Plug'd In Magazine Issue #63

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THE HARD ROCK’N BI-WEEKLY MAGAZINE

#63 We Just Finished Up Our 12’ Summer Vacation! Check some of our best interviews from this year. We’re back next issue with all brand new interviews, reviews, and features!

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This Is: Dave McClain of Machinehead Interview by Michael Demos It’s been 4 years since Machinehead has a headlining gig in the U.S. of their own, not that they’ve been slacking off though, let’s see…they’ve toured with a little band called Metallica, played every major festival known to man, and of course they released last year’s killer album Unto The Locusts. Machinehead is currently finishing up the last leg of their Eighth Plagues Tour, along with Suicide Silence and Darkest Hour, and getting ready to gear up to go to Australia. They’ll also be getting ready for the summer European festival circuit and they’ve already announced dates at Grasspop (Belgium), With Full Force (Germany), and Download (England). We talked to drummer Dave McClain about how the Eighth Plagues Tour has been going, what they’ve got coming up, what’s left on his bucket list, and his band is hungry like Metallica. Here’s what Dave had to say…M.D. PI: You are currently on tour with Darkest Hour and Suicide Silence. How is that going for you? DM: It’s going great. It’s our first headlining tour we’ve done in about four years here in the states and its going great man. The shows have been amazing; we’re playing a super long set, almost two hours a night. It’s a really cool show with us; we kind of took a smaller version of the stuff we had over in Europe with video stuff going on and really cool lights. We kind of wanted to continue what we were doing over in Europe in the states because we’ve never really been able to take a real show with us but the shows are going great. There’s a great turnout. PI: That’s definitely great news. Now, obviously, you guys are supporting 2011’s album Unto the Locust, that album is a little different; you have quite a bunch of songs that are pretty lengthy. How has everyone in the states been responding to that? Are they pleased? DM: People are diggin’ it. At the shows we play most of the record live and people know every song that we’re playing and are singing along. We definitely wanted to try something different than what we did on The Blackening. I don’t think we had a choice, after being 5 years separated from the writing processes, but people are diggin’ it. The record is very different in the sense that each song kind of stands on its own. There are all kinds of different stuff on the record and people like it. PI: I want to talk a little bit about the tour. You guys are doing something different there. You are doing The Faces of the Eighth Plague at each show. Can you tell us a little bit about how that came about? DM: We started playing that song maybe a little more than halfway through the European tour. We had videos playing during the song, just things that kind of went along with the meaning of the song. We had our film guy, Scott, go into the lines where people were waiting to get into the show and he had paper and a sharpie and was just writing down what people said Machine Head meant to them and it’s really cool. People were really responding to it and really wanted to be a part of it. For us, just seeing that every night almost chokes us up sometimes just to see what people write about our band and what it means to them. It’s a really cool thing and a great way to make our fans feel like they are a part of the show. PI: Machine Head has been doing this forever. You’ve been doing this forever. You’ve got this tour now, Australia soon, and you’re doing With Full Force, Grasspop, and Download this summer. Does it ever start to become a blur to you? (Cont’d)



DM: There is definitely a block in a tour where someone comes up to you and says “Dude, remember when” and a lot of times you can’t even remember where you were or what you were doing three days ago. Everything kind of melts into each other but there is so much going on all the time and you don’t really get to go out and experience anything that would remind you of the city that you’re in. On tours like Mayhem, every amphitheater looks the same day to day and it’s not that it’s tedious or boring but, again, everything just kind of melts into each other. It’s definitely different when you get into the festival situation over in Europe because festivals like Download have its own identity so you tend to remember it a little bit more. PI: Speaking of Download, Metallica and Black Sabbath this year, right? DM: Yeah! (PI) You have opened up for Metallica before, right? (DM) Yeah, we toured for almost a year with them about two or three years back. PI: When you look back on Machine Head’s career, you have become more tight-knit over the years and it just turned into something huge. Do you find it easy to stay grounded, or is it easy to get swept up into this whole money thing? DM: It’s pretty easy for us to stay grounded. This band has gone through so many ups and downs, not that we expect bad things to happen, but we know now that when things are great, just soak it in. If things are bad you just gotta get through it. It’s not like we go around thinking we’re the shit, we still feel like we have so much to prove as a band, especially after touring with a band like Metallica. There are a bunch of bands that are doing really good… and then there’s Metallica. They are the Kings and they can literally play anywhere they want to play and sell it out and do whatever they want. Their still hungry to do stuff and they still have that in them and we feel the same way, we want more and more and we respect what happens to us. We take nothing for granted. PI: By being in Machine Head, have you crossed many things off of your bucket list? If you haven’t, what are you looking forward to doing? DM: Having our own private jet (Laughs). We got to ride in Metallica’s and it was pretty fucking awesome! (Laughs) To be honest, our band getting more and more popular is all we ever wanted and just to continue doing what we do and hoping to get a little bigger in the process. PI: When you get the chance to have some down time for yourself outside of touring, how long does it take for you to decide that you miss touring and want to go out again? DM: Two weeks (Laughs). I’m the dude in the band that is always ready to go and happy to be on the bus. I enjoy my time at home, but there is definitely a time limit on it where I’m just like “Okay, let’s get the Hell out of here and get back on the road,” you know? PI: With all the bands you tour with and support, who out there is making music or has a stage show that has you excited? Who are you listening to right now? DM: Right now, a band that I’m really excited about is a band called Ghost. They have really cool music, a great image and a cool show. They are really exciting right now. They are super nice guys and a great band. PI: I just want to say congratulations on all your personal accomplishments as well as Machine Head’s and I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to sit down and get Plug’d In with you. DM: Cool man, I appreciate it.

