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Dark
Lotus By David Friedman I’m looking forward to checking out the new Dark Lotus album, “The Opaque Brotherhood.” What’s your take on the new project? It’s wicked. It’s the shit. It’s all good – probably the best product we’ve put out, Dark Lotus-wise definitely. Can you describe what Dark Lotus is for readers who are mainly familiar with the individual members? Dark Lotus is a collaboration of brotherhood. The members of the Lotus are myself, Jamie Madrox and Monoxide of Twiztid, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope of Insane Clown Posse. Five petals make up the Lotus. Do you go for especially dark and wicked music for the Dark Lotus albums? We go for completely being different from what we do in our solo groups and in our group affairs – our individual style. So we try to do a little different style and it always seems to get a little darker when it comes to Dark Lotus. What’s new with your solo and group projects, Blaze? I’m working on a bunch of shit, trying to actually help R.O.C. get together with his record, work on some new Zodiac Mprint and try to get myself get something together – a solo project. How much of your time do you spend in the studio between all these projects? There’s a lot now. It all depends on what’s coming up. If there’s nothing going on, then obviously if you’re getting ready for a tour, you’re getting ready for a tour. Most of the time, that’s your job. That’s what you’ve gotta do. What are your favorite songs from “The Opaque Brotherhood?” It’s hard to pinpoint anything that’s individual. I know one of my favorite jams on the record is called “Can You Keep A Secret.” The beat is sick, the chorus is sick, the raps are sick. It’s just a sick track. Without giving up too much of the song, (my verse) is about stuff about what you’re supposed to keep secret. “Follow The Leader” is one of my favorite jams. It’s hard to say. I listen to it every day and I can’t remember half the titles of the shit! “In Bloom” is dope. It’s nothing like the Nirvana track – nothing! There’s another track on there – it’s called “Backwards.” When you hear the verses and you listen to it, if you listen to it like we listen to music, you’re gonna get it automatically what the song’s about. It’s a great track. It’s brand new – something you never heard Dark Lotus ever do. What would you say about Dark Lotus’ sound if you were talking to someone who’d never heard it before? It’s brand new, fresh. It’s something that nobody’s ever heard before. Each album that we do as Dark Lotus gets a little bit more in depth, a little fresher and a little better. We grow just as we do as artists. It’s not necessarily an ICP album, it’s not necessarily a Blaze record, it’s not necessarily a Twiztid record. It’s its own thing. It’s Dark Lotus. Who came up with the album title “The Opaque Brotherhood?” It was kind of a group thing. We sat together and that’s what we do when we do music together. We’re in there together. There ain’t nobody sitting at home passing records to each other and shit. How has Psychopathic been able to survive all these years while other groups and labels have fallen by the wayside? We got hot shit. We continue to release hot shit. Every time when we put artists out that have hot shit, that’s what happens pretty much. We just continue to keep the ball rolling and grow as a company and as artists. And that’s what happens. How are you different than when you first signed with Psychopathic Records? Not much. I’m the same person. I’m still just as crazy. I do dumb shit. I just don’t get caught up as much – I don’t do as much jail time, I guess. Have you learned a lot from a business perspective from Violent J or from anyone else in particular on the label over the years? One hundred percent – everybody here a little bit. You get insights from everybody here. It’s not just one person. Some people are more vocal than others, but everybody here has been a help in establishing what I’ve done from day one. I’ve got them to thank and them to look out for and they’re the ones that put me where I’m at. And that’s why I’m here now. They also offer advice and get me to where I’m supposed to be. Have you started working on your next solo album yet? I’m gonna be working on that soon. The next thing for me is definitely this Zodiac project. It’s gonna be the shit, man. We’ve got some brand new ideas for it, “Horrorscope” is the title and as soon as we get going with R.O.C. and put the finishing touches on his album, we’re gonna be in the studio for that trying to bash something together and bang it out. Who do you want to work with as far as guests and producers for your next solo album and Zodiac Mprint? Most of the stuff I’m gonna try to actually work me and R.O.C. I’ve never had an actual sit-down partner who worked the studio as well as he does. So we’re actually gonna try to work that together and do a lot ourselves. He’s teaching me a little bit about what to do beat-wise, what goes here and what goes there and this on this track. So it’s only natural that eventually we’re gonna try to do our own production. But we’ll still venture out and look for other people. I might save that for my own album. What’s new with Hatchet House? Not that I know of. They’re still working with what we have right now. The DJ Clay product is out and that’s the shit. Soon, there’ll be a Volume 2, shortly coming up around the corner. There’s things’ going down. There’s things’ happening around here. We never stop. There’s wrestling going on in two weeks. Forever things are happening around here. We’re never sitting around. It’s busy, busy, busy. I know ICP are huge wrestling fans. Are you a wrestling fan too? I loved it for years. I watched it for years. I can’t say I’m a wrestler, but I love some wrestling. Who are some of your favorite wrestlers? Junkyard Dog. That’s everybody’s favorite. He was great back in his day. I had a bunch of people I thought were cool, but JYD was probably the coolest one to me. Why do you think Dark Lotus is the most wicked music, for the most part, that we hear out of Psychopathic or otherwise? It’s mostly the frame of mind that we’re in putting down the record. It depends on what’s going on around us at the studio at the time. People know from the first record, in that frame, we were chanting and having chantings and candles were lit in dark rooms. So it was a whole different vibe for that one. With Anybody Killa (ABK) coming back to Psychopathic Records and being that he’s a former member of Dark Lotus, will he be part of the new project or tour? No. We’re still gonna remain five petals, five members. How would you compare the new album, “The Opaque Brotherhood,” with the past two you’ve released, 2001’s “Tales From The Lotus Pod” and 2004’s “Black Rain?” I’d just say it’s a lot different. It might be back to the roots in some sense, but it’s a whole different chapter in another sense. It’s another page in the book, another page in the story. How many tours have you done with Dark Lotus? I think it’s the third tour. The tour’s gonna be the shit. It’s a whole different Dark Lotus. You’ll see some different folks looking different on stage. It’s not gonna be the same-old, same-old. Do you all wear the same face paint in Dark Lotus? It might be completely different this time around. You’ve gotta wait for that. It’s brand new. How is doing a Dark Lotus tour different for you than doing a Blaze tour? Being out there with a bunch more homies. We had fun out there on my tour. It was great. We had a great time. No matter where we were at, we played it and we had fun. It was the shit. And it’ll be a different time obviously, but I’ll be out there with even more of my people. So that’s the shit. There’s probably more weed-smoking, that’s what I’m thinking, Dave. Do
you smoke a lot? Anything else you’d like to say to your fans? Hey, I fucking love ’em – all of ’em. Hell, yeah, look out for the Lotus tour. We’ll be out there, it’s gonna be the shit and we’ll have a good-ass time. I’m looking to see everybody – every one of y’all juggalos, juggalettes out there. I’m personally walking by to say what’s up to everybody. I’ll say, “Yo, peace!”
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