MONDAY MORNING MUSICAL MAYHEM - featuring Joel Dux
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Welcome to Monday Morning Musical Mayhem: an online series that focuses on musicians, bands, artists, and whoever else in the musical industry that reaches out to us! The goal is help spread the word about people doing rad stuff in the music world! Are you doing rad stuff? Email us at brutalrealitydigest@gmail.com to be featured! xoxoxo
Monday! We didn't miss you but we'll entertain your existence since you're here and won't leave. Let's talk music! I guess we're sticking around the Ontario region again as we talk to Joel Dux of the band Frank Dux and the recently formed Boltergeist. Which Ontario region? Well let's let Joel tell us! We discuss his hometown, Greek mythology, and more! Enough babble, let's rabble!
BRUTAL REALITY DIGEST: Identify yourself, your band, and weapon of choice.
JOEL DUX: Hello Josh, my name is Joel. I'm in two bands currently: Frank Dux and Boltergeist! In Frank Dux, I play guitar and vocals and in Boltergeist I'm vocals and I've been playing bass for recording. Hopefully someone will take that role from me down the road.
BRD: What is something interesting about your hometown of Cambridge, Ontario?
JD: Well, we are sort of a tri-city within a tri-city. Cambridge is part of the Waterloo region (along with Waterloo and Kitchener) and everyone thinks Cambridge is the armpit of that. I disagree, but I guess it's subjective when you've lived in one most of your life. Then when you get to Cambridge, there are 3 parts that exist from pre-amalgamation. Hespeler, Preston and Galt. People who live in Cambridge constantly argue about which one is the worst. Even within Frank Dux, we have members representing all 3 of the boroughs... so we just don't talk about it.
BRD: What was the first song you memorized all the words to?
JD: I mean, it was probably a lullaby or something. But the first "actual" song I remember is Basketcase by Green Day. I remember this so well, because I was walking down the street with my Nana (a pretty strict British woman) singing the song, and she was less than pleased when I got to the "I went to a whore..." lyric.
BRD: Where is the most exotic place you have traveled thus far in your life?
JD: I spent a week working in some schools in a pretty impoverished area of the Dominican Republic. That was an interesting experience, it was also the first time I tried body surfing and almost broke my neck.
BRD: If you could tour with any fictional band, who would you choose?
JD: Boltergeist is the fictional band I would want to tour with. I mean, this might be an existential question, but does a band really exist if they've never jammed or if members have never met in person?
BRD: Do you remember the first show you ever played? How did it go?
JD: Aside from school talent show things, the first show I ever played was at a local venue called "The Scout Hut". It was with my high school band Viel Gluck. It was a great time and I still see and talk to members of other bands to this day. That venue also became something of legend within our city, and we resurrected it a few years back with our friends in Block Parent, which was a very cool feeling.
BRD: What's the best movie you watched during quarantine?
JD: It's at times like this I wish I had a letterbox account to keep track of the movies that I watch. I have such a terrible memory of what I've watched. Recently I've mostly been watching TV. I've really been enjoying the American Shameless, it's very dark and also quite funny. I really can't pinpoint a movie.
BRD: If you could choose any Greek mythology character to front your band, who would you choose?
JD: That's a tough one. Dionysus would bring the party and probably would be pretty good at engaging the crowd, but Hermes would write some fantastic lyrics. Or you could just go big with Zeus and have some wild lightning like pyro. That would make for a show you'd never forget. This is a tough question, let me re-read Percy Jackson and get back to you.
BRD: If someone said they'd give you a million dollars but you had to listen to the same album on repeat for 24 hours, which one would you spin?
JD: I am pretty good at listening to music on repeat, because I can be too lazy to change a CD or record. But if I had to pick, I might pick "Theory of Harmonial Value" by Moneen. I've listened to that album more times than I can count and it never gets old.
BRD: Tell us about your plans for the rest of 2021 and beyond!
JD: Well, first off, Boltergeist is dropping our debut EP on June 4, so I'm excited to get that out into the world. The project has been in the works a long time, and it'll be nice for the world to hear it. I also hope to get back into the swing of jamming with Frank Dux and possibly release some music with them. I'm also hoping the Boltergeist crew can put together another release by the end of the year, but who knows with that. It took us about 2 years to put out this first one, but we've got a good core now - so it's possible.