www.machinehead1.com



This Is Kirk Windstein of Kingdom Of Sorrow Interview by Michael Demos PI: I’ve got to tell you, I wasn’t sure who we were going to be interviewing and when I saw you guys coming into the room I was like “this is going to be freakin’ awesome, I get to sit down with the “Beard of Doom”. We are sitting here in the press end at Mayhem Fest in Camden, New Jersey, how has Mayhem been for you guys thus far? KW: Really good! It’s hot as fuck but it’s a really good festival. It’s good for Jamey and I to be able to do Kingdom of Sorrow proper on this thing, you know, just do a real tour. We’re hitting everywhere in the U.S. and we did one show in Canada so it’s a really good chance for us to kind of re-launch Behind the Blackest Tears, which came out last year. It’s good. Good promotion, it’s fun, a lot of boring downtime, of course, but that’s what festivals are about. I’ve fiddled around on the computer as much as possible to waste time and once the day gets rolling its okay. Once I’m done with everything I can go check out some bands, unfortunately I can’t see any of the bands on our stage just because I’m working all day but last night I watched Godsmack, it was really cool. Tonight I’ve got some friends coming and I got me a ticket as well in the seats so I can be a fan and I’ll catch Megadeth, Godsmack sure, maybe Disturbed. PI: Are you promoting a lot of the Crowbar stuff this tour? KW: No, we’re doing one of his songs because the new record just came out. He wants to do a Crowbar tune and I’m like “No, let’s promote Kingdom of Sorrow”. I’ve got plenty coming up when I get home with Down. I just got back from Europe with Down before this started and as soon as we get home Crowbar plays in Fort Worth Texas, we have a show in Baton Rouge Louisiana the next day, and I start rehearsal with Down that week and leave for another tour. PI: 3 different bands; where do you find the creativity to fit in with each band? KW: I’m going through a really busy stretch right now a lot of times. but when I’m done with the Down tour, I’ll be home around September 25th. When I’m home from that I am off until we go to South America with Down in November and then I’m off until after the first of the year. During that time is when I’m home with family, just a regular guy cutting the grass, going grocery shopping, no partying, I don’t go to clubs and shit at all, I mean, I’m burned out all night, you know? I just chill with the old lady being a regular dude. PI: In the underground scene, is there any band you’re excited about right now? Are there any bands that you would personally listen to? KW: Ghost. I’ve got a song stuck in my head right now called Rituals. I can’t get it out of my head. I saw them at Download over in England only a little bit because I had a bunch of press, of course, but Down is taking out a band called In Solitude that’s also a Swedish band, different than Ghost, a little more metal but still old school so I like them a lot too. Right now, I’m kind of a big fan of the new wave or Swedish heavy metal. PI: How do you yourself get exposed to the new music? KW: I’ll just run into a band here or there, I mean, dude I’m 46 years old, so something like Ghost attracts me, it sounds like Merciful Fate meets Blue Oyster Cult meets 70’s, it’s like shit I grew up on. It’s difficult for me to get into like new death metal bands, they all play great but to my mindset I want choruses and melodies and Ghost has that. All of my bands are heavy, but you gotta have hooks, you gotta have choruses, you gotta have shit you remember. I can’t understand one lyric of anybody but that’s just me, I’m old. Nothing against them, they are all great musicians and shit, but I’m old school.


PI: Everything has changed in the industry over the years, the kids are different, everything has a sub genre, and it’s not just rock and roll anymore. What do you think about the direction metal has taken? KW: One side of me is really disappointed in it because it seems like bands these days just go “okay, we’re gunna ripoff this”. You ask a band “what do you all sound like, dude?” and they tell you a band. You’re not supposed to sound like a band, you’re supposed to have influence from bands but you’re supposed to create your own sound from those influences. But bands like Ghost and stuff like that renew my faith that there are bands out there that make new music and have it be something original and new and fresh. When I hear it I’m like “I can’t get the melodies out of my head”. I’m not just jumping on the bandwagon because I’m not that kind of guy, very few bands blow me away with what they’re doing. Stuff like Ghost and In Solitude is cool. I hope younger bands are influenced by that and realize that anybody can play 800 miles an hour, anybody can fucking scream like two cats being gang-banged by a knife, or something. Write songs bro. PI: Looking back throughout your career, one highlight and one thing you wish you could change. KW: I wouldn’t change anything man, maybe getting rich would be nice, but I really wouldn’t change anything because it makes me who I am and it’s what I’ve learned from. As far as one highlight, there were many. I’m blessed and I’m really lucky. Other than getting rich, I’ve been able to do everything I’ve dreamt of doing. Down supported Metallica on the first leg of the Death Magnetic tour. We had done some shows to gain support from Metallica in some stadiums in Eastern Europe, which was amazing, but doing the tour here in the round and all that shit, our tour ended in New Orleans at the New Orleans arena so that was probably the highlight because (James) Hetfield got up and played Bury Me In Smoke with Down, he really did get up there and play so that was a trip. Hometown crowd with 20,000 and not only am I opening for them, Hetfield is jamming with us. That would have to be the highlight. PI: There’s a bunch of kids here, it’s hot as hell outside, they’ve been waiting an hour and they want to see you and talk to you. Is there anything you want to say to them? KW: More power to you. Thanks for dealing with the heat every day, people are troopers man. They suck it up and go for it, it’s cool, so we’re looking forward to jamming today. PI: You guys got anything else? KW: Fortunately for me, I’ve been able to accomplish everything I want to accomplish in music and that’s saying a lot so I’m really blessed with that. If I quit tomorrow and go do something else, at least I won’t be one of those bitter musicians and I’m really lucky because there are so many of them but you can’t blame them in a way because it is a lot of hard work. People think it’s easy. I played my first show in 1980 at a school fair 31 years ago and I’m far from rich, trust me. I’m all good, I’m happy, I’m upbeat. All we want is a roof over our heads, a car that runs, food, you know, and all the simple things in life. PI: Kirk I want to say thanks so much for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plugd In KW: I appreciate in man, thank you.

