Rock feud hasn't slowed Slaves on Dope as it promotes its new album

In 1992, in a small basement in Montreal, four guys sat and contemplated a life in rock ‘n’ roll music. Odds were against the young band as it faced an uncertain future in a country with a virtually nonexistent hard rock scene, but the band decided to give it a go.

Fast forward 11 years and that same band, now veterans in the hard rock world, have three independent releases, an Ozzfest, countless major tours and two national releases under its belt. The band, Slaves on Dope, and the group is testimony to hard-core do-it-yourself ethics.

From the beginning, Slaves on Dope had a sound that grabbed listeners and demanded attention. Influences for the group range from the eclectic sounds of Faith No More to the arena guitar rock of the ’70s and ’80s.

The band mixes its earlier influences with modern sounds of metal in the vein of Korn or Tool without sounding like carbon copies. Now celebrating and touring in support of its second national release, “Metafour,” Slaves on Dope is finally becoming the band that vocalist Jason Rockman, guitarist Kevin Jardine, bassist Frank Salvaggio and drummer Rob Urbani, always knew it could be.

“Before ‘Inches From the Mainline,’ our records were a lot more melodic. We pretty much streamlined our sound when we moved to Los Angeles, and wanted to make Slaves on Dope a heavy rock outfit. When we finished touring for ‘Inches,’ as much fun as we had, and as great as it was to play the material off of that record, it wasn’t all that our band could do,” Jardine said.

“A lot of people were really surprised when they heard Jason sing, and actually, we were really surprised that Jason sang a lot on the record. People that really didn’t know the band, didn’t get the fact that we always really wanted to make a record like ‘Metafour.’ When we wrote ‘Inches,’ we had some tunes that just couldn’t make the record because they were too melodic, and wasn’t what we were looking for when we made that record,” he said.

“Metafour” has been released on the band’s new label, Bieler Bros. Records. The partnership between the band and the label is a result of the collapse of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s Divine Recordings, where the band was the label’s first signing.

After a high-profile showing at Ozzfest in 2000, and riding high on the band’s well received national debut, “Inches From the Mainline,” the Slaves now found themselves without a label or distribution, and began the painstaking task of shopping for a new deal. Slaves on Dope headed back out to Los Angeles where things initially happened for the group when it left Canada. But good fortune wasn’t ready to smile on Slaves on Dope just yet.

It was spring of 2002 under Spievak Entertainment and manager Alex Guerro when the band cut a demo for the album “Metafour.” The demo contained the songs “So Clear,” “Pattern,” “Go,” “Drain Me” and a cover of Seal’s R & B hit “Crazy.” As the band shopped the demo around to different labels and continued playing showcases, they continually sought guidance from different sources about whether or not to include the cover song on the album. Among people the band proposed “Crazy” to were Arthur Spievak of the management group and producer Matt Wallace.According to Frank Salvaggio, Spievak felt that it was too early in the song’s life to include it on the album, while Wallace loved the idea and felt that the band should definitely cover it.

Meanwhile, money was short and the band was becoming increasingly unhappy with its management. Slaves on Dope also found out that its manager was stealing money from the band. Eventually, the band knew it had to make things change for the better.

The results were a split from Spievak Entertainment, andthe cutting of producer Wallace from the album because of money constraints.

After Slaves on Dope split from its management, the band learned that Cleveland metal band Mushroomhead was going to cover and include “Crazy” on its Universal national release “XIII,” – the same song Slaves on Dope had proposed earlier in its career. The Slaves could have dismissed it as a coincidence had there not been other circumstances leading them to believe otherwise.

Mushroomhead was with Spievak Entertainment the same time Slaves on Dope were. But Jardine says the similarities don’t end there.

“Alex Guerro was managing them at the same time he managed us. We were at Spievak, they were at Spievak. We talked to Matt Wallace, they talked to Matt Wallace. We did the song, they did the song,” Jardine said. “There’s just too many coincidences for them to have come up with that idea on their own. It wasn’t that big of a deal, and not like we wanted to make this into some big issue.”

Things escalated to an ugly level when Jardine posted on heavy metal Web site Blabbermouth.net calling out the masked men from Cleveland on their alleged rip-off. When Mushroomhead’s drummer, Skinny, answered with a post of his own, the words were neither few nor kind. Mushroomhead claimed it had no prior knowledge of the cover by the Slaves. The posting then went on to include several insults.

“We never expected them to respond to it, but we feel that it was the kind of thing that if they didn’t respond to it, they didn’t know about it. Why would you respond to something you didn’t know about? You won’t defend something unless you did something wrong. It’s kind of like the kid that lies to his parents, then perpetuates it by making excuses. That’s pretty much what they did, but dude, just admit it,” Jardine said.

“You’ve really got to look at the overall picture too. There are a lot of things in their past that they’ve done because of other people. It’s really not a surprise to me that they took our idea. It’s not just that they covered the song, because a lot of bands have. It’s just the principle that I would have liked to have been acknowledged for it. You have to stand up for yourself because this is a cut-throat industry,” he said.

As much as Slaves on Dope look down on the fact that they may have been ripped off, the sting of insults and the insinuation that the band is trying to ride the coattails of a newly released Mushroomhead album makes the quiet guitarist’s blood boil.

“I don’t think there will be a response to our last post, but I didn’t like the way that they slagged our band. It was never about that. It was only about them doing the song. You know address the issue and stick to the facts,” Jardine said.

Rock ‘n’ Roll feuds die hard, but surprisingly, the Slaves would like nothing more than to actually do a tour with Mushroomhead. Rockman said that would love to play with Mushroomhead, so Slaves on Dope could make them have to step it up a notch every night on stage. Rockman also added that he thinks Mushroomhead is a great band, and there is no personal grudge against them. Attempts to reach Mushroomhead were unsuccessful.

In the immediate future, Slaves on Dope is looking forward to a re-release of the album “Metafour,” complete with a DVD containing photos, live footage, and videos. The re-release will also contain bonus songs not included on the original release along with the infamous “Crazy” cover. Rockman said they would definitely have to release a version of “Crazy” even if it was only a demo, just to prove they had the original idea for the song.

Slaves on Dope are on tour throughout the Midwest on what Jardine said is mostly a headlining tour. Ohio dates on the current tour have included Akron, Cleveland, Bellefontaine an
d Columbus. A second Columbus date has been added Sunday at the High Five bar located at Fifth Avenue and High Street. Lennon and local act Leveled will open the show at 9 p.m.

For more information, check out the following websites.

www.slavesondope.com

www.bielerbros.com
www.mushroomhead.org
www.blabbermouth.net