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ohsuperpup · 7 years

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Interview With Noah Robertson, Drummer Of Motograter!!!

1. How long have you been playing drums?

I have been playing drums for about 20 years now. I started in 6th grade band and stayed in the school music program all the way through High School, where I joined the drumline. It was also during High School that I started my first metal band with some friends. We used to lie about our age so we could play shows at the local clubs and bars! (laughs) After High School, I studied Music Education in College for 3 years and marched in the college drumline as well. I was really distracted from my schoolwork though, performing shows and playing in different bands all the time. I ended up meeting an awesome group of musicians at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. We eventually dropped out of Music School together and moved to Dallas, looking for more musical opportunities. Eventually, a few of us relocated the band to Hollywood, California. I packed my drums and my clothes in my car and drove to Hollywood by myself... it was a trip. I lived in a rehearsal room, slept on an air mattress, bathed with a bucket of water and a towel, and cooked food on a George Foreman grill! (laughs) My car broke down the very first day I was there so I had to take the bus everywhere, which was awful! I went out there first because I was able to transfer my job. At the time I was working at Guitar Center in Dallas, so I ended up transferring to the Guitar Center on Sunset Strip in Hollywood; the guitar player and bass player moved out there about a month later. A little while later, the band went on hiatus and I began searching for a new project. I answered a Craig's List ad for a new band forming and ended up moving back to Dallas, Texas to start The Browning. The rest is history!

2. Who has greatly influenced you to initially play, and do you think it has integrated into your sound?

I really appreciate these questions, because this is a story I have been wanting to tell for quite some time. I have always loved music, even from an early age. I grew up listening to everything and being influenced by a lot of different styles of music. Around the time I was in middle school I discovered bands like Ugly Kid Joe, Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Megadeth and instantly fell in love with heavy metal. Around High School my love for the genre grew even more. I come from a small, middle-of-nowhere town called Lampasas and there weren't many people at my school that listened to heavy music. The few of us that did, we found each other somehow and became friends. A few of us worked for this sound company called Donner Musik that setup sound systems for private events and weddings and such. One night we setup sound for this band called Un Loco out of Austin, Texas. It blew my mind. It was one of the first metal shows I ever saw and it was the first time I ever got autograph's from a band. That was right around the time I was realizing I wanted to play in a band. You see, up until that point I had only played in the school concert band and the school marching band. My best friend growing up, Brandon Beck, who lived down the street from me, he was a bass player and a singer and he had a band going with some guys. Their drummer ended up quitting and I seized the opportunity. I bought his drum set from him for like $300 dollars. It was this rundown CB-700 kit with a silver wrap. It was completely scratched and dinged up, missing parts, duct taped cymbal stands, broken cymbals. (laughs) I had to mow lawns, wash cars, and do chores around the house to