MONSTER MAGNET Mainman: 'I Miss The Album As An Art Form'

Christopher Lee of Crypt Magazine recently conducted an interview with MONSTER MAGNET mainman Dave Wyndorf. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Crypt Magazine: It's 2013, and the new MONSTER MAGNET album, "Last Patrol", will be hitting the racks in a couple of weeks. Where have you guys been the past couple of years?

Dave Wyndorf: In the three years, we did "Mastermind", toured the fuck out of Europe and the world, just completely going on! Um, so we had one record and a lot of touring. I toured that new record, plus did a bunch of tours doing whole-album performances of early albums like "Spine Of God", "Dopes To Infinity", and that's how I spend my time, ya know?! On the road! Not in America a lot, but the rest of the world; that's what I do.

Crypt Magazine: So what do you think about this whole thing with people being pacified with buying one single on iTunes and the whole art of the "album" being reduced to nothing. An artist's life's work to write that one song has been condensed into a little meaningless MP3.

Dave Wyndorf: It's brutal, dude, it's brutal, but what are you gonna do? It's like the people have spoken, and ultimately, they're the people that make the decision. It's, like, there's no conspiracy behind it, there's nothing, it's like we just have to face the fact that we live in a world full of idiots.

Crypt Magazine: Exactly...

Dave Wyndorf: Know what I mean? And so, the people who aren't idiots just have to just reach across the table and shake hands and watch it while we make a deal, like, ya know something, if I ever suck again like that, smack me in the face, OK!? Uh, I miss the album as an art form; I really, really miss it. It's kind of gone back to like the 1950s style now with the one song, ya know. You get the one song, which is cool, I mean, ya know, it... But it doesn't encourage artists to write albums. If they can't see any money behind it, it doesn't encourage new bands to write whole albums, so you see these bands, and they're writing a couple of good songs and then their managers and record company, "Yeah, yeah, just put a bunch of other stuff on it. It's cool."

Crypt Magazine: I just think people's expectations have been so watered down. Their level of what makes something "quality" is so low... Everything's been dumbed down...

Dave Wyndorf: Totally agree! The definition, the definitions have changed, like the media, the definition of "quality." How many times have you heard the word "cutting edge?" It's, like, it doesn't mean anything anymore. It's, like, what are you talking about!? Everybody gets three stars. If you're an athlete, you get three stars. It's, like, where are all the people who worked it, ya know? It's really weird! The quality has totally… standards have dropped. I think the standards have dropped because most people who own businesses realize if they were to keep at a high standard with everything, it would take so long to produce the kind of crap they are trying to sell to people just to make a profit! Ya know what I mean? It's better to have lower standards; you can make more stuff!

Crypt Magazine: What are you most proud of as far as MONSTER MAGNET's accomplishments?

Dave Wyndorf: Um, sometimes I think it's just survival. I didn't even notice so long. It's, like, 25 years in the same band; that's pretty fucking amazing. So I'm proud of that, and I am also proud of the fact it makes me feel good that I didn't know how to do this stuff when I started — I barely could play guitar and I certainly couldn't produce a record — and then just by sheer, like, bullshit and enthusiasm, made my way into being the guy who can do that, and that really makes me feel good, because, ya know, like most kids, you don't know how to do anything, and if I knew how to do something I would have been in college, I wouldn't have been doing this, so I'm kind of self taught, with a lot of good advice from a lot of people, but that's what I'm proud of.

Read the entire interview at Crypt Magazine.