before we even met him! He went to postsecondary school for Recorded Music Production and played in a lot of bands before coming to Kill Matilda. Other than his training in theory and production he's never have any training in actual music making (ie guitar, vocal lessons, etc). He's completely self-taught. I took classical violin lessons through my teen years and sang in the school choir. Music was something I got into more as an avenue to make friends and fit in; I had a group of older friends in high school who were all in the local music scene. I really looked up to them and started learning guitar and writing songs but was too shy to debut them in my hometown and decided to move to the city to play music. Once I moved to Vancouver and started playing in a band I also pursued some formal vocal training for awhile. Since then we've all grown in our musicianship and ability as performing artists through our experiences playing so many shows together.
EPIC: For all of you, what were some of your musical idols or inspirations growing up and did any of them play a part in driving you to a particular genre of music?
Dusty : I think we all have fairly well rounded musical interests but everyone has that one band that inspired them to start actually making music. For Marcus it was Rage Against the Machine. For Mykel it was Nine Inch Nails. He started out making industrial/ electronic music before we met up. For me, I was mostly influenced by bands that had amazing and interesting vocalists. Since I grew up in the 90s in Canada the alt rockers of the day were my biggest influences, and in particular I was really inspired by the lyrics and vocals of the singer from Econoline Crush. Mykel and I definitely connected on that because the band had a distinct electronic/industrial influence. Sharing the stage with your idols is definitely a driving factor for any young musician so I think you strive to emulate whatever genre first influences you. In 2011 we did share the stage with Econoline Crush, which was awesome. It definitely felt like a milestone.
EPIC: Can you tell us the process of the development for your songs, and on average how much time is invested per song and or album?
Dusty: Each album has been different because of the influence of various past members. Early on, I would write some songs and Marlene (past guitarist) would write some songs so there was a very distinct flavor in either person's musical style. With each successive members influence, songs have changed here and there and even old songs are now an amalgamation of everyone's influences and contributions. For our latest EP, which we recorded in Vancouver at Fader Mountain Studios with Garth Richardson, we recorded it in two parts; the first three songs we brought to him knowing what we wanted to record. He helped us to refine and fine-tune them and then we laid them down. The next three songs were recorded a year later because Mykel was diagnosed with a rare kind of genetic tumor in his carotid artery which required surgery and made him sick for awhile. The band went on hiatus during this period to give Mykel time to rest. About six months after the initial songs were recorded we rented out a jamspace and started jamming fifteen hours a week on all brand new material. Everyone contributed songs, even Marcus. For two months we just wrote like crazy and at the end of it we had 10 songs for Garth to choose from. He chose the three he thought had the most potential from those and we recorded them. It was a really different experience from our previous records because rather than walking in knowing what songs we'd be doing, and having played and honed those songs for awhile already, we wanted to be prolific and just create, create, create. Once we settled on what three songs we'd be recording, Garth really played a much bigger role in reorganizing and directing the songs. After we recorded them and wanted to play them live we had to ask ourselves, how did Garth change that one part again?
EPIC: One of your songs, that is a favorite among a lot of fans is your song "I WANT REVENGE" can you walk us through how that song came to be, and what was your inspiration?
Dusty ; I Want Revenge is one of our oldest songs and has gone through a lot of transformations. When I first wrote it I wanted something that sounds a bit Marilyn-Manson-esque and the early version was slower and more swing-y. Along the way Mykel rearranged it and we injectt wrote it I wanted something that sounds a bit Marilyn-Manson-esque and the early version was slower and more swing-y. Along the way Mykel rearranged it and we inject some serious octane and the current version of the music/arrangement doesn't resemble much of the original. Its aged like a fine wine, h