Detritus
Mini-Issue #428.5 - October 19, 2007
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.myspace.com/kdsteve

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*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
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-Here's a cool Chris Poland interview Neal did eons ago. Sorry for the
delay! - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
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by Neal Woodall (MysticX9@...)

-Interview w/ Chris Poland
August 11, 2007

Chris Poland exploded on the metal scene in 1985 with his appearance
on Megadeth's debut KILLING IS MY BUSINESS...AND BUSINESS IS GOOD and
the now classic 1986 album PEACE SELLS...BUT WHO'S BUYING?, bringing a
unique fusion element to the thrash template. It might surprise some
to know that Chris' involvement in jazz and fusion actually goes back
to the late '70s. Following his brief but eventful stay in Megadeth,
Chris released the groundbreaking instrumental album RETURN TO
METALOPOLIS (1990), formed the short-lived but excellent Damn The
Machine, and for the past decade has performed and recorded with his
incredible fusion project Ohm. Recently Chris came upon a long-lost
recording of some choice live cuts from 1991, showcasing the RETURN TO
METALOPOLIS album. Fleshing things out with several bonus tracks and a
live video for "Alexandria," RETURN TO METALOPOLIS LIVE finally sees
the light of day. In this revealing interview, Chris took time out
from recording the new Ohm album to catch me up on things...

DETRITUS: Six of the songs on RETURN TO METALOPOLIS LIVE were recorded
back in 1991; why did it take so long to release them?

CHRIS POLAND: Because I found the tape in my tape closet! (laughs)

D: It was missing in action? (laughs)

CP: Yeah, I sent them to my manager and he was freaked out, then Lion
Music was interested so we just got a bunch of other material together
to make it worth releasing so it wasn't just six songs.

D: The sound quality is remarkably good; are you happy with the
recording?

CP: Oh yeah, that's what it was, that's the thing: I remember hearing
it after we did the gig back then and I thought "I should hang on to
this tape!" Then by the time Ohm started I just totally forgot about
that tape; then I was looking through a bunch of DAT tapes for
something and I found it.

D: Tell me about "Psycho Boy" and "Nightmare Hall" -- were those
outtakes from the original RETURN TO METALOPOLIS sessions or ideas for
DAMN THE MACHINE (1993)?

CP: Those were in between DAMN THE MACHINE and RETURN TO METALOPOLIS.
We still hadn't gotten a singer yet and that was just stuff we were
kinda just toying with, and we thought if it works good enough we
could probably just play it live just for fun, so we did.

D: "Pandora" and "Tin Man" are interesting changes in direction; when
were those songs written?

CP: Oh, the weird thing is "Pandora" was written right after RETURN TO
METALOPOLIS was recorded, and "Tin Man" was actually recorded in 2000
with Ohm, but that's with Dave Eagle on drums.

D: Was that originally going to be on the first Ohm album?

CP: Yeah, and it just never made it. I think the reason it didn't make
it was because it was too similar to another song, and we felt like we
wanted to use that song instead. I'm really glad it got out there
somehow.

D: The video for the song "Alexandria" is incredible -- the picture
quality is kind of dark but the sound is amazing!

CP: Oh, that's good! Yeah, that was at the now defunct Sunset Baked
Potato...

D: Oh, that was at the Baked Potato?

CP: Yeah, it was a really great room. The problem was that CNN had a
really big dish and every day from 6 p.m. to 6 the next morning they
would turn it to broadcast and it would hit the Baked Potato, and if
anybody was using any distortion at all, the hum and radio coming
through your amp was just insane! Otherwise, yeah that was a great
club.

D: I've heard a lot of things about that place. I wish I could have
checked it out.

CP: Well, there is still the old one -- we still play at the original
one.

D: You have a gig tonight don't you?

CP: Oh yeah, we have a gig in Orange County at Tone Merchants.

D: Do you get to play live a lot?

CP: You know what, we've been playing live a lot right now because for
some reason we got booked at the Baked Potato right in the middle of
making our new record, so I thought if I've got to go jump through all
these hoops to get my live system back... (pauses) Because things
change, at least when I'm in the studio I have to change a lot of
things to accommodate the microphone, whereas live that doesn't really
come into play because you are playing so loud, this, that and the
other thing, you don't have to make parameter changes on anything you
can just go for it. So I was all set up to record and all the sudden
these guys go "Yeah, we're going to do some shows," and it took me
like three weeks to get all my stuff dialed back in. That's why we had
a string of like four or five shows because I didn't think it was
worth it to do just one. Another good thing that came out of it was we
are getting a loner kit from Kofi's [Baker] drum company Page Drums,
and those drums sound so good man. Kofi has to use his kit -- Kofi
does a lot of live gigs with his Cream cover band -- so we finally got
those guys to lend us a kit which we're totally jazzed about.