pay it off. I remember walking to his house and paying his mom like 50 bucks a week or something. (laughs) I remember the first song I ever learned on the drum set was "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica, because we covered it in the band. It was during this time I began discovering bands like Testament, In Flames, Machine Head, and Pantera. I found Pantera's album 'Vulgar Display of Power' on cassette at a local record store, in a bargain bin, for like fifty cents and it didn't leave my stereo for a very long time. I think growing up being exposed to so many different types of music and playing in orchestras and marching in drumline, I just had this intense love for melody and groove. Pantera quickly became my favorite band. In 1998, my buddy Brandon and I borrowed my parents car and drove a few hours to Dallas, Texas to see Pantera perform with Soulfly and Morbid Angel. That concert changed my life forever. It was at that moment that I realized what I wanted to do with my life. I had never been to a big concert like that, and it really had a profound affect on me. It was just these 4 normal looking guys on stage and the crowd went completely out-of-their-minds, insane for them and it was all because of this massive, powerful sound they were creating with their instruments. At the end of the concert Soulfly came out with Pantera and they did this huge, crazy tribal drum jam. My brain exploded. Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul became my idols and I even got a Pantera tattoo on my leg as soon as I turned 18! (laughs) I graduated high school in 2001 and it was right at that time that the "nu metal" explosion was happening. I used to walk up and down the aisles of the local record shop and I would pick albums that had cool artwork. I remember buying the Slipknot, Mushroomhead, and Mudvayne albums just because the front cover appealed to me. The look and sound of those bands immediately grabbed me. Especially Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Sepultura, Soulfly, and Ill Nino because I was a drummer and was in drumline and those bands had awesome auxiliary percussion featured in their songs. These bands were the perfect mix of everything that I loved. Melody and groove with an aggressive edge. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world! (laughs) In 2003, I attended Ozzfest and a band called Motograter took the stage. Something about the dark, tribal groove they emitted and the insane look they had, and the auxiliary drums and crazy Motograter instrument they invented... I became obsessed. I remember buying magazines like Circus and Hit Parader because they had these huge, full color pictures and posters of the band. I used to sit in my room and play along to their songs, trying to emulate Crispy on the drums. It's incredibly surreal to be playing a band that I was such a huge fan of. I remember taking a Motograter poster to a Five Finger Death Punch show in 2006 and having Ivan Moody sign it! (laughs) To get back to your original question, I have definitely taken my musical influences and integrated them into my playing. Without question. My playing is a mixture of every different style, with an emphasis on groove and melody. I love tom toms and have a very tom oriented playing style. I was drawn to the tenor drums in marching drumline because of their "musical" qualities, I tend to be a very melodic drumset player I think. I never want to overplay, I seek to serve the music. To list just a few of my favorite drummers: Vinnie Paul, Igor Cavalera, Josh Freese, Chris "Crispy" Binns, Gavin Harrison, Chris Kontos, Danny Carey, John Tempesta, and about a million other guys. I could name names all day.

