Category Archives: Dress The Dead

Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, Ex-Forbidden, Etc.) Release New Song “Promises & Kisses”

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Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, ex-Forbidden, etc.) have released a new song titled “Promises & Kisses.” You can check that out below:

Craig Locicero commented:

“While most people were staying away from one another during lockdown, we managed to put our collective noses to the grindstone and wrote some of our strongest material yet. We did it safely, of course, masked up and sending demos back and forth to Kayla [Dixon], who lives in Portland.

The time in studio turned out to be very productive. The songs absolutely CRUSH and everyone delivered! I couldn’t be more proud of the growth that Dress The Dead has shown over this last most trying year. Recorded in these sessions, the song ‘Red Handed’, will be our next release. That will come out in early June.

In the meantime, check out our new remixed and partially re-recorded version of ‘Promises & Kisses’. This was one of the first songs we wrote when the band started. It is also the last one that features Peter Dolving’s amazing contribution to lyrics and melodies. ‘Promises & Kisses’ is very raw and emotional song that Kayla re-imagines with depth, tenderness and authority. All in equal measure.”

Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, Ex-Forbidden, Etc.) Premiere “Knives Out” Music Video

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Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, ex-Forbidden, etc.) have premiered a new video for their song “Knives Out.” You can check that out below:

The band commented:

“Knives Out! Ask yourself what’s wrong with this picture?

This was one of the first songs we wrote at the genesis of Dress The Dead. Musically, it encompassed what we were after. All the anger and aggression, yet still leaning into positivity. That’s what the video represents to us.

As human beings, we have witnessed so much division and strife over the last decade. It boiled over on January 6th 2021 in Washington DC. Everything hit the wall and a large percentage of the American populous lost their fucking minds.

With the ‘Knives Out’ video, we try to tell multiple stories through two separate lenses. One, while looking at our television from within your living room. The other by looking out your own window, seeing the unraveling of civility. The people’s trust is almost completely broken.

Almost all of the distrust is being fueled by mainstream and alternative media. The former caters to the corporations that control the narratives. This keeps the money and power flowing in their direction. The latter can create alternate realities not necessarily based on facts. Planting them on the internet and social media. Creating a frenzy of fear and paranoia. Both sides knowingly building up these tensions that eventually bring us to one another’s throats. The divide-and-conquer game.

We have lost our sense of reality. There’s very little bullshit detecting anymore. Many run like lemmings towards the cliff on leaps of faith. What they WANT to believe. Mostly based upon hearsay. Rumors swimming in a sea of disinformation. Somehow, we need to see past the manipulation. Meanwhile the tension continues to mount.”

Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, Ex-Forbidden, Etc.) Release New Single “Circus Fleas”

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Dress The Dead (Witch Mountain, ex-Forbidden, etc.) have released a new single titled “Circus Fleas.” You can check that out below. The band commented:

“‘Circus Fleas’ is our third song released through Blood Blast distribution worldwide. In many ways, it encompasses much of the elements that Dress The Dead is all about. Wicked, heavy riffing. Bombastic, syncopated bass/drum interplay. Incredibly powerful, melodic and dynamic vocals. ‘Circus Fleas’ puts those elements on full display. This song was one of the first full band collaborations with Kayla [Dixon] involved in the writing process. [It was] once again produced by [Machine Head’s] Robb Flynn and mixed by Zack Ohren, our production team since the origins of the band. You can download or stream it on all digital formats.”

Dress The Dead (Ex-Forbidden, Witch Mountain) Premiere “1969” Video

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Dress The Dead (ex-Forbidden, Witch Mountain, etc.) have premiered a new video for their new song “1969.” Robb Flynn (Machine Head) produced the track, while Zack Ohren handled engineering and mixing duties.

Kayla Dixon (Witch Mountain) commented:

“In today’s world, anyone can use social media to say just about anything. That is both a gift and a curse. We feel it is our duty as a band to use this platform that we have to touch people’s hearts, minds and inspire actions. So, before you dig into this, I’ll share a few of my thoughts with you.

