Mushroomhead Interview

When I first got to Mushroomhead's tour bus, Waylon was pissed. Waylon, who became the bands new co-lead singer when long time rapper/yeller J-Mann left the group, was pissed because a bouncer at the famous Hollywood club the band was about to play at just man handled him for he feels was no apparent reason. Touring is hectic and chaotic enough now imagine doing it with an 8 person band that does a somewhat theatrical stage show. This is what it's like for Mushroomhead, the incredibly talented metal/industrial/alternative band from Ohio that's been doing this for nearly thirteen years now. The band stopped in Hollywood on Oct 17th and thanks to the location had tons of press and other business to take care of on top of playing that evenings show. Hollywood being stop number six for the band of playing eight straight days of shows on the west coast. After the chaos of the bands tour bus died down somewhat I was able to sit down with Stitch, the bands technical man who does all of the loops, samples, weird noises and his share of theatrics on stage.

The Gauntlet: So what are the theatrics like on this tour?

Stitch: We have a lot more stuff than we have had. It's just that unfortunately tonight we can't use them [because the stage was small at the Whiskey where Mushroomhead played that night]. We have half a truck full of risers, lighting trusses and lights, extra keyboard stands that move and just crazy things that we can't use here because we're all shoulder to shoulder. Everything's on the ground, it's like a punk rock kinda show, which is sometimes cool because you're in the tight crammed corners and the crowds against the stage, so sometimes it's a little more personal that way. Instead of playing the big places where the crowd's 20 feet away at a barricade and you don't really feel like your playing for a crowd. The whole small bar thing has its advantages but obviously the production gets hurt, kids don't get to see as craziness of a show as they would see in a larger theater. But its still fun, we learn to basically adjust to whatever the venue is.

The Gauntlet: So how's the tour been going so far?

Stitch: It's been going good; it's been going real good. A lot of the kids are already starting to know the new material, which helps. We're playing new songs and they're singing along, and that's always good. There's nothing worse than playing new material and kids don't know it yet and they kind of just stand there. Kids are getting into it, they're singing along. It's definitely cool to be out of Ohio because it's snowing. We're touring all these warm areas so that's nice.

The Gauntlet: I was going to ask if you were looking forward to going back to Ohio?

Stitch: No! We're coming home to snow so ain't nothin' fun about that.

The Gauntlet: But you have the loyal, really OG fans there to play for right?

Stitch: Yeah but they get spoiled, they're not as appreciative.

The Gauntlet: Really?

Stitch: Because I mean they're cool and you know I love Cleveland, love the Cleveland fan base but they get shows once a month. They've been getting shows almost all the time for 13 years now. They kind of act like we owe 'em, which we do, and we always give Cleveland the best shows, but it seems like you get a lot of 'what have you done for me lately' with certain people. Like everybody tries to get some thing out of you, but you go play Florida or California or somewhere else and fans have been waiting like 2 years to see you and they're getting out of work early and standing in line and buying all the merch. They're not spoiled.

The Gauntlet: Yeah I saw you guys in Portland, Oregon because I went to college up there and it was just like-well anything in Portland is exciting but-

Stitch: Was that at the Crystal?

The Gauntlet: Yeah the Crystal and the Roseland both. I can't remember if it was the same tour.

Stitch: Yeah the Roseland is a nice place, we were there with Dope.

The Gauntlet: Oh yeah that's right. It was Dope. Yeah, I found it so much more personal seeing you guys play in a smaller town.

Stitch: Yeah, some bands just play like Chicago and major markets but we play a lot of the secondary markets. Where it's a town you never heard of but it's packed because all these kids are so excited that they didn't have to drive 3 hours to the city just to see the show, so those are kind of fun.

The Gauntlet: So are you guys ever going to do a show in the old, original costumes anywhere but Cleveland, like a whole tour like that?

Stitch: I don't know, possibly. We basically usually just only do that for Cleveland, those old school shows. Tonight we're doing something that we haven't done on the tour before, just because of where we're at. Its taking a shot a band, it'll happen near the end of the set.

