy in dope that writes the songs, calls the shots and produces my own records. If I wear a bunch of makeup and shave my eyebrows, I could fit right in. I’m skinny, I have dreads….

FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!This is so fucking stupid!!

I mean no disrespect to Joey, Acey or any other guy in that band. But what the fuck am I supposed to say when someone asks me a stupid ass question like that. Especially after how much you’ve been trying to bust my balls throughout this whole interview. I would like to think that I can actually see those guys out one night and get drunk and laugh about this stupid shit.

I’ve known Joey and Acey for a long time and I hope that the things we say in response to dumb ass questions you ask don’t make us full fledged enemy’s. I think Joey should slap you in the face for asking me a dumb fuck loaded question like that.

Been in the Tuff fan club = nope

SLUDGE SAYS: “what the fuck am I supposed to say when someone asks me a stupid ass question like that.”You answered it perfectly fine until the FUCK YOU part. Then you snapped. We’re not trying to bust your balls anymore than we do anybody else. Some people are easier to goof on than others, but we have no agenda against you and could really care less. Thanks for showing the world that you have a great sense of humor and can laugh at yourself…..It’s entertaining for us to know that a few questions from a website can make you lose your mind.

 

16. What 80’s hairband singer has gotten the most out of shape since his heyday?

I don’t know. I hope you didn’t like these singers your ripping on back when they dominated the music scene. I dont think anyone should expect these guys to look like there 21 when there 50. And i don’t think you should bust their balls now unless you never liked them before. Its kinda played out. Ya know like my dreadlocks. If your gonna rip on any of the old guys just because they got old. You better not have ever had one of there posters on your wall or jammed out to their albums. Otherwise you are a fair weather piece of shit fan and they should piss on your grave for being such a worthless piece of shit. Just cause they were rockstars they’re not aloud to eventually get old and out of shape? I wanna come see you in 25 years and see how fucking cool you are. And that is actually giving you the benefit of the doubt. I say this with the assumption that that you actually look good NOW.

SLUDGE SAYS: That’s funny Edsel. In your 20 Questions, you said the following about Kiss:

I just saw them a couple weeks ago in Buffalo, but Kiss Psycho Circus SUCKS ASS, and I’ll give it a fuckin’ zero. And I’m gonna do that because they….I’m sorry, where is this other question, “What hard rock/heavy metal band should give it up and call it a day?” KISS! Because they are killing their legacy that they had. People are going to see them and the crowds not rabid and insane anymore because it’s PREDICTABLE.

In your Word Association for Gene Simmons, you said: Old

For Vince Neil, you said: Fat

You also talked shit about Poison, Warrant and Slaughter. All we asked you this time was what singer is the most out of shape. So it was okay for you to say that Vince is fat and Gene is old, but now you go off on a rant defending everybody? Can you be a little bit more hypocritical?

 

17. Why do you think Kid Rock thanked every band he played with on his latest album, “Cocky”, except yours?

I didn’t notice that he did or didn’t thank me or my band.

Did he thank you?

I didn’t hang with Rock very much, I spent most of my time smoking weed with little

Joe C… R.I.P.

 

18. Are you bitter that half your band left you to join another band that might end up selling more records than Dope?

Nope. First off none of them would have ever gotten out of New York if it weren’t for me and each guy met there new band leaders on tour through me. Tripp got canned from Dope and later joined Static X, who was much more successful before he joined them then they were on their last effort with him, if you didn’t notice. Preston left Dope right after that and joined Primer 55. He has continued to do what makes him happy and he doesn’t look like a Dope guy anymore either. I notice that you press people never mention Preston . Why is that? Could it be because he successfully separated himself from me and my band by changing his look back to the way he was before he met me and joined Dope… and because he hasn’t run around and cried about how much of a bad guy Edsel Dope is. Probably so……… The only guys you mention are the ones that still resemble Dope and bitch and moan about me. Thats not my fault.

That brings us to Acey who joined the MurderDolls. “Joey Jordison” of the multi platinum selling Slipknots side project. The success of that band and the excitement around it hinges solely on Joey and if it weren’t for him they wouldn’t even exist… You know it and I know it… Give some fucking credit where credit is due. Static X is where they are because Wayne Static writes cool songs and has a great sound. The Murderdolls have a shot because Joey created that shot by taking Slipknot to the top of the metal world.. So don’t down play my accomplishments because a couple guys that used to work for me have gone on to work for someone else. If any or all of them sell a billion records i will be happy for them. Regardless of them or any of the bullshit you guys continue to stir up, I will keep writing and producing records as I always have and my band Dope will keep playing loud rock shows for the kids who love what we stand for, because thats what I do. I’ve proven that I and Dope will continue on. Even if it pisses you off…Actually that makes it even more rewarding… Funny thing is that you are the only ones who still care, all of the fans are used to this. They have accepted the changes to Dope, Static X, Primer 55, and The Murder Dolls and continue to like each band for the #1 most important reason. THE MUSIC that we create!!!!!!!

