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this one, we just… took what we did with Through the
Ashes, and on the new one, took it even further.
GG: We were talking about when Ahrue
[Luster, former guitarist] left the band. You guys go back old
school. You were the drummer to Sacred Reich at one time, and
Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel were both in Vio-lence, so I’m
assuming you go back to the Bay area (San Francisco) thrash roots,
and is that how you came upon Phil playing guitar?
DM: Well, yeah. That’s how, you know. Phil and Robb having
the Vio-lence connection, obviously…and when Ahrue was out
of the band, right before he quit, his vision of the next album,
which would have been Through The Ashes was one that
was gonna be, mostly a mellow album. Just kind of laid back, kind
of really mellow tunes. We were at the opposite side of the spectrum.
We were like “What are you talking about, dude? If anything,
we’re going, we want to do a fuckin balls-out record! That’s
what we’re feeling”. And Phil coming into the band…Phil
originally just came in to do some dates with us, some fill-in
festival tour, festival shows we were doing over in Europe, and
from the first practice, the chemistry was right on. It was like
we had that chemistry with him, and we started playing some songs
off the first couple of records that we hadn’t played in
a long time. We were like, “Wow, that was fun to play…that
was one of the harder tunes on that record, [one of the most]
difficult songs to play”. We started getting into that mind
set. He definitely brought a new dimension to the band being that
he and Robb can actually be like this guitar team, now. Instead
of just two separate guitar players…one guy doing one thing,
and one guy doing another. They’re actually like, feeding
off each other, doing harmony leads. Kind of like an old Glenn
Tipton, K.K. Downing kind of thing. It definitely brought killer
new stuff to the band.
 GG:
So going back, right before that, do you think that maybe the
Supercharger era, that Ahrue was part of, do you think
that maybe was a collective decision to focus on becoming more
of a mainstream act?
DM: No, because we always…there was always that side to
it, not to get too deep into music business stuff, but, when you’re
on a record label, your label’s trying to take you as far
as they can. The next level of success, basically, to get you
to that point, is getting played on the radio, and getting you
played on MTV. So…yeah…there [were] songs being written
that would fit into a format of commercial radio, or whatever.
Keep it under four and a half minutes. Then there were the other
songs…these songs aren’t ever going to be played on
the radio, so we’re just going to do that. There was always
that thing, so…after Supercharger, and after getting
off Roadrunner, and then coming back to Roadrunner, internationally
at least, at first, was, “We’re never gonna do that
again. Geddy Lee…from Rush said this amazing thing…”We’re
not gonna go to radio. They’re gonna come to us”.
I think that’s a great way of looking at things. You’re
never going to write music for a certain thing, because if we
wrote a whole album to get on commercial radio, and it didn’t
happen, we’d be fucked.
GG: Yeah, you would be fucked…
DM: We have a hardcore fan base that loves what we do, and if
we sold out, and went for that audience that really just hears
one song on the radio, and they go, “Oh, I like that song”…and
half the people don’t even go see the bands in concert.
We don’t get played on radio. There are bands out there
that sell ten times more records [than] us, yet, we’re all
still playing the same venues. It says a lot for our fans, and
it says a lot for doing things your own way, and not worrying
about commercial success.
GG: That sums up my next question.
Isn’t it fucking liberating to know that your band is more
successful than ever, and you accomplish it all by keeping it
old school, with Phil and Robb from Vio-lence, and you’re
from Sacred Reich?
DM: Yeah! Dude, it feels…if we wrote an album of commercial
songs, or doing stuff our way, if we sold the same amount of records,
obviously, it feels way better doing it the way you want to do
it. At the end of the day, we’ll have no regrets of anything
we’ve ever done.
GG: That’s a good attitude
to have, man. I wanna look back a little bit farther, again. I
was bringing up stuff. I wanna show you this photograph, and I
just want you to…
DM: I saw part of it back there. I know what the fuck’s
gonna happen, here…
GG: Oh, you fucking know what I’m
about to pull out?
DM: YES!
GG: Give me the back up (story)
on this. (See band promo photo of TURBIN, with Dave sporting long
hair)
DM: That’s Neil [Turbin]. He used to sing for Anthrax. I
was living in Texas at the time, and I met Neil. He was gonna
actually come out and sing for this project we were doing. So,
I kept in touch with him. I was ready to get the fuck out of Texas,
man. I was like, “Nothing’s ever gonna happen here
for me”.
 GG:
Is this pre-Sacred Reich, then?
DM: Oh, yeah. This is like, dude, this is like five years from
Sacred Reich. So, I was ready to get out, and I was talking to
Neil one day, and he’s like, “Dude, we need a drummer
in this band”. It wasn’t like metal…it was hard
rock, and it was more like, the guitar player was… in Guitar
Player magazine…a shredder guy (who) goes to Musician’s
Institute. Actually, two of the guys were going there. So it was
a little different stuff than I was used to. It was more along
the lines of, just like, hard rock, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen
stuff, you know, but I was ready to get the hell out of San Antonio.
I think we played maybe two shows, or something, and did like
a demo, or something, and then, just, the band [folded]. When
I first moved out there, one of the first people I met was the
guitar player’s roommate, which is Ross Robinson. When we
met, we…were like instant best friends. It was like that.