This video that you are about to watch is important in so many ways. With lyrics and vocals written by Peter Dolving (back when he was still in the band), this song’s meaning runs deep and is still so easy to understand. That man truly has a way with words and I am so grateful to be able to help bring those words to life in this video.

To love is to “take as a part of oneself.” To take others best interests as your own.

As I live my life, I can’t help but notice a general absence of love for one another on this earth. Racism, sexism, selfishness, greed and narcissism among other negative elements run rampant in this world. Metal had always felt like a safe haven to me, then I started singing in bands. This meant that I was digging deeper and becoming more immersed in the metal community. Eventually, I discovered that this safe- haven that I had put up on this pedestal was also infected with racism, sexism, exclusion and other forms of discrimination…almost as much the rest of this country.

I have been blessed to work with such amazing and levelheaded people in my career thus far. So much so, that this reality almost slipped under my radar. However, I can’t sit back and ignore these truths. There is some black girl out there who wants to be a part of this community who isn’t having as easy a time as I’ve had. That is why I choose to speak up.

Less than sixty years ago, people of color in America couldn’t even enter some of the same buildings as their white equals. As I sit here, holding that reality, many of my brothers and sisters are still being discriminated against. Why can’t I open Facebook without seeing videos of horrible police brutality? Why does our “President” shrug his shoulders? Why are so many of us ridiculed, looked over, and killed for simply existing? The bottom line? Being a person of color, different sexual orientation, or just being different in America today is HARD.

Don’t believe me? I don’t care.

It’s been a long time coming and not much has changed.

We are not here to change the minds of racists, misogynists and the willfully ignorant. If you have the capacity to hold those beliefs, then our music is not for you and I strongly encourage you to shield your eyes. Lest the truth hit you over the head like a ton of bricks!

Dress the Dead is here to rock and also inspire like-minded, kind, intelligent people to KEEP FIGHTING. Let this message be an inspiration to us to do everything in our power in our daily lives to make whatever difference we can. Now is not the time to disconnect from reality. NOW is the time to lead from the heart. If we’re not constantly trying to make this life better for ourselves and others, then what the fuck are we doing except slowly dying?

If you agree with us and want to join us in helping inspire some change, please share this video like crazy.

Kayla
🤘🏽❤️🤘🏻”

Dress The Dead (Ex-Forbidden, Witch Mountain) Premiere “Promises And Kisses” Lyric Video

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Dress The Dead (ex-Forbidden, Witch Mountain, etc.) have premiered a lyric video for their new song “Promises And Kisses.” You can check that out below:

Craig Locicero (ex-Forbidden) commented:

“Back when my last band was coming to a close I immediately wrote a pile of new riffs and the music came in a creative flurry. Never thinking about what I was doing, just riffing. Some of it was heavy, aggressive and thrashy while other things were more melodic and in some cases very beautiful.

One of the first things that poured out was the clean intro to Promises and Kisses. It sounded like water to me. Rain, oceans, rivers and storms in my head.

When I first approached Peter Dolving about helping me form Dress the Dead, P&K was in the first batch of riffs. Once Mark, James and Dan got involved our sound quickly started developing into something pretty cool and unique. We felt the potential was farther reaching than originally anticipated.

Peter eventually came to the Bay Area and we put our heads together with Robb Flynn for the recording. Peter had the outline of something special and we were all excited. Unfortunately when we played P&K for other people, some of them didn’t connect to the emotion he was conveying. They only thought of him only as the singer from the Haunted. Their minds were already made up.

Once Peter unexpectedly left the band a couple of months later, he made it clear he wanted us to continue to play the 3 songs we wrote together. Easier said than done. I told him only if we could find somebody who could do them justice. One came close, but nobody made it their own until Kayla Dixon.

Promises and Kisses was the first song that Kayla auditioned with back in October. She sent me a demo two days after we spoke and added elements that Peter’s original version didn’t have. Kayla took liberties with it and the result was amazing.

