An unlikely collaboration has recently taken place between some local hip hop heads and punk kids-and it’s unholy as fuck-literally. <--break-->
An unlikely collaboration has recently taken place between some local hip hop heads and punk kids-and it’s unholy as fuck-literally. <--break-->
Gritty City Records has teamed up with local punk rock group Kick Ass Dalai Lamas, otherwise known as K.A.D.L, to release their first punk/ metal EP, Holy Shit That’s Unholy as Fuck. It’s a first for both sides, with this being K.A.D.L’s first release as a new band and the local hip hop label’s first venture into the punk/metal genre.
Johnny Ciggs, owner of Gritty City Records and K.A.D.L., have been good friends for quite some time, and the decision to make this five-track EP was an easy one to make.
“It makes a whole lot of sense because a lot of our fan base is punk and metal kids anyway,” Ciggs said. “A lot of us listen to music like that so there’s no reason to not get involved. I had already been interested in doing {it} we just finally got into doing it once KADL came along.”
Dusty Yak, Tony Clements, Seth Anderson, Mickey Lazzlo, and Josh Phillips, have been together as a band for a little over a year now. Even though they’re pretty fresh as a band, these guys have been in the scene for quite some time. With Yak, Anderson, Clements, and Phillips working on different cover projects, they brought Lazzlo in to do lead vocals and thus K.A.D.L was birthed.
With a visceral feel to the album, the band took some inspirations from bands such as Nuclear Assault and Misfits to create this type of crossover genre for the EP, but with a definite heavy thrash sound. The groups began recording the EP in June in June in Ciggs’ kitchen/ living room and was wrapped up in only two days and GCR dropped it late last month.
“The recording booth where he did the vocals is this little tiny closet all covered in soundproofing so it was fucking bizarre to be in,” said Phillips. “We all took turns in it. We basically all recorded to a live track and then went in individually and recorded each individual track.”
The creating process took a bit longer and some of it was developed before the band was even formed.
“We were actually going to get one of our cover projects back together,” Yak said. “It didn’t end up working out so we decided to bring Mick in and started reworking some old stuff with a new singer.”
Releasing a punk/metal album for the label was an easier transition than expected,” Phillips said. “John [Ciggs] has been in a punk metal band before so it’s not a new world to them. They know what they’re doing He’s an extremely good engineer. It was a very easy move to make.”
When Ciggs created the label in 2011, it’s primary focus was local hip hop and since then they’ve added 10 artists to their roster and released over a dozen albums.
“Obviously the hip hop thing is {our} bread and butter but I’m a lover of all music,” said Ciggs. “We’re starting small with the other genres, figuring it out. As we learn more hopefully we’ll continue to grow.”
Although this release is an EP, the band has big plans for themselves in the near future.
Talk of a new set, new merchandise and an album release was thrown around during a recent interview with RVA Mag.
“We’re still relatively fresh as a band,” Phillips said. “The more we play and fall into a groove I think it’s going to come off and people are going to dig the stuff we’re writing now.”
Until then you can pick up the Holy Shit That’s Unholy as Fuck at Vinyl Conflict and Plan, as well as iTunes,and Amazon.
