gODHEAD
Interview by antiGUY
I first heard Godhead on the Blair Witch
2 soundtrack last September. Their song “The Reckoning” opened the disc
and I was immediately hooked on their heavy goth-industrial sound. They
put out lots of power but at the same time keep things real melodic, it’s
a tough  balancing
act but they make it seem effortless. When I heard their full length debut
CD on Marilyn Manson’s Posthuman Records I knew these guys were real contenders
as rest of the songs measured up to the power and intensity of “The Reckoning”
but also were pretty diverse, this isn’t a band that puts out a dozen songs
that sound all the same. So last February we named gODHEAD artists of the
month on antiMUSIC to celebrate the release of their Posthuman debut, “2000
Years of Human Error”. Then back stage at Ozzfest, their publicist asked
me if I would be interested in sitting down with the band and  asking
them a few questions. I jumped at the chance and our conversation follows.
Needless to say, I didn’t have the chance to form some compelling questions
beforehand but the interview turned out great anyway. So without further
ado here is my conversation with gODHEAD backstage at Ozzfest. -aG
antiGUY for RNW: I don’t have any prepared
questions so we are just winging this.
Mike: Who are you with, antiMUSIC?
RNW: Yeah, we publish a couple of other
sites too. You guys were actually artist of the month on antiMUSIC
a couple months back.
Mike: All Right 
Jason: I remember that. I checked that
out, I liked the website.
Mike: I don’t know how to take that;
Artist of the Month at antiMUSIC? It’s like we’re not really music?
Jason: Stop!
RNW: It’s not like that, its meant to
be ironic. A music site called antiMUSIC.... (Mike nods letting me know
he was pulling my chain) You guys have been out a while on
the indy underground scene in DC, how did you hook up with Marilyn Manson.
Method: We actually had two albums out
on a small independent label out of New York. So we toured quit a bit under
the radar of the industry we toured with Gwar. Then we were on tour with  Christian
Death a very gothic band and when we played in Hollywood they [posthuman
records – Marilyn Manson’s label] sent some people out to see us. We’re
not 100% sure how he originally found out about us, but he did and sent
some people out and it worked out great. We showcased for a lot of major
labels but this was the way we wanted to go.
Jason: It just totally fell in our lap
and it worked out great.
RNW: You guys just released the video
and single for Eleanor Rigby. That was on your last album as well right?
Method: Yeah.
Jason: It was a different version.
Method: We redid it.
Mike: We remade our remake. 
Method: the decision behind that was
this was kind of our first mainstream album; we didn’t want to leave anything
off. We wanted to put the best package of songs together and we realize
this would be how people discovered us for the first time, which is how
it is.
Jason: Plus the time and the money
wasn’t really there for the “Power Tool Stigmata” version to really do
it justice. We wanted to do it again and once we started working on it
we realized we could do it a lot better and do it justice a lot more. Especially
taking into account that was going to be a lot more people hearing this
version then the other version. So we just decided to go for it. 
Method: If you have a very different,
unique sound you need somekind of familiarity for fans to connect to a
new band. So you give them some familiarity, and old song with a brand
new sound to get them used to the brand new sound then after that you can
give them a brand new song with a familiar sound. In our case it was really
almost necessary because we are kind of unlike anything else that’s out
there on radio.
Mike: It was kind of necessary to get
people used to us.
RNW: How did the reckoning do? You
guys had  that
out on the soundtrack to Blair Witch 2 before the album came out.
Jason: They didn’t really go full force,
it was like an official release.
Method: That was our first radio single.
Mike: I think a lot of people
were confused where to put it [on radio]. Radio programmers are all about
categorizing everything. We are kind of against that.
RNW: So where do you guys think you
fit in there.
Method: Kind of hard to say. Honestly
we are going to fit where we end up falling. 
RNW: Great. How is the Ozzfest going
for you so far.
Mike: great. It’s a little early for
us.
Method: We actually leaving to tour
with Rammstein for a while but then we are coming back.
RNW: that will be a good tour for you
guys.
Jason: A perfect fit.
RNW: Any good behind the scenes stories
from Ozzfest?
Mike: It’s like really odd, it’s like
a big  campground,
tailgate picnic party everyday with a bunch of bands.
Method: You wake up surrounded by a
bunch of buses. BBQ going on here and there, everybody has got their lounge
chairs out and their little bikes and are riding around while everyone
is sun tanning. It’s a good time.
Jason: Everybody just kind of hangs
out.
RNW: Get to know any other bands out
here?
Jason: Annoy them?
Mike: Know them! (laughs)
Method: It thought you said annoy them
too.
Mike: That’s the cool thing about it,
people you  would
never think we would ever get along with like the lead singer of Crazy
Town; He’s the nicest guy, we thought he was you know…
Jason: [interjecting] We thought otherwise..
RNW: That about wraps it up. Great set
today and good luck on the Rammstein tour.
Method: Thanks man…
Jason and Mike: thanks.
Visit
the official Godhead site to get more info on the group, listen to song
samples, read the latest news, check out the huge photo collection and
see if they are coming to your town.
Purchase
"2000 Years of Human Error" online and listen to samples
Like
what you hear? Join the Street Team and help spread the word!
Visit
Posthuman Records for the latest news, reviews and tour dates.
Photos by Keavin Wiggins.
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