Former MORDRED Singer PAUL KIMBALL Interviewed

Mordred - The Band, a blog dedicated to spreading information on the late '80s/early '90s San Francisco Bay Area funk-metallers MORDRED, recently conducted an interview with Paul Kimball, who sang on MORDRED's "The Next Room" album. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: What did you do before MORDRED?

Paul: I was lead singer for several bands prior to MORDRED up in Washington state, the most prominent of which during the pre-grunge heyday ofthat area's scene (HELLTROUT and LANSDAT BLISTER). It was a great time to be gigging, and we got to share bills with quite a few of the seminal bands from that period.

Q: Had you heard, or even heard of MORDRED before you joined?

Paul: Nope, had never heard of them.

Q: Can you explain how you got the Mordred job?

Paul: They were having auditions, and I sent in a tape of my previous stuff. They called me back, sent me a tape of some of their songs, and I showed up and sang 'em. I remember thinking they had the nicest gear of any band I'd ever played with, and that the rehearsal space was awfully nice too. They were obviously very "pro," and when they said they were trying out close to a hundred singers my competitive nature kicked in and I decided I really wanted to get the gig. Felt quite stoked when I did, I gotta say!

Q: Was material for "The Next Room" already writen when you joined, or did you have input?

Paul: I had lots of input, actually. They had written several of the songs already, but the band gave me free rein on the lyrics and melodies for those. The rest we worked out as a band. There was even one that Scott Holderby had originally written words and melody for, but at that time the relationship between the band and him was strained, so they asked me to rewrite it. Originally there was some question as to whether DJ Pause was going to be in the "reformed" group, and before meeting him and hearing him play I was definitely not into the idea. It seemed really corny to have a DJ, but man... when he showed up and played with us the first time I was completely sold that we needed him, and was glad that my input on that point too was respected. Pause is not just a great musician, he's a helluva good guy to hang around with.

Q: The album had a very "grunge" and heavier feel to it which disappointed alot of fans. Was this change of direction for commercial reasons?

Paul: No, not at all. It certainly was a conscious move toward heavier material, and I was culpable as a catalyst for that, but the drive among the group was a generous one, largely. It was more "Hey, we got this new guy, and he is bringing a different set of things to the group than our old guy brought, so let's see where it leads us if we all try to bend toward one another." In retrospect, the myriad meanings and implications of the word "compromise" were all appropriate, both good and bad.

Q: How long were you in the band?

Paul: Amazingly, only about eight months. To this day, it was the hardest eight months of creative effort I have spent.

Q: Did you leave the band before they split or was it mutual for the whole band to go separate ways?

Paul: MORDRED just died when our European tour fell through. Everything fell apart really quickly after that.

Q: What did you think of "The Next Room" as a record?

Paul: I think it got a bad rap, really. I think if folks had had a chance to see us play those songs, they would have felt quite differently about it. But I also think it's fair to say that it somehow lacks the sparkle of newness that some of MORDRED's earlier tracks had. It's the sound of a band racing to find itself, and at times I think it really succeeds, but our (quite conscious) musical schizophrenia didn't make it an easy one for other folks to penetrate. Still, I have had several people tell me that they think it'll hold up better to the ravages of time than the other Mordred records.

Q: What did you do once MORDRED split?

Paul: I walked away from music completely for a while. Then I picked up a guitar and decided I really needed to be able to make some music on my own, completely of my own choosing.

Read the entire interview at this location.