INTERVIEW: KIMBERLY & JUNIOR from One-Eyed Doll, October 2016

Our own Jeffrey Everett was able to pin down Junior and Kimberly, members of One-Eyed Doll, to chat in just before they took their spots on stage in Knoxville.

Jeffrey: I would like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us. This is your guys’ third trip to Knoxville in the past year. Is this just coincidence or do you select your cities and venues?

Junior: We love playing in Knoxville. It’s one of the best places we play.  They always treat us right and we always get a good turnout. We make sure Knoxville is one of the cities we play when we are planning a tour.

Jeffrey: This tour you’re supporting Wednesday 13, how did that come about?

Junior: Wednesday directly contacted us about being part of the tour. We are big fans of theirs and we agreed to go out as direct support. The good thing about that is we get to expose ourselves to a new crowd who might not otherwise have had a chance to hear us.

Jeffrey:  You guys are on the road a lot, what is your schedule like?

Junior: We try to do a spring and fall tour each year. We like to use the winter to do studio work and it also avoids dangerous travel during that time. We also keep the summer open for possible festivals. This year we played Gathering of the Juggalos festival.

Jeffrey: Where do you consider home these days; is it still Texas?

Junior: Well we started in Texas in 2005 and lived in Austin. Kimberly moved there from Oregon and I moved there from Northern California. We made our first album together in 2006. We started as a regional band in the southwest.  In 2011 we got picked up by booking agency we started getting out on the road more. We toured with the likes of Mushroomhead, Wayne Static, and OTEP. That established more of a national audience. We are pretty much on the road full-time. I had a ranch in Texas but sold it because we were never there and things were falling apart without upkeep. I purchased the tour bus which became our home. We still have family in Northern California and other areas around the country. We lived with Sylvia Massey for short time while we were doing studio work. She has produced for Tool, System of a Down, and even Johnny Cash.

Jeffrey:  You produce for a One-Eyed Doll and have produced for other bands in the past. Do you still do any production on the side?

Junior: I used to be open to the public and bands could book time with me. These days it would have to be a pretty special case, a band I really like.  I actually just produced a bluegrass band called the Pine Street Ramblers and they’re really good. Anyone that has a chance should check them out.  Otherwise, I’m pretty much full-time with OED and don’t have a lot of free time.

Jeffrey: I saw you had some political aspirations in the past; can you give us some more details?

Junior: I ran for the California state Senate once. It was an educational thing for me and I didn’t think I had a chance to win.  I ran as a third-party. I wanted the chance to go out and talk to people and actually I came in second place with 27% of the vote.  I learned a lot running for Senate. As a politician you are there to represent the people, and at the time I felt my views were different than the people and I got out of it. Many politicians go out and try to project their views on to the people and try to get them to think like they do.

Kimberly:  I think the world is slowly catching up to what his views were at the time. The progress has been slow but many of the issues he brought up while he was running on are now being discussed.

Junior:  I came from a family that had several suffering from addiction. That was a strong influence on me and is why I have never used drugs.  I saw help drugs could destroy.  I saw them being arrested with no rehabilitation. Truly what they needed was medical help. When I ran for Senate 15 years ago that was part of my platform and only now are people realizing that imprisonment is not what is needed to fix the problem. People are committing crimes to fund their addictions.   It becomes a vicious cycle. I literally went door-to-door throughout my district in downtown Sacramento, California meeting people and discussing these issues. I did this for over a year knocking on every door. I would ask them if they felt prison or medical help what’s the best option. Almost 100% agreed medical treatment was the right answer.

Jeffrey:  Your last album, Witches, was a concept album. Do you try to have a theme for each of your albums or was that unique?

Kimberly: Witches was a concept album because it just came out that way.  It started with the story of Mary Easty who was executed in the 1692 witch trials.  I read the non-fictional account of this. I was touched by her story and wrote the song “A Rope for Mary.” I wanted to learn more about her and the people that time and why that was done.  The more that I read about it, the more I was inspired to write. I expanded on the story of Mary and the album just came about. Each of the albums tends to have a theme with regard to the type of music, but not concepts.

Jeffrey:  Do you only write during your time off in the winter or is that something you do year-round?

Kimberly: Songs tend to come out when they want to come out. Witches, for example was not an intended album. We were working on something else at the time and after reading the story it just took over.

Jeffrey:  Any new material to look forward to tonight?

Kimberly: No, tonight we’re playing a song from each of our albums. We have 45 minutes allotted today.

Jeffrey: I saw somewhere you speak Mandarin Chinese, could you elaborate?

Kimberly: I would consider myself at one point proficient in Mandarin. I used to do a lot of volunteer work. I would teach English as a second language to immigrants back in the day. I did tutoring a lot. I also taught in a middle school while living in China.  That was a long time ago I would not consider myself fluent anymore.

Jeffrey:  You both have such philanthropic backgrounds, how are you keeping that up these days?

Junior: We both try to continue to help people out through our music.  Music affects a lot of people.  There’s a message and a story behind every song. If we can help people, touch people, or give them a better direction in life, then we are giving back.  For instance, “Be My Friend” is not about serial killers, it is really about friendships and how to treat others.

Kimberly: I thought I was being super sarcastic with some of the lyrics and I’m surprised when people take them literally. It’s just a metaphor. I love classical poetry and enjoy having a hidden meaning within the rhymes. I write all my songs that way and each has message.

Jeffrey:  Tonight is an all ages show and I believe your last one here in town was also, do you prefer that venue?

Junior: We really try to push for all ages. Though some feel our lyrics have a mature theme, there’s actually no swearing or anything inappropriate during our shows. In some cities such as Las Vegas and New Orleans it’s almost impossible to find in all ages venue.

Kimberly: I love kids and seeing them at our shows. We are not here to promote alcohol or drinking, we want people here simply for the music, regardless of age. The younger crowd we know are coming out just for the music.

Jeffrey: Tell me a little bit about the role-playing game AdventureQuest Worlds.

Kimberly: In the past we have done songs and I’ve done voice overs for characters. We consider ourselves great friends of Artix Entertainment. We love them, they’re amazing people have really good intentions.

Jeffrey:  Thanks again for your time and I look forward to the show tonight.

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Category: Interviews