Dan Palmer (left), Efrem Schulz
For California skate punk outfit Death by Stereo, it's been a tough journey through the darkness, but they've found their way back. Formed in 1997, D.B.S. took hardcore mentality, punk ethics and metallic tones; injected their outspoken swagger; and made a name for themselves with incredible live shows all across the country. As they gained momentum and their sound turned more aggressive, the band found themselves stricken by tragedy and at the center of some unwanted controversy in 2003 when a fan was killed at one of their shows -- a memory that frontman Efrem Schulz recalls as "one of the most awful things I will probably ever see in my lifetime."
Bouncing back from the misfortune was not easy, but Death By Stereo persevered and continued writing and releasing music. Then, after parting ways with Epitaph Records, Schulz explains, "the planets were aligned to end our band." But in trying to do it on their own, D.B.S. found an ally in System of a Down's Serj Tankian, who took the band in under his Serjical Strike imprint to release their Jason Freese-produced fifth album, Death Is My Only Friend. To learn more about the new record and how far Death by Stereo have come since 2005's Death for Life, read what else Schulz had to say in our interview (click below).
Death by Stereo started as a hardcore band, and over the course of your career, you guys were getting heavier and more metal, but with this record you completely changed directions. How did that come about?
We just wanted to do something completely different. We really wanted to make a conscious effort not to repeat ourselves, so I think that explains why the shift in sound. We tried to push our limits on the heavy end on the last record, so we wanted to see if we could push our limits on the opposite end on this record -- and just try and get better at playing. We just want to keep moving forward and not look to the past, you know?
Does current music and the way scenes are changing have any influence on your output?
I don't know; we always wanted to be separate from everyone else's band, and we are just kind of ignoring what everyone else is doing. I don't know if it was so much a reaction to everyone else, or if it was a reaction to ourselves, but we are like, "How can we progress and get better at just playing our instruments and just challenging ourselves to do something new?" I think that's just part of growing and just being a musician, you know?
I read that you guys worked on this record for two years. Can you tell me a little bit about the process?
We kind of worked on it on and off. When we started doing it, we left Epitaph, and we wanted to do our own thing and do it on our own. We started recording it by ourselves, and then as time went on, you know, doing a record by yourself is kind of expensive, so we had to tour in between and just do things to be able to pay for it. And then halfway through the process Jason Freese approached me about doing a record for us, and I was like, "Wow -- well, here's our songs!" And then we started all over again with him. The process kind of doubled our time. It ended up opening all these new doors; he put us on this whole new train of thought about writing. He comes from such an extensive songwriter's background, and he's such an amazing jazz player -- he knows so much about theory and stuff, and it was just so bitchin' to hang with him and just write songs every day. And we just kept writing and filling stuff out and writing and filling stuff out until we found something we were all happy with.
And you also had a couple new members as well as some old members coming in and out over that time, so how did that affect songwriting?
Well me and Dan [Palmer, guitarist] still wrote everything [laughs]. Our friends just come in and out when they can and just play with us and kind of come along for the ride, and me and Dan have been holding it down. We just did all the writing and basically wrote everything with Jason Freese, and then everyone just learns the songs and interprets them their way live.
How did you guys end up signing with Serjical Strike Records?
George [Tonikian], who is an old friend of ours who runs Serjical Strike, is actually Dan's landlord. He owns Dan's house. We were friends with George for years, and he hooked me up with Serj, [who] produces Buckethead's records. I sang a song on the Buckethead record, and that's how I met Serj. I discovered that Serj was actually aware of us and aware of what we were doing and into our band, and he was just really cool. I was like, "You know who we are?!" And he just kind of kept tabs on us, so when we were freed up and we had this finished record, we were talking to George about it and I guess he mentioned it to Serj, and Serj was like, "F*ck, let's do it!" So we created a partnership with them. It's pretty cool. The record's ours; we own it, we control everything and it's completely a 50/50 partnership with Serj.
You guys have always been a band that's had something to say, what are your lyrical messages this time around?
We're being a lot more positive than we were last time around. It's definitely more issue-based. We're just trying to get back to the issues that are affecting the world and us in general, and I mean there's still personal stuff on there, but I think right now in music we're in desperate need of people who actually talk about the things going on in the world. People aren't doing that, so it's definitely the time. Fortunately there's a couple bands still holding it down. Rise Against is doing an incredible job, and they're keeping it real, and we're just trying to keep that torch lit and keep people thinking. I think there's a place for all kinds of music in the world, but right now though? I think we definitely have a lot of people singing about how they hate their parents and their girlfriend dumping them and that's cool; dude, I was bummed when my girlfriend dumped me, too -- I was super-bummed! But I think we need to say some other things. If you have an audience and a voice, no matter how small or big it is, you should at least use part of your time to say something positive, to fight back against this world that would destroy us.