SLUDGE SAYS: Didn’t you say earlier you were over talking shit about Murderdolls? And can you take credit for more shit? I did this, I did that, I introduced so and so to so and so, I helped this guy, I bought him this, that, patty whack, give the dog a bone. Whatever dude. We’re not pissed off if you stay in Dope because we’d have to care about you first to be pissed off. But let’s lay it out for you, Dope is the new Slaughter, except Slaughter has sold more records and is better known. On second thought, Dope is more like the new Trixter….no, Trixter had more success than Dope too. Lets see, Dope is like the new Bang Tango. Or Dope Tango, if you will.

 

19. The Edsel didn’t sell. Your music doesn’t sell. Do you see the connection?

ARE YOU A FUCKING MORON or is this your way of trying to be humorous? My band has sold more fucking records then 99% of the bands that have ever released a record. I have scanned way over 300 thousand records in the US alone. Not to mention the record clubs or the rest of the world. Go do some research and look at how many bands you just insulted and called failures because they didn’t to sell 300 thousand records or even 100 thousand records for that matter.

How stupid are you allowed to be to hold down your job?

You don’t have to sell a million records to be a success, unless its your opinion that big time commercial success is allthat is important.

I’m very happy with the Army of Dope kids that are out there and from me, my band and all of our fans.

You can “GO FUCK YOURSELF” for that stupid ass statement.

SLUDGE SAYS: Sensitive, much?For somebody who wants to come off like a hard-ass, you sure are sensitive. Glad to see you have a sense of humor and don’t take yourself so seriously. We thought that question was good, too. It made us laugh.

However, before you hit us with “I have scanned way over 300 thousand records in the US alone” you should realize we do our homework. You sent your questions back on December 2nd. So as of December 2nd, 2002, lets see how many records you scanned in the US according to SoundScan:

FELONS & REVOLUTIONARIES came out on 09/14/99 and has scanned 227,840 units.

LIFE came out on 10/30/01 and has scanned 63,026 units.

Total = 290,866 units scanned.

Fact = You did not scan over 300,000 units in the US like you said you did. Sorry, do not pass go, do not collect $500. And even if we threw in record clubs, chances are you didn’t even move 10,000 units to put you over the 300,000 mark. That’s probably why you were dropped.

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We mention a name and you give us your thoughts.

Wednesday 13 = Edsel Dope

The Strokes = Kurt Loader says that they are the future of music. Must be true

Alice Cooper = incredible

Blackie Lawless = evil

Sum 41 = poppy punks

Anthrax = DEATH

Acey Slade = Edsel Dope

Nikki Sixx = GOD

Michael Jackson = white

Poison = Ivy

Joey Jordison = Killer drummer. Wheres a mask a lot of the time. Has my red head band from the Everything Sucks video.

I would like to ad that since beginning to do press for The 12 Dollar Riot Tour. It seems that all anyone wants to talk about is former band members and stupid shit to cause more controversy between us. I’m so over it. I give the metal community my word that in the future any questions about anything related to all of this shit that is now officially history will fall onmy deaf ears. I am only interested in talking about the current state of Dope and our future. The only thing I am willing to talk about from the passed is the music I’ve made or the tours I’ve done. Thank you to our fans and the fans in general for continuing to love loud heavy music.

And Fuck you to the ones who only want to bring us all down by turning us against one and other.

See you in the pit

Edsel Dope

“Turning us against each other?” Quit living your gimmick.Dude, all we do is ask the fucking questions. You can answer it however you want. If you’re too stupid to figure out the right way to answer it, that’s not our fault. Metal Sludge is known for asking the tough questions and busting balls. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last 4 years! We’re not Metal Edge. If you want easy, softball questions, go somewhere else. Did you want us to ask you about your favorite color or where you buy your clothes? Fuck, you came to us!! You asked for this Rewind. We didn’t go looking for you. Plus you did 20 Questions before. You knew what you were in for, but since we “busted your balls,” you wanted to become all pissy because we weren’t kissing your ass. You should be happy anybody even wants to talk about Dope. If it wasn’t for two members of your band joining Murderdolls, you wouldn’t have gotten half the press you’ve gotten in the last few months. Look, there are three ways anybody can answer our questions:

1. They can just be honest.

2. They can avoid the question in a clever or humorous way.

3. They can get offended and come off like an asshole.

Our questions are almost like a personality test because it shows the fan how you react to things. You decided to be an asshole. Hey, that’s fine with us. If you want to come off like an asshole who can’t hang, then that’s your choice.

You also said you don’t want to talk about the Murderdolls things anymore, but whenever you had the opportunity to talk shit about them you did. If you want it to end, then don’t fucking talk any shit! Is that hard to understand? We didn’t force you to say anything you didn’t want to say.

Anyway, thanks for the entertainment. For more info on Dope, you can go to www.DopeWeb.com