1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Deadstar Assembly, and how long the band has been together.
Dro: I'm the bass player for Deadstar Assembly, The Dro. Believe it or not, We've been together since 2002 but Deadstar Assembly originated from a collaboration of our singer, Dearborn, and Miami Techno Producer Luis Duran in 2001. It's crazy to think how long it's been. Time flys!
2. How did the band get the name, Deadstar Assembly and does it have a meaning behind it?
Dro: Dearborn came up with the name before any of us joined the band. Legend has it that he used to walk the streets of miami while recording the first CD and constantly found himself stepping over all the passed out drunken douchebags in Sean John gear, drenched in vomit. These are the people who hang out at the nightclubs pretending they're stars of some sort, throwing money around as if they had an endless supply to impress the bikini clad spring breaker clones. Moreso, an assembly of dead stars. People who will keep pretending to be something their not, and rarely move forward. Doesn't seem like they're ever going to with those nightly plans of self destruction. Thus the origin of Deadstar Assembly's name.
3. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Dro: A lot of people like to compare us to bands like Marilyn Manson, NIN, and Orgy. It may be because of the way we look. Then again, Manson was Compared to Kiss back in the day even though their music was nothing like them.
Each member in the band is influenced by different types of music. However, we all love old school 80's metal. Usually before hitting the stage, we're blasting bands like Rammstein, Motley Crue, or other high energy bands to get the juices flowing.
We generally fall under the Industrial/Metal/Goth Rock Genre.
4. Where are you in the recording process of the new album?
Dro: We're currently finishing up Dearborns Vocals. Most of the stuff is already completed. It's been a bit of a long process because we've decided to do most of the recording ourselves. It was a small learning curve on the vocal end, since we've always recorded vocals at a pro studio. We're planning on playing some of the new songs at our upcoming concert in NY to show off some of the stuff we're working on. We've only played one of the new songs live so far and that was during Winter NAMM 2013 at Bar Sinister. We performed "Blame it on the Devil" and it was the first time anyone outside of the immediate band ever got a chance to hear it.
5. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?
Dro: We just wanted to make sure this was going to be a CD that stayed true to our style. A lot of bands take the growing process as an excuse to release their shitty music. We've decided to step it up a notch. We're all learning a lot when it comes to recording and it's definitely going to show this time around. The songs create this killer feeling when you're listening to them and it gets your heart pumping along with a side of goosebumps!
6. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?
Dro: We had some issues with one of our old sponsors after they were taken over with new management. We had an artist rep that was an amazing person and always took care of us whenever we needed something. In return, we did everything in our power to show how much we appreciated it and they loved everything we were doing at the time. They ignored many of our emails as we tried to reach out to them this time around and in turn, we received an awesome offer we couldn't refuse from Schecter Guitars. They have this bad ass tone in all of their instruments and the guitars and bass sounds so thick on these new recordings. Also, we're using the Blue Baby Bottle and the Robbie for the first time to record vocals. Other than that, we have a slew of new sounds we've created electronically for this CD.
7. How is the vibe in the studio going for everybody?
Dro: It's very laid back. The studio is like going over you're best friends house and just hanging out. A lot of the main ideas came from our home recordings and then they get tightened up during our weekly studio meetups. Being able to record at home gives you all the time in the world to just fuck around and not be constrained to a paid time limit that you have in a pro studio.
8. When did you start writing for this album? How was the songwriting process different/similar to previous Deadstar Assembly albums?
Dro: Some of the song riffs came from Dreggs just messing around on stage during sound check while we were touring. We decided we should turn some of those riffs into new songs and since we ended up having a lot of down time last year, we began recording from home and throwing ideas around until we finally had some awesome blueprints to work from. The songwriting process was different because now all of us have the ability to record from home instead of having to wait to meet at the studio to record an idea.
9. Who produced Adorned In Thorns and what was it like working with them?
Dro: We did have Jeremy Staska work on some of it but for the most part it's been Dearborn producing the album. Jeremy is the same producer who worked with us on Unsaved and Coat of Arms.
10. Who did the cover art for Adorned In Thorns and how much input did you have on it?
Dro: Dearborn does all of the graphic design art for Deadstar. I help out with the programming of the website but he's the mastermind behind all of our sick graphics since the beginning.
11. Did you feel any pressure to do a follow-up to your previous releases?
Dro: Not really. We don't like having that feeling because it kind of affects your outcome. It shows when your music is rushed and we've always found success in taking our time and putting out something that we enjoy listening to instead of just putting out new music for the sake of it.
12. Can you go into one or two tracks on the new album? If so, can you give us the track title and brief description of how the track sounds and how it came about?
Dro: A lot of the songs on the new CD are songs that smack you right in the face when they first come on. Our intro track on the CD, Brand New Fist, never gets old no matter how many times I play it back. Filth and Blame it on the Devil are going to be songs that everyone is going to request when we play a live show. We also have some lighter songs that will rival our current ballads. Enough to get the panties wet for sure!13. When can we expect the new album to be released?
Dro: We're hoping to have it ready by the end of the year. There's no deadline on it, so we're just going to keep working on it until we're 100% happy with it. Once that part is ready, we'll send it off for mastering and put on a few bad-ass live performances to push the release of Adorned in Thorns.
14. What are your upcoming tour plans?
Dro: At the moment we're playing an awesome festival in NYC on Sept 6th. The triton festival is put together by Jet, the Creator of VampireFreaks.com. In 2010 we performed at the same festival and had a blast. A ton of great bands will be performing at this festival; London After Midnit, Psyclon 9, The Birthday Massacre, Combichrist, The Dreaming, The Cruxshadows, Assemblage 23, and many more amazing bands! The other good thing about it is that My BDay is Sept 7th so I'm sure it's going to be a huge party the whole weekend.
15. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?
Dro: Lasers, Fire, and lots of Fog. I mean FOG... a LOT of IT!
16. Is that your final answer?
Dro: No. Anal is. It's all about the Anal. Always has been.
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