Immolation - Ross Dolan
Posted on November 09, 2007 at 8:00 am by admin
The bass playing vocalist who fronts Immolation was gracious enough to do a great interview with me. Afterwards we spoke a little bit about some other bands, and Ross recommended an old cult doom/death band from New York called Winter. It may be tough to find their material, but its well worth it to get your hands on their stuff!
What I didn’t get to print were the casual conversations I had with drummer Steve Shalaty and guitarist Bill Taylor. Bill certainly has a lot of personality! Someone should get a video camera on that guy!
Way Too Loud: There seems to be a lot of bass playing vocalists in North American death metal bands. Is that perhaps the influence of Slayer?
Ross Dolan: Tom Araya was definitely the man to a 15 year old kid. He was up there doing his thing, singing. There was something that was always cool to me about someone who could play and pull of the lead vocals, whether they were playing guitar or bass, or even a drummer, like the guy from Exciter or Chris Reifert [of Autopsy]. Guy like that playing drums and singing is also really impressive.
It just kind of happened like that with us. I was originally just going to play bass, and Tom [Wilkinson], our original guitar player with Bob was going to be our singer, and about two weeks before our first show, he decided he didn’t want to sing, so I kind of got stuck with the duties, and that was it! (Laughs)
WTL: I’ve heard so many stories about bands like that, where they don’t have a singer and they just choose a member to sing.
Ross: Pretty much! I was just a bass player. I had no intentions of singing or being a frontman, I mean it wasn’t my thing, I just wanted to play bass, but like I said, it just happened like that, and I got forced in the position, and you know, it stayed! But yeah, it had nothing to do with Tom Araya or anybody else, like Mille from Kreator, guitar and vocals, had nothing to do with it, even though I’m a fan of all that stuff.
WTL: I’ve had a bit of difficulty getting my hands on your Metal Blade albums, so I was wondering if there were any plans for those albums, perhaps getting more control over that.
Ross: Actually, we haven’t even thought about it or cared about it. I mean, we’re just really looking forward, obviously we’re out promoting the new record. We try not to look backwards, obviously we’re proud of everything we’ve done up to this point, but once we get finished a new record, we’re just totally focused on that.
We were talking about releasing the “Stepping On Angels” CD two years ago, but we got so caught up on focusing on new stuff that we ended up looking forward rather than at the back catalogue. We incorporate all the old songs into the set as best we can. As far as Metal Blade goes, I’m sure if we needed the older catalogue from the second record to the fifth record we could probably get them from them to sell on tour, we just haven’t bothered! I’m sure people can get them if you write to the label. You could probably order the CDs. They’re available. I see them out there all the time in New York City.
WTL: Of course you’d be in New York City!
Ross: Not always! You’d be Surprised. You’d be surprised what you don’t see! (Laughs) So you’ve got to seek out the little mom and pop stores to find the hard to get things. But it just sucks. I talk to people all over the country “Yeah! It’s hard to find this record!” I don’t know what to tell you man! Get in touch with the label is probably the best way to go about that.
WTL: The Relapse web store usually has a ton of stuff.
Ross: Oh yeah! Place like that make it so easy! You can easily get what you need!
WTL: Since you’re one of the bigger death metal bands, why hasn’t it gotten to the point where death metal isn’t your day job yet?
Ross: For the simple fact that we’re not able to make a living off of it! (Laughs) That’s the main reason why! If we were able to make enough to sustain us throughout the year by just doing this, it would be great, I’m sure that’s any musicians dream to live off the music, but at this point for us, it’s just not a reality yet. We’re finally at a point where we’re not losing money when we go on the road, which is a plus. It’s taken us 20 years to get to that point! But we’re not at the point yet where we can come off a tour and say “Cool!” and just sit around, and dick around for the next tour. We can’t do that, especially living in New York. The cost of living in New York is so damn high with everything. We go back to work pretty much the day after this run, and it’s like that with every tour, which is kind of good, because for us now, when we do go on tour, it’s almost like a vacation, so we enjoy, and we appreciate it that much more. I think if it got to a point where it became out only source of income, and it became more of a job, then maybe it wouldn’t be as fun. But we do appreciate it! That’s why we have such a good time I think!
WTL: Your music conjures up a different feeling than most other death metal bands, like a feeling of depression, especially the songs about feeling abandoned by religion.
