Distant Cousins in the Wasteland: The Return Interview
by Darius Rogers, Boston Phoenix



Jordan Slade and Brandon Kinkaid originally played in a punk band called The Two Minute Jesus in the early nineties, eventually succumbing to the then-popular fad of adding two horn players and calling yourself a ska band. They broke up the band in 1997 and moved to California to get a fresh-start. It was there, in a flophouse off the strip that they met Phil Destiny and Just Aron, a down-on-their luck rhythym section desperately trying to score work as session musicians. The four erstwhile rockers hit it off and after a hellacious seven-day booze and pills bender woke up to find that they had formed a nu metal band and recorded their first album, the startling, heart-exploding, stop-and-go Ross Robinson-produced:



On the power of Aint Dead Yet as well as Kinkaid and Slades reps as The Two Minute Jesus they setup local gigs with Drown before they landed the opening slot on Static Xs first national tour.

Just Aron initially rapped the vocals while dropping the fat-bass rhythms. His style, like his personality, was rugged, unorthodox and just a little charming. Kinkaid and Slade backed him up on vocals, Brandon sticking with the organ and Jordan the guitar, instruments they learned in The Two Minute Jesus. Skin-basher Phil Destiny kept time and occassionally added sampled electronic beats.This excerpt was taken from an interview the band gave midway through the tour with Static X.

Interviewer: Jordan, what made you choose guitar?
Jordan: Well, ysee, even going back to The Two Minute Jesus-
Brandon: Cut it.
Jordan: Right, sorry... were trying to distance ourselves musically from that band, I didnt mean to bring it up. But, anyway, going back to when we... first started playing, I had long hair, even back then. So it was a natural choice for me to play the guitar so that when I kicked the tasty riffs, I can shake my head around and get all crazy.
Interviewer: How has the tour been so far?
Phil: Pretty sick man. We had a quadruple bill the other night with Coal Chamber and Sevendust those guys are twisted! After the show, we all went to see Dee Snyders Strangeland.
Interviewer: You were supposed to have a song on that soundtrack, no?
Brandon: Motherfucking lawyers!
Aron: Yeah, but we doin alright. Three months ago we were doing odd jobs around the flophouse to make rent. Now, were rolling large kicking it every night for thousands of kids who know our names and our words. Ill sing forever man. Forever.

Or would he? At the end of that legendary tour, Just Aron was suffering severe throat problems from letting loose on the stage every night. To their dismay, surgery was required and their growing army of fans feared the worst. His worst fears came true, post-surgery, Aron could not sing, nor even speak. For the first time in his life, his primary avenue of creative expression was taken from him. He said at the time:

Aron: It was so hard. I tried playing my bass... but, it just wasnt right. I spent a lot of time curled up and sort of sobbing, fearing the worst, fearing that the guys would go on without me...

Completely unfounded fears, Kinkaid, Slade & Destiny pooled their cash together and bought the big man a piano. From that months Hit Parader:

Phil: Well, it was my idea I guess. I dont know why we chose the piano. I guess it just seemed like a natural fit. Ykow? I always got a vaguely Schroeder-esque vibe from Just Aron, so this was our way of, yknow saying that the band would not continue without him.
Aron: I couldnt believe it. When my fingers first touched the keys... just... I dunno, for the first time, I felt like I was using my music to communicate with God.

The end? Hardly. Their commitment to the band and to one another had seen them through their most trying trial to date. After an intense recovery period, they (and the piano) went into the studio. Jordan and Brandon stepped up to share vocal duties, while Aron, unable to sing ever again, let his soul shine via his artistic translator, the piano. Gone were the street-punch rhymes and dirty guitar sound of Aint Dead Yet, replaced by the arena rock bombast of their sophomore release, named in honor of the instrument that brought them together:



Let the Piano Sing! floated around the charts for a week or two, before the break-out single (and video) Warriors (of Music) sent the album to number one, where it resided for nearly forty-eight nonconsecutive weeks. The band set out on their first European tour, opening for black metal meisters Cradle of Filth. But were quickly dropped from the tour when Jordan and Aron got into an argument with Brandon and Phil over reenacting the Misfits classic European tour bloopers.

Brandon: Ysee, its like this, when the Misfits were invited to play with The Damned for their first European tour, Glenn Danzig and Bobby Steele ended up getting into a fight with some skinheads and thrown into a British jail-
Jordan: Which is how Glenn ended up writing London Dungeon.
Aron: We just wanted a chance to write our own London Dungeon.
Jordan: Unfortunately, the best we could come up with was Plight in Brighton," so we scrapped the idea.
Brandon: They didn't write a song, however, they did manage to ruin the tour for us.
Jordan: You always gotta bring that up, dont you?

The boys were received as royalty when they returned to the states. Their popularity can best be explained by their unique sound, the fact that they just dont sound like any other band. Brandon Kinkaid and Just Aron spoke to Rolling Stone about it upon their return:

Brandon: What makes us unique? Well, more than anything else, I'd have to say it's our twin piano attack. When Aron puts down the bass and lays his fingers on the keys and I turn the organ so that Im facing him and not the audience...
Aron: Poetry baby.
Brandon: Poetry.

