A Dirty Dozen with THE DRP – April 2019

According to a recent press release: “The DRP has been in music for 15 plus years. First with his rap/metal band, SORE, and then joining PRIMER 55 in 2009. His first solo cd, Underground Kills Corporate came out in 2007 with guest appearances from RA The Rugged Man, Jared of Hedpe, Potluck, Critical Bill and more. The follow-up cd, The King of Ruckus Rap came out in 2011 and featured Saint Dog (of Kottonmouth Kings), and four Primer 55 songs.” We get The DRP to discuss new music, influences, and much more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

My latest release is the single, “HeroWin”.  It is a song about my struggles with heroin addiction and the awful places it takes you too.  But it is also a song about redemption and how we can conquer those demons and become the person we were meant to be.  I think it’s a pretty self-explanatory song, but people might not understand some of the lyrics at first if you have never gone through a full-blown addiction.  But if you have ever felt pain, despair, suffering, and a loss of feeling in control (which everyone does at certain points in their lives), then you can understand and feel the song personally no matter what.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I loved music from the womb (according to my Mom).  Whenever I would be moving around in her belly, she said she would put on Neil Young albums and I would calm down.  As I became a young toddler, I still would do this when she put on records.  I could sit and listen to music all day.  I had a record player at 2, and my grandfather would take me to the “junk stores” and buy me polka records and any rock records I could find.  I got the first KISS solo albums this way.  They became one of my first favorite bands when I was 5.  I knew my whole life that music was what I wanted to do.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Neil Young.  That was my first and will always be my favorite musician.  His songs, “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down By The River” and “The Needle and The Damage Done” will always be my favorites.  Performer wise, when I got into punk and hardcore, Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies will always be a legend to me.  I mold myself after him.  And Cypress Hill.  When I first hers, “How I Could Just Kill a Man” in 1991, I knew that’s a wrap.  I’m doing music.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Neil Young, Cypress Hill, Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer, and A Tribe Called Quest.

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I can’t keep saying Neil Young so I would probably say Everlast from House of Pain.  He has one of my most favorite voices of all time.  I love singers with scratchy, meaty voices.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I call my music, “Ruckus Rap”.  It’s a blend of rap, metal, punk, hip hop, country.  But it’s super energetic and “ruckus”!  If you come to one of my shows, you would see the energy.  Reviewers sometimes compare me to Limp Bizkit.  And that’s ok.  I don’t think that I am, but just because I am white and I rap and do rock elements that will always be a comparison.  I like Limp Bizkit too.  But for some reason there is a stigma with them to certain people and it drives me nuts.

7. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

The freedom to create.  I live for it and I absolutely LOVE it.  I wish everyone could feel what musicians feel when they write something that they feel in their soul.

8. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

I really don’t have a whole band at the present moment.  But I have been in the bands SORE and Primer 55 – I have a new big announcement soon for a new band I am joining, but I can’t spill the beans just yet.  It’s a BIG name in the thrash world.

9. When was the last time you were star struck and who was it?

Lemmy from Motörhead before he passed.  I used to live in LA and he used to go to the Rainbow Room in West Hollywood all the time.  I was up there drinking and the bartender cut me off.  He wouldn’t let her and he asked where I was from.  I said from Milwaukee.  He said, that explains it and bought me and my friend Dean, a Heineken.  That story will never get old to me.  He was a trailblazer and I will always be starstruck of that guy.

10. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

I like numbers.  So maybe an accountant.  But I would have to own my own practice.  I want to dole out the hard work to the underlings and just do a little bit and then go play golf with my Dad in the afternoons.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”, even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Yes.  When I got strung out on Heroin around 2011.  I was on the road a lot between Primer 55 and my solo stuff as The DRP.  I had never touched drugs my whole life, but I found myself curious about them all of the sudden.  I wish I never tried coke or heroin and just continued having my career climb forward.  I was doing well, and it all derailed around 2013-2014 and it took me years to get back my life and music.  I hate thinking about all of those wasted years.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

That’s a tough one.  But I think, Nirvana’s Nevermind album.  Kurt Cobain was another major influence on me and I want to see him write and watch his mind work.  Definitely him and that album.

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Category: Interviews