There aren’t very many interesting and vital rock bands out there today, but Philadelphia’s Burning Brides is definitely one of them. The 3 piece’s debut album “Fall Of The Plastic Empireä was one of the few gems that 2001 produced. We had such a good time with them on the U.S. tour with Cave In, that we decided to invite them to join us on The Icarus Line’s recent U.K. tour. The only thing that got old on that tour was eating fish and chips every day· experiencing “the Bridesä every night definitely did not. This interview took place with the band’s singer, Dimitri Coats, one very late December evening in Philadelphia after a show. We came back to the band’s house and Dimitri and myself sat in the basement where the band practices, discussing rock n’ roll into the wee hours of the morning.
Interview by Aaron North
BUDDYHEAD: Ok, tell us your name, the name of your band, and what else is new.
Dimitri: My name is Dimitri and I play in a band called the Burning Brides. What is new is tonight· our band along with the Icarus Line played the TLA here in Philly. You know, I don’t know how you guys would react to this, but we’re from Philadelphia· we come to play our hometown and the people who are doing the sound didn’t know what they were doing· they’re new, so it just fucked everything up. But everyone that works there are like friends of mine· so I didn’t know how to handle the situation. And then there is this whole other world where what you’re hearing on stage isn’t what the audience is hearing, and so you think you’re like blowing it and they’re hearing this incredible sound. But I just feel like when you’re feeling so disconnected from everything else you’re hearing, it’s hard to go to· that place. To really fucking ride that wave through the whole show and make an effect on people.
BUDDYHEAD: So it’s like you’re cheating yourself, like you’re only going half the distance, you’re running on half your pistons.
Dimitri: Exactly. You feel like it was a missed opportunity to turn on X amount of people to your band. What I want to ask you, I wish there could be another camera so they could see you too, but we’ll get to that as things grow around our bands and I’d like to talk more about that because I think you guys, the Icarus Line, are easily one of the best newer bands that are coming out that I just got turned onto in the last three days. And it was just extremely uplifting to have a fucking camaraderie with a band for a change.
BUDDYHEAD: Likewise. Your band has a really interesting story you were telling me earlier, about how you met Melanie, the bass player in Burning Brides, and the decision you made when you were like, “No, I think what I want to do with my life is music.” It took you a while, you bounced around, you didn’t know where you wanted to make your home base· so let’s talk about the beginning. Did you play in bands when you were younger?
Dimitri: I was just a kid that loved playing electric guitar. I’d play in stupid cover bands when I was in junior high school, but I was never in a proper band. I’m more of a fan… this is my first band. I was like a closet rock star, wannabe, now I’m trying to get out there and trying to be really bold about the songs I have written and make people fucking feel something these days the way rock and roll used to make me feel. The way that I want to give back to kids these days would help make my life infinitely better. That’s it.
BUDDYHEAD: This is your first real band ever?
Dimitri: Yeah.
BUDDYHEAD: Amazing.
Dimitri: It’s not that amazing, really. When something works it’s like, look at Guided by Voices· who would have thought that that equation would have turned into what it is? Sometimes oddball combinations can make the pages in the rock and roll history book turn, you know?
BUDDYHEAD: So you grew up in Massachusetts?
Dimitri: Yeah, but dude, I’ll tell ya man, hanging out in LA, just playing it a couple times· before I ever went there I had this monster vision of it, and then when I got there it was like· sometimes opposites attract. I’m not a LA kind of person, maybe that’s why it’s like this surreal thing that I enjoy about it.
BUDDYHEAD: Even though you’re not a very LA type of person, you were telling me earlier that one of your first aspirations, what you wanted to do, was to be an actor.
Dimitri: That’s what I was doing before this. It was something that was enjoyable to me at one point in my life that gave me a high the way this does now. But I don’t know man· I don’t know what to tell you. I was doing well at it and I was getting to the point where I was getting really close to getting some roles in some major films, some decent parts and stuff. And I just knew, I could see this vision of if I ever wanted to form a rock band, no one would ever take it seriously. I would be this dude acting in this film. I had this career ready to go in my hand and I just dumped it for the good of rock and roll and I think I made the right decision.
BUDDYHEAD: Well, I agree. Is there anything out there like indie films or anything like that with you in it?