So I started jamming with Ross. We had bands going on. He was
in a thrash metal band…and when that broke up, we started
a thrash metal band called Murder Car. We were sending stuff out
to Roadrunner. They were digging the demos we were doing. At the
end of that, that’s when another friend of mine, who was
a bass player, went out when Jason Newsted got the gig in Metallica…
GG: From Flotsam and Jetsam…
DM: …Yeah, he flew out to Phoenix and got the gig with Flotsam
and Jetsam. He replaced Jason Newsted. His name was Troy Gregory.
He played with Flotsam after that, and was in Prong for a little
while. Sacred Reich and Flotsam and Jetsam practiced right next
door to each other. He called me up one day. He’s like,
“Sacred Reich’s looking for a drummer”. They
were like one of my favorite bands. Surf Nicaragua was
one of my favorite albums at that time. So, I called them up,
they gave me some songs to learn, and I flew out there and did
it.
GG: Kid in a candy store, huh?
DM: Totally. First tour I ever did was opening up for Sepultura
on the Arise…worldwide tour… It was just
like, “Wow”!
GG: What was it like the first time
you went back to San Antonio, then?
DM: It was amazing. Coming back to San Antonio on a tour bus was
like “YES, I DID IT”! You always have goals going
along, and one of your goals is…”I want to be on a
tour bus”…So riding into San Antonio, I woke up early
just to come out of the outskirts of San Antonio, and see the
city limit signs, and come in…good times.
GG: That kicks ass, man.
DM: I really do miss having hair, and it’s hard to look
at sometimes. I start crying. Like damn, I had like Bon Jovi hair,
man!
GG: Don’t tell me you weren’t
getting pussy back then, right?
DM: Aw, dude look at me. I was cute as fuck!
GG: There’s one more older
subject I’m going to bring up. Right when you joined MACHINE
HEAD, did you feel like you had big shoes to fill because of Chris
Kontos (previous drummer)?
 DM:
No. I didn’t. For me, joining Sacred Reich was kind of the
same deal. Greg was a really good drummer…similar styles.
So…none of the stuff was ever difficult for me to learn,
and same with Machine Head. When they asked me to come out and
audition…I actually said “No” at first, just
because Sacred Reich, I loved being in that band. There were problems.
The biggest problem was they were like, self-proclaimed, pretty
much, the laziest band in the world. I mean we never practiced.
We never practiced hardly at all. Even when we were writing stuff,
we would still just get there and go “Awww…cool”
and then leave. So, I kind of wanted things to change. I had a
talk with the guys, and nothing really changed. So after a couple
of weeks after telling Robb “No”, I called him back
and I was like, “Absolutely, I’ll come out there and
audition”. I started going down to the practicing room,
and learning the songs. It was never a problem.
GG: So you could sense a work ethic
there, then, coming from Robb and the guys?
DM: Yeah, just talking to Robb, and I also talked to the manager,
our manager still, Joseph Houston, and that hunger was unbelievable.
That’s what I wanted, you know? These guys fucking want
it! If it’s not there for them to take it, they’re
going to go get it. From the moment I got there, we started writing
The More Things Change…and wrote that record in
five months. Just busy.
GG: Like a ten-ton hammer…
DM: Totally.
GG: Do you happen to know what Logan
or Chris are up to?
DM: Logan’s actually doing pretty good for himself being
a producer. I think he’s even doing…the new W.A.S.P.
record, right now. He’s been doing a lot of stuff. He’s
cleaned up. That was the problem with Logan, was drugs. Drugs,
and letting drugs kind of take control of your ego, and wanting
to be ”that guy” in the band, that spokesman, or be
the…when people see something about MACHINE HEAD, they see
Logan’s face. It’s like dude, that’s Robb. That’s
Robb’s gig. It was a combination of drugs and that. He’s
cleaned up now. He comes out to the shows that we play in L.A.
GG: That’s cool. Everybody’s
friends?
DM: Yeah…me and Logan were never like…we were in a
band for a couple of years together, but it was never like we
were super tight. But, he and Adam grew up together. They were
like childhood friends, so they’re cool with each other
now, and they talk. So it’s cool. Chris, he’s kind
of floated in and out of bands. I think he was in a Led Zeppelin
cover band, and I think he’s playing with this band called
Spiral Arms, which is Craig, who used to be in Forbidden, and
the singer was in Systematic. It’s kind of like a Stone
Temple Pilots-type of band.
GG: With all the big summer package
tours, you guys entertaining offers, or do you have anything lined
up for the summer?
DM: Summer-wise, not yet. We’re doing the “Heaven
and Hell” (U.S.) tour after this, which is going to be amazing.
With Dio-Sabbath…It’s going to be Machine Head, Megadeth,
and Heaven and Hell. We’re just gonna play the show, and
all right, our show is done, killer… go watch some Megadeth,
and then when fucking Sabbath comes on…every night, dude,
I will be spectating the whole show.
GG: We look forward to seeing you
this summer. That’s great man. Thanks for putting up with
all the bullshit.
DM: Yeah. Nobody’s ever busted out a fucking Turbin picture,
dude…You gotta let me have this thing.
GG You wanna keep the fucking thing?
DM: Are you fucking kidding me, I’m going to get clowned
so hard today…that’s fuckin’ amazing, dude.
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