Friday Night’s Shows In Chronological Order:

Di Anne Price
@ Levitt Shell // 7pm // FREE

Jeffrey & the Pacemakers
@ Jack Magoo’s // 7:30pm // FREE

Chinese Connection Dub Embassy
w/ Agori Tribe, Ping D. Rose & the Forces at Work
@ Minglewood Hall // 8pm // $5 for men, $7 for women

Beth Spencer’s Superfun Awesometime Birthday Party
w/ Tanks & Guests
@ the Hi-Tone Cafe // 9pm // FREE (plus complimentary shirt!)

Saint Vitus interview below this fancy divider…
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Dave Chandler of Saint Vitus 

On the list of great Doom bands, Saint Vitus is either near or at the top. Their 1986 album Born Too Late, featuring mostly the same line-up as will be playing their Memphis show, is considered among the most influential in the genre. Dave Chandler, founding guitarist, talks from his New Olreans home that is about to be hit by Hurricane Isaac about the reformation of the “classic” line-up, the concept of their new album and the past/present/future of Vitus.

DG: What is the meaning behind the new album title Lillie: F-65?

DC: It’s actually got two meanings. If you look at the album artwork, the girl is named Lillie, F = Female, Patient #65. She’s abandoned and it’s a hospital. That’s what the weird concept is. An if you go literally- Lillie F-65 was a barbiturate in the 70′s and 80′s that was actually a horse tranquilizer.

DG: It has become a trend these days to perform entire albums live. Have you ever considered doing, say, Born Too Late in it’s entirety.

DC: Well, we kind of do already. usually we play the whole first side. The album’s only got six songs. There was one point where we were doing the normal first side plus “H.A.A.G” and “The War Starter” so that just left one song. So we already have, basically. We usually play the first three songs on Born Too Late, which is the entire first side right there. This tour we’re going to be playing all the songs on the new album also. The instrumentals on Lillie will be in the show.

DG: As a guitarist, you’ve influenced so many players over the years. How does it feel when someone like Pepper Keenan, Matt Pike, or hell, even Dave Grohl cites you as an influence?

DC: Well, it’s really cool, you know. It’s really flattering when one of your peers says that you are an influence. That’s really cool and it obviously makes you feel good. And sometimes I’ll get that from people and I don’t really understand how I did it or how Vitus did it listening to their music. It’s cool to know all the hard work we put in actually meant something to somebody.

DG: After many line-up changes, the band basically going dark for 17 years, and now the new album and touring, what kept Vitus going?

DC: Well, when we broke up I stayed out of music. Myself and Mark Adams stayed in touch because we have been best friends since high school. So we didn’t necessarily hold it together, it kinda held itself together over the 17 years or whatever our absence was. So, when we came back it was just getting to know each other again in a musical sense. We’ve done so much for so long it just flowed together seamlessly. Vitus just flowed along by itself.

DG: Will we ever see your side project Debris, Inc. reincarnate?

DC: No. I stopped that in 2004. I just ended it. It was originally done to have fun and it wasn’t fun anymore so I said “this is ridiculous, all this is doing is costing us money so this is crazy.”

DG: Do you feel that the internet and the sharing of music online has helped spread the word of St. Vitus to a younger and more diverse crowd?

DC: Yes, most definitely. Stuff like Facebook, YouTube gets us to all ages. So, you know, basically free advertising.

DG: What does St. Vitus have in store for the world in the future?

DC: We’re kind of taking things day by day. I know when we finish this upcoming American tour we’re pretty much not going to be doing anything for the rest of this year and then early next year we are going to do a full European tour for Lillie. The European tour we just did, we were kind of bouncing around doing festivals and then doing these little shows in between to get us from point A to point B. There were a lot of places we didn’t get to play. Vitus is going to try and hit everywhere in January and February. After that, we don’t know. The record company wants another album, people are asking when we are going to do another album, and I’m like “Let’s let Lillie get going first. It just came out.”

Saint Vitus plays the Hi-Tone Saturday night with Weedeater and Sourvein!