D: Any chance you'll do another album in the style of RETURN TO
METALOPOLIS?

CP: Ahh, you know what? Things are heavier on this record...

D: On the new Ohm?

CP: Yeah, it's almost... (pauses) Some of it is almost METALOPOLIS
heavy but I think it's more rock than metal though. It's pretty good
stuff, we're really happy with it. There is a lot of new stuff that's
happening, too, because it's hard when you are making a record and
concentrating on songs that you are working on and trying to get to
tape, and you start writing a bunch of material in the meantime. It
gets in your head and all you can think about are these new tunes,
even though you are recording songs that you maybe wrote six months
ago. I don't know how to describe it but sometimes there gets to be
too much stuff floating around in my head.

D: So you have it almost completed or a bit more to go on it?

CP: Oh, we've got a ways to go, I mean, we had [session drummer] Joel
Taylor play on four or five tracks; his tracks are done but he wants
to come in and maybe tweak them or whatever. Then we have Kofi's
tracks done but I want to re-record them because I didn't like the
drum sounds. Then after we do Kofi we'd like to have [session drummer]
Frank Briggs come in and play on a couple of tunes for us.

D: I keep reading different accounts as to when Ohm was actually
formed, everything from 1987 to 1998; do you remember when you first
put the band together?

CP: I think it was probably early '95. [Bassist Robert] "Pag"
[Pagliari], me and [drummer] Koko Bermejo got together and started
playing, but right before that me and the bass player from Damn The
Machine and Koko started doing really crazy instrumental stuff. No one
has really ever heard any of that but I have some of that on tape --
it's really good, Carol McArthur of the Nothing If Not stuff. That all
happened when Koko was playing with me and David Randi, and that was
just before, probably, '94... But I might have the dates wrong, that's
something I don't even think about, know what I mean?

D: Yeah! (laughs)

CP: I know that all that other instrumental stuff that I did for
CHASING THE SUN (2002) was as early as '95 up to '98, bit and pieces
recorded here and there, but with Ohm it's been since about '95.

D: DAMN THE MACHINE was an album I really liked but I understand it
was a real pain to make...

CP: Oh yeah, that was a hard record to make -- maybe not to make, but
to write was really hard.

D: The arrangements?

CP: Yeah, just going over arrangements and stuff but Brian Malouf was
the producer on that, and he had produced some live Queen records and
he was known for being a good live person, so we wanted to record the
music live but we needed to overdub the vocals because our singer was
still learning how to sing! So recording it live didn't take that long
but just getting the arrangements together.

D: What's your brother Mark up to these days?

CP: He's actually singing in a band called Daisy Jane Doe.

D: That's a weird name! (laughs)

CP: Yeah, Daisy Jane Doe -- basically I think their theme song is
about a dead girl, it's very Black Sabbath meets KROQ, I don't know!
(laughs) But he has a lot of fans out here, people like his band a
lot, they play a lot of gigs. He doesn't play drums anymore, he just
sings.

D: Oh really? He was amazing on that early stuff!

CP: Oh yeah.

D: Do you keep in touch with David Randi?

CP: You know what? He moved to New York and took over I guess the
whole computer jobs -- whatever that entails -- of Playboy. I'm not
exactly sure what he does, but he's like the head guy over there at
the computer section of Playboy. [Note: He works for Playboy Video. -
Neal.]

D: Interesting! So he's out of the music business?

CP: Yeah, he doesn't play anymore. What's crazy though is his sister
Leah Randi, she took the DAMN THE MACHINE record, grabbed a bass and
learned the whole record, and she told her brother "If I can learn to
play this whole record, I'll be able to play with anybody." So she
learned to play the record and then she played bass with Pink for four
years!

D: Well let me ask you some Megadeth questions...

CP: Oh yeah, that's cool, not a problem.

D: I thought your playing on THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED (2004) was
excellent.

CP: Oh, thanks, that was a lot of fun.

D: Do you still keep in contact with Dave Mustaine?

CP: Ahh, not that much, I mean, he's a pretty busy guy so...

D: Have you heard the new Megadeth?

CP: I haven't heard the whole thing yet, just bits and pieces.

D: Do you think you'll ever make any more appearances with them in the
future, live or on album?

