An interview with Todd XL Stevens
In 1993, XL and Death Before Dishonor’s debut album Sodom and America was in heavy rotation in my car stereo. There were only 2 other bands at that time that I can remember doing what would later be called RapCore, the other bands were the obscure MCM and the Monster and the infamous Rage Against the Machine. This was the direction I was trying to talk my own band into at the time, before the corporate beast grabbed it and released bands like Saliva and Limp Bizkit. P.O.D. breaking was the only thing good that came out of that scene – Korn had their moments – but I always felt they were biting Faith No More a bit. Todd Stevens aka XL has had a few releases since Sodom and America but nothing to the scale of the return of DBD and their two new albums The Offensive Truth Volume 1 and 2. It’s been a blessing meeting an honest, pull no punches, brother in Yeshua like Todd.
Joshua Lory: When did you start playing music? What artists and people in your life influenced and inspired you to play music?
Todd XL Stevens: I was born into a musical family. All six members in my family had some type of musical talent. I started on the drums when I was 5 years old. At that time, my older brother, Tony Stevens (XL & DBD drummer) had a drum set. He also had an afternoon paper route, which gave me the opportunity to sneak and play his kit while he was gone. He would come home and notice something out of place every time, and he would be angry that I got on his drums. This went on until my parents were forced to get me my own kit. I was playing some of John Bonham’s patterns perfectly by the age of seven. That’s also the age that I began to pick up the guitar. I was still little enough that I could not play it correctly. So I would tune it to an open chord, lay it flat on my lap and use my thumb to play the chords. A couple of years later I got a bass guitar and started playing that the same way. By time I was 13 years old I was efficient on the drums, bass, and guitar and was playing anything that I wanted to. Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue, Rush, Iron Maiden, Prince, The Time, Judas Priest, Kiss, whatever. If I heard it, for the most part I was able to figure it out. That was the beginning of better things for me musically.
Did you grow up in a faith based household? When were you first moved by the Holy Spirit?
My father was a Christian for long as I could remember. Our family grew up going to church. My parents were very active in the church and sang quite often. I, on the other hand, was a rebel. Getting stoned right before church, acting inappropriately with the church girls, and things of that nature is how I was running most of my youth. But being raised by a God-fearing man and having all the people surrounding me that had me in their prayers, I came to my first true experience with the Lord in 1988. I was 17 years old then. And during that time my oldest brother had given his life to the Lord the year prior and was walking very steady with God. His example of Christianity is what actually caught my attention and made me understand that it was more than just a useless routine. That first stretch of Christianity lasted for about three years before I backslid pretty hard.
When did you first get into Hip Hop? Who were your favorite Emcee’s back then?
Around my house everyone was into music. Everybody had their own preference of music style. My oldest brother was the rocker; My other brother was into soul, funk, and rap when it first came out in 79. My older sister was into Barbra Streisand, The Carpenters, and Barry Manilow, while my parents listened predominately to old school Gospel. So there was a wide variety of music going on for me as the youngest in the house, and I liked it all. But my absolute favorite music as a child was hard rock and metal. I got into hip hop around 84 as a young teen and wore it out all through high school. I liked LL Cool J, NWA, Public Enemy, Ice T, EPMD, and many others. Ice Cube ended up being my all-time favorite rapper. It’s kind of funny ‘cause I have had over 300 people tell me I look like him.
What’s the history behind This Isn’t Your Ordinary Everyday Rap? How did you meet guys like Bob Moon and Soup the Chemist? Was that album released on any scale? (I never knew about it until a few weeks ago, I’m a big fan and collector of old Holy Hip Hop so I was pretty thrilled to hear it!)
This Isn’t Your Ordinary Everyday Rap was recorded both at my house and in a studio in Venice Beach. The recording I did in Venice Beach was from a dude who owned the studio named Caesar. He recorded me for free with hopes of releasing the record. I’m not sure whatever came of that but only 200 copies were made. So later I combined songs that I did at my house on my eight track with that recording which was originally called On the Smooth Tip. Years down the road I made it available on BandCamp. Actually, my homey Matthew Lawrence hooked it up on BandCamp for me. Matthew is also a Christian rapper. The album includes some Christian rap all-stars such as Soup the Chemist, Gospel Gangstas, Dynamic Twins, DJ Cartoon, and DJ Dove. This little demo tape that I made actually landed me my deal with Brainstorm Records. Peace 586 delivered it to Joe Taylor and they decided to sign me.
