Dave Wyndorf Follows 4-Way Diablo
Interview with Dave Wyndorf on New Monster Magnet Album & Projects
May 28, 2008
Following Dave Wyndorf's overdose of prescription drugs in 2006, the future looked bleak for Monster Magnet. The band were forced to cancel an impending European tour and work on their forthcoming album was shelved. With 4-Way Diablo finally seeing the light of day at the end of 2007, Wyndorf appears to be making up for lost time, with three new projects in the pipeline.
Recording 4-Way Diablo
Suite 101: It's well documented that you had a lot of problems leading up to 4-Way Diablo. Did the recording process differ as a result?
Dave: “What I usually do is I write really quickly and get it all down as natural as possible then when it’s all down I take it to the studio and that’s where the crafting begins. You take all this spontaneous stuff and make it into something…better. This time I was out of gas. It was like: ‘Well, there’s no masterplan behind this one, it’s a collection of songs written by a guy who’s just scrambled his brain like eggs and now is putting them back together. It was embarrassing but you get to a point in your life where the music is your life and your life is your music and that’s how you are.”
Suite 101: With the strings, horns and cinematic feel to the tracks, some of them do sound fully crafted...
Dave: “Yeah, you know…I can’t help it. I can’t help but go into it a little bit but all that stuff, the strings and the horns, was all done on the fly. I would walk into the studio with an idea and we would go crazy hunting down samples. Literally we’d hunt these things down for a couple of hours and then I’d put them down with keyboards. It wasn’t crafted in the sense of having a grand plan for it, it came up spur of the moment. But you can get a vibe these days really, really quickly. One of the great things about recording in the modern age is that you can get a lot of different sounds down really quick.”
New Monster Magnet Album & Dave Wyndorf Solo Album
Suite 101: When 4-Way Diablo came out, you said you wanted to get straight back to work on another studio project. Is there anything in the pipeline?
Dave: “Three things, actually. One of the things is separate from Monster Magnet and we’re going to do a full-on space project. Space rock! But possibly with a techno bottom. I’m not sure how it will work out but I always wanted to do something to see how those two worlds merge without clashing with each other. There’ll be another Monster Magnet record, which will be total hard rock. Almost like power-trio type rock, except with five people! And then there’s my solo album, which will probably be really bizarre and weird. Kinda like if Elton John was an axe murderer.”
Three New Dave Wyndorf Projects
Suite 101: How far progressed are these – up in the air?
Dave: “Yeah, like everything else. There are songs here and there, maybe eight or nine pieces for each of those projects I’ve mentioned. That’s enough for me so once I really get into it, I’ll take those eight or nine pieces, some of which might be just scraps and I’ll wrestle them into something. It sounds ridiculous but it really works fine that way for me. Part of the fun is opening the bag and going: ‘Okay, what have we got?’ Rehearse it, take it in and once you get into the recording process, it’s kinda hard to stop. It gets to a point where it’s, like: ‘This MUST BE DONE!’ It’s like the bridge over the River Kwai – you have to get it finished.”
For more metal interviews check Cronos talking about Venom's influence on the black metal scene.
Or Exodus mainman Gary Holt on The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit B
 |
