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Using masks, Mushroomhead was able to lose any
attitude and ego upon hitting the stage.
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Drummer Skinny (that's just Skinny to you civilians) from Mushroomhead, Cleveland's long-running Metal maniacs, is recovering from a common problem after the band's first day in the wilds of southern Florida.
"We got in the night before and checked in really early and just chilled all day. ... I got sunburned, actually," says Skinny. "I'm thinking, 'Man, that fucking mask is stinging my face ... oh, yeah, I got sunburned.'"
Skinny's mask is just one of eight that adorn the now-reddened faces of the members of Mushroomhead, the Metal carnival that has become one of the Cleveland area's most popular bands in any genre. The size of the crowds that Mushroomhead routinely generates in its hometown hasn't been seen since the heyday of the Michael Stanley Band in the late '70s and early '80s. With the sudden rise of theatrical Metal acts like Mudvayne and Slipknot, and with Mushroomhead just embarking on its first serious national campaign on the release of XX, its debut for Eclipse Records, the critical comparisons are bound to occur.
"Everybody says that to us; 'Oh, Slipknot clone,' " says Mushroomhead's hooded and jump-suited drummer, of the constant comparisons to Iowa's equally costumed metalers, Slipknot. "We know why we do it, and we were doing it long before that. So it doesn't eat us up that much. I'll tell you what, though, when they first came up, we were fucking pissed. We read stuff where they rip on us or say shit about us in magazines. The world's pretty small ... one of these days we're gonna run into those dudes, and we're gonna find out what exactly happened and which one of them wants to talk shit. Besides, we're not the first band to dress up, either."
Skinny makes a good case for Mushroomhead. The band began nine years ago in Cleveland when a group of like-minded area musicians, whose bands practiced in the same downtown warehouse, all wanted to create something edgier and more daring than the rather pedestrian bands they occupied at the time. The masks and costuming were nothing more than a desire on the band's part for anonymity in the face of their other musical pursuits, and the need for audiences to judge the band on its own merits.
"We came straight out of nowhere with it, didn't even announce it," says Skinny. "We kind of secretly did it. We put out flyers and stuff, but we didn't go out and promote it. It just got its own buzz about it, and we came out in the costumes and masks and a lot of it worked. Some people knew from listening who we were, and who was singing from which band. But most people didn't have a clue. It really helped us to lose any attitude and ego. It was very humbling to start over behind a mask and to realize it doesn't fucking matter. You know, you're not looking at the guy when you're driving in your car cranking his tunes."
Within a couple of years of launching Mushroomhead, the band had become every member's primary gig. Exhibiting a relentless work ethic, Mushroomhead soon became one of the biggest drawing live acts in the Cleveland area, packing thousands into regional clubs and ultimately selling over 5,000 units of its 1995 self-released eponymous debut album.
Even with this kind of impressive regional success, the band's members were and still are tied to the necessity of day jobs. With the band's simmering national exposure -- upon its May release, XX was the No. 2 most-added album on Metal radio and No. 3 most-added on CMJ's college radio chart -- those day jobs will be taxed to the limit as the band has taken off for a late summer tour as the opening act for W.A.S.P.
"There are a couple of guys who are wondering if they'll have their day gigs when they get back," says Skinny with a laugh. "We're still not to the point where everyone can just do this. We're getting there, though. That's the next step."
XX is a good indication of what Mushroomhead has been doing for the past six years, because it literally is what the band has been doing. The album is a slightly remastered compilation of the band's three self-released albums (Mushroomhead in 1995, Super Buick in 1996, and M3 in 1999), plus a brand new track, the majestically gentle piano/synth interlude, "Epiphany." "Gentle" is certainly not the sort of term one would use to describe most of what Mushroomhead creates, but the band is obviously more broadly based than most of its contemporaries, offering flecks of Techno, Rap, Industrial and Ambient within the context of its full Metal packet.
Although Mushroomhead's attentions are focused on its current touring duties, it's clear that the band will be eager to get back to its home base and begin work on what will become its first album of all new material for Eclipse. The band has been writing a wealth of material since 1999's M3, and is ready to begin the task of expanding the shards into actual songs.
"There's a lot of unfinished material right now, a lot of pieces," says Skinny. "Until we get them done, they're just pieces. Plus sometimes, we just keep them as pieces. Like the song "Chancre Sore." That was just a piece that we said, 'Fuck it, we're done. We're gonna overkill this and ruin it. Just leave it.' We know our limit. We know when it sounds forced, and it's not an honest effort from ourselves. It will seem like we're trying too hard. It shouldn't be that hard, it's got to be real art. It should come from within. That's where we draw the line."
It is obviously one of the few lines that Mushroomhead is compelled to draw. From its inception in 1992, the band's stage show has run counter to much of the gothic horror and Grand Guignol theatrics favored by most Metal dramatists, but has still pushed the parameters of musical theater. Mushroomhead has always leaned toward a more viscerally sexual presentation, featuring a nearly nude dancer named Roxy whose role was to simulate sex with one or more of her bandmates, a role that sometimes mutated into actual sexual contact onstage. With Roxy's departure in 1999, the band has retained the heightened sexual tension in its lyrics but has concentrated on its musicianship rather than its Rocky Horror-esque, bump-and-grind routine.
The shift in stage presentation hasn't been the only change for Mushroomhead. The band was together for three years before the release of its first album, and worked long and hard on developing a direction.
"It took us a long time to get our shit together to even figure out where we were going with this," admits Skinny. "We changed a couple of members. We've changed the look over three or four different times. The look and the music have completely evolved together, which is nice. We've come to a point now where we can actually feel good about how we function and what's important and where we're going with this, as a unified theme. We're happy with the way it's worked out. A lot of things change uncontrollably, and we've been able to cut that down; getting everything under control and everyone being on the same page. Musically, I don't think we've changed with the times. We're a little more aggressive, and there's better production, for sure."
With the release and building success of XX and the band's current slot on the W.A.S.P. tour, Mushroomhead is working toward the transition from regional band to national band. It's a time that would find many bands in a vulnerable position internally as Mushroomhead begins to see itself in the larger context, opening itself to greater successes and greater failures as well. Luckily, the band has been around long enough to weather these little storms on the way to its dream.
"We can't really worry too much about if the W.A.S.P. crowd is going to like us," says Skinny. "We have to worry about the crowd that is there to see us. I guarantee you there's a lot of kids coming out to see us. We have to go out there and do our thing. We have to look at this like it's our tour."
MUSHROOMHEAD performs with W.A.S.P. at Bogart's on Tuesday.
