Roderick B. Palmer and "Dirty" Walter Kibby Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

Take two Black rock veterans from Los Angeles and put them in one explosive band, and not only do you have a Black History Month celebration I might attend, but you also have a great underground indie band NOT from Echo Park or Silverlake! Roderick B. Palmer and original Fishbone soldier Walter A. Kibby II (aka Dirty Walt) are the masterminds behind Year Of The Dragon. I got a chance to chat with each of the founding members separately before their upcoming gig at South By Southwest (SXSW) to find out how the "Dragon" came to be.

From Busing to Dragons with Roderick Palmer

David Carr: Roderick, how and when did Year Of The Dragon come together?

Roderick B. Palmer: We started to come together in late 2003. Walter decided to leave Fishbone that year. Both he and their guitar player Spacey T. at the time decided to leave the band and resurrect the 80's metal band Sound Barrier.

David Carr: Were you going to be part of the second coming of Sound Barrier?

Roderick B. Palmer: They wanted a two man tandem on guitar this time around. They were going for a heavier sound; more like Slayer. I auditioned and got the gig. It was going to be me, Walter, Spacey T., their original bass player Stanley E -- it looked like things were going to move forward but then Stanley's son passed away. After his son passed away, Stanley just lost interest in the project. A year later we were just looking at each other with this look of, "what do we do now?" We decided to record some songs and those songs turned into a six song EP called "A Time to Love Is A Time to Bleed". The Sound Barrier project never happened but Year Of The Dragon was born. After the EP we recorded and released our first full length, "Blunt Force Karma".

David Carr: How have you been getting your music out to folks?
Roderick B. Palmer: Social media has played a huge role in the developing and nurturing of the relationship we have with our fans. It has allowed us to develop a fan base in certain areas and helped us tour and meet our fans. We opened a show for King's X and sold a lot of cds and merchandise at that show. Both of our discs are also on ITunes.

David Carr: Do you have any sup coming shows?
Roderick B. Palmer: We will be playing South By Southwest (SXSW) this year. We will be playing at Headhunters across from Stubbs.

David Carr: Have you played the festival before?

Roderick B. Palmer: We have. We played it last year. We had a blast playing SXSW last year. It was great to see so many people and all the insanity. It is amazing to see the city of Austin shut down and go crazy with so many bands and so many options. We had a ton of people check us out.

David Carr: so I am curious Roderick, how did you get bitten by the rock bug?

Roderick B. Palmer: My exposure was through punk rock and busing! I lived in the hood for most of my life but I was bussed to a white suburb to go to high school. My friends at the school introduced me to a lot of rock. At the time I had already been listening to Mandrill, The Isley Brothers and Funkadelic's Maggot Brain so listening to rock was not that big a stretch. A friend of mine turned me on to a local punk band called Sin-34. After hearing them I started going to punk shows and I cut my hair into a Mohawk.

David Carr: How did that go over in the hood?

Roderick B. Palmer: Not well! I got beat up a lot but the people messing with me started to realize I wasn't going anywhere and neither was my hair. You know it's interesting. I lived in the hood all my life but the first time I saw a Rodney King styled beating was at a Dead Kennedy's show in Hollywood! That kind of stuff was a fairly common occurrence at punk rock shows. It was at those shows where I started to meet the guys in Fishbone for the first time. I really liked their stage show and energy but when I saw Bad Brains I was blown away! That was a religious experience for me.

David Carr: Were there any other punk bands that caught your attention at the time.

Roderick B. Palmer: For me it was Bad Brains and Black Flag. I have seen all of the different versions of Black Flag but the Henry Rollins lineup really did it for me!

David Carr: Do you think things have gotten better, worse or stayed the same for African Americans in rock, metal and alternative music?

Roderick B. Palmer: Well I think there is always advancement but we also always take backwards steps. It's like Barrack Obama becoming President. On the one hand that was a major step forward in the United States, without question, but during the election, you got to see the racist e-mails and the racist rhetoric and the re-emergence of the extreme right. I think it's great to see so many young Black kids in the hood sporting Mohawks, wearing skinny jeans, skateboarding and listening to rock music.

