“Dixie” Dave Collins (centre) and Weedeater (photo: Scott Kinkade)
Interview by Jason Schreurs
The band name Weedeater immediately evokes certain images. The first image that comes to mind is a band that smokes copious amounts of weed. Like, so much weed they are basically eating it. And… check! But until talking to Weedeater bassist/vocalist “Dixie” Dave Collins recently, we didn’t actually clue in that the name could also refer to the North Carolina stoner metal band’s love of edibles (food items with pot in them, for the noobs). Wait, did we just type the word “noobs”? Duuude.
I know the band likes to indulge in the reefer. How does that affect the pre- and post-show meals?
Collins: Well, it obviously helps to give you a better appetite, especially after travelling all day. But at the same time, you can incorporate it directly into your food, in many different ways, which is something that we’ve been known to do, depending on if we have time and resources, and depending on who we are around. It’s definitely one way to get the job done, and it spikes your appetite while you are eating, which is very convenient.
Thus the band name Weedeater, I guess?
We actually got the name Weedeater because my dog ate my weed a long time ago. That’s where we got the band name from. But we’ve also been known to dabble in edibles and pot butter, and different ways to cook marijuana as well.
Who’s the chef in the band? Do you all cook and bake, or is it just one guy?
Most of the edibles are actually given to us on the road. Because of the name of the band I think it’s just kind of built in; people give us weed and weed food all of the time. We just recently finished up a tour where we did a bunch of shows in Europe and a bunch in the States, and we ran into a lot of good edibles over there, and over here, especially on the West Coast and the Colorado area. We were given enough edibles to get us all of the way home, so that was very nice.
What was the coolest edible anyone ever gave you?
Someone recently gave me some bacon chocolate balls that were very strong and very delicious. They had that salt and sweet thing going on and they also worked very well. So that was probably one of my favourites.
I noticed you guys have some food-related song titles. Do you write about food in your songs quite a bit?
Not really too much. Most of the stuff we write about is inside jokes with the band, but we have been known to write about food. The song “Turkey Warlock” [from 2011’s Jason the Dragon] is about a Sloppy Joe sandwich that’s ground turkey instead of ground beef. That’s one that comes to mind that’s definitely about food. “Battered and Fried,” off the new album [Goliathan], could be interpreted to be about food, but it’s more about a person being battered and fried. Not cooked, but being really stoned. But either way, food does make it’s way into our songs. Like I often say, everyone has to eat!
Can you think of a really good meal that you’ve had on the road?
Yeah. Recently in France they had a badass chef onsite where we played and he cooked up a bunch of beef tips and just a delicious, delicious gourmet French meal. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had and I won’t soon forget it, that’s for sure.
What’s the North Carolina food scene like? Do you guys do up good barbecue together?
Yeah, we love a good barbecue here. I’m in south eastern North Carolina and each area has different kinds of barbecue sauce. The South Carolina style is the mustard-based sauces, but where we live it’s predominantly red pepper, vinegar-based sauce for barbecued pork, and we have some of the best ever around here. That’s definitely big for us. Also, I live right on the beach, so there’s tons of seafood. We have some of the best oysters in the world right here, so that’s a big one. Our guitar player, [Dave] Shepherd, worked at one of the most famous seafood restaurants around here for about 15 years, steaming all the crab legs and oysters, and he’s a master steamer, for sure. We’re known for the shellfish. The blue crab is, if I’m not mistaken, the North Carolina state crustacean, and they’re delicious. But oysters are the main thing on the menu around here.
You played in Buzzov*en in the ’90s. Has it changed a lot since then for bands finding good food on the road? Maybe it’s just people growing up and having more refined tastes, but it seemed like back then it was less about hunting out good food and more of “let’s just eat whatever and get to the show.”
Yeah, it was more eating for maintenance in those days. I think people were more worried about getting drugs. A lot of people have traded in their spoon for a fork, which is a good thing. [Laughs]
What’s the process now for searching out food while the band is on the road? Do you all have similar tastes?
We still buy most of our food, but sometimes friends will barbecue for us or pick us up a bunch of food. Other than that, man, we’re doing, like, 38 shows in 40 days and we have to eat shitty food. That’s one of the worst things about being in a band that doesn’t take days off; we don’t really have time to go seek out good food, so we’re constantly eating shit on the road. But we love eating well when we’re at home. We recently did our own hot sauce through this company in Jersey called Outer Limits and we’ve been selling that on the last tour, so just about everything we ate on the last tour we put Weedeater hot sauce on it. It was delicious; it did a good job!
Nice. Just dress everything up with hot sauce, eh? The convenience store corn dogs; just pour some hot sauce on there… [Laughs]
Ah, we put it on everything from fuckin’ pizza rolls to corn dogs… anything we could get our hands on. But it’s delicious. If anyone wants to check it out, go over to the Outer Limits website and you can get it from there.
Weedeater‘s Goliathan is out May 18 on Season of Mist.
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