Interview with Lex Vegas | By Erin Jordan
Rock ‘n roll animals Mat Franklin and Lex Vegas of Cadaver Dogs are taking the country by the throat in their children’s transport van, with a custom made drum set and a single guitar. Earlier this week, the duo played Bombay’s in Redding, California, telling me that it was one of the craziest nights they’ve had on tour. After driving a solid 3 hours, they ended up in my hometown of Sacramento, hopping on as the openers for a show that was already six bands deep. Ordering mimosas at the bar and conversing for a solid 10 minutes on the different shades of red lipstick that Cover Girl offers, Mat and Lex are the type of people who not only trash whatever stage they grace with sexy rock ‘n roll, but are also the type of people who I never want to see go back to Columbus. Digitally released in June on Mind Over Matter Records, their new album Too Much is upping the ante and conquering the impossible – becoming more seductive and risque than the previous album, Superloose, came to be.
You’re out on the road as a two piece now. How has that differed from previous tours with another person in the van with you?
While we definitely miss the camaraderie of our past band mates, being a duo has definitely made life in general easier and opened up some space for lots of extracurricular activities. For instance, now when we get bottles of booze in our green rooms, we only split them with each other. And we can spread out more in the van, and it probably stinks less of sweaty human. And we’re way louder, I can’t explain that one. Oh man, we have fun.
How was it writing the album around having to perform with no bassist?
Writing the album was surprisingly easy because we already knew what our band sounded like, we just had to figure out a way to get the same intensity across with only the two of us providing it. So we went into the basement with a plentiful liquor supply and stared each other in the fucking eyes and didn’t come out until we had the most kick ass batch of songs we were capable of creating. Sooooo riff-y.
Being taken out on the road with Foxy Shazam was a huge opportunity for the Dogs. How did they end up discovering you?
We’ve known those cool cats for years and years. We were originally in a band with Alex, their horn slayer; that led to us doing a couple shows together, which lead to Mat doing art/design and road work for them. I’ve done some journalistic work with them and eventually we just did the whole country together and went goddamn nuts. No lie.
I know you have some crazy tour stories to tell, so tell me the wildest thing that’s ever happened while out on the road.
People ask us this all the time and there is absolutely no real answer. I could tell you the wildest thing that happened this week but I’d have to change names to protect the innocent, although I think everyone involved was guilty of something that night. Love you Redding, CA. We’ll be back for more soon!
It seems like the Midwest is having a huge impact on the rock and roll scene and it is treating you well. How is it up there in Columbus? Do you see a difference between the east coast and west coast music community?
Not so much anymore, the internet has changed so much that there are great bands and fans everywhere we go. Or maybe people just really dig Cadaver Dogs, in which case thank you all for the good times. Ohio will always be our home though!
When you guys are finally off tour and back at home, what do you do in your free time?
I’m in a pretty intense occult coven that takes up a lot of my time, being naked in the woods and conjuring up demons and such. Mat’s in a fight club.
Did you know from a young age that you wanted to play music? I personally didn’t pick up an instrument until I was 16, and I was self taught. What inspired you to peruse a music career?
Oh yeah, we both burst from the womb with rock ‘n roll in our brains, which probably explains why we end every show in little clothing, covered in blood and spit and other various fluids. And once we learned that after-parties were a thing, well, we just never looked back.
What should we expect from the new album? I know with every release, it just becomes sexier and more and more rock ‘n roll. How do you keep topping your previous records?
The new record is a gargantuan hormone-filled ragebeast that we’re very happy to feed with the innocence of everyone that comes to our shows every night. It seemed like an impossible task to top our previous album on sheer ferocity and sex appeal, but a night in Hollywood drinking Jagermeister with Lemmy and Justin Timberlake revealed the secret. But you’ll have to come backstage to find out any more.
Get your hands on the ragebeast here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/too-much/id889430935
You can check out Cadaver Dogs tour dates here.
www.cadaverfuckingdogs.com
www.facebook.com/CadaverDogs
twitter.com/CadaverDogs
