Billy James on stage at the Machine Shop 8-18-10
Tracy Heck
Last Wednesday, alternative rock band Dommin made a stop in Flint, Michigan at the Machine Shop in support of Danish rock band Volbeat.
The band is currently out in support of their debut album Love Is Gone.
Before the show, Dommin bassist Billy James took some time out from rehearsing to talk with me about Dommin's past, present and future.
Q:When I interviewed Kristofer [Dommin, the band's vocalist] back in April you guys had just started out as the supporting act along with Drive A and We Are The Fallen for Finnish rock band HIM. That tour got you quite a bit of exposure didn't it?
A: Yes, it was one of our best and biggest tours so far. It was awesome. It was everything that we could have asked for at this point.
Q: Your music fit in well with their style didn't it?
A: Oh, very much. It fit very well. Just their fans in general really appreciated us on that tour so it was great for everybody.
Q: And then you did some headlining dates after that tour?
A: Yeah, we did some headlining after that. They went better than expected which is always obviously good. Yeah it was one of our first times headlining. We actually did one date headlining in London that I think was right prior to the HIM tour. Right before or right after. Actually, I think it was after the U.S. gigs. We did like a month and a half in Europe with HIM and then we came back and did a couple of weeks of our own shows or something like that. So yeah the headlining show in London was kind of a test to see where we are right now and it went really well.
Q: Do you enjoy headlining more than being an opener?
A: It depends because there is a lot more weight when you are the headlining band and you have to do a longer set. You carry all of the weight of the whole night so all the opening bands are kind of depending on you to bring the crowd.
Q: Have you seen the crowds getting bigger?
A: Yeah, definitely. I can see a substantial growth within the last year we've been touring. And we have been touring non-stop for the last couple of years.
Q: How did you get involved with this Volbeat tour?
A: I don't know exactly how we got involved with this one. Our booking agency put it together and I'm sure they submitted us for it. Volbeat gets all the band together and you know they approve based on their likes and dislikes whatever. I'm not sure how exactly it all came together but when I heard it I was excited.
Q: You've done a few dates now. How is it going?
A: We've been on this tour for about six shows now. It's going good. Very good. It's going very well. Everybody's been really cool. All the bands have been really nice. Yeah, I can't complain. It's another great bunch of people.
Q: Do you have any plans for after the tour?
A: We are planning a headlining tour for when we get back sometime in November. We also have another pending tour that's going to be as a supporting act that we possibly might not get. I'm usually the last person to find out all that stuff. We are going to do a headlining tour around the U.S. basically though.
Q: You've been touring for Love Is Gone for awhile now. Are you working on new music?
A: We have been. We have a lot of material that we haven't shown anybody. One of the things that will definitely happen for this new album is that we're trying to be over prepared. We have stuff that we've been working on even now. Kris on this tour has been constructing a lot of songs and putting together a bunch of new stuff as well as revamping a bunch of old stuff that didn't get put out previously. Yeah, we are going to be overly prepared. We don't know exactly the date when they're going to want to start recording us but we're going to be more than ready.
Q: Is the new material similar in mood and sound? Will it continue to build on the concept presented on this album of heartbreak and poisonous love?
A: It's definitely similar in sound. The story is going to change direction a little bit and that's all I can tell you but it is going to be signature Dommin. We're still going to be writing about past experiences and past relationships and stuff like that but the mood is going to shift a little.
Q: I know Kris writes the music but does everyone play a role in putting the music together?
A: Yeah Kris writes most of the music but we all collaborate with all of our instruments. We all influence the songs.
Q: Speaking of influence, Kris talks a lot about his thirties and forties musical influences but what are some of yours?
A: I like a lot of different stuff. Right now it is amazing to watch Muse and how they are on stage. My main influence comes from, and actually this goes for everybody in the band, Rammstein. They are a huge influence on us. We actually got to seem them when we were at the Hultsfred Festival. It was amazing! Type O' Negative has always been a big influence on me. Depeche Mode, Metallica, I can go on and on.
Q: Is there anyone you would like to tour with in the future?
