In the band’s exclusive interview with AlteRock Dommin announce the new album and a digital only Rare release

September 12, 2016

Dommin have teamed up with AlteRock to exclusively premiere their music video for the song ‘Criminal’ (watch the new video below). The track is featured on the album Rare, which previously was only available to those who supported the band during their PledgeMusic campaign in 2015.

The album will be put out tomorrow, September 13, as a digital only release, where you’ll find 10 tracks, including some previously unreleased songs as well as a few acoustic versions of songs from the album Rise.

But the good news from Dommin doesn’t end here. The band have also announced that they have their third studio album done. The record called Beautiful Crutch is ready for release December 22, 2016.

How did the band come up with such an unusual title, Beautiful Crutch? What differs it musically from Love Is Gone and Rise albums? What are Dommin up to once the new record has been released? Be sure to check out our exclusive interview with frontman Kristofer Dommin below, alongside the video for ‘Criminal’ and share your impressions in the comments.

More: Dommin found out they have the most devoted fans 

Hi Kristofer! So tell us more about the record Rare, coming out Septermber 13. What will Dommin fans find on the album?

– When we did our Pledge campaign last time, we put out the Rise album. And then we also put out Rare, which had songs from way back to songs that just didn’t make the album, but they were still well-recorded, they were good songs. It had some acoustic versions of songs on it too that we thought would be a cool addition for the people on our pledge campaign. The original Rare release had 14 tracks on it, and we do want to make sure that there’s something special about those who decided to do the pledge campaign with us and pre-ordered our stuff, so we narrowed it down to 10 tracks which we’re going to release to the public.

How is it going with preparing the next album, Beautiful Crutch?

– We pretty much have it done. That’ll be the release if we end up doing another pledge campaign. What I’m planning to do is really asking the fans what they want. We have the album, it’s ready to go for the most part – we need a little bit of mastering and also producing the actual CDs. But the album is pretty much ready and been recorded. We produced it ourselves.

Read: Exclusive interview with Kristofer Dommin: “It doesn’t always have to be sunshine and rainbows”

Once the album is out, what’s next on Dommin’s agenda?

– We’re going to ask the fans if they want us to do another pledge campaign, because it’s really going to affect what we do in the future. We launched the campaign because it actually helped us raise money for other things as well: we were able to basically start our own label; we were able to hire a publicist; we were able to do certain things in different countries. We tried to get it to put us on tour but it didn’t work out quite that way.

What do you hope to reach with this new campaign?

– If we can do it again and we can raise even more than we had last time, then, of course, it looks more promising and it continues to grow. If we do it again, and the numbers drop, and people are disinterested for whatever reason, then of course we’ll have to rethink what we’re going to do. We’ll post a video to fans this week or next week and ask them what they want us to do.  But as of right now, if we end up doing the pledge campaign, and it goes through the way as we anticipate it will, the album will be released on December 22, which is the first day of the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere.

What is the overall mood on Beautiful Crutch?

– On each album that we have, usually there is a song that sort of sums up the feeling of all the other songs, a general vibe. The first album being very heartbreaking, Love Is Gone was a very short and sweet title that fit everything else, whereas on the last one, Rise, I thought it was like the mood of the whole thing: personal insight and empowerment. With this one, it’s more focused on two major themes: it’s either about the person or the thing that gets you through.

For example?

– Sometimes it’s an individual, sometimes it’s a person that comes into your life that helps you either get over your past or move forward.  Sometimes it’s a phrase, sometimes it’s a word or a memory – it’s that thing, that spark of light in the darkness that gives you the hope to get better, in a sense.

So you basically kept the word that on your first three albums there will be a certain message, summarizing each of them…

– Yeah. There are songs that maybe divert little bit, but as a whole, as a theme, overall sort of mood… It’s definitely a more romantic album. Most of it has a sense of desire and wanting.

Your music always reflects what’s been happening in your own life. Was it also the case with this album? Did the fact that you got married and moved to Australia have an influence on the new material?

– Definitely. Well, some of the songs are older songs – I didn’t write them within the past year. I remember when I was touring for the first album, which was full of heartache, everyone expected me to be depressed, and they were asking me if I was okay all the time. I was like, “Well, I wrote those songs at particular moments in my life. I’m not depressed. I’m not perpetually sad or heartbroken.” But it would attract people who were. Certainly, my personal life has had an influence on the decision to release this type of album at this time.

What other things in your life left a stamp on the new album?

– Yeah, in the same way as on the last one – I think the death of my father. That was in a lot of ways what motivated me to make the jump in my personal life. My dad died of leukemia. We would have to go to the hospital all the time, and he was getting blood transfusions for about a year, and I was the person taking him to the hospital most of the time.

But you would go there and you would see people of all ages: there are people in their early twenties and little kids who are five years old in there. Dying.  It affected me in the sense that I thought: well, life is short.  When you have a chance to do big things or you at the crossroad of making a giant decision in your life, if there’s something in your heart that wants to do if, you just need to do it. You don’t want to sit on the couch thinking: “What if I had done that, or what if I have done this? I could have been there and done this but I didn’t.” And now you just sit there wondering: “What if I had taken the risk or made the jump?”

I could have put a million excuses why I shouldn’t marry the woman that I did. She lives 7000 miles away. It’s away from my band, it’s away from my mother, my brother and his kids. It’s away from my friends. But when it came down to it, I was like, no, life is short. It may be the biggest regret I ever make if I don’t go. If I do go, and it turns out being a catastrophe, I can always go back. This was the adventure that I wanted to take. I didn’t want to play it safe.

Kristofer Dommin plays AlteRock game “Finish the sentence”:

The last time I laughed so much that my stomach hurt…

…was two days ago.

The last time I cried…

…was during watching the movie ‘Me Before You’.

The last time I felt embarrassed…

…was when everybody laughed here in Australia at how I pronounced the brand of the car, Nissan /ˈniːsɑːn/, ’cause here they pronounce it as /ˈnɪsn/.

The last time I left the house was to…

…get bread for hamburger (laughs)… ’cause I make awesome hamburgers and I had to go get some fresh bread.

The last time I worked out…

…was about two hours ago. I wake up and that’s the first thing I do. I like to eat lots of junk food, so that’s important.

The last time I screamed at someone…

…was when I was driving in LA. You couldn’t hear me ’cause I was inside the car. Cut me off, almost made me crush, and I just started cursing him out at the top of my lungs. But it’s unusual. You have to really make me like almost die. It literally could have caused a major accident on the freeway, because he had to get one car space ahead.

The last thing I had a dream about…

…was actually my father.

The last book I read…

…must have been Paul Stanley biography.

The last show I went to…

…this past year… damn, I can’t remember who it was! It’s sad.

The last person that called me…

…was my wife.

Dommin will be announcing the details of their album campaign shortly. Those who support the campaign can expect exclusive tracks and one-off specialty items from the band.

The album Rare becomes publicly available as a digital only release on September 13, 2016 at all digital retailers , including iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, GooglePlay, Tidal and others.

AlteRock would like to thank Dommin for their collaboration and the exclusive interview.

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