MONSTER MAGNET – Interview with Vocalist/Guitarist Dave Wyndorf

MONSTER MAGNET’s story is long and illustrious. In its earliest incarnation in the mid 1980s, MONSTER MAGNET thrilled psychedelic, freak-out crowds in their New Jersey surroundings. Initial recordings such as their self-titled album (1990), “Spine of God” (1991), and “Tab” were cerebral, space rock efforts that shot them out of the New Jersey club scene into a cult status in the psychedelic rock scene. Their 1993 effort “Superjudge” saw them continue on their cerebral, spaced out path, but heading into a more conventional rock direction.

Two years later, MONSTER MAGNET released their break out album, “Dopes to Infinity.” Adhering to the formula set down on “Superjudge,” the group found its first radio single in “Negasonic Teenage Warhead.” Two years later, the group created their most successful album in “Powertrip.” This album boasted two radio-hit singles, “Powertrip” and their crowning opus “Spacelord.” Since it’s release ten years ago, “Spacelord” has become the quintessential rock anthem. One can still hear this track frequent the radio. Additionally, it was featured on the soundtrack to “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

The last few years have revealed a band of a different mind. No longer seeking to, as front man Davy Wyndorf stated, “conquer the world with rock n’ roll,” the band has stepped down from the massive corporate climate of Interscope/A & M and into a more intimate setting with Germany’s SPV records. “4-Way Diablo,” released at the tail end of 2007, proved to be Dave Wyndorf’s toughest, most personal record in his career.

Due to lack of sleep during long stints on the road, Wyndorf became addicted to sleeping medication, which ultimately led to his overdose in 2006. This traumatic experience once again caused the group to reevaluate their career, leading Wyndorf to concentrate his efforts more on creating music and less on touring. Lead singer and guitar player, Wyndorf put down his pen long enough to speak with Metal Centre about the band’s recent developments and provide a perspective on his extensive career with MONSTER MAGNET.

You have taken a much-needed break from touring. What have you been doing with your time?

I’ve been writing and living. I’m a pretty simple man. I read a lot. I read, write, and have sex with my girlfriend all the time. It’s pretty simple, man: read, fuck, eat. That’s what I’ve been doing.

“4-way Diablo” has been out for a few weeks now. How has the fan and media response been?

It seems to be good. The fans seem to love it. I haven’t checked on the media response that much. Once I’m done with recording and writing the record, I’m pretty much gone. I’m on to the next thing. If I pay too much attention to its performance, I’ll probably get nervous. Believe me, if it’s good, I’ll hear about it; if it’s bad, I’ll hear about it; if it’s indifferent, I’ll hear about it. I won’t need to read about it. I just go on.

You mentioned on your Web site, “”These guys practically recorded this album by themselves….” Can you elaborate on that statement?

They recorded the basic tracks by their selves: bass, drum, and some guitar as a combo. The foundation of the record was recorded by them and Matt Hyde, our producer. I wasn’t there, I was at a hotel down the street, withering from a Benzodiazepine withdraw! Horrible, nasty stuff! They totally pulled it out of their ass, and it turned out great. I just took the basic tracks and recorded the guitars over it, sang on it, played all my leads, all my guitars and stuff over top of that.

“4-Way Diablo” came after a rough period in your life. Some of the songs contain lyrics questioning some of your past actions. One song in particular, “Blow Your Mind,” asks the question, “Will you ride with the angels or will just completely blow your mind?” Tell me about those lyrics.

Just typical lyrics you would write if you were asking yourself, “What the fuck am I doing?” The angels are not a religious thing, I’m just asking, “Are you going to live, or are you going to die?” I was asking myself that question. A lot of the songs on this record are trippy, inside of your mind type of stuff. I ask these questions like, “Am I going to lose my mind or am I going to be excited about something?” When I ask these questions, it gets trippy because that is the way I was thinking when I was writing them. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t, what is important is getting the vibe of how I was feeling over. [iright:monster_magnet02.JPG]

Does life imitate art or does art imitate life. Most true artists create art as an imitation of their life. How much truth is in this statement in relation to “4-Way Diablo?”

