DZJENGHIS KHAN "DO NOT READ THIS!!! Out of the San Francisco fog appears... Dzjenghis Khan!!! Three brothers from three disturbed regions of the continent joined together under ridiculous circumstances and set forth to conquer the world and reign supreme as the most totally badass rock trio of heavy power!!!" Armed with crushing riffs and high on weed, Dzjenghis Khan totally ravaged the bay area rock scene and now move onward, with the eternal blue sky to guide them, across the sea to the Netherworld -The Hague via San Franciso!!! What is there to say about these three wayward heathens? Not much. Its like trying to discribe a caveman to a fish with legs... hey, it's not easy. But one thing that is known about these men of the steppe is they eat, sleep, and shit rock 'n' roll. Shitting bricks is for masons. So just lay back, relax, maybe give yourself a blowjob if you can do that, and let yourself be decapitated by the slaying sounds of Dzjenghis Khan -the band's debut album is soon to be released through Motorwolf Records. Words | Jesse Thompson Dzjenghis Khan recently recorded their debut album at the infamous Hans Mulder studio in the Hague, Holland with heavy fuzz freak producer Guy Tavares of Orange Sunshine-fame. All tracks were recorded live in the studio between july 1st thru 3rd 2007 with vocals and some guitars overdubbed the following week. A few amps were chosen from Guy's selection of amps. These included a Sunn Model T, a Sunn Colisseum, a Sunn 200S, a Fender Dual Showman and an Acoustic 370 bass amp. Minimal separation was used in the live room and the session was recorded to 1/2 inch 8 track using an array of microphones including some custom built by engineer / co-producer Hans Koolstra with candy bar wrapper ribbons. Bassist Binksebus Erumptum decribes the studio experience thusly, "It was non-stop excitement. I felt like I was on one of those rides I used to go on at the fair while I was a kid, y'know, the kind that goes up and down and whips you around? Uhhh, oh yeah! A pony! It was really great." The album opens with a spontaneous instrumental jam recorded on the first take called "Snake Bite.". "It was actually inspired by one of Guy's kids biting Lane's ankle but we thought "Child Bite" was kinda lame." Next is a Khan classic, "Wildcat", a heavy number sung by drummer Tommy Tomson. On listening back to the track he says, "I'm about 97% sure that's not me playing. I have no recollection of recording that song." "Black Widow" is sung by guitarist Lane Rider. "Sweet spider baby. Oh how you did lay me." and adds "The sexy spider crawled up the water spout... just to check it out. Dig? But when she arrived, to my surprise, and my soon demise, she crushed me between her sexy thighs. Yeah!" "No Time For Love" is the fourth track to grace this masterful album. When asked about the soulful groove behind this song Binksebus replied, "We don't have soul. We're white." Avenue A, with its pop sound was writen and concieved by Lane Rider. but Tommy had this to say: "Yeah, I wrote this song... but this asshole is taking all the credit for it." The last song on side A of the LP is a more punky number, entitled Against the Wall. Sung by Tommy, it tells of a wayward runaway teenager trying to make it on the streets. Tommy told me it was written from his own past experiences. "Yeah, it's about me and all. People think that just because I was 28 my parents kicked me out, but really I ran away. Fuck you mom!" Side B kicks off with the heavy five and a half minute driving rocker "Black Saint." I asked the guys what made this song so special. "This song is about as special as the lunch special at the special ED cafeteria... it sucks, but I still eat it." The song "End of the Line" was written by Binksebus while under supernatural mind control. DO NOT PLAY BACKWARDS!!! When questioned about this he simply replied "Listen to this song backwards." "Rosie", the longest and most epic song on the record, is a mind melting trip through space. Lane Rider sings this one and had this to say. "This sexy song... is like having an orgasm for twenty five minutes. The tape ran out at about eight minutes but I kept going for another seventeen and left that amp smoking and satisfied." The final track, an instumental entitled Sister Dorien was actualy writen by Lane when he was at the tender age of seventeen. "I remember writing this song... actually I wrote it for a girl I had a crush on at the time but it didn't work out ya know. Well, it might have if only she hadn't been my sister." I also got the chance to find out what the members individually felt were their five most influential albums during the making of the record. Tommy: "Well first of all I want to thank God, and Satan too. And Black Sabbath and Jim Beam. Uh, was that five?" Binksebus: "If I tell you that you'll know all the songs we ripped off." Lane: "Maybe like the first UFO record, Jerusalem, Zipper, Thin Lizzy's "Vagabonds of the Western World", Wicked Lady and for all you ladies out there... the Bedroom Mazurka. yeah!" Well there you have it folks, the behind the music true hollywood story of the making of the music behind the scenes. I really had a great time interviewing this rag tag group of artist and I hope the deep thought and countless studio hours put into their new album will grace your record player many a time. Jesse Thompson about Dzjenghis Khan's dutch connection... Tommy met up with Guy Tavarez in the summer of 2004 while he was recording the Annihilation Time II album in The Hague. Orange Sunshine also played a few shows with Annihilation Time during that time and they completely blew Tommy's mind and, in fact, were the original inspiration behind Tommy starting his own hard rock band featuring a singing drummer. When the Dzjenghis Khan boys heard that Orange Sunshine were planning a North American West Coast tour in early 2007 they got busy setting up the tour for both bands and it turned out very successful. After the tour, Guy invited the Khan to join them in Europe to tour and record a LP for Motorwolf. Dzjenghis Khan had two singles pressed documenting their early works put out on Tommy's own label, Blast Off. When Guy heard the singles he could hear the sound the Khan were trying to capture and knew exactly how to obtain it. Four months later Dzjenghis Khan arrived on Guy's doorstep with their instruments in hand and the rest is rock 'n' roll history.