The Gantlet: Ah I see.

Stitch: Your staying for the show right?

The Gauntlet: Oh yeah.

Stitch: Toward the end of the set you'll see some high jinks. Basically we're dressing up like our rival band, because we're here [in L.A.] and we know a lot of them live here.

The Gauntlet: Do they? So they don't live in Iowa?

Stitch: They never lived in Iowa, only one of them was from Iowa, they claimed to be from Des Moines but half of them are from Hollywood. I talked to fans in Iowa that never heard of the band until they got signed.

The Gauntlet: Yeah they can just buy bands now days can't they. It sucks, but about your new album, I want to ask about how the writing process works with 8 guys in the band, in general and of course on this new one.

Stitch: It would be really clustered if we all were to write together in a room and stuff because everyone would be doing a different thing because we're all into so many different things. Basically it starts with Skinny and Gravy or Skinny and Shomtz having an idea and the idea will get laid down on Pro Tools, because we have our own studio now, so we were able to take our own time on this record and actually spend more time on this one. It basically starts as a riff or an idea and Skinny will produce it, and produce it, and work it and work it, and then he'll be like 'hey try this' or 'hey play me this riff '. Then he'll make loops and build songs with each person and everyone will just come in and add something. Then he'll just start arranging even more and more until it gets to a finished product and that's pretty much how the writing process takes place. Everyone just adds a little bit to the mix and Skinny just produces it and works everything so it's solid. Like 'this will be the verse' and 'this will be the chorus' and once that's figured out we'll go all go back and re-track everything and go from there. Every one gets to put there two cents in, what they like about it, what they don't like.

The Gauntlet: What about the new singer, was he involved at all?

Stitch: Vocally yeah, he was involved obviously. We used the fact that he could sing to our advantage on this one not just scream, like J-Man. Basically J would do the wrapping and yelling and Jeff would do all the singing, now you have Waylon who can do the yelling and singing. So now you've got two people that can harmonize with each other and make more melodies that are pleasant to the ear, like make choruses sound even bigger. So we definitely used a lot of that with Waylon wanting to do his own thing, it's not so much of just 'hey imitate J-Man'. It's like we want you to do what J did but have your own voice and do your own thing. Skinny worked with him a lot too, because he's young and hasn't been doing this for real for along time, so he had to get kind of molded in the studio and during the process. Skinny worked with Waylon a lot to get what he needed out of him. Waylon would have an idea, like he would lay something down, and Skinny would be like 'that's cool but try this' and Skinny would get an idea off Waylon's idea and it basically got molded to be what we we're going for.

The Gauntlet: So how did you guys meet Waylon?

Stitch: His band Three Quarters Dead, which is now defunct, bought onto a Mushroomhead tour. We were headlining, this was maybe like 4 years ago, Avenged Sevenfold and Lamb of God were opening for us. Before both those bands even got huge, now they're both huge and we're still in the same spot, it's aggravating, it's like all the bands that open for us get big. But anyway Waylon's band bought onto that tour and we were kinda like yeah the band sucks but the singers pretty good. Then when J left Waylon's band Three Quarters Dead was recording at our studio up in Cleveland and we were kinda like 'wow he sounds just like J when he yells'. Then J left and we were like 'let's call that dude he's obviously in a local band not doing anything maybe he'll do this'. We didn't know who could fill the shoes, there weren't any good singers in Cleveland that could step up and do it, and all these fans wanted the job. But we like hiring someone that we previously knew, or knew could hack it and plus we didn't just want to get someone to do exactly what J did. It's like if we're going to get a new singer its got to be someone who can do what J did but then do their own thing, not a carbon copy guy imitating him, you know? It wouldn't be honest as a vocalist; it would be like forcing him to be something he's not. So we let Waylon do his own thing and it's good, it definitely added a new twist to the music, and he writes a little bit more commercial stuff.

The Gauntlet: How did the Cleveland fans take to him?

