American Head Charge - Justin Fowler and Bryan Ottoson By:Patrick Hi, I’m Justin Fowler of American Head Charge. Hey Justin, how would you compare the music on The Feeding to the music off The War of Art? *It gets very noisy in the room where we were doing our interview so we headed out to the bands tour bus* Alright so how would you compare the music on The Feeding to the music off The War of Art? Justin: I would say first off that its a more compact kind of distilled version of American Head Charge. Its more of a record that is more to the point. For me personally as a listener I can listen to the record like three times in a roll and still want to listen to it. The War of Art is kind of like one of those big jawbreakers, it takes you a lot of effort to be able to get into that jawbreaker. You have to like chew on it for along time. We also have new writers in the band, Bryan in the band. He wrote a lot. *Bryan walks by and sits down* Justin: This is my good friend Bryan Ottoson. Bryan: Ladies and Gentlemen how are you doing? Justin: How you doing? Bryan: *Starts to talk in a Italian style of voice* I’m pretty fuckin good...hey..forget about it. Goddamn I got this new Robert De Niro movie called Mean Streets and he is like fuckin’ 25 and....... Justin:: Hey what do you think of the new record? Bryan: I think the new record has grown in a couple of ways. I think that there is a few peaks and valleys in there that weren’t worked with the first time. I think there is a lot more ambiance there this time. I think the heavier stuff might be alittle heavier Justin: *Interrupts Bryan* and the samples are louder. Bryan: and the samples are louder thank god thank god. I don’t think any of that was done intentionally, none of it was a conscious decision. It was a natural process of just writing songs because there were two more songs writers in the band. I know you probably just said that but there is two more song writers this time with Chad and Cameron this time. Its just different so it turned out different. Justin: Its different that’s what we think. Bryan: Should I be involved in this. Justin: Yes, sit. Do you have something else to drink? Bryan: No I don’t, I was looking for something. Justin: Can I huff your breath? Bryan: *Laughs* Justin: You could get high off that. I’m just gonna keep some Lysterine in my mouth for a long time. Once its stops tingling you get drunk. Bryan: Yeah you do, its like a shot. Justin: Except its minty...anyways sorry. *Laughing* You guys had a lot of material left over from the recording of The War of Art right? Justin: Ummhmm a little bit yeah. Did any of those songs turn into tracks on The Feeding? Justin: Little bits here and there. I know I have a couple little sampley things that were... Personally I had a ton of shit I got to use this time. Not many of the songs that we recorded for The War of Art we did Real Life and Smile and Pretenses and then like these other ones that we tried to resurrect a little bit like Bryan: Red Coat and I think there was one other one but they ended up soft. I think those were the four and they kind of ended up going by the wayside. Justin: They were pretty cool songs if anyone ever gets there hands on them. They were pretty cool when they happened. Porn was a good one. Bryan: Yes and I’m still not ok with that. I think that was a fuckin great song and it should be on the record. Justin: Umm Yeah, its pretty much fresh. I think we kind of had to do that, we like sat around for along time going "What are we doing?" We were writing songs and going back and forth to American writing songs writing songs. Bryan: I think we eventually got to a point that there was such a creative outburst at some point that some of the older songs we were like "that was then and this is now". We were like there is so much new shit that thats a three year old song. There were 30 new ones and we kept asking ourselves why we’d want to go back and do one of the old songs over again. Even though I think we can all agree that they are good songs we had so many new idea’s that we didn’t want to stick with that old shit. Not shit... Justin: Move on.... Bryan: Yeah, time to move on. Justin: You know I think to we were sitting around writing for along time. *Looks over to the counter of the bus where there is this black round thing*. That looks like a hash ball. Bryan: Yeah it does Justin: Or the pit of a really sick person or like green glockamoli. Bryan: Avocado Justin: So ahh you know? We wrote, I think all four of us finally all wrote a song together called Downstream which if you live in England you’ll hear. Bryan: It is the bonus track on the England record by the way. Justin: Then after that we started to kind of figure it out a little bit. Then Brian, Cameron, and I were sitting around one day and we wrote Loyalty. Then Cameron left and came back the next day, it was summer time, he had the windows all down and he was blasting it in his car. He did the vocals for it and Leave Me Alone another song on the new record and I think we were all sitting there with chills