Interview by Rachel Jablonski
Artist of the Month for June 2004, California's Dog Faced Gods reveal much about themselves and their debut release through the thoughts of vocalist Raymond “Shorty” Galvan, guitarist David “Snakeyez” Torres, and bassist Fernando “Nando” Gonzales.
Rachel: So, Stoned Council is your debut release and it’s coming out August 9, 2004. From what I understand it was produced by Bobby Brooks of POD and Zebrahead fame. Tell me about how the opportunity to work with him occurred and what your experience working with Bobby was like.
Shorty: Actually, we were working with my attorney and looking for a producer to help us record the Stoned Council album and they introduced us to Bobby Brooks. He was showing us everything he has done and everything he has worked with and being that where we were from and what we were doing he was kinda interested because he looks towards our ways on the Reservation and stuff. So he came up here to live with us for about 6 months and helped produce it.
Snakeyez: It was pretty cool working with Bobby. While we were in the studio he really helped us out and broke down some barriers in the music writing process.
Rachel: What were some things he taught you that really stuck out?
Snakeyez: Lots of practice because he would just drill us for hours in the recording studio.
Shorty: And it also made us work harder and work stronger for what we were trying to get.
Rachel: Did you end up with the sound that you were hoping for?
Shorty: To me, yeah. Stoned Council was quite a project. A lot of feeling came out of it, but I’m still starving for more and ready to put more things together.
Rachel: So you recorded the album on The San Manuel Reservation which is the smallest of its kind in the U.S. Tell me about this place and why you chose to record there.
Shorty: Actually I live up here. I was born and raised on the Reservation and being that I was up here and I have a studio on the Rez...
Snakeyez: The studio up on the Rez is kind of a different place to come to. If you haven’t been up here it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s a real peaceful environment…
Shorty: And it’s only two square miles and we’re one of the smallest Reservations in Southern California.
Rachel: What is it mainly composed of?
Shorty: It’s composed of Indians living on the land in a big mountain because we kind of got the shaft and got pushed up on the mountain, but we’ve recouped things from the casinos that we have. It helps us out, that’s pretty much where I get my money for funds that we put out for the music.
Rachel: How many people live on the Reservation?
Shorty: Actually out of tribal member adults we probably have about 50 to 60 and then there are also the kids.
Rachel: What tribe is it?
Shorty: I’m part of the Serrano and Cahuilla tribe.
Rachel: What’s that culture like?
Shorty: The Serrano and Cahuilla are two different tribes. The Serrano is more mountain Indians from the hills and the Cahuilla is more desert based.
Rachel: Do you still use the tribal language?
Shorty: The language we still use, but right now we have a lot of cultural awareness meetings for the tribe and all of the kids growing up. We are actually teaching the kids how to speak our own language again.
Rachel: Do you know most of it?
Shorty: Right now I’m still learning. It takes a lifetime to learn everything. I learned a lot growing up with my grandmother cause I was pretty much raised by her which taught me a lot about traditional songs as well as how to speak different words in our language.
Rachel: So how has your heritage influenced your music?
Shorty: Growing up around a lot of natives and always having ceremonies. We always had our own Southern California native ceremonies and we would use gourd rattles to sing with as opposed to Northern Plains Indians and Indians from Montana, they use a drum. So similar with that that is kind of how I got started. It’s kind of hard to put the two together, but that is where the inspiration for the music came for the band. Everybody from the band having a little bit of Native American blood in them, it kind of brings us a little bit closer. I’ve taken the band members and we’ve started to do some ceremonies. I’m trying to show them a little bit more of my native culture so that we can become more of a family, closer.
Rachel: That’s cool. What other influences do you have musically?
Shorty: Well I think all of us in the band have a lot of different influences I mean I can give you a couple. My influences would be like, in the years of music, 60’s, 70’s, early 80’s kind of mixed together with what we’re doing now. And the influences from groups would probably be Kiss and Black Sabbath.
Snakeyez: My influences would be more classic rock like Hendrix who really started me wanting to play guitar, watching the old shows with the guy wailing on the guitar that’s what I like. But back then they had a lot more feeling in their music as opposed to now when bands just, ya know, want to get paid. They don’t want to play, they just want to make a quick song and they just have no meaning to it. It’s just weird, it’s just cheesy. I just like the older music like the 60’s and 70’s. That’s where I get my influence, that’s where soul and heart was put into music.
Nando: My influences are, well it ranges from R&B, to oldies classics, to Bob Marley, some country, classic rock, a little bit of everything.
Rachel: Well that’s a big variety!
Nando: Yeah, being a bass player you gotta have a lot of ideas in your mind and feet and rhythm from everywhere. You can get a rhythm just by listening to the wind blowing outside or the rain or something ya know.
Rachel: Tell me about your band name. You coined it after a song by Testament. What does it mean to you and why did you choose it?
Shorty: We were just going through a bunch of different titles, rough ideas for different group names like Sedated, Melodramatic, even Snake came out with one called Melanoma and I said, “No that is not good.” (laugh) But I give Testament a lot of respect because I think all of the guys in that band are Native American also so they kind of inspired me. When I see other Native American groups trying to do something and doing it and then seeing where they’re at it makes me work a little harder because I would like to be where they’re at or even higher.
Rachel: Why did you choose that particular song then?
Shorty: That song, “Dog Faced Gods?” I grew up with the Reservation dogs, we call them Rez dogs, that run around the Rez ya know? And being that Testament was an influence a little bit I just picked that name. It was just a name that one of our friends was like, “Just call yourself Dog Faced Gods man.” Honestly that’s how it really came. He called us that and that’s how we kept it. His name is Mark, a real good friend of ours.
Rachel: I read that will I “Will I Ever Fit In” is a tribute to the late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, which is interesting to me since Alice in Chains is my favorite band. What influenced you to write such a song?
Shorty: I don’t know how he felt, but I know a lot of the problems that he went through I went through as well and maybe not as bad as him, but to feel that feeling and hearing how he passed away and how they found him, it’s what I wrote about… the dead. If I wouldn’t have stopped doing what I was doing I would probably be dead right now also. I’m sorry to say it straight out like that, but that’s a real hardcore thing ya know? You don’t mess around with it and we believe that in our Native American ways.
Rachel: So it was kind of a release in a way?
Shorty: Yeah it was kind of a release. He inspired me a lot. If you listen to “Will I Ever Fit In” it kind of reminds me of Alice in Chains and that’s one powerful song that I’ll play forever. And it just makes me even stronger hearing it because that’s where I don’t want to go no more.
Rachel: Tell me a little about the record as a whole then. What can people expect from Dog Faced Gods?
Snakeyez: Everything. (laugh)
Rachel: How so?
Snakeyez: Except like Mexican music because I don’t know how to play an accordion yet. No, our styles, they vary a lot so I always tell people that I call it universal rock, it covers all the spans. We’ll do some stuff that’s soft, we’ll do some stuff that’s real hard and deep full of things you can relate to; feelings about war, death and all this stuff around us that people just don’t see or hide and try to cover up. We bring those forth to the limelight. “Earth is Hell” talks about things you see on the TV. Everywhere you look something is going on. We kind of bring it out and tell it a little bit like that and let people know hey man this is going on and the only people that can change it is you guys, not us. We try, but that’s where I’d like to see it.
Rachel: So do you all share in the writing process equally?
Shorty: I think we do. I think we all jump in a little bit on the music writing. Sometimes the lyrics will just come out real quick like in a half an hour or sometimes we’ll just sit together and throw some stuff together with how we’re feeling. Or I’ll ask the band “Does this sound good? Should we change it?” And that’s how it all comes out.
Rachel: How long have you been together?
Shorty: About a year and a half going on two years just being friends the first 6 months and then getting the band together.
Rachel: What would you say are the three best tracks on the album and why?
Nando: I would say “Stand Alone” because as I was recording it I put a lot of feeling into the bass line. I like the way it grooves. It makes you feel good ya know?
Snakeyez: My favorite song is probably the acoustic song “No One Left.” It’s a softer song, but I just like it because it’s mellow, relaxing, and it really touches me. It’s a beautiful song. I like the hard stuff too. If I had to pick a hard one I’d say “Save Me.”
Shorty: My favorite song would be “Love on the Rocks” by Neil Diamond cause that’s how I feel sometimes, but nah honestly one of the ones I love and I really enjoy the feel because when I get up on the stage and do it it’s like I’m not even on stage and doing it would probably “Desperately” and “Would I Ever Fit In.” When I get up on stage and do them it’s like I’m in another world.
Rachel: That’s cool. Speaking of onstage, do you have tour plans leading up to the record release?
Snakeyez: We have some shows lined up like tomorrow we are playing at the Roxy in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard and we’re also going to be playing the House of Blues on June 17th in Anaheim... [more tour dates] At the House of Blues we’re going to be playing with a Doors tribute band they’re called Peace Frog and they’re pretty cool.
Shorty: Sometimes when you’re at gigs it’s kind of hard because sometimes there is not a lot of people there and I think it’s usually due to lack of promotion by the club because we try to promote a lot, but it’s just hard. San Bernardino is just kind of a hard county to get people to back you up because it’s so open, there’s so many different things going on over here that nobody really cares ya know? The real hot spots to hit are like LA, San Diego, Orange County, Vegas and stuff like that, but we’re working on it and we’re putting the effort in to make it happen.
Rachel: That’s good. When you put in the effort something is bound to happen. Well I think that’s all I have, anything else you would like people to know about the band as a closing?
Shorty: That we’re all single.
Snakeyez: And also check out our website http://www.dogfacedgods.com and http://voodoonationrecordsinc.com. You’ll see pictures and crazy stuff on there.
Shorty: Yeah, you also get the bio on all of us and all that good stuff and check out the video on there too.
Rachel: Yeah, I’ve seen it. It’s really good.
Shorty: Thank you. I kind of like it too. I don’t like me really in pictures ya know. It’s a little thing; I kind of have a Native vibe on it sometimes. I don’t take pictures because of my spirit. I’m a little bit spiritual I guess and it kind of stays on my mind.
Rachel: Who did the video?
Shorty: It was one of my friends that I used to go to school with, my friend Eddie. He has a production company and he hooked it up for us because he’s trying to bring his company up just like Voodoo Nation Records so we’re trying to help each other.
Rachel: Cool, well it’s good. It was really good talking to you guys and good luck in upcoming days.
Shorty: Thanks. I can’t wait to go out wherever you’re at to do some shows.
Rachel: Nebraska, come on out! Hope to see ya soon.
Snakeyez, Shorty, Nando: BYE!