CP: It's possible. I don't know if it's possible for him but...

D: Never say never?

CP: Yeah, exactly.

D: I read somewhere that you would like to make a blues album; is that
still in the works?

CP: Yeah, it's something that with Robertino [Pagliari], me and Kofi,
we'd like to make a blues record but invite people to come in and play
the blues with us, kind of just make a guest record of people coming
in singing and playing, because you know, that's what we grew up on,
it was all blues rock for all of us.

D: Would this be more traditional blues or fusion mixed with blues?

CP: Probably a little bit of both, you know, anything from Band Of
Gypsys to a Robert Johnson song or something.

D: Any timeline on when you might do that?

CP: Ahh, God, the way things are going now I think it would be best if
we just went out and recorded all these tunes live and let people
guest live...

D: Then put it together?

CP: Yeah, as a matter of fact I have a feeling that our future records
are going to be recorded live, 'cause it just seems like... (pauses) I
don't know if you've ever heard our live record from KPFK? [Note:
Ohm's "LIVE" ON KPFK 90.7 FM from 2004. - Neal]

D: Yeah, I have it -- it's awesome!

CP: Yeah, it just seems we come across a little bit better that way,
even though there's a wart, a scratch, a scab here and there but in
the end the overall energy and playing level is better I think than on
some of our records.

D: That energy and intensity...

CP: If there was a way we could combine the both, that would be
awesome. I guess that's what we are trying to do on this record, we're
cutting everything live and then seeing what we can keep, and if I
have to fill things up then I do rhythm guitar parts behind stuff.

D: Your gear has changed considerably since the RETURN TO METALOPOLIS
days; what are you currently using?

CP: I'm using Yamaha SBG guitars, the SBG 2000s; the ones I got are
really rare 'cause there were only two of them made. They made them
for Carlos Santana because he was complaining about the weight of the
guitar, and I guess when he went there they were going to show him his
prototype guitars he wanted money and they didn't want to give him
money. He left and they threw the guitars underneath a desk for 10,
maybe 12 years, something like that -- however long he's been with
Paul Reed Smith. He went to Paul Reed Smith and asked for the same
amount of money and Paul Reed Smith gave him stock in his company and
then told him he'd make him any guitars he wanted. So he went with
that deal which was obviously a great deal for both of them. But I'm
glad because these are my favorite guitars. The SBGs are hollow
bodies, they're like 335s, they have really great tone so I'm really
happy with them.

D: Do you still experiment with new equipment or do you feel you have
the sound you want?

CP: Oh yeah, I just got -- I'm on eBay a lot -- and I just bought like
a $75 fuzz, and I can't tell you how many fuzzes I've bought,
expensive, not expensive, and I finally found one that does what I
want it to do. So yeah, there's a lot of trial and error, but you know
I still use my Fish preamp, I stopped using tube poweramps and I'm
using MosValve poweramps now because to me they're the best sounding
poweramp I've heard. I actually had some Demeter 100 watt heads that I
was trying to use the poweramp sections in and they are just not as
immediate and intense sounding as the Mosvalve poweramps are. So since
they don't make them anymore I just go on eBay and whenever I see one
whether I think it's broke or not I just buy it and have my tech guy
fix it. I think the biggest thing that changed with me -- and I think
anybody that plays guitar should do this -- is switch from Celestion
vintage 30s to Eminence Governors, because the top end is so much less
harsh and just cruel man, it's smooth and it's fast and it's like
accurate -- you can actually turn the treble up on your preamp and not
feel like the guy in the front row is going to cry!

D: (laughs) Oh definitely, I like that nice rounded tone without all
that high end treble.

CP: Yeah! So that's been a huge... (pauses) You know Chris Rose over
at Eminence has totally changed the way I feel about guitar just from
giving me those speakers. I mentioned I use the Fish preamp; I guess
the main effect I use is a Yamaha D1500 digital delay, I have three of
those in my rack, they do really cool stuff, you can usually buy them
for $50-$100 bucks; they're just so, so clean and they work so well. I
have them modded by this guy where I have a switch put in 'em that
makes them... (pauses) I can drop the dry sound out and just use them
as a wet effect, and then whether or not I want to use a dry guitar
sound with them or not I can switch them with my rack system. You can
find them on eBay, sometimes people sell them so cheap I'm surprised.

D: There is a DVD of Ohm listed on your Web site; do you still have
that available?

