Jess: All right, Steve, thank you for joining us. This is Nu Core Jess with the Nu Metal Agenda, and I’m here with Ohio native, creative director, producer, drummer, and father Steve “Skinny” Felton. He brought masks and mayhem to the world of music in 1993 and has produced every Mushroomhead album, and directed the majority of their music videos. Thank you for being here with me, how are you?
Steve: I am excellent. Thank you for taking the time to do the interview.
Absolutely, it's a pleasure to sit down and meet with you. You guys have a new album, Call The Devil out on August 9th. Congratulations! This is your second studio album with Napalm Records. How has the creative process been with this record company?
Steve: Everything's been great. The timing wasn't the best for any of us on the first effort or back in 2020 when A Wonderful Life came out, obviously with Covid, but the label themselves and everyone that's over there, they've really got it together. They have their finger on the pulse of what's happening. They love meta, and truly appreciate their artists and give us artistic freedom. So it is been wonderful up to this point and we're really looking forward to doing more with them.
When you released A Wonderful Life with them we were still under lockdown, under the pandemic. I imagine the creative process of that album was much different than the one that's coming out in August. How has the creation process been with this new album?
Steve: Well, so when we back up to A Wonderful Life, a lot of that album was done, recorded and written before the pandemic. It wasn't until the end of the mix and mastering when all of that started to unfold. But looking at that album versus this album, this album was done in different sessions over different lengths of time. We'd get together with a couple of guys and work for 10 days or two weeks and then take a month off and then get together for say- a month with a few guys and work on another separate section of songs. It was very on-and-off and collaborative the whole time versus the way we typically go into a studio for three or four months at a time to write and record it all, or the bulk of it anyways. This one was done in smaller sessions and being a post-covid thing, there was a lot to be said. There was a lot of aggression and everyone was anxious to do things from being pent up. You can hear the hunger on the album and the excitement and it's very, very diverse. And there's a lot of drama as well because, like I said, it's post-covid vibe. There's some of that depression leading into hope, leading into excitement.
I can even see that on the artwork of the album. It's so vivid and there's so much rage with that whole image that I can even see it from the artwork. Tell me about the artist who worked on this, was it something you collaborated on?
Steve: So that was Brad Armstrong, and that was once again, working with the label. Napalm had suggested checking out some of his artwork. We had originally a different concept. The title was the same, but the artwork was completely different. I'm not sure how much of the audio was done for him to hear, but he knew the title and he knew the history of the band. We were very interested to see what someone else would come up with with very little to say just their own ideas. That's part of what I truly like about this whole creative process is that art is open to interpretation. To see someone else's opinion and their vision of that title was truly unique. He really brought something to the table that I didn't think of and it made me even think in different terms. Not so literal or just so wide open with him holding a device or a demon holding a device. It's very much asking ‘Which one is the evil here? Is it the technology or is it the demon?’
I was looking at a few videos of yours and the masks play such important roles in the storytelling of Mushroomhead. Do you have any type of creative background? What inspired you to take such a hands-on role in the creative direction of Mushroomhead down to the masks?
Steve: It's kind of always been there from day one, the desire to learn all the different crafts and then try to blend them together into one cohesive thing. It's like I've collected all these hobbies from sculpting to painting to mask making, and then video cinematography and all the audio engineering as well. To be able to take all those hobbies and combine them together is really special. And the video process is absolutely one of my favorite parts. Once the album is mixed and mastered and everyone agrees on a single, we get to bring that vision to life one more time.
I know that you guys, and specifically you were one of the pioneers of water drumming in alternative music. That's incredible. As I was watching the “Prepackaged” video, it seems like the element of water is representing that rage versus what we're used to, which is fire and flames. What did that water represent in that video?
Steve: I'm glad you brought this up. Not just in the video, the live element of water drums I think is a huge addition to the live show, which a lot of people don't see in our videos now. In the last video, we did want to add more water and it would've just everything that much more of a mess. The floor was actual dirt and mulch, so everything would've got muddy. There's a lot of reasons why we didn't go full bore on that, but again, it's the ying and the yang, and I'm glad you caught that because a lot of bands do pyro and it was something that we really never got into. Not saying that we don't want to, but it just had such a different effect visually. Water gives you a different feeling and it's almost to where you're not expecting that, and then it is very exciting to see it do its thing. Not saying that pyro isn't the same way, but once you see the pyro, you kind of know where it's coming from versus with the water drums, we can interact, climb on them, people can stand on 'em, use 'em as ego risers, and then when it's time to perform on them, we can go ahead and play and then they become part of the light show and the whole show overall. So I'm glad you brought those up. Thank you.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you specifically play with water a lot, and the percussions, where did that stem from? How did you introduce it and how did you perfectly blend that element into what you guys were doing?
Steve: Well, I don't know if it's perfect yet, because everyone complains about it, especially when we're opening with other acts and just, it makes quite a bit of a mess. But I have to say that a lot of that was truly inspired by Blue Man, looking at some of their elements and how can we put a Mushroomhead spin on it. So yeah, again, art influencing art.
How funny that you bring that up because just yesterday I was sharing with my daughter a little about you and I played your solo, and then I followed it by this one of them drumming on a whole bunch of colors. And it's the same level of energy, right?
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. I know the colors portion of that, and it's absolutely amazing. When I saw that, I was like, huh, well maybe that'll be too much like it. But the way we do it, which is straight water, and when you change the color of the light, it changes with the scenes. So again, it's a very special thing that I think it brings a special element to the live show.
Absolutely, and as a new Mushroomhead concertgoer, what can I expect to see from the live element of Mushroomhead?
