Metal Bulletin Zine: Kayla Dixon (audio interview) -- Discusses Vocal Technique, Balancing a Multi-Faceted Career

Friday, August 28, 2020

Kayla Dixon (audio interview) -- Discusses Vocal Technique, Balancing a Multi-Faceted Career - BTS Ep. 13

ABOUT: "Kayla is a well rounded metal vocalist, actor and dancer and vocal coach, trained in Classical, Jazz and Musical Theatre vocals as well as Rock/Metal. She is a trained actor of Stanislavski and Meisner techniques and understands the importance of storytelling on stage. She has worked on several professional theatre productions and made an appearance in the Sundance award winning Netflix movie " I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" in addition to appearances on the television shows Portlandia and Grimm. She continues to expand her creative endeavors in all directions and provides vocals for Dress the Dead and Witch Mountain."

Biography: WITCH MOUNTAIN BIO 2020:

When venerable UK metal magazine Kerrang announced a long-awaited US edition in 2018, the very first band featured in its inaugural Sounds of the Underground series was Witch Mountain, who they called, “one of the longest rocking, most important Doom Metal bands in the United States.”

This article and dozens like it ran all over America and Europe in response to the latest chapter in the bands’ storied saga: the release of its self-titled fifth album.

Witch Mountain (Svart, 2018) was the first full-length to feature vocalist Kayla Dixon, who NPR called, “…a rarity in doom-metal, a singer with soul, dynamism, drama, control and poise.”

The musical partnership of Rob Wrong (guitars) and Nate Carson (drums) began in 1997 with the founding of Portland, Oregon’s first doom metal band. The intervening years saw the band bloom into an international entity with a series of acclaimed albums (issued stateside by Profound Lore) and a hearty tour schedule that included festivals like Roadburn, Hellfest, Desertfests (London and Berlin), Scion Rock Fest, and Hopscotch.

By early 2015 bassist Justin Brown and vocalist Kayla Dixon solidified the band’s greatest lineup and helped to produce new music that rocked fans both new and old. Tours followed with Enslaved, YOB, Danzig, Superjoint, Saint Vitus, and a triumphant appearance at Psycho Las Vegas.

A new composition, “Midnight” was released as part of the 2017 Adult Swim Singles Series in anticipation of the following year’s full-length. In addition to another original single, “Burn You Down”, and a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sleeping Village” on a Cleopatra Records tribute album, Decibel premiered a lyric video for the brand new track “Priceless Pain” to coincide with the band’s 2019 tour with Corrosion of Conformity.

2020 sees the band writing new music in guitarist Rob’s Wrong Way Recording studio, and preparing to hit the road for a series of tours in the US and Europe, where fans will get another heavy dose of the band’s patented and ever-unfurling traditional American doom/blues.

Witch Mountain still maintains total artistic control. The band is self-managed, self-booked, and owns its entire back catalog.

We are proud to be over twenty years in, having never peaked along the way.

Biography: DRESS THE DEAD: When Craig Locicero saw vocalist Kayla Dixon perform in San Francisco, he knew she had a promising future as a frontwoman. What he didn’t know then was that their musical paths would interweave not far down the road in his new band Dress The Dead. Together, the pair - alongside bassist James Walker, guitarist Michael Rowan and drummer Mark Hernandez - have created metal that is anthemic and soulful, as well as accessible. The early track “1969” - which has already notched 150k YouTube views as of writing, has multiple twists and turns. Dixon’s voice is front and center as it should be but the music allows it the space and dynamics it needs to breathe, from the driving riff that opens the song to the unanticipated ambient interlude two minutes in. “There Goes The Sun” is bluesy and soulful and showcases Dixon’s fierce death growl as well as her dynamic upper register. One of the defining characteristics of all of the DtD music is the willingness to let songs unravel and build around a voice that adds depth and resonance to everything it touches.

Kayla Dixon Discusses Vocal Technique, Balancing a Multi-Faceted Career - BTS Ep. 13