The Dead Puppets

I-V- I'm doing ok i guess. I've been having some problems with my bank keeping track of my money. Besides that, I'm living life... band, friends, work, and college.

My name is I-V and I am the drummer and percussionist for Dead Puppets. My role is obvious, get behind my drumset and provide the beat for our music. lol

I'm Fiend, and I play guitar and do all the recording for samples.

Rob- You guys are from the Florida area. Are there any other bands in your area that even come close to sounding like you or capturing the energy of your live shows?

There are a few bands that you may be able to incorperate into the same
genre as us, but for the most part, especially in the Orlando area there
just isn't anything remotely close to being industrial and I think that's
the reason why we've made such a big spash so quick.

There is a good scene in Florida for Industrial/metal/goth bands but as of yet I have never seen a band that is quite as crazy or energetic on stage.

Well, I wouldnt really say there are other bands that sound like us here in Florida, we have our own unique sound and energy to our music. But, for other bands in the Florida area, I totally reccomend checking out PHILLER, Irrational, and Sister Kill Cycle. All three of these bands are totally fuckin sick and will rock your balls off!

Fiend (guitars) started playing around with our old bassist and then they happened upon our old drummer. A friend of theirs hooked me up with them. I was supposed to be going to their practice to watch but it turned out I knew all of them prior to the practice without even knowing it. They let pick up a midi bass and we made a song right there. That's how I officially made it into the band. Unknown Host and IV were supposed to be fill in players but they were so damn good we decided to keep them. D. Carrion was friends with Fiend because he was in another band but he decided to quit and join Dead Puppets.

Originally the band was started by me and our ex-bassist. We met senior year
of high school and both wanted to start a band. Maybe 2 months after this we
were joined by an old drummer of ours, who we met at a local show in
Orlando. It wasn't too long after this, that Mortician X came over to watch
us practice and we let him jam out with us and we jumped all over seeing his
skills and asked him to join. Once he was in the band D. Carrion joined the
band. I found him in another band playing guitar, but he wasn't happy with
this band and wanted out so we had him come try out for us. Shortly after
this we droped our bassist from the lineup and we had Unknown Host joing us
just 2 days before our first show. After our first show we saw that things
weren't working out between us and our first drummer so we were joined by
the ex-drummer of D. Carrions old band, but just like the one before things
didn't last very long and we were forced to find a new drummer. With only 2
weeks until a show we were reluctant to be given a phone number for a
drummer from our friends in Philler and I-V came to one of our practices and
tried out.

Most of us have played in bands before this, but for most of the members
Dead Puppets is the first band to every play live.

I've played drums for 2 other bands, in North Carolina called Glitch and Facade before moving here to Florida and becoming the drummer for the Dead Puppets. I was also the vocalist for a band in North Carolina called From Dawn until Death.

My first live show with the puppets was July 1, 2005 at The Haven. I was originally just a fill in for the show.

Rob- How was it? Did the audiance give off a positive vibe or is that a hard thing to read while playing live for the first time?

It surprised all of us because we had never played a show before in a real venue or done anything of that nature but we ended up packing this little place with a bunch of people. I think it set a record for attendance there.

You know, me personally I was nervous as hell, but once we got up to play it
all went away. As far as having a tough crowd or anything of that nature, it
was far from it. The show had the largest attendance record the venue had
every had and it the pit was fucking awesome.

The show was fuckin bad ass!! We got awesome feedback from the crowd, a shit load of cheers and kids moshing like crazy.. its was just awesome! After that show, the guys named me the new official drummer for Dead Puppets.

Rob- It seems you have a strong following already. What steps should a new band take in gaining a dedicated following such as your band?

work your ass off. You have to promote, you have to respond to peoples emails, you have to be willing to mingle with the fans and sign autographs and all that. If you're a dick everyone will know it and if you aren't willing to work all the time for this then it won't pay off.

You gotta show alot of love and dedication to the people who love your music. And it cant be just bull shit. If it werent for the fans we have now, we'd still be just a crappy garage band. You gotta give your followers what the expect from you, you gotta show them that you love your music and that you love them for respecting and loving your music. And a great way to do that is to communicate with your fans. If you dont have fans yet.. make some... like making new friends. You gotta go to them, they wont come to you. Go to them and show them that you respect them, and in return, they will love your music. Fans will only dedicate themselves to you if you dedicate yourself to them.