Stitch: They were pissed. They hated it, it's like now they're starting to come around. Because the first time we played a show with Waylon we were in Cleveland and we announced the show two days prior. Two days notice, we're playing Peabody's, new singer. And a lot of the fans they saw it and they were just like, 'it sounds like Jason'. You know it's weird because Jason was like the front man; he was the voice and the face of the band for twelve years. So the kids in Cleveland took it really hard. The rest of the world didn't really seem to care, the rest of the world was just like 'yeah whatever', because the rest of the world was just starting to get known to the band Mushroomhead. Cleveland was like a lot of naysayer's, a lot of people that kinda turned there backs on us. But you know we still played, we still sell out all the shows in Cleveland, and we still draw the same amounts of people. Now I notice we got a whole new slew of kids with this new album. Because in Cleveland it got to the point where you start recognizing every one in the crowd, you start recognizing all your fans. Now its like a whole new generation of kids come out, so its cool. And a lot of naysayer's came around, they were like 'yeah I didn't like him at first but he's good I can't deny the fact that he's good'.

The Gauntlet: It's just different. I think a lot of the long time fans of bands tend to fear change.

Stitch: Yeah they definitely fear change, but Mushroomhead is about change, it's always been about change. This band has been through a ton of member changes that people didn't even know about. I'm not an original member, the bass player Pig's not an original member, Gravy's not an original member

The Gauntlet: Really I always thought he was.

Stitch: Skinny, Jeffery, and Shmotz started the band in 1992-1993 and they had all these other people. They had different guitar players and what not.

The Gauntlet: Did they intend to have 8 guys in the band when they started it?

Stitch: That's just how it came. Everyone's just jamming and making up these unique songs. Then a bunch of people just got added just for the theatrical side of it, there used to be like 12 people with Roxy, and there was a guy who just juggled on stage. It used to be a total S&M circus sideshow, that's what the band started off as. It wasn't taken seriously at first. Then as it got more serious, certain people didn't stick around and just basically the weak links filtered out. We had members steal from the band, and members that had drug problems, and we just couldn't hang with that shit. It destroys bands. So it's just like, let all the problems go and replace them with people that want to do it and can do it. I replaced someone, and I take care of a lot of things aside from what I do in the band. I do a lot of Photoshopping and I help with video editing, help with making merchandise, and do the merch orders. I do a lot of everything. We are very much self-contained and like being able to do things ourselves without paying people to do it for us.

The Gauntlet: When did it come about that it was going to be a serious thing?

Stitch: Basically after a few shows the band did. I used to be a fan; I was going to their shows. I'm only 26, they're like 30-33, they're older than me. I was going to their shows and basically it started as a side project but then the side project became more of a buzz than their main bands. It was all the buzz in Cleveland, I remember growing up and every where you turned someone was talking about this band Mushroomhead 'you gotta go see this band Mushroomhead, you gotta go see Mushroomhead'. That's just how it was. They used to play every weekend, we used to drive out of town if they would play other places, it just grew to be this big cult following. Everybody just breathed, sweat, ate, shit, Mushroomhead. Its was just like 'that's the only thing in Cleveland, that's all there is to live for'. And it just grew and grew and grew as time went on, the band just got more serious in the writing process. They would just work on it for real, I mean the first album is way different than what it is now, way more circus-y, more Mr. Bungle type stuff, more experimental. Now it's very much trying to write songs and have longevity and be able to be on the radio.

The Gauntlet: I've just personally always wondered this; but do you think you would ever do a tour where you guys have a female singer for songs like 'Mommy' or 'One More Day'.

Stitch: Like bring a female on tour to do it? Obviously yeah, but we'd have to be at like an arena level to be able to afford to pay a girl to come on tour just for two songs. I mean it would definitely be cool for a theatrical aspect it would be great to have this girl just come out of no where for these two songs, but that would only go on if the band got to that level where we could afford it

The Gauntlet: So what's the video for the new album?

Stitch: You mean 'Simple Survival'?

The Gauntlet: So is that already out now?

