Drummer Gene Priest takes place in spotlight

Gene Priest and the Cardinal Sin is, from left, Brian Woodruff, Derek Jones, Bill Lamb and Gene Priest.

Gene Priest and the Cardinal Sin is, from left, Brian Woodruff, Derek Jones, Bill Lamb and Gene Priest.

KNOXVILLE — After a decade of drumming in bands of all types, Gene Priest has decided to champion his own project Gene Priest and the Cardinal Sin. While performing as a member of My Lost Cause, Cold Hands, HiLites and Hot Blood, Priest was all the while writing his own music, which he only recently mustered the confidence to unveil. Now the drummer aims to test his front man muster in true Dave Grohl fashion upon the release of his "Living to Die" EP, due out this summer.

Despite his membership in a handful of successful local acts, Priest lent few vocals from behind his drum set. Priest credits friends with providing the encouragement necessary to attempt his own project. And while Priest had recorded others in his home studio, Brooklyn's Lapdance Academy label owner Brian Grosz convinced Priest to use his equipment for his own efforts. Upon completion, the EP will be released through the exclusively digital Lapdance Academy label.

"I really have to put it on Brian," says Priest. "He kind of pushed me to do this. He told me my stuff was good and people needed to hear it. Whether I believed it or not, he believed in it enough to put it out, so I concentrated on it and got serious about it the beginning of this year.

"I'm an extremely self-conscious person. That's why I've never done my own thing. I've always written music, but have never had the confidence to play it in front of people. I've been playing only drums in bands for 11 years ever since I got out of high school, and I've come to the point where I wanted to do something different."

While Priest harshly describes his music as "depressing," the songs are downtempo and melodic with lyrics that are thoughtfully philosophical. Though he originally intended to record all of the tracks for the EP himself, he now includes the input of numerous friends to round out his ideas. Contributing the song structures through vocals and guitar, he turns the foundation over to guitarist Brian Woodruff, bassist Derek Jones and drummer Bill Lamb who make up Priest's backing band. The recordings are elaborated upon further by studio musicians and orchestral instruments.

"On the EP I'm recording, there are so many people playing on it," Priest says. "I want to lay down the core of it and have a group of people contribute to it and make it something more than just my song. At the heart of it is my vocals and guitar, but it's got so much else going on.

"The beauty of the way I've set the band up is that I can play by myself if I want to, and I likely will. At the same time I can mix and match and bring in a bunch of people. When we play live we want it to be more of an event than just a singer-songwriter show. We're not going to be playing tons of shows just for the sake of playing tons of shows. Every show we play we want to be something special."

In addition to involving many players, the EP will also make use of three separate studios. Priest's home studio provides the base recordings and demos before former Sparklehorse drummer Scott Minor records the remaining tracks and mixes in his studio. Finally the work will be sent to Brian Grosz for mastering. Priest is particularly pleased by the contributions of Minor.

"I'm really excited about Scott Minor working on it," Priest says. "For me that's huge because Sparklehorse is by far one of my biggest influences. Basically Sparklehorse was Mark Linkous. I'm kind of doing what he did. It was basically him and he brought in friends to play. He unfortunately committed suicide. It was devastating to me, and I'm going to dedicate this album to Mark Linkous. He was such a huge songwriting influence, and he was one of those amazing artists who did what he did regardless of what people would think about it."

Priest says the "Living to Die" EP should be complete by mid June when it will be made available through www.lapdanceacademy.com and other digital sources. Physical copies will be distributed locally. Priest hopes to follow the initial release with a full-length, not to mention an occasional local live show and East Coast tour in promotion of the recordings. Following the initial run of Gene Priest and the Cardinal Sin, Priest hopes to rejoin his three other projects all of which are currently on hiatus.

Return of rockin' Robin: Robinella returns to her old stomping ground, playing Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria at 10 p.m Saturday, May 29.

Born to run: Preservation Pub hosts Amok on Monday, May 31. The show is slated for 10 p.m.

© 2010 Knoxville.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.