Energetic Weedeater returns to Huntington (H-D repost)

Courtesy photo

Weedeater brings its brand of stoner/sludge metal to Huntington’s V Club Monday, Sept. 8. “We love Huntington,” singer-bassist Dave “Dixie” Collins (pictured above) said. “...we’re looking forward to it. It’s gonna be one of the highlights of the trip.”

(Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

HUNTINGTON -- Time sure flies when you’re having fun.

This would seem to be the case for the guys in Weedeater.

Approaching its 20th year of putting the “stoner” in stoner/sludge metal, the critically acclaimed Wilmington, North Carolina-based trio is hitting the road in September on the way to record its fifth studio album.

Formed in 1998 by singer-bassist Dave “Dixie” Collins after the dissolution of sludge progenitors Buzzov-en, Weedeater (Collins; Dave Shepherd: guitar; Travis Owen: drums) has made a name for itself through relentless touring, frenetic, energetic shows, and just making music they’d want to hear.

Weedeater’s fans know what kind of show to expect.

“We’re pretty much jokesters, and we have a good time and don’t care,” Collins said.

Weedeater returns to Huntington Monday, September 8 for a show at The V Club with local punk bands Station(s) and Rat Ship.

The band will record its fifth full-length in September, again working with legendary producer Steve Albini in Chicago.

“We have always taken kind of a nonchalant approach to recording,” Collins said. “We will have some ideas when we go in there, but the majority of the record is written in there.”

Preparing to follow up on 2011’s “Jason… The Dragon,” Collins said Weedeater is ready and is preparing to record the way they have in the past: differently.

“This time, we’re just as prepared as we ever are, I’d say,” Collins continued. “We just got together with our drummer, he doesn’t live in North Carolina, he lives in Atlanta, so he came up and we worked on some ideas that we’ll be putting together and assembling in the studio with [Steve] Albini in mid-September.

“But, yeah, I think we have kind of a weird way of going about recording. We don’t do it traditionally like a lot of other people do. You know, some bigger bands go in the studio for months at a time. I think we have the studio for six days, and we’ll probably have the record done in about four. That’s the way it usually happens; the last two were done early.”

Capturing a live, almost dangerous energy on a record, in their own unique way, is something Weedeater does well, Collins admitted proudly.

“It’s a little different for us, the way that we do things, pretty much, a lot of it on the spot. And I think it comes through, too. It works.”

Describing the recording process, and writing and incorporating acoustic material that may seep in from Collins’ and Shepherd’s side project Barstul, Collins said it all comes back to doing what comes natural: rocking out.

“We still are a heavy band, obviously. But we feel absolutely no constraints as to what we want to put on there. If it sounds good to us, we put it on there. Once again, we do it for ourselves first and foremost, and of course, we’d love for people to like it. If they don’t, they don’t.

“But I think that it goes together pretty well, the way that we decide when and where to put in acoustic type stuff or whatever, to change the direction a little bit.

“But, still,” Collins said pausing, to speak more deliberately, “as a whole, my favorite thing about recording a record is to try to make the whole thing a record, not just a collection of songs, so it’s very listenable from beginning to end. That’s the way I prefer people to listen to it, but they can do with it what they want.

“But for us, there is nothing that’s not possible to do. We can make anything that goes in the record and meshes with everything else.”

Before Weedeater heads into the studio, though, they’ll hit the road for a two-week jaunt that includes a stop in a town familiar to the band.

“We love Huntington. We’ve enjoyed The V Club,” Collins said excitedly. “Don [Duncan] is an awesome dude. We have ties to Huntington from way back. We’ve always been well received there, even in the Buzzov-en days. So we’re looking forward to it. It’s gonna be one of the highlights of the trip.”

Doing things their own way, making their own sound over nearly twenty years, and having fun is what it’s still all about for Collins.

“We’ve been doing this the whole time for ourselves, anyway. And, obviously, for the people that appreciate it.”

If you go
Weedeater w/Station(s), Rat Ship
WHERE: The V Club 741 6th Ave.
WHEN: 9 p.m., Monday Sept. 8
COST: $10 advance, $12 day of show
INFO: (304) 781-0680
ONLINE: www.facebook.com/weedmetal, www.vclublive.com