3. What was the experience like shifting from a metal band like The Browning, into the industrial style of Motograter?

You know, that is a very interesting question. Both bands are incredibly industrial, by definition, but in very different ways. One of the first things that drew me to the band, The Browning, was the industrial nature of the project. When I first became aware of The Browning, I was living in Hollywood and had just had a project fall apart. I immediately began scouring L.A. and the internet for a new band. I stumbled upon a Craig's List ad that read, "Former As Blood Runs Black Singer Seeks Members For New Project", or something of that nature. It immediately caught my eye because I was aware of ABRB, they were a great band that achieved a decent amount of notoriety in the metal scene. Jonny McBee had been doing this solo project since he was like 16, he called The Browning. Which, by the way... Holy shit, did we ever get so much attention because of the name. What the hell is The Browning? Is it named after the machine gun? Is it named after the famous writer? We would get so many people asking us about the name, especially in interviews. If you go back and watch the interview videos and read the articles, we just started making up random, insane explanations as to what it meant. I'm pretty sure the name came from some weird twist of information... Jonny's school was on Browning street and him and his friend came up with this crazy ghost story or horror movie plot or something... I don't know. Anyways, so Jonny used to program these metal breakdowns on his computer and would throw all these electronic and synth backdrops over it. Then he would scream over it and then Matt Keck would rap over it. When I answered the Craig's List posting, Jonny sent me a link to a Youtube video and I knew I instantly wanted to be in the band. I recognized immediately that this was innovative and unique and I wanted to be a part of it. I always wanted to do something "different" you know? Something special. This was it. Being a metalhead, I was drawn to the aggressiveness and the brutal nature of the music. But it still had this beautiful, intense melody to it. It really grooved too, hard. It was ALL ABOUT groove. I knew it was for me. Up until this point The Browning hadn't actually been a "real band", it was sort of this internet project. Jonny actually had just moved from Missouri to Dallas, Texas to find good musicians to join his band. I answered the call from Hollywood and moved back to Dallas to join the band. Before I did, I talked Brian Cravey, the guitar player from my previous band, Srlsm, that had just pretty much broken up, into joining the band with me. We made a video of us playing along to a demo song from The Browning and sent it to Jonny. He had these other couple guys lined up already, but our video convinced him to go with us. But, yeah, The Browning is definitely a very industrial band, in that it is an "abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music". I have always been drawn to bands that have these elements. It's one of the things that eventually drew me to bands like Nine Inch Nails, and Ministry, and American Head Charge, Marilyn Manson, Dope, Mushroomhead, and Motograter. They all have this aggressive element to them, and have this dark edge to them, and have these interesting sounds and samples happening... yet, they somehow are beautiful too. They all have melody. You know, Motograter wasn't always this super melodic entity. That band started with just the Motograter instrument and the Smur Drums. Two guys experimenting with sounds, then they added more members. In the very early days of Moto the band was very tribal and industrial and dark. The guitars were programmed on the first demos. They had all these crazy samples and industrial sounds and tribal drums... and the grinding, low distortion of the Motograter... and these low, guttural growls and screams. It was raw. It was scary. In a good way. Once they added a human on guitar, a little bit of melody began to creep in, I think. And once they got a singer, in addition to a screamer, they sort of evolved into this melodic force. The band became more accessible in a lot of ways, but they managed to retain their dark/industrial side. I think one of the things Motograter is best known for are the creepy industrial sounds and samples, in addition to the great melodies the music has to offer. You could say that The Browning is very industrial, because of the electronics or whatever, but I think some will argue that, as far as, Industrial is also very much about the mood or tone of the music and lyrics. I mean, industrial music is notoriously about politics, and the occult, and just goes to this dark, dark place. Motograter very much has that industrial tone to it. Very dark, very politically driven on that self-titled album. Very "end of the world" type stuff.