www.facebook.com/ KingdomOfSorrow

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This Is: John 5 Interview by Vikki Sin Few guitarists have been lucky enough to land long term gigs with not one, but 2 of their favorite artists, but then not everyone is John 5. Having played extensively with rock powerhouses Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, not to mention collabs with David Lee Roth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and childhood hero Paul Stanley to name a few, this legend in the making has also kept us entertained with 7 solo albums; the latest of which, “God Told Me To’ is being released this coming May. Looks like his childhood prayers came true, an amusing thing given his heavily horror themed resume. But despite all the makings for a well-deserved rock star attitude, he’s incredibly down to Earth, discussing with me the tribulations of today’s music industry and the favorite of his 500 guitars. Read on for more, and catch John 5 in action on tour with Rob Zombie and Megadeth, kicking off May 11th…V.S. PI: You’re heading out again with Rob Zombie on tour this summer. Having gone from Manson to Zombie, do you feel the shock rock image lends to your creativity as an artist? Do you like getting dressed up to perform? J5: You know…that’s a great question. We all had things that we loved that really stuck with you your whole life. You see things; you’re like “oh, I used to love that as a kid”. When I was a kid I loved monsters- Universal monsters- you know, like Frankenstein, Wolfman, the mummies, things like that, and I loved KISS. Part of the reason I loved KISS is they looked like monsters with guitars, so it’s like being a kid. You get to dress up and do all these things, when you get up on stage in front of all those screaming people and I just, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I mean, it’s the greatest thing ever and I was such a fan of Rob Zombie and White Zombie before I even got in the band so I couldn’t be happier and it couldn’t be a better situation because it’s like Halloween every night and it’s so fun, you know. I love it. PI: Speaking of Manson, most people started really knowing of you during that period. How important do you feel it was for your career to hook up with Manson? He gave you your name. How do you feel that helped define your career? J5: Well, you know, I’m very up front and honest, and yeah, Manson did put me out into the public eye and he gave me my name, he gave me John 5, and a lot of people were introduced to me from being in Marilyn Manson, which I love and appreciate. I loved being in Marilyn Manson. I was a HUGE fan before I was even in the band, so I owe a lot of that to Manson and it’s just like with KISS, you know, when Ace Frehley left KISS he wasn’t gonna change his name to like, Paul Frehley, you know? People know him as Ace. So that’s why I kept the name. PI: Tell us a little bit about your upcoming album “God Told Me To”. What was your thought process going into this album? J5: With the title, “God Told Me To”, when terrible crime happens, serial killers. they always say “Hey, why did you do this?” and they say “Oh, God told me to” or something like that. With this, the title, I really wanted this so bad as a kid, I wanted to be a successful musician and I would go to church like on Christmas, I never went to church, but I did as a kid and I would always pray to be a successful musician and that’s kind of why I have that title. It’s kind of like a play on words, the yin and the yang. It could mean a terrible thing or it could mean a very positive thing. But, it’s a great CD. There’s a DVD with it, an hour long DVD, and it shows me in the studio recording the stuff. It shows like a day in the life on tour. There’s also- this is kind of interesting- there’s a horror host that hosts the DVD. A horror host is like back in the day you would have things like Sir Graves or Vampira introducing movies. You might know Elvira or something like that. It’s got something like that. It’s great. I’m really proud of it and I think people are gonna enjoy it. PI: If you had to give up playing guitar and you were made to pick any other instrument that you could master, what would you switch to, if you had to choose?



J5: Well, you know, first of all, these are great questions. (Laughs) I would say, it might sound funny, but I love the banjo and I love pedal steel. But, you don’t see a lot of rock star banjo players or pedal steel players, that’s for sure. But, you know, I do really appreciate those instruments a lot. (PI) Maybe you wanna hook up with Hank3 at some point. (J5) Yea, there ya go. I love him. PI: How many guitars do you own, and what would be your favorite? J5: I have one of the first solid body electric guitars made. It’s called the Fender Broadcaster, and it’s one of the first 127 guitars made, ever. So, that’s my favorite, but the amount of guitars I have, I think it’s maybe close to 500. Yea, it’s a lot. I know. PI: So I read an interview, and it was funny, you said you had recently listened to N.W.A. and you thought it was pretty cool. If there was someone “shocking” you would choose to work with, maybe in the hip hop arena, who would you love to lend your guitar skills to? J5: You know, I listen to N.W.A. and it’s very aggressive, okay? And that’s why I was like “This is really good!” and it would be cool, because I would like the music to be aggressive as well, so I don’t know, it could be anyone. Eminem, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg…anybody like that, because I think I could make some really aggressive, cool music! (PI) Now that would be something to see. (J5) I think it would! PI: You can’t shock anybody any more. It’s gone away. You’ve dealt with it in Manson, and now you can write about serial killers and it seems like you don’t get any blame anymore and you just can’t shock people. Where do you think that’s going to take the direction of shock rock music? J5: I think we’ve pushed it as far as we could push it. Not me, but we as the music, and shock in general. I think it’s all up to great songs. The music business has changed SO much now. It is drastically different and I think it’s all up to people writing really good songs. I mean, the music business is in such disarray right now. Everybody in the record companies and things like that, they’re all hiding under their desks. They don’t know what’s going on, so I don’t know. I think people are just trying to figure out how to sell records again, instead of just shocking people. They’re just trying to figure out how to make a buck now. We’re in a weird time right now, that’s for sure, and we have been. I was talking to my friends kids and I was like “Are you guys gonna buy the new this or that?” and they were like “No, no, we just get it off the internet” and I was like “You guys don’t pay for it?” and he’s like “No. What do you mean pay for it?” They – I’m not exaggerating- they didn’t understand. They weren’t around for music stores. They were never around for like, CD stores. They’re younger kids and they were just like “No, this is how you get it. Why should we pay $15 for a CD or something, when we can get it for 10 seconds for free?” It’s true. It’s just such a weird time right now and it’s just like if I said to you “You have to pay me $20 to go outside and breathe this air” you’d be like “What are you talking about?” That’s how it was for them. They were so shocked. (PI) I find that it’s constant touring and merchandise. A lot of bands making sure they have shocking merchandise with funny things on it. That’s where they’re making their money anymore. It’s almost impossible to sell records. (J5) You hit it right on the head. You’re very smart. (Laughs) It’s all about touring and merchandise. That’s about it. And until something changes…I don’t know when it’s gonna change or if it ever can change, ya know? Just like when people had 45s and they had 8 tracks, and that was it. Times have changed so much, but who knows if it will get past this digital world. Maybe music will become just free. Who knows? PI: What can we expect from you after tour? Anything else you’re working on that you can let us know about? J5: I just finished up the score for Rob Zombie’s movie ‘Lords of Salem’. I worked with Skynyrd on their next record, worked a little bit with Rod Stewart for his upcoming record, and then we’re gonna be doing the new Zombie record at the end of this Megadeth tour. (PI) No shortage of projects for you. (J5) I know! PI: Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and give us a chance to get Plug’d In. J5: Great, thank you!