like going "Thats what. that" we all were like finally. It became something else and we were all like "Here’s where we are at right now" and "This is what were doing". All the other songs we had been going with they were getting there but they weren’t quite getting to the point and finally we got something that clicked for all of us. God we are just rambling. So how many songs were written for The Feeding then? Justin: I lost count after like 35. Bryan: I lost count exactly.. Justin: There was about 35. Bryan: I think it was around 35. I don’t think it was much than that. Justin: No but it got near...Once it was all said and done like ahh... Bryan: When we went to California and started pre-production with Greg Fiddlemen we widdled it down to 15 or 16 songs that were like probably going to be on the record or had a good shot. Justin: Then Greg would come through and say "If anyone has anything thats a definitely no then its definitely no anyone anything." So went through and were like "No" and if a song would get one definitely no from one person it was gone and not on the record. Bryan: Then we basically widdled it down to I think 12 or 13 songs that we went back and forth on a little bit after that process... Justin: We wrote one extra one in pre-production. Bryan: That we ended up recording for the record. It ended just lowered down to eleven cause. Justin: It works the best. Bryan: Cause it works the best exactly. Justin: Its not as far ranging as The War of Art was, its very tight. Bryan: You can sit down and listen to it in one sitting and it has a slope to it. Justin: You can sit down and listen to the record three or four times in one sitting. Bryan: Exactly. Justin: And masterbate. Bryan: Exactly. A lot of my favorite records Pretty Hate Machine and fuck I could name eight million of em but you can sit down and listen to them and they tell you a story and they get to the point and there is a slope to it. Its like a movie, were there is like a beginning, middle, and climax at the end. I think that record kind of does that kind of like a movie and I love that about this record. Justin: And it doesn’t take an hour and a half to do it. So why the title The Feeding and what does it mean? Justin: I think it was just simple and it umm its kind of one of those multilateral things. Bryan: To me personally the title The Feeding for me personally has evolved into something that means bascially.. Justin: Its different for all of us. *Whispers* That’s why I like it. Bryan: I think it is different for all of us. Justin: *Whispers* That’s why I like it. Bryan: If I had to universally break it down to mean one simple thing basically it just means hitting fucking rock bottom. The themes on the record are about hitting rock bottom and being on a level of desperation that you’ve never fuckin known before and strains on personal relationships and like what the fuck am I doing under this table with a bottle of fuckin whiskey and a razorblade in my mouth. To me its about hitting rock bottom and I think the themes on the record would reflect that and I think Justin can probably agree with that. Justin: I would tend to agree with that and as well I’d modify that by saying that its about dealing with those things and beginning to gain perspective on that situation and what kind of process goes along with that. I think lyrically the music/the record really reflects a process that is really personal to all of us. We were all having some very intense times. We got kind of ripped off. We all had lives in a city, you know where you do your thing everyday. Well all of a sudden we didn’t have that thing anymore because your on tour and your on tour and its three years later and suddenly you aren’t that thing anymore. You know you have to sit there and do what now? That tends to take you to a really desalinate Bryan- A real desalinate Justin: distinctive little area. We wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes. Who did the cover art and what is it going to be? Justin: Thats Dusty, he is running around somewhere. Bryan: His name is Dusty Fields. Justin: Feldes, Fildes, Feldies, Felds something like that. Bryan: Its like Fieldes, if you need to spell it his name is spelled Fildes. Anyway Dusty is his first name and he is a friend of ours. We’ve known him for a couple of years and umm he is an awesome painter and he lives with Cameron. He has about 10 or 15 paintings in Cameron’s house just mounted on the wall or whatever and we were playing around with this one image in California for like two or three months. We all kind of liked it but none of us were blown away by it and Cameron had this thing on his wall and he kept seeing it everyday and it kept reminding him of lyrics and songs and things and themes of the record. Then one day I went over to his house and he was like "Dude this is the fucking cover of the record, what are we doing" and we eventually showed it to everybody and we were all kind of blown away by it. Justin: If you look at the painting its about 3 feet by 4 feet and its this ahh sexy clowned