Metal Monday: Dr. Acula Q&A
posted in: Exclusive Interviews • Features
Dr. Acula are considered to be one of many bands in their genre that takes a lot of heat from the other metal/hardcore subgenres, but they’re not about to let that slow down their operation. Their latest album, Slander was released on Victory Records February 15th, and it’s clear they mean business (even if their business is partying). Often rumored as a joke band, they quickly dispelled that rumor, saying “this band was made to have fun and play good tunes.”
When you get right down to it, Dr. Acula is a party band (as they’ve referred to themselves). It’s not entirely clear what being a party band actually entails, but the guys were more than happy to describe it: “Having a good time, enjoying your life. ‘Party’ doesn’t mean we do tons of drugs and get messed up every second. You can still party without all of that. We go out there and rage it up; get sketchy and play music!”
For being a party band, Dr. Acula have some pretty heavy and explicit lyrics in their songs. In their song “Pure and Immature (Goon)” they say: “You prey on the people who own what you lack/ for no lack of attempting you fail to attack/ Karma’s a bitch/one that you can have back.” That being said, their songs aren’t always 100% serious in nature, such as the first single “Who You Gonna Call?!” exemplifies.
One of the more interesting parts of the latest album are the samples, and there are some juicy ones. I asked if there were any samples that didn’t make it to the album, the band clarified, “No, pretty much everything we wanted to use made the album. There were some we saved; we don’t wanna over flood with samples. We try to balance it out (intro samples, outro samples, mid song samples) the samples we didn’t use might make the next album though. Who knows.”
The one thing about being a “party band” that really shines through for Dr. Acula is their affinity for the obscene and over-the-top. In their album trailer for Slander, they rated the album for “inappropriate audiences”. I asked if they got a lot of criticism for being excessively vulgar at times. “Yes, we get shit all the time. We have the party title so right away everything negative falls under that. We use the ‘fuck’ word a lot. [laughs]”. On their most outrageous song to date, the band said, “‘Fire Crotch (The Venereal Van Ride)’ is nutty! It’s fast, it’s heavy, it’s got catchy lyrics and it’s a lot of fun to play live!”
Since their inception, Dr. Acula has seen many members come and go. “This band has always been known for having member changes. It’s like anything else though, you’re looking for the right fit, the perfect match. We have gone through a lot of shit to find this lineup right here, to be able to put out this album Slander. Past members have quit, been kicked out, didn’t wanna tour anymore, have had big egos and a ton more reasons. This band is here to have fun and play music. Keep the drama at home. [laughs] But yeah, this line up will be around for a while.”
To round off the questions, I asked the heaviest and most important question to ask the notorious party band: “If you could choose to party with any person, live or dead, who would you choose?” The band’s response was simple and to the point: “KISS. They probably get a million girls and do a million pounds of drugs! [laughs] Party on!”
You can snag Dr. Acula’s latest album as well as their other merch from the Victory Records Web store, or you can always go to Amazon or iTunes to grab an MP3 copy of the album.