It’s both. The whole story of MONSTER MAGNET is art imitating life, meaning I wrote about my life. I wrote about what I wanted to happen, and what I wanted to happen, happened. I got into this band and all kinds of things went crazy. All of a sudden, I didn’t have to report on what had happened to me in the past, but what was happening to me right then. Now, this record and probably all the records since the first couple is art as life. Life is the art. There would be no art if I wasn’t living the life. It’s funny, the reason I didn’t produce any art for three years was because I was on drugs! I was recovering from drugs, which actually sucked all the life out of me. So, my art is life, meaning everything I go through is reflected in songs. Hopefully, most of the stuff is in the right way. This one was way more to the point than a lot of other ones (laughs) because I had been through so much shit.

“Blow Your Mind” and “I’m Calling You” show the darker side of Dave Wyndorf; however, tracks like “Wall of Fire” and “Slap in the Face” have a party, good-time vibe that symbolizes a Monster Magnet song. Do these up beat songs show your climb back into health?

Yeah, when I wrote the lyrics to these songs, I had just ended putting a vibe on the existing, basic tracks. I was feeling a couple different ways. One, a part of me was trying to get rid of all the weird feelings I had inside of me. On the other side, I was so glad to be back into the studio and actually recording again that they got optimistic. It was interesting because these songs were written one song per day and recorded that same night. I would wake up in California at a hotel room, get a cup of coffee, and then I would just write. For this particular music, I would write and then that is it. There was no second chance, that’s it. It was funny, the first couple songs I wrote were total big baby shit, “Ooooh, I need love, my pills, ooooh.” By the third or fourth day came around, I was in the studio for a while and I was happy to be working again. Then the positive side started coming out. Music is great, man. It’s good for you. Music is really close to what some people would consider magic to be. It has magical properties. Music, it’s just a bunch of notes through together, but it sure has an effect on people.

“Cyclone,” “A Thousand Stars” and “Freeze and Pixelate” contain diverse instrumentation such as horns and tribal drums. What do these unconventional rock instruments bring to these songs?

I think vibe. I’m always looking for atmosphere. To me, recorded music is all about atmosphere. You can put someone in a different place, and get a different vibe all together. You can go one way or the other. It’s hard for me to change some of the vibes from song to song on the record. Sometimes when I hear a riff or something, I think, “It would be really cool if there was this on it.” So I just put it on. I like to change the atmosphere. Sometimes I hear these themes in my head and I say, “Wow, that’s a really cool theme for something!” I don’t know what, but when you write a theme for something, all of a sudden all these instruments jump into your head. I dig it, a lot!

“4-Way Diablo” contains a cover of the ROLLING STONES song “2000 Light Years From Home.” Why did you choose this song, and how did you change it to make it a MONSTER MAGNET track?

We chose it because the guys wanted to do it. The guys said, “We want to do a cover on this record.” I was like, “Yeah, of course. We gotta do a cover!” They wanted to do the STONES. I had no problem with that, but how would it fit on a MONSTER MAGNET record? I figured we would be true to the spirit of the song, to the age of the song. I thought the best way to do this is to just sing it. I’m not going to try to be Mick Jager, of course, but I didn’t want to rearrange the song so it’s totally experimental. What I wanted to do was record the song in a 1960s fashion with tight drums, boxy drums but bump the low end enough to get the quality sonically above the ‘67 recording of The Stones to get it played in dance clubs in Europe. They have rock dance clubs in Europe. They are playing it now. It is a great feeling to walk into a rock discoteque in Europe, like in Frankfurt, Germany and see people dancing to “2000 Light Years From Home.” The DJs love it too because they can go totally crazy. My mission is complete: girls dancing to psychedelic ROLLING STONES songs.

