Interview with Acey Slade

New Yorker Acey Slade (born Emil Schmidt) certainly lives up to his Sagittarian star sign; he can’t sit still for one minute. Being a past member of a string of bands – Dope, Murderdolls and Trashlight Vision have all at one time counted him in their ranks – he has certainly been round the music industry block a few times. He is currently fronting his own solo project, The Dark Party, which he is touring extensively in the run-up to the release of their debut album. Standing in the cloakroom area of a dingy underground Glasgow club, and speaking in much friendlier tones than his glam-punk rockstar persona would suggest, he took the time to give a little insight into life in such a travelling circus…

Hello Acey. How has the tour been so far?
Acey [Slade, vocals/guitar]: It has been fantabulous.

That’s a good word. What have the crowds been like?
Acey: They’ve been awesome everywhere. London was great, and Dumfries was pretty good too, but tonight killed.

Any memorable people or interesting characters from this tour?
Acey: Dude, with us having the dancers between bands, it has just brought out the most colourful human beings on the planet. We’ve seen everything, including ‘boy-lesque’ dancers – boys doing burlesque dancing, which I didn’t even know existed. Such a wonderful cross-section of humanity on this tour, more than any other tour I’ve ever did. It’s been a freak show, it’s been great.

How do you compare American crowds with British crowds?
Acey: You can’t. United Kingdom crowds are just so much better. Music just seems to be a part of so many people’s lives here, whereas in America, it seems that they can’t be bothered with it a lot of the time. Of course, that’s not true of everyone, but here, music just seems to be a way of life.

You’re actually producing a band from Scotland, Billy Liar. How did that come about, and how is it going?
Acey: I did a show in Edinburgh with my old band, Trashlight Vision, and I always welcome any demos that bands give me. He gave me a demo after the show, and I put it on and I just had a moment; like when A&R guys hear a band and decide to sign them. It’s an acoustic punk project, which attracted me to it. It’s pretty cool, because I’ve been stretching myself out to try different styles lately, and I could never do what Billy Liar does. I’ve also been working with a band back home called His Mighty Robot, who are like Muse meets Placebo meets Deftones. A really heavy, progressive sound, but with melodic vocals. It’s great working with bands like that.