MESHUGGAH Drummer: 'I've Never Really Reflected Much On What We Do'

Chris Slack at Gravemusic.com recently conducted an interview with MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Gravemusic.com: The guitar tone on "obZen" is incredible and very unique. Besides the eight-string guitars how did you manage to create such an unusual yet heavy guitar sound?

Haake: Yeah, it's kind of weird as we used the same amps and stuff as we did on the "Catch Thirty-Three" album. Maybe from just trying different mics and positions with the cabinets for this one. Actually I don't think we used cabinets for the production on "Catch Thirty-Three", we only lined in. That would be the main difference. We still used the same amps for this one the Vetta 2 amps, the Line 6 stuff but this time around we used microphones and mic'd the cabinets. This would be where the added grit comes in and there is a bit more dirt to it. I really liked the guitar sound on this one.

Gravemusic.com: Is there a song on "obZen" that you could single out as the one you are most proud of? If so please explain why.

Haake: That would probably be "Bleed". The reason I am most proud of it is that for all of us, now that we are performing it live, some nights it doesn't quite work all the way but we make it work. It's getting better by the day though. It was a big effort for me to learn, I had to find a totally new approach to playing the double bass drums to be able to do that stuff. I had never really done anything like that before like the fast bursts that go all the way through the song basically. So I actually spent as much time practicing that track alone as I did with all of the other tracks combined. It's kind of a big feat to change your approach like that and I'm glad we were able to nail it for the album. For a while threw we didn't even know if it was going to make it to the album.

Gravemusic.com: I really look forward to seeing you guys perform that tonight; it's really an insane song.

Haake: Yeah, it pretty much is. It's a hard one to do. It's one of those tracks where you can't lose it anywhere or it's really, really hard to get back into it. Once the patterns start breaking up and they're kind of permuting over time and it just goes on and on. It's really one of those track live where there isn't much headbanging and such going on because everyone needs to focus very much on what they are doing. But still I think that the song comes out strong anyway.

Gravemusic.com: Many of the more acclaimed drummers in metal such as Gene Hoglan, Flo Mounier, Derek Roddy and Mike Portnoy have released instructional DVDs. Do you have any plans on doing anything like that?

Haake: No, not really. I wouldn't even know where to start with something like that. I would love to do something like that but at the same time I wouldn't really know how to show people as I've never really reflected much on what we do. We just play it as music and as far as the technical aspects that come into play where the drumming goes I just kind of play and don't think to much about it. So for me it seems it would be kind of hard for me to explain stuff. Then again instructional videos are not always instructional. They can be more or less entertainment of just playing stuff so you can see what the drummer is actually doing. Maybe I will do something like that. Perhaps as an instructional thing but more of something where you have different camera angles and you can actually see me playing. Usually in the live situation one doesn't actually see much, they just see arms wailing and it's kind of hard to make out what's going on. I could at least take it down in tempo and stuff like that. Maybe, but there is nothing in the works like that currently.

Gravemusic.com: Complex heavy music has been getting more and more popular over the past few years. What factors do you think contribute in making people more open to this type of music?

Haake: I think there are many different reasons. I think one of them being that there are an increasing number of bands trying to go sideways from the main scene and try to do something different. You also have certain bands that are big bands, TOOL, for example, who is a huge band. A band like that helps as they sell a shitload of albums and they are continuously pushing. Every record gets more and more difficult. There are a lot of bands like that within different genres that really try to push the envelope and that really helps. I think people are just getting more used to it and more open-minded to the odd stuff.

Gravemusic.com: The last time you toured the states you were part of a pretty straightforward metal package. Is the audience reaction different now that you are playing with MINISTRY?

Haake: It's been really good so far. It's still early into the tour so it's hard to say but the shows for use have been great. There have been a lot of people coming out to see us too so we have absolutely had good shows, no doubt. I think it's a good mix. I don't necessarily think that bills have to be a certain way. You can mix things up as long as it's not really a total clash. You'd have fights every night just from the differences in crowds. MINISTRY is more of an industrial, straightforward rock and samples, over the top but still aggressive music so we are alike as far as that goes.

Gravemusic.com: What exactly do you do when you're trapped on the bus all day?

Haake: I work out. It might seem weird but I have these weird rubber bands so I do some workout exercises. It's mainly because I have this shoulder issue Ahh, crap, I forget what it's called right now. [Referring to "shoulder impingement." Ed.]

Gravemusic.com: Yeah, I remember reading something about that in an interview you did in February.

Haake: Yeah, I thought I would have to have the surgery but now with the exercises I'm doing, constantly doing every day even on the bus the shoulder is really fine and I haven't really suffered anything from it for the first few shows now. Knock on wood that it continues that way because I was kind of afraid that once started playing every day that it might get worse and worse but so far so good.

Gravemusic.com: Exercise is definitely better than going under the knife.

Haake: That's for sure!

Read the entire interview at Gravemusic.com.

Watch fan-filmed video footage of MESHUGGAH's April 2, 2008 concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California: