HOW TO GO
Who: Dope
Where: Oddbody’s Music Room, 5418 Burkhardt Road, Dayton
When: 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8
Cost: $12 in advance, $15 at the door
More info: 937-813-4272 or www.oddbodys.com
Artist info: www.dopearmy.com
It’s been five years since Chicago-based industrial rock band Dope released its fifth album, “No Regrets.” However, it wasn’t for lack of material.
Frontman Edsel Dope, 40, recently shared his thoughts on the group’s upcoming double album, “Blood Money,” and the related listening parties. Dope, on the road supporting the new single, “Selfish,” performs at Oddbody’s Music Room in Dayton on Monday, Sept. 8.
LIFE INTERVENES
“There’s been a lot going on with me. It’s funny, man, people are like, ‘Wow, it’s been a long time since you put out a record. You should just put one out and tour all the time.’ Well, I’m not 25 anymore. My band is great. I really enjoy it, but I have a family and other responsibilities. It’s not that it took me five years to write and record a record, it’s because I’ve got 100 other things going on. As anybody else who matures and gets older in life, I have other priorities. I’m just handling lots of stuff and really trying to gear up for the album’s release.”
TESTING THE WATERS
“Doing these listening parties for ‘Blood Money’ was our merch company’s idea. They kept trying to get me to do these meet and greets and I was like, ‘If I’m going to charge somebody to meet this band, I need to do something bigger than that.’ That’s when the idea came to share some of the great rough mixes we have with a select group of people. I thought giving the fans something extra than everybody else is doing was genius and that was a way for me to ease in to the new model of doing meet and greets. I’m interested in the feedback too. I want to hear what people think.”
PATIENCE IS KEY
“The album’s release date is still open. The talk is spring but we set a release date a while ago and we ended up pushing it for a multitude of reasons. I don’t want to do that to the fans again so I’m personally leaving it open until the body of work is complete. I want to get my head on straight and get the plan together. It all comes down to me being ready to jump into the deep end of the pool with no life preserver and do what I do. Right now I’m dipping my toes in the pool because I’m not ready to go all in yet. The last thing I want to do is release a record and not be able to tour all the markets we want to get to. Hopefully fans understand that.”
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