MESHUGGAH To Release Concert DVD

Joseph Suddreth of The Hornet recently conducted an interview with drummer Tomas Haake of Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Hornet: How do you feel about big-name band like METALLICA, and TOOL coming out and referencing you guys as their inspiration?

Tomas: It's a cool thing, but we as a band try to stay as far away from sounding like any one else, that's what makes us unique. But it's OK if bands use us as inspiration.

The Hornet: So how did you come up with your unique style of playing drums?

Tomas: I didn't develop that type of drumming so much as the other one developing that drumming for me. You know what I mean? We started using drum machines, and programming stuff early on in the writing. Everyone in the band has been good at that, and knowing what they want out of the drums. That type of playing was what we always wonted out of the music and riffs; you know that rhythm elastic sound. That is what made my drumming into what it is today, it not so much as my drumming influencing the music but the music making my drumming into what it is. I'm a product of the music we write because this is what we want. I didn't really have my own style, I played metal and some odd timed stuff but not this type of cyclical patterns that we use now. As the years went by that sound became what the band is. I emulate what people program on the computer.

The Hornet: What's next for you guys?

Tomas: Well, [we'll] have a live DVD probably late spring, early fall. As far as new stuff, we haven't started recording anything yet. We have a few things that didn't end up on "Obzen", just a few parts that we want to use on the next album. It's all in the vein of what we do. I'm kind of pumped to start recording again, Hopefully by the fall we will start recording, with the album being released later in 2010

Read the entire interview from The Hornet.