Invitro
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Over the past ten years, Mikey Doling has had his share of highs and lows throughout his music career. He got his break with the popular Santa Barbara based Snot, landing him a major label deal with Geffen Records. Things were looking good for them until frontman Lynn Strait was killed in an automobile accident on the 101 Freeway near Ventura, CA on December 11, 1998.
He got his next opportunity with Soulfly in 2000, where he played on the “Primitive” and “Soulfly III” albums. Subsequent touring allowed from Doling to play in front of numerous fans sharing stages with the likes of Black Sabbath, Pantera and Slayer. This run ended in 2003, when he, along with then bassist Marcello Diaz and drummer Roy Mayorga all left the band together.
The three ex-Soulfly members then began a new band called Abloom with Onesidezero vocalist Jasan Radford and guitarist Levon Sultanian. The band was musically more mainstream sounding than their prior bands, but after losing Radford and Mayorga along the way, Doling decided to form a new project called Invitro. ‘High energy’ and ‘unexpected’ are some of the words used to describe Invitro’s sound, which returns to Doling’s days in Snot, while fusing driving punk and metallic sounds to raise the energy levels.
The band recently issued their debut CD “If I Were A Planet” on September 11th on their own label, GridIron Records. Fans had a chance to experience their live shows earlier in the year with Sevendust and Static X, and most recently on the Family Values Tour’s second stage. Doling talked to Blistering.com on the final stop of the Family Values Tour in Irvine, CA about the band, what happened with Abloom, and what the deal with the tin foil helmets are.
Blistering.com: Could you give us a brief history of how the band came together?
Mikey Doling: I was in another band called Abloom. I was doing demos with Brad Dujmovic, who’s our bass player. His roommate was the singer, Jeff Weber. Jeff started singing in Abloom. Benny [Cancino, drums] and Mike [Pygmie, guitar] were in a band called the Wizards. Their band was falling apart. Abloom was falling apart. So we put together Invitro.
Blistering.com: Who came up with the band name Invitro?
MD: We were coming up with names and we couldn’t think of any names. The best name we could think of was horrible…Earwax. We were actually considering that! Brad, our bass player, called me and goes ‘hey man, I’ve got the perfect name…Invitro.’ I was like, ‘wow! Awesome! Where did you come up with that? Oprah Magazine?’ We were thinking about Alien Pizza Party for a second too.
Blistering.com: Invitro is more along the lines of your roots of punkier style, versus Abloom was more mainstream, which was possibly way out of your comfort zone. After Abloom fell apart, did you give up that attempt and return to your roots?
MD: We didn’t think about it. I think it has a lot to do with the guys in the band. Mike Johnson [Pygmie]’s a really extreme punk rock enthusiast. He loves punk music. Benny, of course, played with Mike, so they had a vibe for that as well. I know that Brad and Jeff do not like playing what’s called normal, acceptable pop culture music. We like to keep it fast and heavy.
Blistering.com: What do you think went wrong with Abloom?
MD: In Abloom, we didn’t have the right chemistry with each other as people. In this band, we get along really well and we are on the same page. As music goes, we know what we want. Abloom was going five different ways.
Blistering.com: Were these songs on the record the first batch of tunes you had written?
MD: No. We went through a lot of songs. We wrote a whole different set of songs and we threw most of them away and started all over. We weren’t going to settle for less. We knew we were capable of being a great band, instead of a decent band. I’m not saying we’re great, but I like what we do. That’s what I think all of us in the band set out to do is to be proud of what we’re playing. We kept writing. We wrote about 50 songs.
Blistering.com: You’re the veteran of the band with the touring experience. What was it about these guys that made you want to do this band?
MD: First of all, they’re cool. Second of all, they’re talented as hell. It’s easy. I remember the day Benny was recording with the Wizards, I sat down at my buddy’s house in the desert and saw him play. Roy [Mayorga] was quitting Abloom, and I know that his band was having problems. I went ‘there’s the guy!’ It was easy. Of course, we needed another guitar player and it made sense that Mike Johnson already played with Benny, and he’s probably the most laid back person I’ve ever met. [He’s the] easiest, mellow dude. Brad, he’s the genius of the band. He mixes and produces our records. Obviously, Jeff is just the brains. I guess I’m the level-headed one.
Blistering.com: When did you decide to put out the Invitro CD yourselves?
MD: I think right from the beginning we thought that. That’s why we wanted to do it. The way it goes these days, I think everything can be done by yourself. There’s not this big machine any more.
Blistering.com: You’ve been through both the major label and the bigger indie label process already.
MD: Oh yeah. I used to call people and couldn’t get a phone call back for five days or a week. By the time the idea was worth the idea, it was already gone and past every time.
Blistering.com: Your record label, Grid Iron Recordings, is a team of people, which features NFL Football player Kyle Turley. Tell me how he got involved. He was a Snot fan?
MD: Big Snot fan. Now he’s playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s a tackle. He’s known as the heavy metal football player. He’s friends with all of the Slayer guys and Pantera and I met him through Pantera when I was touring with those guys. He came on our bus one day and said ‘where’s the Snot guy?’ We’ve been friends ever since.
Blistering.com: Has he ever joined you on stage?
MD:Not this band, but when I was in Soulfly, he came on stage once and picked me up over his head. That was pretty shocking - I’m 200 pounds and he lifted me like a baby.
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