THE RECONCILED: Q&A with Dale and XL
When and how did this collaboration come together?
Dale: Todd approached me some time ago but the timing wasn’t right. We both were anxious to start working together and although a few months passed without any results, we found an opportunity and the writing and recording began. Better late than never
XL: I approached Dale in April 2020 to see if he was willing to do a project with me. I sent him a current XL and DBD tune at that time and a demo track of one of the songs that will be on the project. He agreed, but I had to put it on hold for extenuating 2020 circumstances. The time didn’t become right for me until September 2021. I approached Dale again and he agreed again. So I started recording tracks for him to sing on.
Elaborate a little on your goals with this project (if you did not exhaust this in previous answer)
Dale: Our goal was to write good catchy songs with plenty of commercial hard rock hooks. No epic songs, just well written songs.
XL: The goal for me was just to record with another one of the icons from my teenage Christian years. And hopefully put out a project that everyone could rock out to and appreciate.
Todd, How familiar are you with Dale’s music (Bride and a myriad of solo projects over the years?
XL: I started listening to Bride around 1990 and have been familiar with their material ever since. My favorite album is Kinetic Faith. I have also paid attention to the many projects Dale has been a part of. I also listen to many of the songs he posts on his FB wall.
Dale, how familiar are you with XL’s music?
Dale: I have Todd’s XL cd in my collection. Plus he sent me some preliminary tracks early on to get my interest.
The little bit I’ve heard (“It’s About Time”) was very energetic. I really dig the sass and attitude I hear in the guitars. Reminds me of Guns n’ Roses. Dale’s voice has great energy, passion and grittiness to it. Tell me about this song and how those sounds came to be.
Dale: Every track has that vibe. It is the “get up and go” vibe.
XL: Well, the instrumentation part of the song “It’s About Time“ happened as I was sitting in a grocery store parking lot and a riff just popped up in my head. So I had to quickly grab my cell phone recorder and hum the riff so I didn’t forget it. Then I built the rest of the song around that initial riff. I had nothing to do with Dale‘s creative lyrical writing process.
Tell me about some of the other songs (sounds, themes, etc.)..
XL: The other 11 songs are ones that I either had sitting in my unheard archives except 2 of them that are new tunes. I personally think they all rock hard and groove hard. Dale covers themes from fidelity, depravity of society, the urgency of the times we are in, and giving all for our Lord.
Tell me about the nuts and bolts of this recording. How was it done, over what time. What are some stories of things/events that happened whilst doing this.
Dale: Todd did the hard part. I wrote lyrics and sang. About 2 weeks my vocals were complete
XL: All the music was tracked in my music room in North Carolina. Dale recorded his vocals in New Zealand. And the mixing and mastering will take place with Matt Mckeown at Sound Mind Studios in Daytona Beach Florida. I was waiting for some recording software to come in that arrived on October 18. I started tracking the next week and had the 12 songs done about 3 weeks later. This album was recorded in the middle of waiting on God for life direction, because I had freshly moved to the south with no job or leads.
What is your plan with the artwork? How does the visual support what you’re doing here?
XL: So far we just have a logo for the band. Whether or not there will be pictures or any other type of design will probably be based on what Roxx Records wants for the album art. I know I’d like to at least have a picture of both of us in the album art. So the listener can always have a visual of who handed them this heat.
When will this come out?
XL: There is not a specific date set for the release. But we’re hoping for it to come out in January 2022. Everything is tracked, at this point it’s up to my man Matt to get the mixing and mastering all done and then for Roxx to do the rest.
Do you plan on playing any live shows?
Dale: I am retired from touring, but never say never, right?
XL: If it’s up to me there will definitely be some touring. However Dale said he’s retired from touring. But, he also said “never say never, right? “ I definitely think it would be awesome if somehow we were able to rock some shows.
Anything else you’d like to talk about?
Dale: This was Todd’s vision and I am grateful to have been asked to sing and even more grateful to know Todd as a friend.
XL: If this is received well and we get a response that satisfies the both of us, maybe The Reconciled will put something out in 2023 as well? God only knows.
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