One musician who has been in the thick of the Louisiana metal scene for years is Dax Riggs, most known for spearheading the cult legend band Acid Bath as well as Agents of Oblivion. His latest project is deadboy & the Elephantmen, an eclectic mix of folk, grunge and straight up rock very similar to the White Stripes or Sponge, but unique in its own way. Riggs spoke with The Culture Shock from his home in Houma, Louisiana Saturday, October 21, 2006.
CS: Hey Dax, this is Patrick Douglas, how are you doing?
Dax: How are you? I'm ok.
CS: You up for an interview?
Dax: Yes.
CS: Awesome. Where are you today?
Dax: I'm in Houma, Louisiana.
CS: Nice. You live down in that area, right?
Dax: Yeah. That's where I live. The rest of us live pretty close around here.
CS: I live up in Montana, so I'm pretty far away. How are things down in that part of the country? You don't really hear a lot up here from people who actually live down there.
Dax: It's rough. There's a lot of stuff closed in New Orleans and not a lot has opened back up. For all the crap you hear about 'oh, we're gonna do all this.' You know what I mean? There's a lot of businesses that are closed and it doesn't look like they're gonna open back up. I don't know. A lot of displaced people in the smaller towns around here. I really don't live in New Orleans, so it's hard for me to say, but I can say when we pass through there, a lot of things are closed. It definitely has the feeling of a zombie movie there.
CS: You live just a little bit southwest of there, right?
Dax: Yeah.
CS: What about your hometown in general. Is it still recovering?
Dax: It's ok. This far away, there was just no electricity here for awhile. There was a bunch of people here, so it was hard to get gas and food during that time. It's pretty much ok here.
CS: That's good. We had people from Mississippi and Louisiana moving all the way up here, but we haven't had much news about the current situation.
Dax: Yeah. I think it's still really rough in New Orleans. Anybody who lived there really wants to be there. The French Quarter, that's pretty much where I go. That's fine. I think everything's open down there. But in other parts of town ... I don't know if you heard, but a little while back there was like six murders a week or something in New Orleans.
CS: I read something about that.
Dax: Yeah. It got a little crazy for sure. Not much different now. That was a couple of months ago. I can only imagine what it must be like to be some of those people still trapped there. Maybe with no other options.
CS: I just read about a couple in New Orleans that stayed behind and have gone without electricity and normal resources, and the dude just snapped and killed himself by jumping off of a building and has a note on him explaining the situation, they go back to his house and his girlfriend is chopped up and scattered all over the house.
Dax: Right. I don't have television, but a friend of mine came over yesterday and told me about that. I guess ... like I said, it must be really hard to live there, especially for that guy.
CS: The way the national media treats it is, now that the Superdome is open and the Saints are playing at home, the city is back up and running.
Dax: Yeah.
CS: As a musician, how difficult is it for you living down there as far as doing a rotation of gigs in your area?
Dax: Well, what's weird is that right before the hurricane hit, that was my total way to make a living. We'd play just about every month in New Orleans, and Lafayette and Baton Rouge and maybe a few other places around maybe Mississippi or something. Basically we've been touring out of state and we do about, maybe every couple of months we'll do Lafayette and New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I can't really accurately say. I know that a lot of bands have broken up and moved to different places. I guess it wouldn't be easy. Luckily we've kind of stepped out of Louisiana so we can kind of play other places otherwise I'm sure that we'd be totally fucked.
CS: Speaking of stepping out, it's been a big year for you touring behind the album with Lollapalooza, Bonaroo and the Sasquatch Festival, the Henry Rollins show, all of that. In reflection, how good of a year has it been for you from a musicians standpoint?
Dax: Great. We've had so many people that have really supported us and really feel the music. At every turn we've been surprised by who's liked the music and how they've tried to help us. It's been great. The crowds, the shows and everything have been really good. It's great. It's been a great year.
CS: The Gorge and the Sasquatch Festival was near here to give you an idea of where I'm at.
Dax: Ok. Cool.
CS: Has it been more relaxing for you to record and tour with this project than it had been with previous projects?
