Interview With Dale Thompson Of Bride

Interview Done By Mike Wilkerson

MW: Please introduce yourself?
DT: I am Dale Thompson with the band Bride. I am the co-founder, lyricist and vocalist.

MW: Tale me about the band Matrix?
DT: Matrix was mine and my brother Troy’s attempt to enter the rock world after playing in church our whole life.

MW: Was there any recordings as Matrix?
DT: Yes we recorded a few projects over a three year period as Matrix which ended p appearing on our Lost Reels collection.

MW: Has there been anything by Matrix released?
DT: Yes PG13, Monkey See Monkey Do, Silent Madness and Lost Reels 1, 2 and 3.

MW: Why did you change the band name Matrix to Bride?
DT: At the time there was a jazz band called Matrix and when we found this out we changed the name. We actual;ly signed our first record contract as Matrix and changed the contract to Bride

MW: Tell me about the following Bride releases?
DT:

Show No Mercy, THis is Bride’s first CD and we truly were making it up as we went. We were young and trying to educate ourselves in metal because we knew that was where God was leading us.

Live To Die is still many Bride fans favorite CD and our heaviest.

Silence Is Madness was a CD that we wanted to make a change from the heavy sounds to a more attractive hard rock sound in order to reach a greater audience.

Kinetic Faith shocked the Bride fans because we wrote straight ahead hard rock with a heavy blues influence. This produced the song Everybody knows my name and Hired Gun which remained in our live set list throughout our touring days.

Snakes In The Playground made us a household name in the Christian rock and metal community. For some this remains one of their favorite Christian rock CDs.

Scarecrow Messiah was our first CD working with John and Dino Elefante, This would be our last heavy 90’s rock CD.

Drop released on Rugged Records was the most shocking CD that Bride ever recorded. We were burned out on the heavy sounds and wanted to entertain ourselves. So we did a much lighter CD with lots of acoustic sounds. At first this CD was criticized by the reviewers but over time people realized how good the CD was and some have changed their opinion making Drop one of their favorite Bride CDs.

The Jesus Experience was a piece of work that changed our sounds again. We reunited with the Elefante’s again and we experimented with a grunge sound which produced a Bride favorite, “The Worm.”

Oddities was our last work with the Elefante’s. The songs were greater than the mixes. We felt like the mixes were squashed and the true essense of the songs were lost through mixing.

Fist Full Of Bees showed Bride’s ability to be creative outside the realm of our heavy metal label. We took the fans on another audio roller coaster as we attempted rapcore. In truth this was a brilliant CD which was rejected by the hardcore Bride fans. We stand by FFOB’s as a masterpiece.

This Is It was not given a chance by the fans or the critics because we were still being judged by our past three CDs where we had experimented and the fans did not know what to make of it. However This is it is ever bit as good as Snakes in the Playground. We returned to our rock – blues style and wrote our greatest “groove rock” CD ever!

Skin For Skin brought back the metal. The fans were screaming metal so we gave them metal but by this time some had given up on Bride ever becoming a metal band again. Skin for Skin is a huge massive production of HEAVY METAL.

Tsar Bomba was musically one of our greatest CDs because we just did what we wanted. It was our last work with guitarist Steve Osborne before he passed away. He brought the metal out in us and he will be sorely missed.

MW: Are any of these still available?
DT: All of these are still available, some through our web site www.bridepub.com and others through Amazon.

MW: Tell me about your solo stuff?
DT:I have recorded 4 blues CDs one of which is very experimental and I did an acoustic CD with Greg Martin from The Kentucky Headhunters. These CD’s are fun and very blues oriented. I experimented with gruffed up vocals much like Howlin Wolf or Tom Waits.

MW: What is on tap for Bride in 2013?
DT: We are releasing “Incorruptible” this CD was the easiest we have ever put together and will showcase my vocals and melodies along with some of Troy’s finest work on guitar. He is the groove master.

MW: Will Bride be touring in 2013?
DT: We have no plans to tour but would entertain a logical plan if someone wanted to put together a tour for us.

MW: How hard has it been to be in a Christian Rock Band?
DT: Very hard because Christian rock is still not totally accepted in the Christian market and the secular world doesn’t embrace it as well. But we have an audience and we play and write for them.

MW: Do you ever wish Bride was just a Rock Band?
DT: Yes I do, if we could have lost the Christian label we could have reached more people but we follow God’s purpose for our lives.

MW: Tell me about being a part of Stryper?
DT: We had toured with Stryper and at the end of the tour Robert Sweet said Michael his broither was leaving the band and if I wanted to be part of Stryper. I joined Stryper briefly and played some shows as their front man but God’s will dictated I return to bride and so I did. It was a wonderful experiment.

MW: You are the strongest man in Kentucky. How did you get the description?
DT: I hold two bench press records with a max bench of 510 pounds or 31.332 kilograms. And I did it at age 40.

MW: Tell me about running for president in 2008?
DT: I ran for president on the Constitution Party to prove that anyone can run for President and get real support.

MW: Do you plan to ever run again?
DT: No way I am done with politics and the corrupt system.

MW: What do you think of the state of Christian Rock/Metal now in 2013?
DT:I wish there was more support from the record companies and people with the ability to distribute in a more broad way. If the CDs are not promoted and available we the potential fans will know know about these CDs.

MW: Tell me about the Bride book?
DT: The Bride book Chronicles a long period of Bride’s career but goes no further into our history than Fist Full of Bees. It is candid and truthful and reveals the way we have worked throughout the many years.

What would you like to say in closing?
DT: Bride is still promoting Jesus Christ and salvation through Him alone. We believe that every man woman and child will make an appearance before God to give an account of their life. We belief in the redemptive work of the cross and that God is all merciful and judges us with unconditional love which restores and reconciles. We love the Bride fans – we love Brazil and our heart is still active and ready to serve the great Christian hard rock / metal community.