MK Magazine Interviews

gODHEAD

by Alex Zander and Moe Wyoming

It was mid-summer when M.K.Ultra guru Alex Zander graciously extended an invitation to me to accompany him to the wretched land known as Merrillville, Indiana, to see and interview Godhead. We had to trudge through Chicago’s highway traffic on Interstate 94 until we reached the Skyway , where we had to pay a hefty $2.00 toll to gain access to road that would lead us into the wonderful land of Indiana, the land where mullets reign supreme.

Why anyone would pay that much to go there is beyond me. But Godhead beckoned and we had to answer.

Tootling along the highway over the best of Chicago’s fine east side, we stopped at a McDonald’s oasis located right smack-dab in the middle of the fucking highway. What kind of backward-ass moron builds an oasis in the middle is beyond me. Expecting the oasis to be on the right, we swerved across last-minute traffic and caught the ramp for McDonald’s where Alex had to “drain some fluid,” so to speak. Taking care of business, he was accosted in the men’s room by yuppies, no doubt heading into Indiana themselves, as to what band he was in. Evasive, yet amused, we were back on the highway with an empty Alex bladder. Eventually, we passed by another fine area known as Gary.

Alex, perhaps described it the best when he exclaimed “Look at all the Hoosiers!” But it wasn’t long before we had to make another stop. Highway 65 brings you the very best of the nothingin Indiana. So we pulled over to the side of the road where Alex strolled down a hill and christened the roadside land with a streak of piss.

The Star Plaza Theater wasn’t far ahead. The staff there seemed completely bewildered by the fact that someone was there to interview a band. After straightening things out and enlightening (if this is possible) the locals, our interview was set. The poor bastard who worked behind the bar with the umbrella mustache, who looked like he walked off the set of a bad Western was a good source of comic relief.

After Godhead tore it up on stage we tracked down someone who attempted to point us in the right direction. This was apparently very hard to do. After a bit of a runaround, we found Jason Miller, Godhead’s singer, who sported a calm reserve, and eventually led us upstairs where the following took place.

-Moe Wyoming

Alex Zander: Well Jason, the last time we talked on the radio you wouldn't talk about who was interested in you as a showcase. Has it been a very interesting year?

Jason Miller: Yeah, well I guess you figured out who it was.

AZ: How was the Manson tour for you, for Godhead?

JM: Oh, it was amazing, it was great! We got to go all around the country and even Europe, which was amazing. We went all over Europe.

AZ: Up to that point what did you do? You were known in the States underground, but to go from that and then Manson takes you under his wing.

JM: Yea, it was a real fortunate opportunity, what else can I say? It's awesome.

AZ: You know, he obviously recognizes talent and he wanted to exploit it to the world. His album was a very artistic album, I loved Holy Wood; great, great, incredible album. But this guy picked you up, how did it happen?

JM: Well we were on tour with Christian Death and when we played in Hollywood we had just picked up a new lawyer and she sorta let the message be known throughout the industry that we were looking for a new label deal. Manson's people came out to see us play.

AZ: How'd that feel?

JM: It felt good, but at that point we had showcased for so many different labels we didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if it was really gonna happen or not, and when it finally did we were ecstatic!

So Manson's manager saw us play, who is now actually our manager as well, which is really cool. I kept in contact with him and then he let me know that Manson was going to be calling me. So Manson calls me on the phone and we had a really good conversation and he's like, "we should meet." So he flies me out to California and we hang out for a couple of days, and we talk about what he wants to do with his label and everything else. It seemed like the perfect match. We had showcased for Atlantic, Epic, Columbia, Capitol, you know, everybody.

Moe Wyoming: When he first told you guys that you were the first band he wanted on his label, how did you initially react when he made that offer?

JM: Well it happened really gradually. We just reacted with caution, because you know that anything could make it go sour at any time. I mean stuff like that happens all the time in the business, like something seems like it’s gonna happen and then it goes sour. But from the time that we hung out until the time we actually signed on the dotted line was like another three months. Things were slowly coming together. We were initially really excited and then it was like a wait and see period. Actually I would never, ever want to relive that moment in my life again because it seemed like three months of agony. Just waiting…you know, fly out to California, hang out with Marilyn Manson, you go to his house, you do all this stuff and then it’s like, “we want you to be the first band on our label,” but they didn’t have their contract ready yet with their parent label. So that took a couple months to get that straight before we actually got the offer on the table, so it was just like…

AZ: How’d it feel?

