Dommin have returned with a fifth full-length album called The Martyr, which came out on Friday.
The Martyr is comprised of five previously released singles alongside ten new tracks written and produced by Kristofer Dommin, his first as a solo act.
The singer put the songs together over the past three years as his life went through various changes moving from Australia back to Los Angeles and most recently, settling in Nashville.
The album carries the signature dark, moody rock sound that Dommin fans will recognize, but also marks a new chapter in his musical journey.
Rock Life got a chance to speak with Kristofer Dommin this week ahead of the February 14th release.
Rock Life: How are you?
Kristofer Dommin: Good, it's been awhile! I think the last time we talked I was in Australia.
RL: Yes, after the last Dommin release and I thought it was clear then that you were kind of wondering where to go next.
KD: Yeah, I believe that was way back in 2016.
RL: After collaborating on a album with The Oztones, you came back to The States during the pandemic. So many bands folded up during that time, but you seemed to have been inspired. What was the catalyst for that?
KD: It's funny because I think due to the pandemic and changes in the music industry, it wasn't uncommon to see bands kind of say, we're not making money anymore. You'd go on their website or whatever and see that they were calling it quits.
Before the pandemic, when you were in a band and touring and on the road all of the time, you were kind of in your own little bubble. All of a sudden, when you're forced to be at home with your family who are accustomed to you not being around, it put life into a new perspective.
I think it was a real wake-up call for a lot of people in the music industry. It put things into the correct priority. They realized while touring and making music in general, they were missing out on being home. COVID brought a lot of realities to the forefront.
For me personally, I had already sort of been not very active. I wouldn't say that it was anything that was going on that was necessarily a catalyst for me, but it was kind of just general timing. I never really walked away from it, but I sort of felt like I wasn't really sure what to do next. I was thinking whether I should try to get another label or be trying to put out singles every week like most are doing now just to take advantage of the algorithms on Spotify or social media.
For awhile, I tried to follow that and grow my audience, but I think I just decided to go back to basics. A lot of musicians can get really burnt out from doing that stuff. You feel like you're working more to gain views or listens rather than working for yourself or for the love of music.
Myself, I got sick of it all and said, you know what, let's just boil it down to the very basics. I like recording music and I love putting it out there whether I have a full band or whether I can afford to go out and play shows. I said everything else is secondary so let me just focus on exactly what it is that I love: just going back to basics and making music.
RL: Did working with The Oztones provide some of that inspiration as well?
KD: It certainly helped me in terms of performance because the last time I had performed was when I left for Australia with Dommin in January of 2016. After you're out of it for awhile, It can take a little time to get your sea legs back. In this case, I had not performed for three or four years.
As I said, I've never just performed for the sake of performing. I've always wanted to make sure that if I'm promoting a live performance that it's going to be great and people will leave being wowed and feeling entertained. I want them to feel it was worth their time. Especially since some of these diehard fans come from other countries. So yeah, in some ways working with the guys in Australia really helped me gain my confidence back.
RL: It's perfect that it's out Valentine's Day, but upon first listen, there definitely seems to be a overall harder edge to the tracks. Was that intentional?
KD: Yeah, sort of. As a songwriter, you're making these songs and trying to create something that is true to the message or emotion behind the track. When I was working on the album, they all just seemed to start coming out that way.
There are some softer songs on this album as well that you would call ballads. Those softer elements are there, but also a lot of harder, heavier rock that I think people who really enjoyed the first Dommin album will be happy to hear. I didn't set out to make a heavy record, but it was more that these are the songs that came together at that point in time.
RL: Some tracks were written and released as singles previously, but they fit right in with the flow of the album. Did you have the martyr theme in mind early on?
KD: Back when I was chasing that algorithm, I released those 5 tracks as singles and realized I didn't enjoy doing it that way. The process felt incomplete to me. An album is a piece of art and a complete picture. I've used this analogy before where if you listen to a single it's almost like standing too close to a painting and seeing only a small portion of it.
When I was putting together this album, I didn't want to leave those singles out there by themselves; I wanted to make them a part of the album. Not all of them fit the overall theme, but most did and I re-recorded parts of the songs to make them sonically fit the theme.
RL: When did the idea of "The Martyr" track as the title track begin?
