Head Automatica Interview - 06.15.2005
Interview with Daryl Palumbo (vocals)Interview by Rob Todd & Christina Perez | 06.15.2005 | Detroit, MI | Fox Theater
First of all, it’s good to see you on the road again. I know a lot of fans were disappointed about all the cancellations that were made on the previous Head Automatica tours and I just wanted to know how it feels to be back on the road again? Great! It feels better than I’ve ever felt to be back on the road. I’m really happy to be out. It’s good to be headlining our first tour as Head Automatica and it’s good to have my best friend from home, Vinnie from I Am The Avalanche, here on the tour.
What kind of response have you gotten, now that you’re back, on this tour?
An awfully good one. It’s been pretty packed, I think tonight’s sold out and this is a big ass club. It’s blowing my mind how many kids are showing up. Everybody’s coming and buying things and all the shows are selling out – it’s pretty surreal. I’m so happy I can’t even really explain it I’m so happy.
Do you have a favorite Head Automatica song to play live?
A new song called “Continental Divide.”
Will we hear it tonight?
Yeah, I think we’re playing it.
Favorite Head Automatica song on Decadence:
“The Razor”
Do you have any other new material written?
We have about 40 new songs. Forty done and like 30 recorded…so we’re ready to tackle the world (Laughter).
I know when Decadence leaked onto the Internet…and I’ll be honest and admit that I downloaded it too but I did buy it. I know that five of the leaked tracks didn’t make the final cut. Why didn’t those tracks make it on the record and will they be released on future records?
Probably not, but since they leaked everybody had them anyway. You make a pop record, you’re not trying to make an art record. I wasn’t trying to make an art record, I wasn’t trying to make a double album, I wasn’t trying to make a 90 minute album, I wasn’t trying to make a dub album – you know, reggae. That was a lot of the stuff that didn’t make it was reggae and reggae’s a definite staple in the Head Automatica sound but, at the same time, that was all a bunch of five-minute reggae jams. When it came down to editing down the record so that the record would be about 35/40 minutes and 10 or 11 songs. When edited all the shit down we ended up picking a lot of the more, the quicker ones that hit you right off the bat. Whereas the ones that were more dense we took off the record. I know it leaked; everybody has it so it’s cool.
I hear that Head Automatica’s going to be touring with Finch, is that true?
I think so.
And I hear that you and Nate Barcalow are really good friends so do you think you’ll be hitting the stage with him for “Grey Matter” and “Project Mayhem” (in which Palumbo provided guest vocals on Finch’s What It Is To Burn?
If he asks me to and I’m there maybe. I haven’t hooked up with them in years. Nate’s my buddy, I haven’t seen him in a minute but I love that guy.
I hate to turn this into a Glassjaw interview but, since you’re here, I’ll take my chances. The tour with The Used, are you excited?
Very!
What do you expect from Glassjaw after the return from what some fans considered a hiatus to what others considered the end of Glassjaw?
We’re just doing 19 shows. I’m on the road with Head Automatica and I’m going to be on the road with Head Automatica for a while and we’ll probably do another Head Automatica record, we’ll probably do that in the fall/winter time. Glassjaw – we’re just gonna do 19 shows, see how it goes, and that’s it. Our schedules haven’t permitted us to do shows in a while and now we’re gonna do it but that’s it. It’s cool, we’ll see what happens, I’m just excited to do it. We never broke up, there’s no reason to, why would I? We don’t have to break up.
Can you tell me a little bit about why you named it “Trailer Park Jesus” and a little bit behind the meaning?
Ahh…no, I don’t really want to. It’s an old personal thing. It’s an old personal song.
Going back to “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence.” I read a lot about your Crohn’s disease and I was wondering how you’re dealing with that after all of the tour cancellations and how being away for so long has helped you?
Being away from what?
Well, I know you were in the hospital for a period of time. Are you doing a lot better, are you relieved to be back on the road after that?
I feel better. I feel better than I did and I just live everyday one day at a time and I hope that I don’t fall ill sometime soon, it’s something I don’t enjoy. But, you know, shit happens. What am I gonna do? I’m not putting my life on hold and I needed a few months to myself and I took six months to go through a lot of things – medically. Hopefully I’m all right, I don’t really know. It’s there so if it happens it happens but I’m happy to be out playing music.
Just to make things clear, Crohn’s disease is incurable correct?
Yeah, there’s no cure for it.
Back to the Glassjaw tour, I hear you’re doing arenas. How do you feel about that?
Whatever, Glassjaw can kill any stage that we play on. It doesn’t matter what we play.
I also hear you’re working on another side project called Shoot Frank. What can you tell us about that?
Shoot Frank is me on guitar, I sing some of it, my man Cage sings, Larry [Gorman] plays drums, Sean [Martin] from Hatebreed plays guitar too, and my man LP is doing all the production. LP and Cage are on [unknown], Sean is in Hatebreed, me and Larry are in Head Automatica and that’s that. It’s really psychedelic shit, some really sonic shit. Some of it’s on some early 90’s throwback Seattle shit while some of it’s on just some crazy beats with some dense words sung over them.
Talking about your other side projects, whatever happened to Geometry?
I haven’t seen those guys in a while. We used to play a lot in New York City; we never played outside of New York. It’s kind of this spacey, space-rock, dub thing. It was cool; it was fun. I miss those people and I miss playing shows with them. It was big part of my life for a long time.
Do you think it could ever happen again?
I don’t know. If I see them and we jammed – hell yeah, why not. We didn’t break up, I just haven’t seen them in a while. We were never talking about calling it quits. We did a record; a record exists.
I didn’t know you had a record.
Yeah, I don’t know how to get it (Laughter). I know we did it. I have some of it.
Changing the subject, what’s your take on the music scene in general these days?
I buy new bands’ records. I haven’t bought a new band’s record in so long. The only new band’s record I’m excited for is the Oasis record. New music’s pretty pitiful. No new bands make me wanna flip out but, there are new artists that I represent. I Am The Avalanche, who’s on this tour, Nightmare Review, who’s on this tour, and The Fury, who’s on this tour, and my man Cage who’s putting out a record, and Men Women & Children. Those bands I represent for but as for the state of music right now, shit man, nothing gets me excited, nothing new at least.
What is it that turns you off so much?
I just don’t really buy it. I kinda heard it all when it first happened. All the bands that sound like Nirvana – I heard it when Nirvana was there. And all the bands that sound like some bad throwback AC/DC shit – I heard AC/DC when they were playing. All the cheesy indie rock bands are like the Joy Division rip-off bands. Yeah, I like Joy Division; I don’t have to listen to your band. I don’t know; I don’t buy it. It’s all pretty contrived and packaged.
What is the best advice you can offer to aspiring vocalists?
Sing a lot! Sing in the shower I guess, that’s what I do.
You mentioned a new Head Automatica record, what does that mean for Glassjaw?
The two bands have nothing to do with each other. It doesn’t mean anything for Glassjaw.
What about a new Glassjaw record?
I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t know. We’re playing shows so I don’t know if there’s a record anytime soon. It would be nice to make a record sometime.
That’s pretty much all I have. I wish you a good show tonight and I know it’s gonna be a blast, I’m gonna be dancing my ass off.
You better be, I’ll watch.
