JASON MCMASTER Explains Why It Is Taking So Long For DANGEROUS TOYS To Release New Studio Album

In a new interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series, DANGEROUS TOYS singer Jason McMaster spoke about the possibility of a new album from the Texas rock veterans who have not released any fresh material since 1995. Jason said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The calendar days are flying by, and we honestly — this is gonna make us sound really lazy — but we don't see each other very often. And so the [new] songs that we do have were kind of written by me and Scott [Dalhover, guitar] via e-mail. He records some stuff. I record over here. He gets with Mark [Geary, drums] somehow, some way, and we've recorded some vocals. And we've had to travel hours to go somewhere to be in the same room to get anything done. And that's kind of the issue. And this is truth — when we're not at our day jobs, we're losing money. And so it sounds terrible, but when it's convenient for us to get together, we're usually preparing for a couple of shows we're about to do as weekend warriors, if you will, and not necessarily recording or working on this new riff that we have."

Jason continued: "[The] Cleopatra [record label] really wants us to put together a record. We have a contract that has not been signed yet for a new record, and we have the contract. I don't think it's gonna turn to dust or anything, but we haven't penned anything on it. And we still need about probably four more tunes for us to feel, like, 'Okay, now we have a record. Now we've got 10, 11, 12 songs.' So that's kind of where we are. But, yeah, we're playing 'Hangman Boogie', we're playing 'Hold Your Horses', we played one called 'One's Too Many' recently. There's a couple of more that I don't wanna mention titles of. But there's probably six or seven tunes that I could confidently say that, whether they're done being recorded or not — there's probably like five that we have done [and] recorded."

McMaster also seemingly ruled out the possibility of releasing standalone singles, explaining: "I don't wanna release an EP. That's just me. I wanna release 10 songs, 11 songs [as a full body of work]."

On December 12, DANGEROUS TOYS released "Demolition" on CD, vinyl and limited-edition cassette via Cleopatra Records.

"Demolition" features 10 tracks, all previously unreleased and recorded during the hiatus between the band's second and third albums, 1991's "Hellacious Acres" and 1994's "Pissed", as DANGEROUS TOYS continued refining their debut album's unique concoction of Southern rock and driving metal.

Founded in 1987, DANGEROUS TOYS released four full-length albums and one live album before unofficially disbanding at the turn of the millennium.

DANGEROUS TOYS' self-titled debut album, which came out in 1989, eventually went gold (although it took until 1994),while the group's follow-up, 1991's "Hellacious Acres", failed to launch.

A few years ago, McMaster was asked by Metal Edge magazine why he thinks "Hellacious Acres" failed to reach the same levels of success as DANGEROUS TOYS' debut. He responded: "I think it had a lot to do with the whole Seattle movement. That record came out in '91, the same year NIRVANA and PEARL JAM dropped their first albums. But a lot of people got really into grunge, and that buried a band like DANGEROUS TOYS. It felt like the streets in cities like L.A. emptied, and everyone changed their wardrobes overnight. So, when I think of 'Hellacious Acres', I think about what could have been. It's an awesome record, and at the time, it boggled my mind that people weren't into it."

Asked if that is what led to DANGEROUS TOYS eventually being dropped from Columbia, McMaster said: "Absolutely. You had this new style of rock music that had all these people latching on to it, and it killed bands like us. The radio and MTV wanted nothing to do with us and refused to play our stuff. So, an album like 'Hellacious Acres' never had a chance. Couple that with the giant moguls and money-making machines throwing all their weight behind grunge and acts like DANGEROUS TOYS were essentially dead in the water. So, with Columbia, labels have to do whatever the trends say they must do for them to pay their giant rents or whatever. It wasn't a shock that Columbia jumped ship on us, just like all the other major labels did with other bands. I mean… I know they were trying their best to have some sort of ditch effort with Alice Cooper, JUDAS PRIEST, METAL CHURCH and MOTÖRHEAD around that time, but it didn't matter. If you played hard rock or metal, you were screwed. By '91, they cleaned the shelf of all that was popular in the '80s, which meant sleazy hard rock was dying, and our record and our deal died with it."

Image courtesy of Memnoch's Curse