Austin Texas event) where they played with fellow cruise mates Rhino Bucket. In 2007 they performed a surprise short set at the end of a show featuring Adrenaline Factor, Broken Teeth and Proof of Life. 2008 saw all original band members back for the 20th anniversary and 2013 finds them joining the ships registry for The Monsters of Rock Cruise: The Lost Weekend.
JASON: Elton John and Queen were my first musical freakouts. Alice Cooper and Kiss came soon after. It just got heavier after that. I have three brothers, and their record collections were my biggest influences, they turned me on to so much music.
JASON: There is a great staff of teachers at the school in Austin, there are a few other voice instructors there that have my respect, but we are all truly different. Ya gotta have that when you’re teaching, there is not one way to get any job done. The thing about vocals is, as long as you’re breathing, and you’re not thrashing your voice, you can sing anything. Seeing some of the kids become excellent singers , there is nothing more inspiring.
JASON: I am not as busy as people think. I play music, lots of music by choice. Writing and recording, rehearsing, teaching is pretty much what I have to do or I just go crazy. I don’t have a deadline on my music. Releasing material on my own time, is closer to what its like these days, its easier to make time for it all.
JASON: Sometimes it’s the riff before the lyric, sometimes it’s a verse lyric before the chorus hook, or lyric. Differs a lot. In Ignitor and Evil United, most of the music is written and recorded before I hear it so as to write lyrics and melodies to the songs. In broken teeth, I get riffs from the guitarists, or write riffs to lyrics I have. There are no rules. Sometimes there will be a vibe that a lyric is calling for, so if its a gut feeling or mood as you said, that’s about right.
JASON: I was 17, or had just turned 18. It was May of 1982. By 1985 we had gone through a lot of writing and had recorded material for two records. Most of the early material had been trashed and some of the riffs ended up on Energetic with a new lyrical approach, all written by Doug and Billy.
JASON: When I hear that, I have to respect who it’s coming from, if it’s someone who has been around that long. If it’s being hailed as the first prog metal, or prog thrash by a young person, they may have read it somewhere and are making the statement. But, when we started hearing that from Mike Portnoy and Chuck Schuldiner and Gene Hoglan, it made us think about it. I would agree either way, and still say its all about who you talk to.
JASON: Yes, its been released and released on CD a few times. First issue in 1993. You can find it on-line Amazon, wherever. Its out there.
JASON: Yes. It was 1986 or early 1987. I got a call from Mr. Abbott (Vinnie and Darrell’s dad). He told me they had a deal and were looking for a front man. I turned down the offer for an audition. Vinnie called me himself a few weeks later. Same thing. It was an incredible offer in retrospect, of course. No regrets. I love Pantera and I don’t need to say anything else about it. They got the right singer.
n style=”background-color: white;”>MEISTER: So Watch Tower is still active today? Are you still involved with the project and if so can we expect any new material in the future?
JASON: I am not involved with Watchtower. Neither is Alan Tecchio, or any other vocalist as far as I know. I think there is some obvious confusion to any release in the works. The material is recorded, with vocals and all. It’s up to the nucleus of the band to figure out the future of that material.
JASON: Something like that, close enough. I was in both bands from ’87 into 1988, but who knew Dtoys would get offers from Columbia as well as others 6 months into the formation of the band. It was a lifetime chance I wanted to take. I was a novice song writer at that time and there was a lot to learn. I rolled the dice. Watchtower was my life and I missed it and I always was quick to promote Watchtower and I helped them all I could, finding a singer or whatever. I was happy that the Noise Records deal happened that same year.
JASON: I met Trembley in Austin, just out and about. He told me about Onyxx and I had heard they were a fun party rock band. Something I wasn’t really doing, but sounded like they were doing well in the bars.
I met bassist Mike Watson soon after Tim. Good guys and having fun.
JASON: I still feel guilt , to this day, for Tim’s departure from Dtoys. We were recording some pre production demo’s and for the first time had heard some of Tim’s playing. As a band we felt it wasn’t as strong as it needed to be. That’s pretty much when we realized, it was turning into the ultimatum to try to tighten it up before we have to replace his position. We ended up recording the first Dtoys record with just Scott Dalhover doing all guitars.
JASON: It was crazy. lots of Randy Rhoads stories and fun times. He was a slave driver. We recorded so many takes of those songs just to get the right one. A lot of work, but I think it toughened us up for the road ahead. We learned a lot. It reminded us how green we were.
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JASON: Honestly, we were not paying a lot of attention to how bad the music business might have been changing around us. But, alas, it was. We were a rock band, not planning on changing anything or having anything to do with any trend following other than the ones we were already following. But, the Hellacious record didn’t move sales like the first record did. Still did better than most of the bands of our ilk at the time, but it’s not a contest, we were still just celebrating rock ‘n roll.
JASON: We were on tour with The Cult in the USA. The label wanted us to go home and write the new record. We were not ready. That was our opinion. Reluctantly, even though we were selling good while on the road, we went home and started writing and doing demo’s. Some of the songs had time to bake, we played them live, etc., others did not. I’d say about half of the material is good.
JASON: We met Paul in October of 1989. We had started a tour with L.A. Guns, and he and Dirty Looks bassist, Jack Pyers, came to see us play in Austin. Dirty Looks was playing in Austin, different venue, the same night. We were all big Dirty Looks fans, as well Max Norman was their producer as well. Paul joined in January 1994. He was already friendly with the band, so, as soon as he was here in Texas, we started working him in. There was no audition process. The Pissed record was material already written with Danny Aaron. But, Paul’s style was very similar to Danny, writing and all.
