Happy New Year ya’ll! 2010 is already looking to be a great year for the Brainfart and for our first post of 2010, we have a great interview with Derek Davis of the metal band Babylon A.D. Many already know that I am a huge Babylon A.D. fan since their 1989 debut album and I still consider their debut and the follow up “Nothing Sacred” to be two of my favorite hard rock/metal albums. Babylon A.D. had a few hits on MTV back when they actually played videos such as “Bang Go The Bells”, “Bad Blood” and “So Savage The Heart.” The band never really called it a day officially and are still going at it as we speak. Hell, enough of my jibber jabberin’. Let’s get to gettin’.
Lets hop in the Brainfart Time Machine (not as gross as it sounds, I promise!). When did the music bug bite you?
I remember watching the Monkees on TV when I was very small and I used to dream I was Micky Dolenz. Later I started playing drums when I was about 10, then I switched to guitar and singing at 15 years old.
—————————————————————–
Who are some of your biggest influences and inspirations as an artist?
A lot! Beatles, Stones, Aerosmith, James Brown, Al Green, Cheap Trick, Son House, and a shitload more!
—————————————————————–
Do you have any formal training as a musician or are you self taught?
Some guitar training. I studied for about 2 years with Bob Marshall, he’s also taught Ron Freschi (B.A.D.) Jim Martin (Faith No More) and a few other guys from the S.F. Bay Area who went on to get recording deals. He’s very talented.
—————————————————————–
Like I said earlier, I personally believe that Babylon A.D was heads above many of your peers yet you never really achieved the commercial success the others did. Do you look back and feel good that you guys made some quality music as opposed to completely selling out to try and be like everyone else?
Yes, I am proud that we never bent over for anyone. But it also lost us a record deal in the end. Long story short is the record company released a single we fucking hated and we vowed we would never play it live. The band made that pact while we were in the studio recording the song “Psychedelic Sex Reaction” for our second release. So we got dropped when the record company flew out about 25 top radio station programmers to Chicago and we went on stage and rocked with our cocks out but didn’t play the single. The record company people lost it! They completely went out of their minds! Looking back now I can understand why. They had spent so much money and time into this one song that was supposed to break us big time and we said, “Fuck You! Were from Oakland. This song Sucks!” and we vowed never to play it. Like Tony Montana says, “These are my balls and I don’t break em for nobody” Well Ole Clive Davis gave us a good kick to those balls. OUCH!
—————————————————————–
Being that you guys were from Oakland, did you feel alienated from the famed Sunset Strip Metal Scene that was turning out so many bands or did Oakland have it’s own scene going on?
Oakland did have its own scene. Us, The Flame, Faith No More, Vain, Y&T. A lot of cool shit was from the bay area. As for L.A., we moved there in 88 and were signed by Arista a week later at a showcase. When we first arrived in L.A. we shared a studio with Guns and Roses. They were cool. So we lived and died in L.A. really, 88 to 93 the band lived there. And believe me, we seen and did it all that L.A. had to offer.
—————————————————————–
Was the California Hard Rock/Metal Scene like a big family and there seemed or was it very competitive? Who were some bands you felt you really bonded with or that you felt you were facing off with?
Well you respect your peers like Y&T and all, but there’s always competition going on and it makes you better. We were great friends with The Flame. We both played a lot at the Infamouse Niles Station in Niles.
—————————————————————–
In 2000, Babylon AD released “American Blitzkrieg” with Jamey Pacheo’s brother Eric replacing Robb Reid on bass guitar. Did you tour to support this album or was it just a one off recording?
We did a whole Californa west coast tour and over to Nevada. You got to remember by this time the band had all bought houses, started families and started living a less hedonistic life style. Robb (Rob Reid, bassist) had decided it just wasn’t for him anymore. So we did what we could and had a blast but the music business had changed a lot by then.
——————————————– ———————
You’ve been working with Babylon A.D. drummer Jamey Pachecho in a band called American Blues Box. What can you tell us about the band and are you guys recording and/or touring?
Jamey and I started American Blues Box in 2005. We played a lot of gigs in the Bay area and put out the self titled record which received a lot of very good reviews. The songs I wrote were sorta like early Aerosmith meets old school blues. Slide guitar, harmonica and screaming vocals. We had a good time doing this project.
