Acid Bath Interview

Dax Riggs

The Gauntlet: Hey Dax, How's it going?

Dax: Great!

The Gauntlet: You have a new album coming out, this time with your band Dax. Why did you choose to go with your name instead of a band name?

Dax: That is a good question. I don’t really have a good answer. At the time I didn’t really have a band. The first Dax Riggs record was made with people from Louisiana and the other half from New York. It seemed a little weird to call it Deadboy and the Elephantmen. We always had different members with each album, but this way I could call it my name and play solo shows easier. I had always done solo acoustic shows regionally, but I could only get those gigs where I lived in Louisiana. With the changing of the name, I could have a band or do it solo. That was probably the main reason. I still think about band names. I am haunted by band names.

The Gauntlet: Was it that bad coming up with previous band names?

Dax: I think they always fit at the time, but I like change. That is the thing with me. I will say something them a few months later I’ll feel a little different. You might want to make a note of that.

The Gauntlet: So the next time we speak, everyone in the band will be different?

Dax: Well I do really like the guys I am playing with. It hadn't been a band for a while, people felt like they were hired on. But with these guys it felt more like it used to be done. We have a band feeling for sure.

The Gauntlet: Did you have that band feeling with the guys on the first album? The two albums are very different in lyrical content and tones.

Dax: It is a lot different with the opportunity to play more with the same people. We spent a lot more time together playing before we recorded together. We were able to see how we wanted to record each song and how it should be played. It is much better having people interested in what you are doing and then doing it for sure. The last record we had a certain amount of time to get it through to the other side. This album had less oversight and no one watching over it. It was a lot looser in the end.

The Gauntlet: Did this band see the album from start to finish or did the members come in and play their parts?

Dax: I had the pieces of the songs like chords and melodies. The way we doing the songs though is a myriad of variations.

The Gauntlet: The lyrics for the last album I'd sum up as 'light amongst the darkness'. With "Say Goodnight to the World", I'd say the theme is 'the light has faded'.

Dax: I am sure you are right. I hope there is some light there. I mean, these are very dark times so I am not surprised how it sounds. I am locked into the dreadful reality around me. I didn't mean to do that but you are absolutely right. I think you are right. I actually feel spiritually more awake than that time. I might have just had my head in the clouds at the time. This album is more real and things are more real in this present time.

The Gauntlet: Are you speaking politically? I did pick out a couple of political bursts in your lyrics that I haven't been aware of in previous albums. Like on "I Hear Satan" you state on the last line "I Hear Satan In The Basement Of The Pentagon".

Dax: Yeah, that is part of it. The climate situation and just everything combined is a heavy load to carry unless you are in total denial or heavily medicated. If you are not, you are in league with insanity. If you look around the world right now, it is a very dark place. It isn't that we can't change it, but people are going to have to die.

The Gauntlet: Did a lot of the distrust in the government come from the handling of Katrina?

Dax: Yeah, that is a lot. That was a big jolt. You think someone would care or be in control. But they are into making more bombs and expanding the empire and we will crumble for that. That was a big life changer. It is something that makes you realize that things can change really fast. No one is looking out for poor people. They can at least make some attempt to make it not appear that way.

The Gauntlet: How have the previous bands you have been in shaped your solo work?

Dax: Every direction I went in, I kept a little bit with me. From the punk and the doom to the psych rock and the quasi-prog of the early Deadboy releases, it all works. There was some bluesy punk later on. There wasn't a total change, but a little change I brought with me from each program from the past. I play and then after a while I want to change things up. I will be in a loud band and then want to play in an acoustical band. Even this new record, the way it sounds, it is more Stoogie when we play it live. It is a little more raw live for sure. We layered a lot of the instruments in the studio and since we don't have double arms to play, it sounds different. I'd love to also release this as a live album so you can hear the difference and see the change. Music changes and it is alive. It is supposed to be there to inspire and move you.

The Gauntlet: A lot of times when you have your own home studio, you have less time restraints and that leads to the Axl Rose affect and over producing. Do you feel you suffered from this at all?

Dax: We formed a lot of songs as we went along. If we had more time, the songs would have been closer to what the are like live. But we couldn't get here without going there first. We spent a lot of time getting the right feeling for the songs. My songs can be upbeat punk to dirty in an instant. We did do a lot of experimenting to begin with. We used a lot of medieval droning type instruments that we knew we couldn't play with live.

The Gauntlet: Do the lyrics just come to you?

Dax: They initially start really fast. The first few lines happen really fast and then the second verse is like pulling teeth. I have to just take what I can get and then go on from there. It is not a big sitting down and thinking things out. The majority comes in a few seconds and is then gone. I am constantly revising things though. I get a lot out of that initial feed and then I make it all work. Sometimes I get just a punchline or verse and that is it. I try to re-enter that space.

The Gauntlet: I hear trace elements of metal in your music, but I know the days of Golgatha and Acid Bath are gone. Does metal still interest you?

Dax: Absolutley, absolutely! I am interested in metal. I am just unhappy with the state of it right now, almost embarrassed. I do check things out and am just waiting for something to happen. I guess I am just into metal before it became metal. I think of doing stuff that is heavier, but just different. I am always keeping an eye open for it and have high hopes. I totally could see doing some metal things. I don't think it would be what Acid Bath fans would want, but I shouldn't say that because maybe it will be. It would be far removed of any known form of metal at this time. I'd really like to do a doom project but I don't want it to drone on. I would be more interested in the songs and lyrics in the setup. I t is a possibility. I know all be doing something heavier in the future.

The Gauntlet: Can you still scream and growl like you did in Acid Bath?

Dax: Oh no! I can still scream, it is more like a real scream and not a practiced scream. It would be unthinkable or even impossible for me to scream right now. It is not there anymore.

The Gauntlet: Was Audie's death an excuse to kill off Acid Bath?

Dax: That isn't true. There were definite vibes in the band that we were through. If he would not have died, I would not have been able to get out of it. The gravitational pull was too great and the machine was already moving. There were too many people around that didn't play in the band that were relying on us for their livelihood. I don't know if I could have stepped out, maybe I could have broken away slowly. Audi was the one in the band that tied it all together. He was the one that dug heavy and melodic hippy type music. I felt creatively that it wasn't happening anymore. We weren't hanging out together but each had there own camp in the band. It wasn't an excuse, it was just a reason. We did play some shows without him though and it just felt like a sham. The last album was very difficult to write as no one could come together. Creatively, Acid Bath was coming to an end though. I didn't want to play those songs anymore, but I certainly didn't want to play them with somebody that wasn’t there. It was too much for me to keep going without him.

The Gauntlet: Were you already moving on before his death?

Dax: Oh absolutely. Before I even met them I was writing songs that are like I write now. We'd take parts to fit in and then take a guitar part I was strumming acoustically and put in a power chord. I had already been into writing my own songs. At the end I was already dreaming up Deadboy & the Elephantmen with a friend. I was already doing different stuff that the band wasn't into. they had no response and wouldn't listen. They had their formula to follow that got them there and they wanted to follow their destiny. We weren't even making a lot of money, just a little. We just had to give the people what they want. I am not one who knows what people want, I know what I want.

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Tags:  Acid Bath, Dax Riggs , Dax Riggs, interviews

Jason Fisher    August 10, 2010