JASON: As long as you can afford to tour, that can sell your record. As long as you can afford to have press agents, and booking agents working together in markets that you have that show sales, you can do it all yourself. The landscape of the whole game has changed. But, you still gotta be able to afford publicity. Its a full-time job for someone. We kept it going for a long time.
JASON: Hannon did the tour, and literally saved our ass. Mike Watson was tired and was ready for some time off to go to school. We did 200 shows with Hannon and that was a great time. We were already friends with Hannon, once again, no audition.
JASON: Hannon is a ball of energy and a great rock n roll enthusiast. I have a lot of respect for his ethic on playing rock music. He did a great job on the tour with Toys. We are still friends and Broken Teeth play with American Dog any chance we get.
JASON: Yes, hence the name of the record. We probably wouldn’t have sold as many as we did if we would’ve changed the name, even thought it was the same line up just without Mike Watson. We were just writing whatever came naturally, which was a great feeling. As opposed to just trying to sound like the band we were almost a decade earlier. It’s different for sure. I like the record a lot. Growth in our writing as well as showing some trend following, and so much so we were reviewed as an industrial band in some articles.
JASON: Yes. The cover art was great. The title of the record went with it perfect. No response from him, but I saw some blogs about people in record stores discovering our cover and knowing its recognition immediate.
JASON: In 1999 me and Paul Lidel were asked by Perris Record label to write a record of sorta dirty biker rock music. It was a great offer to do a project like that. Dirty Looks meets Dangerous Toys meets AC/DC etc. The record started to sell, so we had to start playing live, which was not in the plan. Eventually, we made another record, and another…
JASON: Dirty rock n roll. Back in Black turning into Screaming for Vengeance.
what do you think of that band?
JASON: Great band. We played many shows together. Another record on the Perris Label.
JASON: I was turned on to Danko Jones by a fan of his and mine in Scotland. His records he had out at the time, blew my mind. It wasn’t long after that he came through Texas with Turbo Negro and I went and saw him and was confirmed a huge fan. We exchanged info and stay in touch sometimes. As years went by, we had been in touch and I decided to ask him to join us on viva, and he said yes. His tracks were done in Canada and emailed to us. We love it.
JASON: Travis was a great addition and great man. He is missed. There was no foul play, he was not on drugs, out of respect, I won’t give any more info than that. Let’s just say it was an unfortunate accident.
JASON: Yes, the track is all over the place. Cdbaby.com, Amazon, I-tunes, etc.
JASON: We are writing, and working in new bassist Rob Lampman. We plan on releasing more new material asap.
JASON: It’s fun to play music with your friends.
JASON: Not yet.
JASON: Yes. Erika is a wonderful friend and one of the greatest singers I have ever heard and seen. She has transcribed interviews done for a possible book, which is basic stories of my life. I don’t know if it will even be released to put into a serious project, but we worked on it for months. As far as stepping in, Ignitor had no singer for over a year, auditions were not going well and they would tell me about it. My heart went out to them to help with the new record and I ended up loving the material.
JASON: Evil United released over a year ago. We are already recording the new record as we speak. No deadline or release date. You can get on-line I-tunes, Amazon, etc. It is available in most stores that specialize in metal.
JASON: The legends, Motorhead, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper. That was with Dtoys. Watchtower has done shows with all my metal faves, Anthrax, Slayer, Exciter, King Diamond.
JASON: Ian and I got along great on tour. He invited me along with his friends to Disneyworld and they wouldn’t let him take a bottle of water into the park. He was a bit angry, but I would’ve been as well. And Lemmy wears little red swimwear, a speedo to tan out by the buses. That’s OK, he is Lemmy and he can do whatever he wants, but, all true. Both wonderful artists that I highly respect.
JASON: It doesn’t take much. I love rock ‘n roll so much, so its automatic. Some warms ups help, but sometimes it’s just the fact that I get to release my inner soul.
JASON: It’s the same thing, other than I know more now than what I did when I started. Should go without saying. You respect the crews that load in and set up and tune and take care of your gear, but, ya gotta pay them. When I am on the road now, that’s not really happening. On the fly in dates, the gear is provided and already set up. Playing Broken Teeth shows is like the old days when we were young, we set up our own stuff and tear it down and sell the merch ourselves, no crew at all, just a bus driver.
JASON: Broken Teeth has done three Shiprocked Cruises. The promoters at MOR (Monsters of Rock) were involved with that, and knew me from Dtoys, so when they started the MOR Cruise, they called me to get the Toys on the MOR Cruise. Funny thing, its the same ship I’ve been on three times with Teeth already!
JASON: I’ve seen Geoff Tate dressed as a full on pirate on one of the themed nights. And I saw Tesla sound exactly like the record. That’s about it for Tesla and Queensryche.
JASON: Bring a skull cap. Bring anti motion sickness pills and start taking them the day before the cruise.
There are still some spots available for 2013’s Monsters of Rock Cruise, so visit the link below to join me and Jason McMaster and the rest of Dangerous Toys aboard the MSC Poesia ship sailing March 16th-20th, 2013. http://monstersofrockcruise.com/
Stay tuned here next week for Meister’s “Views of the Cruise” Volume #3.
Cheers,
The Meister