NEEDULHED
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By Paul Autry PAUL AUTRY: "Pave The Planet" is one hell of an album. I've noticed in the reviews that people have had a hard time describing it. You've been called Goth, industrial, dance, techno and so on. For the record, how would you describe the music you create? MORTIMER: Well, I usually just put all those categories into one. We came up with a little phrase, calling it "Neo-Futuristic Comic Punk." PAUL: Prior to the release of "Pave The Planet," you had a nine-song demo which included some of the songs that made it into this CD. Can you tell the readers a little about that and is it still available? MORTIMER: The demo was a preview of what was going to be on "Pave The Planet." I believe we had maybe six or seven of the songs on there. I think on the original demo there was also "Strain" and "Torch." "Strain" was originally going to be on "Pave The Planet." We had recorded it, we were in the process of mixing it and we ended up writing "Ode To The Good Stuff." It's not the same, but it's in a similar vein. We felt that "Ode" was a little bit stronger than "Strain." So we'll probably use "Strain" on the next record. Right now it's not available because it was just a promo-demo type of thing. Maybe in the future. PAUL: What are your thoughts on the first album, and how would you compare it to the new one? MORTIMER: We consider January 16, 1996 the formation of Needulhed. We weren't really using the sequencers and samplers until the November right before that. We started slowly adding it into the product that we were doing. The first album was a little off-base from what we're doing now; it's very deceiving. It's a little more Goth toward the beginning and kind of gets punky toward the end. Kind of like very indecisive. As we progressed in the writing, which is about forty songs later, we picked the best, which was thirteen and then I did the Pledge of Allegiance on "Pave." I think we at least rounded the sound out to more of what we sound like now. PAUL: How would you describe your time in the studio? Was it fun? Some bands record something and then go, "I hate this." MORTIMER: Well, we went in and it took a long time to record this thing. We were changing things, dropping songs, putting songs on. But whenever you're in the studio and you're trying to create something releasable, you've got to make it as close to perfection as you can. We put an astronomical amount of hours into this thing. I think it paid off. PAUL: How is the songwriting handled? MORTIMER: Basically, Weeks will come up with the majority of the structure of the song in its rawest form on a guitar or on a keyboard or even sometimes on a bass. Then he'll tape it and I have what I call the "Weeks File." I have thirty-five tapes of his, a backlog of material that we haven't even used yet. If I find something that hits me right off the spot, I take it, listen to it, dwell on the thing, then go on to my sequencer and just start coming up with it. When I hear sounds in my head that should be in there---if I can't find it on the keyboard, I make the sound myself. A lot of the sounds that you hear are actually sounds that I've created. It's not just keyboard or stock sounds. PAUL: On "Pave The Planet," you have a little story "The Adventures Of Needulhed." Was this story written for this album alone or is this something that will continue with future albums? MORTIMER: Initially, it wasn't even for the album. We just came up with the idea because of the way that we look and the way that we are on stage---like comic book characters. If you just look at it, you could just take it as three guys dressing up in makeup, or you can take it as a little deeper than that---how did we get like that? You know, kind of a storyline behind it. We came up with "The Adventures Of Needulhed" probably about a year before we even released the album. Originally, we were doing it--and hopefully, we will do it as a comic book. PAUL: You're a very visual band on top of being very musically creative. How would you describe your band-members or the characters? MORTIMER: Snip basically as himself is a very laid-back, mysterious, mellow kind of guy. Yet, when he gets behind the drums, he's a powerhouse. Weeks is just the way his makeup is. He's out there, he's a fun guy, he's kind of nuts and it all just comes together with the makeup. The whole web thing on his face was just kind of created by him saying, "I want to put a graph on my face." PAUL: He actually looks like Needlehead from the Clive Barker movies. MORTIMER: It's kind of like a combo of that and a couple of other things. It wasn't intentionally made to look like anything, and the name is completely irrelevant to his look. It just kind of got compared that way. We really had no intention of, like, a Needlehead or a Pinhead or of him looking like either one. It really just kind of fell into place that way. PAUL: You kind of remind me of Jack Nicholson's Joker from the "Batman" movie. MORTIMER: That's pretty much it! (laughs) I mean, when you round the whole thing off into the package, everyone has their own individual personality. We're not trying to send a message, we're not having this dark, evil type thing. It's just have a good time, and really, the makeup just enhances our personalities. PAUL: When you look at the band, you have that evil look, but when you listen to the music---it's totally unexpected, quite the opposite. Your music seems to be uplifting, people can dance to it, it's really a wide contrast. Do you think image is important? MORTIMER: Well, the reason for the image is because the way music is today, everybody seems to be looking the same. The one thing we wanted to do was stand out, because you've got three guys standing on stage doing all this crazy music and we'd just look like three guys. It just would not have the same effect, so we needed something more. It ended up becoming characters. PAUL: According to your press-kit, you've had some tours that went over really well, so apparently, you're making a name for yourselves. Can we expect Needulhed on the road anytime soon? MORTIMER: Right now, what we're planning on doing is getting into all the college radio. Once we see where it's charting, where it's going a little bigger than others, we'll be going to those cities. PAUL: What can the people who haven't seen you live expect when they come to a live Needulhed show? MORTIMER: Very simply, three words: expect the unexpected. Copyright 1999, BallBuster, The Official Int'l Underground Hard Music Report |