www.john-5.com

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This Is: Chibi of The Birthday Massacre Interview by Vikki Sin When I first found out that The Birthday Massacre was going to be coming to town with visual kei superstars Dir En Grey, I almost punched the computer in excitement. TBM is the first band since Manson that I’ve latched on to like audio heroin, using their unique brand of synthrock and creepy imagery to fuel many nights of artistic frenzy. So I set off for Philadelphia with a perma-grin on my face, prepared for an awesome show. I was not disappointed. These guys delivered a powerful performance, playing all the favorites from “Blue” to “Shallow Grave” to a bouncing audience. I met up with vocalist and fellow art addict Chibi in the alley behind the TLA beforehand to discuss many things, including their latest EP, Imaginary Monsters. Chibi’s one of those musicians that when you meet them, you develop a whole new love of the band based solely off of how fucking cool that person is, even apologizing for interrupting the interview to ask me what kind of paints I use and discussing why she would rather not be a gallery artist (the networking). As a fan, writer, and artist, I couldn’t have been happier. Read on to find out more about the story behind the bunny and why Chibi thinks more girls should put their clothes back on and pick up guitars…V.S. PI: Tell us about the concept of Imaginary Monsters being mostly remixes. What was your thought process going into that album? C: When we were wrapping up Pins and Needles, which is the last full length album, we had a bunch of songs that we didn’t get to complete because we were running out of time to move into the mastering for that record, so it was a shame because we had some really good songs but we had to sort of leave them to the side and focus on that full length. Then, now that that release is finished, we’re like okay, we’ve got these other songs and we really wanted to work on them and there wasn’t enough to do a full length album so we’re like let’s just do an EP. So, we were able to finish the 3 remaining songs that we really liked, which was awesome because, I’m so stoked, Forever is one of my favorite songs and I was so bummed out when we had to set it aside, so I’m really glad we went back, especially to that one. And we just got some friends, basically, people that we’ve toured with or worked with in the past to do remixes, so it made it kind of fun, like a way to sort of finish the writing process from that album with the EP, and yea, just do some remixes with friends. PI: So did you personally pick everyone that did the remixes of your songs? C: Oh yea, we approached them- “we approached them” (makes serious face)- doesn’t that sound so- yea, again, we’re pretty friendly with everyone that did all the remixes so they were stoked to do it. PI: What inspires you to write and to sing? How did you get started in the music industry? Is it something that when you were growing up, you knew you wanted to do? C: No. I mean, I did the whole hairbrush/microphone in the mirror just like every one, you know what I mean? But I met Rainbow when we were going to college together and we just started hanging out. He was really into writing music with his friend Mike, who’s now also in the band. But it was something that we started doing just sort of for fun. I was never like “I want to be in a band” or be a singer. We started the band purely for fun and we just did cover songs as like a joke. We didn’t want to go out and spend all kinds of money so we’d stay in on the weekends and just record music and then we ended up writing our own original stuff and just playing around London, Ontario…which is where the band got started. So yeah, it was just kind of for fun. I mean everybody that’s pretty much joined the band as members has moved on, has been a friend. So, it’s always been a friendly for fun kind of thing. It wasn’t like


“WE’RE GONNA DO THIS!” You know, we’re lucky. We’re really happy that it’s gone as well as it has, considering you know, we were doing it just cause we enjoyed it. PI: You guys are really into artwork. I actually listen to it almost exclusively while I’m painting. C: That’s so cool! PI: Yea so I actually ended up painting a bunny mask. Go figure. Where did the bunny thing come from? C: The bunny originally, on our very first website, nothingandnowhere.com years ago, the bunny was supposed to be a transition between pages, because it was sort of- we were doing like a fairy tale/alice in wonderland kind ofmove from one area of the site to the next, so we’ll have a bunny take you there. All of a sudden people starting kind of coming to the shows with bunny ears, so it sort of just- we’re like “okay! I guess we’re going with the bunny!” So it kind of had a life of its own at that point. It was a transition on the website, and totally has become a symbol. And it’s good, though, I mean, it’s pretty recognizable. We throw it on everything nowadays. (Laughs) PI: You utilize the internet a lot, but how do you feel about the direction that it’s taking the music industry, where it’s mainly people downloading music instead of buying it. Is that something you’re willing to play into and work with to get your music out there? C: That kind of thing is really good to get your music out there. A hundred percent. And we’ve always used the internet, even just for online communities, back in the MySpace days, before MySpace, we had a message board. We still do. It’s super cool that there is that. And then you compare any bands record sales from what they were 15-20 years ago and it’s like ‘oh’, you know, and I’ve sort of seen a perspective online, which is kind of interesting, where people say I won’t buy music, I don’t believe in buying music because I believe music should be shared. And honestly, that’s a really good perspective BUT it’s just like “okay, but do you want us to tour?” (Laughs) Do you want to see the bands that you like? Do you want the bands you like to keep making music? So, I mean, you hope that you could make your music available, it’s gonna be available anyway, but you hope that people will still buy it, just because they know that it’s really important nowadays for bands. Even for movies and TV shows, who’s even got cable anymore, right? Everybody’s streaming. I do it to; I stream. But I try and buy my music online too, because it’s like, I hope people would do the same. So it’s a double edged sword, basically. PI: What are some of the places around the world that you’ve been that you’ve found really inspiring? C: Oh god, inspiring? Honestly, probably everywhere you go. In terms of inspiration, I mean we’ve been to places where no one speaks English, like over in Europe and we’ve been down to Mexico and you meet people before the show and after the show and you’re like “Hi” and they’re like “Oh, hi. I don’t speak English” but they know every word of the albums and that is such a surprising thing. It’s just like, you don’t speak English, but you know these words? That’s really impressive. You’re trying so hard to communicate just as a dialogue, but they know the words to the songs. So that’s always very surprising and shocking to me. PI: If you could collaborate with any artist alive or dead, who would it be? C: There’s a band from the 80’s/kind of 90’s,Concrete Blonde. They did a song called ‘Joey’, that was their big hit. Joanette Napolatano was the singer. The musical styles are super different but she really inspired me. When I was in like grade 8 I bought a Concrete Blonde album, Bloodletting, and it changed my life. I dyed my hair black be-