What are some of the specific things that you guys are talking about?
There's a song on the record that my good friend Phil Phantom sings with me on. It's called "Fear of a Brown Planet"; it's a little play on the Public Enemy title and it's about all the issues that are going on at the border here, because we live in California and we're three hours away from the border and my parents are from Mexico. And there's a desperate need for immigration reform, and it just seems like our government's trying to ignore the problems at the border by building a gigantic wall. Like, if we build up this giant wall we can just keep them out and they won't bother us. So I'm trying to shed some light on that issue, and also, we all know somebody's palms are getting greased and drugs are still getting across the border and money's being made. I just hope that people become more aware of what's really going on. And other issues we were talking about -- this never-ending war that we've been in, we're still talking about personal issues. We redid "Forever and a Day," [which] was on the last record with piano and vocals only. That song's about a good friend of mine, my friend Steve, who I lost for a minute there. He died, but he actually came back to life. It's about second chances and everybody devaluing their friends -- I mean it's kind of across the board. Overall I'd say the whole message of the record is, you have to be the voice of the voiceless sometimes. There's a lot of people that can't stand up for themselves so you have to scream really loud.
Is that what has come from growing and maturing as a band?
I think that in the past, it was just like I had the "f*ck you" gun cocked, and it was just like "F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you!" But that came with being younger and just being loud and obnoxious -- like you need someone to listen. But now I'm starting to learn that maybe if I pick my battles and learn a better way to express myself, more people will listen. So it's not just "f*ck you," it's like, "Hey, f*ck you -- but this is why."
You've experienced some serious hardships over the last few years. How much of that has come into where you're at as a band now?
A lot of it. When we made the last record, we came off of two of the f*cking sh*ttiest years of our lives. We got sued, someone died, it was so much craziness and we had so many forces in the universe -- the planets were aligned to end our band, to stop us. Our last record was just like f*ck everyone, you can't stop us, we're so f*cking pissed, f*ck the world, f*ck everything, everything's doomed. That was a little rough patch we were going through; but it was honest, and I think we got it out of our system and that's what brought us to here now. Like, okay, we got through it -- let's get posi again, man.
What does Death Is My Only Friend mean?
Well, through thick and thin, no matter what's happened, what's failed us -- whether it be certain corporations or people or girlfriends or lawyers or life, through it all, when the rug was pulled out from under us, this band was our only friend, and it was the last thing that was there when everything was gone.
We just wanted to do something completely different. We really wanted to make a conscious effort not to repeat ourselves, so I think that explains why the shift in sound. We tried to push our limits on the heavy end on the last record, so we wanted to see if we could push our limits on the opposite end on this record -- and just try and get better at playing. We just want to keep moving forward and not look to the past, you know?
Does current music and the way scenes are changing have any influence on your output?
I don't know; we always wanted to be separate from everyone else's band, and we are just kind of ignoring what everyone else is doing. I don't know if it was so much a reaction to everyone else, or if it was a reaction to ourselves, but we are like, "How can we progress and get better at just playing our instruments and just challenging ourselves to do something new?" I think that's just part of growing and just being a musician, you know?
I read that you guys worked on this record for two years. Can you tell me a little bit about the process?
We kind of worked on it on and off. When we started doing it, we left Epitaph, and we wanted to do our own thing and do it on our own. We started recording it by ourselves, and then as time went on, you know, doing a record by yourself is kind of expensive, so we had to tour in between and just do things to be able to pay for it. And then halfway through the process Jason Freese approached me about doing a record for us, and I was like, "Wow -- well, here's our songs!" And then we started all over again with him. The process kind of doubled our time. It ended up opening all these new doors; he put us on this whole new train of thought about writing. He comes from such an extensive songwriter's background, and he's such an amazing jazz player -- he knows so much about theory and stuff, and it was just so bitchin' to hang with him and just write songs every day. And we just kept writing and filling stuff out and writing and filling stuff out until we found something we were all happy with.
And you also had a couple new members as well as some old members coming in and out over that time, so how did that affect songwriting?
