TM - Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix, we are here with Spider from Powerman 5000! Thank you for having this interview with us today, we really appreciate it.
SR - Yeah, thanks for having me.
TM - Were excited to have you come to Australia, what can we expect from your Australian tour?
SR - Well we are going to do what we do, we have always prided ourselves on an awesome live show and high energy. We give it all every night really, it's about what am I going to expect? I don't know, I've been doing this for 30 years and I have never been to Australia. It's very rare that I can say I have no idea what to expect, which is kind of exciting you know? I've heard many good things about Australia when bands have been down there they always have a blast so I am very much looking forward to it.
TM - You are playing Tonight the Stars Revolt! Can fans expect any of your other songs on your setlist?
SR - I think there was a press release saying that we are playing the album from front to back, that was never my plan but the reality is we will play quite a few songs from that album and many other albums. We will definitely try and make it so we cover as many eras of the band as we can and definitely play you stuff for the newer fans. So yeah, we are going to play whatever makes the best setlist you know.
TM - So you're coming to Australia for the first time, is there anything you're really looking forward to seeing while you are down here?
SR - I mean what do you recommend?
TM - We have the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
SR - I don't know why I said that, we are going to be taken care of by the promoter, I think he has some special outings plans for us but I don't know what that is yet. I am open to see as much as I can because it's not right around the corner, I don't know if I will ever have a chance to go back so I just want to see anything I can. However, I am most excited about the shows and meeting the people just vibing on a new experience that I haven't been able to have yet.
TM - You said you're looking for something new to do, you can't do it in Sydney, but in Brisbane you can hold a koala.
SR - Well there you go that's something I have definitely never done, so I will do that I am not looking forward to meeting any giant spiders or giant snakes. I will try and keep my distance from that stuff.
TM - It's funny, everyone is like there are spiders everywhere in Australia, but I hardly ever see them.
SR - Yeah, you definitely get a rep for being the most dangerous place in the world, like sharks and giant spiders and poisonous Scorpions and whatever, but I'm sure if you lived there it's not a big deal.
TM - I also never see snakes, you only normally see snakes if you go to the middle of the bush.
SR - I don't think we’re playing there, so I think we are all good.
TM - Unless you have some cool secret plan that we don't know about yet
SR - Yeah I know right
TM - You wrote and directed a movie called Allegoria, can you tell fans about it who haven't heard of it yet?
SR - Yeah, it's a horror movie. It's sort of an anthology movie and it's based around art, there’s 5 different stories that interconnect through characters but each story is based on a different art form. One is based on acting, one is based on paintings, one is based on music and so on and it just sort of explores the passions and insecurities and ego of these artists. It manifests terrible scary monsters, death and demons in their lives. It is available now on bod or a streaming platform called shudder which is all horror movies, it's the Netflix of Horror. I don't know if that is available in Australia or not, that was my first feature film that came out earlier this year, it was very exciting.
TM - How did you come up with the soundtrack for that?
SR - We did a collaboration with a couple of other musicians, we just wanted to create a landscape of dread with just tones, and dissonant sound, and out of tune piano notes, and things like that you know. Creating music for a film is so different than writing songs for an album, it's a different challenge you know, writing a song you're more concerned about, is this catchy? Is this heavy? How is it going to come across over live? But for a movie soundtrack, it is much more about an atmosphere and it was really fun to try and accomplish that.
TM - That's really cool! We will have to check the movie out.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs, what band would it be, what song would it be, and would it be in your Style or their style?
SR - Whoever I choose would definitely have to be in their style and it would have to be something so far out of our style it would almost be unrecognisable. So this is going to be read right, I am going to give it to a solo artist Lana Del Rey Singing Super Villain by Powerman 5000, the biggest mash up you have ever heard in your life.
TM - It would be interesting and strange at the same time, well why not, why do it any other way right?
SR - Well maybe she's listening and we can make that happen.
TM - What's your favourite memory of watching someone else perform live, can you tell us a story?
SR - I have toured with so many great bands and had so many good experiences that have been unique and exciting, and also going to see bands. There was a moment when I had a holyshit I can't believe I'm here moment and that was in 1997, where we got to open for kiss on their reunion tour with all their makeup back on and it was all original members. The reason why that mattered so much was when I was a kid, kiss was one of the bands that I really loved, probably about 7 years old listening to kiss and I just thought they were from another planet, I have since grown up and not quite as fanatical as I was, but I just remember we had played our set and went out and watched them from the soundboard, and I just thought about what 7-year-old me would have said if I had told him one day I was playing with this band. I think that was one of the most impact full moments I have had watching a band and share the stage with them.
TM - That's a really cool story, so talking about being a kid what was the first ever band you saw live?
SR - Some of the bands I love seeing the most were some of the bands most people have never heard of you know, when I was growing up in Massachusetts I lived to right outside of the city of Boston, I would get the train in every Sunday to watch these all ages hardcore shows. I got to see all these bands Black Flag, Minutemen, Misfits, and local hardcore bands bands that people don't know. People know who the Misfits and the Dead Kennedys are and those shows were incredible, it blew my mind. It wasn't a big rock show spectacle, it was this small crazy intimate thing with moshpits and violence, the intensity was beyond anything I've ever known in music. Those shows and those bands as a collective were some of the most exciting shows I’ve ever seen, although recently to completely counter that idea I finally got to see Rammstein it was their first time they had ever brought their full production to America and I could not believe what I was witnessing. I had never seen anything like it, it was the biggest show had ever seen in my life and I was just blown away it was in a Stadium. It was the best heavy metal show I have seen in my life. They have so much more fire and explosions then you could ever imagine, you think these show is done and that's the pinnacle of it but they take it further and it was great!
TM - Pantera are back out on the road
SR - We toured with Pantera back in the day, that was another great experience touring with those guys. We spent a month in Europe with them it was one of the most craziest moments in my life.
TM - Anything else you want to say to your fans?
SR - We are excited for this tour because it is a new thing for us, and I hope everyone comes out and has a blast.
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today, we really appreciate it you will see you in Sydney!