JM: It fuckin felt like shit, dude. I couldn’t sleep, I was just waiting, waiting for it to happen and then it finally did.

AZ: When it happened was it good?

JM: Oh yeah, Hell yeah.

MW: How much did he help you, like guide you down the path with your album? Or did he say you know, just do your own thing?

JM: He helped out a lot, he was the executive producer on the album. He helped a lot with sound arrangements and how to handle different things. But ultimately he said the decision was up to us on everything that we do.

AZ: Are you the signature band for PostHuman?

JM: Right now we're the only band on PostHuman.

AZ: Like when he was on Nothing. Does that hold weight? I mean you already had your reputation built before.

JM: Yeah, I think it helps. But you've gotta be a good band though, no matter what. There's a lot of other bands that Trent signed that never went anywhere. So you've gotta be good to really make an impact.

AZ: Do you ever think you're too good? Like you don't provoke a reaction? You're tight, I've seen you guys three times now, House of Blues, here and with Manson last winter in December. Do you ever think that you're too good?

JM: In what way?

AZ: As far as playing your music you guys are fucking perfect. Every time I've seen you in whatever venue you played, you've sounded great. Whereas other bands may be too loud, fuckup or do shitty.

What does Godhead say to the Marilyn Manson crowd? I play the shit out of your stuff on the radio, but I mean talking to the crowd?

MW: Pretty much, what is it about your music that can speak to fans of Marilyn Manson that will turn them on to your music?

JM: Well I think that if you're gonna go that route then you've gotta go lyrically, if that's what you're talking about. My lyrics are split up into a combination of sort of my view, my social commentary on how I view the world and sort of introspective feelings when I get really depressed, that's when I write. I take life experiences that have happened to me that have probably happened to a lot of people at one point or another. Like the song “Sinking,” that's just about feeling like no matter what you do you're just constantly going backwards. I mean especially in this day and age in this modern society that we're in, many people of our generation feel that way. So I'm not coming out and saying that I'm the Antichrist or anything, but I’m trying relate to people. It's like here we are in a way the children are the Antichrist and how are we feeling today, and that's really what most of my lyrics are about. I try to be somewhat ambiguous so that more people can relate to it.

AZ: I didn't go to Ozzfest this year, I refused to. I didn't know you were playing, that pissed me off. But I sent people, Moe, I sent Shoemaker. You guys are on my website, some really good pictures. But what did that do for you? The buzz at Ozzfest was you guys and Disturbed, they weren't even talking about Sabbath or anyone else on the bill. They're talking about you and Disturbed. There's a big buzz now.

JM: It was great, I’m glad we made a popular impact.

AZ: Do you feel the fan reaction was the same as the critics? The critics were raving.

JM: The fan reaction was definitely strong but I’m happier to be a tour like this because we can do a whole show with lights, and we are music of the night, then to play at 1:30 in the afternoon...

AZ: That's what I’m asking, what was that like?

JM: The people that went, they wanted to mosh, they wanted to fucking go crazy so they did. I feel like we're converting more fans on a tour like this though, and a tour like Manson's. You're playing more to the direct audience that’s probably going to like your music.

AZ: Which would you say you got the most satisfaction as far as reaching the fans, the Manson tour or the Ozzfest tour?

JM: That's tough to say.

AZ: I know you pay attention to your audience.

JM: By the time we had gotten onto Ozzfest, we had toured four months with Manson, a month with Disturbed and Mudvayne, a month with Static-X and a month on our own. Then we're onto Ozzfest, so what I saw there honestly, was a lot of people that already had our album, which was fucking great because they were getting the rest of the people that didn't have it, into. You know what I’m saying? So with Ozzfest it was almost like an affirmation that we had been doing something good. Now on the Rammstein tour, it's almost like a completely new, different set of fans that we're converting. I like that, I like that a lot. That's the point of opening for a variety of acts. But all those bands that I just mentioned, we fit in with those bands in a certain way.

MW: So on Ozzfest, you guys weren't on the second stage, you were on...

JM: The third stage, we headlined the third stage.

MW: How did that happen? I would definitely wanna see you guys on the second stage. You didn't even play that long of a set, right?

JM: Well, everyone plays 20 minutes unless you're at the end of the second stage. The question was this, did we wanna rotate between 10 o'clock in the morning and 1 o'clock in the afternoon, or play at 1:30 everyday? So even though it was on a smaller stage we were playing to more people so we chose to play at 1:30 everyday. That way we could advertise to the people and everything else.

