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So, Mawk, how does it feel to be back in the Netherlands again?
"Good, it always feels good to be back in the Netherlands. For obvious reasons, apart from the fact that people love us here. We can take care of business here that we can't take care off so easily elsewhere, as in the smoking-business obviously."
I have heard that often.
"It is probably the answer everybody gives when asked how it feels to be in the Netherlands. But we have a lot of friends here. A lot of people we've known now since 1998 when we first came out here."
At the Dynamo festival?
"Yes, at Dynamo and we played the Melkweg and then we went back to Paradiso in Amsterdam with Papa Roach. We have become old friends to Holland. I mean even to the point were we flown in last Tuesday. We had two days off before we had our first show in Belgium, but we arranged everything so we spend our two days off in Amsterdam. We flew into London and then went to Belgium via Amsterdam."
How's life on the road?
"It's awesome, it's fun. You know if it wasn't I don't think I would be doing it. It's a great life and I can speak with authority, because I've had many shitty jobs in the past."
Like?
"My last one was a computer-programmer, which was for a few years. It made good money, but was pretty boring. So I also did some criminal hacker activities. Yeah, that was my past. When I first went to the United States I crawled around on golf courses in the lakes with a wetsuit on, collecting balls and selling them back to the golfclubs. That was illegal to. Everything was illegal 'til the band got signed. And now finally I have a legal profession."
I think that these days (Hed) Planet Earth doesn't need any introduction anymore. But for the people who still haven't noticed you: who the hell are you and what are you doing?
"We are just a bunch of old punks from California. We have been in this band now for about seven years. We haven't yet achieved any huge level of success, but people start to know us. That's just it. We're a rockband and we're around for a while. We're never gonna be an overnight success. So we just keep on doing what we do and make the most of it."
Last year your second album 'Broke' was released through Jive.
"And does that name relate to our lives?"
(laughs) How did you know I was going to ask you that?
Well, it's a logical question and that's were the name came from. You can take any aspect of our lives since we've been signed to Jive and started touring. When you are looking at the financial site, relationships, your mental well being even your spiritual well being, we've all been broke in one form or an other for some time. And we're still financially not rich."
But now you can make living from the band?
"No, we make a living through selling T-shirts and merchandise. We don't make any money selling records. For some reason, we don't know why, we don't sell that many. We have a great show and we sell out shows, but we don't sell a lot of cd's. I wish I knew why."
Was there a big difference between writing your first and your second album (not counting the 'Church of Realities'-EP)?
"Yeah, huge differences. The first album was written before we got signed.
It was in the long struggle of putting the band together. When we all had
day jobs and came home at night and went rehearsing. We promoted the band in
clubs and then we played shows and we were writing all our time at home.
Juggling that with the rest of our lives. Then we got signed, did that album
and went on tour. And 'Broke' was written on the back of the bus, mainly during the Ozzfest.
Recording with a little studio that we've got from our day jobs (previous
life). So it was a completely different perspective on writing."
The sound and songs of the two albums are rather different from each other. 'Broke' sounds more mature, and more as a collective
"And maybe a little slower."
Yes, perhaps.
"Yes, because you take the speed out of the band. And it's not like: "What's up? Let's play some more" but slow down like "He, how is it goin'? Let's groove for a while" and that's how 'Broke' is."
What evolution will (Hed) Planet Earth go through on the next album?
"That I can't tell you. Not because it's a secret, but because it's something we can't just preplan. We didn't plan the sound of 'Broke'; it's just what we were at that time. There's certain guidelines we want to follow like we want to get back to being a little heavier on the next album."
So, you are writing songs right now?
"Yeah, we're about five songs into it already. We're gonna tour till the end of June to Japan and Australia and than go home and write and record in the autumn. That's the plan."
How was it to work with people like System of a Down's Serj and Kittie's Morgan?