Ross: yeah, you’re right. We try to do it from a more personal point of view rather than just writing, you know? Everybody has their own style so I’m not going to knock another bands way of approaching the subject. We always took it from a more personal perspective, how we felt about it, coming from different religious backgrounds. Religion played a role in all of our lives to one degree or another. Tom, our old guitarist, his mom was a born-again Christian, so him an I wrote a lot of the lyrics. He had a lot of great ideas back in the early days which kind of fed the fire. I went to catholic school. It was there for Bob so some extent. We just took what was inside of all of us and our personal experiences growing up, so I think our lyrics have more of a personal edge to them.
WTL: The lyrics seem much more personal, rather than say a character.
Ross: It’s something I think that if it’s written that way, then more people can relate to it on a personal level. Then again, lyrics are very open to interpretation. They’re always written like that by us, and everybody has a different take on them. People will come to me all the time at a show and say “Oh, I love this song. This means this to me.” and that’s totally not what it’s about, but hey, if that’s what it means to you, that’s fine, you know? I think in the last three albums, we kind of stepped away from that, because we had five albums that were pretty much strictly about religion, and just painted ourselves into a corner. There’s only so much you can say without being redundant, we can say it different way’s, but it’s like Bah! So we veered off of that path a little bit with the last couple of records. The new record has some of that still in it, but in a different sense. There’s also some more personal things in there. Bob helped out a lot on this new record lyrically too, which was great, because in the past it was always Tom and I, and then it was myself for a bit, and it’s Bob and I now for the last two records, which I think made the lyrics a little fresher. For me, they have a different feel to them now, opposed to the earlier stuff, which is cool, so it’s almost like a different kind of band lyrically. It’s still dark, and it’s still personal, and it still fits in with what we’ve always done, but it’s a little different!
WTL: Is there anything you want to elaborate on, or do you want to keep it open to interpretation?
Ross: I think they’re pretty self-explanatory. A lot of stuff hits on what’s going on today in the world, and the war overseas. I think the majority of people aren’t very happy with that whole situation. I think a lot of the people in the U.S. are not very happy with out government, so there are political things in there, but not very obvious. We’ve never been a political band, and I always try and stay away from it. It did kind of work its way into the last two records, but they’re very sutble. And then there’s stuff like “Passion Kill”, which is totally about religion and um… what else? Wow, I can’ even remember our own songs! (Laughs) “Tarnished” is a song that’s about drug abuse. “Breathing In The Dark” is Bobs song, and it’s about being in a dark place mentally. It’s almost a song about depression kind of. Those are different subjects for us, but I think the way they’re written it fits in with what our style is, and if you read them, there’s many different ways you can interpret them.
I hate to say what they’re about, because when people hear that, they go “Really? Aw… That’s what that’s about?”
WTL: Poison The Well mentioned that too. You’re not familiar with them, are you?
Ross: Yeah! We played a show with them a long time ago, back in Syracuse, New York.
WTL: The singer from the band no longer explains songs just for that reason.
Ross: Here I am saying “Breathing In The Dark” is a song about depression, and what’s going on in your own head, and you’re in a very dark place. Someone might interpret that song totally different, they might think it’s about, whatever!
WTL: Has there been any touring interest from bands you wouldn’t expect, like not death metal bands? There seems to be some interest lately.
Ross: I love to play to different crowds. I love doing a tour like this. This package to me is great, especially for die-hard kids, you know what I’m saying? Us and Suffocation have pretty much been there since the beginning. It’ll be 20 years for us and them, and Skinless has been around for over 10 years, so 3 solid New York death metal bands to go out like this is really cool. But it would also be cool for us to get in front of different crowds, because I think if we brought our live show to people who aren’t maybe exposed to this type of music, I think they would be impressed, even though we’re not the type of stuff that they would normally listen too. I think up there [the stage] is where it really counts in the live show, and I think if you can impress them up there, it doesn’t matter. I think you’ll win fans.
We supported Cradle Of Filth back in 2002 in Europe, I wouldn’t say they’re death metal band, definitely not, and their crowd was very different for us. You could tell, they didn’t warm up to us right away, but for us it was cool, because we got to play in front of huge crowds that were very different for us, and I know we made some new fans, because we did speak to a lot of kids after the show who were like “Wow! I’ve never heard of you guys!” I’m all for it. If we get the offers, as long as everything works out for us, we’ll do it!
WTL: From the appearance of things, metalore seems to have helped out every kind of real metal. Do you think you’ve benefitted from it?
