Devil's In The Detail With SKINNY From MUSHROOMHEAD

Interview by Kris Peters
There are very few bands in the world of music that push themselves
to the extremes like Mushroomhead.
Their music draws from pretty much all genres of metal known to
man, with sprinkles of punk, hip/hop, electronica and God knows
what else thrown in for good measure. And what's more is they make
it work.
While not unique in their amalgamation of musical influences,
Mushroomhead are streets ahead of the pack in terms of cohesiveness
that defies logic given the eclectic nature of their delivery. But,
again, it works.
If you want proof take a listen to the band's upcoming studio album
Call The Devil, which will be unleashed on the world on August 9.
Loosely described in promotional material as an album that covers
everything from bangers to ballads, Call The Devil is much more
than that. So much so that it would be quicker to list the musical
landscape NOT covered than the ones explored over the
journey.
To put things in perspective and delve deeper into the musical
psyche of Mushroomhead, HEAVY sat down for a one-on-one with
founding member Skinny that proved to be not only engaging but also
more in-depth than expected.
We start by asking how he is feeling about the impending release of
Call The Devil.
"Oh man, really excited," he enthused. "Album eight was A Wonderful
Life, and we released it in June 2020 and COVID came in and had its
way with the world and definitely had its way with all the
entertainers. I definitely felt first-hand how non-essential heavy
metal drummers were at the time (laughs), so we all had to knuckle
down and dig down in our spirit and say 'hey man, we wanna do this.
Of course we're gonna keep doing this. It's our livelihood. It's
who we are. We create music no matter if there's a world left to
create for or not. We'll just do it until the day we die'. So it
feels really good to be able to release an album and get out there
and perform it on stage."
With the continual evolution of both Mushroomhead and their sound,
it only seems natural to press Skinny on what to expect this lap
around the sun. 
"On this one, album number nine, it was just another 'let's let the
music take us where it may. Let it lead'," he said. "The album's
very diverse. There's a lot of doom and gloom. There's a lot of
super aggressive, heavy stuff, and there's a lot of stuff in
between. Super creepy, dark, typical stuff that ends up coming out
of us. Whether we intend it or not, everything ends up with a
creepy, heavy, dark vibe. It's just what ended up being the
Mushroomhead sound. So there's plenty of that, and then we
definitely stayed out of our comfort zone - if there really is one
with Mushroomhead - but we tried to stay out of our own comfort
zones and play with tempos and play different keys and play with
non-traditional arrangements and let the music guide us. Some of it
was straightforward and put together specifically for a heavy metal
song and some of it is straight art that turns into dark art which
we love."
In the full interview, Skinny discussed Mushroomhead's music,
production insights, and upcoming tours. He delved into the band's
unique fusion of metal, hip-hop, punk, and electronic influences,
and their commitment to authentic and diverse songwriting.
Skinny also shared details about the production of the latest
album, Call the Devil, including the return of guitarist Dave
Felton after 10 years and the challenges of balancing male-female
vocal dynamics. He also discussed the band's approach to producing
their own music and the collaborative process of working with
multiple drummers on the album, as well as the early days of
Mushroomhead and their media-led feud with Slipknot, plus
more.

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