A: Let's see. I think we would do well with 30 Seconds To Mars. I'd like to tour with them.. I heard some gossip about our management and booking agency trying to negotiate some type of tour with them but it hasn't happened so far.
Q: You seem to play out this way a lot or at least out in the Midwest. Is there any particular reason for that?
A: There is no reason really in particular that Dommin has played this way. Most of the times we've played out this way it's been as a supporting act. Yeah, a lot of our shows have been in the Midwest. I guess that's where a large population in the U.S. is.
Q: Have you ever played in Flint before?
A: Flint, no we've played Detroit and we've played Grand Rapids. We'll be there next actually. Last time we played Detroit was as a opener for the 69 Eyes at the I-Rock.
Q: Does the band plan on taking any time off?
A: No, probably not. I mean possibly in December at Christmas-time like most bands do. There might be a month here or there but for the most part we're going to try and tour as much as possible. If an opportunity arises we're going to jump on it!
Q: For people who haven't heard your music, how would you describe it?
A: I would probably just describe it as alternative rock because I can't really classify it as goth rock because some people would say we're not goth enough or classify it as metal because it's not metal enough. Just from hearing everybody's feedback over the year I just take a step away and overall categorize it as alternative rock. It's got a lot of different influences in it. It's got a lot of rock influences, goth influences and metal influences.
Q: You said touring has really helped your exposure. Is that the best way to gain a following and recognition?
A: Yeah. I would say maybe ninety percent of people at our shows are because of touring and they've seen us before on tour with other bands and we won them over.
Q: Do you have any more singles coming off of Love Is Gone?
A: I'm not sure so don't quote me! Personally, I want them to squeeze as much juice out of the album as they can. It's getting close to the end of the year so we're going to start talking to the label on when they want to start recording a new album.
Q: For your "Tonight" video can you explain the concept a bit?
A: Well when we got together with our producer she had kind of a treatment for us. She submitted it to us and it sounded really cool. Basically the concept is about light. The female actress in the video is addicted to light and she needs to fill her life with it. In the video she looks through the frame or window and sees the light on the other end. That was the start of the high note we wanted to immediately achieve by grabbing someone's attention while watching videos. We made it stimulating to the eye.
Dommin does expect to have a Detroit date on their upcoming headlining tour.
The band is currently out in support of their debut album Love Is Gone.
Before the show, Dommin bassist Billy James took some time out from rehearsing to talk with me about Dommin's past, present and future.
Q:When I interviewed Kristofer [Dommin, the band's vocalist] back in April you guys had just started out as the supporting act along with Drive A and We Are The Fallen for Finnish rock band HIM. That tour got you quite a bit of exposure didn't it?
A: Yes, it was one of our best and biggest tours so far. It was awesome. It was everything that we could have asked for at this point.
Q: Your music fit in well with their style didn't it?
A: Oh, very much. It fit very well. Just their fans in general really appreciated us on that tour so it was great for everybody.
Q: And then you did some headlining dates after that tour?
A: Yeah, we did some headlining after that. They went better than expected which is always obviously good. Yeah it was one of our first times headlining. We actually did one date headlining in London that I think was right prior to the HIM tour. Right before or right after. Actually, I think it was after the U.S. gigs. We did like a month and a half in Europe with HIM and then we came back and did a couple of weeks of our own shows or something like that. So yeah the headlining show in London was kind of a test to see where we are right now and it went really well.
Q: Do you enjoy headlining more than being an opener?
A: It depends because there is a lot more weight when you are the headlining band and you have to do a longer set. You carry all of the weight of the whole night so all the opening bands are kind of depending on you to bring the crowd.
Q: Have you seen the crowds getting bigger?
A: Yeah, definitely. I can see a substantial growth within the last year we've been touring. And we have been touring non-stop for the last couple of years.
Q: How did you get involved with this Volbeat tour?
A: I don't know exactly how we got involved with this one. Our booking agency put it together and I'm sure they submitted us for it. Volbeat gets all the band together and you know they approve based on their likes and dislikes whatever. I'm not sure how exactly it all came together but when I heard it I was excited.
Q: You've done a few dates now. How is it going?
A: We've been on this tour for about six shows now. It's going good. Very good. It's going very well. Everybody's been really cool. All the bands have been really nice. Yeah, I can't complain. It's another great bunch of people.
