Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Dress The Dead, who recently announced the addition of Witch Mountain singer Kayla Dixon (replacing former The Haunted vocalist Peter Dolving), have released a lyric video for the song “Promises & Kisses“.
We reported on the addition of Dixon to the band back in January [LINK] but Dress The Dead are no strangers to connections with other bands. The roster of players currently at work on a debut release includes alumni of Forbidden, MANMADEGOD, Spiralarms, Vio-lence, Re:Ignition, Orion, Drawing Heaven, and more.
Guitarist Craig Locicero addressed all of these latest happenings, saying:
“Back when my last band was coming to a close I immediately wrote a pile of new riffs and the music came in a creative flurry. Never thinking about what I was doing, just riffing. Some of it was heavy, aggressive and thrashy while other things were more melodic and in some cases very beautiful. One of the first things that poured out was the clean intro to ‘Promises & Kisses’. It sounded like water to me. Rain, oceans, rivers and storms in my head.
“When I first approached Peter Dolving about helping me form Dress The Dead, ‘P&K’ was in the first batch of riffs. Once (drummer) Mark (Hernandez), (bassist) James (Walker) and (guitarist) Dan (Delay) got involved our sound quickly started developing into something pretty cool and unique. We felt the potential was farther reaching than originally anticipated.
“Peter eventually came to the Bay Area and we put our heads together with Robb Flynn (Machine Head) for the recording. Peter had the outline of something special and we were all excited. Unfortunately when we played ‘P&K’ for other people, some of them didn’t connect to the emotion he was conveying. They only thought of him only as the singer from the Haunted. Their minds were already made up.
“Once Peter unexpectedly left the band a couple of months later, he made it clear he wanted us to continue to play the 3 songs we wrote together. Easier said than done. I told him only if we could find somebody who could do them justice. One came close, but nobody made it their own until Kayla Dixon.
“‘Promises & Kisses’ was the first song that Kayla auditioned with back in October. She sent me a demo two days after we spoke and added elements that Peter’s original version didn’t have. Kayla took liberties with it and the result was amazing. She takes the ‘P&K’ to another level. Commanding and vulnerable at the same time. It sounds perfect coming from her female point of view.
“Kayla has the rare ability to do what the greatest singers can. She not only writes her own lyrics and melodies, but expounds and re-imagine others’ songs to make them her own.
“Once we got Kayla into the studio with Robb, the real magic happened. Robb suggested she sit down and think about what these songs meant to her. Most importantly he captured an amazing performance. Kayla was pretty much limitless in the studio. As a result, everything she recorded has a tangible connection. What we’ve been writing since then is equally as strong.
“We feel we must give Peter the deserved credit for his artistry. The stuff that made me want to be in a band with him in the first place. He set the bar so high that we couldn’t find the right person to replace him. Not until Kayla Dixon walked through our door and rocked us to the core. Nobody saw it coming.
“Dolving left us some almost impossible shoes to fill until Kayla came in and stomped down her own footprint.
“Please check out this video for ‘Promises & Kisses’. Enjoy the ride.”
DRESS THE DEAD:
Kayla Dixon – Vocals (Witch Mountain)
Craig Locicero – Guitar (Forbidden, Spiralarms, Manmade God)
Mark Hernandez – Drums (Forbidden, Vio-Lence, Re:Ignition)
James Walker – Bass (Manmade God, Orion)
Dan Delay – Guitar (Drawing Heaven)
