Mike Morrison - Pedal Steel
Mike "Billie-Bud" Morrison is obsessed with the pedal steel guitar. To understand him, one needs to become familiar with the ingeniousness and beauty of the instrument. "Pedal steel makes the sweetest sound known to man, and I don't understand why every band doesn't have one. Music without pedal steel is like a bunny without fur."
As a unique three piece ensemble, Metalbillies rely on the endless diversity of the pedal steel. The strings transition from creamy-clean country tones into heavy metal slides, spacey synthesizers, and punctuated robotics, leaving listeners attentive and happy.
"I love what we're doing, and the songs are so much fun to play! Our instantaneous shifts from country picking to metal-rock and back again make me laugh out loud. Conventional guitar songs just seem boring to me now. I'm totally content playing all Sho~Bud, all the time."
Kimball Barnard - Drums
I started by beating the bottoms out of all my dad's watering cans, as well as all his metal paint cans. I did all of this with a pair of metal pup tent stakes, at the tender age of 11. Daddy and Mother had a hard time containing, and existing, along side a young madman. Soon they bought me a trap set; all the dogs, cats, and squirrels disappeared. No, a trap set is a drum set, you knuckle-dragger.
Joy and surprise turned to despair: Earlier in the day I had shot one of the boys that lived in our neighborhood. The trap set came to the house at the same moment that Mr. House, the boy's father, called and asked me if I had told my parents about the shooting. I broke down, gave the phone to my Dad, who in turn told my Mom, who then went into a fit of Southern torment. "We are going to take it back." Over and over, I explained myself well enough to keep the T-set; after all it is o.k. to shoot a person in the leg if you are only trying to scare him.
Well, there has been plenty more torment in the years that followed. I had to learn how to do the most simple beats, still am and always will be.
Thanks to God, Jesus, Buddha, Satan: I do love to play music.
JD Droddy - Bass
It's the depth of summer in South Arkansas- You drive down these narrow, clay
roads through miles of Southern Loblolly pine in inky darkness, chasing dim
points of light barely able to illuminate the washers in the ditch.
Eventually, you come to one of those Holy Roller churches having outdoor
Revival during the hottest and most mosquito-laden part of the night.
And then it hits you- that thumping, pulsating, gut-busting vibration commonly known as Fender Precision Bass coming out of old tube rig with torn speaker cloth. But that cosmetic blemish doesn't stop that wave from hitting your eardrums like a velvet hammer while the choir screams, the Teisco guitar rips your soul out, the drummer beats the Devil out of his kit and sinners cry for the Holy Ghost.
That's what did it, I think- Put the tone, the feel, and vibe of bass guitar in me and carried me to this place.
This place?- turning Tone Loc into Homer and Jethro, vamping Minnie Pearl into Metallica, and selling it like Brother Dave Gardner. It's been a long time coming but I think my soul is saved.
