SHANE GETS METAL WITH KILLRAZER’S DOUG DALTON
Hi Doug, thanks for talking to The Rockpit
No worries mate, thanks for the interest in Killrazer
Youve recently finished a tour with Paul Di'Anno. How did that go?
Totally fucking loved it. It was an honour to be part of that tour especially as of what it represented. It was the 30th anniversary of the first Iron Maiden album, and it was the first time in history the entire album had been played, Paul hadn't played songs like Strange World and Charlotte The Harlot for 30 years, and Maiden don’t do most of the songs from the first album, so it was definitely an honour and a treat. The reaction to those two songs specifically was insane, especially Strange World. It was kinda weird as I’ve never played a ballad before [laughs]
The highlights were probably Hobart, Adelaide and Wellington. No one goes to Hobart so the turn out was huge, really good show, awesome people, they even had the tour poster up at the airport under the Tasmanian Tourism Section, was kinda funny seeing Eddie's head on that poster board. Adelaide was just stupidly nuts, was nearly deafening the chants after the show, really didn’t wanna leave the stage that night, but Wellington New Zealand took the cake. I don’t think i have ever seen such a responsive crowd, completely crazy. They treated us really well too, the fans there just live for their metal, we were even signing $100 bills and Iron Maiden vinyl ha ha, completely insane. All the shows were good, all in all, was an awesome experience. Oh, and a lifelong dream of going to Bon Scott's grave, Dianno was friends with Bon, so it was a very moving experience, oh yes, tears were shed.
Oh that sounds so cool - wish we could've been your tour guide for that one, we visit Bon every year or two. This is the second time Paul has used you as his pickup band throughout Australasia – you must have a good relationship with him?
Yeah, its kinda weird having someone you grew up on and was in a band that, well, really are the kings of Metal, to have him as a good mate now is kinda surreal. I was watching Metallica do 'Prowler' from the first Iron Maiden album the other night, and its kinda weird watching that, then having Paul who recorded 'Prowler' texting me at 3 in the morning from somewhere on tour telling me I’m a c*nt [laughs].
That was probably my favourite part of both tours - every night Paul would get the crowd to chant “DOUG YOU C*NT, DOUG YOU C*NT”!! So to the thousands of people we played to, I’m a c*nt, [Doug laughs again], so yeah we’re good mates. He's a really funny dude, and a really generous, all round good geezer. All the guys in the band now are good mates with him, and he has really helped us get our name out there overseas. I’ve seen video footage of him playing in Bulgaria wearing a Killrazer shirt - you can’t buy publicity like that.
We're also sponsored by Monster energy drinks now as of the tour, and word has spread about the band because of him, to the point that Ripper Owens management wants me and Jimmy to play guitar for him on his upcoming tour next year. So was definitely worth it all round.
Wow certainly hope we get to see that tour! What have you learnt from touring with Paul?
To not get shitfaced! Most of the time you play a gig then get shitfaced afterwards. On this tour all the beer and Jack Daniels you wanted was free, and its well hard not too just guzzle it by the vat. Of course we drank, but not to the point of being shitfaced. You usually get back to the hotel about 3 am, then gotta be up at 8 am and get no sleep all day till the show, do the show, then probably have about 7 or 8 drinks, then sleep for 4 hours, and do it again and again. So have learnt to control the intake of the booze and make sure you get at least 4 or 5 hours sleep a day, otherwise your just ruined for the show.
There's so much to learn and take in for the next time, and each time you learn more and more. You just gotta be disciplined, do what your told, listen, be where your meant to be and then it all runs smooth without a headache. Although generally every day, every hour something will pop up and throw everything out, but as long as your where you are meant to be, and with a clear head, when shit pops up, it's easily sorted.
You have toured with bands like Vader and Children of Bodom previously. How has the profile you got and the things you have learned from those big tours changed how the band operates nowadays?