Stitch: It's out; I don't know if it's necessarily on MTV or anything like that, I think Headbanger's Ball picked it up. Basically it's on the internet; you can get it on our website and things like that. That's our first video; we're working on other videos right now that are really crazy that will probably be on the internet and on our next DVD.

The Gauntlet: So who's directing those?

Stitch: We are. We did a lot of our own videos, I don't know if you've seen the DVD home video 'Volume One'; it has four videos on it that we did ourselves. We've got high definition cameras, we've know what the hell we're looking for, we've got an eye for shit artistically, so we pretty much like to take control. Sometimes when you go in and pay a director to do a video, you see it come back its like 'this not how we want to be perceived or how I want to be looked at' it's like you had a different vision.

The Gauntlet: The videos that were on MTV

Stitch: 'Solitaire Unraveling' and 'Sun Doesn't Rise'

The Gauntlet: Yeah, did you guys direct those?

Stitch: No. 'Solitaire Unraveling' was done by Dean Karr; he's done Manson stuff, a lot of artsy stuff. That was a really cool video to be a part of; it was a big budget too, like a couple hundred grand to do the video. But it looked amazing, we were on a totally a big Hollywood type set, big camera cranes, 40 person crew taking care of you all day. That was awesome, that was my first moment where I was like 'hey I'm in a band that's doing this shit for real'. Like actually feeling like your up there one of those big bands you know? 'Sun Doesn't Rise' was done by an animator from Canada named Vincent Marcone. He's been doing a lot of big stuff lately some band called 'Our Cast'. He does a website and animations for a band called Jackelope it's a project of Trent Reznor and a bunch of other people from the industrial industry, they produce this band. His does a lot of stuff for them, his animation is killer. He has this website called www.mypetskeleton.com, it's insane. We met up with him because Skinny was searching the net one day looking for stuff and found this guys art and was like 'wow this is awesome' and contacted the guy and asked him 'you know your animation is cool you want to do a video'? And he was like 'well I've never done a video before' and we're like 'alright let's do a video' so he did all that, very Tim Burton kind of stuff. Very cool.

The Gauntlet: Are these new videos going to be on MTV?

Stitch: Yeah I hope, it's just weird the way the industries is right now. It's just like all this emo/screamo stuff.

The Gauntlet: Yeah I don't even watch MTV anymore, they seem to be stuck on like ten videos and that's all they ever play.

Stitch: I can't stand MTV any more either now, because when I was growing up in the 80's MTV was exactly what it was called, music television. And they had one show, 'Remote Control', which had to do with music. And now once a month they'll have a special about the return of rock on MTV it's like 'what do you mean shouldn't MTV always be about rock and videos'?

The Gauntlet: Yeah I'm about your age I'm 25 and I grew up on MTV too, I know what you mean.

Stitch: Now you watch MTV and it's all these reality shows and like an hour of hip hop it's like what the fuck? I find myself watching VH1 a lot more

The Gauntlet: Or fuse

Mushroomhead: VH1 is cool because they have 'the Alternative' they'll play KMFDM and Ministry videos on VH1

The Gauntlet: I watch VH1 Classic a lot for the same reason. How are things going with the new label Megaforce?

Stitch: It's going ok. The new label, it's not like Universal was where you feel like your on a label. Megaforce is more about a distribution label for us they make sure our CD's in are in all the stores. It's basically our money that we're using, we decide where the money gets used, and we make the PR work and the ads. It's basically our label, the Filthy Hands stamp and Megaforce is our distribution label. We didn't want to rush in and jump into another label especially after we got burned by Universal.

The Gauntlet: But don't you have more freedom being on your own label?

