Andy LaPlegua - Combichrist
The Industrial/Electronica scene just got another nasty shot in the arm with the release of the new Combichrist CD, Making Monsters. This dark venture into the mind of Andy LaPlegua is unnerving, uncomfortable and distressing at best and that is why this record is that good. Andy took the time out of his busy schedule to give Exiles a glimpse into his world and our world is better for it.
An interview with Andy LaPlegua by Jeffrey Easton.
Metal Exiles: I do not know if you have read the CD review that Exiles did but I stated that Making Monsters could be the soundtrack for WWIII and I stand behind that.
Andy LaPlegua: Thank you I will take that as a compliment.
Metal Exiles: If I was going to start a war, this is what I would want in my CD player. To start off with, what was the approach to making this disc. How was it different than making “What The Fuck Is Wrong With All Of You People” or “Today We Are All Demons”?
Andy: The biggest difference was that I actually wrote most of the album on the road. Both the lyrics and melodies etc as with the others I wrote in the studio after getting off the road. It makes a big difference because when I write when I am on the road I am more into the vibe of the elements of what I see rather than the vibe of the studio. When I am on the road I get more of the live feel of it.
Metal Exiles: I read your tour stories on Vampirefreaks.com , which are amusing as hell, and I see some of the stuff you are seeing so what is out there that is making you write differently?
Andy: A lot of the stuff that you see in those blogs are the things we want to show people, the stuff that is the entertaining part of the tour. The writing is usually around the parts that we do not show like the solitude of being on the road forever and sometimes the loneliest place you can be is around a lot of people. A lot of the writing happens in the darkest hour on a tour and not necessarily at a party or in the middle of the craziness you see online.
Metal Exiles: So you are sitting in a tour bus in the middle of the night, nobody is awake and you are just there with your thoughts?
Andy: Basically that is right. Sometimes on the tour bus sometimes in the hotel room in the middle of the night after everybody has left. It is hard to write when you are in a party atmosphere especially anything with some serious consequence.
Metal Exiles: I know that if people are picking up your stuff they do not want to hear what you did at a party, this is not a Jonas Brothers Album. Now, the lyrical content is disturbing enough but the music drives it and you outdid yourself. What did you use in the studio to create this album and why?
Andy: I went to the studio and stripped everything out and I was left with my computer and speakers. I also brought in some recording pieces as I needed instead of having a thousand pieces of equipment already hooked up . When you do that you fall in the habit of using what you have there. When you have nothing you need to actually get into the equipment, you need to create stuff you do not have. That was my whole philosophy, I brought it back to when I started making music, just minimal equipment, and you used what you had. I used a lot of digital stuff like I did before and obviously I used my Access Virus which is my companion in the studio. Also I can get anywhere without my Blue Microphones but I just used what I had to make it sound the way it does.
Metal Exiles: if you are creating music on your computer what is the main program that you are using?
Andy: All of the writing happens outside of the studio but all of the recording is in Cubase. I have been using Cubase since the early 90’s when it ran on the old Atari systems.
Metal Exiles: Why do you keep going back to Cubase?
Andy: I have tried Pro Tools and Logic but I do not get into them, somehow I keep going back to Cubase. Cubase is the only one that feels natural. I have been using it since it was a Midi on Atari (the old Atari 520 ST and 1040ST) and I have followed every step they have had.
Metal Exiles: There are many elements on this album that puts you into another mental state, the music just takes you there. One of the elements of the album that stands out is having Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through sing on Follow The Trail Of Blood. Why did you have him sing on the record and what did he bring to Combichrist?
Andy: I had already written this song and we had wanted to do something together for a long time. The part felt natural to him and he happened to be in Atlanta while I was recording the album so everything fell into place.
Metal Exiles: It seems in some ways that BT and Combichrist are on opposite side of the spectrum. How merge your styles because it does come across natural.
Andy: I think it is because we are not as far away from each other as people might think. We are from the same background, as you know because I am from the Hardcore punk scene and so is he. He is also listening to Techno, Electronica and Industrial so he is doing Hardcore while listening to Electronica while I am doing Electronica while listening to Hardcore. It meets in the middle. We opened for Tiger Army in Los Angeles and people asked why was Combichrist opening for Tiger Army. Nick 13 is doing rockabilly listening to industrial and I am industrial listening to rockabilly, that is just how it ends up.
Metal Exiles: You go from rage on Follow The Blood to a cold swagger on Throat Full Of Glass. With your writing, how can you turn on a dime like that?
Andy: I think it is the different emotional thing in your writing. I am a very balanced person when it comes to my mood but when you are on the road it is a different mindset. You can get moody, everyday is different, everyday is the same but it is a different place. You are dealing with different people but you are doing the same stuff so it is a repetitive lifestyle but at the same time your moods swing. It comes up like that in the writing.
Metal Exiles: Still on the mindset of Throat Full Of Glass, what does that imply to you?