Dimitri: No, never. Luckily, I didn’t do it, because that was the fear. And this means way more to me. This is my first love. This is who I am. I’m not playing a character. It’s like trying to magnify who you are, to be brave enough to be yourself a hundred fold. I learn more about myself doing this, writing songs, being vulnerable in front of an audience.
BUDDYHEAD: So how did you end up in the New York area?
Dimitri: From getting accepted to schools out there.
BUDDYHEAD: What did you go to school for?
Dimitri: Acting.
BUDDYHEAD: And then somewhere along the line in New York you met Melanie?
Dimitri: Yeah, we went to the same school. I quit after two years, she stayed for the whole four years and we didn’t really know each other then. I left for a couple years and just fucked around, traveling around the country, tried living in places like California.
BUDDYHEAD: What did you do when you were traveling around?
Dimitri: I don’t even know. I was young and I just wanted to do that whole Jack Kerouac thing, got in a fucking car, went out there, met strangers and figured out how to survive a little bit. And just got away from the whole thing I was in.
BUDDYHEAD: In New York, how did you end up finally meeting Melanie?
Dimitri: I came back to New York and then I decided, “Hey maybe if I try to do this professionally instead of being in school, if I’m making money from it, maybe it won’t be such a bad job to have, you know?” So all this time I was starting to write songs.
BUDDYHEAD: Did it sound like the stuff you guys are playing now?
Dimitri: The real early stuff is not like this stuff, but it quickly turned into this stuff. I was very much a young songwriter. So we met when I came back to New York and tried to act professionally· like I said, I did really well, and I had to make a decision. I just wasn’t happy. It’s like looking in the mirror and you’re wearing a suit and everybody says, “Hey, it looks good on you, man.” And then, one day, you look in the mirror and you’re like, “I look like a fucking loser! It’s not me.” So anyway, she was graduating. Obviously, having come from the same school, we had a lot of mutual friends. We met through these mutual friends, fell in love very quickly. She moved in very quickly and we’ve pretty much been inseparable ever since. And then she gravitated toward the music I was turning her onto. She was drawn to the bass instinctively. It was a no-brainer.
BUDDYHEAD: Tell us a little bit about her background too, because that’s kind of interesting.
Dimitri: She went to school for modern dance. She’s an absolutely gorgeous dancer. I’ve seen her dance. I’ve seen her come on stage by herself in front of a crowd twice as big as the one we played to tonight and dance to a beautiful cello piece and that’s it. The reaction was intense. The people were really into it. Gripping. She’s a very talented performer.
BUDDYHEAD: It obviously took a lot. Did you guys kind of decide, “Well, I really want to start a band?” She had just started picking up the bass and she still had lots of learning to do. In that period, what was going on? Were you just writing songs?
Dimitri: Yeah, that’s when I continued to write songs. I’d catalog riffs· catalog interesting things I’d play when I’d get stoned and start playing, realizing that while she’s learning the bass, I’ll do that and the pieces will just fit together and that’s the way it worked out.
BUDDYHEAD: And then when was it that you decided that you would be Burning Brides? Was that the first band name you decided on?
Dimitri: We were called The Brides for three shows, and one day a friend of mine was looking on the internet and she goes, “Oooh, you’re in trouble, Dimitri.” And I said, “What?” She said, “There’s a band called The Brides.” So then I just thought that I liked names like Rolling Stones or Flaming Lips and I just thought I’ll add some alliteration in there, have the two B’s, and rock ‘n roll is often about fire starting way back with Chuck Berry, so I thought it would fit. I love it.
BUDDYHEAD: It’s cool.
Dimitri: Melanie looks on the internet to see if that name’s been taken and all these sites pop up because it’s this thing that happens in India.
BUDDYHEAD: I noticed that you keep all the strings you take off your guitar, what’s that all about?
Dimitri: I’ll probably make some kind of a wire sculpture or do something with them. Maybe if you hooked it up to something with a frequency in it and you waved it around like a whip, it would make some cool sound. You can relate to that, you noise-making motherfucker!
BUDDYHEAD: Where was the first Burning Brides show? Where did you guys start? You moved around a bit back from New York, right?
