For now he's less worried about what songs should or should not be recorded and more concerned with his band's live show, which he promises "isn't what our album really sounds like." Lately he's been thinking about the music he listened to growing up: the Kiss and Black Sabbath albums that led to the Misfits and Dead Kennedys. Back then all he wanted to do was play drums, and country wasn't cutting it. He needed something that would match his energy, and punk met his standards. And just because he's a country singer now doesn't mean he's forgotten that period of his life. During our conversation he becomes excited while discussing a poster he just had made up, for a concert that may or may not happen, featuring his group and his new friends, the Melvins. He recently recorded some vocals for use on the Melvins' upcoming album, and that band's drummer, Dale Crover, appears on a handful of tracks on Risin' Outlaw. Williams believes that a bill with both bands on it would go over well, if only because he believes no other country band rocks as hard as his.
"If one night we're playing a show that's like a Branson crowd, well, we can be a respectable band," he says. "But if the next night it's a crowd that's like tattoos and piercings, an 18-to-32-year-old crowd, we can go out and rock them as hard as we need to. I just want to put out as much of the energy while I got it. I've got the rest of my life to chill out and sing slow songs and stuff."
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