MONSTER MAGNET has created many hit singles such as “Negasonic Teenage Warhead” to “Space Lord.” One can rock out to MONSTER MAGNET on the radio, in film (“The Girl Next Door,” “Talledega Nights,” etc.), and on W.W.E. (Matt Hardy’s theme song). Do you have a track on “4-Way Diablo” that you feel could be a mega hit like the above-named songs?

I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about hit singles on the past couple records because I’m on a record company that is basically in Germany, it’s not a high profile company, it’s not a high profile type of situation with us. Those kinds of situations came to me in the past. I didn’t pursue them. They come and they go. The latest one was, them putting “Space Lord” in “Talledega Nights.” Someone came to me and asked if they could put that song in the film. I said, “Hell yeah, you can!” I don’t write a song for that purpose, but if somebody comes around and wants to do it, and I get to make some dough off it…absolutely fine! I’ll give the money to my daughter.

SPV can boast a large roster of classic, established acts in the realm of metal and hard rock. How does it feel to be with SPV?

It feels fine. They’ve been really cool with me. Years ago, I met a girl who worked at that company when I was trying to get off Interscope. A & M was sold and we were put on Interscope. We were on a label with LIMP BIZKIT and all that kind of stuff. There was no place for us. I thought it was going to suck. We are a psychedelic, hard rock band. People aren’t going to get it, and they didn’t get it. So I talked to my friend that worked at SPV in Germany and I thought, why don’t I just sign a deal with a record label that is not the biggest record label in the world, but is going to work really hard for us in the area of the world where we do the best, which is Europe. It was mainly a business move because the big guys over here spend too much of your money. They spend a lot of your hard-earned money. They throw it out the window. These guys thought I could get a better deal with more natural representation. It has been cool ever since.

MONSTER MAGNET has been at it for fifteen years. Looking back on your career, what has kept you going, especially through tragic times?

Women! Women, women, women! It’s always women! Basically, music is fun. It’s fun to do, it keeps me alive, I like it, it’s part of my everyday life. To be able to do that and also get paid for it, is like a fucking miracle! I don’t need a lot of money, but I do need some. The fact that those two have something to do with each other is amazing! Plus Women. That’s what our tour was about, doing the best show possible then trying to…you know. I was a fat teenager listening to PINK FLOYD records in headphones. What happens when somebody like that gets to be the lead singer of a rock band and gets to wear leather pants? You go crazy! That’s what you do. I ain’t no fool.

Those first couple records have an early PINK FLOYD influence.

I just mentioned PINK FLOYD as one of the bands I listened to. I listened to bands like PINK FLOYD, HAWK WIND, THE STOOGES, all that kind of stuff. I loved it all. That’s all I did with my money. I worked at the car wash, bought half an ounce of pot a week, records and concerts. That was it. It was a stoner’s education through music (laughs). The next MONSTER MAGNET record I make will be totally space rock. I’m going to try to experiment with that one because to try to be all things to all people all the time is pissing people off. To the people that don’t like all the things on our records I’ll make one space rock record, one big rock record. Let’s see what happens. So the next one, total space rock. Total psychedelic, knuckle-dragging, acid-inspired, drug rock. It will make a lot of people happy. It will make some people unhappy, what the hell!

You have to make money, but you have to please yourself too.

I’m into conquering the world as a rock ‘n roll band anymore. It’s fun to do it. It’s fun to tour, but after fifteen years of touring around it’s like I already did this. It’s fun, but at the same time, all the time I spent on tour I could have writing. I could have been making more records. More music seems to be more important to me now.

You have plans to enter he studio for an undisclosed project. Can you give our readers any details at all, no matter how minute, on this project?

It will probably be a solo album. It will be weird, under-the-radar, not rock, but it will be mellow. It will be mellow and weird. I can’t promise it will be all mellow because you never know what is gonna happen when I start writing this shit. It will be more along the lines of the softer MONSTER MAGNET stuff that we’ve put on the records over the years. It will be acoustic, turned-down stuff, weird guitars, weird keyboards. Basically, it will be song oriented not instrumental. It will be demented, I guarantee!

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