Well me and Dan [Palmer, guitarist] still wrote everything [laughs]. Our friends just come in and out when they can and just play with us and kind of come along for the ride, and me and Dan have been holding it down. We just did all the writing and basically wrote everything with Jason Freese, and then everyone just learns the songs and interprets them their way live.
How did you guys end up signing with Serjical Strike Records?
George [Tonikian], who is an old friend of ours who runs Serjical Strike, is actually Dan's landlord. He owns Dan's house. We were friends with George for years, and he hooked me up with Serj, [who] produces Buckethead's records. I sang a song on the Buckethead record, and that's how I met Serj. I discovered that Serj was actually aware of us and aware of what we were doing and into our band, and he was just really cool. I was like, "You know who we are?!" And he just kind of kept tabs on us, so when we were freed up and we had this finished record, we were talking to George about it and I guess he mentioned it to Serj, and Serj was like, "F*ck, let's do it!" So we created a partnership with them. It's pretty cool. The record's ours; we own it, we control everything and it's completely a 50/50 partnership with Serj.
You guys have always been a band that's had something to say, what are your lyrical messages this time around?
We're being a lot more positive than we were last time around. It's definitely more issue-based. We're just trying to get back to the issues that are affecting the world and us in general, and I mean there's still personal stuff on there, but I think right now in music we're in desperate need of people who actually talk about the things going on in the world. People aren't doing that, so it's definitely the time. Fortunately there's a couple bands still holding it down. Rise Against is doing an incredible job, and they're keeping it real, and we're just trying to keep that torch lit and keep people thinking. I think there's a place for all kinds of music in the world, but right now though? I think we definitely have a lot of people singing about how they hate their parents and their girlfriend dumping them and that's cool; dude, I was bummed when my girlfriend dumped me, too -- I was super-bummed! But I think we need to say some other things. If you have an audience and a voice, no matter how small or big it is, you should at least use part of your time to say something positive, to fight back against this world that would destroy us.
What are some of the specific things that you guys are talking about?
There's a song on the record that my good friend Phil Phantom sings with me on. It's called "Fear of a Brown Planet"; it's a little play on the Public Enemy title and it's about all the issues that are going on at the border here, because we live in California and we're three hours away from the border and my parents are from Mexico. And there's a desperate need for immigration reform, and it just seems like our government's trying to ignore the problems at the border by building a gigantic wall. Like, if we build up this giant wall we can just keep them out and they won't bother us. So I'm trying to shed some light on that issue, and also, we all know somebody's palms are getting greased and drugs are still getting across the border and money's being made. I just hope that people become more aware of what's really going on. And other issues we were talking about -- this never-ending war that we've been in, we're still talking about personal issues. We redid "Forever and a Day," [which] was on the last record with piano and vocals only. That song's about a good friend of mine, my friend Steve, who I lost for a minute there. He died, but he actually came back to life. It's about second chances and everybody devaluing their friends -- I mean it's kind of across the board. Overall I'd say the whole message of the record is, you have to be the voice of the voiceless sometimes. There's a lot of people that can't stand up for themselves so you have to scream really loud.
Is that what has come from growing and maturing as a band?
I think that in the past, it was just like I had the "f*ck you" gun cocked, and it was just like "F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you!" But that came with being younger and just being loud and obnoxious -- like you need someone to listen. But now I'm starting to learn that maybe if I pick my battles and learn a better way to express myself, more people will listen. So it's not just "f*ck you," it's like, "Hey, f*ck you -- but this is why."
You've experienced some serious hardships over the last few years. How much of that has come into where you're at as a band now?
A lot of it. When we made the last record, we came off of two of the f*cking sh*ttiest years of our lives. We got sued, someone died, it was so much craziness and we had so many forces in the universe -- the planets were aligned to end our band, to stop us. Our last record was just like f*ck everyone, you can't stop us, we're so f*cking pissed, f*ck the world, f*ck everything, everything's doomed. That was a little rough patch we were going through; but it was honest, and I think we got it out of our system and that's what brought us to here now. Like, okay, we got through it -- let's get posi again, man.
What does Death Is My Only Friend mean?
Well, through thick and thin, no matter what's happened, what's failed us -- whether it be certain corporations or people or girlfriends or lawyers or life, through it all, when the rug was pulled out from under us, this band was our only friend, and it was the last thing that was there when everything was gone.
Portions of album content provided by All Music Guide © 2011 All Media Guide, LLC ® 1999-2011 Rhapsody International Inc.
Share this Article