Andy: My whole background for Throat Full Of Glass is it is one thing to be surrounded by people being the artist on tour and it is another thing to be the same person out of your element in the real society. I am not exactly known for liking humanity to much, I am not that good with people. I am good with people but I am not good with the schmoozing.
Metal Exiles: You are not good with the socializing piece.
Andy: The song is about being out of your element being yourself in a society that does not accept you for who you are.
Metal Exiles: Considering the element that you live in do you feel that you are never taken for who you are?
Andy: I guess that is something you are worried about when you are starting out but when you are out there for awhile you just don’t give a shit anymore. You just do not care what people say about you after awhile. I think it has been awhile since I have cared what people say about me so this song is more about being outside of MY element.
Metal Exiles: Is that how you feel as well with the track Just Like Me?
Andy: I usually do not go into the depths of my lyrics as I like to leave them vague but Just Like Me is about people having a tendency to hate certain things in other people.
Metal Exiles: Understandable, I have been guilty of that and I am not the most sociable person in the world either. One of the other tracks that stands out is Monster:Murder:Kill. I hope you take this as a compliment but it sounds like something Giorgio Moroder would have created, very old school.
Andy: It is very old school, it was more of something that was an emotionless studio creation which was a dance floor creation.
Metal Exiles: Now that the album is done and it is out what are your feelings for the album as a whole?
Andy: It is my favorite so far for sure. One the reasons for that is it is the most personal one so far and it is a wide spectrum of different things. I wanted to keep this in the Electronica genre somehow but I did not say to myself that this is not hard enough, I did exactly what I wanted to do based on how I felt at the time. This is a manifest of my life at the moment and that was a rough patch in my life but at the same time it was one of the best times of my life as well. This album is a good memory of my life that I will be able to keep forever and I cannot wait to play this stuff live. This album was born out of being on tour so hopefully I will have as much fun playing it live as I did writing it.
Metal Exiles: No matter what brought this out of you, you made a deep dark album so whatever put you through this you have a good outcome from it. As far as you playing live how can you take the cold feel of the record and translate it to the stage?
Andy: That is something that people will just have to come out and see for themselves. I cannot explain it, it is just something that happens. You just walk on stage and it happens.
Metal Exiles: Before I close this out is there a future for Panzer AG?
Andy: If you had asked me that last week I would have said absolutely not but I started going through some things yesterday for some future ideas. I am not 100% sure but it might just happen.
Metal Exiles: Any last words for your fans?
Andy: I want to say thank you to the fans for without you we are nothing. We want to see all of them out on the road so we can make this happen once again.
If you are a fan of dark heavy brooding rhythms and you do not own this, what kind of fan are you?
http://www.combichrist.com/
BUY MAKING MONSTERS!!!
An interview with Andy LaPlegua by Jeffrey Easton.
Metal Exiles: I do not know if you have read the CD review that Exiles did but I stated that Making Monsters could be the soundtrack for WWIII and I stand behind that.
Andy LaPlegua: Thank you I will take that as a compliment.
Metal Exiles: If I was going to start a war, this is what I would want in my CD player. To start off with, what was the approach to making this disc. How was it different than making “What The Fuck Is Wrong With All Of You People” or “Today We Are All Demons”?
Andy: The biggest difference was that I actually wrote most of the album on the road. Both the lyrics and melodies etc as with the others I wrote in the studio after getting off the road. It makes a big difference because when I write when I am on the road I am more into the vibe of the elements of what I see rather than the vibe of the studio. When I am on the road I get more of the live feel of it.
Metal Exiles: I read your tour stories on Vampirefreaks.com , which are amusing as hell, and I see some of the stuff you are seeing so what is out there that is making you write differently?
Andy: A lot of the stuff that you see in those blogs are the things we want to show people, the stuff that is the entertaining part of the tour. The writing is usually around the parts that we do not show like the solitude of being on the road forever and sometimes the loneliest place you can be is around a lot of people. A lot of the writing happens in the darkest hour on a tour and not necessarily at a party or in the middle of the craziness you see online.
Metal Exiles: So you are sitting in a tour bus in the middle of the night, nobody is awake and you are just there with your thoughts?
Andy: Basically that is right. Sometimes on the tour bus sometimes in the hotel room in the middle of the night after everybody has left. It is hard to write when you are in a party atmosphere especially anything with some serious consequence.
Metal Exiles: I know that if people are picking up your stuff they do not want to hear what you did at a party, this is not a Jonas Brothers Album. Now, the lyrical content is disturbing enough but the music drives it and you outdid yourself. What did you use in the studio to create this album and why?
Andy: I went to the studio and stripped everything out and I was left with my computer and speakers. I also brought in some recording pieces as I needed instead of having a thousand pieces of equipment already hooked up . When you do that you fall in the habit of using what you have there. When you have nothing you need to actually get into the equipment, you need to create stuff you do not have. That was my whole philosophy, I brought it back to when I started making music, just minimal equipment, and you used what you had. I used a lot of digital stuff like I did before and obviously I used my Access Virus which is my companion in the studio. Also I can get anywhere without my Blue Microphones but I just used what I had to make it sound the way it does.
