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Phil
from Monster Magnet sits down with us in Sheffield before their
headlining show at the Corporation for a quick chat about what it’s
like to be a space lord...
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far?
PC: It’s going good, thanks. We’re having a lot of fun.
MM:
How’s the response been to 'Mastermind'
since it was released?
PC: So far so good. It was fun to be over here a few months
ago and play some of those songs live for the first time and now the
record’s out, we’re getting an even better reaction to them on this
tour.
MM:
Do you pay much attention to reviews these days?
PC: Me personally? No I don’t. If you see a good review it
makes you feel good but if you see a bad one then at least they’re
writing something. You know you’re not going to make everyone happy
and for the people that write those reviews, I just think why don’t
they start a band and see what they can come up with. They don’t
really know what it’s like. We do what we do and we know that some
people are going to like and some won’t and if you get caught up in
that too much then you lose track of what you’re doing. I don’t take
the time to read them but occasionally Dave (Wyndorf, frontman) will
send me one – he does most of the press so he’s more aware of the
reviews than I am. The label will send him the links so he sees them
all, with me, I’m just in a whole other world.
MM:
How did you come to join the band back in 1998?
PC: Dave and I
grew up together so we’re really old friends and I’ve been around
the band for a long time and during 'Powertrip',
I was working and living in L.A. and I was always at the studio, eating
and chatting with Dave. So after the holidays, he asked me if I wanted
to join the band and I thought they were great, what did they want my
dumb ass for? Ha-ha! The timing was right and there have been ups and
downs but it’s been a great ride.
MM:
Because it was during 'Powertrip',
which was such a big album for the band, did you ever feel like you’d
been thrown in at the deep end?
PC: I never really thought of it like that, to be honest. I
just thought what a great time to be in this band, you know? I’ve
always been a behind-the-scenes kind of guy and it was a great
opportunity to join a band like that as I’d been in bands before that
were never really going anywhere. I’d always wanted to tour at that
level, too. It was a lot of fun to add what I knew to the band at that
time so I didn’t really feel any pressure, no.
MM:
What can you tell us about your departure from the band in 2005 and
subsequent return a few years later?
PC: When I left I really wanted to pursue other things. I
wanted to put a studio together and get into production. We’d been
touring none-stop and when we finally got a break I was really burned
out and felt like maybe I was going through the motions a little bit and
I felt like if I didn’t build the studio then, I was never going to do
it. I didn’t want to have any regrets years down the line and wish
I’d built a studio. When I came back, the band had been through a lot
and when the opportunity came up to do live shows again, Dave asked me
if I was interested because I hadn’t done it in such a long time and
neither had they really. In the time I was gone, they didn’t play that
many shows so it was almost it was like I was never really out of the
band. After talking with Dave, we decided to do one tour to see if we
both really wanted to do it and we did and it worked out great. We
didn’t want to be a nostalgia band and just tour off our past. We both
wanted to do another record and when I came back it was like no time had
passed. Who knows what would’ve happened but if we’d have kept
playing together during those 4 years then maybe we’d all have been
burned out so I think the time away did us all good.
MM:
Given that ‘Unbroken’ from 'Monolithic
Baby'
was a fairly a big hit in recent years, is there any reason you’re
not playing it on this tour?
PC: Honestly, the only reason we’re not doing certain songs
that people want to hear was I came back at a weird time for the band.
The plan was to get in the studio and rehearse as much stuff as we could
but when Ed left the band and we had to get another guitar player that
halted everything. We had every intention of doing more songs but we did
as much as we could in a short amount of time to get the set together.
I’m sure we’ll play it again soon and we hear it all the time –
‘why didn’t you play this or that...’ I would love to do two
nights somewhere and play two different sets. Dave and I have been
talking about that for years but unfortunately it’s nothing something
that’s materialised yet.
MM:
Around the time of that album, Dave said that he felt like there was no
rock stars anymore and that they’d all been replaced by a bunch of
whiny emo kids. Is that something you agree with?
PC: I think rock stars are coming back now. At that time it
was kind of how it was, yeah. If you were a rock band around that time
in the States, no one would touch you. You were seen as some sort of
dinosaur. The emo stuff got huge and hey, I’ll give anyone credit
who’s been successful at what they love to do but I certainly wasn’t
into it, I think they gave punk rock a bad name. That’s not punk rock!
Just because you read in a magazine that tattoos are cool and the next
week you’re body’s fucking covered in them and they’re all
perfectly placed, that doesn’t mean anything. I had far more respect
for the rappers because at least they were acting like rock stars!
We’ve seen more rock
stuff become more popular over the last few years and I think it has a
lot to do with people growing up and the emo stuff wearing thin, really.
I mean, some of the biggest tours in the world are bands like Kiss,
Ozzfest, Motley Crue, Aerosmith and these bands sell out huge places and
everyone gets together and has a great time and that’s how it should
be, you know? I’ve seen it time and again – rock will get really
big, then it will go down a little, then it’ll get big again but it
never goes away. That’s why I’ve got a lot of respect for some of
the metal bands. These bands that have just grinded it out for years –
like Slayer. They’ve never gone away and neither have Motorhead.
They’ve stuck with it whether or not they were really popular and
it’s great that these bands still do it their way.
MM:
What’s like doing unplugged shows?
PC: It’s fantastic, I
love doing it. As a musician, it’s challenging but you can get into a
whole different kind of vibe with it. We’ve been talking about doing
more of it but some of the promoters are afraid of it because they want
Monster Magnet to do a rock show. Over the next year, Dave and I are
planning to release some of this stuff on vinyl to get the ball rolling
so we can do a tour because it’s something that we really love to do
and it’s a nice challenge as a musician.
MM:
How did the band become involved with the WWE (World Wrestling
Entertainment) back in 2002?
PC: Somebody in the company was a fan and the Hardy Boyz
(professional wrestlers) contacted management about Dave doing a song
for them and that’s how that came about. We went up to the studio and
did a track for them and it was a really cool thing to do.
MM:
Given how many people watch it on a regular basis, did you find that it
raised the band’s profile any?
PC: No, I don’t think it made a difference. Unfortunately
it was at that sort of time that we were just talking about when rock
wasn’t really happening in the States and there was this song that was
getting played everywhere but nobody knew who it was. They just thought
it was a cool riff for the Hardy Boyz to come out to. It helped a little
bit with some fans but if anything it helps more now, with the invention
of YouTube.
MM:
Do you watch it yourself?
PC: No, not really. If it’s on at my friend’s house or
whatever then I will but that’s it really.
MM:
What are the plans for Monster Magnet in 2011?
PC: To promote and keep
touring for 'Mastermind'.
We’re going to Australia shortly after the New Year and then we’ll
get back in the studio because I know that Dave’s been writing a lot.
Then we’re going to do more of the Studio 13 releases which is the
label that Dave and I put together and have some fun with that. We’re
at the time in our career where recording is just a lot of fun,
especially with the studio that I built that I was talking about
earlier, so we’re not just tied into doing Monster Magnet stuff all
the time.
MM:
Cool, well it looks like we’re out of time so thanks very much for
chatting to us.
PC:
Thank you, enjoy the show.
Interview
by: Adam Grindrod
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