A lot of what I said previously I guess. But for support tours, we realised that even if you are gonna lose a lot of money just to do a support, and get paid next to nothing, it can still be worth it. For example with Children Of Bodom, we spent well over a couple of thousand dollars to play just 2 shows, one in Brisbane and one in Adelaide, and only got paid a few hundred bucks. Most bands would be like "Why bother". Why? Well in Brisbane we played to well over 1500 people, nuff said! We had a circle pit on our last song, and there was probably 300 people in the circle. That says it all, especially when your average gig on your own you may pull 200, so to have 300 in a circle and the other 1200 going nuts, its worth losing a bit of money over. And Adelaide was sold out, we were main support, and place was at capacity when we played, close to a 1000.
So yeah, quite happy to lose money for shows like that, i mean it is better spent that way, playing to all those people, automatically gaining a fan base, instead of spending it on advertising or travelling to do your own shows to people who have never heard of you and risk playing to no one. Now we can go to these places where we have toured as either support, or to where we played with Dianno, and people already know who we are, so it has saved us a hell of a lot of groundwork.
The scene here is growing and evolving and you have always been a part of that. How have things changed for Killrazer since you formed in 2005?
Yes it does keep growing and evolving which is so good, for a while there it just got stagnant and actually started to swallow itself up and vanish. But now with so many quality bands, and the international scene taking notice, as well as local bands touring overseas, it feels like we really do have a legitimate scene here now, albeit not the biggest scene, but a strong and healthy one at that.
The only real problem is venues, it’s hard to keep hold of the good venues, so many have disappeared. I guess it has given Killrazer the opportunity to pick and choose gigs as opposed to at the start just taking anything we could get - the scene is healthy enough now to be able to not be desperate for gigs.
Your Debut EP came out in 2008 – when can we expect some more Killrazer product?
Yeah it came out [in the] last month of 2008, so coming up to 2 years now. We really only now have over this last month started to concentrate on something new. Jimmy has come up with a couple of really killer tunes, Zoran has a new one, I got a new one, plus we have 3 others we have been playing live for a while now that we will record too. We will also be re-recording the tracks from the EP as well, so we’re looking at a full length [and will] hopefully start pre production within the next couple of months and have it ready for, maybe Feb or March?
We also will have out hopefully by Christmas our DVD, which is a pro shot gig from Sydney that will include besides the main show, bootleg footage from other shows, bits and pieces, interviews etc. Also the first tour we did with Paul Dianno is going to be internationally released next couple of months as well, even though its not Killrazer music, it will def help us spread our name overseas, we'll also have a couple of Killrazer songs on the bonus footage of the Dianno DVD, so people can check us out on that.
Sounds great! How do you feel your fan base is growing on the wider international scene?
After the Dianno tour, as I said our name has really started to get noticed more overseas. As well as our good mates from Malevolent Creation, i have been working with them for the last 18 months on some projects and they really help spread our name too. Over the last month we have sold CD's to the UK, Poland, Japan, New Zealand, Germany and the USA. So it’s all slowly starting to get out there. Slowly but surely!
You have spoken previously about wanting to play in Europe. What chances of seeing you at one of the festivals soon?
Hopefully pretty good. We got offered to tour with Malevolent Creation last September for 6 weeks throughout Europe, but we were stuck without a drummer and financially it was gonna cost a hell of a lot, it just couldn’t happen. But we have had people interested, both in Europe and the States, as well as Japan and Indonesia. I think we will probably concentrate on the new album and try and blitz it all next year.
What are Killrazer’s plans for the future?
The immediate plan is to go the bottleshop and get some beer and ciggies!! But after that as mentioned before, our concentration is going to be all on the new album. Were also gonna sporadically try and get some interstate shows to follow up on the places we went to with Dianno
Thanks to MZ56 photography
Quick word association: Paul Di'Anno…?
Legend
…Iron Maiden?
Legends
…Salt in the Wound?
The beginning
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
Thanks for anyone who has come to any of our shows and digs our stuff. check out www.myspace.com/killrazer or www.killrazer.com we got some cool videos up there and you can hear some tracks from our CD, I think there is also a track where you can hear Dianno and 500 people calling me a c*nt!!
Thanks again mate – so glad we got the chance to meet up while you were in Perth for a beer!!
Yeah was great meeting you too mate, and we'll have a repeat session sometime soon, with a lot more ales involved!
Shane Rockpit
October 2010