Darth Vato is: Kerry Dean, guitar and vox; Steve Steward, bass and yelling; Eric Dodson, drums and prime parking spots.

How did the band come to be; members / band name / etc?

Kerry and I lived in the same dorm back in ’97, and we started jamming on Sublime and NOFX songs. A couple years later we would beg someone to play drums for us and play covers at backyard parties.  I graduated in 2000 and moved in with my parents in California , but then I moved back here a year later and started jamming with Kerry again.  I was friends with Eric at school, and he was always in a bunch of bands, so in 2002, we asked him to play and he agreed to help us out.  He’s stuck around ever since.  We’ve outlasted all his other bands.  He also came up with our name--he saw it in a Lowrider magazine.

What is your favorite venue to play in and away from the D/FW area?

Definitely the Wreck Room.  It’s got a great vibe, the staff is cool, the sound is great, and we are always treated fairly.

What other bands do you suggest our readers check out?

There is a ton of good music that comes out of Fort Worth , but my favorite band in town are The Me-Thinks hands down.  Eaton Lake Tonics are pretty original, Pablo and the Hemphill 7 are pretty amazing, and Legends of the South is probably the best metal band around.  Also, if you’ve never dropped into the Moon on Tuesday or the Flying Saucer on Sunday to see Big Mike play, you’re missing out.  He’s basically a classic rock jukebox.

What do you feel is necessary for a good live show?

Booze.  Oh, and a crowd that’s crazy and singing your songs amps everything up.  The best shows we’ve played have been at The Moon, the Wreck Room and Halo, because the crowd is pretty much in our faces. 

What is your favorite song you have recorded, and what is your favorite song to perform live?

We just recorded two new songs, and I’m really stoked about this one called “Dealbreaker.”  It’s got this creepy tri tone reggae verse that goes into hardcore in the choruses.  We wrote it shortly after Katrina hit, when everyone was pointing fingers at looters.  It’s basically says, if you were stuck in that situation, you’d probably be stealing food and water from stores and doing whatever necessary to survive, because that’s pretty much human nature.  It’s also a blast to play, but my favorite live songs are “Havoc” and “Police Dub”

Can you explain the band’s songwriting process?

It usually starts with one of us coming up with a riff, chord progression or a bass line.  Then we bring to rehearsal and hash it out.  Eric has a degree in Music Education, and he’s really good arranging things.  He’s also a really good guitarist, so he’ll come up with a riff and we’ll build off of that.  Kerry almost always comes up with melodies, and he and I sort of share lyrical duties.  We kind of fit into this whole West Coast reggae genre, but I think we’re finally stepping outside of that.  We used to fill our songs with typical reggae jargon, you know like, “Jah this, sensimilla that,” and now we don’t feel obligated to insert that reggae boilerplate.  A lot of bands can pull this off, but it’s never really felt real for us; our full length is full of that stuff, but everything we’ve written since then has thrown it out the window.  Plus, I think Darth Vato is more a punk band than a reggae band, not just because we have some fast songs, but because we play what we feel is honest.  We’re big Minutemen fans, and to me, that band epitomized punk rock sincerity.  Mike Watt said, “punk is whatever we made it to be,” and that’s basically Darth Vato’s credo.  If every band got into the Minutemen before they wrote anything, I think music would be in a much better state than it is now.

What message, if any, do you try to send through your music?

Basically, that honesty is the best policy, but because people lie, humanity is never going to get anywhere.  And also, that we are three dorks who do stupid shit.  That’s our other main message.

If you could create a super group consisting of anyone you wanted, who would be in it and what would the play?

Mike Watt on bass, Bradley Nowell on vocals, El Hefe on guitar, and probably Josh Freese on drums.  Because of the Vandals, though, not A Perfect Circle.  I think A Perfect Circle blows.

What do you feel is the band’s biggest accomplishment so far?

Well, for one thing, we’ve stayed friends for four years, so that’s pretty remarkable.  Four years is almost middle age for a local band.  We’ve maintained a pretty loyal fanbase, and I think most of the clubs around town are happy to have us, so that’s good.  Sorry for being longwinded—our biggest accomplishment is maintaining good relationships with almost everyone we have been around for the past four years.

If you could sum up Darth Vato in one word, what would it be?

Farts.