THE HARD R: DALLAS COYLE ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

I hope you guys enjoyed the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century… So Far. I thought it was awesome that it got so much feedback, and shows that the site is really picking up steam. I was drawn to this site because of the humor and I think it’s coming into it’s own. I called to ask them for the blog and they were gracious enough to say, ‘yes.’ Now that I’m not in God Forbid, they may feel gyped!

With that said, a lot of my blogs have been controversial, and with me leaving God Forbid, everyone is wondering why I still have a blog here. I’ve wondered the same thing. I want to help people out in the biz the best way I can. So for a while I’m going to make this blog a question and answer sort of thing. You can ask any question but if it’s stupid, I won’t answer. If it asks about my decision to leave GF, I won’t answer. Those questions don’t help anyone. Post your questions in the comments section and I’ll try and answer as many relevant ones as possible. I will keep it up weekly if the questions keep coming.

On a side note, I am working on new music that is turning out to be pretty bad ass. Axl and Vince have heard some of the stuff, although rough, and it’s pretty heavy. The vocals are all singing. Think Gojira mixed with Alice In Chains. I’m diggin’ it, bigtime!

OK, on to some questions.

@ ‘Me’ in the comments section on the last blog:

“How involved are your producers in terms of song arrangement and the actual creation of GF’s music? I know it might vary from producer to producer, but there’s a difference in getting the best tones and deconstructing your music with a fine-toothed comb (metaphorically speaking..).”

On all of the God Forbid records we never had producers re-arrange or write material for us. As a band we always had our songs the way we wanted them to be when we went into record. I’ve always hesitated working with producers who want to re-arrange stuff because it’s our band and we should know how things work. We are the professionals at writing, they are the professionals at recording. So I like to keep that boundary. That’s not to say I wouldn’t mind working with a producer who understands song writing, it just means that for GF we always constructed our songs in ways that couldn’t be fucked with. We very rarely did the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge structure. As far as quality sounds, we worked with the most professional people so they knew what they were doing. My favorite mix of ours is Gone Forever, ’cause Colin Richardson just killed it. Hire good people and you will get a good product. Just write good songs that can’t be fucked with!

@ ‘balls mahoney’:

“When on the road you’re out of your element as far as just about everything in a normal daily life goes. regular meals, good sleep, good hygiene, etc., etc. do you end up losing a significant amount of weight from the day you leave to the day you come home? i remember asking the keyser bros. from skinless a similar question and they both just sighed and said ‘you have no idea…’”

Maybe in the beginning of touring I would lose weight because we were sleeping in the van, eating club pizza and just struggling. But, really, in the last five years we never had that hard of a time touring, because we got big enough to where we could get a bus or tour in a van with hotels every night. You have to remember that you only play for about 40 minutes to an hour every nigh,t so you don’t get too much ‘exercise’ unless you want to get up and lift the weights, do your cardio like a lot of people do. I remember on Ozzfest, Ben from Throwdown was lifting every day and he was in pretty damn good shape. In the beginning you lose weight. If you happen to get more successful and you can live fairly human on the road you most likely could gain weight. Shit, look at Chino from the Deftones. Speaking of the Deftones, I hope Chi gets better. White Pony was on my top 21 list, by the way!

@ ‘pungent cunt fart’:

“Can you convince Doc to start blogging for Metal Sucks? I think you are a dildo.”

I asked him to do a blog here because he’s a much better writer than I am. I’ll ask him again. If I’m a dildo, then your mom’s vagina got me too wet and then she put me in her drawer. Good thing though: I was back in the vag two hours later. Slimy, wet mom juice!

@ ‘Oriana Smith’:

“Hi, I’m thirteen and started my own metal band. How do we promote ourselves if we can’t find any one to take us seriously!”

Well, it’s good you’re starting early. Very good actually. You don’t want to promote yourselves until you find the music is worth promoting. You have to be very honest with yourself and see if what you’re doing stacks up against the big boys. If you have music you’re proud of the best way to promote is to play live. Jump on shows for free, ask friends to help out and get a live show that people can’t deny. Once you start playing regularly then get a couple of songs recorded and a t-Shirt and start selling them. If you sell 100 demos in a month from playing shows, I’d say it’s a great start. Then go to the internet, hire a good artist to design a great MySpace page or, my preference, a ning site. Get your artwork together, find your vibe and play shows. No better way of promoting. Make sure the music is great then you won’t have any problems. Remember one thing: if you’re up there playing music at a show, most people will want to be doing what you’re doing so you’re one step ahead. Stay positive!

Again, leave your questions in the comments section. From this point on I’m your Dr. Music Man! HA!

-DC