Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 807 - Dallas Tolller-Wade of Narcotic Wasteland Revisits His Past Death Metal Classics on Tour

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode 807 - Dallas Tolller-Wade of Narcotic Wasteland Revisits His Past Death Metal Classics on Tour · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  Man, what's up, everybodyitskefi@ghostcultmag.com
• 0:05
  We welcome back our old friend Dallas Toller Wade of Narcotic
• 0:09
  Wasteland. How are you doing, pal?
• 0:11
  I'm doing well, man. You are on the road on tour.
• 0:15
  I hope the tour has been going well.
• 0:16
  I know you were just complaining about that legendarily bad I-95
• 0:21
  traffic. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 0:24
  We we were coming from New Bedford, MA all the way down
• 0:28
  here to Raleigh, NC. Holy shit, that's quite a trek
• 0:32
  for one. Yeah.
• 0:35
  Yeah. And we were running late and I,
• 0:37
  you know, I had got us plenty of buffer time, or at least I
• 0:41
  thought, but you know, had a couple of accidents in there and
• 0:44
  a couple of wrong turns and you got you got a situation.
• 0:49
  Yeah, especially Mass to New Jersey, South of, you know,
• 0:55
  Philly and DC. Terrible, historically terrible.
• 0:59
  I'm from the East Coast. As you know, last time we spoke
• 1:02
  in person was in Queens at the old Blackthorne 51.
• 1:08
  That venue is unfortunately gone now, but a New Bedford, Mass.
• 1:11
  I I used to live in Boston, also a big fan of that area.
• 1:15
  A lot of great metal heads. I hope they all came out to
• 1:17
  support your tour. You are doing a pretty
• 1:21
  incredible tour. You are playing a lot of
• 1:24
  selections from Annihilation of the Wicked, your you know, your
• 1:29
  classic album with Niall and also your own material.
• 1:32
  How's that been going so far? It's been going really well and
• 1:37
  the the Nile songs, which are we play last of the Slave Stick,
• 1:40
  which I wrote the music for, and the burning pits of the duot and
• 1:45
  they just keep getting tighter and tighter every night, man.
• 1:47
  It's like, yeah, we're bringing it and the other songs too, you
• 1:52
  know, all the all the recent singles that we've put out and a
• 1:56
  few, a few off the first two albums.
• 1:59
  Right on you, as you know, I we became acquainted in your time
• 2:03
  from Nile and and obviously people have continued to follow
• 2:06
  you. Was it like obviously you wrote
• 2:08
  some of those songs? Was it hard to relearn them to
• 2:11
  put them into the setlist? Like, you know, obviously you
• 2:14
  got a new makeup in the band and just, you know, masterful
• 2:18
  material to try to like present and do justice to it.
• 2:23
  And I was wondering if that was a challenge for you in any way
• 2:25
  or if you had any sticking points relearning things.
• 2:30
  Actually pretty good. Last to the Slave Stick was on
• 2:34
  the set list a lot. It's one of the more popular
• 2:39
  Nile songs, and so that one came right back to me pretty quickly.
• 2:44
  Burning Pits of the Do Out There was really just one section that
• 2:48
  I had to review a little bit to make sure that I had it right.
• 2:53
  But on that I plan on. I also released the tablature on
• 2:57
  the Dallas Solarwade website. So you got the tablature and the
• 3:02
  GP files, guitar profiles, and I've made the decision since
• 3:08
  that's doing so well over there on the website.
• 3:11
  Well, I'm just going to go ahead and do all my music, all my Nile
• 3:16
  songs that I did, and of course the narcotic stuff.
• 3:18
  I'm just going to go ahead and put it all out there.
• 3:20
  That's amazing. I was going to compliment you.
• 3:22
  You I've been following, you've been doing a phenomenal job just
• 3:26
  doing play through videos and online teaching and stuff like
• 3:29
  that. You know that I think that's
• 3:31
  amazing. A lot of people will be jonesing
• 3:34
  to learn that stuff. I know for a fact I definitely
• 3:37
  hurt my hand trying to do the bass stuff.
