Burnt By The Sun: Dave Witte
All I have to say is this: Burnt By The Sun is the future of metal music and anyone that’s compiling a list of the best drummers alive today better include this man, BBTS’s Dave Witte.
WTD: Hey Dave, how’s life?
Dave Witte: Great, playing a lot of drums & music. Thanks for asking.
WTD: You’ve been in quite a few bands. Can you even name them all?
Dave: There have been quite a few huh? I’ll take a stab at it, here goes. Anto Pockets, Remnants, Well Aware, Final Judgement, Mordor, Human Remains, Discordance Axis, Exit-13, Anodyne (helping), Iahborher, Black Army Jacket, Redrum, Major Burns, Down with the Ship, Mental Picture, Burnt by the Sun, Phantomsmasher. I think that’s it but I feel like I’m forgetting something.
WTD: What’s the history of Burnt By The Sun, who else is in the band, and what do they do?
Dave: BBTS was started by John (guitar) and myself in 2000 with the sole purpose of making ourselves happy. As of now we are a four piece consisting of John Adubato on Guitar, Ted Patterson on Bass, Mike Olender on Vocals and myself on drums of course. We started as a five piece and had problems twice with five people. Our solution was going on as a four piece and we love it.
WTD: Will from Keelhaul wanted me to ask you two questions. The first one is… boxers or briefs?
Dave: Boxers ‘cause you can wear them as shorts also if ya want.
WTD: And the second one is… When the fuck are you guys going to Six Flags?
Dave: Man, him and I have been talking about that for a long time now, schedules suck. I’m a huge coaster freak and want nothing more than to ride Maximum Force (305 feet tall) with Will. That would be a blast. I think time is up for this season due to the both of us touring, so maybe in the spring.
WTD: BBTS is getting some damn good press and Soundtrack… is one of the few CDs I can listen to from beginning to end in my collection, were you happy with the way it came or was there anything on there that you’d like to go back and change?
Dave: I’d love to chop off the last song “Rebecca”, it doesn’t do anything for me.
WTD: Have you seen eel porn?
Dave: Nope, I can only imagine. Ted (Bass) used to do porno soundtracks though, ha ha.
WTD: Any tips for beginning drummers?
Dave: Practice a ton, watch as many different drummers and styles of music possible and be open minded. Listen to AC/DC.
WTD: If the bus would’ve fell on Lars instead of Cliff would the world be a better place?
Dave: Probably, they may have kept putting out good records. I gave up after Master, but I did like …And Justice for All.
WTD: On the same Metallica kick… Any plans for a BBTS / Ja Rule collaboration?
Dave: I don’t know who Ja Rule is? BUT, there has been talks about us and Mastodon doing a Metallica cover split 7”.
WTD: What bands got you into underground music?
Dave: AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Slayer for metal and Crumbsuckers, Warzone, The Accused, Cryptic Slaughter, DRI got me into the hardcore/thrash thing.. Then I saw Ripping Corpse and my life changed. I started talking to Scott Rith (singer) and he gave me some zine addresses. From there Human Remains came in contact with many underground bands and tape trading. It’s a wonderful little world.
WTD: If someone who had never heard BBTS before wanted to know what it sounded like how would you explain it?
Dave: It’s pretty heavy with some really catchy but not cheesy parts riding on the aggressive side of music. Kind like a mix of our older bands, Human Redmains and Times Up with Endeavor vocals. Someone even mentioned a hardcore Morbid Angel, strange. It’s just what we do ya know? Labels and sub categories are so abundant today, it’s pretty funny.
WTD: Lemmy has been talking about getting his moles removed and selling them on Ebay… I don’t think I actually have a question to go a long with this… oh yes I do… Do you know anyone retarded enough to buy them?
Dave: If someone puts it on ebay, someone will buy it and you know it. It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round.
WTD: How’s the Relapse camp been treating you guys?
Dave: Great. They are very supportive and fans more importantly. They like what we do, we like what they do and they are our friends also which is very important to me. I wouldn’t be happier anywhere else.
WTD: When is the last time you punched someone in the face and why?
Dave: I couldn’t even tell you actually, maybe when I was in high school or something. I was always afraid of hurting my hands and not being able to play, so I usually opt for a weapon of some sort. Kidding. Fightin’ ain’t my bag, music does it for me.
WTD: What CDs have you been listening to lately?
Dave: The new Hate Eternal a lot, Alec Empire: Intelligence and Sacrifice, the new Rush album and… hmmm mainly a lot of metal lately.
WTD: What are the bands plans for 2003?
Dave: Go to Japan, get on a good US tour, hit Canada and write new material. We also have plans for a video in the works. Just playing as much as possible really.
*WTD: Thanks for bearing with me Dave, 2 or 3 more questions and that should wrap this up. How did you land the deal with Relapse? For being as large a label as they are they still have a ton of underground credibility which is more than I can say for some labels *cough*metalblade*cough*...*
Dave: We played and they liked it and offered us a contract, Simple as that, plus I’ve been friends with Matt (Jacobson) for years and kept him up to speed on the project the whole time it was going from the start, so he was interested before he heard it. He believes in and digs what I do and that rules.
WTD: Do you hate it when people call drummers “skin-pounders”?
Dave: Never really though it actually.
WTD: Who are your favorite drummers playing today?
Dave: Will, Brann, Pennie, Brandon Thomas and Scott Hull, ha ha.
WTD: Well shit man, I don’t want to eat up too much of your time… Thanks a hell of a lot for doing this. Any final comments?
Dave: Thanks, check out the site burntbythesun.com for updates and check out the US/Canadian Melt Banana tour this fall (10/01 – 11/19) I’ll be drumming for them. I love the band and they rule. C-YA!
Link: burntbythesun.com
| 09/17/2002