An interview with Mentallo & the Fixer's Gary Dassing


Los Angeles - February 28,1998






Ian- The name Mentallo & the Fixer was taken from a comic book, right? Was that you or Dwayne that came up with the name?
Gary Dassing- Actually, it was a friend. Before we even had our band Benestrophe, we were contemplating a name a friend of mine brought the name to my attention, and I thought it sounded unique, but we couldn’t use it for Benestrophe because we were 3 members. When we broke up, it was just Dwyne and I so I sort of just tagged the name, because I thought it sounded unique. We’ll put (Dwayne) as the Fixer because he’s an electronics technician. He’s the technical guy in the band (when it comes to hooking up the studio and stuff like that. He turns around and teaches me in layman’s terms, since I don’t have patience for manuals.

*What kind of computer system do you use for all your sequencing?-
GD- Well, we just got a whole new system, but prior to that , we started out with a Commodore 64. We were the first people in Texas running MIDI software (as Benestrophe). Then we switched over to a 286. Everything we’ve recorded, even Burnt Beyond Recognition was done on 286, using software that was 11 years old.

*How would you say that you (and Dwayne) first got into music?
GD- I remember when I was a young child, my sister always used to play music for me. I knew right then, I wanted to do music, even when I was 5 years old. I got a drum kit, started playing drums, Dwayne was a guitarist, but we never could find anybody who was dedicated enough to play weekly with us or practice. We were listening to groups like early Depeche Mode, Yaz, Soft Cell, and it was just like, "why can’t we do what they’re doing?". My drumming wasn’t all too great, so I sold by drum kit for a drum machine, and it was like "ahhhh..."We didn’t have to worry about this or that, we didn’t have to worry about our bassist not showing up or calling in sick. It’s all there at our disposal now.

*Halfway through the BBR tour you guys called it off, what were the reasons behind that?
GD- There were a lot of reasons behind that. I think that a lot of fans have got to realize that they really have to support the bands and the scene if they want the scene to survive. When you go out on the road as a band , its coming all out of your pocket. Everything is- gas, car rental.... If a venue screws you over or merchandise sales aren’t good that night, or things just aren’t set up right, the band loses out. The band loses out on money, and it was to the point to where we were in the hole. We were running into a lot of problems. And I asked my brother "Are you having fun?" and he said "no, I’m not." I said "Well, I’m not either". I’m not giving people 100% of what I think they should be getting. I know (the fans) were disappointed, but it wasn’t like it was canceled, it was postponed. We only like to tour 2 weeks at time, that’s the breaking point. After two weeks it actually begins to seem like a difficult job. Performing to the audience just isn’t the same. It’s almost like you’re being robotic up there.

*So what made you decide to retour-
GD- Well, it’s for the fans! The fans support us, and I don’t like disappointing them. It’s very tough for Dwayne and I to get out on the road. People have to realize that Dwayne and I lead very ordinary lives just as well. I’m a homebody. I support somebody else and send them through school, I have 5 cats that I take care of- and there’s other priorities that I have at other times in my life. Music is not only main thing anymore. But for Dwayne, he still collects equipment, but it’s at the point to where I can’t spend anymore. I’ve already sunk everything I’ve worked for, for the past 10 years into equipment, and it was about time I started getting something back, at least paying the bills. I only quit my job last year. It’s tough, it’s a struggle but I’m making it.

*You toured Europe didn’t you?
GD- Yeah, we did. We toured Germany in October, and that was awesome, I could not tell you. The scene over there is so different, even radio. Here in the states you hear rock, grunge, stuff like that. But over there you hear techno on the radio. No singing, just pure techno. The scene is very well knit over there. They have industrial festivals once a month easily pulling in 1500 people, so it’s very different over there. I was really shocked. I think people were just really anticipating us playing over there, since we were known over there first, and it had been 5 or 6 years. And it was wild, I couldn’t believe it.

*You were actually signed to Zoth Ommog first, before you had had any state label. But that didn’t work out all that well, right?
GD- It was just a big lack of communication. It was a lot of other things too. Bands, when they start out, they tend to get taken advantage of because they know nothing about the music industry or the business, and how notorious it is. You really don’t know how many sales you’re doing overseas, and that’s a bad thing. If you’re here stateside, you should sign to a label stateside, because if you go overseas, they’re pocketing the money. We weren’t given any sales reports for the longest time, and stuff like that is just not professional. We finally called it quits with them.

*I remember recently seeing a release on Zoth Ommog entitled "There’s No Air to Breathe". What was that about? GD- Dave at Metropolis bought the rights to all of our music from Zoth, and they were allowed to release a "best of". Right now they have somebody else fronting Zoth Ommog. It used to be Talla (Bigod 20 frontman) but Talla gave the responsibility to Torben Schmidt (Lights Of Euphoria). Torben is really a huge fan of ours. We’ll be releasing a double CD in March (No Rest For the wicked). It’s a reissue of all of our old stuff, plus more. Zoth is going to have the rights to actually put it out over in Europe. I know Torben. I don’t think he would do anything to get on our bad side. It’s almost like now we have got leverage. We’re on OffBeat and we’re on Zoth, and once our contracts are up, who’s going to pay us more?

*So I take it that OffBeat is working out pretty well?
GD- (laughs) Well, it’s hard to say. They said they’ve only sold 12 copies of Continuum in the last 6 months, and people from my record company even think that those numbers aren’t even near correct. But what can you do? Do I have money to hire a lawyer over in Germany and fight an overseas battle? Probably not. Even if I win, whatever funds I would get out of it would probably be minute by then. That’s the politics of it.

*What part of Texas are you originally from?
GD- We are originally from San Antonio. Dwayne and I moved up to Austin about 7 years ago, because it’s a much more liberal scene, and Austin was the biggest seller for Wax Trax in its heyday. I can understand why all these industrial "gurus" were hanging out in Austin for the longest time, like Al (Jourgensen- Ministry) In a strange way, it’s almost like it’s a microcosm of California, except that the scenery is different. It’s almost like a getaway from everything else, a very mellow town. There’s no tension there. If you’re a freak you aren’t going to catch anything from anybody. No one is going to give you a second thought, because everybody’s dealt with it for such a long time.

*So how would you say Austin compares to the scenes from other major cities that you’ve seen?
GD- As far as the scene in Austin, it fluctuates, but I still like Austin the best. We’ve been to Canada, Europe, France, and Germany, and they are different cities. The crowds act differently in different places. Like in Canada, they don’t go crazy, but after you stop your song you hear the loudest roar. You realize then that people really appreciate your music. I think that’s what it’s all about for me.
*I take it that you plan to remain in Texas then?
GD-Yeah, I’m always going to live there: no ifs ands or buts about that. I’m almost a country boy at heart. I’m not used to being in big cities. Everything is very fast paced here, but I’m a very mellow person. Even just speeding cars freak us out. The stress level out here is just....(gestures up to his neck)





part 2 of Gary Dassing interview

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