• 3:39
  So I can only imagine the guitar nerds are going to have all
• 3:42
  kinds of injuries. Yeah, man, it's been a lot of
• 3:46
  fun. You know, and I didn't, I never
• 3:49
  really had the intention of, you know, like being like a YouTube
• 3:54
  guitarist or whatever. But you know, I did a couple of
• 3:58
  playthroughs last year for celebrating 10 years of Narcotic
• 4:01
  Wasteland. And I did, you know, I was doing
• 4:03
  playthroughs and I even went live like practicing the set
• 4:06
  list a couple times and it just ended up being very fun and
• 4:11
  interacting with everybody and all that stuff.
• 4:13
  And see in the comments. It's all really cool.
• 4:16
  And I just, you know, I did it never I never thought it would
• 4:20
  be so fun, you know, and it and it really is.
• 4:23
  So I'm going to be bringing that I'm going to be finishing up
• 4:26
  episode 3. Also, I've been getting a little
• 4:28
  bit into some product reviews as well.
• 4:32
  The next one's going to be a wireless company.
• 4:34
  They sent me a, a guitar wireless.
• 4:36
  I'm that I'm field testing it as we speak.
• 4:40
  And so that'll be on the next episode.
• 4:43
  That'll be pretty soon. That'll probably come out before
• 4:46
  I'm even back. That's what we're hoping.
• 4:50
  And then, you know, we're going to Europe for the first time
• 4:54
  coming up in November. So that's pretty damn exciting.
• 4:58
  And then I, I think it'll be really to actually time.
• 5:03
  I've been telling people lies about putting this album out for
• 5:05
  years now, but things keep coming up and it's like, you
• 5:09
  know, a lot of people still didn't even read.
• 5:13
  They just figured I either I left Nile and just disappeared
• 5:15
  off the face of the earth or, or whatever.
• 5:18
  So and we keep getting these offers to go do things.
• 5:21
  So I say, you know, soliciting the band is just as important.
• 5:25
  It's not like we're only have like an EP or anything.
• 5:28
  We have two full length albums and five singles and so, but
• 5:33
  it's definitely coming. I've I've been kind of
• 5:35
  negotiating a little bit with a couple of labels.
• 5:39
  That was another reason, you know, I I just don't want this
• 5:42
  thing to go off half cocked. I want it to be get all the
• 5:46
  attention that it, you know, can get.
• 5:48
  So I didn't want to just put it out and then it just go into the
• 5:52
  void like so many things. Do you know what I mean?
• 5:55
  Right on. It's your work, it's your life's
• 5:57
  blood, it's your life's work. You don't want to throw it away
• 5:59
  or feel like it got discarded. And, and I know from talking to
• 6:02
  you for a long time, the social media and marketing part is not
• 6:06
  your favorite, but you are a natural teacher.
• 6:08
  I always felt that like when you explain music, you explain it
• 6:12
  like with an intelligence and also a desire to not just, hey,
• 6:16
  I know all this stuff. Look what I can do, but like,
• 6:18
  I'd like you to get to know how to do it too.
• 6:20
  And that's really the best compliment I can give.
• 6:22
  My mother was a teacher and that's how she was.
• 6:24
  She was like, if I just teach it to you, like, you know, pen and
• 6:27
  pencil, whatever. But like, if I can teach it to
• 6:29
  you in a way where you can actually absorb it and give it
• 6:32
  back out or do something else create with it, that's the best
• 6:35
  the gift, right? And so I always feel like you've
• 6:38
  been very natural that, but you're really natural at the
• 6:40
  video stuff too, or at least it looks that way.
• 6:43
  Well, thank you. I'm just kind of going for it.
• 6:46
  You know, it does feel a little weird.
• 6:49
  I'm kind of just not used to it in a way, but I'm just like,
• 6:52
  screw it, send it, who cares? But they don't like it.
