Toledo, Ohio might not be the first place your mind goes when you think of hotbeds of great musical talent. But there is a local music scene and for one hard rock/alternative metal band, Dying to Know, the leap from local to national act is minuscule.
Dying to Know consists of Mark McMillan on vocals, Randy Johnson on bass, Ray Wagner on Drums, and Brandon Dudek on guitar and is the result of a merge between Evolution and Hypnotic, two former local bands. With a previous EP under their belt and the April release of their first full length album, The Obvious, which is available through many online vendors as well as the local Culture Clash and any of their shows, they are looking to hit the road and see what's ahead for them outside of the city limits.
You can often hear them play at the usual area clubs, including Headliners, Club Bijou, and Howard's and they have opened for a good number of national acts in this area. The band took a little time out of their regular weekly practice to sit down with me and talk about the album, the live shows, their fan base, and above all the music.
On the left, check out a video of them doing an in-store signing and performance at Culture Clash Records.
Tell me a little bit about the band, how you guys came together and your history.
Randy: We started as two bands, Evolution and Hypnotic, then we came together and met Mark. We played a show together and it was good. So we're basically Hypnotic plus him.
Mark: Yeah we're pretty much Hypnotic plus a new vocalist, which is me. I dropped from another band, Evolution, to come play with them. They needed a new singer and I came out and auditioned. They asked me if I wanted the job and I said yeah.
Who among you is the songwriter? Or is songwriting a collaborative effort?
Mark: We all write our own instruments. I write the lyrics, Brandon writes the guitar lines. They pretty much write the music first and them come to me and I write the lyrics.
Article comments
1 - SOMEONE
[Edited] brandon didnt wright all the songs on the album "the obvious". i think there was a total of 3 that were actually his. the songs belong to guy name matt moyer who was one of the original members before he was replaced by brandon. in fact yes mark was once part of a band evolution but he never quit to join dying to know. dying to know is evolution. they had to change the name due to someone else was using it, in fact the origianl members of dying to know were ray wagner-drums, randy johnson-bass, mark mcmillian-vocals, kurt friemark-keyboard/turntables/vocals, brett goodwin-guitar and matt moyer-lead guitar. ray and randy joined the band when they still had the name evolution brandon didnt come in untill after the name change to dying to know, and before the name dying to know they also went by the name ORACLE. brandon just recently replaced matt moyer about a year ago. and they will say it was due to creative differences but it wasnt . matt one day busted in on practice after they told him it was canceled to find him there playing HIS music. so as far as them saying that brandon writes all his own. he doesnt. you would think that he would but he would rather take credit for someone else's creativity. and i think you should really either pull the article or atleast correct it. i have cd's, pictures that show the original members i even have a couple contracts one that was between the band itself and the other that was through xmg showing all the signatures of these original band members under the name dying to know and do you think that brandon's was one of them well of course not, and as far as them selling 600 albums those 600 albums are filled with over half of matt moyer's talent and they refuse to give him any recognition what so ever. they are leading everyone to believe that it was brandon that wrote all the songs. but obviously the fans that have been around longer know that he didnt but the new ones (like all that they gained from the godsmack show) have no clue that they stold someone's songs ( the guitar part) all the lyrics are marks well except for body bag i do believe that curt friemark wrote that. you really need to do something about that huge page of lies you like to call an article. if you are going to write something make sure that it isnt fabricated. i am sure that there is alot of people that will get a good laugh out of this article.
2 - Connie Phillips
Mark McMillan of Dying to Know contacted me last night and issued the following as an official statement from the band regarding the issue of the songs they play and Brandon's part in them.
To whom it may concern:
On behalf of Dying To Know, I am going to speak up and tell all..
I am Mark, singer of the band. Approx.. 2 years ago after the breakup of Hpnotik and Evolution. in the events to follow, our former guitarists Brett Goodwin, and Matt Moyer were let go. They brought forth great music and memories. however, as this being a business, we stepped forward to better our creativity. We hired Brandon Dudek, our current guitarist.
With Brandon coming into our family, he took all of our prior songs and re-wrote them to his level of ability. Not that he had to, he just wanted his own style and feeling in each song. As a band we have had ALL of our music copy written to D.T.K. as follows: Mark McMillan, Randy Johnson, Ray Wagner, and Brandon Dudek.
So even if Brandon were to play the songs in their original written form there wouldn't be anything wrong with that. Every band that has fired or "let go" or lost a musician carry the songs forward. In fact, I have copies of contracts we signed as a band with Matt, and Brett stating that if they left the band or were to be replaced, the songs belong to Dying To Know.
As mentioned earlier, this is a business. We have purchased and own the following: all rights, all music, all lyrics, and name.
If there are any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks for your time,
Mark McMillan
and
Dying To Know