MONSTER MAGNET Mainman: 'This Record Was Really Written To Be Played Live'

Elliot Levin of the NY Hard Rock Music Examiner recently conducted an interview with MONSTER MAGNET mainman Dave Wyndorf. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Examiner: So the new record just came out yesterday. How does it feel to have a new album out?

Dave: It feels good, man. What's in it for me is getting into the next one. It's like, "Okay, that one's done, let's get into the next one." It's done, there's nothing else I can do. For some reason, it happens almost every time I make a record. [It] didn't happen last time, but that was a messed up situation, but... I'm starting to think of Studio 13. Basically a place to go within the MONSTER MAGNET website that's gonna sell seven-inch, 10-inch vinyl all the way into download territory. A place where I can do music that may not wind up on a MONSTER MAGNET album but I can get it out, where people will want to buy it. It's also a place where I can do stuff off the cuff, take some chances production-wise, without spending a lot of money and screwing the pooch. It'll be a place where friends of mine can do the same thing.

Examiner: So the new album is called "Mastermind", it's been streaming on AOL for the last week or two, I've been listening to it... How would you compare it against your previous work, stylistically?

Dave: Stylistically, it's not that much different from the rest of the stuff. I mean, there's a certain amount of stuff that I like that I think MONSTER MAGNET represents, and it's all there. Maybe a little bit more on the heavy side. Production-wise, I think it's a lot different, better sounding, and I think lyrically and just the vibe of it is more intense than the last couple of ones have been, and that's what I was looking for. I was looking for something as intense as a live situation would be, 'cause this record was really written to be played live. And I wanted to amp it up, do a better job of the stuff I loved to do.

Examiner: So there's the term stoner metal, and after KYUSS, I think MONSTER MAGNET is second in line when it comes to owning that title. What do you think of that term, and how it's applied to your band and other bands?

Dave: That was something, I think the British press invented that label somewhere in the '90s. Stoner rock, and then it turned into stoner metal. I think it originally had to do with bands that were influenced by '70s guitar rock, ala BLACK SABBATH and heavy stuff, slow riffs, and chugging metal. Rock as opposed to metal. But for me, it was just something they would apply to it. I think I got this whole thing rolling by mistake, because I put on the first single, before the whole stoner rock thing happened, I put on the single "drug rock..." It's in the verse, "Come on, kids, drug rock!" And so they got a hold of that and next thing you know they're calling it stoner rock, and now stoner metal.

Examiner: So when it comes to music, New Jersey's best known for BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and BON JOVI. Where does MONSTER MAGNET fit in there?

Dave: Not at all. Nothing against Jersey, but on the surface there's not really a lot of tolerance for things... it was difficult. We're in the shadow of New York City. To be successful here was always weird. Lots of bands, lots of cover bands. The SPRINGSTEEN and BON JOVI thing was always present, and they didn't seem to take a liking to anything that's outside that, so it was tough. I mean they like metal down here, but we weren't metal enough. We're just odd. I never expected to make it in Jersey, ever. But Jersey's a couple of different places. For one, it's a bedroom community for New York City, a lot of really hard-working and talented people in these giant houses. And then it's filled with a bunch of mooks, the worst people I've ever met in my life, just horrible (indecipherable scream),just godawful. And then there's the bunch of people who have been here for years, just quiet, middle class people who kind of chill out. I mean, we're talking about a very dense state with a lot of people in it. Obviously North Jersey is different from down here, and then there's the 'burbs, a little north of what's popular with the Jersey people on that TV show ["Jersey Shore"].

Read the entire interview from NY Hard Rock Music Examiner.