Stitch: Well when we were on Universal, a big label, they got a lot of things done for us. Obviously we wouldn't have had Ozzfest with out them, and the videos on MTV. We got a lot of big things done when we were on Universal. But when you're on a label that big you sort of get lost in the mix, because they have so many other artists you kind of get put on the back burner. It got to the point where they didn't know how to break the band any bigger than it was and that's when we kind of parted ways with them. It has its advantages but it has its disadvantages as well, they wanted us to see a million records right off the bat with no help. They wanted it just to happen and it didn't happen. It needed to be developed. We have longevity fans, we're not a one hit wonder band, and we're not going to come out and sell a bunch of records and disappear. We've been doing this forever, it's just a matter of keeping it going and making it larger because we have songs, we have longevity.

[Shmotz, the bands keyboardist, walks in]

Shmotz: What's all this 'be quiet I'm doing an interview' stuff; I'm not allowed to be funny any more?

Stitch: You can answer a couple questions.

The Gauntlet: Where were we anyway?

Stitch: it was a Universal question

Shmotz: Do you know what Universal backwards is, I'm not even going to tell you, fans, figure it out. No actually Universal was pretty good to us, provided a lot of important things we needed. Like a lot of exposure, marketing, and money, that we gave away to people that quit. But yeah no it's great being on a major label, the majors are great, I would say absolutely take the major deal, don't keep it real in the underground because that means your working your day job. Take the advance and suck from there on out
Stitch: That's what I was saying that Universal got us things like Ozzfest which we wouldn't be able to get but we also got lost in the mix a little but.

Shmotz: Right we did Assfest, Ozzfest, Locobazooka and all that shit. Well I think I successfully fuckin' sidetracked like 3 or 4 interviews today. It's my job I'm not here to be serious, I'm not here to tell you the truth.

The Gauntlet: It's fine. I sidetrack on my own so it just adds to the mix.

Shmotz: So yeah I'm a dick. DJ Stitch here writes all the songs, he writes all the music; in fact he founded this band.

Stitch: Yeah I founded the band when I was 13.

Shmotz: He had a dream one time when his mom was changing his diaper about starting a band called Mushroomhead. No really though at home he's the home town hero because he was like 'I love Mushroomhead. I'm going to work for Mushroomhead' and then he did some art and he's fuckin in the band now. It's kind of cool; all his buddies from high school hate him. 'Oh you're too good to talk to us now' and it's like 'Yep. I'm not too good for you, I'm just better than you'

The Gauntlet: Yeah I went to high school with some of those people

Stitch: I'm not too good I'm just busy. [to Shmotz]: Look I'm sorry you're married and your life sucks

Shmotz: I've gotta go. Tell the kids, buy the album, oh and buy a box of condoms and stay single. [Exit Shmotz]

Stitch: Is it really almost 10:00pm?

The Gauntlet: What time do you go on?

Stitch: 10:30, there's 5 opening bands

The Gauntlet: And Soil is one of them right?

Stitch: Soil's probably going on right now; because Autumn Offering was playing when I left and they only play for half hour.

The Gauntlet: Yeah we could have been one of those local bands.

Stitch: You have a band? What do you do?

The Gauntlet: I'm the singer.

Stitch: What's it called?

The Gauntlet: It's called Foretold Tragedy but we're still starting out

Stitch: What type of music is it?

The Gauntlet: Progressive art metal, goth, dark kind of stuff but like I said we're still starting out.

Stitch: I'll have to check it out; I always like hearing new shit because I don't buy new shit so if something out there is interesting; it's always good to hear. Everything in my CD collection is still from like 1996.

The Gauntlet: What are some of your favorite bands?

Stitch: Like currently or growing up?

The Gauntlet: Both

Stitch: Growing up a lot of Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, KMFDM, old Metallica, pre black album.

The Gauntlet: Everyone has to qualify that don't they?

Stitch: Yeah you have to say 'not the new band that calls them selves Metallica, the old actually heavy Master of Puppets Metallica'.

The Gauntlet: Have you heard that new Trivium stuff? They sound more like Metallica than Metallica right now.

