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Spider One, vocals
M.33, guitar
Adam 12, guitar
Siggy Siursen, bass
Adrian Ost, drums
THE HISTORY
"Asking the listener to 'transform' is sort of like a dare, a challenge," says Powerman 5000 frontman Spider One of the title of the band's new album. "It's saying, 'Change. Be something you're not. Defy expectations."'
Transform (set for release May 20, 2003, on DreamWorks Records) is the fourth album from the platinum Los Angeles-based quintet. Its arrival finds Spider characteristically reflective, in this case about mass culture and its impact on him and his audience.
"What I've been noticing lately," he continues, "is how the culture dictates to people, especially to kids. It tells them who they are, or worse, who they should be. But it's a bullshit, manufactured version of who they are, created by advertisements you know, 'Become a soda commercial.' It's just ridiculous."
Still, Transform isn't simply another call to fight the power. Spider clarifies: "What I'm saying is: We're all fucked. There's a song on the album called 'A Theme To A Fake Revolution' that refers to 'a battle won and lost with confusion.' Really, your only chance at a defense against all this is to create confusion. Confuse the powers that want to co-opt who you are. If they can't understand who you are, they can't steal your identity."
The notion of transformation also has another meaning for PM5K. Spider acknowledges: "On the surface, the title is also a reference to the new members of the band." That would be bassist Siggy Siursen and drummer Adrian Ost, whose introduction has effected a sonic as well as physical transformation of Powerman 5000.
The band first took shape in Boston in the early '90s, after Spider met drummer Al3 and discovered they shared a passion for hardcore of both the punk and hip-hop varieties. PM5K's first full-length album, 1995's independently released The Blood Splat Rating System, made a big impression in Beantown and was named both Best Metal Album and Best Rap Album in a local readers poll.
In 1997 Spider, Al3, guitarist Adam 12 and bassist Dorian 27 moved to Los Angeles after signing with DreamWorks Records (they were recruited for the label by A&R exec Ron Handler). That year also saw the release of Mega!! Kung Fu Radio, which presented new songs along with completely remixed versions of the Blood Splat material.
Two years later, PM5K added guitarist Mike Tempesta aka M.33 and unleashed their third album, the sci-fi-influenced Tonight The Stars Revolt! Thanks to driving, electro-edged tracks like the Top 20 rock hit "When Worlds Collide" and Powerman's relentless touring schedule, the album sold more than a million copies. Follow-up Anyone For Doomsday? was recorded in 2001 and prepared for release, but at the last minute, Spider went with his gut and changed his mind. From a creative standpoint, the record didn't feel ready.
"We were literally two weeks in front of this thing hitting the shelves when we decided to pull it," he attests. "We had ads, we had a tour booked, we had posters and whatever all done and ready to go."
At first, the band wasn't sure how to proceed. But within that confusion was the potential for transformation. "One thing I said to everybody was, 'Throw the rules out,"' Spider explains. "'Forget what you think this band should be; forget what you think our fans expect. Just follow your instincts."'
Recalling what came next, he adds with a laugh: "Shortly after I made that statement, two original members Al and Dorian quit. I don't know if the freedom to do whatever scared them or what, but they decided to bail. And that made the stakes even higher."
But it also had a liberating effect, which can be heard throughout Transform. The album manages to be both harder and more tuneful than its predecessors, stepping away from the techno-intenso soundscapes of Tonight The Stars Revolt! and toward a more traditional rock approach. "We ended up taking a step back to go forward," Spider says. "We stripped away a lot of the artificial nature of the band that we're known for."
And they brought on a new rhythm section. Finding drummer Adrian Ost was easy. He was recommended by Edsel Dope, of the band Dope, whom Spider befriended during the Tonight The Stars Revolt! tour. "I knew instantly that Adrian was the guy," Spider recalls. "I think we auditioned two or three other guys, just to see, but finding him was not difficult."
Locating the right bassist wasn't so easy. "A lot of people who play bass approach it as if they just didn't feel like learning guitar," Spider allows. "But Dorian was really good, an accomplished bass player. We needed someone who could play as well or better than him." They wound up auditioning 40 bassists before they found Siggy Siursen.
Once the revised lineup was in place, Spider took the new PM5K into the studio, en masse, to cut the album as a band. "For the past couple of records, we would create the music in this computerized, Pro Tools environment recording separately, bringing in this riff to lay over that loop," he informs. "It was a very non-organic way of making music. This time, we just got in a room, plugged in and played. We did what we did in the old days, and it made this a better record."
In fact, the Powerman sound that distinguishes Transform is much closer to the roar the band makes live. Producing the album with Joe Barresi, who engineered Tonight The Stars Revolt! (and who has worked with Queens Of The Stone Age and Pennywise, among others), PM5K captured something raw and bristling.
"I think the guitar players were dying to stretch out," Spider ventures. "And the drumming is much more free than in the past. When I listen to this album, I can picture the band playing."
Pondering how his musical values have evolved, he says: "It's funny, because I've sort of regressed. I grew up in a suburb of Boston a punk kid listening to Minor Threat and The Clash. I had my first hardcore punk rock band when I was 13, and I had all these idealistic notions about music and what you could do with it. But over the years, I kind of got away from that; once I became part of the whole system of making records, I sort of let it go."
Transform is essentially a return to the band's roots, one that Spider realizes may raise a few eyebrows. He can't help but see the humor in the little image problem he's created for himself, remarking: "I'm just waiting for people to say, 'Wait a minute weren't you the guy in the spacesuit two years ago?"'
His response? "Yeah, I was the guy in the spacesuit. But a lot of the messages we were putting out there when I was wearing the suit are the same one's we're talking about today. I mean, I guess it's stupid for me to try and explain that 'When Worlds Collide' was not about rocket ships it's actually about class structure and cultural conventions. But the great science fiction has always been social commentary, and that's what we've tried to tap into."
The book, then, is the same, even if the cover has changed. "It's essential for us to change, throw some curve balls," Spider insists. "I say do whatever you want, whether it's with music or anything else. Because ultimately, there is no instruction manual for living in this world, and if you do manage to find one, I suggest you burn it."
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
True Force (EP), Curve Of The Earth, 1994.
The Blood Splat Rating System, Conscience, 1995.
Mega!! Kung Fu Radio, DreamWorks, 1997.
Tonight The Stars Revolt!, DreamWorks, 1999.
Transform, DreamWorks, 2003.
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