Dave
Sherman is the man who put a damned lot of effort to raise the doom
scene fighting back to back with other American doom heroes. In the
early ‘90s, he was in Wretched, then added his energy to the rocky
flow of Spirit Caravan. Earthride turned out to be a kind of his
anger management course since 2000, but it wasn’t enough and he
started one more doom band named Weed Is Weed in around 2005.
Did
you know that he joined The Obsessed a few months ago? I bet you
didn’t! So even though Dave was busy with celebrating his birthday
on 16th
of October, he somehow found some time to answer my questions about
the bands he involved in.
Hi Dave! First of
all, thanks for your time! Your name is tied to a lot of bands, can
you clarify - which ones are the most active ones for you today?
The Obsessed, Weed is
Weed, Earthride, and PillBilly which is one of my new projects. It
has this country and western thing going on and features Ed Brown on
Bass ..
So there are these
rumours that The Obsessed are preparing new full-length album with
the working title “Sacred” and you're on board. How does the
writing process go? What's your progress?
Yes – The Obsessed
recently reformed from the band Spirit Caravan with Brian
Constantino, on drums. We signed with Relapse Records and we have
been in the studio recording. It has 14 songs, two cover songs
Mountain: Crossroader and Thin Lizzy: It’s Only Money. It has one
old song and 11 new ones.
The Obsessed –
Retroman live 2016
The Obsessed is a
well known band, and I believe that you already have the label who'd
like to release the album. Do you have now schedule consider the tour
dates and the date of release? Do you feel yourself as a serious guy
doing a serious business?
As I indicated we are
now signed with Relapse Records. The album release date will
sometime in February 2017. I always take whatever I do seriously in
my music. I put my heart and soul in it.
How much of
Earthride will be in the next album of The Obsessed? How do you share
your duties in the band?
There will not be any
Earthride influences on this album, as it is a totally different
band. Wino will be doing most of the vocal duties and wrote the
material.
Spirit Caravan
stopped their journey on some point but The Obsessed returns, what
does differ one band from another for you? Can you say that they both
have really different souls?
Yes,
Spirit Caravan is more a stoner rock band with a positive edge as The
Obsessed is more punk rock doom band.
Earthride – Grip
the Wheel
Since 1999 you play
with Earthride, it’s known by its crude, nearly anarchic doom - a
kind of Motorhead of doom. What did you put in the band? What was
your primary goal when you started it?
Motorhead and Black
Sabbath had a baby and it was called : Earthride. We are thinking
about getting it back together again. Eric Little and I have been
talking about writing a new album. Yes, Kyle Van Steinburg had
monster riffs and an amazing tone. That is only one of the reasons
Earthride stands out. The song writing is in an old school way,
which makes it more authentic. My gurgle with glass vocals stand
out.
What made you switch
the efforts from Earthride to Weed Is Weed?
Weed is Weed has been
around for about 15 years. Earthride at that time took precedence.
I always like to keep
reinventing myself, I started working hard on Weed is Weed as well.
With great musicians from this area like, Gary Isom, Rob Portillo,
Russ Strahan, Darren Waters, Mark Ammen, and Tyler Lee, we can create
great music together. The Maryland Family. We are coming out
hopefully within this year or next year with a new EP called, “The
Bong Remains The Same”. So be look in’ for it, because it rocks
hard and heavy.
Earthride dealt in
its songs with such themes like “drugs, death, misery, struggles”.
How much of you are into that?
Yes it does deal with
those topics as Black Sabbath did and of course we all know what
drugs can do, and that was the main reason for the bands long hiatus.
I don’t consider weed a hard drug, but everything else is taboo,
especially the opiates.
Weed Is Weed –
Blunt Force Trauma
You played in a
dozen of bands through your career, which ones were most difficult
ones from technical point of view?
Spirit Caravan, The
Flood Foundation with Dale Flood from Unorthodox, and The Obsessed.
They are the most progressive songs to learn. There a lot of changes
and weird timing signatures as far as playing the bass. Bands such
as: Captain Beyond, Yes, Rush, and King Crimson.
Speaking about your
past – you recorded three albums with Wretched in ‘90s, why
didn’t you join the band after the reunion in 2004? Wasn’t it
just important for you during that period?
The band had a good 5
year run, but the band broke up and Shine was born, which later
became aka Spirit Caravan. After Spirit Caravan split up in 2002, we
made up a few songs, but we couldn’t get it together, because of
personal reasons.
Spirit Caravan –
Black Flower
By the way, how did
you manage to play the right tunes during gigs? I’m meaning that
you need to keep in your head a damned lot of tunes from all these
albums you record and sometimes you even need to sing. So how
seriously do you usually prepare yourself for the gigs?
We have relentless
rehearsals. A lot of listening, to the material to acclimate myself
with the band that I am presently working with and more rehearsals.
You were always a
part of the bands who actively play live and do tours, what are your
main rules of surviving on tour?
Drink a lot of water,
and try and stay as healthy as you can, because there is a lot of
time in the van and in between venues so you have to think of ways to
amuse yourself, and there is a lot of joking around. When you are
working in close quarters it is hard for you to pick up your
instrument to play. On the road I have been Bass Player, driver, tour
manager, and roadie.
Booze or drugs? What
do grant best inspiration?
To be truthful with you
I don’t need either for inspiration. My inspiration for my music
comes from living it with my Heart and Soul. To me music is the
breath of my life.
What do you feel
being the part of doom scene's history? Does it still bring fun or
does it become boring over the years? Do you feel pressure because
people expect more from you?
It is an honor to be
recognized by my peers, but I have done a lot of work to get this
far. the The war is never over and you have to keep battling on. It
never becomes boring because there are new songs to be written and
new riffs to come up with. It is an endless journey. No, I don’t
feel pressure anymore because, like a fine wine you only improve with
age.
Okay, let's sum up -
what are your plans for the bands your currently involved with in the
nearby future?
Be look’in for the
new Weed is Weed record sometime this year. I am also working on a
new project which will be called “PillBilly.” PillBilly has a
country folk favor like Hank III, and Bob Wayne. It will include Ed
Brown, Bass & vocals, Thane Farace, guitar & vocals, and
myself on cigar box guitar, six string acoustic, and vocals. It is
going to be a whole lot of fun in the coming year. Hopefully I will
be on tour with one of these bands. As everyone knows I am always
on the move.
Thank you & Take
Care, Peace, Dave Sherman
Words by Aleks
Evdokimov and Dave Sherman
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