You should check her out, it’s a great band, one of my favorite bands. So I would say them, even though it’s not similar muscial styles but I’ve always found her to be such an inspiration, like in so many ways, from dying my hair black to just being a woman in (lowers voice) a man’s field. And I’ve got a cold so I could say (lowers voice) man’s field. She’s a real inspiration. I’d love to work with her. But it’ll never happen, because she’s just got so much stuff going on. But she’s really cool. A really cool lady. PI: If you were queen for a day, what would be the first thing that you would do? C: Oh, there are so many things! There’s all the stuff like “I would fix the environment” or “I would make people recycle”, “I would this and that“, but one of my biggest things that I feel strongly about is for- I have to look aroundI’m a feminist and I think everyone should be a feminist. I am tired of women selling themselves short and acting like fans when they don’t need to be and debasing themselves for a bunch of dudes that they don’t even know. That pisses me off so much. I’m like, why don’t you play a guitar and actually be in a band and do something and achieve something instead of just objectifying- they’re gonna hate me and say “Here she goes again” (laughs) But I think that society nowadays is very anti-woman. I think it’s very popular, even for women, to be anti-women. Like “Ha-ha let’s make rape jokes”. I cannot hang with rape jokes. It pisses me off. I don’t understand. And girls will laugh at them, and to me I’m just like “Okay, ladies, we need to stop sidelining and trying to fit in with the dudebros and actually just be our own people and tell them to shut the hell up and stop dancing like a tramp and pick up the guitar. PI: I know you toured with Otep. You probably get along real well. (Laughs) C: Oh dude! She’s got some real strong stuff going on and she’s pretty badass in those ways for sure. It’s good, like we’ve toured with a lot of bands that have girls in them, like The Start, The School Yard Heroes, MSI, and these are really good, talented women who aren’t like (makes noises). Girls that do that kind of shit- girls that do that kind of stuff- I don’t like cursing. I curse all the time, but I don’t like to officially. That’s what I would do I think is just have people just take the anti-woman, pro-rape joke hilarity like stripping is cool, and it is if you want to be a stripper, but it’s too popularized now and all it’s gonna do is make people not take you seriously. Like, you could think getting naked is gonna empower you, but it’s not. Everyone’s just gonna laugh at you dude, you know what I’m saying? That’s it. That’s what I’ve got. (Laughs) PI: What do you have in the works coming up for The Birthday Massacre? C: Well, we have to do- “have to” that sounds terrible- we are going to do another album. The label and us, we are working to get it done hopefully by summertime. So that’s the goal. And I’m sure we’ll tour some more too, because we took a year off touring because we were all pretty exhausted, so this is the first tour we’ve done in a while. So that’s the plan. Another album and hopefully more touring. PI: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for giving us a chance to get Plug’d In! C: This has been really cool! Thanks for listening to me ramble!

www.thebirthdaymassacre.com

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This Is: Hank III Interview by Vikki Sin Shelton Hank Williams, better known as Hank3, is a legend in the making, following in the footsteps of his famous family. Known for his diverse musical background and numerous projects, not to mention his no holds barred attitude toward creative freedom, this outspoken hellbilly has caught the attention of a broad spectrum of fans, honkytonk cowboys, metal heads, and punk rockers alike. He’s just set off on a 3 week tour in support of his latest albums, Ghost to a Ghost/Guttertown, a double album focusing on the country side, and Attention Deficit Domination and Cattle Callin’, which are more in the metal vein; all of which he released from his new label on the same day this past September. Busy? You bet. So I was thrilled at the chance to chat with him 2 days before he set off from Nashville to find out a little bit more about his notorious rocky past with Curb Records and his love of dogs, tattoos, art and everything in between. Maybe a Slayer collaboration in the future? Read on to find out… V.S. PI: You released 4 albums on September 6th last year, which showed a range of your musical abilities. What made you decide to release 4 albums at once? H3: There’s more things than just one, but the main foundation for it is just being different. You know, making my mark in musical history. It’s something that I don’t think has been done before. The only other person that came close to doing it was Frank Zappa and his label held him back from being able to do that vision, so that gave me a lot of inspiration. I haven’t been able to record or sell my own CD’s at my shows in over 18-19 years, so I can guarantee we’re bringing the doom and the cattle calling and the country and the hellbilly to the fans, and giving the fans a chance to see the show and buy each genre of music. So, those are a couple of things on just the foundation and I don’t know in time if I’ll ever have that much focus or drive to take on so much material at one time. PI: I know you were having a lot of problems with Curb records as far as your limitations on what you were allowed to put out. How did you go about finally getting to release things on your own label? H3: It’s just a nice creative freedom. It didn’t matter if I was an underground artist who didn’t make Curb much money, or someone like Tim McGraw who’s made ‘em millions and millions and millions and having the same problem with Curb Records. It just shows that there’s a problem there that they don’t respect a lot of their artists, or creativity, or music. So, it’s nice for me to be able to do what I do and that’s make music and play with others. You know, if you really look at the mass, I only had maybe 5-6 releases out of those 10-12 years or more on that label, 15 years, whereas most would have double the releases. So, they weren’t just holding me back creatively and musically, they were holding me back in all kinds of ways; all kinds of great opportunities that I had to be part of, many cool things I didn’t get to follow through with, because they would shoot it down. PI: It must be nice to finally be able to put out music that you want to put out and that your fans want to hear and get away from that. H3: I always put out music I wanted to put out, I just had to spend a lot more on lawyers to be able to do it. (Laughs) I mean, now, if I want to create a country song, or a rock song, or if Les Claypool calls and says “Hey man, I want you to play drums on my record“…ok! PI: I was talking to my father, who’s a huge country fan, about this interview and he said “That whole family is known for doing whatever the hell they want to do” and I think it’s cool that you’re an inspiration to people to do what they want to do. You stand up against the music industry, and that’s important. H3: I show kids a good work ethic, you know. Like Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra and all these people showed me


