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Powerman 5000 Chat December 8, 1999 Powerman 5000, an alternative metal band from Boston, released their indie-debut in 1995, The Blood Splat Rating System, which gained them a cult following on the East Coast. After a major label deal they reissued a revamped version of the debut entitled Mega Kung Fu Radio. Heavily influenced by science fiction and super heroes, the successful follow-up, 1999’s Tonight the Stars Revolt, peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 powered by the single "Nobody’s Real." Spider joined fans for a live online chat on twec.com to discuss the upcoming headlining tour, his favorite super hero and more! twec.com: twec.com would like to welcome Spider from Powerman 5000 to tonight's chat! Hello Spider. POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I have arrived. SinDee: Spider, what inspired the idea of the Helmet of Death? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: The idea was that the artworkfor the album was based on a pulp sci-fi vibe. And
there are always ads in the back for crazy things.
So the Helmet of Death can blast PM5K music into
the heads of children. Power5000babe: Where did you get the name Powerman 5000? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Again, it's loosely based on a
70s superhero - Luke Cage, Powerman. I added the
5000 for a little flair. Power5000babe: Spider, what made you decide to dye your hair yellow? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: That's not hair dye! It's
natural. I want to be like Billy Idol.
I like Manic Panic dye. No OnE eLsE: How did you get the name Spider? I heard
Rob gave it to you. POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yeah, it was a long time ago. I
forget the origin. In high school I had a band,
Spider Baby, and the Spider part sort of stuck. Emmily and Bryan: How come you never play "Strike the Match"
at your concerts? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: We do. We tend to play it only
in the Boston area. Because it was only available
for a long time in Boston. For the next tour you
might hear that live more often. PowerGurl5K: How does it feel to have groupies n’ shit? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: powerchic10: Do you think the world will blow up at
the millennium? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: No I don’t. Maybe some parts of
NJ. Powerman5000: pm5k, what music classification would
you say you belong to? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I hate trying to classify what
we do. We hear enough of that with critics. We
don't think of that in those terms, when you get
down to it, it is ROCK music. Alex Zero: I heard a rumor that you were gonna open up
for James Brown, is this true? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: That’s a new one. Roach: How do you get the cool sounds in some of your
songs? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Most of it is guitar, bass, and
drums. The guys in the band are pretty good in
getting innovative new sounds. We take time on the
sequencing and try to come up with stuff people
have not heard before. powerchic10: Do you ever fight with the rest of the
band? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Sure. That’s part of being in a
band. There are always gonna be disagreements, but
that’s healthy. A little conflict every once in a
while is good. WickedL8y: What made you change your image for the new
record? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: To do the same thing every time
you put out a record is boring for us and boring to
the fans. Who knows, the next record might be
different as well. You’ve got to try something
different and not stay in the same place. ThanosSF: Are you and Rob going to spend Christmas
together, and if so, how? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yes we will. We will both be in
LA with special plans but we will be hanging out
together. Lyra: Hello, Spider. How did Mike Tempesta(M33) come to
join the band? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: It’s funny cause we were
looking for a second guitar player. He was in a
band that we knew and then his band just broke up
and he came down to audition. son_of_x51: Dorian, what kind of bass are you playing
in the "When Worlds Collide" video? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I wish Dorian was here to tell
you. I don’t know what it is. I assume you are
talking about the clear one. Sorry I don’t know the
answer. No OnE eLsE: What are some of your favorite bands? I
mean you know we all like you guys. POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I listen to so much different
music. It’s hard to narrow it down. I tend to
listen to music that is not like the music we play.
I listen to some rap, trip-hop, techno...I can’t
really narrow it down though to any specific bands. Spiderrulz: How did you come up with the different
band member names? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Those are all their real names.
