Interview: Black Magnet
I hope people walk away with a vibe of the soundtrack to our minds rather than just another phoned-in industrial Black Magnet album.
Black Magnet make a fearsome industrial noise and this is abundantly clear on their new album Megamantra, which is out on July 25th. Gavin Brown caught up with Black Magnet vocalist/guitarist James Hammontree to talk about the album, industrial classics and the sound and outlook of Black Magnet.
E&D: Your new album Megamantra is out next month. How excited are you to be bringing this album out?
James: I’m extremely excited, it’s been 4 years in the making and the first album we’ve written with a full band lineup. Body Prophecy was recorded in August of 2020 so it’s been a long time coming. We wrote about 15-16 songs during that time and whittled it down to the best 9 songs to make it a consistent piece as a whole. I couldn’t be happier for people to catch up and see what we have been doing creatively.
E&D: As Megamantra is your third album, where has your sound gone on this record and how has it developed over that time?
James: The songwriting has grown more expansive and in depth, musically and emotionally, while also being simplified and stripped down sonically to a cleaner, direct, and digestible sound. I wasn’t so concerned about complex song structures and noise layers as I was creating stripped down direct songs people could attach to. We have done so much intense noise making and sound layering that it comes natural at this point, I wanted to get the core idea of the song, to declutter and reveal the essence of each piece as much as possible. We also experimented with using choruses/hooks vocally. Every song has a bit of a different flavor and influence, so I feel it encompasses our variety and personal tastes really well.
E&D: What are the biggest influences on the sound and outlook of Megamantra?
James: Our usual bag of tools was of course used on this, lots of influence from Ministry, Godflesh, Skinny Puppy, but we were also getting into more obscure industrial bands like 16Volt, Drown, Panic DHH, Bile, Soulstorm, etc. Old Prodigy, Atari Teenage Riot, Rotterdam Records and a lot of the early UK/EU electronic/hardcore/gabber stuff from the 90s too. We also took a lot of influence from just 90’s rock music in general, whether that be Alice In Chains, Deftones, Tool, and even Korn. We didn’t want to sound like any of those bands particularly, just the overall sound of what you might walk out of after hearing it from another dimension. Lots of these influences feel under appreciated in modern industrial music and so much of the sound came from a time when those bands were emerging.
E&D: Would you say that this is your most eclectic album to date?
James: Most definitely. Referring to what I mentioned earlier, I hope people walk away with a vibe of the soundtrack to our minds rather than just another phoned-in industrial Black Magnet album. The passage of time probably helped with this from our last album to this one.
E&D: Was the creation process of the album a smooth one?
James: It was actually, at first I was really pushing to get the album done a lot sooner. We even went to a cabin in Colorado for a week to write and record in 2021, some of the demos we used, some we shelved. Being in between record labels, the end of Covid, lots of touring, and just not being completely happy with every song, we just kept writing and playing shows instead of forcing a new album before it felt right. My bandmates had a lot to do with quality control and knowing when something was or wasn’t working creatively. It’s become a 6th sense we all have, we immediately know when something’s good or has potential. That took some to develop but now it’s easier and sharper than ever. Songwriting has become a complete and total joy instead of a daunting task, never feels tryhard.
E&D: How as the experience of working with Sanford Parker and Vlado Meller on the album?
James: Both were amazing. Sanford is a longtime friend and has worked on all of our albums. He’s almost a 5th member at this point. He understands the overlap of extreme metal and electronics, and makes that work to our advantage, I’m not sure of many engineers who could do that. He uses his engineering almost like an instrument of its own in our band, he rules. Vlado Meller is an absolute legend and a genius in his own right, his discography of what he has mastered shows the high level at which he works. Metallica, AFI, Prince, RATM… incredible. We were so lucky to get on his schedule, very little revisions to say the least.
E&D: You also worked with Jesse Draxler on the artwork, how was that experience?
James: Draxler rules. He’s also a longtime friend and did our album cover for Body Prophecy. As per usual I sent him demo tracks of the songs and let him do what he felt inspired to do creatively. I am super impressed with the full album layout and find it completely unique, even for him, and while working outside his collage technique. He also worked on the music videos, single covers, and did a whole rebrand of the band’s visual aesthetic, I can’t thank him enough. All the elements stand alone as incredible individual pieces. I have never met an artist whose work fuses with our music quite so well.
E&D: Can you tell us about the stunning cover that Jesse did for the album?
