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Dope, Dope Group Therapy TherapyDetails
Title: Group Therapy
Release date: 21 October, 2003
Record label: Recon/Artemis Records
Single: Bitch
Official website: Dope
Wikipedia: Dope
Popular Songs
New Songs
Tracklisting
1. Falling Away
2. Bitch
3. I Am
4. Motivation
5. Sing
6. Now Is The Time
7. Paranoia (Unmastered Ruff Mix)
8. Bring It On
9. Another Day Goes By
10. Today Is The Day
11. Burn
12. Easier
13. So Low
Dope needs Group Therapy - Group Therapy
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Dope is the brainchild of Edsel Dope, singer /songwriter and leader of the NYC based 4 piece. Just ask and he'll give you the best synopsis of Dope: "Dope is the most in your face rock band on the planet right now."
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Over the past 4 years Dope has grown from Edsel Dope, the singular force who recorded the majority of Dope's debut album "Felons and Revolutionaries" in his bedroom, into a finely tuned hard rock outfit. "I recorded the entire first album by myself," says Edsel, who wrote and produced Dope's hard-hitting debut that has since gone on to sell over 250 thousand copies. After completing the record, Edsel assembled a band with a look that can only be described as unmistakably DOPE and set out to promote the album on tour. Touring with the likes of Slipknot, Powerman 5000, Cold, Static X, Staind, and Kid Rock, (with a Halloween run along side Alice Cooper for good measure) the band built a core following unlike most other "major label" rock bands. This is an underground movement that is seasoned and primed to explode into Joe and Jane Sixpack's living room, while never being mistaken for a group that has forgotten where it came from. It has been four years since Dope first hit the scene. Now with "Virus" on Lead Guitar, Racci Shay on drums and original Dope guitarist Sloane Jentry now playing bass, Dope has never been more menacing.
The band released its second album "Life" in October of 2002 only a couple of weeks after the tragic events of 9/11. "Look, I was born and raised in Florida. I started out as a little punk redneck from the south, you know? But, when we saw the towers go down, I think all of us felt more like New Yorkers than ever," says Edsel.
Critics and fans alike received the "Life" record with praise. It was a huge step both musically and melodically for the band and showed a much more mature side of Dope that was not explored on the previous album. The album also included the most brutal work Dope has completed to date with songs like "Die Mother Fucker Die" and "Take Your Best Shot." Dope reassured audiences that along with the melodic growth of the band they had no intentions of going soft.
Despite their loyal fan base and the success of the single "Now or Never", Dope's former record label took a different approach this time and chose not to tour the band heavily. So after breaking from the label, the band truly seized its own destiny and took yet another step in defining its identity. "Our fans, the kids, our family, really do represent. We are who we are. We play music. That's what we do," says Edsel, seemingly talking to himself.
"It's important for us to get out there again and show people that we are still around and better than ever," Virus continues.
"We hated that our record company wouldn't tour us and that they were charging 17 dollars for our record in the stores. That fucks the kids. We are in control now and we are touring again and selling our records for 10 bucks at the shows."
Their live show has always been one of the bands strongest points. Edsel's ability to control the crowed and include them in every aspect of the show has given them a reputation for being one of the best live acts on the circuit.
"Dope is pure energy. If we could bottle up the power that we put out on stage, you could launch a fucking space shuttle," says Jentry.
They've seen a lot. Edsel and his band at times have been misunderstood, but above all they are artists.
Edsel explains "Our live show ain't just four guys on stage playing their songs. We create an event."
Controversy has surrounded the band since its beginning. Edsel and bassist Sloane funded themselves and the band by selling drugs on the N.Y.C. streets. "We were willing to risk everything to make this band happen. We needed to record and promote and it takes a lot of cash to do it right. We took the ultimate pledge to ourselves for our music and we saw it through." These times inspired many of the lyrics on "Felons and Revolutionaries" and prompted Edsel to do a vicious remake of the legendary gangster rap song "Fuck Tha Police" by N.W.A.
The Dope boys have come a long way from their dope pedaling days.
Over the last 4 years Dope has built an army of fans that identify with Edsel and his band's "fuck you, take it or leave it" attitude. "I've never really been concerned with what other people think about me or the things I do. I am what I am, and I won't apologize for that," says Edsel. "The majority of the people who dislike me are the exact people that I would want to dislike me. It means that everything is working out just fine."