Ross: Probably not! (Laughs) There’s a lot of younger kids who maybe wouldn’t have come to more extreme shows like this, and I think it made them aware that there’s this whole genre of music that was heavier than the stuff they’re hearing on the radio, or the stuff they’ve been exposed to. So yeah, I definitely think it turned a lot of new kids onto extreme metal. And forget about the sarcasm, it probably did help out all the more extreme bands, because since we’ve been around for so long, we’re kind of stuck in that area where we have our die-hard fans that are probably our age, and they don’t always come out to the shows! (Laughs) It’s hard to break through to the younger crowd, who I’m sure would be into more extreme stuff, just not exposed to it.
We’re trying to do a lot of touring for this record, so we’ve got this tour down with Suffocation, and then we go on the road with Rotting Christ in February, and we’ll be going back to Europe for the third time in March. Europe’s been really strong for us this time around, because we didn’t do any touring for the last record over there, we just did some festival dates. I don’t think it helps so much in Europe, because that stuff hasn’t taken off so much in Europe as it did here, you know? The stuff you’re talking about, metalcore, but Europe’s just fucking die-hard metal, all-out! They’re fucking metal to the bone! Here, I think it goes through its phases, like in the mid-80s you have Celtic Frost, Keator, Slayer, and that wave kind of got huge, and then it kind of settled down. Now it’s actually at a high point. The last 3 or 4 years it started to boom, so it’s good for everybody.
WTL: I’ve heard you guys don’t drink much or use anything. Not really partiers.
Ross: For the most part. Some of the guys, a little bit, but for the most part it’s pretty non-existent!
WTL: Does it help cut costs at all? I know for some bands that makes every night Friday.
Ross: I think if you do that every night, then you’re a mess every night, it definitely wears you down. It’s hard enough to do this, like we’re doing it in a van, pretty much taking care of everything ourselves. I think it would be impossible to do that if you were just a mess every night. You couldn’t keep your mind straight. I think it’s very important to be focused, because Bob and I do all the driving, and we take care of all the business. We don’t have a crew with us other than the sound man, so we’re pretty much our own road crew, pretty much doing everything. After a month of that, you have 8 hour drives, 6 hour drives, 10 hour drives. You really need to be on point! Otherwise, it’s just opening the door for disaster, physically and otherwise.
WTL: Have you experienced any separation from any band or anything like that for not using?
Ross: For the most part they respect that, and there’s no peer pressure, or whatever. It’s never forced on, it’s more around you wanted to drink, or smoke, or whatever, it’s there. The guys pretty much know who the pot smokers are, and who the beer drinkers are, and those are the guys, and they’ll pretty much o their thing together, and that’s it. We fall into the eater category! (Laughs) We’re the first ones there for the food, we’re the guys going out for the restaurants, that’s what we’re more about.
WTL: Is there any band that you’d like to tour with that’s both feasible and not obvious?
Ross: Dude! There’s so many bands I’d like to go out with. I’m a real big fan of My Dying Bride. I’d love to do something with those guys. They’re totally different from us, but they’re fucking dark, creepy, and I’m just a fan of all of their albums. Even the new one to me is amazing, and we’ve been jamming it, “A Line Of Deathless Kings”, over and over again. I’ve always been a fan. I like their stuff because it’s just dark. Their earlier stuff was obviously more death metal, once you start doing the clear vocals on “Turn Loose The Swans”, it just got better and better. We we’re just talking about that, how we’d like to go out with those guys, because they’re totally different. Their slower, an more dirgy, just fucking very melancholy, and just… just… dark, you know? We’re dark and depressing in another way! (Laughs) It would be cool though. That’s one band I’d like to go out with. As far as some bigger bands, I don’t know. I mean it would obviously be cool to go out with Slayer, because Slayer’s a band that we’ve all been fans of. When you see Slayer at 15, like the “Hell Awaits” tour, and to see that they’re still around, and the last record they put out was phenomenal to me. It would be fucking cool to do that. We’re open for anything. There’s a lot of tours that come to mind. Obviously I’m a fan of other stuff too, like Iron Maiden, like older stuff, but us and Iron Maiden would be a terrible fucking bill! Certain things you have to realistic about, and aren’t going to gel with their fans, so I’m trying to think of things that maybe might mesh as far at the crowds. That it’s, I don’t know! (Laughs)
The Official Immolation Website
Immolation at MySpace
Immolation at Century Media
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January 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] Immolation - Ross Dolan WTL: The lyrics seem much more personal, rather … it goes through its phases, like in the mid-80s you have Celtic Frost, Keator, Slayer, and that [...]