Former GOD FORBID Guitarist Discusses His Departure, Introduces GENETIC

Michael Melchor of the Orlando Rock Music Examiner recently conducted an interview with former GOD FORBID guitarist Dallas Coyle. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his departure from GOD FORBID:

"I wanted to leave as early as 2006. I wanted to shift focus of the band away from Byron [Davis, vocals]; Byron has that presence where he's scarier when silent, but then erupts and scares the hell out of you. I wanted to shift the focus away from him as the frontman — the focal point of the band when we're on stage — and on to myself. Of course, the band didn't want to go for it..

"I wanted GOD FORBID to be different form other metal bands. After ['IV: A Constitution Of Treason'], I was looking to kind of steer away from the heavy thrash and go in more of a direction like DEFTONES 'White Pony' with next album. More groove-oriented and heavy without being all about thrash and speed. I wanted to change things up and really push the boundaries — see what we were capable of. Not only did no one in the band or at the label like the idea, but they all thought I was crazy."

On his new project, GENETIC:

"The project is me and my vibe as far as what I want to hear in heavy music and the way I want it performed. SOULS AT WAR [Dallas' first post-GOD FORBID project] was kind of a stepping stone — a way to learn recording a little bit and also to step back in to metal.

"GOD FORBID was pretty heavy, but I didn't know if I wanted to do that again. Then, the new year hit on a more positive note, and a lot of [the songs for GENETIC] just came out of me.

"I never really wanted to scream or anything like that, but the aggressive voice I found for GENETIC really fits for what I'm doing and I really don't consider it screaming. I guess it does teeter on that, but it's the way I would want to do it.

"GENETIC is definitely the be-all-end-all version of the music I'm going to be doing for the near future. There's going to be a lot to the project; the MySpace page is just the first step."

"Every single person that's given GENETIC a good, proper listen, they all say something different about it. I've heard [that it sounds like] TESTAMENT to ALICE IN CHAINS to RAMMSTEIN, to CARCASS — I've heard almost every band you could possibly think of. And that's what I want. If everyone said the exact same thing, that shit would be boring.

"I'm definitely achieving what I want to with that. The cool thing is, people are responding strongly. No one's come out and said they don't like it, but I'm sure there are going to be people that hate it. That's what I'm looking for — I'm looking to divide the line. I want to hear that people love it and that people hate it. That reaction is better than no reaction at all."

Read the entire interview from the Orlando Rock Music Examiner.