Stitch: Don't want to. I don't like any of this modern metal that just sounds like everything else. If I want to hear Metallica I listen to Metallica. I don't want to hear a band that is trying to sound like Metallica. It's like all these bands that are coming out are trying to mock all these 80's bands that are not going to make you an icon, making an icon is like starting a revolution in music. Alice Cooper is going to be legendary even 50 years from now because he was the first shock rocker. Manson will be known, Metallica will be known, and I guarantee you in 2 years no one will know who the fuck Trivium is. It's like all these labels just sign bands to follow a trend, make quick bucks, get a couple album sales and thrown them aside. What terrifies me is there are no more icons. There are no more rock legends. I honestly think Marilyn Manson was the last one that you'll know who he is 20 years from now. All these bands now are flavor of the week bullshit. I don't buy anything new. I miss White Zombie and Pantera. The mid-nineties were like the best years for me as far as music goes. So much good music that had a lot of heart, now everything is Pro-Tooled to death, and produced to death, and fake. Music isn't real anymore I'm waiting for the late 80's early 90's industrial area to come back around, hopefully that's the next wave because I can't deal with all this emo pop metal shit. The only band I like that kind of that is actually in category is The Killers. I actually like a lot of their stuff, and I don't usually like stuff like that but they're melodies are very 80's and I like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, New Order. I like a lot of that 80's electro synth pop, it's just that catchy shit and I like that shit, and they kind of remind me of that, those dark melodies. As far as other new bands that I'm in to right now I like Mindless Self Indulgence. I like they're music a lot and they put on a great show, they're entertaining as hell you will laugh. It's like watching stand up comedy because he's so out of line.

The Gauntlet: I think that makes their music make more sense to me now.

Stitch: It does. When you see the band the music makes sense because the music is so crazy and out there and you see the band and you get it. We've done shows with them; we did one with them in Cleveland. It was Mushroomhead, Mindless Self Indulgence and Dope, that was great. Especially in Cleveland we do big shows like that all the time, every summer. Basically anything on Metropolis records is in my library, like VNV Nation, Suicide Commando, Funker Vogt, Combichrist. Anything that has distorted kick drums and distorted vocals I listen to it. That's why I should be living in Europe because that shit is huge in Europe. Those bands don't come to America and tour because no one comes to the shows. The rave scene is dead, the industrial scene is dead. It's alive and well in Europe. Its everywhere, any time you walk past a club they're blasting industrial music. They do festivals where it's all these bands I'd kill to see and they play one show its like god damn it's not fair.

The Gauntlet: Don't you think that Europe is kind of more innovative musically than America sometimes?

Stitch: They're way more innovative. They don't have the pop culture, they don't have the Justin Timberlake huge vibe over there, and they don't get all crazy for Britney Spears. They get crazy for like American metal bands and industrial stuff and shit that is innovative original, experimental, and dark. They're into dark shit that's why I love it over there.

The Gauntlet: Yeah the only new stuff that I really listen to is that European Black metal stuff that has the chicks singing and keyboards and stuff from like Finland, a lot of it sounds alike but it's a great sound.

Stitch: Have you heard of Mnemic? They're like Meshuggah meets Fear Factory. They have that weird timing and keyboards. They're amazing and they're from Sweden.

The Gauntlet: Yeah I'm burned out on a lot of the stuff I have now.

Stitch: Yeah I know what you mean, that's why I just wait for something to come across that's good. I don't know if that's just music getting shittier or are we in the position now where when we were kids our parents hated our music now we're becoming the parents and hating the new stuff. Like I find myself saying 'what are these kids wearing now days what the fuck they are listening to' and I sound like my mom. Its just like the music sucks, it has no soul, every ones just trying to make a quick buck, the music is so over saturated, and it's out of line.

The Gauntlet: Well shit how long have we been talking now? Like 45 minutes?

Stitch: Yeah I should get back to the club and start getting ready for the show.

The Gauntlet: Well thanks for letting me distract you for 45 minutes.

Stitch: Yeah no problem

After that I proceed to the Whiskey to get drunk and watch Mushroomhead rock ass.


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Tags:  Mushroomhead  , Stitch and Shmotz, interviews

Collette Claire    October 21, 2006