Dope busted onto the scene in the summer of 1999, but already the New York-based quintet has impacted in the metal scene, touring with such highly respected metal bands as Coal Chamber and Fear Factory.

Vocalist/guitarist Edsel Dope recently took time out from Dope’s tour with Static-X and Powerman 5000 to talk about everything from drugs and police brutality to Slipknot and Motley Crue.

Where did the name Dope originate?

It kind of just happened, obviously what we were doing for a living at the time contributed to it a little bit. We came up with a bunch of different names, and my brother looked at me and said ‘Dude, let’s just call the band Dope,’ it was really simple.

How do you guys define the sound that you are putting out?

It’s got punk elements; it’s got industrial elements; there is definitely the full on guitar, just being a metal band, and there’s some electronic drums and a whole lot of live drums. I’d like to say Motley Crue meets Guns n’ Roses in the year 2000.

With your album concentrating heavily on issues such as police brutality, what do you think of the recent trial of the New York police officers?

I think you would have to be living under a rock not to think that there is something wrong there. It just makes me that much more secure in knowing that I don’t want to live in a society where the cops and criminals have guns. I believe that if I’m an adult and I don’t have a violent criminal record that I should be able to purchase a gun and protect myself and my family from a perpetrator, whether it be one wearing blue or not.

Where did the idea for the cover of “Fuck the Police” come from?

I think everybody needs to say fuck the police once in a while. I think that it’s a healthy thing to do and very necessary, as well as the fact that I wanted to do a song where we could write a song around it. We got to write guitar parts to it and basically write a song around someone else’s song.

What was it like trying to make it in the industry by selling drugs to fund your band?

It was weird, because at the beginning it was just an idea. I was working at a bar and my brother was managing a bar, and I knew everyone at the bar who did drugs. So why the hell do I want to work in this bar and deal with all of this drama and bullshit of working in a normal job? So I thought, you know what, I’m going to buy a bunch of drugs and sell it to all of these people I know that do it.

It started with this little simple idea, then I started making cash. And I started sitting back and thinking this is what we need to be doing to buy the gear we need to buy, to buy a computer and be able to record this stuff at home. When we first started there was nothing to lose, but what really started fucking with our heads is when you play a sold out show in New York then put on a backpack and hit the street. The risk factor just kept mounting up and it started getting really scary.

How is the tour with Static-X and Powerman 5000 going so far?

This has been an unbelievable tour. It reminds me of the Orgy tour that we did where it’s playing to a much more mainstream audience. That’s one thing I’m really proud of about this band and what we are accomplishing is that we are that band that can go out and play with mainstream bands like Powerman or Orgy and be accepted really well and then turn around the next day and go out with a band like Slipknot and play to these underground really hard-core fans.

This tour has been night after night sold out. I feel that we are actually bringing something to the table on this tour. The kids are showing up wearing Dope shirts with signs that say ‘Fuck the police,’ and they know the words. It’s definitely Powerman’s show, but Static-X and Dope are here, and it’s a great mix.