Metal Exiles: if you are creating music on your computer what is the main program that you are using?
Andy: All of the writing happens outside of the studio but all of the recording is in Cubase. I have been using Cubase since the early 90’s when it ran on the old Atari systems.
Metal Exiles: Why do you keep going back to Cubase?
Andy: I have tried Pro Tools and Logic but I do not get into them, somehow I keep going back to Cubase. Cubase is the only one that feels natural. I have been using it since it was a Midi on Atari (the old Atari 520 ST and 1040ST) and I have followed every step they have had.
Metal Exiles: There are many elements on this album that puts you into another mental state, the music just takes you there. One of the elements of the album that stands out is having Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through sing on Follow The Trail Of Blood. Why did you have him sing on the record and what did he bring to Combichrist?
Andy: I had already written this song and we had wanted to do something together for a long time. The part felt natural to him and he happened to be in Atlanta while I was recording the album so everything fell into place.
Metal Exiles: It seems in some ways that BT and Combichrist are on opposite side of the spectrum. How merge your styles because it does come across natural.
Andy: I think it is because we are not as far away from each other as people might think. We are from the same background, as you know because I am from the Hardcore punk scene and so is he. He is also listening to Techno, Electronica and Industrial so he is doing Hardcore while listening to Electronica while I am doing Electronica while listening to Hardcore. It meets in the middle. We opened for Tiger Army in Los Angeles and people asked why was Combichrist opening for Tiger Army. Nick 13 is doing rockabilly listening to industrial and I am industrial listening to rockabilly, that is just how it ends up.
Metal Exiles: You go from rage on Follow The Blood to a cold swagger on Throat Full Of Glass. With your writing, how can you turn on a dime like that?
Andy: I think it is the different emotional thing in your writing. I am a very balanced person when it comes to my mood but when you are on the road it is a different mindset. You can get moody, everyday is different, everyday is the same but it is a different place. You are dealing with different people but you are doing the same stuff so it is a repetitive lifestyle but at the same time your moods swing. It comes up like that in the writing.
Metal Exiles: Still on the mindset of Throat Full Of Glass, what does that imply to you?
Andy: My whole background for Throat Full Of Glass is it is one thing to be surrounded by people being the artist on tour and it is another thing to be the same person out of your element in the real society. I am not exactly known for liking humanity to much, I am not that good with people. I am good with people but I am not good with the schmoozing.
Metal Exiles: You are not good with the socializing piece.
Andy: The song is about being out of your element being yourself in a society that does not accept you for who you are.
Metal Exiles: Considering the element that you live in do you feel that you are never taken for who you are?
Andy: I guess that is something you are worried about when you are starting out but when you are out there for awhile you just don’t give a shit anymore. You just do not care what people say about you after awhile. I think it has been awhile since I have cared what people say about me so this song is more about being outside of MY element.
Metal Exiles: Is that how you feel as well with the track Just Like Me?
Andy: I usually do not go into the depths of my lyrics as I like to leave them vague but Just Like Me is about people having a tendency to hate certain things in other people.
Metal Exiles: Understandable, I have been guilty of that and I am not the most sociable person in the world either. One of the other tracks that stands out is Monster:Murder:Kill. I hope you take this as a compliment but it sounds like something Giorgio Moroder would have created, very old school.
Andy: It is very old school, it was more of something that was an emotionless studio creation which was a dance floor creation.
Metal Exiles: Now that the album is done and it is out what are your feelings for the album as a whole?
Andy: It is my favorite so far for sure. One the reasons for that is it is the most personal one so far and it is a wide spectrum of different things. I wanted to keep this in the Electronica genre somehow but I did not say to myself that this is not hard enough, I did exactly what I wanted to do based on how I felt at the time. This is a manifest of my life at the moment and that was a rough patch in my life but at the same time it was one of the best times of my life as well. This album is a good memory of my life that I will be able to keep forever and I cannot wait to play this stuff live. This album was born out of being on tour so hopefully I will have as much fun playing it live as I did writing it.
Metal Exiles: No matter what brought this out of you, you made a deep dark album so whatever put you through this you have a good outcome from it. As far as you playing live how can you take the cold feel of the record and translate it to the stage?
Andy: That is something that people will just have to come out and see for themselves. I cannot explain it, it is just something that happens. You just walk on stage and it happens.
Metal Exiles: Before I close this out is there a future for Panzer AG?
Andy: If you had asked me that last week I would have said absolutely not but I started going through some things yesterday for some future ideas. I am not 100% sure but it might just happen.
Metal Exiles: Any last words for your fans?
Andy: I want to say thank you to the fans for without you we are nothing. We want to see all of them out on the road so we can make this happen once again.
If you are a fan of dark heavy brooding rhythms and you do not own this, what kind of fan are you?
http://www.combichrist.com/
BUY MAKING MONSTERS!!!