Dimitri: We finally found a drummer in Boston after being all over the place. Melanie and I left New York and we realized we wanted to be in a place where we could live and play. Like right now, we’re in our basement, and this is where we play and it’s like $750 bucks a month, three bedrooms· it’s an awesome situation and we were looking for that. We tried Portland, Oregon and that didn’t work out. We came back east and tried Boston, which is where I’m originally from, that didn’t work out and we were running out of ideas. I had a theater friend who moved here and I came to visit her. Then I was looking at places like this and realizing, “Holy shit, it’s only like two hours from New York. Everybody I met was really friendly.” So we moved here. We moved here with a drummer that we found in Boston but we never played a show. We moved here with him. He turned me onto some shit, man. His name was Gus and I have a lot of love for him because he turned me onto some cool shit.
BUDDYHEAD: Like what kind of stuff?
Dimitri: Believe it or not, I didn’t know that much about Slayer for some fucking reason. And he turned me onto Slayer in a big way and it’s become a big part of this band. Along with hopefully, a lot of other things, that’s one of the things. He added a color to my pallet by turning me onto that and his attitude ruled. He was just a very lazy drummer, you know? He didn’t want to practice and he originally started as a guitar player. He was a fucking awesome guitar player, he probably could have gone to Berkeley or something. I think he did go to Berkeley for a semester. He just wanted to switch and play drums· whatever. So we came here and I was just bummed out because he wasn’t practicing. It was like, “You aren’t that good yet. Your instincts are awesome. You get it?” God, if I was trying to form a good rock band and I was new to my instrument, I would be addicted to it. And it bummed me out. So we basically, as things weren’t working out, were approached by Mike, who heard about what we were doing and it sounded interesting to him. So we sort of lined him up and we told Gus, “Look, I’m sorry, but this is not going to work.” I felt horrible because I really loved that kid. As a person, he’s just awesome, but there are priorities as a band you want to have. Sometimes, peoples’ feelings get hurt.
BUDDYHEAD: Yeah.
Dimitri: So we found Mike and he came down to this basement right here and the fucking place just exploded in sound the way we’ve never heard it. I just realized that although our tastes are very different; there was just that connection. He’s a very talented drummer, he can do whatever he wants, and it’s just incredible to have that kind of a drummer. I like drums. I’m usually air drumming for some weird reason when I’m listening to music.
BUDDYHEAD: So you never played a show with that Gus guy? Where did you guys start playing?
Dimitri: We got a set together, and my roommate heard the sound of us playing together down here, and he walked down to a really good local club and told them about us. He went right up to the people that he knew could make this happen and said, “You’ve got to give these guys a really good show. They’re fucking good· this is the real deal.” So our first show we headlined on a Tuesday night. I made a big deal about it, we all did. We were in peoples’ faces like, “Our band is good, we really are. Come out!” And people did. It was awesome. From that night on, we had a fan base in Philly and we just branched it out from there.
BUDDYHEAD: That’s rad. Did you do any demo recordings or anything like that?
Dimitri: Yeah, we did our demo, four songs, all of which are on the record, but just something to get us going.
BUDDYHEAD: How did it come about, the situation with File 13?
Dimitri: We got sick of waiting around for labels to give us the right offer. We were talking to Matador, and I really wanted that to work out because I’m a fan of the label. More of a fan back a few years ago, but still. And also, the guy I was dealing with over there, one of the owners, we just really hit it off and it seemed like it was really going to be this amazing thing. But we really couldn’t negotiate what needed to happen and we realized we’d be better off just putting it out ourselves. So we went ahead and recorded, went into the hole, put jack shit up on credit cards. Fuck it, we’re going to make the record we would have made on Matador or Sub Pop. Matt Worth, one of the main guys from File 13, heard a clip of it while we were working in the studio and he was just like, “Look, I wanted to ask you this anyway, but I want to put out this record.” We sort of talked about it. He’s another guy we just hit it off with really well· he turned into a dear friend. He just offered us a really awesome deal. It was just distribution through Mordam. It was Philly. It just made sense. It got us started. We had a record, we could tour. It worked out fucking great.
BUDDYHEAD: What were some of those early tours and experiences like? Who did you play with?
