Interview by Jay Hawkins (Photographer/Writer)
Jay: How are you today ? Firstly, its an honor and a privilege to be speaking with you!
Rex: Well, it’s an honor to speak with you too.
Jay: Kill Devil Hill, is a new musical chapter in your life, formed in 2011, how did the band come about?
Rex: I’ve known the guys for 25 years, had a load of stuff recorded and asked Vinnie to come down and write some stuff with me, things got moving real fast, we loved what was being created so decided to form a band.
Jay: What’s the meaning of the band name?
Rex: Its a place in North Carolina, there is a famous story involving the British, during the days of Pirates, we just liked the title.
Jay: You have a show in Seattle tonight, the birth place of “Grunge” – I’m sure every show is important, but is this show even more so?
Rex: What are you trying to insinuate, we ain’t “Grunge” (Rex gets mildly angry) we are a mixture of everything, we are metal man, through and through!
Jay: The current tour is in the US, are there any plans to play in Europe any time soon?
Rex: We are touring our asses off and would love to play Europe, maybe some time in 2014?
Jay: Would you like to play a festival like Download with Kill Devil Hill?
Rex: Hell yeah man, we’d love to do that show. The Europeans don’t generally try to categorize music and love to party, its a completely different atmosphere, but fans are always fans, where ever we go.
Jay: You have 3 Dates in the state of Texas coming up, which do you think will be the craziest show?
Rex: Well, I’d like to think every show we play will be awesome, unfortunately my home town of Dallas didn’t have a date that coincided with this tour schedule, but I’m sure ill get to play my home town soon.
Jay: You’re currently touring with Eye’s Set to Kill, Black Water Rising and Girl on Fire, who’s impressed you the most, so far?
Rex: They are all great bands, hence why we’ve asked them to support us, but Black Water Rising have really impressed me so far, they hang out with us on the tour bus, what a great bunch of guys too!
Jay: Revolution Rise (released 10/29/2013) is the bands 2nd Studio album, the first “Self titled” album set the bar high, but how does this album differ?
Rex: This album is a continuation of the first, now we’ve been a band for a couple of years, yet we’ve still only done around 100 shows, this has given us plenty of time to work on our material. We get on really well and enjoy working together.
Jay: Has the way the band creates music altered from the first album now you’ve been together for a few years? Who writes the material?
Rex: Can I just say, Jason Bragg is a Super Star, as are all the guys, its a pleasure to work with them!
Jay: Who was the producer on this album?
Rex: Jeff Pilson, he was a great guy to work with and gave us a really good work ethic. Being a family man, we had to get up early, drive over to his studio in Los Angeles and put in a full days work, 13 hour days sometimes, which I’m totally not use too, but it was good for us.
Rex: Have you heard the new album?
Jay: Yes thank you, my favorite tracks are Crown of Thrones, Stealing Days and Wake Up the Dead, my head is continuously nodding. Do you have a favorite track off this album you like to perform?
Rex: My favorite track is Crown of Thrones, but this new KILL DEVIL HILL record is definitely one of my favorite moments in my career, it’s got balls, great melodies, awesome guitar riffing and a low end that’ll set your ass on fire! We have also made a new music video, which will be out soon.
Jay: I can stream the album from the bands Facebook page (GREAT), What’s you opinion of Social media, do you use it? would you like to bring back the days of demo tapes?
Rex: The decision to put our album up on all the major social media sites was a no brainer, especially when you consider the amount of traffic that goes through those things. As for demo tapes, you have to move with the times man, this is the same thing really, just you’re able to reach a much wider audience, very quickly, so yeah, i’m all for it!
Jay: You play a Spector signature bass on this album, is that the 4 or 5 string version, which do you prefer and why?
Rex: I own 40 or more bass guitars that I use at various times, some costing a lot of money, but the bass I’ve used on this album, cost nothing to buy, but as soon as i picked it up, it felt good, nice wide neck. So i take it into the studio and say to they guys, what do you think of this and we all said, yep, that’s the bass we need on this album.
Jay: Out of all the musical instruments you could of picked, the piano being one, what made you want to play bass in bands?
Rex: I can play all kinds of instruments, I’m not so good on drums, but I started to play the Tuba at school and loved the low end it gave. I took to the bass as a natural progression and besides, there are too many guitar players in this world!
Jay: Your favorite guitarist is Jeff Beck? (Yard Birds – Jeff Beck Group) What is it about his guitar playing that you admire?
Rex: The guy’s a genius, just the way he touched the guitar was pure poetry!
Jay: If you could jam with anyone in history, who would it be and why?
Rex: Man, there are so many, hang on while i get my list (Laughs) but if i could of played with Beck, that would be awesome!
Jay: Are you a fan of American Football, Who’s gonna win this years Super Bowl?
Rex: Hell yeah, Dallas Cowboys of course, I asked if he thought the 49ers would win, he laughs and says no, but Houston Texans have a good shot!
Jay: I did try to end our conversation with some Texan quotes I’d found on the internet, such as “Nobody ever drowned in sweat” which is suppose to mean “hard work never killed anyone” but Rex stated, no one talks like that in Texas and i’d been watching too many movies! Bloody internet!
That about puts a rag on it, our time is up, Thank You.
http://www.killdevilhillmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KillDevilHillMusic
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