13 Stupid Questions with Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Since last summer, one album is in constant rotation in our cars and iPods, reassuring the RUFKM writers will achieve our goal to go deaf by March.  That album?  Maylene and the Sons of Disaster: III.

Not only do they have the longest band name in rock history,  TylerDFC wrote a review and called III “the best rock album of 2009″ ,they have two previous releases creatively titled I & II, and they opted to sign to a music label named after a ferret.

That was enough to warrant a “13 Stupid Questions” interview but we did some painstaking research (Wikipedia) and found that the lead singer, Dallas Taylor, used to front a Christian Metalcore Band called Underoath.  This called for a (slightly) less stupid interview asking more in depth questions.  While Maylene is not labeled a ”Christian Band,” their music is based on the general theme that “evil lifestyles will be met with divine justice.”

Or something like that.   Why don’t we let Dallas of  M-SOD 5 tell you all about it.  Huge props to Dallas for not shying away from answering some of the more “edgy” religious questions.

13 Stupid Questions with Dallas Taylor

1.  Dallas, when you hit the stage your bring the noise… and the rage.  Which of these techniques best describes how you prepare yourself for a performance?

1)Gargle with hydrochloric acid
2) Enjoy a nice bowl of ground glass
3) Re-read the press release announcing the Creed reunion

Probably watch our guitar player re-read the press release announcing the Creed reunion, and hear him shout for joy.

2.  You claim to be a Christian band yet on III there are no organs, “Choir of the Bells” solo, or request to donate 10% of my pre-tax earnings. This is outrageous. Explain yourselves.

Yeah I guess when I saw this interview said 13 stupid questions this would have to be the worst question of all.  Did you steal these questions from a 5th grader, and make them your own.

haha Just giving you a hard time, but seriously I think I have been asked that same question by a 10 year old.

3.  According to our research (Wikipedia) you chose to base your band around an obscure story about the Ma Barker Gang. Take us back to that band meeting.  What ideas were actually rejected?

We rejected a lot of ideas.  It has been a while so I don’t remember them that much, but I know we had a lot of really bad ideas as well.

4.  We are going to go out on a limb and say that your next album will be titled IV. Will you be continuing your obsession with the Ma Barker gang on this album? How long will you tour behind “III” , when do you plan on going back in the studio, and what changes (if any) can we expect?

I am not sure if we are going to name the next album IV, and maybe branch off a bit from the story.  We might try and do a lot of things different on this next record, change it up a bit keep it fresh.  We hopefully will start getting to go back into the studio close to the end of this year.

5.  “Listen Close” has an incredible hook and takes the listener totally by surprise coming off the aggression of “Step Up (I’m On It)”. The placement of it in the middle of the album makes it a focal point for the listener; the relatively calm eye in the middle of a tornado. In today’s download/shuffle-happy world, how much thought went into the placement of the songs on III? Was the story mapped out and then the songs written to fit, or the other way around?

Placement is a big key in a record, so we did think a good bit about how the songs should go, and they do always map out some sort of story. Yeah I think we did a little of both we mapped out the story, and wrote songs to fit. We also just placed some of the songs already written in the order we thought they should go.

6.  You are on an label called Ferret Music, a company named after a glorified rodent that smells like Drakkar, Old Spice, and asshole.  Even God looks down in hatred at this creature of catastrophe, shakes his head, and says, “I had an off day with that one.” Explain your career decision.

Well we just thought Ferret was the best choice those guys know how it is on the road, and really backed and supported our band. We felt they just understood us the best.

7.  In our soundbite/acronym obsessed world “Maylene & The Sons of Disaster” is completely unacceptable and possibly illegal under the Obama administration. We have suggestions how to shorten your band’s name or completely change it. Although they are all brilliant, you must rank them from best to worst.

A. M SOD 5
B. F Maylene
C. Disaster Pastors

D. Sack of Happy
E. Stryper
F. Teabag Barker
G. I like Cheese
H. Screaming Ninnies
I. RUFKM
J. SATAN-H8R

Best 1 – C Disaster Pastors
2- H – Screaming Ninnies
3 -E -Stryper
4 – A – M SOD 5
5 – B F Maylene
6 – D Sack of Happy
7 – G  I like cheese
8  – I  RUFKM
9  – F  Teabag Barker

8.  During the 2009 premiere of the F/X series Sons of Anarchy we were surprised to hear “Step Up (I’m on It)” playing during one of the party scenes.   Given that your band is modeled on the idea of outlaws it was a perfect, and ironic, fit.   Talk a little about how the song came to be used on the show and if you only license your music to shows that have “Sons of” in the title.

We are not really sure how it came to be used that show has used our songs before, so I guess we have been a on it a couple of times.  I guess it is just a good fit for them to want to use our music.

9.  Where the F is this Maylene chick? She sounds hot.

I am not sure what you are talking about.

10.  Your vocals make Brian Johnson and Lemmy sound like Freddie Mercury. As a youth, were you in choir? If so, when you sang “Jesus loves me yes I know, for the bible tells me so” did woman scream and children weep?

Never did the choir thing.  Used to play bass in a band, and write the lyrics in the band. Yeah I am not much of a vocalist, but becoming a professional juggler never really worked out, so I thought what the heck maybe I can just yell a bunch in a band on stage.

11.  Despite delivering what in our opinion was the best hard rock album of the year, success beyond the Christian metal scene still seems to be elusive for “Maylene.” Another incredible Christian rock band, “House of Heroes”, seems to also have this problem even though you both are easily beating most secular artists out there in terms of musicianship and material. How difficult is it to be so well regarded in the Christian arena but largely unknown outside of it while bands, such as talentless asshats Hinder, take all the acclaim?

Well we actually are not even in the Christian music scene that much.  We play with more general market bands than anything else.  But yeah it is pretty much a lottery trying to make it in the music business christian or not.  But if you are like us, and you play music because you love it then it really doesn’t matter in you are in an arena, or in a persons back yard.

11a.  What Christian bands are you are proud to be associated with?

Need to Breath is about the only christian rock band that I really like.

11b. What Christian bands are you ashamed to be associated with. For an added level of difficulty you cannot use Hinder, Creed, Stryper, or make any reference to Steven Baldwin.

There are way to many to name, but I think there are way more horrible scene bands that I am ashamed to be associated with. Man I am so sick of horrible bands using the vocoder, and now all the new bands that are these little white kids trying to rap, and scream in the same song. Hang it up and go back to working at some fast food restaurant.

12.  At 2008′s Ozzfest, fellow Christians The Showdown played a set between bands Devildriver and Satan’s Picnic while the crowd celebrated Beelzebub’s birthday. Your comments.

Man more power to them. If you truly believe in something then you have to stand up for it not matter what.  I think people will see you are being real, and will respect you for that. You have to love, and respect people, to get love and respect back.

13.  In a related note, even though “Maylene” is a Christian band, when Loose Cannon hears “Iron Hills” he immediately throw up the “Devil Horns” or “The Goat.”   What happens when your fans do this in concert? Can you suggest an alternative “Halo” gesture?
No people can do what they want we just kind of do our own thing, and try to make the crowd be able to feel apart of the show. We strive to make people feel at ease and comfort when they watch us.  We are a pretty interactive band.

Bonus Round :  Is Jesus overrated?

No I think he is the only thing that is not overrated. He is what keeps me going, and keeps a smile on my face.