Interview: Henry Metal
Henry Metal is a
new Metal Project/Band featuring the talents of one Henry Metal-
calling it new almost feels wrong because the man has accomplished more in two
years than some bands accomplish in a lifetime, that is, recording 8 albums of
highly diverse Metal that recalls everything from the humor of Frank Zappa to
the crunch and aggression of vintage Megadeth and back. Henry Metal has just
released his eighth album, the directly titled “8”, and what follows is my
interview with this highly talented musician and producer.
It kind of just came together as a hobby. I didn’t want to overthink it or expect
too much from it but just include a whole bunch of cool stuff from the rock and
metal lineage in an honest and straightforward way. I also saw an opening because commercial music seems so over
processed and calculated that there’s no room for risks or mistakes. I love risks and mistakes and wanted
Henry to be all risks and half mistakes.
I think we’ve done a decent job so far.
What is the concept
of “Robes of Eight”. The song ‘Congregate” from your fifth album features the
lyric “we wear the robes of the number 8” – How are the two songs related?
When the title for the record was “8” it became obvious that
Consecrate had the lyric in it and the number 8 is a cool number for some
reason. I’m no numerologist, but I
think 8 is perhaps one of the finest numbers ever conceived by mankind. One idea was to build up a loop of the
original chorus and use that but making a whole new tune out of a very
ambiguous lyric was a little more fresh.
I guess the song is about the fact that seeing a concrete meaning is a
barrier to the gates we can enter if we choose to be done with meaning, to
unify our minds and become un-stuck.
Your music has a
very theatrical element to it- at times, it almost reminds me of something that
would’ve been produced by (Famed producers) Bob Ezrin or Roy Thomas Baker back in the day- what has
influenced this element of your music and what are some of your favorite albums
with these types of elements?
Yeah, I think the dynamics and the energy of a song building
into something as it goes is really important and is a different kind of
listening experience from something that is all about the hook. The Rock format has always been taking
a little time to actually listen to an album and live with the artist for a
moment. Those theatrical elements
are a big part of what Henry is about.
Those guys really defined what music production was before it became
about insta-hooks and DAW’s and plugins.
Production wise, Henry uses all of the modern tools to get big sounds
but the human element is front and center, if not exaggerated. There aren’t any parts that are looped
or anything like that, it’s all about performance and letting the tune unfold
in its time. I really like
instrumentation and clarity within the music and I think those guys, coming
from more traditional backgrounds, really made a sound that was clean and
polished using the available tools but got the message and energy across using
simpler arrangements which created space to let the songs breath. To my ears, it adds power when you cut
down on the clutter and let the instruments speak for themselves within the
songs.
How do you keep so
prolific and fresh, you release albums pretty much on a sequential basis that
puts sixties bands to shame. I recall reading about these late sixties bands
releasing 1-3 albums per year, rather than in say the metal scene now every 2
to 5 years, yet you had 5 full lengths released in 2017 alone. What do you
acknowledge as the source of your tenacity?
It’s really improv from the riff to the hook and everything
in between. I think it’s important
to trust whatever comes out, whether you think it’s good or bad, simply because
it came out. It’s really
interesting to see not only what comes out but how it comes out and how it
ultimately turns out. We’re all
just pretenders using symbols that were handed down to us in our own insane
little way to create something new, which really is a very easy and natural
thing to do.
I’ve Got The Fever
includes lyrics like “I’ve Got The Fever To Please Her”. was that written about
someone special in your life?
I don’t know about you but I feel this way about a different
girl once or twice a week! Oops,
is that legal?
This is kind of a producer/music
geek related question (Well the second one anyway): Do you have any preferred
methods of recording that you use?
Production for the project is as simple and old school as it
gets. All of Henry Metal’s records
are produced on a Portastudio, no kidding. Only basic effects are used and there is zero computer
editing, no vocal comps, and not even a large diaphragm microphone. The vocals are recorded with a handheld
SM58. The song is played and the
only edits are punching in and out. All compression and even delay is just coming in on the
original signal to track, and the mix comes together as the track is
built. By mix time it’s only a
matter of levels and reverb. My
producer buddies have physically cringed at the blatant disregard for all rules
of audio engineering.
I heard a rumor
somewhere on the line that some of the members of Henry Metal are involved with
the Industrial Metal Project, Vessel Decimal- is there any truth to these
allegations?
No, this rumor is not true, but it would be hella cool if it
was. Henry is just a kindred
spirit doing a related artistic thing, but maybe would love to get down to the
park Arizona sometime and write some ridiculous shit with those ridiculous MOFO’s.
There is a
(Somewhat) more serious vibe to the new album vs the previous one, to give an
example. What do you attribute this to, as well as even a vaguely political
bent to songs like “Propaganda”?
The record just kind of came together that way. It’s still about stuff and things, but
a little less on the crazy side only because it didn’t seem to fit in certain
spots. Henry was really never all
about comedy and if he was, it was more in an Andy Kaufman type of way than
anything else. Really, everything
in this world we make is funny, including the propaganda and bullshit that
people try to fool themselves with and think they’re fooling others with. Politics is obvious bullshit and
something that we’ll all probably need to transcend someday.
What got you into
using winberry lavender shampoo?
Ha! I don’t
even think there is a Winberry Lavender shampoo, but it sounds like something the
chemists should get right on. Win’bree
is just a sort of love song about celebrating all of the happiness and
wonderful things that mummy dust can acquire for us. I’m being facetious, of course.
Are we going to see
Henry Metal play live in the near future?
Touring is a whole different business and something that
needs to happen organically. The
project is very young, less than 2 years old, and it takes lucky bands decades
to get to the point where a real tour makes sense. That being said, if I had my druthers, it would be nice to
do something kind of ongoing in Vegas one day, where the show could really be
perfected and do justice for the fans and the musicians.
I would like to extend a special
thanks to Henry Metal for this glorious interview, and you can hear Henry Metal’s
music at the following links:
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