CP: You know what, I'm not sure if we do or not. That was from when we
were out with Frank Gambale, Rick Fierabracci and Joel Taylor; we were
switching headlining nights and somewhere along the line a fan
recorded the show, put the whole thing together and sent it to us.

D: Okay, so it was audience shot?

CP: Yeah, and they told us we could do anything we wanted with it!
It's a little rough around the edges, but you can hear what's going on
and the surprising thing is that was a night when me, Kofi and Pag
were all kinda at each other's throats 'cause it was towards the end
of the tour, things weren't going the way we thought they should,
especially at that gig -- we played that gig and didn't get paid...

D: Well that's always enough to annoy you! (laughs)

CP: Yeah! No, I think what it was, we were playing angry, and I think
it came across in our playing. There's a lot of fire going on.

D: Any chance of you doing an instructional DVD?

CP: You know, some guy actually wants to hook up with me -- he has a
site, I think his name is John Feronte -- and I'm going to hook up
with him probably sometime in September. He's just going to come down
to the studio and shoot a half hour of me just showing him stuff,
stuff I like, and I guess that's going to be the start of it. I mean,
I really wouldn't be able to sit down and tell anybody what I play, I
just do everything in majors and minors and anything that's outside is
just stuff I know that works for me; I'm just a rock guy man.

D: I am as well, I don't know anything. I just play and try to figure
out stuff as I go along.

CP: Yeah, I grew up on Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Beck and Page. It's
like, I got into Jeff Beck when he was doing instrumental stuff and
then I started listening to McLaughlin and that's what made me fall in
love with that kind of guitar stuff, what it would be like to...
(pauses) Who's the guy who played with Stanley Clarke a lot? He's a
really great player -- Ray Gomez! I saw a video of him playing with
just a drummer and a Hammond B3 keyboard player, that got me going
too, it was just like, there's something about playing three piece
instrumental music that is really challenging and rewarding if you can
pull it off.

D: Do you ever miss playing with a second guitarist?

CP: Sometimes I do. Sometimes I threaten to get a keyboard player, get
somebody in here to fill this up. But that's the thing -- it's a
learning process that's never going to end. I don't know if you've
ever been in a three piece band but you have to really stay focused,
otherwise if somebody stops playing or drops the ball it's really
obvious!

D: I know you played with Uli Roth last year and are scheduled to
perform with him again soon?

CP: Oh yeah, we're playing with him on the 24th and 25th of August.

D: I bet that is an event -- you have a lot of people playing at that.

CP: Yeah, it was a lot of fun last year. I think it's at Musician's
Institute this year; MI's main room is a very weird sounding room so
we'll see what happens...

D: If you were going to recommend to someone the definitive Chris
Poland, what would you want them to hear?

CP: If they were just going to hear one record?

D: Yeah, or maybe a couple of tracks, something from each period that
you were especially happy with...

CP: Well, my favorite record is CHASING THE SUN.

D: Yeah, that is awesome.

CP: Yeah, I really like that one because it was just fun -- it wasn't
for money, it wasn't because I owed someone a record, we were just
doing stuff for fun. That was cool. Then, from the Ohm record, I guess
"Bastille Day" is a song that's kind of close to my heart, and then on
the [Ohm] AMINO ACID FLASHBACK (2005) record, God, almost all those
songs. I mean all of them, I like them a lot, it's just... (pauses) I
couldn't pick one really. I guess the one that is closest is CHASING
THE SUN, but AMINO is definitely right there, by a hair. I do really
like the stuff I just did with Dave, there that one song, I think it's
called "My Kingdom Come" -- I really like that song, it's a great
song, and the playing on it I really enjoy too.

D: I guess that's about it Chris. Anything you want to add in closing?

CP: Just thanks to everybody who has been an Ohm, a Megadeth, a Chris
Poland fan, a Damn The Machine fan. It's definitely what we love to do
and when somebody likes it it makes it all that much better for us, so
just thanks to everybody and that's it!

D: I appreciate you taking the time with me here, I love your music
and hope to see you live soon!

CP: Thanks a lot!

Relevant links:

Bogner Amplification
http://www.bogneramplification.com/

Daisy Jane Doe
http://www.myspace.com/daisyjanedoe

Eminence
http://www.eminence.com/

Megadeth
http://www.megadeth.com/
http://www.myspace.com/megadeth

Ohm
http://www.myspace.com/chrispolandsohm

Chris Poland
http://www.chrispoland.com/

Uli Jon Roth
http://www.ulijonroth.com/

Yamaha
http://www.yamaha.com/

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*** OUT ***
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