In a world of vocalists, Kayla Dixon is a true singer. With a background rooted in musical theatre, she brings more talent, depth and soul to the table than the average Metal vocalist. As frontwoman of long running Doom Metal band Witch Mountain, she made her debut on their excellent 2018 self-titled LP (available on Svart Records), after joining the band in 2015. Replacing a frontperson can be daunting but it now proves obvious that Kayla passed the test with flying colors. She also fronts the Thrashier Dress The Dead, out of Oakland, CA, from which we should see an album in the near future.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
I’ve been listening to a lot of LEPROUS, KATATONIA, LACUNA COIL. Lately, just those bands. SHALLOW THE SUN as well.
What would you say is the record that you’ve listened to the most in your life?
It would probably be either Mechanical Animals, by MARILYN MANSON -when I was growing up, that’s mainly what I was listening to-, and probably The Great Cold Distance by Katatonia.
Do you remember the first time ever that music had an impact on you?
Yeah, I started off in musical theater. I was about five when I got into that, it was a talent show and then I kind of realized that I wanted to do this professionally.
How did your musical tastes evolve from childhood, all the way through now?
I started off through my sisters, who kind of listened to Alternative Rock, MARILYN MANSON, SMASHING PUMPKINS and stuff like that. Then, they were considerably older than me so they moved away and I kind of didn’t listen to music at all, I was just doing musical theater. Then in high school, I kind of rediscovered those bands that they had introduced me to in the beginning. I started off listening to bands like Marilyn Manson and NINE INCH NAILS and stuff like that and gradually progressed into MESHUGGAH and LAMB OF God and after that, it kind of just grew from there.
These days, what’s your favorite means of discovering new music? Is it live, on record, through friends’ recommendation, dumb luck…
It’s never been live for me. I’m not one to go out to shows very often just because I’m constantly in a show, either touring or doing theaters. I spend my whole life inside a theater so I’m typically outdoors or doing other things when I get the chance. As far as discovering new music is concerned, it’s usually through YouTube, finding music videos that I think are cool, or through a Spotify playlist or whatever. When I discover a new band, it usually happens via either of those two means and then I kind of just go with that and I’ll stick with that one band for like a week, and then I’ll discover another band. It’s not like I’ll discover a bunch of bands at the same time.
What’s the first thing that strikes you when you listen to something new? Is there anything specific that’ll make or break it for you?
For me, the message I think, overall. If your song doesn’t have a message, I don’t really see the point. I think how you convey that message is very important. I guess when somebody has something that they’re really passionate about, that they’re speaking about, that they know how to articulate well, that always strikes me and makes me want to listen to the band more.
What are some of your favorite lyrics? Either a song, a line or just the general body of work of a lyricist?
I was actually just listening to SOUNDGARDEN and it’s those lyrics in the second verse of Fourth of July, that I think are incredibly relevant, especially right now but always have been. I love that album Superunknown and it just kind of really struck me how relevant they are right now.
“Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks and disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it
Down in the hole
Jesus tries to crack a smile
Beneath another shovel load”
Can you name three songs that you would consider to be perfect? What makes them so special to you?
There’s a song by KATATONIA, actually one of their more mellower songs, called Unfurl. When I listen to that song, I’m really transported to an entire other dimension and it’s very minimalistic. They’re not going over the top to try to force some kind of emotion onto the listener, it just is. I think that is what defines a perfect song for me, is when it flows naturally, when you’re not trying hard to do something or be something.
There’s probably a lot of perfect OPETH songs but my favorite is Ghost Of Perdition. I think that song’s perfect. There’s so many levels and layers and it also transports the listener, maybe in more overt way but again, it just flows so naturally. The different parts, the peaks and valleys of the song just flow so naturally in and out.
A song that’s incredibly relevant right now, at this point in time, is Butterflies And Hurricanes by MUSE. It’s the overall package with that. The lyrics are relevant and also just the way that it’s conveyed and then that moment in the middle with the piano. It’s just beautiful.
Who would be your top three vocalists of all time? Not necessarily the best music but just the best performers.
I’d say WHITNEY HOUSTON, ELLA FITZGERALD. The third one, I’m trying to think of who I’ve seen live that I was blown away by vocally…Oh, ROB HALFORD.
What would be some of the most memorable shows that you’ve seen in your life?
The first show I ever went to was RAMMSTEIN but also I want to say the first time I ever saw MARILYN MANSON, which was shortly after. Those are both really iconic shows for me, it was pretty awesome. Getting to see Lamb of God recently was great but I think I’d rather say, Witch Mountain had played Psycho Las Vegas fest and we got to watch ALICE COOPER headline. That was a really iconic moment for me.
What is the band that you’ve toured with that impressed you the most? The one that you had to watch them night after night, because they were just so good.
I really enjoyed watching YOB every night when we toured with them. As far as a high level of skill and delivery, I would say YOB, for sure.
Is there any universally acclaimed artists that you missed out on when they first came out and discovered way later? Or maybe something that you didn’t like at first but learned to appreciate over time?
I’d say that about all of the bands that I’m into because I am very young and these bands that I talk about have been around for a very long time, since before I was born. I guess that could apply to everything but as far as a band that I didn’t want to like at first, but I ended up liking -at least their earlier albums- is COLDPLAY, actually. But it’s important to stress the earlier albums. When I heard Rush Of Blood To The Head, there’s a song called God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, that’s how I really got into them. But I’m not a fan of the direction that they’ve taken recently.
Do you have any unpopular music opinion that you’d like to defend? Something that you truly love, but can hardly find anyone to agree with you?
Coldplay! *Haha* Who else…I find a lot of people in the Metal scene say that they don’t understand TOOL and I think that’s weird because I love their music. I think a lot of people also have their opinions about Maynard as a person, but as far as music is concerned, I really love that band.
Also, some people say that MUSE is just a ripoff of RADIOHEAD. I don’t know, but I really Muse.
I don’t really talk to people very much about what I like to listen to so there are probably other things I’m not aware of.
Final thoughts? Any projects that you’d like to talk about?
Well, I’ve got my other band, Dress The Dead, we’re working on music and we’ve got a couple videos, a couple lyric videos out. It’s a little more Thrashy, it’s not Doom at all, so people who are interested to hear me do something else should check out Dress The Dead. Other than that, I’m acting quite a bit. If you want to see any of my acting, I’m in a movie on Netflix for a short bit, called I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore. I’m also in season eight, episode eight of Portlandia, which I think is still on Netflix, and I’m also in the last season of Grimm. Obviously, due to the Coronavirus, I’m not doing any musicals right now, but hopefully, l’m looking to get back into that, at some point, I’m actually going to be a part of a musical audio book experience. It’s called Delusion, it’s a musical about Harry Houdini. We don’t have a release date for that, but that’s something that people will be able to listen to and purchase sometime soon.
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