I went to school with Bob Moon. I became a Christian when I was 17 and soon found out that Bob Moon had also become a Christian. We ran with a party crowd. Me and Bob didn’t really hang out at all until we both found out that we were Christians. Bob and I were best friends for a period of time. We started a band called Willing Vessel and wrote a handful of songs that were good ones in my opinion. Bob’s brother had a girlfriend who was Andre Walton’s sister. Andre Walton was a professional Christian skater at that time. His skate soundtrack featured many Christian artists including Soldiers for Christ. So Bob knew these guys through Andre Walton and the Dynamic Twins, Peace 586, and Soup the Chemist would come and hang out at Bob’s house sometimes. That’s how I met these guys. I kicked it off the best with the Twins at first and started playing on their songs and as time went on I became friends with all of them. And ended up being a musician on all of their projects at some point.
That leads us up to Sodom and America, what are your memories, about the recording of this album?
When Brainstorm Records decided to sign me I was originally supposed to do a hip hop project. Soup the Chemist was going to produce me. I had come up with about 18 songs and Soup had helped to produce a majority of them. While we were working on this record, I was in the lab brewing up some XL & DBD type of material. About two weeks before I was set to go into the studio I showed a song to Gene Eugene. He liked it so much that he said “let’s do this stuff” even though my deadline to record was in two weeks. Not to worry though because I already had a lineup of songs ready to go. At first some of my hip hop counterparts didn’t really know what to think of it, because you know no one was really doing that style of music at that time. It kind of brought about a separation from some of us. But at the same time introduced me to a lot of friends in the metal crowd. Jimmy Brown was in the studio with me all the time and I believe that Gene Eugene created such a buzz about the project that there was so many people hanging out in the studio at all times. Members from EDL, the Tunnel Tats, Poetic Lee, the Dynamic Twins, The Crucified, members from Adam again, etc. it truly was a revolutionary event in time and Christian music.
Any stories of Gene Eugene you would like to share?
I wouldn’t say that Gene and I were close friends. We were cool with each other whenever we saw each other, but we weren’t real tight. I was in the studio for five weeks. I recorded my parts pretty fast. Gene respected me musically and was always willing to hear any new music I had. He even asked me to play in Adam again once. His bass player had an issue that came up. He was maybe going to quit the band. So I was able to rehearse with them including that awesome black drummer from White Heart, I think his name was John. That was a cool time. Being able to play with Adam again, they were a great band. Brainstorm asked me to do a second record. At first I was going to do so, but I kind of freaked out on Joe Taylor when he wouldn’t give me a front of money that I thought he was going to do. Looking back in hindsight it was very stupid of me. But at that time my whole walk was not a good one. I was in a backslide and was making dumb choices. I miss Gene like everyone else, he was a great guy and he made my album sound the best. We put out something revolutionary.
You released a second XL and DBD titled Live from Ninevah… What Next? in 2001, what was happening between the release of Sodom and America and Live from Ninevah?
In 1994 I think I already mentioned that Brainstorm wanted to do another record with me, but in hindsight I feel I made a foolish decision by telling Joe Taylor that I did not want to do it. I played with the band from 1994 until 1996 and we kept trying to get a secular deal with DreamWorks, Warner Bros. etc. Doug Shumway was my bass player he was on Sodom and America‘s cover. Mike Nichols (RIP) was my drummer. And Bryan Jay (from the rock band Keel) was my lead guitarist. We played a handful of shows in the Southern California area but nothing ever came, to much avail. It was in 1996 that I decided to move from Southern California to Iowa where my older brothers were living. I settled down there for a couple years before my brothers and I took up the cause again with XL and DBD. Before hooking up with my brothers I believe the main reason why my band was not being successful had much to do with the fact that there was a specific call on my life from the Heavenly Father and I was neglecting it by living in areas of blatant sin. During those years I was quite bitter from the condition of my marriage, from my career being in a status of failure, and I took the wrong path resorted back to partying. But from 1998 until 2001 my walk was back on track and XL & DBD was heading towards better things. That was right before the release of Live from Nineveh. I suppose it is not best to call it a release since we only put out 1000 units. But if the Lord decides to bless this new project maybe that will become a collector’s item.
In 2005 you returned with a straight rap release titled XL The Original – was this on a label or self-released?