when I was growing up, I’m passing that on to my fans, and showing them how to record themselves and record their practices, and do what you believe in. It’s a lot more to it than just being a rebel. I have a drive in me to do music and all kinds of other things, and be creative, that’s just how I am. People that record, come to the studio, you can just tell when you walk into my house it’s just a very busy, high paced thing that I do. Over the years, I just knew what I wanted to do with my sound. Had a lot of bands that have influenced me and showed me that longevity is much better than being a one hit wonder. PI: This tour that you’re about to embark on, is it going to follow the same so called Jekyll/Hyde format that you’re known for, playing a bit from each genre? H3: Yea. I always pay respects to my country fans first, and then I do the rock towards the end of the show. I think that just breaks it up a little more even, where everyone feels that they got their money’s worth, because the last thing I want to do is make my fans feel cheated, and I think that’s been the best way to do it over the years where everyone seems satisfied. If you don’t want to see the rock, well, you have the chance to leave. That’s the best formula over the years, it seems like. PI: I know you’re really into your dogs. You have Trooper on the new album on a song (Trooper’s Hollar), you have the video you did for the Animal Humane Shelters where you’re speaking about rescuing animals; when you go on tour do you bring your dogs? H3: No, I try not to, because it makes it really hard on my crew if I do that. I have had to take them on tour before and if they get off the bus, well then I hold everyone accountable, you know? It’s like messin with my kids and it puts everybody in a really bad situation. PI: I bet you miss them when you’re gone. H3: Oh yea, definitely. It’s always an ordeal having to make sure that they’re taken care of. They’re very important to me. All my dogs, I gotta make sure they feel safe, my peace of mind when I leave, you know. I have to do it today. I have a new person here that has to watch them and learn them and get used to them. It’s always a little tough. PI: You’re obviously very, very busy. You do a ton of things; you play all kinds of instruments in many different bands. What do you like to do on your off time besides music? H3: I like cutting grass, running the weed eater, keeping up the land, working on the trails, just a lot of stuff outside to keep my body in shape and different kind of work really, just high paced kind of stuff. That helps me get grounded too, when I can work outside. PI: Is there anybody that you haven’t worked with that you’d love to do collaboration with? H3: I’ve been wanting to try to work with Dave Lombardo of Slayer. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. That’s a really big one I’d like to do. Trying to do a country project with him, it’s something he’s wanted to do and I’ve wanted to do with him but we just haven’t had the time to do it. That’s what I’m hoping we can pull together. PI: You’ve got a lot of tattoos. Any ideas for your next one? H3: It’s probably gonna be Trooper’s paw print on me, I guess will be the next thing that I do. I already got it saved in ink and everything. PI: I saw pictures on your website of you painting a guitar. Is that something you dabble in, painting? H3: Yea, I do what I can with it, you know, when I have a chance to sit down and focus a little bit. It’s something I haven’t done near as much as I’ve wanted to, but I get to do it every now and then.


PI: Do you follow politics at all? Is that something you get into? H3: Not really. I try to keep that out of my music as much as possible, because I don’t really focus on that as much. People like Jello Biafra have really approached that, and Henry (Rollins), but they really do their homework, and for me I’ve always been a musician more than a politician and I try to let people forget about their problems. I’m not trying to sell you or push you on something, that’s why I rely on the partying theme a little bit, just so people get to let go and just kind of do their thing out there. I’ve never been political. It is what it is. I’m more into working hard and I hope that people get that out of me. That’s one of the best things out there, is the drive I can offer for people. The political game is just so different nowadays. It’s just one of those things. I keep religion out of it as much as possible, politics out of it as much as possible and just try to make it for the music. It’s like listening to some music that you don’t understand what some people are saying, in different languages. PI: You did the West Memphis 3 collaboration record. Is that something you felt strongly about, or was that more about being able to work with Henry Rollins? H3: Yea, with Henry Rollins and Black Flag. It was an honor to be able to offer hope for kid and that’s something that just shows that if you keep on fighting and just do what you do that hope and support can go a long way, and it did, in that situation. It really made a big difference. That album was a great thing. PI: I just saw today about the album Long Gone Daddy coming out in April. If I’m correct, I believe that is going to be distributed through Curb Records. Can you tell me about that? H3: That has absolutely nothing to do with me. That’s them trying to take away from my business and my records. That’s them releasing stuff that has basically no spirit and no oomph in it. You’ll notice people that I have worked with in the small scene when they were nothing have sucked up to the corporate team nowadays, on the artwork side of things and some of the performers on that record. I have NOTHING good to say about it. That’s just another way of Curb trying to take me down and take away from my vision and my art. PI: You’re doing the tour for a couple weeks. Is there anything else that you have lined up that you can talk to us about? H3: Right now it’s hard to say. I’ve worked with Elmo Jones, recording a project for him. Right now, I’m focusing on the road and when I get home, no telling what kind of project I’ll be doing. I’ll be doing a little bit of everything, but it’s hard to say what kind of record I’ll be putting out when I get back. PI: Is there anybody that we’d be surprised to learn that you are into musically? H3: People from Blondie to Adam Ant to Gary Newman to Heart in the old days, and all kinds of stuff like that. There’s a lot of underground compilations I listen to, but those are a few basics right there that some people might think is strange. PI: Good luck on tour and thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us! H3: You’re welcome. See you soon.