And then, just as fast it began, near the end of the first tour to support Let the Piano Sing! they broke up. Each member drifting his separate ways, for three dismal years, trying inappropriate solo projects and producing lesser-known acts. Until now. Three and a half years after their last show, Distant Cousins in the Wasteland have returned, now going by the initials DCW. They have vowed to make up for lost time. I caught up with them during a press junket for their forthcoming album.

Interviewer: You actually took some time off for a while, amid controversial reports of a break-up, what happened there?
Jordan: Y'know, we can sit here and debate all day who is wrong (Aron) and who is right (me), but really the road just takes a toll on you, y'know?
Interviewer: But, from what I understand, you only played six dates in 2002, is that correct?
Jordan: Yeah, but see the issue was our booking manager, this guy scheduled our dates so far apart that we spent more time driving than anything else. We kicked off the tour in Los Angeles and immediately had to drive cross-country to get ready for the New York gig three days later. As soon as that show finished, we had to get to El Paso and then Anchorage-
Interviewer: Anchorage? You mean Alaska?
Phil: We're actually huge in Alaska. No idea why. We had to book a second night-
Jordan: Which was a huge logistical problem because we had to be in Phoenix, Arizona within two days and we were going to take a four day break and then play a show in San Francisco, but instead, we missed out on the break because as soon as we finished the Pheonix gig we drove back to Anchorage for the extra show.
Phil: At that point, it was just too much for Brandon and Aron and we had a lot of tension in the van.
Interviewer: Did it not occur to you to fly?
Jordan In a plane? What are you fucking retarded? People die in planes.
Phil: Jordan and Aron are actually each terrified of flying.
Jordan: It's a phobia Phil. Drop it. Anyway, like he said, there was tension in the van. Aron kept taking my Oreos and it just became a huge thing-
Interviewer: That exploded on stage in Anchorage when you passive-aggressively bated Aron into talking about the Oreos in front of the audience. That was your last show with this line-up wasnt it?
Jordan: Yeah, we had a huge fight then Phil and I rented our own van and drove back home.
Interviewer: Brandon and Aron briefly tried making a go of it with Michale Graves and Dr. Chud formerly of the Misfits but they couldnt even make it through a practice session and called it quits.
Phil It was for the best. We all took some time off to rebuild our shattered personal lives.
Interviewer: Tell me about the new album-
Brandon: The opus.
Interviewer: Tell me about the opus...
Jordan: I think what happened there was that we reached a point where Belle & Sebastian just really blew our fucking minds.
Phil: We had an oppurtunity to meet Sebastian at a European festival. Great guy.
Aron: We knew when we got back together, doing this again, that we had to break new ground, to move beyond our ska-punk, rap-metal, arena rock roots and delve into what I like to call soul territory.
Interviewer: Will you be playing your... more popular, older material on this tour?
Phil: Well, yknow, we may have outgrown that, but its like this, out there in that crazy crowd, there might be one little girl-
Jordan: Named Suzie.
Phil: Right, named Suzie and shes never heard Guitar Gangster Baby or The Odyssey Past the Sins of Our Fathers.
Interviewer: Ahh, the epic final track on the Let the Piano Sing! album-
Phil: Yeah, so are we gonna let Suzie down? Or are we gonna show her that we still know how to rock?
Brandon: I think we should show her that we still know how to rock.
Jordan: Rhetorical question Kinkaid.
Brandon: Right, my bad.
Interviewer: Tell us some more about these changes you speak of.
Brandon: Well, we got a new graphic designer, that was a big help.
Jordan: Yeah, shes given us a bit of a facelift. Made us a little less metal and a little more modern. Yknow, thats something thats just got to be done when you are a band that spans time like us. I mean, lookit ACDC or Judas Priest, those bands didnt sit still and let time pass them by, they adapted. They changed their sound and learned new things.
Interviewer: I see. Um, lets wrap this up. Looking back, any regrets?
Aron: I guess, I wouldnt have taken Slades Oreos, in retrospect, that was just wrong and disrespectful.
Jordan: Its cool man.

It is cool, man. Over the course of eight years and three albums, these Distant Cousins have become more like brothers. Unleashing a righteous brand of rap-rock that quickly shifted into an arena rock revolution... and now, they release their most poignant work to date:



Some call it Art answers a question that we all asked those fateful eight years ago when these four blitzed losers stepped into a recording studio and made history: Could they get any better? The answer, a resounding and emphatic YES! One year in the making, this rock and roll opus first grabs you firmly about the upper body for a power-pop hug (Nothing Gold Can Stay) winding through a delicate instrumental lullaby that caresses your belly (Meet You Halfway (Arons Song)) and winding tightly around your heart for the acoustic guitar / piano ballad closer (Immaculate Redemption, Part 2). Four men, two pianos and one voice, the voice of the Gods.

DCW will be performing at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on December 22, 2005. The show sold out in six minutes.