Dax: Yeah. This has been more of like ... nothing under the gun. Everything that we've recorded has been like, whenever we felt like it. It was almost like an experimental vibe and just trying different things. So it's been a lot of fun. Before I've always been brought into an exact band and we hurried to make a record in like two weeks. This has been better than previous attempts at making records. I guess because there was no big ... it was like picking through things that we had recorded the last year or two.
CS: You've got respected artists like Henry Rollins and Perry Farrel coming out and praising the "We Are Night Sky" album. Even in a primarily metal magazine in BW&BK, the editor listed the album in the top of his list of current favorites along with some hard core bands ...
Dax: Oh yeah?
CS: What is it about this band that has garnered such an interest with people in the industry?
Dax: I just think it's something different. It's melodic, but it's harsh. People that like heavy music, I think, can get into it even though it has maybe more folk elements than they've probably listened to before. I'm not really sure. I just go with it being really different. When you hear it I think you know what it is. From what I gather, it sounds different than a lot of things. It can be beautiful, but it's in no way polished. I don't know. It's hard to explain or to try and come up with an answer. I think it's just that it sounds really different than anything else that is happening. That's part of the plan.
CS: I noticed on the mySpace website that Tess isn't listed on there. Is there something going on there?
Dax: Yeah. Basically she ... she has quit.
CS: Ok.
Dax: (chuckles). Right now, I'm working on some new material with a new drummer. Actually I'm working with a keyboard player too to ad some elements I tried to put on the recording so I can add them live. Everything's going really well. We're playing some gigs in Florida on November 6. We're playing a bunch of new material. Basically, we're playing some songs from "We Are Night Sky" but the main focus is new stuff at this time. We'll be going into the studio later this month, recording maybe five songs, maybe less.
CS: What kind of vibe do these newer songs convey, as opposed to the ones on the first record?
Dax: There's kind of some heavier, faster kind of songs. It's kind of hard to explain. We call it danger music (mouths something similar to the old 'Batman' theme). This sort of apocalyptic dance vibe (laughs). It'll certainly be a mixture of very folk, country, kind of art songs and blood music kind of songs. Right now, I guess we have about five that we're actually gonna be playing over this next set of shows. I wouldn't say it's very different. I just almost feel like it's very much in the same vein. I wouldn't say it's a big break from what we were doing. It just might sound a little bit fatter and closer to the ground.
CS: I imagine it would if you have more musicians in the mix, bringing in their different takes on the music.
Dax: Right. Actually, Matt Sweeney's gonna do some ... he played in Superwolf and he played on the Johnny Cash records. We've done like two tracks together. Two of my songs with another drummer and he's coming down to add more guitar parts at the end of the month. It'll definitely have different shades.
CS: The songs on "Night Sky" are very haunting and dark for the most part. How therapeutic is it for you to transpose your feelings into your music?
Dax: I think it's really important. I really get kind of weirdly depressed and kind of bottled up feeling if I don't come up with something every once in a while. If too much time passes and I don't have something in my hands that makes me happy, then of course, I feel kind of depressed. It definitely helps me. I don't know exactly what it does, but I get an extreme rush after the creation process has come to a close. It's amazing to me that I can do anything that would affect anyone, you know. I'm just like anyone else, when I hear it, I know if it works or not. I'd say it's very therapeutic.
CS: Deadboy had been around for awhile prior to the album's release. What kinds of obstacles did you face in taking this from an idea to playing live shows to making it an album?
Dax: It's been pretty smooth. I don't know exactly what I would point out. Probably just a lot of internal turmoil. Some of the releases of demos on the first record. Actually, I don't think I have an answer for the question (laughs).
CS: (laughs). Ok. No obstacles in the way.
Dax: It was just a matter of getting it in the air from an idea to working up the right drum part and that's about it.
CS: I've noticed in recent years there's been a surge of interest in Acid Bath from a cult-like following. How proud are you of that project? A project that's been done for years that's gaining speed seemingly in the underground fans of this genre.