• 6:55
  They don't have to watch. I'm having I have that same
• 6:59
  philosophy about that. I have about a lot of things,
• 7:01
  like it gets our even. That was the thing I saw online
• 7:04
  one time. It says I don't play because I'm
• 7:06
  good, I play because I enjoy it. Right on.
• 7:09
  That's important. It's kind of the same thing with
• 7:11
  with just about everything you know and.
• 7:15
  Perfect is the enemy of good. You're never going to get it
• 7:17
  perfect. I did not want to do the, you
• 7:19
  know, we met in person. We used to do these in person
• 7:21
  before the plague. And then Zoom happened and we
• 7:23
  had to do everything over Zoom. And I did like 300 interviews in
• 7:26
  2020 and they were not all good. I'm going to be honest, like
• 7:29
  self referential and we talked too, They weren't all good.
• 7:32
  And so now I realize that less is more and less, like more
• 7:36
  quality is better. So I, I try harder and I do less
• 7:39
  of them and it's the same thing, kind of.
• 7:41
  It's just a good way to, you know, you can't be a master of
• 7:44
  all things in a jet. You know, you can't be a Jack of
• 7:46
  all trades and a master of none. It doesn't work.
• 7:48
  You have to master some things a little and other things you have
• 7:51
  to let go. It's hard for me.
• 7:53
  But yeah, you've been killing it and I'm really proud to see it.
• 7:56
  And I love that people. The demand is there for you.
• 7:58
  So I think by the time you get around to releasing the next
• 8:01
  record, people are going to be hella into it for.
• 8:05
  Sure. Well, man, that's that's the
• 8:07
  plan. Hopefully yes.
• 8:08
  And, you know, if not, I'm just going to keep trucking along and
• 8:13
  right, trying to write better stuff and write, you know, stuff
• 8:16
  that people will get into that, you know, that's heavy.
• 8:22
  And me. You know, instead of just, you
• 8:25
  know, instead of just showing off skill, you know, going to be
• 8:29
  hopefully pulling on those heartstrings a little bit.
• 8:32
  That's what I always go for. Of course, yeah, of course we
• 8:35
  want and you know, that's the the main thing about people
• 8:38
  don't understand about having music.
• 8:39
  It's just noise. It's not just noise.
• 8:41
  There's a lot of emotion. There's a lot of ebbs and flows.
• 8:45
  I had a really cool interview recently with Matt Harvey of
• 8:47
  Exhumed and and Gruesome and you know, he does a lot of def
• 8:50
  tribute stuff. And I know also what what a
• 8:52
  Chuck fan you were also. And so like, we always talk
• 8:55
  about that, like, you know, it's not just unrelenting brutality.
• 8:59
  That's awesome. But actually there's a lot of
• 9:01
  stuff that goes into metal guitar especially, you know,
• 9:05
  technical death metal that has just a beauty to it.
• 9:08
  I don't think a lot of people really see it that way.
• 9:10
  They're just like, I just want to rage and hear brutal,
• 9:12
  horrible, disgusting, great shit.
• 9:14
  But like, there's a lot to it that people don't see.
• 9:18
  Yeah. And you know, with the recent
• 9:21
  passing of some metal icons, you really get slapped in the face
• 9:26
  at just how damn ahead of that stuff, ahead of time that stuff
• 9:31
  still kind of is. It's like it's just now catching
• 9:36
  on to the big mainstream. And we're talking about stuff
• 9:39
  that's been out since the 70s and it's, you know what I mean?
• 9:43
  And it's still going strong and more people are still
• 9:45
  discovering it and it's still weird and innovative and, and
• 9:50
  meaningful and all that stuff. And it's just like, wow, you
• 9:54
  know, Just like, you know, I never thought I would hear
• 9:59
  Harvester of Sorrow by Metallica on the freaking radio either,
• 10:02
  but it's happening. It is all happening.