David Carr: I have seen the same thing and they are NOT getting beat up for it!

Roderick B. Palmer: Ha! Yeah it's true, but at the same time, these same kids who are into Radiohead and Green Day, don't know about Bad Brains. They don't know about Fishbone. I mean if you have seen the Fishbone documentary then you know that Gwen Stefani herself talked about how if it weren't for Fishbone, No Doubt might not have existed! I have been watching the Afro-Punk website grow and that community gives me hope.

David Carr: What's next for YOTD?

Roderick B. Palmer: Well Walter re-joined Fishbone so he is dividing his time between us and them. We are going to play SXSW and hopefully podcast the performance. We are also going to go into the studio and record a "mixtape". We are just going to hit the studio and record a bunch of songs live and put that out by the end of the month. We recorded a full length disc with Greg Hetson and Josh Aichzinger producing. We were going to put the disc out on Greg's label but his label got dissolved so we will see what happens.

Keeping it Cool Calm and Clean with "Dirty" Walter Kibby

David Carr: Walt, Year Of The Dragon formed when you and Spacey T. decided to leave
Fishbone. Why did you both leave the band in 2003?

Walter A. Kibby II: There were some things happening on the business side and on the music side of the band that I wasn't happy with. Things started to get ugly, so I figured it was time for me to leave before I killed someone! Spacey felt the same way so we left at the same time. We were gonna do a new version of Sound Barrier but that didn't work out. Roderick got the gig to do that, so we just started jamming and then Year Of The Dragon happened.

David Carr: Describe to me the music of YOTD.

Walter A Kibby II: It's funky, soul, rock and roll. It's what some folks call "Black Rock". It's rock with a lot of other things in the mix.

David Carr: To my knowledge, Fishbone is the only band you have ever been in. Has it been strange jamming with another band?

Walter A. Kibby II: It's a little different but not that different. There are a lot of new musical ideas happening with YOTD. It's more of a happy situation for me. As long as you keep an open musical mind, it's a good time.

David Carr: You played SXSW last year and you are back again this year. Did you have a good time hitting the festival with your new band?

Walter A. Kibby II: The response last year was beautiful. I have been at this for a long time so I wasn't as excited about SXSW like some of the other guys were, but it was a good time.

David Carr: What made you re-join Fishbone?

Walter A. Kibby II: My whole attitude changed when I left the band. I wanted to try and do some things on the other side of the music industry. I became a production assistant on the Stadium Arcadium Tour with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I also worked on the last REM tour as a production assistant.

David Carr: Did you enjoy it?

Walter A. Kibby II: I did. I really liked being on that side of the industry but in my heart, I knew I had to go back to making music and well, Fishbone is a paying gig! My people gotta eat! Ha! Fishbone is my day job. Year Of The Dragon is the job I have to do. YOTD is a party a minute. I enjoy the YOTD family and all the guys that have come and gone in that band.

David Carr: What did you think of the documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone"?

Walter A. Kibby II: I thought it was ok. It wasn't as deep as it could have been but it was a good synopsis of our story. To really tell our story you need about four or five hours -- it was well done. It was a beautiful thing.

David Carr: What is the likely hood of the original Fishbone getting back together?

Walter A. Kibby II: It's all possible. The money situation has to be right. I mean we are grown men now and it's not about going into the bedroom and getting our jam on anymore. We have families and kids now. Mental stability is also an issue with the Fishbone brethren.

David Carr: It seems like getting the six of you to be cool, calm and collected with each other can be a little complicated.

Walter A. Kibby II: Yeah, it's tough. I would also want to see if we could come up with some good new musical ideas if we got back together.

David Carr: I hear that not only will YOTD be playing SXSW but you will also be with Fishbone in Austin playing a gig with Mobb Deep and The Wu Tang Clan. Is that correct?

Walter A Kibby II: Yeah that's right! I am not sure how the Fishbone/Wu Tang/Mobb Deep show got booked but I am excited about it.

David Carr: Walter, have a great time in Austin and good luck with Year Of The Dragon and Fishbone version 2.0 and 1.0.

Walter A.Kibby II: Thank you!