out like she’s wearing all this white face makeup and clown painting, a red nose and tight nurses outfit and like all these pills and stars and shit behind her randomly and she’s all swayed back with this giant fucking syringe and she looks like she is about to just administer Bryan: Anything you need. Justin: She has you covered basically. She is ready to feed you. She is making me scared. Bryan: I wish she was here now. Justin: Dude microwaving Bacon. Bryan: Its fucking bacon Justin: You like bacon too.. I think we can say Head Charge likes bacon. Bryan: For the record bacon. Justin: Anyone who would like to pay us in bacon Bryan: Its cool we could sell that shit on the streets Justin: Or any people that just wants to give us bacon. Bryan: Do you know what bacon goes for on the street these days?v Justin: Ahh yes, next question. Do you guys have a favorite song musically? Justin: Yes, would you like to know what it is? Um Yes. Justin: I think my favorite song musically on the record is probably Bryan: Smells like Bacon Justin: Yeah, Smells like teen Bacon. I’d say probably Reticule cause it sticks with me and sticks with me. Bryan: Look at Tim Robbins in his fuckin’ G *Both start screaming and laughing* Justin: HAHA Alright *Quagmire’s(Family Guy) voice* Bryan: Oh my god he is like Get Er Done. He wakes up in a cold sweat and with a boner. Justin: Oh god whats wrong with me? Bryan: What was the question? Justin: Ahh yes, what was the question? Bryan: What were we talking about? Justin: Not my boner. Bryan: Or bacon. BACON BACON BACON Justin: If anyone would like to buy my boner they can pay in bacon. Bryan: If anyone would like to buy my bacon they can pay in boners. Wait strike that, reverse that. ....................Hey a wasted boner is a poor thing Justin: So is wasted bacon. What are American Head Charge’s plans for the rest of 2005? I’m guessing touring Bryan: Well yeah Justin: We are going to be touring our balls off. Well you know, our collected balls. Bryan: I’m gonna be touring my balls off. You can quote me on that. Justin: He is one of the uniballers. Bryan: I’m Ted Kazinski. Justin: And I’m Julie Ford, Welcome to American Bombings. Bryan: I’m Lenard Shatnum. *I laugh* Justin: Thats not funny, I can get in trouble for saying "Bomb, bomb, bomb" Bryan: Yeah you can say bomb on a tour bus, what are you talking about? Justin: Yeah, your going to see us on the road a lot you know. We’re taking it as it comes. We’ve been really fortunate to already have this insanity of like people freaking out a little bit about the record like the people who have gotten it and the people that have gotten it I mean are fanatic. Its kind of overwhelming. Actually its alot overwhelming. Right now our last seven headlining shows have all been sold out . Bryan: And we haven’t played a show in three years. Justin: Yeah and so you know? We are just getting the love. Its really um... Bryan: I can be a little more specific about that question. I know for a fact... Justin: Oh and we have about 50 dates booked as of right now. Bryan: We are starting the Otep tour...Today is with Candiria, tomorrow is with Candiria and the day after that starts in Reno with Otep, Candiria, and The Autumn Offering which is a band Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed signed. They are first on the bill and that goes till March 16th and that last show on the 16th is at The House of Blues in LA and then the 17th we have off. and the 18th. Justin: Is Bryan’s birthday. Bryan: Is my birthday by the way ladies and gentlemen. Justin: Send him Bryan: Then we fly to... Justin: Send him a pile of shit. Bryan: Exactly then we have two weeks of shows in goddamn. Justin: We have two weeks of shows in California alone. *Laughs* That was a joke I was KIDDING. Bryan: Then from the 19th thru about two weeks from then we basically have the UK. We have England, a couple shows in England, Germany, we have Paris, France, we have AmsterDAMMM, and one more place after that, I can’t remember. Justin: We are doing a European Pirate Tour. Bryan: Then we are coming back right after that and we have about two and a half months with a band I’m not supposed to announce yet cause its not confirmed but fuckin A it‘s gonna be awesome and its huge. Justin: And its gonna blow everyone’s fucking mind. Bryan: Yeah and there is a third band on that tour other than us and that one band that is again gonna blow everyone’s fucking mind. Looks its Tim Robbins with his fucking thing out again. Justin: And then they show it. Bryan: Dude its not tits. Justin: I know its cock and balls. About what I’ve read you guys are crazy to party with so who do you guys consider crazy partiers? Justin: Ummmmmm...Oh my god I would say its probably Bryan: Slipvayne or Throwdown Justin: I would says its prob... I can’t ask there name. *Leans over and asks Bryan* Oh my god ahh yeah, the most insane band are the booze stealers of the world they are called Raging Speedhorn in England. Bryan: They are like an evil Clutch. Justin: They are a totally evil Clutch. They are just