Dancing With The Dead: An Interview With Tony Kim

Music has a seemingly magical ability to transport the listener to the artists’ realm of choice. With the striking of the right notes, one can travel time. And that’s exactly what happens when you listen to Dance With The Dead. With melodic riffs, smooth synth, and amazingly archaic artwork reminiscent of your favorite childhood horror films, Dance With The Dead is sure to transport you back to the days when the video store reigned supreme.

We had the pleasure of talking with Tony Kim about the origins of their sound, his personal influences, and what the future holds for Dance With The Dead. Read the full interview below!

J.R.: For me, Dance With The Dead is the best in the business at blending metal and retro/synth-wave. Horror itself is ingrained in both genres. Do you think the mixing comes more naturally due to your creative roots?

Tony: We try to combine the best of both worlds. We love electronic music as well as metal and rock so we try to do our best to blend them all where it sounds natural. 

J.R.: Dance With The Deads' artwork is consistently topnotch.  You guys easily tap into the veins of the days of VHS-ridden aisles. Metal and horror heads alike know how much awesome artwork can influence our interest. How important is it for you two to nail that specific imagery each release?

Tony: We take the art direction just as seriously as the music. They have to gel together and from a visual standpoint, we want to grab the person’s interest/attention right away.  Some of our favorite movies or records were us being kids coming across a cover or a poster that looked cool and checking it out. 

J.R.: You've mentioned in previous interviews that you begin building most of your songs from a riff idea. At what point in the process does the mental imagery and storytelling take place for you guys?

Tony: Yes, most of the time, it starts with a simple riff that we’ll pass along to each other and from there, we start coming up with melodies and start mapping out the structure of the song but there are also moments where we’ll have a song completely written and mapped out in our heads and all we need to do is just lay down the tracks.

J.R.: Obviously, we are big horror fans here. As for myself, the first time I heard Dance With The Dead, I suddenly found myself in 1985, standing in the middle of Resurrection Cemetery. So I did smile a bit, Tony, when I read that one of your favorite horror films is The Return of the Living Dead. Was that one of the more influential soundtracks for you personally?

Tony: Definitely! I remember as a kid watching it on VHS and when the main theme song started which I believe is called The Trioxin, I was hooked! 

J.R.: Dance With The Dead released the Blackout EP in January of this year. We're all finding our own ways to cope with the current strangeness of the times. Are you guys working on anything during the quarantine?

Tony: We are! We’re finishing up on some remixes and working on new material for either another EP or a full length which has not been decided yet but there will definitely be new music out by end of the year.

I’d like to thank Tony Kim of Dance With The Dead for taking the time to chat with us. And if you enjoyed the interview, make sure to check out our interview with Smoulder!

DWTD on Bandcamp: https://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com/

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DTWD on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dancewiththedead