Interview

Kayo Dot Frontman Discusses New Album And More

Progressive metal is a term which arguably goes against its very name. If something is easy to class as "progressive," is it really progressing? Nevertheless, there are those musicians who truly do progress and continue to push the boundaries of their music and art and no one will disagree that Kayo Dot's, Toby Driver is one such artist.

Driver originally made his name with the acclaimed avant garde metal band Maudlin Of The Well, which blended a variety of genres aside from metal such as jazz, ambient and electronic music to craft a genuinely impressive legacy that still leaves fans stunned to this day. Following the break up of Maudlin Of The Well in 2003, Driver moved on to a new project, Kayo Dot, who last week released their tenth studio effort, "Moss Grew On The Swords And Plowshares Alike." This latest offering is sure to please not only Kayo Dot fans, but also those who miss Maudlin Of The Well. To find out more about the record, we spoke with Toby Driver, who answered a variety of questions not just about Kayo Dot, but about the history of Maudlin Of The Well, working with jazz legend John Zorn and astral projection. You can watch the interview in full below, as well as read an excerpt from the chat.

Diamond Oz: First of all, congratulations on the new album, "Moss Grew On The Swords And Plowshares Alike," which is some title! I don’t think I’ve heard an album title like that before.

Toby Driver: Thank you. I really like florid titles. I didn’t come up with the title, the lyricist Jason Byron did. It comes from a biblical verse, I can’t tell you exactly what the book or verse is right this second but there’s a biblical verse which says "Go and turn your swords into plowshares," which basically means take war things and turn them into peaceful, productive things. In the case of this title, it means that moss growing over both swords and plowshares is kind of like the theme of the album, which is that everything, no matter what you do, turns back into nature and this decayed Earth. It’s almost nihilist, almost like saying that no matter what you do doesn’t really matter, whether you try to be a hero or not, it all leads to the same place.

Oz: It’s interesting as well because like you say it has like a nihilistic tone to it, but also when we think of nature we always talk about the beauty of it, so you could look at it the other way in that even the most violent things you do will become a part of something beautiful.

Toby: Totally. I’m not a nihilist at all and I don’t think our lyricist is either, so I think it’s all about, kinda like what you said, it can be a beautiful result or a painful one, but either way, nature rules over all and it becomes a part of this singularity in a way.

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