AZ: When did the record come out?

JM: The end of January.

AZ: Are you happy with the way it's going?

JM: Yeah, I mean as an artist you always hope that things will happen, like I wish we had filmed our video sooner. The video just came out like three weeks ago. It's on MTV2 and MTVX, which is really cool, and Much Music. When we were on tour with Manson, we were on tour for like three months before the record came out. That was really frustrating, we wanted the record to come out. But you have to be patient and everything works itself out.

AZ: So touring with Manson, everybody knows who's seen the inside and the out, those of us who have been lucky enough to have hung out with the guy, what was the most fucked up, best part for you during the whole tour? What made you go whoa, what freaked you out?

JM: Uhm...

AZ: Does anything freak you out?

JM: I don't know if anything freaks me out anymore. But the coolest part of that tour was playing the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, where I went to high school and college and even worked at that arena when I was going to college. My old boss was still there. It was fucking cool to go back and play there.

AZ: Was it more of a retribution cool, or a hey man it's good to see you kinda cool?

JM: No, it was a hey man good to see you kinda cool with the boss because he was always cool with me. It was like "wow, you really did something here."

AZ Did you have a name change at one point? Were you on a Cleopatra compilation before, the Godheads?

JM: Yeah, there was something called the Godheads, from Denmark. They’ve since broken up, that wasn’t us.

AZ: Where did the name Godhead come from? It’s a quote, right?

JM: Well yeah, we found that quote after the fact, though. It was just a really cool name.

AZ: Yeah, I caught that in your liner notes.

JM: Yeah, there was a quote from Beethoven.

AZ: So how did you come up with the name Godhead?

JM: Well, in the Krishna religion Godhead is the highest form you can be next to God. Elevating himself to the highest man can be. So, to me it was just a really powerful word that would be great for a band. Then Godsmack came out a couple years later and they’re like “are you guys Godsmack?” No! We’re not, I’ve had the name since 1994. We had the name Godhead before they were an Alice in Chains cover band.

AZ: Are you still in D.C.?

JM: Yeah, we’re thinking about moving to California pretty soon. Well everything’s out there for us, as far as our management, our label, our business management and there’s so many other things that you can do out there with other musicians. There’s so many other musicians out there.

AZ: Life in D.C., how is it different from life in L.A.?

JM: It’s different. You have all your friends out there and the scene you’ve been involved with for years.

MW: For your video that you did, Eleanor Rigby, I was just wondering what gave you that idea to cover a Beatles tune? Specifically, that one. I think you guys did a really good job with it.

JM: Thanks. It actually was something I was opposed to, it was really The Method’s idea. We grew up with the Beatles. The reason I was opposed to this for more of like a commercial thing, because when you do a cover, any kind of cover, it’s open to a lot of criticism. I guess I really didn’t wanna go that route, but ultimately it turned out really well. Initially the idea I didn’t like, but when we started working on it I loved it

MW: I know a lot of labels, when a band is first starting out, they want you to do a cover. For instance, Manson got really big after he did Sweet Dreams. Was there any pressure from your label to do that?

JM: No, no, the only label decision that was made was for it to be the single. But we didn’t really didn’t have any pressure to record it. Manson really liked it and everyone really liked it.

MW: I know you’ve had CD’s out before the one on PostHuman. Alex has one of them, and I was looking at the songs on it and there were some of the songs that are on your current CD. Are they different versions?

JM: Yeah, they’re different versions. We just wanted to put together the best collection of songs for our first major label debut. So we redid a couple of songs, but we won’t be doing that again.

MW: You guys have been doing a lot of touring, Manson, Ozzfest and now Rammstein. Do you have any plans to do your own big tour?

JM: Well we’re going to be doing some radio shows in September, then maybe we’ll do a headlining tour after that.

MW: Any particular artists you’d like to tour with?

JM: (laughs) We’ve pretty much gone on tour with everyone we’d like to tour with. Unless maybe Rob Zombie and Tool.

AZ: Were you ever guilty of being a KISS fan?

JM: Oh, hell yeah.

AZ: What do you think about the KISS coffin?

JM: I’m like “Come on Gene, that’s a little much.”

AZ: I’m happy as fuck for you guys, I’ve been watching you guys, been playing the fuck out of you on the radio. I feel like this is the one band, Godhead, that really, really did something. What other videos are going to be coming out for songs?

JM: I think “Sinking” in the next couple of months.

Posted by Alex Zander at November 1, 2003 12:00 AM