Dimitri: Our first tour was with The White Stripes and Delta 72. It was only about four or five shows around the northeast. That was our first tour. And then, we’ve done tours with Rocket from the Crypt, J. Mascis, Nebula, Mike Watt, a little stint with Zen Guerilla, a little thing with Royal Trux, played with The Melvins, that kind of thing.
BUDDYHEAD: What do you think about rock music now, not only on an independent level, but like in general, from your perspective, do you listen to mainstream radio ever or do you ever watch MTV?
Dimitri: No, I don’t listen to the radio. I usually watch VH1 as opposed to MTV. I’ve given up on M2, it’s turned into what I thought it wasn’t going to be.
BUDDYHEAD: Do you think there are good bands right now?
Dimitri: No. There are definitely a few, but not in the mainstream. I guess. I don’t want to get into who I like or dislike in the mainstream. It’s not a very interesting conversation. Maybe it is, I don’t know. I’d like to use the time to talk about bands that I like that don’t get any attention like Cherry Valence or Terminal Crash. There are definitely others: Need New Body, Stinking Lizavetta, there’s great stuff in this town. This is what I know. This is where I live. Then I play with bands on tour.
BUDDYHEAD: Tell me about Philly· it’s a really cheesy question, but do you feel like there’s some Philly in the band, like the way the band sounds?
Dimitri: People tell me that we sound very Philly. I’ve written many songs here in Philadelphia and we play them so I guess that’s a reflection of what I’m looking at.
BUDDYHEAD: What do you think of the crowds, or the people that are into rock music in Philly?
Dimitri: When people get excited in Philly, man, there’s no greater audience to play to. They can also be a tough crowd. When you’re more of the underdog, they can really fucking make you feel great and then when you start doing well, then sometimes a few people turn their head to you. But who knows, man. I’ve never had so many friends. I’ve never met so many cool people and I’ve never had a city embrace me the way Philadelphia has and I’m in it for the long haul, unless a certain somebody can persuade me to move to California! It’s all palm trees and lizards and the surfing and the Mexican food and the-
BUDDYHEAD: -the weather.
Dimitri: Yes. The weather.
BUDDYHEAD: If someone asked you what Burning Brides was all about, what would you say?
Dimitri: Honestly, an aggressive assault, being brave enough to show off your total self, to be vulnerable, to write great songs that will stand the test of time, hopefully to somebody.
BUDDYHEAD: What do you find yourself writing about? The songs, what are they about?
Dimitri: They tend to be kind of… I sort of take it line by line. The important thing is how the lines sound, how the vowels sound. Are they the appropriate ones for this particular part? And then I fill in the lyrics, sort of going off of the sounds that I want to hear, trying to make a tasty image out of that. That’s about it. It’s very stream of conscience, and I’m getting more and more into it. To be honest with you, I’m starting to get really into lyrics. I didn’t think they were as important but now I’m realizing that they are.
BUDDYHEAD: Cool.
Dimitri: But I also think that lyrics, see in rock ‘n roll, lyrics like, “Well I’m starting to sweat/You know my shirt’s all wet/What a feeling” by the MC5 (Kick out the Jams), it’s not very deep but it is to me. It’s celebrating in the world of rock ‘n roll, and I like to write lyrics like that and I like to write lyrics about personal shit, just whatever.
BUDDYHEAD: We were talking earlier today about rock music, what it is now, the state that it’s in, how difficult it can be for independent bands right now who are actually good to gain any kind of exposure. There’s a lot of crap right now. There are a lot of bands, there’s a shitload of bands, but there aren’t a lot of good bands.
Dimitri: There’s a lot of scared kids out there· I guess I’d be terrified if I were a kid right now.
BUDDYHEAD: What do you think of all the mediocrity? There’s so much mediocre rock music.
Dimitri: People are scared and they’re not willing to step up to the plate and to have a sense of sexuality in their music, but not in a cheesy way like a fucking Creed or some cock-rock bullshit, but to just celebrate in the world of rock ‘n roll. Not think, but feel and have it be from the heart as well. That’s just been lacking man. Since Nirvana, I haven’t really been into a big band.
BUDDYHEAD: Understood.
Dimitri: I wish there was a strong movement in the underground, the way there was in the 80′s. In fact, it’s really similar to the way it was in the 80′s, the way it is right now kinda, except there’s not as strong of an underground movement! Haha!