Q: Do you have any plans for after the tour?
A: We are planning a headlining tour for when we get back sometime in November. We also have another pending tour that's going to be as a supporting act that we possibly might not get. I'm usually the last person to find out all that stuff. We are going to do a headlining tour around the U.S. basically though.
Q: You've been touring for Love Is Gone for awhile now. Are you working on new music?
A: We have been. We have a lot of material that we haven't shown anybody. One of the things that will definitely happen for this new album is that we're trying to be over prepared. We have stuff that we've been working on even now. Kris on this tour has been constructing a lot of songs and putting together a bunch of new stuff as well as revamping a bunch of old stuff that didn't get put out previously. Yeah, we are going to be overly prepared. We don't know exactly the date when they're going to want to start recording us but we're going to be more than ready.
Q: Is the new material similar in mood and sound? Will it continue to build on the concept presented on this album of heartbreak and poisonous love?
A: It's definitely similar in sound. The story is going to change direction a little bit and that's all I can tell you but it is going to be signature Dommin. We're still going to be writing about past experiences and past relationships and stuff like that but the mood is going to shift a little.
Q: I know Kris writes the music but does everyone play a role in putting the music together?
A: Yeah Kris writes most of the music but we all collaborate with all of our instruments. We all influence the songs.
Q: Speaking of influence, Kris talks a lot about his thirties and forties musical influences but what are some of yours?
A: I like a lot of different stuff. Right now it is amazing to watch Muse and how they are on stage. My main influence comes from, and actually this goes for everybody in the band, Rammstein. They are a huge influence on us. We actually got to seem them when we were at the Hultsfred Festival. It was amazing! Type O' Negative has always been a big influence on me. Depeche Mode, Metallica, I can go on and on.
Q: Is there anyone you would like to tour with in the future?
A: Let's see. I think we would do well with 30 Seconds To Mars. I'd like to tour with them.. I heard some gossip about our management and booking agency trying to negotiate some type of tour with them but it hasn't happened so far.
Q: You seem to play out this way a lot or at least out in the Midwest. Is there any particular reason for that?
A: There is no reason really in particular that Dommin has played this way. Most of the times we've played out this way it's been as a supporting act. Yeah, a lot of our shows have been in the Midwest. I guess that's where a large population in the U.S. is.
Q: Have you ever played in Flint before?
A: Flint, no we've played Detroit and we've played Grand Rapids. We'll be there next actually. Last time we played Detroit was as a opener for the 69 Eyes at the I-Rock.
Q: Does the band plan on taking any time off?
A: No, probably not. I mean possibly in December at Christmas-time like most bands do. There might be a month here or there but for the most part we're going to try and tour as much as possible. If an opportunity arises we're going to jump on it!
Q: For people who haven't heard your music, how would you describe it?
A: I would probably just describe it as alternative rock because I can't really classify it as goth rock because some people would say we're not goth enough or classify it as metal because it's not metal enough. Just from hearing everybody's feedback over the year I just take a step away and overall categorize it as alternative rock. It's got a lot of different influences in it. It's got a lot of rock influences, goth influences and metal influences.
Q: You said touring has really helped your exposure. Is that the best way to gain a following and recognition?
A: Yeah. I would say maybe ninety percent of people at our shows are because of touring and they've seen us before on tour with other bands and we won them over.
Q: Do you have any more singles coming off of Love Is Gone?
A: I'm not sure so don't quote me! Personally, I want them to squeeze as much juice out of the album as they can. It's getting close to the end of the year so we're going to start talking to the label on when they want to start recording a new album.
Q: For your "Tonight" video can you explain the concept a bit?
A: Well when we got together with our producer she had kind of a treatment for us. She submitted it to us and it sounded really cool. Basically the concept is about light. The female actress in the video is addicted to light and she needs to fill her life with it. In the video she looks through the frame or window and sees the light on the other end. That was the start of the high note we wanted to immediately achieve by grabbing someone's attention while watching videos. We made it stimulating to the eye.
Dommin does expect to have a Detroit date on their upcoming headlining tour.
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