Videodrone – Interview

So, I guess you’ve got me to start off your day.

Yeah. We played last night with Orgy and I’m a little hung over (laughs), but we’ll do fine. I’ve actually got to go to practice pretty quick.

Does it feel like starting with a whole new band with the name change and new album?

No. We used to be a band called Cradle of Thorns and we just changed the name. We’ve been together for about ten years.

So the name change is just a name change, not anything else?

We’ve changed musically. I think we just did the natural progression of growing musically like bands do when you are together for that long. Videodrone is the progression of five guys playing together for ten years and this is where it is at right now.

Was there anything behind the name changing?

Our producer, Fieldy (Reginald Arvizu, Korn’s bass player), kind of suggested we might do that and we’ve wanted to change the name for awhile because there is a band called Cradle of Filth. We wanted to move on, basically. We are proud of Cradle of Thorns, but we’d rather focus on Videodrone, which is the future.

How did you hook up with Jon Davis (Korn’s singer) and the Elementree Label?

Actually, Fieldy signed us to the label. I mean, the whole band did, but we’ve known all those guys for years. Ty [Elam](Videodrone’s singer) and Jon used to sing in a band together and I went to high school with Fieldy and Jon. We’ve just known them all for years and we’re from the same town (Bakersfield, CA).

Do you think this could be the break that you’ve been looking for?

Yeah, definitely! I don’t see why not.

How are you preparing for the big Korn/Rob Zombie tour?

We are just practicing a lot and we played last night and we’re ready to go. Just practicing like bands do.

Have you played any shows of this size before?

Arenas will be a new experience for us. We’ve done fairly large sized shows before with Korn a few years ago, but we’ve never done arenas.

So you haven’t been doing anything different to prepare?

No, not really. It’s just another show, just with more people. (laughing) We’ll get up there and give one hundred percent and hope people dig it. That’s all you can really do.

What do you think of Marilyn Manson comparisons?

Musically?

Yeah.

That’s fine. Marilyn Manson is cool. We’ve been kind of on that vibe since 1988; it’s just that we haven’t been recognized for it yet. We had an album out on Triple X [Records] way before him. We’ve been around, too. We do our thing; he does his. I think Ty and him sound a lot alike, but that is music. You’re going to have similarities with different things. I’d rather be compared to him than to the Oak Ridge Boys.

What motivates you?

Lots of things. Life. We’ve lived music since we were kids. Everything really that we deal with or come in contact with motivates us musically. We motivate each other.

Who would we catch you listening to when you are driving?

We all have different influences, but at the same time we are all into Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Prodigy and all that kind of stuff. Also, we are into the ’80’s stuff and heavy stuff. We are into a lot of sci-fi stuff, like b-movies and video games. In fact, I’m playing PlayStation right now.

What game are you playing now?

Crash Bandicoot 3.

That’ll be a good plug for the game.

Yep. And I just finished Duke Nukem. Have you played that?

No. I’m more into the hockey and football games.

We’re all into stuff like PlayStation and Star Wars and all that. Have you ever played Oddworld?

Yeah.

You know the little green alien?

Uh-huh.

I have him tattooed on my arm.

Really?

Yeah. It’s bad! (laughs)

I’d own more games if they weren’t forty bucks a pop. I should just get a mod chip and burn them in my cd-writer.

That’s cool. And then you can play like the Japanese games?

Yeah. You can play all of them. Maybe I better not print this (we both laugh as I changed the subject back to music). How would you describe your sound?

I’d describe it as dark and eerie, but still melodic and heartfelt; very modern; like a hybrid form of music. It’s modern with hints of past as well.

It is heavy, but also very much pop, too.

It’s a mix of all things, but it is just Videodrone.

Do you think all the mixtures of popular music of the ’80’s and ’90’s like rap, heavy metal, pop and alternative have begun showing up with the hybrid forms of music today?

Exactly. Fieldy, who produced our record, is into a lot of hip-hop. It’s just a mix of a bunch of things and we just brought it in and made it our own. There are five guys in our band and we all have different influences. Fieldy came in as a sort of producer/mediator to make sure that we all came together as one entity.

Is the song “LSD” a drug reference?

Yeah. That was written on acid. As that song was performed they were on acid, so what you hear is what you get.

There is some really X-rated stuff in that tune.

Yeah. That was a pretty crazy episode.

Is there anything behind the song “Jesus”?

That song was actually an LAPD song, which was Korn’s first band on our old label. We just covered it in the studio and it sounded great. So, we just went with it.

What are Videodrone’s goals for the upcoming year?

Just to stay on the road and play our music for as many people as we can and hope they like it.

+ rae gun