Kid Dynamite is one of those bands that influenced a whole bunch of people. I wouldn't want to feed all the youngster that were inspired to start their own band after having heard the self-titled album or "Shorter, Faster, Louder". Kid Dynamite's members have since moved on to other exciting projects but the band's legacy still lives on. Nothing proves this fact more than "Carry The Torch", a tribute album that is finally about to see the light of day after a lot of time and effort have been poured into it. Coordinating a tribute album that features a whopping 39 bands is no small feat and so it made sense to do an interview with one of the masterminds behind the album, Get Outta Town Records' Charles Chaussinand.
"Carry The Torch : A tribute to Kid Dynamite" will be released July 7, 2009 on CD and July 14, 2009 on vinyl through Get Outta Town Records and Black Numbers Records.
PRT: When did you first come up with the idea of putting together a Kid Dynamite tribute?
Charles: Get Outta Town Records was actually brought into this record after the idea came together by Copper Lung Records and Black Numbers Records. I was asked to help with distribution and basically tie up the loose ends of the album. Kid Dynamite is one of my favorite and most influential bands, so it was really a no brainer for me to get involved.
PRT: With liner notes from Dan Yemin and Dave Wagenschutz and Yemin even contributing guest vocals on one song, it seems this tribute got their blessing. Was that important for you and how involved were they with the making of this tribute?
Charles: When I first was brought onboard with the album, I called Dan and made sure he was aware this was being done and cool with the idea. I have been lucky enough to become friends with Dan Yemin over the last few years and he is really a tremendously kind person. I like when tribute albums include a personal thought from original members, so I emailed Dave and Dan asking if they wanted to write up a retrospective on Kid Dynamite, just touching on some of their feelings, especially since this tribute was coming out, and they were both totally open and helpful. Aside from their retrospectives, they didn’t really have much to do with the release coming out, but just knowing they were cool with it made all the difference to me.
PRT: I remember when I first got in touch with you; there were already announcements about a Kid Dynamite tribute. How come it took so long to complete?
Charles: The record had a great deal of hang-ups. Working with 39 different bands in itself is a huge test of will because you really have to want a project to see the light of day dealing with all the different band dynamics. Bands agreeing to be on and then missing the deadlines, finding replacement bands, people not getting back to us, people begging us to be on the record, then when we say OK, they completely seem to lose interest. It was basically anything you could imagine going wrong seemed to do just that. In the end, the product is stronger than I thought it would be going into it and all of the bands really worked their asses off to make this record sound great.
PRT: It turned out to be a massive release with 39 bands covering pretty much every single song that Kid Dynamite ever recorded… was that the idea from the start?
Charles: Doing a tribute for a band that has two full lengths and a split is really something that you need to make sure you cover all your bases on. When the 7 Seconds tribute was released some years ago, there is no way that EVERY 7 Seconds song could be covered, so choice songs were picked and it went forward from there. For this record, we had the chance and the ability to make sure every song that Kid Dynamite recorded would be covered by a band that wanted to be a part of the record. For me, leaving songs out just wasn’t an option.
PRT: How did you go about selecting bands? Did you approach them or did some of them ask you if they could contribute a track?
Charles: Selecting bands was really a split. Sometimes, bands would ask us for any open slots and once we put them on, they would just stop getting back to us. Others would have their song back to us in a few days of being told they were on the record. Black Numbers and Get Outta Town Records certainly had bands and friends that we wanted to make sure were included on the album, and most of them got on there, but for the most part, it was an equal split of us asking bands and bands asking us.
PRT: Are there any bands you got in touch with but didn’t hear back from?
Charles: There were loads of bands that we would message and not hear back from, then other bands we’d ask and not expect to hear back but they would be stoked on the record. We probably cycled through like 150 bands to get this record to completion.
PRT: Originally this was a joint release between you, Black Numbers and Copper Lung Records who seemed to have backed out now. When and why did this happen?
Charles: Copper Lung Records decided that this wasn’t a release they still wanted to do and gracefully stepped back, leaving me and Black Numbers Records to keep things rolling. It was tough at times and this was really a labor of love for both Black Numbers Records and myself, but it is soon to be back in our hands.
PRT: What did you set out to achieve with this album?
Charles: Achieve? Hmm….I can’t really say I had a goal when working on this record. More than anything I think it can be looked at as a “thank you” to Kid Dynamite, or really any band that influences people to start their own bands, write a zine, or take part in what is going on around them. I think this record does the spirit of Kid Dynamite justice and can’t wait to see what kids think!
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