Features

Here's part two of Blag and Dexter catching up and commenting on how the music industry has changed (for the worst?) over the years. Or - for those of you with the attention span of a hamster - simply scroll down and read a summary. We’ll have part two up in a couple of days!

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The thing that kept Blag into rock ‘n roll was the shared experiences. He tells us: “The things you went through really affected other people and you discovered that what you did or do really matters!”

Talking about solace, Dexter compares The Dwarves to The Vandals. He says they’re too clever for their audience. The Vandals’ humor is so over the top that it goes right by people. With The Dwarves people have to understand all the different kinds of music and all the irony and stuff.

“There is your solace, you’re too clever!” – Dexter Holland

“I’m too fucking clever. And you heard it from Dexter Holland. He drives a plane, he sold 20 million records and he thinks I’m too clever.” – Blag Dahlia

What really let Dahlia down in the music industry was the fact that people didn’t see his capabilities as a producer. Nobody saw it when a song or album was well-produced or well-written. They didn’t actually know what a hit really was.
Unfortunately the budgets for producing a record aren’t as big as they used to be anymore. In those days Dahlia could make a record on a budget of about 20 to 25 grand. The big budgets then went up to 200 or 300 grand. But then within two to three years all of a sudden the guys who first worked on a budget of 300.000 dollars, now had to do with only 20 grand! Guys like Dahlia himself just got wiped out.

Holland compares to his own record label, Nitro Records, and recounts his own findings in the matter, which also match Dahlia’s. Over the years, when you started doing the math on the available budgets for really small records, you could definitely see it wouldn’t work anymore…

“That’s funny, ‘cause I finger fucked it for a year, you know what I mean. I don’t think it sounds like Blood Guts.” – Blag Dahlia

The Dwarves Invented Rock ‘n Roll, The Dwarves’ latest album, really paid off and is said to sound more like their older stuff again. Some people said they hated the super egotistical stuff, but Dahlia states that that was kind of part of the whole Dwarves’ thing: you’d think it’s so preposterous that  people would just be cool with it. But there were people who said: “Bullshit man… That’s not true!”

According to Holland, The Sex Pistols were a good example of a band that was really egotistical and nihilistic. Even when The Offspring did Pretty Fly, people didn’t get it, but the joke was on them.

“So when does the record come out?” – Dexter Holland

“It’s out now, in your local record store which doesn’t exist anymore.” – Blag Dahlia

The new record, The Dwarves Invented Rock ‘n Roll, is out now. The best place to buy it is via www.thedwarves.com . That’s how Blag says he makes the most money… But you can also get it through Recess Records and it’s on iTunes as well. Dahlia doesn’t approve of that last option though. He says you should definitely see the big pictures of naked women and at the same time asks Holland when they’re going to put some nudity on their records.

“You gotta do one of two things: put nudity on your record OR cover a Dwarves song. If you cover a Dwarves song, I‘d make money. If you put naked girls on your record, I could jack off to that.” – Blag Dahlia

Dahlia concludes the interview saying that if you grow up and you’re cute and athletic and smart and you live in Orange County and you’ve got these chicks around you, you don’t need that hedonism. Whereas if you’re coming from Illinois and you’re feeling desperate, you’re starved.

“There’s a bunch of intolerable bands from there, but you do get The Offspring. You know, so you get something that you can live with.” – Blag Dahlia

“We try, we try…” – Dexter Holland

“I mean, what can I say… Except, The Dwarves are rock legends. We invented rock ‘n roll.” – Blag Dahlia

“We’ve established that I’ve ripped you off…” – Dexter Holland

“Yeah let’s face it! You’ve been biting my shit for years! And I hope you’ll continue to do so.” – Blag Dahlia