She takes the P&K to another level. Commanding and vulnerable at the same time. It sounds perfect coming from her female point of view.

Kayla has the rare ability to do what the greatest singers can. She not only writes her own lyrics and melodies, but expounds and re-imagine others’ songs to make them her own.

Once we got Kayla into the studio with Robb, the real magic happened. Robb suggested she sit down and think about what these songs meant to her. Most importantly he captured an amazing performance. Kayla was pretty much limitless in the studio. As a result, everything she recorded has a tangible connection. What we’ve been writing since then is equally as strong.

We feel we must give Peter the deserved credit for his artistry. The stuff that made me want to be in a band with him in the first place. He set the bar so high that we couldn’t find the right person to replace him. Not until Kayla Dixon walked through our door and rocked us to the core.

Nobody saw it coming.

Dolving left us some almost impossible shoes to fill until Kayla came in and stomped down her own footprint.”

Kayla Dixon (Witch Mountain) Joins Dress The Dead

Posted by caemanamelio on

Dress The Dead, the band featuring ex-Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero, have announced the addition of singer Kayla Dixon (Witch Mountain) to the group. She is taking over for Peter Dolving (ex-The Haunted) who left the band in March 2017. A new song with Dixon on vocals, titled “There Goes The Sun,” can be heard below:

Locicero commented:

“We are happy and proud to announce Kayla Dixon as our new singer in Dress the Dead!

It has been a long and bumpy road getting to this point for a lot of reasons. The main thing is finding the right fit after losing Peter Dolving so unexpectedly. That took us by surprise, to say the least.

After many months of listening to submissions and not feeling we had the proper replacement, Kayla literally dropped out of the sky with a random text to me on October 9th. She basically said she was turned onto DtD through a mutual friend and loved our song ‘1969.’ She wanted an audition.

I had actually witnessed Kayla playing with her other band Witch Mountain almost a year to the day she texted me. I had literally walked away from watching her perform that night and thought to myself ‘That girl is going to be a STAR!’

At that same time, we’d already had Peter so there was no thought of ever having a chance to play and write music with Kayla. In fact, I never even saw myself being in a band with a female lead vocalist. Let alone a super Bad Ass like Kayla. We all could not be happier that it happened!

Fate is a strange beast and we can not always see what’s coming around the bend.

Needless to say when she arrived at our studio from Portland (where she lives) a few days later to audition, it completely knocked us sideways! From the very first note she sang with us every one of us played better. There was the excitement and chemistry we’d been looking for! Kayla was our new front-WOMAN and we had all found each other in the most appropriate and organic way possible. Through the appreciation and love of music. That’s what it’s ALL about.

Our first show with Kayla will be supporting the Killian on Command (All Bay Area thrash stars VIO-LENCE tribute) for the Sean Killian benefit at the the Midway in San Francisco on January 20th. It’s an honor to be included in such an important event to help our Bay Area Brother.

The first song we are releasing is called ‘There Goes The Sun.’ Produced by Robb Flynn and recorded by Zack Oren at Sharkbite Studious. It seemed appropriate as our first selection because it shows how massively diverse Kayla is. This girl can hit ALL the gears, intensity, emotion, guttural, melodic and every register. Kayla simply has it all and TGTS shows it.

Now DtD can finally be a band again. Grow together, play shows, record our music and find the home that best fits us.

It’s really all we ever wanted and it’s an exciting time.

Please share ‘There Goes The Sun’ with all of your friends. Let them know Dress the Dead is alive and well!

Cheers!

Craig Locicero”

Dixon added:

“A mutual friend reached out to me about Dress the Dead. One of my first thoughts was, ‘I don’t know if I’m ready or even at an appropriate talent level to be replacing someone like Peter Dolving for these guys.’ I’d battled with the idea in my head for several months before finally reaching out. I had listened to and loved 1969 but what really hit me hard was when I heard the other songs that are still unreleased that they sent me. I had no idea how musically diverse this band would turn out to be!”