Good evening! I recently met up with Dan Coxey (guitars) and Kip Pearce (bass) of the thrash metal/death metal band Davidian at the Lighthouse Lounge in Ogden, Utah. Davidian is local band with a long history of kicking ass and wrecking necks. We had a few beers, talked about their band, and discussed music in general. Here is that interview. Enjoy!
B&T: Alright, I'm here with two members of Davidian, the bass player Kip Pearce and lead guitar player Dan Coxey. So let's start with some history of the band. How long has Davidian been around and how did you guys get started?
DC: Probably '90, '91, me, the drummer Spike [Shawn Langford], and the singer Shawn [Kapinos] got together. The whole band has been together for quite a long time. Kip's the newest guy.
KP: 2002.
B&T: Oh, okay... so you've been together for a quite a long time. Did the original band members all grow up together?
DC: Yeah, me, Jay, Shawn, and Spike grew up and went to school together. Our other guitar player Jay [Leggara] is actually Spike's cousin.
B&T: And how did you join the band Kip?
KP: I went to seem them and they didn't have a bass player. And I just happened to know Jay's wife. I knew where she worked so I went in there. She was a bartender. I got half lit and said, "hey, I noticed they didn't have a bass player." I gave her my number. It took some convincing because I had not played for a while. I finally showed up and they haven't gotten rid of me yet. They probably should, but I'm not gonna tell them that. [laughs]
B&T: Very cool! So let's go way back... a question for both of you. How did you get started in music? What was your inspiration to play bass and guitar? What started all of that?
KP: I actually started playing guitar. My older brother was playing guitar. He was a total '80s butt-rock guy and got me into playing. He introduced me to Joe Satriani and some other incredible guitar players. That got me really interested in it. So I started. About time I was like 19 I got more interested in girls and quit playing for a while until I had seen that [Davidian] needed somebody. And I started playing bass because they needed a bass player.
B&T: Oh wow... so it was just kinda on a whim then? You decided, "oh shit, I guess I'll figure out how to play the bass."
KP: Yeah, I was going through a pretty rough time and going to the bar a lot. So I decided I needed something to get away from all that.
B&T: What about you Dan?
DC: I started pretty early. I was about 8 I guess when I started playing guitar. And I've been obsessed ever since. It's just kinda what I do. [laughs]
B&T: Any particular musicians that inspired you?
DC: What inspired me as well as the band was the thrash metal: Testament, Slayer, Anthrax, all those band's guitar players: Alex Skolnick, Jeff Hanneman, Scott Ian. It all evolved and shaped Davidian as well.
B&T: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you guys have been really picking up some traction, especially opening for some pretty big bands as of late.
DC: Yeah, this year has been pretty cool: Death Angel, Vicious Rumors, Hatespell, Evergrey, Warbringer with Enforcer in October.
B&T: I've always been curious how that transpires... say with Death Angel. Did you contact their management? Did they hear about you? How did that come to pass?
KP: It was me contacting Jordan Clements [JRC Events owner] and just asking. I talked with him off and on for a while.
B&T: Speaking of opening for other bands, are there any right now you are hoping to get with?
DC: Flotsam and Jetsam would be cool.... really anything that is thrash metal or heavy or like Evergrey... melodic heavy. Anything like that is cool.
B&T: Let's talk about your CD. You've got the long-play EP "Soulless Flesh Machine", which is great! I've been listening to it quite a bit since I bought a copy at the Evergrey show. Do you guys have plans to do a full-length album anytime soon?
KP: That's out plan for the next one.
DC: We are writing songs currently.
B&T: When are you hoping to get it out?
KP: Hopefully a lot sooner than it took to get ["Soulless Flesh Machine"] out. [laughs]
B&T: Did this take a while?
KP: Like 13 years. [laughs]
DC: The recording process was about a year. We actually have two releases from before that.
B&T: For my readers that are local, people can pick this up where?
DC: The Heavy Metal Shop.
KP: Plans to go to 680 [store] that's on about 36th and Washington [in Ogden, Utah].
DC: One of the really cool things about "Soulless Flesh Machine" is the cover art was actually done by Ed Repka who did "Peace Sells..." and "Rust In Peace" and a couple of Death albums, "Spiritual Healing" and "Leprosy".
B&T: Yeah! How did you guys get him?
DC: I just asked. [laughs]
KP: Yeah, we e-mailed and he e-mailed us back.
B&T: So as far as the songwriting, is that a collaborative effort? Do you all just get together or does somebody come with "hey, I've got a riff".?
DC: Yeah, everybody has riffs. Everybody has lyrics ya know? Everybody has pieces. We just get in a room and tear it up. That's kinda how we write.
B&T: This took quite a long time to put together. You spent a lot of time recording... you said a year, right?
KP: Yeah, we wanted to make sure it sounded right.
B&T: Was that by design?
DC: Yeah, it was broken up over time.
B&T: You said you are already working on songs right now. Or at least have some ideas going?
KP: Yup. Probably 2 or 3 songs already.
DC: Yeah, 2 full songs. At the Evergrey show we actually opened with one of the new tracks. We are currently playing one of them live and we've got a couple of others with full ideas as well. The material is there. We are just still putting it together.
B&T: That's something I've always wondered about. With a song you haven't recorded yet, but are playing live, is that a way you flesh ideas out? Work some things out... play around with ideas by playing it live?
DC: Yeah, we've changed some stuff going into the studio after playing it live. But we like to be prepared before we play a song live so it's mostly the way it is, but when we go into the recording process we may add or change a few things. Live we perform it as we rehearse it.
KP: It is always exciting to see what people think.
B&T: The one question I always ask at the end of the interview is you get done with a show, you get home, what beer do you crack open and album do you throw on?
KP: We usually just drink Bud Light. [laughs] When I get done with a show I'm in my truck listening to Nora Jones on the way home.
DC: Probably just a Bud Light. I'm all over the place with music.
B&T: Thanks guys!!
Check out Davidian at https://www.facebook.com/davidian6six6/ and pick up their killer EP "Soulless Flesh Machine"!!
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