great.... Bryan: They are alcoholics like we are only they tend to steal booze from other peoples dressing rooms. Justin: They are like fucking bus pirates. They are like *Does his best pirate voice* ARRRR. They come and drink all your booze and eat all your gorgeous bananas... Bryan: They hit me with a hockey stick. Justin: Yeah so they are insane. That was really fun. Something maybe for the mainstream American audience. Bryan: Pulse Ultra cause they got really naked and stage dived. Justin: Oh my god, yeah there was alot of nudity on that tour. I’d say probably Kittie. Bryan: Wait no thats interesting. They actually, Mercedes and Morgan love Jager. Justin: Coal Chamber was really fun because they were still fighting with each and it was so fun to hang out and play spy. Bryan: Then you’d see Nazia just rockin it. Justin: They were all cool and you wanted to hang out with all of them but you couldn’t because they hated each other. Lets not forget about Slipknot, we were on tour with them for four months. You don’t party with them all at once, some of them you don’t party with at all and some of them you party with all the time...Joey. Bryan: Corey Justin: We spent some drunk ass time together. You know basically anywhere we go we bring the party. It might be kind of scary and uncomfortable and you might not really get it but trust us its a party. Sorry if I’m leaving anybody out. I mean we have had a lot of really fun times partying with all you kids. I promise. Which city has the best weed? Justin: Well currently, onless you guys can prove me wrong Denver. Yup reach for it .. reach for it. You can get conasuer grade marijuana is widely available in Amsterdam for a very unbelievable price. Its so cheap, for like a gram you’d pay about between $4 and $6. Everything is manicured and well grown. There is no shitty... Bryan: Its regulated by the government. Justin: Right, to be amazing. Bryan: And so are mushrooms by the way. Justin: Also you know there is this place called Kristianya in Denmark, its like right in the middle of the city, right in the middle of Copenhagen and its like this little independent state. They have these little shacks like little pool hall places like filled with smoke and they are playing pool. Its awesome but EVERYBODY is smoking hash. There will be like nine kinds of hash from like light blonde like pollen that you can crush with your fingers to sticky black resiness. Anywhere with weed is the best weed in the world because I like it. Its like pizza to me, I know you can fuck it up but its really hard and even if its bad I still love it. Notice I didn’t say its like Chow main cause you can fuck that up its going out the window. If you could punch anyone in the face and get off clean who would it be? Justin: You know I never think about punching people in the face. I think about ruining their lives but I don’t really think about punching people. Revenge is much sweeter be deliberate and not so... Punching someone in the face. I don’t know, how about the last person I went after was Bryan. Bryan: Yeah, well... Justin: I’d never punch Bryan but I did body check him into the wall. Bryan: Oh yeah. Justin: I think we probably hit each other more than we hit anyone else outside the band. I think the last person we punched was also someone in the band. Bryan: No I don’t know. Justin: No not Bryan, he knocked someone out in an alley. Bryan: Yeah I had fight club alley one time, no not one time recently. It was within like the last year and a half or so. This guy was following me and a friend down an alley and I was just really drunk and I was pissed off about a number of things and it was the wrong time to follow me down an alley and he was about a foot taller than me and I felt really threatened and he was coming up to me and it looked like he was going to punch me in the face. Justin: And this was in like moose fuckin jock downtown. Bryan: Territory. Right and he came right up to me and I didn’t say a word to him and he didn’t say a word to me and I just fuckin clocked him in his face and he went down. Then he stood up and then he put like one leg over the other leg and fell back down. His eyes were all cross eyed and he was like seven inches taller than me and I knocked him the fuck out. It was just a random guy but thats my story ya know. Well is there anything else you guys would like to say? Justin: Yes always... but I don’t know. Thats what it is. I mean we kind of rambelled a little bit. No I mean thanks for paying attention and thanks for... Bryan: Always keep some razorblades on hand. Justin: Just in case... Bryan: You never know when your going to be under a table with a bottle of whiskey. Justin: There are a lot of people that had it in their heads that we would go away after our first record and the support of those people and the belief that they had in our vision has been invaluable and it saved our lives. So if there is anything else I’d like to say its thanks because we’re finally back where we belong on tour. So there ya go. Thank you. Justin: Your welcome. Bryan: Thank you