www.hank3.com


This Is: Max Cavalera of Soulfly Interview by Michael Demos It’s always cool when you get to sit down and interview a person whom you looked up to when you were a kid. I got “Beneath The Remains” when it first came out by Sepultura and the early 90’s. I played it till I had to get a new tape because the old one wore out. I’ve been a Sepultura fan and later a Soulfly fan for 20 years now. So it was definitely an honor to sit down with Soulfly front man/guitarist Max Cavalera. We sat on his bus right before their killer show at Reverb in Reading, Pa. We talked about the new album and the fans response, his love of soccer jerseys, and what famous person he shares his birthday with. Here’s what Max had to say…M.D. PI: You guys have been doing some extensive touring lately. How has this tour been treating you? MC: It’s been great. We just hit NY, Syracuse, and Flint, Michigan. Before this tour we were out with Five Finger Death Punch which was awesome. Before that we went to Mexico and had really cool shows there. We did Mexico City with Destruction which was awesome. This is the “Maximum Cavalera Tour” with my kids and everything. Incite and Lody Kong are both my kids bands. To be able to tour around with my kids is awesome. The shows are great, the fans are awesome, and we’re having a great time. PI: What have your fans been singing along to most at these shows? MC: It depends. A lot of the Soulfly classics like “Prophecy”, “Primitive”, “Eye For An Eye”, but they’re also digging the new stuff. We start off with “World Scum”, “American Steel”, and we do “Revengeance” where we get all the kids on stage with us. PI: “Enslaved” just came out in March. How has the reaction been so far? MC: Really good. The more we play it the more they get into it. I’m not one of those people who when they have a new album come out they only play the new stuff, I play the old stuff as well. The old stuff is important so I mix them up and right now we’re playing 5 new tracks like “Gladiator”, “World Scum”, and “American Steel”. Later on we might add some more, but right now those are good to mix with the old stuff. PI: It’s been a good tour but how does it compare with something huge like Rock In Rio? Is your excitement level just as high? MC: I think the smaller shows are cooler because you get closer to your crowd and you get to be more in contact with them. You get to touch them and see the circle pits form. It’s really exciting and great to get the people jumping up on stage and stage diving. Sometimes at big festivals you’re too far away and there’s too much distance from you and the crowd. Small shows are so easy to get into. They’re more fun! PI: You’ve had an extensive touring career. What do you do when you get time off to unwind? MC: It depends where I am. Sometimes I just go for a walk. Just recently we got to go to the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame Museum. They had a display with some Sepultura stuff that just came out last year and it was real nice to see. When we’re in Europe we try to go sightseeing and see the Coliseum or the Eiffel Tower. Other times I’m just in the back of the bus watching movies or listening to my IPod. Ther show is the most important time though. That’s why we’re here. Basically, everyday I’m just waiting to go onto stage and fuck shit up! (Laughs) PI: Your U.S. tour right now happens to be in the middle of an election year. Do you follow politics at all? MC: A little bit here and there. I like Obama, he’s good, and we have the same birthday! He gets extra points from me for that! (PI) Trying to get a White House tip in there Max? (MC) Laughs. Oh yea! PI: How does U.S. politics compare to Brazil? MC: I think Brazil is really following in the steps of America. Obama was America’s first

(Cont’d)



black President and Brazil has their first woman President. I think that’s a direct influence from the states. I think they see it over here and think it’s good; that they can do it over there too. Americas a good influence. I think it’s great that Brazil has their first woman President. She’s doing a good job and Brazil is doing better than ever. I was just there like a month ago and it’s amazing how good people are doing there now. Their doing better than a lot of other parts of the world now and that’s funny because they were always worse off with the economy and the violence. It’s getting better now and we’ve got the World Cup and the Olympics. That will definitely make it better for the country. PI: How do the kids back home respond to what you’ve done over here? Do they look up to you and find it inspiring? MC: I think so. I think they see that if someone else can do it so can they. I’m kind of a Brazilian diplomat outside of the country. I carry the Brazilian flag on my guitar and on the stage. I also have the U.S. flag because it’s an American tour. But yeah, the kids are proud of what I did with both Sepultura and Soulfly. When I was there a month ago I had an amazing show in San Paulo and it was packed. It had been 10 years since I played there so there was a real high level of anticipation and it was a great show! PI: Was the show there any different from here? MC: Not at all. That’s what I love about metal…it crosses all boundaries. It’s a tribal thing. It’s how we feel. It’s how we are different from society. It’s the way we dress and the way we live. It’s why I fell in love with metal when I first heard it. I liked the feeling of being different. I am proud of who I am. Who wants to be normal? I don’t want to be normal. PI: You talk a lot about “World Music” and you incorporate so many different instruments into your music. Where do your inspirations come from? MC: It comes from other people. I really admire Paul Simon and everything he’s done. I like exotic flavors. Maybe it’s because I’m from Brazil? It’s a different exotic country. I like to go to different countries to record, but I wasn’t able to do that for “Enslave”. Unfortunately that was done in Phoenix, but I’m going to travel to do the next one. I want to continue to bring the World Music flavor to Soulfly. PI: What have you not accomplished with your music yet? MC: What I would like to do with music is do it for a long time. I want to have a huge discography. (PI) You’re getting there. (MC) Laughs. There’s been a lot of records and it’s been really cool. It’s a long process and it takes a lot of patience. My fantasies don’t extend to being on the radio or TV. That doesn’t concern me. It did happen to me for a little while with Sepultura and I didn’t really enjoy it much. I thought it was kind of stupid. I much rather prefer this kind of level where the fans really know you, love you, and are fanatic, but not out of control…You can still be a very grounded person. I like the environment where I am now. PI: Tell us a little more about your charity work. MC: I do a little bit. My son was diagnosed Diabetic when he was one years old. We started a fund for him called Iggy Diabetes Fund. It helps poor people buy equipment for diabetes when they can’t afford it themselves. I go to the hospitals every year to meet the kids and do a meet and greet session with them. I try to let them know how good my kid is doing. He is a band now and has diabetes, but he’s doing alright. PI: You’ve got to be the proudest Father ever right? It’s every Father’s dream to have their kids follow in their footsteps. I mean they’re out on tour with you now. MC: I’ve gotten to see them a couple times in New York. They’re really good. I encourage them, but I try to let them do their own thing. I don’t want to tell them everything. It’s fun for them to discover things. I want them to struggle and figure things out for themselves. They need to figure out how to get there by themselves. PI: Thanks for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. MC: Cool man, thanks!

www.soulfly.com

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1402 N. 9th Street Reading, PA 19604 Www.reverbconcerts.com Friday, August 17th: FEAR FACTORY (new Shockwave make-up date!) + special guests: Ninetail and more. Saturday, August 18th: JOHNNY ACTION FIGURE (CD Release Show for the “Solar Bear” EP) Sunday, August 19th: FORGER – Mayla – xSluggernautx – Home Movies – and more Wednesday August 22nd: GLOOMINOUS DOOM + PSYCHOSTICK and more TBA Thursday, August 23rd: FLUX CAPACITOR + CONSIDER THE SOURCE Friday, August 24th: Jus Allah (Jedi Mind Tricks), Reef the Lost Cauze (Army Of The Pharoahs) & Adlib (Snow Goons) + Dr. Fowlmouf – J-FLY and more Saturday, August 25th: BODIES IN THE LAKE – HOMEWRECKER – and more Sunday, August 26th: Clancey & Krystyna’s Clips Of Comedy. Round 2 Tuesday, August 28th: STRAIGHT LINE STITCH and more! Thursday, August 30th: Welcome Back To College Night !! ECHOES TALK BACK – and more Friday, August 31st: MANTIS + Special guests… Friday, September 7th: LED ZEPPELIN 2 (from Chicago, the most authentic Zep Tribute in the world, a MUST see !) + Scary Monster (Classic Rock set!) Saturday, September 8th: GENERAL ECLECTIC – Divisions – Blyndesyde – Forsaken Entity and more