—————————————————————–
Since the band’s split in 2000, you seem to have kept pretty busy with various musical projects including American Blues Box. What 
are some of your other musical projects and where can we check out some stuff you’ve been doing?
Well don’t forget we also put out Babylon A.D. “Live in your Face” which was recorded over a couple year period at different city’s all across the U.S. The band has never really broken up. We just did a gig last year and we are doing another in January 2010. We also are releasing “Bang Go The Bells” which was rerecorded and remixed in Jan 2010. It fucking rocks! As for me, I have been working on a solo record for 2 years and it should be ready for release next year. I have been co-writing with my guitarist Dan DelaRosa and also Eric Pacheco of B.A.D. There’s a lot of different styles on it but mainly hard core rock. There’s a few songs that sound quite a bit like new B.A.D.stuff.
—————————————————————–
I’m sure that being the road veteran that you are, you’ve shared stages with many bands while on tour. Who were some of the coolest bands you toured with and who weren’t so cool?
Most all the bands were very cool to hang out and play with. We did have a few episodes were we had to literally kick the shit out of some band members and crew and watch them run for their lives. Everyone in the audience at the Bacanal Club in San Diego 1993 can attest to that.
—————————————————————–
What artists are dominating your iPod these days (or whatever other music contraption you’re using)?
Monster Magnet, Saliva, Velvet Revolver, Sade, Son House, Babylon A.D., my solo stuff, early Aerosmith, Paul Mcartney and Wings, Jet.
—————————————————————–
I’m going to list the Babylon AD albums. Rate them from 1-4 (1 being your favorite, 4 your least) and tell us which album you feel best represented what Babylon A.D. was about:
Babylon AD – # 1– This is our best album, great songs, the record Co was really behind us. Three videos for MTV. Great tours and a lot of excitement. The only down side was the song “Desperate” never got properly released. I always thought that song would break us and so did Clive Davis.
Nothing Sacred – # 4 – This was a fun album to make with legendary producer Tom Werman. We had a blast but by that time in 92, Nirvana was taking over and the term “Hair Band” came out. I truly did not know what the fuck people were taking about until a fan of ours told me half way through our 1st tour of the CD. I’m like, “Hair Band. HUM?? Oh! You mean guys that have long hair? How the hell did that become not cool?” There were a couple great songs on this release. “Take the Dog off the Chain”, “So Savage the Heart” which was # 1 in quit a few markets, as well as “Redemption.” Great tunes They just missed there mark. Then of course we were dropped so 1993 really changed our lives.
Live In Your Face – # 3 – This CD was easy to make. Just get all the live stuff together and pick the best performances. It really shows the band could play. We had all the best tunes on it and also some cool covers.
American Blitzkrieg – # 2 – I love this record. The songs on this one are just so fucking B.A.D. Dark, edgy with good melodies and story lines. We actually recorded this for less than $10,000.
I could imagine the production if we were in one of the studios we spent a hundred thousand for for Arista records. “One Way Ride”, “American Blitzkrieg”, “I Wanna Live”, “Skys Falling”; All great tunes. I think they could have had a shot at being real hits if we had a major label behind us.
—————————————————————–
If you could put a dream band together of any famous musicians (alive or dead), who would be in it and what would they play? You have to be in the band as well!
I’d sing, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Hendrix on guitars, Gene Simmons on bass and Tony Brock on drums.
—————————————————————–
What inspires me to write is just sitting somewhere and watching people, hearing conversations and creating “stories” for people. 
What are some things that really inspire you to write?
Usually the music and melody come first for me. Then I form the lyrics of how the music sounds to me, Sad, Scary, Fun, Dark, Moody. My lyrics have to fit the music. Lay the landscape of the song and I try and change my vocal style a bit to fit the song, sorta like an actor playing a different role I guess.
—————————————————————–
Name 4 artists that I would be surprised to hear that you were a fan of!
Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Sade, Elmore James.
—————————————————————–
How exciting is this? Hollywood called and they want to make a movie about Derek Davis! Who would play you on the big screen?
Chris Rock! It would be a new version of Spinal tap. Really that’s how most of this business is.
—————————————————————–
So whenever I’m driving and Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” comes on the radio, I just can’t help but sing and sing REALLY badly along with it. What song do you just find yourself singing along with at the top of your lungs to while driving and not giving a rat’s ass how off key you are?