4. Do you have a favorite kit or equipment you tend to lean towards? Oh god, where do I start! (laughs) You know, these questions are very short and concise, but are just busting open cans of worms! (laughs) I am a total drum nerd. I geek out on drum gear, hard. (laughs) I was just at the NAMM Convention and was running around like a kid in a candy store! (laughs) I will start with drums, I suppose. I mentioned that my very first drum set was a run down CB-700 kit. I had a love/hate relationship with that thing... Later, when I got a lot more serious about the drums, my mom helped me get a Tama Rockstar kit. I was in love with Tama Drums because a lot of the drummers I was into were playing them. Vinnie Paul played Tama back in the day and it made me want to play them. I used to have pages of Tama catalogs hung up on my wall in High School. Not naked chicks, but drums. (laughs) I got that Tama Rockstar kit and I just fell in love with it. And it didn't hurt that I wanted so badly to be a Rockstar! (laughs) I have been playing Tama Drums for my entire drumming career. I love Tama more than I can describe. After the Tama Rockstar, I got a Tama Starclassic Performer, which was the best sounding, most beautiful set I had ever heard or seen. Currently I am playing on a Tama Superstar that I have been using for years and years. All the tours I did in The Browning and have done in Motograter were done on this kit, unless of course it was a festival or festival style tour. In which case, I would literally cover the logo of the drums with tape! Now that's loyalty! (laughs) This drum set has been through a lot. I desperately need and want to retire it and get a new set of drums. Hopefully, I can very soon. When I was at NAMM last weekend, I finally met the Tama Artist Relations guy, Aaron, face to face; whom I have been bugging for years. The company was nice enough to offer any of their products to me at artist pricing. I am very grateful for that! I have been using Tama Iron Cobra Double Pedals my entire drumming career as well, and I even recently started using the new Tama Speed Cobra Double Pedals, which are remarkable. Dream Cymbals is a company I have been with for a very long time, since their early days as a fledgling cymbal company. I was one of their first artists. I found out about them in a product review in a drum magazine. They looked and sounded very interesting and I wanted to try them out. From day one, those guys have been amazing to me. I ordered a few cymbals and instantly fell in love with their products. The cymbals are beautiful, hand crafted masterpieces and they are the most resilient cymbals I have ever played. It took me 6 years to break my 16 inch Energy Series Crash! (laughs) I have an interesting story about Dream... I was especially taken with the high-pitched bell sound that was on the first Motograter record. "Ding!" I was always searching for that sound and how I could re-create it. Years later, I built a relationship with this awesome company, Dream Cymbals. I talked to the President of the company and described to him the bell sound I was trying to achieve. While he was at the factory in China, they put together some prototypes for me and sent them to me to try out. They were perfect! Dream Cymbals now sells them in a few different sizes, they are called Jing Cymbals. Now I play that cymbal in this very band, it's very surreal! (laughs) Seriously, the guys at Dream Cymbals have been outstanding. They have always helped me when I needed them. When I toured Europe, they provided me with a full set of gorgeous Dream Cymbals to use on the tour. They have put my ugly face in places like Drum Magazine and Modern Drummer. (laughs) They are just superb. I mentioned before I attended the NAMM show this past weekend, this big music convention where all the major music manufacturers show off their latest and greatest. I attended the show as a Dream Cymbals artist, and it was amazing to see the Dream guys again and try out all the different cymbals; the last time was at the NAMM Show in 2010. Afterwards, I was invited to a Dream Cymbals after party, where a bunch of Dream Cymbals staff and Dream Cymbals artists had dinner and drinks. It was magical! I love Dream Cymbals and I don't think I could play anything else at this point. Another company I am extremely fond of is Xcel Drumsticks. The owner Torry is one of the coolest guys ever and he makes truly amazing drumsticks. They have this awesome patented feature they call the "Secondary Striker". It's really great, you should see it! It gives the cymbals, especially the bells a brighter response and helps reduce wear and tear on the drumstick. These sticks last forever. Before playing Xcel Drumsticks, I broke drumsticks all the time, constantly. I can literally get through an entire tour with just a few sets of sticks now. It's amazing. Torry has been great over the years, and he always provides me with what I need, when I need it. I even got a chance to visit the Xcel Drumstick factory recently on a Motograter tour and it was a very cool experience seeing how the drumsticks are made. He made a couple sticks for me, right then and there, it was awesome! I posted a video of my visit on the interwebs, check it out. The last company I will mention is MEE Audio. A great company. I have been with them for years and they keep getting bigger and better. When I was in The Browning I was desperately searching for a set of In-Ear Monitors that would stay in my ears! I do these crazy hair spins while I'm playing and all the different sets I tried would come out and get tangled up in my hair, it was a nightmare. Finally, I tried the M6 Pro's and they worked like a charm. Not only do they sound great, but they are very comfortable and most importantly they stay put. The guys at MEE are incredibly generous and have always been super accommodating. I finally got to meet those guys at NAMM as well, and they are solid dudes.