Chris Motionless of Motionless In White Interview by Vikki Sin Two things in particular excite me about metalcore heavyweights Motionless in White. 1. They’re straight from my own backyard, and 2. Vocalist/founder Chris “Motionless” Cerulli reminds me of a younger, growlier Marilyn Manson in just about every way. In fact, the Scranton, PA natives are poised to be the next harbingers of the apocalypse with their “I may be hurting but I will fucking kill you” lyric style, heavy Goth look, dominating stage presence, and merchandise rife with Satanic symbolism. Yet despite the eat-youryoung image and parent scaring sound, this is a band with a lot of heart whose lyrics are inspiration to keep going for a lot of their fans, whom they’re heavily respectful of. Their first studio album ‘Creatures’ made an impressive mark on the charts, and the subsequent videos from the album showed that this group is clearly here to make an impact and you WILL listen. With all of these things, I was stoked to sit down with Chris after an intense set at the All Stars tour this past summer. Here he tells us about future recording plans and why being against organized religion makes for awesome band merch…V.S. PI: You guys just went form the east coast leg of Warped Tour to the All Stars tour. What are you doing after this? Any plans? CM: Soon as this tours over we’re going to Europe for our first time ever. That’s a month long and all different countries in Europe. Then we come back and we have a winter tour. can’t announce it yet, but yea. So, we’re going to be touring for the rest of the year. PI: Do you still need a new bass player? CM: I think we found our guy. (Sola) He played today. We tried him out a while ago and he sucked (laughs) but he’s really cool now. PI: Tell us about the idea behind having fans’ lyrics included on ‘Creatures’. CM: I just got super lazy and didn’t want to write another song. No, I’m just kidding. I just wanted to find a way to involve fans in our band directly rather than just wearing a t-shirt or fucking posting something online, you know? I just wanted to do something that would give them a bigger part. No gigantic explanation. PI: You just came out with the video for that. Can we expect a string of videos like mini films? CM: I wish. We’re doing another video for one more song off the record. We’re going to plan it to come out around Halloween time. That’s probably going to be the last one from the record. Doing a whole separate idea. I wish we could do mini films or some sort of film, straight up movie thing or whatever but we’re not that big of a band yet. PI: It’s a little weird seeing 13 year old girls in Motionless in White shirts with the Baphomet on them. Is anyone in the band Satanists or is that just an image thing with you guys? CM: None of us are Satanists, we’re all just kind of, I don’t want to give everyone a name of “atheists” right now, but we’re all anti “organized religion”, so I guess you could say that. I just don’t give a FUCK about religion or any of that kind of shit and because people use god to pay the bills, I’m just going to do something that’s going to say fuck you to that and get in their face and piss them off, so that’s why we do that stuff. I mean, I don’t know anything about Satanism or anything like that, but the imagery that we use is just to piss people off. I guess actually that might make me pro -Satanist.


PI: Actually yea, that’s basically what a Satanist is. CM: Fuckin A, I’m a Satanist! PI: Obviously, you were influenced by shock rock artists. Do you have any surprising influences maybe from growing up that people wouldn’t expect? CM: I got into music through my dad and my uncle and my grandfather. My grandfather was always a country guy. He’d always listen to Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and whatever, I guess if I would have to say anybody. My uncle and my dad were more the heavy metal route, so that wouldn’t be surprising, but I would say Johnny Cash for sure, and Elvis. Both artists I was introduced to by my grandfather that now I love and it’s just a big part of my life from when I was a kid. PI: How long did you know that you wanted to do this for a living? CM: Probably since like 8th or 9th grade. I was never really into music, I was always into video games, then it went to extreme sports, then just music kind of came in when I heard Metallica. That’s when I was like (gasps) I want to do that, you know? PI: Are you going to be working on a new album soon then? CM: Yea, we’re hoping to record early next year. PI: Do you have any ideas behind it? Going to stay with the same sound? CM: Yea, we’re just going to stay Motionless in White, but it’s kind of too early to have really definite ideas, just more so, we have a direction that we wanna go. That’s about it. PI: You guys are big fans of The Office. You hoping to do a guest appearance on there? CM: There’s actually a petition on Twitter that kids started to try to get us on The Office. I don’t think they care, but we would love to. How you go about it, I don’t know. I think the chances of The Office having a band of metal kids that wear makeup probably isn’t gonna happen. BUT, we will not stop trying. PI: Where do you hope to see your band in 10 years? CM: Celebrating the 10th year anniversary of you asking me these questions. PI: Any crazy fan stories? CM: Today a kid broke down a barrier to get to me. That was fun. He was trying to get my attention the whole time before the show, and because today was a kind of- we didn’t know when we were going to be going on because the cops were holding the show back, I didn’t want to go over and start a conversation with him and then our intro rolls, you know? So he was trying to get my attention like desperately and I was like “I can’t, I can’t” so when I went back over to sing with a band called A Ghost Inside, he saw me and just fucking pushed the barrier over and ran up to me and he’s like “Dude, can we hang out? What’s up, man?” and I was just like “Whoa, calm down!” That’s a crazy thing that happened today. Other than that, just typical fan stuff that happens. PI: Do you have any guilty pleasure songs or artists that you like to listen to? CM: If I listen to something, I don’t feel guilty about it. Whenever people ask me that question, I say Eminem. But if people knew why I liked Eminem, it wouldn’t be weird. It’s really understandable. He’s just really pissed off and he knows how to write lyrics very intelligently. PI: Thanks for giving us a chance to get Plug’d In! CM: Thank you.

www.motionlessinwhite.net



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