BUDDYHEAD: How long was your tour that you just did?
Dimitri: It was six weeks.
BUDDYHEAD: What was your conclusion after that?
Dimitri: My conclusion was that at the very end I got to play with a really great band that I want to tour with, that was my conclusion. As far as the whole thing, it was not an easy time to go out and tour, that’s for sure with all the shit that’s going on. It was incredible for us. It was just awesome, a great time. I learned a lot about myself and the fucking country we live in.
BUDDYHEAD: Is this the longest tour you’ve done?
Dimitri: Yeah.
BUDDYHEAD: What were the difficulties you had to face that you didn’t think were going to pop up? Was it harder than you thought or was it easier?
Dimitri: Easier, way easier. Part of it was the weather. It’s like what the fuck is going on right now with the weather? It’s December 1st, and I could go outside in a t-shirt in Philadelphia. Something’s a little weird with that.
BUDDYHEAD: Were there any interesting stories?
Dimitri: Weird, weird times.
BUDDYHEAD: Yeah, it is weird times. You were saying earlier about that San Francisco show where you were getting shocked really bad. Tell us that story too.
Dimitri: During sound check, I was getting shocked and I was like, “Dude, can you help me out here? I’m getting shocked.” He’s telling me it’s my problem with my equipment. I’ve been in that situation before where a sound guy’s gone, “Oh, I know what to do.” This guy didn’t know what to do and his solution to the problem was to put a fucking foam piece over the mic so I wouldn’t be in direct contact. He was like, “Well, you’re on in five minutes. That’s the best I can do.” So we started playing and things were going all right. The vocals sounded a little bit underwater because I got a goddamn fucking foam piece over it and three songs into it I started sweating up a storm. I did like a headbang type of thing and my hair just contacts the metal of the mic and blew sparks, just shot out and the first five rows of people just go, “Whoa.” And I got thrown back hard and I stopped the show, and I never stop a Brides show. You better have a damn good reason. I was like, “Look dude, what the fuck?” The place was very crowded and it just turned into this intense thing where we’re like talking to each other and he’s throwing his arms up, and everybody in the room is just like, “That sound guy is an asshole!” So I had to end up singing far away from the mic and I was just pissed off and just looking at him and just singing at him. People dug it on some weird level but it’s like I was telling you we experienced, it’s like a missed opportunity, a fucking bummer. I was on tour for four fucking weeks not getting shocked. Don’t tell me it’s my fucking equipment. I didn’t get shocked after that.
BUDDYHEAD: You said you threw a guitar at some girl, where was that?
Dimitri: Yeah, way back in the early days. We played a show in Philly. It was an early show. It was probably our sixth or seventh show, and at the end of the set, at the end of the show, I got excited. I just thought that if I threw my guitar out in the audience, someone would catch it and start making sounds with it and that’s how the show would end. It was just an impulse. I threw it and this girl wasn’t paying attention, and it just cracked her in the fucking head. She almost had to go to the hospital. She wasn’t bleeding or anything like that but she seemed, you know, like weird for a while. Basically, through trying to make sure she’s okay, Mike our drummer, and she sort of hit it off, this is back before Mike had a girlfriend, just to set the record straight. And they had a night together. So it’s like a very weird way of hooking up with somebody.
BUDDYHEAD: Any other interesting stories that happened this summer? Anything that sticks out?
Dimitri: Yeah, I guess having the Oasis brothers mistake me for being in The Strokes. That was kind of entertaining for about half an hour.
BUDDYHEAD: What happened? You were at The Strokes’ show and–
Dimitri: I was checking out The Strokes. They did a residency here in Philly and I wanted to go check them out. They were on the front cover of NME, let’s check ‘em out, right? They [the Gallagher brothers] show up and I had just seen them play with The Black Crowes that night. I was in the bathroom, going to take a piss, and Noel, the guy that writes the songs, he just puts his arm around me and starts telling me all the great things we’re going to do when we play shows together in England and fucking tells me what drugs we’re going to do. I just went along with it. I felt strange, you know, but I went along with it for a long time and then at the end of the night I told him, and he had a good sense of humor about it.
BUDDYHEAD: That’s awesome.
Dimitri: Yeah, it was pretty funny.