"If you support what we do, then you are part of our family and we will do anything for you. We'll kill or die for you. If you don't then you can kiss our ass," adds drummer Racci Shay.
Dope
In the past it has been this attitude coupled with a lifestyle of excess that has gotten Edsel and his band quite a bit of attention. "I think it has a lot to do with our image and our vibe," says Edsel. "The fact that we look like a rock band and we party our asses off and indulge in the sleaziest side of what rock n roll has to offer seems to separate us from the newer bands. We ARE sex, drugs, and rock n fucking roll." Dope has been featured in several adult entertainment mediums, ranging from spreads in Revolver magazine to starring in Matt Zane's "Backstage Sluts 3". Dope was also featured in the VH-1 special "The Secret life of Groupies" along with Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, documenting the evolution of the groupie scene through the years. The video for "Bitch", from the soon to be released album GROUP THERAPY, takes all of this attitude and experience and bottles it in a major budget video of bigger-than-epic proportions.
"It's a sick perverted world," says Edsel with a mischievous smirk. "In this day and age we somehow represent all that is twisted and perverted in rock. We have been labeled that band, and I am that guy".
Dope has shown up in some alternative mainstream media strains as well. Their music has been featured on WWF, including Chairman Vince McMahon's theme "No Chance". Other soundtrack appearances include "Scream 3", "American Psycho", and "Fast and the Furious". Upcoming soundtracks include "The Whole Ten Yards".
This all brings us, of course, to where the band is now.
Dope's third album GROUP THERAPY is slated for an October 21st release on newly formed Recon/Artemis Records. Edsel and Dope's first and only manager, Chip Quigley/Kingdom Entertainment, has painstakingly set in motion the task of building an independent label with only the right partners in order to preserve the DOPE philosophy. The result that marks DOPE's return to the independent world is Recon Records.
Edsel then ran with a big part of the grassroots DOPE mentality and, like Dope's first album (and highest selling to date), produced GROUP THERAPY himself. He enlisted the services of Jay Baumgardner (Drowning Pool, Evanescence, Papa Roach) to mix it, and the result is a record that's more raw and true to his vision.
Why GROUP THERAPY you may ask? Edsel explains. "Music is the most important thing in our lives. We are 'Dope'. We are a group and we use this music as a form of therapy in order to keep us sane in a world that is pretty fucked up. Our fans are no different, and when we come together with them in a live setting we just become a bigger group taking part in the same therapeutic process.
With GROUP THERAPY's first single "I Am," the band creates a brash and committed personal manifesto. The video was just shot in New York City and included Dope fans from around the country. After a call to arms, kids from as far as Seattle, Minneapolis, and California flew, drove, and parachuted in for a chance to be immortalized forever along side their favorite band. What better way to represent all that is Dope than to proudly roll out the real fans...not the plastic "casting call" mannequin's that are sprinkled throughout today's cookie cutter videos. "Watching a room full of Dope kids scream 'Fuck You!! I am what I am!' is a powerful thing," says Edsel. "I love to inspire these kids to stand up for what they believe in and not take shit from anyone."
The album itself is by no means status quo either. Not only is it evident that anthems like "I Am" are ready to explode out of the underground, but songs like "Another Day Goes By" (to be featured in the upcoming Bruce Willis film "The Whole Ten Yards") and "Sing" are real testaments to the different ways the band articulates moods, feelings, and thought. That is not to say that other moods, like the one that tells you to break a chair against the wall, are forgotten about. These are found in the songs "Bitch", and "Paranoia".
You'll find yourself right in the middle of these two extremes in the albums opening track "Falling Away". From the first chord, you can tell that this is a song that really demonstrates tomorrows sound today.
The band's music ranges from the heaviest nastiest, grooves with lyrics that would make your mother burn your cd's to some of the most pure melodic rock to be produced in recent years. Somehow Dope has set themselves apart from their contemporaries by having a sound all there own. It is as refreshing as anything out there while feeling very familiar in the purest sense of Rock N Roll.
Whether you prefer the hard and heavy side of the band or their more melodic polished songs, there is no mistaking the Dope sound.
MEMBERS
Edsel Dope Vocals / Guitar / Programming
Virus Guitar/ Keys
Sloane "Mosey" Jentry Bass
Racci Shay Drums/ Samples
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