• 10:07
  It is all happening. Like the movie says.
• 10:08
  Yeah, I'm not. I wasn't ready for Ozzy.
• 10:10
  I knew I wasn't going to be ready.
• 10:12
  And I'm glad he got that farewell under his belt.
• 10:15
  I know that meant a lot to him. But yeah, it's just been, you're
• 10:19
  so right. It's been hard.
• 10:20
  It's been a hard year. We've lost a lot of great
• 10:22
  people. And I mean, that's, you know, I
• 10:24
  know that's part of life, but I just never gets easier for me.
• 10:27
  I personally, I hate the like, you have to write the death
• 10:30
  notices for me. And it's like, I hate to
• 10:32
  complain about being a journalist.
• 10:33
  I have a fun job, but it's like, you know, I, I load these
• 10:37
  moments. Oh yeah, no doubt, man.
• 10:41
  But yeah, man, what do you guys do?
• 10:43
  What do you guys? Your band is cooking.
• 10:45
  I've seen a couple of videos out there and I wanted to ask you,
• 10:48
  you know, what do you guys do in the van beside Drive to pass the
• 10:51
  time? What music are you listening to,
• 10:53
  if any? Well, Joe's usually he's very
• 10:57
  eclectic. He listens to all kinds of
• 10:59
  different stuff. Anything from David Bowie to,
• 11:03
  you know, some crazy super tech stuff.
• 11:08
  He's he's all over the place with that and I have my tablet.
• 11:15
  So we also I have Roku and to be on my tablet.
• 11:21
  So I for the guys, they slept through almost the whole thing,
• 11:24
  but I put on what did I put on the other night?
• 11:26
  I put on shopping mall, shopping malls on there and they got a
• 11:31
  bunch of cool like old horror stuff on there.
• 11:34
  They got Phantasm on there and all kinds of stuff, and so yeah,
• 11:39
  I'll put that on there. And I try not to wear them out
• 11:42
  with the Forensic Files too much.
• 11:44
  Nice. Oh that makes sense too.
• 11:47
  Tubby is great. If people don't know, Tubby also
• 11:49
  has a tremendous library of music documentaries.
• 11:53
  Not that that you're not already living that life.
• 11:54
  You don't need to watch a video about people struggling in a van
• 11:58
  but like the struggle bus of the van life.
• 12:01
  But like they have great music concerts and and documentaries
• 12:06
  as well. When I'm when I'm like I have
• 12:07
  nothing to watch and I'm bored I'm go put on 2B and Y and just
• 12:10
  go down a rabbit hole of music documentaries.
• 12:14
  Yeah, I was watching some of the Thin Lizzy stuff that was on
• 12:17
  there. Oh, fantastic, man.
• 12:18
  I'm a huge, you know, we're both big Thin Lizzy guys.
• 12:21
  We've talked about that in the past.
• 12:22
  The most underrated band of a major band ever.
• 12:24
  They just never broke in America.
• 12:26
  But they're, I always tell people go they're much more than
• 12:29
  the hits. Please go down the rabbit hole
• 12:31
  and investigate that band. Yes, just put Johnny the Fox on,
• 12:35
  sit back, open a cold one and enjoy.
• 12:38
  We would not have Maiden. Like for metal fans, Maiden
• 12:41
  would not be Maiden, Priest would not be Priest.
• 12:44
  And that means Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, you know,
• 12:48
  Dallas, we wouldn't have these things if not for Thin Lizzy.
• 12:51
  People don't understand how important they were.
• 12:54
  They really were, especially for the musicians, it seemed in a
• 12:57
  way they were kind of like the musicians band and it because of
• 13:00
  the cool harmonies and you know, Phil's killer lyrics and cadence
• 13:07
  and the way he put it all together is just so clever.
• 13:09
  And and I really, really liked it.
• 13:12
  Some of the live footage that I saw of him just really getting
• 13:16
  down on some Blues, you know, it's.