The hip hop CD XL The Original was released on the label called Game Plan Records. It was owned by Dave Portillo aka Raps Galore of 12th Tribe. That label was a subsidiary label of 4th Man Records owned by Jason Neville aka Fros’t. They were distributed by P.G.E. distribution. It was one of the sweetest deals I ever had. We were in all of the record and CD stores at that time. But it was short-lived because something happened with the distribution company. In short, 22 labels got robbed by the distributor. He took the money and ran. Straight disappeared. I only had 11 returns on my record which means pretty much everything sold. But I didn’t get a red cent because of this distribution company. I also was able to start up a label which was a subsidiary of these record companies called Resilient Sowndz. I signed 4 bands and three of them made it into the stores and suffered the same fate. So I never really did much promotion for that record, in fact I still have like four boxes of CDs in my closet.
What was happening between the release of XL The Original and your upcoming two volume album The Offensive Truth? What sparked an interest in doing another XL & DBD release?
2005 until 2010 was a really bumpy time in my life. My marriage was in a phase of vacillation. I had an internal bitterness going on with my lack of success in music. And my walk with the Lord had periods of highs and lows. Overall I was not consistent as a Christian. I was battling a losing bout with alcohol as well. I played with a few bands during those years. One was a screamo band called Exodus Complex. Another was a rock band called the Lady Blue. That was a local band and I am with a phenomenal lead singer named Tina Haas Findley. And I toured with a secular band called Radio Moscow. Was their drummer. They were one of the best bands I’ve ever played with. Just this last year their latest album was reviewed in Rolling Stone magazine. They also had songs in the movie called The Goods. As well as a song in a RadioShack commercial featuring Lance Armstrong. I toured with them from 2007–2009. Part of the tour was with a band called Witchcraft from Sweden. It was a dark time for me. Late 2009 until late 2010 was one of the worst times of my life I was sick physically, sick mentally and definitely dying spiritually. My wife and I were split up. My family was split up and I had become an unemployed hermit essentially. It was in July 2010 that I rededicated my life to the Lord and was able to get back with my family three months later. I’ve stayed fired up since that day and the Lord has slowly brought my ministry back. I am a pastor now and my mindset is all about “onward and upward.” And finally in 2015 the Lord open the doors for XL and Death Before Dishonor to make a comeback.
What can people expect lyrically and musically with the new releases? Who are the guest musicians on the new album?
The new releases are called Offensive Truth simply because that’s most likely what will happen. People may get offended by the blatant truth in my albums. I discuss rape, molestation, the ills of the upper echelon corporations, and my personal experience with methamphetamine. I talk in detail about the things that almost destroyed my marriage, I give an overall testimony from the time I was 8 years old to current. There’s a song that puts down the male mentality of using a woman simply for pleasure and not giving the respect due. There is a song called “The Wrath to Come” that talks about the written judgment that is coming on this earth. And those are just songs off of Volume 1. There’s an awesome lineup of special guests on this album, The guitar players are Oz Fox from Stryper and Bloodgood, Rex Carroll of Whitecross and King James, and Greg Minier from the Crucified. The guest drummer line up consists of Jim Chaffin from the Crucified; Jesse Sprinkle who has played with Demon Hunter as well as Dead Poetic and many others; Joel Goodwin who has played piano with Walter Hawkins, the gospel great, and has done production for Crystal Lewis (he actually played the drums on my CD – piano is his masterpiece instrument but he is not too shabby on the drums as well); and finally my brother Anthony Stevens is on a couple of tracks as well. He has been XL & DBD’s drummer since 1998. So there are five other drummers on the CD’s. And the other 15 songs feature XL on the drum kit. There was a possibility of some old-school Christian emcees appearing on the record but it just didn’t pan out.
Do you plan on playing out live for the new albums?
Yes we plan on playing live. Problem is I need to put together a complete band. I figured that would be easier after the album drops and people knew that I was once again a presence. Rex Carroll said he’d tour with me, and Jesse Sprinkle said he would tour with me. I’ve got some people here in my state that I could put on board but ultimately praying to God for the right band. My go to drummer is my brother Anthony, but he is a professor in college so if the schedule does not work right then I would be getting a different drummer.
What would you like to tell us about your Church and ministry?
I currently attend cornerstone Church in Boone Iowa. I started going there in August 2012 because they had asked me to be their worship leader. I am now a licensed pastor at that church still doing worship and working with the youth group. I have brought my two brother’s families to that church. My older brother Anthony who has played with XL & DBD since 1998 is the drummer for the praise band there. It is a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. I’m currently in school to become ordained. As I said before right now I just have a provisional license which means I can preach from the pulpit, do weddings, do funerals, etc. My vision there is to see it grow, for people to become more holy, righteous, and fired up for Jesus.
Leave a Reply