Maybe you are referring to the #'s? I didn't really
have anything to do with their names. PowerGurl5K: Ok, ok, "Good Times Roll" is that a cover
of the song that the Cars produced? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yes, it is a Cars song from
their first album. It’s our cover of the tune. Roach: Can you play any other instruments besides the
one you play now? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I personally don’t really play
any instruments. I play a little bit of guitar and
a little bit of drums but I’m nowhere near being a
musician, just a vocalist. PM5K4LIFE: Are you releasing a previously unreleased
track for SCREAM III? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yes we are. I don’t know when
it comes out but we will definitely have an
unreleased track for SCREAM III. son_of_x51: How much did you pay for J. P. Staticoy's
Book? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I don’t remember. Probably just
a couple of bucks. I got it at a used bookstore. jessie061: I know you have a tattoo on your wrist, but
do you have any others? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yes, two others - one on each
forearm. SpiderZmb2154: Are you guys gonna make another album
in 2000? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yeah we are gonna try and make
one as soon as we finish this tour. We don't want
to take a long time in between putting out records. SupRNovaGoesPOP: Are you going to release any singles
containing Music Videos --like the band Orgy has
done? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: No plans to that at this point. Lyra: Will you have anything to do with Rob's movie? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I don’t know. That’s a good
question. I don’t really know that much about it as
it is in the beginning stages, so we will just have
to wait and see. Uposeru: When are you going to tour Europe? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Probably in the spring. son_of_x51: Is the next album going to be called
Danger Is Go? It says stay tuned for next month's
issue 'danger is go' inside the booklet. I was
wondering if that'll be the title POWERMAN5000 – Spider: That's a possibility. When I
put that in the artwork I wasn’t really thinking
about it. It might be a possibility that’s what the
album will be called...stay tuned! pwrman5kfan: Will the next album be space related? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Again, we always want to keep
changing what we do, it will retain that Powerman
vibe, but probably not. We will probably change it
up a bit. Molly: Who does all of the artwork for your covers and
booklets? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I do all of that stuff. son_of_x51: What advice can you give to an aspiring
lyricist and songwriter? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I would say. My general advice
to anyone starting out is be patient because it
doesn't happen overnight. Stick with it and don't
get frustrated if it doesn't happen in 6 months. We
have been a band for 10 years and we’re just
starting to become successful. PM5Kpoizon: Is that the death helmet in the "Nobody's
Real" video? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: It’s definitely based on it. Currently In Use: What made you all want to start a
band? Was it simply a garage thing or did you start
some other way? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Yeah that’s how it started. In
High School I was into the whole punk rock and hard
core scene. I bought a $15 bass and started a band
with my friends and built it up from there. The Dark One: Are you planning on doing anything with
the Insane Clown Posse or anyone else from
Psychopathic Records? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: No plans to do anything with
any of those guys. Tory: what was your favorite concert you've ever seen? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Wow! There’s been a few that I
have been impressed by, Marilyn Manson, Rob
Zombie’s last tour was impressive - I like high
production shows. monkey person: Spider, what's the little green head
that you wear on a necklace around your neck? Where
did ya get it? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: *laughs* That was a gift that
was given to me. It was kinda cool so I wear it,
not really sure where it came from. LadkaGravis: What do you think about the band Static X? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: They’re cool and we are going
to take them out on the road on our headlining tour. Emmily+and+Bryan: Who has inspired you to hang tough
with your career decision? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I think a big inspiration has
been Rob. He has been through it and has done
things his way and been successful at it. KandeRatedX: What is your opinion on after-show get
togethers and such with fans? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: We do them almost every night.
We usually have meet and greet sessions after every
show and try to meet as many fans as we can.
Sometimes it is difficult but we do as many as we can. Synthetic Saviour: Do you think mosh pits and crowd
surfing are too dangerous to have at concerts? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Well I sort of have a mix
feeling about that. It is dangerous, but I think
there is a good way to do it. When you’re in a band
it really raises the energy level. As long as it’s
not violent, it really raises the energy. chik2_2000: Who are your favorite superheroes? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I would say it is between
Powerman and Spiderman. Those are probably my two
favorites, and Space Ghost. KandeRatedX: What do you think about chicks in pits? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: *laughs* It’s funny, recently
on this tour we notice that girls are usually in
the front of the pit and a lot of female crowd
surfers. Hey, if they want to get into the mix,
that’s cool. PowerGurl5K: What are your feelings on what happened
at Woodstock ‘99? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I think it sucks that people
can’t control themselves. Shit like sexual assault
is fucked up and whoever was involved with that
should be shot! When you have an event like that
and charging $5 for water, you are going to
probably have stuff like that happen, but I think
there is probably blame on both sides. Panic66: How's Dorian doing? He was definitely the
coolest member of the band, that I met other than
you, of course. POWERMAN5000 – Spider: He is doing just fine. Everyone
is cool and happy to be on tour. We are all in good
spirits. Emmily+and+Bryan: What are your future goals for the
band as a whole? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I have two goals. First, to
just keep pushing it and reach as many people as we
can. The second is to keep becoming better and
become the best band we can be. Powerman5000> What do you think of touring with Kid
Rock? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: It's been a great tour. Kid
Rock and all of his band members have been real
cool with us. A lot of times when you open up for
bands they don’t treat you that great, but those
guys are cool with us. Melissa: What did it feel like when you first found
out you went platinum? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Obviously it was a great
feeling. We didn’t think it would happen this
quickly. It's a little bit unbelievable for us. PowerGurl5K: Hello Mike, I'm Rose. The song "Watch the
Sky for Me" is like really a turn around from all
of the other songs on the CD, what gave you the
idea to do such an off the wall song? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Well, we sort of look at the
record like a journey and we don’t want to have
every song to sound the same. That sound is jazzy
and we wanted to try something different. We want
to challenge the listener and challenge ourselves.
Records are like movies and we want to keep having
different things happen to make it interesting. Tory: How do you feel about being nominated as
Grammy's Best Emerging Artist? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: I don’t even think that is true
to be honest with you. I think it is just a rumor
that started on the Internet. I don’t even think it
is a category, so I think someone is mistaken. pwrman5kfan: What’s your next goal, Spider? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: The next goal for the band is
pretty simple, we just want to reach as many people
with the album and the music. I want to get
involved with some other shit like getting involved
with younger and newer bands but priority #1 is PM5K. twec.com: twec.com would like to thank Spider for
stopping by tonight! Do you have any last words for
your fans? POWERMAN5000 – Spider: Thank you for coming to chat.
Please come see the headlining shows. We are going
to have some new stuff that people haven't heard
before. So we’ll see you at the show! Thanks again. twec.com: twec.com would like to thank all of the fans
for stopping by tonight!
