Artimus Pyledriver Bio

The General Lee, Lynyrd Skynyrd, moonshine and monster trucks. Welcome to The South . . . and welcome to the world of Artimus Pyledriver. A combustible mix of hardcore riffing, southern guitar fireworks and down home boogie, Artimus Pyledriver deliver stompin? odes to fast cars, faster women and the land that they call home. More substance than image, the AP boys don?t just write music about the South ? they live it.

Artimus Pyledriver was formed in Atlanta in 2001 by lead singer, Dave Slocum and guitarist Jimmy Hall. Both Slocum and Hall had been knocking around the local scene in various hardcore and sludge/doom metal bands for the better part of a decade before they joined forces. Michael Faulkner followed shortly thereafter on bass and second guitarist Damon Goldsmith came into the fold in ?02. Drummer, Travis Owen, rounded out the five-piece in ?03 when the band?s original drummer split. They gigged locally with bands like Mastodon, Stuck Mojo and Murder Junkies and hit the road for national tours with both Hank III and Nashville Pussy.

Influenced in equal parts by the twin ?Blacks? of hard music - both Flag and Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The James Gang, Melvins and Helmet, AP take these seemingly incongruous sonic ingredients and toss ?em all into a blender to create a sound that is perhaps best described as ?Southern Stomp-ass?. Much like fellow Atlanta noise-merchants Mastodon, AP?s sound is difficult to define. Elements of stoner and traditional Southern rock abound, but to limit them to either of those monikers would not do the band justice. ?Basically,? explains Slocum, ?we wanted to create music that bridged the gap between David Allen Coe and Black Flag. We love the Southern rock feel with the twin guitar leads and all, but then we just want to shift gears into half-time riffing.?

And ?switching gears? is a truly appropriate term for a band comprised of self-professed gearheads. ?We?re all hot rodders,? explains Slocum. ?We all build cars ? old stuff, new stuff. Early 30?s to late 60?s ? it?s a hobby close to all our hearts. It?s a whole lifestyle. We?re the kind of guys that gaffe tape the muffler up to the frame just so we can get to the hot rod show.? So it?s not surprising that songs like ?Swamp Devil? (?Three more stops to make, yeah - Johnny Law getting hot on tail - Lord can?t save me - Burnin? up the pavement, Gotta get on outta here?) and ?Ride On? (?Panhead, rollin? toward the ocean - Loud pipes, whiskey, and a cold beer - Lord if there?s a heaven, I done found it here?) are rife with imagery of big Block Chevys and the open road.

Elsewhere, AP?s lyrical content taps into a rich heritage of outlaws and whiskey-fueled story-telling that dates back to Johnny Cash and beyond. ?We live and breathe the South!? exclaims Slocum, ?Everything in our music?s genuine. It?s just kind of who we are. There is not a goddamn thing fake about what we do.? Songs, such as ?Dirt Road White Girl? and ?Natural Progression?, hammer the point home; the former with it?s reprise of ?She?s my dirt road white girl, roots and all - Come on baby doll, just gimme a call? set to buzzing guitars and a stomping backwoods beat and the latter?s aggressive southern twang rolling in ?Home?s that stretch of road, ol? Atlanta highway - Live down South with them backwood hillbillies?.

Though Southern born and bred and fiercely loyal to the scene , Artimus Pyledriver?s introduction to the music business did not come via Nashville or Atlanta or any other hotbed of Southern music, but rather from the unlikely locale of Santa Barbara, CA. It was Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber and DevilDriver fame that brought AP to the attention of DRT Records. ?Dez came through with Coal Chamber about seven years ago,? Slocum recalls, ?and he told me that if I ever got anything going, to just hook him up with a CD.? Seven years later Dez rolled into town with DevilDriver and Slocum did just that. ?The CD laid in my suitcase for about three weeks,? recounts Fafara, ?and then I put it on and it became the CD I listened to before I went on stage every night. I just had to get these guys? music out there.? Fafara reached out to DRT President Derek Shulman, who was President at Roadrunner when Coal Chamber was signed, and a deal was hammered out to release Artimus Pyledriver through DRT via Dez?s SEVER imprint.

It?s not often that a band comes along that can at once draw so generously and so genuinely from it?s roots and bring to the fore a truly original sound. Artimus Pyledriver are the real deal. When they sing about moonshine it?s because they drank it. When they sing about fishing in the river, it?s because sometimes that was the only place they could get their next meal and when they sing about the open road, it?s because that is where they feel most at home. ?Music is the one thing that has gotten all of through to where we are today,? Slocum explains, ?when we were moving from trailer to trailer or one of our dad?s was hauled off to prison or whatever ? we always had music to pull us through. So, we?re just gonna play our asses off, and if people like it ?cool, and if they don?t ? well, they can kiss our ass!?

Yee-ha!