Dax: Right. Once again, I'm happy that it affected anybody in a positive way. I had a lot of fun doing it. Those are my friends, so I'm proud of it. I'm happy about it, that it's not totally refined to the discount bin, you know.
CS: It's not really a great barometer, but in a way it works, but if you go to amazon.com and look at the price of a used CD, you can get an idea of how hard it is to find and how much it's worth. A used CD that's generally a buck isn't hard to find and there's a ton of them out there.
Dax: Right.
CS: If you go and look for Agents of Oblivion, that thing's still ten bucks, which is quite a bit for a used record. That album is looked at in legendary proportions. It's an incredible recording of an idea that was cut short before its time. You've gotta be proud of the Acid Bath and Agents of Oblivion catalog that people really dig even though it's not readily available for everybody.
Dax: Absolutely.
CS: What are some of your other interests besides music?
Dax: I read a lot of comic books. I like to read. It's pretty much music honestly. I've got a really insane hunger for new music and it's stacked up everywhere in the house. I collect slides (laughs). I just got some slides from the 50s today that I bought on eBay. I guess that's about it.
CS: I noticed that you're a supporter of the West Memphis Three. Have you had any contact with Damien or have you tried to contact him? What are your hopes for their plight in the future?
Dax: I really haven't. They contacted our mySpace and I'm just appalled. That's the same kind of bullshit ... that could be me, 'cause the school I went to here. Anything that happened, they were very ... it was like a witch burning climate and they were scared of us and we were just kids with black hair who drew pentagrams on their hands, you know. I think it's pretty sad that they're still in jail. It's complete ignorance you know. I just hope that some justice can be done. I'm just a spectator. I just hope they can ... God I don't know man (laughs).
CS: That's a tough one. Anyone who has delved into that story is passionate about it. Even when I talked to Henry Rollins, who's always involved, he has no clue what the outcome is gonna be.
Dax: Right. It seems like they're gonna execute 'em. That's what they're trying to do. It's been going on forever.
CS: Going back to the New Orleans thing. I don't think the Louisiana area in general gets the right recognition for the musical revolution that's occurred there. It's similar to the Seattle thing that happened in the early 90s as far as a region in the United States that's creating its own genre of music. How do you think this whole disaster is going to affect that region as far as the bands who live there and call that place home, as far as releasing material down the road?
Dax: It's not a good turn of events for those people who were probably barely making it to begin with before all this stuff happened. Everybody knows to take an idea into music is a dangerous voyage. I think it's destroyed the possibility of a lot of music. Everybody's kind of spread out and they're really struggling. There's less venues and there's less people. I think the little doom rock kind of thing that had been happening there for years, I really don't know, I can't see it helping any. I think it's gonna be harder for anybody to do anything. There are people who believe and love the place. I love the place, so I understand. It's definitely gonna be rough.
CS: I'm sure it's too early for you to tell, or maybe it isn't, but do you have an idea when the new album will be released? Are you shooting for the spring?
Dax: I'm hoping that it'll be February where it'll come out. That's if everything works. If we're done by a little bit after Christmas. I have all the songs written, they've been written. It's just a matter of fleshing them out into the real world and kicking them around some. We're gonna record them in different places. We're gonna do some in New Orleans, maybe do a couple in New York, may go to Kentucky and just do a couple of songs. I just want it to sound different. I don't want it to be squeezed into the same little sound box. We're gonna have some fun with it and hopefully sometime in February.
CS: It's still gonna be on Fat Possum Records?
Dax: Yeah.
CS: If you could set up your ultimate festival show and you could share the stage with any bands that have ever existed, which ones would you choose?
Dax: Wow. Let's see. I would say Television, Linda Thompson, King Simpson, the early King Simpson and I'd say we'd get Nick Drake to headline it (laughs).
CS: Cool, man.
Dax: And Motorhead. We'd have Motorhead open up, er, we'd open up for Motorhead (laughs).
CS: Alright. Cool Dax, thanks for chatting with me.
Dax: Alright, thank you.
CS: Just know that there are fans of your work in Montana.
Dax: Thank you. Awesome.
CS: Good luck down the road.
Dax: Alright, man. Bye.