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Narcotic Wasteland started as a side project Dallas Toler- Wade had been working the past few years when he was not touring or in the writing/studio mode with "Nile." "The more songs I completed for "Narcotic Wasteland," The more I wanted to put a full band lineup together," said Dallas.
Toler- Wade asked longtime friend Edwin Rhone (lead guitar/vox) if he was interested, which he was. They both had played in some metal bands together in the early to mid 1990’s. Edwin had later recommended Chris ("Lutachrist") Dupre for bass/vox.
Dallas stated, "Chris came in and not only knew his parts, but owned them with lots of attitude. So the only thing left was finding a drummer. After trying out several drummers from all over the states over two years, my band mate in "Nile," George Kollias, recommended Erik Schultek. Erik did not only nail the material, but fit very well to the style and sound of the music.”
The band’s overall concept is very reflective of the city where Dallas, Edwin, and Chris grew up. Fayetteville, North Carolina, a military town, has a PTSD rate of up to 75% in males, and is the highest rated city in the US for Shaken Baby Syndrome. The availability of street drugs is astounding, and the ever growing epidemic of addiction to pharmaceutical drugs is an extremely toxic and unstable environment to grow up and live in.
Dallas states, “Other than joining the military, there was nothing to do but work low paying jobs, do drugs, and get in trouble, but music saved us from the otherwise depressing round of existence. For Edwin, Chris, and I, there was not much of a positive outlet there other than music.” Although hard drugs and death are sort of a main topic, it’s not the only topic. We as a band, do not want too many limitations on what we write about.”
“On the first album,” added Dallas, “There was a song about South Carolina’s most famous serial killer, and another song with an anti-organized religion message. Like I have said many times over the years, Iron Maiden doesn’t only write songs about iron maidens! We are in the process of finishing up our second album right now, and the topic of drug use and death is still present, but we are also branching off a bit to talk about venomous human behavior, self reflection, and big pharmaceutical companies ruining lives for big profits.”
Dallas continues with one of his infamous monologues, “Musically, the band is retaining it’s already established sound while expanding into more dark, sinister, and very sad sounding passages, capturing the mental imagery of the lyrics. We like writing music that challenges us as players, but also actually means something. We want to connect to the listener as emotionally as possible, to have a release for their anger and sadness. That to us is the most important mission as songwriters for this band.”
Narcotic Wasteland plans to release their second album in the spring of 2017, and plan to hit the road shortly after, or when the album is being released.