James: I loved that he did something different from his collage work. He has always done different mediums, but is sort of known by people for that. We wanted a visual piece that reflected the vibe of the title, something monolithic, almost religious and spiritual, while also totally industrial looking in the broader sense. To me it feels like something esoteric and inescapable, much of how I want our music to sound. He and I always talked about creating a “sledgehammer” of a presentation, and mentally I live in that room full of hammers.
E&D: How was it being part of Jesse’s collaboration album Tongue Of Angels alongside so many cool artist from Igor Cavalera to Fatboi Sharif?
James: It’s amazing to be included on an album with so many great artists. Our collaboration song is finished and we are currently mixing it. Jesse’s sounds provided the ultimate canvas for us to work from. We used a lot of the sounds as is, but also totally demolished and destroyed some of them even more. It was especially fun to make drum sounds with them. I created a whole piano scale out of some of the more tonal clanking sounds which I saved as new synth presets. I could do a whole album based off his sounds.
E&D: Who would you love to collaborate with on Black Magnet material in the future?
James: I’d really like to collaborate with vocalists the most, Gazelle Twin, Philip Best, Zola Jesus, Chino, David Yow, the list goes on. I want to score a metaphysical/occult audiobook, and of course a film at some point. I’d like to collaborate with authors, directors, and singers more than full blown bands at this point.
E&D: Are you looking forward to taking the songs from Megamntra onto the live stage?
James: Absolutely. We play about 5 of the songs live right now, and when we do a headline tour I’d like to play almost all of the album.
E&D: How have your recent live shows gone down?
James: The shows lately have been awesome, mostly local in OKC/Tulsa, but we have a few short runs and out of town shows coming up. We have been playing more hardcore shows which I love. Our drummer on the album, Jared, moved to bass and we have a new drummer, Noah (who I play with in Greg Puciato’s solo project), and our live sound is heavier than ever, working as a full fledged 4 piece live band.
E&D: What are your other live plans once the album comes out?
James: Doing a short tour to Heavy Hell fest in Indianapolis to play with Six Feet Under, Master, and Though, a few weeks before that playing in Dallas with Wargasm (UK). We are ready for a longer tour as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
E&D: What Black Magnet live shows stick out in your memory as being so memorable?
James: Definitely last time we played NOLA, one of our best shows to date. We played at an awesome satanic themed bar called The Goat, great staff and just a great crowd. We made a lot of friends and partied afterwards, hard to beat NOLA when the vibe is right. Our last show in LA for the 3Teeth 10 year anniversary show was also equally as great too.
E&D: Who have you loved touring with the past and who would you love to tour with in the future?
James: Our longest tour was with King Yosef, we loved that crew and had a great time with them. We also have toured with Trace Amount and Bleached Cross. Those 3 have been our favorites. In the future I’d love to tour with Godflesh, 3Teeth, Ho99o9, Cavalera (Sepultura), and even more straightforward bands like Deftones.
E&D: How is life working out for Black Magnet on new label Federal Prisoner records and how did you come to join the labels roster?
James: It’s amazing, the relationship is totally based on an artist-to-artistpartnership. It doesn’t get much better than having that with two incredible artists like Jesse Draxler and Greg Puciato. I suppose it began when Jesse and I became friends when he started on the art for ‘Body Prophecy’, we had been talking a lot and then met in person when we played in Chicago shortly after. Later on, when Greg was assembling a live band for his solo project, we started talking and he had become a fan of the band. I joined Greg’s solo project on lead guitar and did a ton of touring with him. Friendships with the both of them grew and the rest is history. Pretty damn good crew to be involved with.
E&D: What are the quintessential industrial albums in your opinion?
James: Great question. There are honestly tons of great industrial songs, but not all the albums hold up as classic albums per se. Here’s a few I think are flawless through and through:
Throbbing Gristle – 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Godflesh – S/T and/or Streetcleaner, also Pure
Ministry – Land of Rape and Honey
Skinny Puppy – VIVIsectVI or Cleanse Fold Manipulate
Coil – Horse Rotovator
Nitzer Ebb – That Total Age
Swans – Filth
Whitehouse – Mummy and Daddy.
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine or Broken
Frontline Assembly – Caustic Grip
+ a ton of one off singles from the Wax Trax collections
E&D: What newer industrial/noise bands are killing it for you at the moment?
James: Author & Punisher, Trace Amount, Spike Hellis, Filmmaker, Horskh, Purest Form, Threat of Innocence, Ghostmane, Dis Fig, Vatican Shadow… lots of sick heavy electronic stuff too like Tsuzing, Zamilska, Giant Swan, DJ Speedsick, Nuxxx.