5. What motivated you to start up Swimming With Sharks Records? Will you give us some insight on your business and some of the experiences enjoyed over the years?

Well, the first obvious thing is Sharks! (laughs) I have always been obsessed with Sharks, I even have a bunch of Shark tattoos, and it's my stage name too. I always told myself that I would help others and give back as much as possible, whenever I could. I have always held up to that, whenever and wherever I could. It all started my third year of music school, in 2004. I hosted a two hour, live College radio show on KTRL - The Planet. I called it Swimming with Sharks. I produced the entire thing on my own, it was an epic learning experience. I quickly realized that in this small, country town I was the only person broadcasting rock and heavy metal of any sort. I started playing local bands and my friends bands and even played my own bands on the show. I remember putting together my first concerts and getting the local music store to donate a guitar and the local tattoo shop to donate some gift cards and I would advertise the shows on my radio program. Around that same time, I was reading Marilyn Manson's book "The Long Hard Road Out of Hell". In the book he talks about being a music journalist at first and he used the opportunity to write about his own band. It made me think. I used to always email companies and promoters and record labels and nobody ever responded or paid attention. It was a losing battle... I created a company and called it Swimming with Sharks Entertainment. I began promoting bands and booking shows under the name. I began approaching the same companies and booking agents as a representative from this Entertainment Company. Finally they started to respond and take notice. I wasn't just the drummer, trying to get us a show. It was no longer, "Hey guys, it's me the drummer for this band... we are really good." It was now, "Hello, this is Noah from Swimming with Sharks Entertainment. I would like to discuss a very promising act..." Soon I was able to book us all kinds of shows and get us a lot more opportunities. I just kept building my resume and booking us more shows. Over the years, in the bands I have been in, I really don't like to take a back seat. I want to dive in and get involved and really learn the music industry inside and out. I have taken on a million different roles, and have kind of become this jack of all trades. In doing so I have learned a little bit of everything... from web design to graphic design to tour managing to booking to video editor, the list goes on. I wanted to do everything and learn everything. Navigating through the treacherous waters of the music industry has been an eye opening experience. Being on the front lines and trudging through the twisted wasteland that is the music business has been grueling. I have seen the ugly underbelly of the beast. What's that quote from Hunter S. Thompson? He says a bunch of really horrible stuff about the music industry and then he says, "... and there's a negative side too." Or something like that. I know what to do and what not to do, you know? Because I've been there. There are horrible, horrible people out there who are only invested in themselves and they will crush you and leave you in the dirt. I wanted to use all my experiences and knowledge to help bands get to the next step in their careers. I wanted to give back to the music community however I could. When I started signing record deals and negotiating contracts and releasing music and learning about laws and copyrights and loopholes... Well, I learned a lot. I realized I could do everything these companies were doing, granted on a much smaller scale of course, but still I could do it. I had high hopes that I could someday build something great, a community of talented artists and musicians that deserved to be heard. What gave me hope was guys I looked up to like Markus Staiger the founder of Nuclear Blast and Digby Pearson the founder of Earache Records or Brian Slagel who founded Metal Blade. These guys started from nothing, in their apartments and garages. I realized that a label was just that... a name. I started researching and spending hours coming up with this plan and I just went for it. I built a website, and typed up some legal documents, and found some bands and signed them to worldwide digital distribution deals and put out there music, wrote their press releases, everything. One of the cool things we do is we print up a non-exclusive agreement, so that if a bigger opportunity arises for the band, they are not bound to us. We also let the artist retain all of the creative control. We also take as little of a percentage as we can, while still having incentive to want to work for the bands. Although it's been challenging, it's been a lot of fun and we have worked with some truly talented musicians and artists. I could go on and on about this. One of the coolest experiences for me, has been to see it grow from nothing into something I can be proud of. The other day I was searching the internet researching some record labels for my own band, and I came across a list of U.S. Record Labels on Wikipedia and sure enough there was Swimming With Sharks Records. It was just a small, but proud moment. Little things like that, make it all worth while. Seeing our ads in magazines and having fans give us positive feedback on the music we put out, it's very rewarding at times. Also, I have always been a huge fan and collector of metal compilations, in my early metal head days I would go around to different record shops trying to find the latest metal compilations from all the different metal labels so I could discover new bands. I always loved the concept of a good metal compilation. So when I started my own label I put a lot of emphasis on the samplers and compilations. I would print thousands of copies of these things and I would take them on tour with me and pass them out at my shows. It was the perfect opportunity to spread the music around the country. Some of my proudest moments has been playing huge festivals, overseas, to tens of thousand of people and just throwing handfuls of these samplers into the crowd! (laughs) I did that all over Europe and Mexico. It's been awesome. Right now we are really pushing this band from Australia called Eye of the Enemy. They are insanely talented and I feel like this band is really going to be huge someday. They are hardworking and extremely brilliant at what they do. They create this epic, melodic metal for fans of Lamb of God, Pantera, Soilwork, Fear Factory, Killswitch Engage, etc. They currently have two full length albums, or masterpieces I should say, and are working on a third. My dream is to bring them to the states. That would be glorious! I really wish more people knew about them. I am certain they will, in time.