You know, a lot of bands ask us that question and I tell them the same
thing, you've got to whore yourself out to the world. Tell every person you
come in contact with about the band. It doesn't matter who they are looks
can be decieving when it comes to what kind of music someone listens to.

Rob- How did the image of the band originate? Was it a collective idea, or was it suggested by one member and it sort of snowballed from there?

The images of the band wasn't really an idea or anything of that nature but
rather all the band members doing what they normally do.

We all came into the fold looking like this. That's really how we all became friends. Just being in the scene and seeing each other and eventually common interest lead to being in a band.

Well, I'm not to sure how the image of the band originated, but all the members of the band are influenced alot by the glam look and the mix of industrial and metal. It was just natural that the band have a crazy and unique look to go hand in hand with its crazy and unique sound. Personally, I just love to wear makeup. lol

Rob- The songs I have heard so far are killer. Especially "Dreams and Nightmares" and "Disfigured Pulchrit..". Who writes the music? Is it a collaboration, or is there a main songwriter?

Myself and Fiend write all the music and then we bring it to the band and if we like it then we just jam with it until everyone gets their part worked out.

Thanks for the compliment on the songs. Well, the music is usually written by Mortician X and Fiend and the rest of us fill in and come up with our part in the song. D. Carrion writes all the lyrics after the song is done.

In the beginning like with writing Disfigured Pulchritude songs were writen
out on guitar by me first and then everyone put there on parts to the music,
but in the more recent songs we've written it has been a joint effort of
both me and Mortician X and then we still have the other members add to it
once we finish.

Oh if you guys only knew. We have some sick songs that we actually have recorded that aren't even on myspace yet. It'll be very hard for anyone to get a hold of that.

There's always ideas going around, we make a habit of just doing some sort
of jam session at every practice because you never know when someones got
something they've been dying to play for the rest of the band.

Yes. We've been throwing in some new ideas and have been conjuring up some new shit for our listeners... so expect alot of new stuff from Dead Pupets soon.

I've been telling everyone this, we've already started working on it and you
can hear the rough mix of Dreams and Nightmares on Myspace. It's hard to say
an actual date so I've just been telling people by Early 2006.

We're gonna be hitting the studio again REAL soon. We're expecting to have our seven song E.P. by early January of 2006.

I grew up loving Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Marilyn Manson but then I started getting into heavy industrial and EBM which got me into bands live VNV Nation, Wumpscut, Lords of Acid, Combi Christ, etc.

As far as this band goes I think my biggest influences were Crossbreed,
Wumpscut, Suicide Commando, Rammstein, Static-X and Bile.

Well, I grew up listeneing to classical rock bands like Queen, Boston, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull. I then started getting into hard rock and metal. I got into the commercial friendly industrial, synth rock scene shortly after Orgy came out. Since then, I've been getting into industrial, EBM, rave, and synthrock bands. My current favorites though are The Birthday Massacre, Static-X, Crossbreed, Marilyn Manson, Deadsy, and Zeromancer. I would list them all but there are too many to name.

Rob- What advice would you give to kids that are thinking of starting a band? Especially in this internet friendly environment as opposed to the top 40 hungry music labels?

Be professional. If you act like a garage band people will treat you like that. Also compromise is not always a bad thing. Selling out and being smart are totally different. You have to look at the age of your fan base and question the things you do. The last thing you want to do is offend your fans.

Whore yourself to the world, make sure tons of people know who you are
before you have your first show, and never stop whoreing yourself because
the minute you do you will notice.

For all you kids starting out... follow your dreams, as cliche as that sounds, its true. You gotta make sure that you love and have a deep passion for your music. If you wanna be serious with your band, then be serious. Dont just shit around. Its gonna take ALOT of work and time, but you gotta have patience. Having patience shows that you are willing and determined to make music your life. Work together as a band, not as individuals. As long as you keep striving and working hard towards your music, you will be a succesful band. Good luck to you all!!

Well, im not sure if we have any shows coming up soon.. i gotta find out.. but for now, keep an eye and ear out for the upcoming E.P. Keep updated by going to www.deadpuppetsband.com

Rob- It's been great getting to know the bands music and I wish you all the luck in the world. Any last words before we wrap this up?