"Well, they're all friends of ours. Serj is one of my best friends outside of the band. We hang out and we go hiking together in L.A. in the mountains, but as far as recording that was one of the beauties of technology. We were in New York recording the album and we made him a cd. We sent it to him. In his own studio in L.A. he loaded the cd and recorded his vocals. He mails the cd back to us. So we've never even seen him. Serj also did that with Dog Fashion Disco. They didn't see him either. Morgan, on the other hand, happened to be in New York at that time. And I went and picked her up. We had a rental car for a while 'til our guitarist Wes crashed it. We set her in the vocal boot, a skinny little girl, you know, all quiet and shy, and then she gets on the mic. It's like "Wow, who the fuck is this?" She can put most male singers to shame. I've so much respect for her."
What is your opinion on the style of music that you play? In the past you used to call it G-punk.
"I hate it! No I'm kiddin'. Well what do you think I'm gonna say to that "Oh my music sucks!""
No, but in the past you used to call it G-punk.
"I hear that that term is used quite a lot. Which is funny, because we invented it. But that's more what we were back then. We were into the punkrock and the hip-hop gangsta thing. That's where the G comes from. So we just started calling it G-punk. At that time George Clinton was referring to his music as G-funk. So we just thought "Mmm, G-punk that's more like us.""
You guys now belong to the top of the rap-metal / nu-metal scene or whatever you wanna call it.
"No, that's what you wanna call it. That's the job of journalist. We just write music."
What do you think of that scene?
"I never really pay much attention to the word "scene". If I hear a good song or see a band I like, I'll go buy their cd. If it doesn't fall in this nu-metal-scene I'll still buy it. It just means I'll have to look in a different part of the record store that's all. I don't really pay too much attention to the current scene. If I did I start to wonder about my band "do we fit in, are we doing the right thing?" But really, I don't care. Obviously, we're doing something right. Because we have people come to see us. But I have to also say I think there are a lot of great bands out there."
Like?
"Mudvayne, System Of A Down, Deftones, At The Drive In."
Which new, upcoming band can you recommend our readers?
"I think your readers could recommend me way more bands, because I live on the bus. We would go on the road for three months then go home. We switch the radio on. I'll hang out with my friends and say: "Wow, what's that you are listening to?" Then I get a lot of cd's and I'll go on tour again to listen to them."
Your songs are mostly about bitches, drinking whiskey and those kind of things. Where do you get the inspiration?
"I don't write the words. Jahred does."
But where does he get the inspiration?
"Life experience. It's a commentary on things we have seen and been through in the last three years of touring. They happened to us or to a third person. We just describe things we know go on in live."
Choose one of the following and tell me why you chose it:
Ozzfest or Tattoo the Earth?
"I had a great time on both tours. I can't tell you which one I liked better. It's like saying "What do you like to eat: chocolate or French fries?" Two totally different things. I'm not gonna choose one over the other."
Being out on the road for a year or recording a new album in a studio for about 3 months?
"Both. European journalists, like yourself, love to pinpoint "Do you like this or this". Touring wouldn't be fun if we didn't go home to write an album at the end of it. And writing an album wouldn't be fun if we couldn't go on tour at the end of it. It's a cycle, it's like night and day. You can't have one without the other. So I love both. When we are recording the album we have been at home for a while, I started thinking: "I can't wait to go on tour". 3,4,5, or 6 months on the road is fun, but I'm looking forward of getting home. That's how it should be. If you hate one and like the other it's out of balance."
Hip-hop or heavy metal? Let me guess.
"Both. Why limit yourself to one?"
Jennifer Lopez or Britney Spears?
"Again I like to have both!!! At the same time! If I could be so lucky!"
Drinking whiskey or smoking weed?
"Weed. I gave up whiskey last January. I gave up beer, whiskey and cigarettes in one weekend. And never touched a cigarettes since. Yes, obviously weed."
What is, according to you, the best thing you can achieve with your band?
"Oh dude, I'll tell you this. I'm not a materialistic guy. Nothing I'm looking to own, but waking up everyday and thinking "Yes, I get to do this again". That's my biggest achievement. The day I wake up thinking "Fuck, I hate this", that's the day I'll go home. Our biggest achievement is the fact that out of all the millions of bands out there we got to quit our previous jobs and follow our childhood dreams. I don't consider it work. How can doing what you love be work?"
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/hed-planet-earth/hed-planet-earth/874/
Meer (Hed) Planet Earth op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/hed-planet-earth
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