Steve: Well, it's definitely a show. We are here to entertain the audience as well as ourselves. So you're going to expect some high energy and some low points. It's going to be very dramatic. We try to bring a lot of the elements from our albums to the stage, so we'll be aggressive in your face and then kind of bring the mood down and get a little more doomy. And depending on what type of production we have, we will try to add quite a bit of that to enhance the element. But yeah, you're in for a roller coaster ride, that's for sure. And if you're up front and close to the water drums, you're going to get wet.
I'm psyched. I want to pull out one of the lyrics from that video. It goes, “And though we try / To enjoy these number days / And though we try / In peace or plague the end will find a way” I’ve noticed a real poetic element to the tracks I’ve listened to. What was the writing process like? What experiences shaped some of the words to those lyrics in this new album?
Steve: That one in particular is a Steve Rauckhorst line, so I can't speak directly for him. But again, what I take from that is a lot of this stuff was shaped from the post-covid vibes where we still had that doom and gloom about us andd the world was still uncertain. Was it coming back, was it not? Is this truly the end? And as things got better, they would take another, there were peaks and then there were more valleys. Every time it would get better, it would get worse for a minute there. So I think it was just relating to life. And again, the post-covid vibe of some of that depression and some of that isolation played into the more dramatic songs. And then some of that, like I said, that pent up aggression just went to the more upbeat and in your face type of songs.
And with new members in music, a new face brings new energy, new elements, new sound. What has Scott brought into the mix of Mushroomhead?
Steve: Scotty's great man. Fresh eyes, fresh ears. He is just an entertainer at heart. He's got such high energy as a frontman, he just bounces the whole time he's out there. And he's kind of the same way in real life. He's just full of energy and a great soul, and we got to experiment a lot. He has a ton of ability and from singing clean to a low growl to even some more death metal type of yelling. We did a lot of experimenting and a lot of layering. We found that he and Steve actually harmonized extremely well. Sometimes in their heavier moments, we can't really tell who's who, so we just layer them together to beef it up. Then we also found that he and Ms. Jackie compliment each other very nicely on their clean vocals. So again, it was more experimenting and finding more ways to use his ability.
I would even say it's almost like an orchestra, right?
Steve: With the three vocalists, there's so many options to layer things and get each other in the proper ranges where they need to be with each other in relation to, and then what’s great is they can switch those roles so a harmony that was written for Jackie now Scott is doing, and now she's singing the primary line. We tried 'em both and it's like ‘Ooh, listen to that blend instead.’ So it was a lot of experimenting. And we had all that talent to work with, it was hard to even pick sometimes as far as what the best blend was. That's why sometimes you'll hear little layers tucked in the background.
I definitely do. In another interview, you described the track “UIOP” as a blend of Nightmare Before Christmas mixed with The Exorcist and a sprinkle of Ozzy. Did any other films inspire this album?
Steve: I can't really say one in particular, but there's always one album and film that brings it back together for me and that’s Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I always think about that album. It's been a powerful thing to me since I was a kid, before I even played music. To see an album go so cohesively with a visual has always kind of blown me away. But yeah, “UIOP” is definitely cinematic. I can see many, many things when I think about doing a video for it. So I'm glad you brought that up. I forgot I even said that as far as to describe that song, but I think it's pretty close. Again, that one's haunting in a lot of ways, and it is childish and playful, but again, sinister and just almost cursed.
Would you say that it's been more intuitive or intentional, the messages throughout the album?
Steve: They're definitely not intentional. They freak us out sometimes when we're done putting things together because not everyone writes one song. Like someone will come up with a line for a part or a whole that turns into a chorus or turns into a verse, then you'll read someone else's lyrics for a completely different part and they go together like, 'how the hell did you know I was talking about this?' And even though they weren't written together, it reads that way. So it looks very cohesive. Maybe we changed a couple of words to make it read a little bit better, but sometimes even we were shocked that we had such the same vibe without discussing any of it.
Absolutely, absolutely. I'm so psyched from the video that just came out and can’t wait to see you guys live and take in the album to its entirety. I think it's going to be one hell of a ride.
Steve: We feel the same way. And it's super exciting because when we did A Wonderful Life, Covid happened and we did not get to go out there and perform all those new songs that we had just spent all that time writing and recording. It took a minute, buteventually the world turned back on. And here we are with a brand new album and brand new material that we get to play for the first time live. I'm super excited.
So you’re going to do a European tour in August, before heading back to the States. Any surprises, any sneak peeks that you can share with me?
Steve: Well, we're not really sure even what we're playing yet because this is album number nine, and if you take two songs off every album, there's 18 songs and we're all going to be here for a minute. It's really hard to pick the songs that we're going to do on these next two tours. They'll probably change during the tour too, we will see. So it's always exciting to see what we come up with. And fingers crossed, it’s possible Gravy will be able to join us in the States for a few of the shows in October. It was very special to have him on the two songs on the album, and he's been able to do a few festivals and a few shows. Just depends what's going on with his schedule and logistics.
Is there anything else, Steve, that you would like to share with our audience at Nu Metal Agenda?
Steve: Thank you for all the support, whether you've been here for the full 30 years or you just tuned in last week, thank you for checking it out, believing in it, and being interested just in this same kind of universe, if you will. And I think there's a lot to check out. If you like one of the songs, there's a whole lot more for you to check out. If you don't like one of the songs, there's a whole lot more for you to check out. So definitely keep an open mind, keep supporting metal and even independent underground music. Keep making art, keep believing, and make this world a better place.
Thank you so much, Steve, and thank you so much for meeting with us today.
Steve: Thank you for taking the time to do this and sharing the passion for metal with the world.
