Dave Wyndorff of Monster Magnet

 

Enjoy this interview and stay tuned for more to come…

Even discounting the fact it came perilously close to never being made, Monster Magnet’s seventh studio effort, 4-Way Diablo, marks a renaissance for the New Jersey quartet. Diablo sports a newly honed version of Magnet’s trademark space-fuzz riffs paired with some of head monster Dave Wyndorf’s most consistent songwriting to date. Bong-rattling tracks abound on Diablo, with cuts like “Cyclone”, “Blow Your Mind” and “Slap In The Face” qualifying as instant classics.

Wyndorf, who overcame a near-fatal overdose of the prescription tranquilizer Benzodiazepine in 2006, acknowledges that he wasn’t at the top of his game when the time came to make Diablo. “I was fucked up,” he says. “But, what fucked me up, in the beginning, became this record later. Doing this record helped me get my head back together.”

Another factor contributing to Diablo’s sound is improved dynamics within the band. “This is the best band I’ve ever played in, that’s for sure,” Wyndorf says. In addition to long-time lead guitarist Ed Mundell, Diablo marks the second outing for bassist Jim Baglino and Drummer Bob Pantella, who first came aboard for Monolithic Baby! in 2004. In addition to praising his new rhythm section’s musicianship, Wyndorf marvels at the ease at which he communicates musical ideas with the two.  “I completely insane about the drums,” he says. “I’ll sit at a drum kit and try to explain myself, I’ll play the bongos. I don’t how Bob knows, but he knows.”

Some of this he credits to a shared love of music, adding that the idea for Diablo’s demonically groovy take on the Rolling Stone’s “2000 Light Years from Home” came from his bandmates.  “The more the people in the room love music, the more they will be able to understand each other – just by referencing guys they like.”

}Understandably, given that his pill problems came close on the heels of a tour of Europe,  Wyndorf says there are no current plans to tour in support of Diablo for at least 6 or 7 months, aside from a one-day appearance at a festival in Sweden this summer. “I love touring for all the obvious reasons,” he says.  “but it damn near killed me last time.”

In addition to wanting to avoid the temptations and grind of being on the road, Wyndorf is looking forward to returning to the studio, where, in addition to Magnet’s next opus, he’s working on his first solo album. Wyndorf says the solo project will allow him to step back from Magnet’s  multi-track aural assault and explore the brooding, sparser sound-scape evident on Diablo’s closing track, the gorgeous “Little Bag of Gloom.”

“Playing loud music, or any one thing for a long time, you start to go the opposite direction just to see what it’s like over there,” he says. “You begin to think ‘I’ve been over in loud, I wonder what it’s like over in quiet?’ Turns out that over in quiet is really cool.”

So, will this mellow, “less is more” approach have a tempering influence Monster Magnet’s sound? Not bloody likely, mate. “The next Magnet record is going to be less song-oriented and more about sound textures,” he says. “I hope you don’t like variety because you’re going to get a full-on, psychedelic, space rock record.”