6. What bands or music are you currently listening to?

Great question, I have a funny story about this! (laughs) I write for metal blogs and magazines and such from time to time. I was on tour with Fear Factory and I interviewed Dino Cazares for Hails and Horns Magazine. One of the questions I asked him was this very question, "What have you been listening to lately?" He laughs and says, "Actually, all I've been listening to lately is The Browning, I love it." I just laughed, and blew it off, and said, "No seriously though, I'd really like to know." He gets a serious look on his face and says, "No, seriously bro, I've been jamming your album nonstop." We were on their tour bus and his wife was standing right there and she goes, "No, trust me, he is always listening to The Browning", as she rolls her eyes. Dino, then proceeds to raise his phone, showing me his copy of the 'Burn This World' album. I think my brain melted just a little bit in that moment. It was incredibly surreal. I couldn't believe it. Anyways, back to your question, I think a lot of musicians would try and pick stuff that makes them sound cool, so I'm just going to be completely 100 percent honest here. First of all, I'm a music teacher and I teach private lessons a lot. So, day to day, I end up listening to and playing quite a bit of pop music and classic rock songs. The cool thing is I have the opportunity to influence some of these young minds and introduce them to awesome music. For instance, if a kid comes in, and this happens a lot, and wants to learn a Taylor Swift or Justin Beiber or a Katy Perry song, I will say, "Okay, great we can do that song, but after that can I show you a really awesome band called, Black Sabbath? It's a trade off! (laughs) Honestly, me and the guys in Motograter are quite literally in the middle of recording a new album. So, I've been listening to new Motograter songs take shape over the last few months. Very recently our producer, Ahrue Luster, flew from Colorado to California for about a week and we all sat in a room going over all these songs with a fine-tooth comb. Rehearsing and changing and fixing songs for hours and hours and hours for days on end. Right now we are tracking the album. So, I have been listening to these songs non-stop. Trying to digest what we have created and are creating. I've been listening to the old Moto record too, for inspiration. When I'm just hanging out listening to music... Lately, I have been listening to a lot of Nothingface. I've been jamming the new Sevendust album, which is killer. Eye of the Enemy of course and new Hellbent music. My fiance Audrey and I, we love us some Katatonia and I listen to them often. If you haven't heard of them they are a Swedish band that is very dark and gloomy, yet melodic and beautiful. Love them. We listened to the new Puscifer album the other day. I've been listening to The Bloodline, Ill Nino, and Un Loco quite a bit, because we just toured with both those bands recently. Great bands. I listen to Flaw a lot. Just listened to the new Megadeth and it's killer! I went back and listened to a bunch of Sepultura and Soulfly records recently. Oh, I ran into Max at NAMM! It was unreal! I have been listening to American Head Charge a lot lately, in anticipation of their new album that is about to drop on Napalm Records. I can't wait! It's kind of like when the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, was about to drop and I went back and watched all the old movies to get me in that zone. (laughs) Our producer, Ahrue, is a Star Wars nerd like me. On the way back from picking him up from the airport, we talked about Star Wars quite a bit and we now have this inside joke about the new Moto record... "The Moto Awakens". We all have this goal that we want to achieve with this new record, just like Disney recently achieved with the newest installment of films. We want to give all the old-school fans all of the elements they love and what makes Motograter, Motograter... but we also want it to be modern and accessible to everyone. This new album will have the classic Moto sound that everyone loves, but will have a modern edge to it. I think a lot of people are really going to enjoy this one. We have been working day and night, pouring our blood, sweat, and tears in to this album and it's going to show. We can't wait to unleash this new material. THE MOTO AWAKENS!!!

Interview By Tim McFarland

#motograter

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