• 13:19
  Like, wow, who knows what they could have done if, you know, if
• 13:22
  they ever got back together with Phil.
• 13:23
  But, and I appreciate Scott for trying to, you know, carry it
• 13:26
  forward and do stuff just really quick before I give you back
• 13:30
  your, you have to, you know, load in and sound check and get
• 13:33
  ready for your show, man. You're back home in the South.
• 13:36
  What's you know, it's got, you know, at least the regionally,
• 13:40
  it's got to feel comfortable. I, I love my time down in
• 13:43
  Raleigh. I've, I've many friends that
• 13:45
  live in that area and you know, it's always like cookout or
• 13:49
  sheets. I have no idea which one to go
• 13:51
  to, But my main mission the next time I get to the South, more
• 13:54
  like the Midwest and the Southwest is to go to Bucky's.
• 13:58
  I've never been to 1. Oh, Bucky's.
• 14:01
  It's pretty cool man. They they got the cheapest gas.
• 14:04
  I I'm actually, I think most of their food is terrible.
• 14:09
  Good to know. But they do have a couple of
• 14:12
  things. It's something about they've got
• 14:13
  some kind of weird sauce they just slather all over
• 14:17
  everything. And I really hate ketchup.
• 14:19
  I just don't like it. And, and the reason why is
• 14:23
  because when you order a burger from a restaurant, they always
• 14:25
  have to put like half the freaking bottle on there.
• 14:29
  It's like, it'll been OK if you just gave me a little bit of a
• 14:31
  dash of ketchup, but come on, man.
• 14:34
  That's like all I can taste is ketchup.
• 14:36
  And then if it gets on my shirt or something, I'm probably going
• 14:38
  to flip out and throw something so.
• 14:42
  I tried to. We were just talking about it in
• 14:45
  the van. We don't even really do the fast
• 14:48
  food crap anymore because the gas stations have stepped their
• 14:51
  game up to the point where it's like, man, man, you can go in
• 14:54
  and get something pretty decent. If you're ever in South
• 14:58
  Carolina, in Greenville or a place like that, check out the
• 15:01
  Sphinx gas stations. They had the some of the best
• 15:06
  southern fried chicken. Especially for something you'd
• 15:08
  get in a gas station. It's actually pretty damn good.
• 15:11
  I'm gonna remember. I'm gonna remember that because
• 15:13
  I'm a chicken person, A fried chicken connoisseur.
• 15:16
  Yeah. Easy to remember because it's
• 15:18
  called Sphinx, yeah. Yeah, the Sphinx.
• 15:21
  Yeah. Not everything needs to be hot.
• 15:26
  That's correct. That is correct.
• 15:28
  Right on. Not everything needs to be
• 15:30
  flaming hot. Everybody like, let's dial it
• 15:32
  back. Like some things just don't need
• 15:34
  to be heated up, like, you know, spicy.
• 15:36
  But you know, as always, man, I love talking to you and chopping
• 15:40
  it up with you. Please be safe out there on the
• 15:42
  road. Leave somebody watching the van
• 15:43
  or get some air tags for the gear.
• 15:47
  Just hearing horror stories about people getting Okie doked
• 15:50
  by people. So you know, I always, I'm
• 15:53
  always rooting for you, man. And when you get closer to a
• 15:55
  brand new record, I can't wait to chop it up with you again.
• 15:57
  We'll have a longer lengthy or talk about new music and all
• 16:00
  kinds of other things. You know, Dallas Talloway and
• 16:02
  always a fan. Narcotic Wasteland.
• 16:04
  Go check them out, go buy their stuff, go see their shows, go
• 16:07
  catch the tour. And here's some Nile jams you
• 16:10
  probably haven't heard in a while.
• 16:14
  I'll see you soon, brother. Take care.
• 16:17
  Thanks a lot man, hit me up anytime.
• 16:19
  I will. We'll do it.
• 16:20
  Thanks. Peace.
• 16:21
  Have a good one man, Bye.