Roxanne!!!!
—————————————————————–
The song “Kid Goes Wild” from your debut featured a vocal rant from the late great Sam Kinnison. How did that come about and did he hang w/ the band or was it just done in the studio?
Sam was recording in the studio at the same time. I sang backups on the record he was doing so I asked if he would return the favor after partying with him all night. He showed up the next night at about 2AM and nailed it the first time he heard the song. He wrote down what he was gonna say and just blew it out in 1 take. After that he showed up on the road at some of our shows and we had a few wild times. He was a mad man!!!
—————————————————————–
I’m going to name 6 songs. Would you mind giving us a fond memory/story about each one?
Sinking In The Sand – Get busy living or get busy dying! You got to choose. Cool riff. Good lyrics.
Got No Shame – How the fuck did you get this one? I don’t think that’s gonna make my CD. Not strong enough.
Maryanne – Ron had a crazy bitch hangin with him in Hollywood. Great guitar riff.
Take The Dog Off The Chain – Boy was I pissed when I wrote this song. I was ready to fight everyone at once at our Record co, so spewed forth my wrath. I don’t think anyone there ever thought it was about them.
Bad Blood – Same as Take the Dog off chain. It’s a wonder I didn’t become Woody Allen and get therapy at the time.
Hammer Swings Down – You can’t leave me bitch! I Leave you- I wrote this with Jack Ponti; a great song writer and mentor.
—————————————————————–
In the early ’90s, the Seattle music scene (aka Grunge) pretty much became the new mainstream and became a black cloud over the hard rock/metal scene. Many bands have stated that this caused their demise. Do you feel the same way and how so?
Sorta. but I like the grunge sound. Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains all rock to me. I don’t blame any bands. I blame MTV assholes with suits who know nothing about music but claim a certain style of music is dead just because they say so. Everything was about song rotation back then. Too many bands fighting for the same slot. And they ruled over music at that time. But it also didn’t help that there were so many hard rock bands at the time and a lot of them did not have the originallity or tunes to stand out. I mean, really nobody came out of 80s like a Stones or Beatles. Read Nikki Sixx’s book about the Crue. He’s got good insight of how the machine works.
—————————————————————–
I have to say that I was lucky enough to meet you guys in Atlanta, GA both times on the “Nothing Sacred” tour after the show. You guys were so cool to me and my friends signing stuff and giving us guitar picks. It totally made us even bigger fans of you guys. These days, bands are charging pretty big bucks for fans to meet them. What’s your opinion on this?
Charging Money to meet the band?? What the fuck? I never heard of that! That’s Crazy. The fans are a bands life blood.
—————————————————————–
Can you tell I love lists? I’m going to name 5 cities and share with us a memory of each one:
Los Angeles – Love it!
New York – Fast moving !
Atlanta – Real Cool City!
New Orleans – Wild!
Seattle – Moody! Makes me want to sleep.
—————————————————————–
In 2008 there was a sci-fi movie released called “Babylon A.D.” Did you guys get a kick back for this at all or did Hollywood just completely rip you off?
They approached us about obtaining our web site then suddenly we never heard a thing! I saw this movie and it was pretty awful.
—————————————————————–
So I have to ask, any chance of a full on Babylon A.D reunion tour? (Please come to Atlanta!)
You never know! It would be fun.
—————————————————————–
So would you happen to have any Babylon AD merch that needs a good home? Hey, I had to ask as my t-shirt Nothing Sacred tour shirt fits me like a training bra now!
That’s funny. I’ll look for some swag.
—————————————————————–
Derek, it’s been an honor to have you talk to the Brainfart! Thanks so much for wasting your valuable time doing this. What can we expect from Derek Davis in 2010?
You can look for Babylon A.D. to re-release (Bang Go The Bells) Redux 2010 we call it. My solo CD should be out before the end of the year. Thanks for listening to my dribble. If anyone would like to get in touch with us they can go to www.myspace.com/babylonadtheband on the web.
==============================
What a great interview! Thanks so much to Derek for taking the time out to answer my questions. He’s a REALLY cool guy and please go check out some of his music. Lets also hope that he finds some bad ass swag for me!!!
About The Author