KD: I always have a hard time titling an album. In the past, it became a sort of tradition for the fifth track to be the title. On the first Dommin album, Love Is Gone, the fifth track was chosen and it came out that way on the second and third albums as well. I thought about keeping that going, but at the same time I wss looking at the overall thorough line that tied all these songs together. There were a lot of pathways and lines about giving up your life for something. The actual "The Martyr" track had gone through 3 or 4 different versions and lyrics. It wasn't until I got it completely together that I was like, oh this is the one!
RL: And how did the "Beautiful As A Stranger" track come together?
KD: That was the first of those original five tracks that I had put out. I put that original version out in 2018 or 2019, but I had actually written it back in 2012. I had gone to Australia on tour and I remember kind of seeing lots of beautiful people around. It was my first time there and I was thinking humorously to myself that it's probably better if you don't talk to these people because inevitably you're just going to be disappointed. I ended up writing the song about that whole idea that sometimes it's better to live with the fantasy in your head rather than being disappointed by reality.
That was the message, but it was also inspired by Queens of the Stone Age because when I was writing the song, I was walking across the festival grounds and they were onstage and had this opening song where the guy was just pounding on the floor tom. I was just like, oh, it would be cool to have a song that had that vibe with the drums. At the sane time, the song has a kind of Roy Orbison-vibe and that baritone guitar a la The B-52's. It's got a lot of different elements in it.
When I originally made the old video with the band, it was more of a acoustic song with me playing an acoustic guitar, but I made it more into a rock song for this album so that didn't fit anymore. I sped it up for the new video.
RL: What I found cool about the new version are those brief flashes of you playing the various instruments.
KD: Yeah, the whole idea of it was that it's all sort of closeups so you never really get a good look at anything. It goes with the theme of kind of keeping things a mystery.
RL: Did you find the process of making the album on your own harder than working with the group?
KD: Even on the initial album and subsequent ones, there were a lot of things that I did that I didn't take credit for so nothing really changed all that much. It wasn't too much of a departure from how I'd done things in the past. However, not having anyone else around to bounce ideas off of can sort of keep you hindered by your own viewpoint I guess.
One of the things I really enjoyed about making the album with The Oztones was I had the mostly written tracks, but I tried not to dictate their input. I tried to let them do their own thing. It ended up making the music a lot more interesting for me and allowed all the people and instruments to shine.
On this album it was a challenge when it came to laying the bass parts. I'd say to myself, what would Billy James do here. I had to reign myself in and forget the past and just put myself in that role and make it interesting. The keys were the same way, but I hired a studio performer to play drums because I'm not as proficient on them and didn't want my bad drumming to stand out.
RL: Have you been surprised by how enthusiastic people have been for this release?
KD: I'm always so humbled and grateful for that because I'm on social media, but I'm not super active. You can forget that people do care. Over the years every once in awhile, I'd get a message saying hey man, I hope you're doing well and making music. Those random messages kept me going. There's an admitted vulnerability when you put yourself out there and you always expect the possibility of noone caring. I'm super humbled and feel very blessed that they're still out there enjoying what I'm doing.
RL: Fans connect with the passion that you put into every project.
KD: Thanks! I try to make the music recording aspect of it come alive when I'm doing live performances. I do hope that emotion of the music comes across and makes it come alive.
RL: When you announced the album, you talked about hoping to find some musicians to play some live shows. How is that coming along?
KD: I'm actively looking and I have a couple of pretty good options. I think that I'm going to be concentrating on that more now that the album is out because that definitely had my focus. It's hard to find the right people, but I'm hopeful over the next couple of weeks and months to get that together and do some live performances.
RL: Will there be more videos and singles released?
KD: Yes, I believe so. There's a track called "Breaking Down" that I'd like to shoot a video for. I'd like to do one or two more, but it is hard when you're doing it by yourself especially since I hate doing videos if I'm being honest. I'm not a in-front-of-a-camera kind of guy, but if I have a band I'm working with that would definitely make it more interesting so we'll see.
RL:Anything you'd like to add?
KD: I hope everyone really loves the album. The fans are my PR at this point and I hope they share it and help me get the word out there. That's the toughest part. It can be a real challenge, especially for someone who is shy on social media.
The Martyr can be purchased at dommin.com and streamed on all the major streaming sites.
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