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Interviews
Tony Naima
15/08/07 || Global Domination
This interview was conducted by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Doomsdayzach.
As an outsider to the metal scene, it takes balls to take metal songs and drastically change them, or even rework them into something completely non-metal. That’s grounds for an ass-whuppin’ in most metalheads eyes. However, when you set aside the whole mentality of being “more br00tal than thou”, you recognize the fact that some of these non-metal musicians not only have talent, but the ability to recognize what it is about metal that makes it great. In Tony Naima’s case, he adapted the lyrics to many different styles of incredibly non-metal material. And in between incorporating Dismember lyrics and melodies into his songs, he still found time to masturbate. This, my friends, is metal.
Global
Domination: Tony, what in the unholy penis of the great Leviathan
inspired you to do these covers or interpretations of Dismember songs? I
mean, that’s a hell of a stretch there.
Tony Naima: Well… from the beginning it wasn’t my idea. Dismember had their release party for “The god that never was” album, and a friend of mine that used to work at Regain popped the beautiful idea that I should play one of their songs at the party. So… when someone comes up with such a fucking beautiful idea, you have to go with it!!! Then, after the gig, Regain asked me to do a whole record out of it. And again another beautiful idea that I couldn’t say no to.
You have undoubtedly got some less than stellar reviews from folks who are like “OMGZ HE RUIND DYSMEMBUR SAWNGZ!!!!” What is your response to the people who can’t look past the fact that you’re not playing death metal? I mean, you had to expect some folks would get their tampon in a twist over the disc. Do you even care?
I knew that some people wouldn’t understand or like why/that I’ve done this album. But it’s like that with everything. I don’t understand why Creed got to do their albums either so…
In doing my research for this interview (by “research” I mean a google search for the album cover for my review), I found a review on the site Sea of Tranquility where the reviewer does exactly that. But dude, Sea of Tranquility is a horrible webzine. I have a bit of history with them and they are pretentious, elitist assholes. Still, what’s it like as someone who isn’t really in the metal scene seeing all the narrow minded pricks that write reviews (present company included)?
I used to read a lot of metal fanzines when I grew up, but now as I’m playing non-metal music I didn’t expect to end up in any of them. But believe me I smiled when I got 10/12 from the German Metal Hammer!
Actually, I’m making one hell of an assumption. Are you a hardcore metalhead or is this just something you did because you thought it’d be a challenge? What is your average listening playlist like?
I think everyone that plays music starts with metal. Izzy Stradlin was my first hero, Eddie Vedder and Mike Patton came short after that. But nowadays I don’t listen to alot of music. Stina Nordenstam is my house god though and she could be married to Tom Waits and their children could be Regina Spektor and Meshuggah. That’s a pretty nice family!
Who would you consider to be more awesome: Tony Danza or John Stamos?
Don’t know either of them.
That’s
an absolute shame. The answer, of course, is John Stamos. So how
exactly did you go about figuring out which Dismember songs to
re-interpret? Are they just personal favorites or were lyrics the main
basis for your decision?
I wasn’t a Dismember fan at all, I am know though! The only song I knew about was “Skin her alive”... but cause of some label problem I couldn’t do songs from the first album. So I sat down and read all of Dismember’s lyrics. Then I listened to all of their records. And then I got back and read the lyrics again and decided which once I wanted to do. And then I did them. We made a version of “Skin her alive” anyway, and it might be that I’m gonna have it on my next record… don’t tell anyone about that though!
Don’t worry, no one ready my interviews anyway, so your secret is safe with me. Now, what did the Dismember guys think of the disc? Were they supportive of the idea?
Dismember loved it, and I don’t think I would have done it otherwise. Of course they still think it’s a fucking weird idea… but so do I.
So who is Tony Naima and what does he do? I haven’t really done any sort of background check. What does a “normal” Tony Naima album or performance sound like?
The Dismember album was my second album. The first one was all about love songs so I’m glad I got to sing about some death and blood for a change. And now when I’m gonna record my third album… Hmm, I’m not sure what’s gonna happen with that one… I can imagine that it’s gonna be some hybrid. I’m gonna record it next week actually… so I let you know what came out!
Were you surprised that Regain records picked this disc up? Have they been promoting it much or is it something that they just made available for people who look for it?
It’s not an ordinary album, and I knew that from the beginning. But I didn’t think I was gonna love it this much myself. I know that I’m not a child of Regain and never will be… but I do like the metal language and the people who speak it.
I’m sure a lot of people will look at this disc as nothing more than a novelty. I admit that’s the reason I even checked it out in the first place. I wasn’t expecting some of the arrangements to turn out as good as they did (though is till think that “In death’s cold embrace” sounds too much like Beck, which is just no good for anyone involved). So are you worried that people will overlook the artistic merit of this project?
I don’t really care, I’m not playing music for anyone else. But at the same time I will of course be happy if someone runs into the album and likes it. If I hadn’t done it, someone else would have. God damn I’m fucking proud of it too!!!
Speaking of, how much freedom did you allow yourself while composing these arrangements? Did you try to stay true to most of the originals as far as some melodies and such go? I did notice you changed around some lyrics to make them fit within a different structure.
We really wanted to be true with that, so we kept at least one musical thing from the original… I know that it’s not easy to hear it, but there’s some original harmonies in every track.
Why did you decide to split up “I saw them die” into three parts?
I thought it would be nice to have like a captain of the team, you know as in ice hockey… someone who keeps it all together during hard times :) There’s even more versions of “I saw them die” that didn’t end up on the record. And it’s a fucking brilliant song and lyric so why not?
Does McDonalds in Sweden suck as much as McDonalds over here?
Well they suck, but not as much as over there. Are you having a bad Big Mac while you’re writing?
No, no Big Mac here. I’m a Burger King man (BK Lounge all the way!), but I do like McDonald’s fries. Ok, I keep forgetting to bring this up: Fucken ACE cover art. It’s really kind of morbid. Not necessarily in the Cannibal Corpse way, but to take something so “innocent” and make it bloody and bones sticking out… fucken kudos to you. Who made the dismembered bear?
Me and my friend Knotan came up with it. He’s an awesome photographer that really likes blood a lot. We also made a video about what really happened to the teddy bear… but it is too bloody to show.
No such thing as “too bloody”! We demand to see the video! Was there any difficulty getting it to turn out how you wanted? We’re still talking about the cover artwork here, just in case there was any confusion.
Not at all. I love that photo, and it would be a great tattoo…
You’ve worked with quite a few musicians to make this record possible. Did they really understand what the purpose of doing this was? Or do they just want to get paid?
They didn’t get paid at all. And some of them are thrash and death metal fans themselves, so they got the point from the beginning. I made almost all of the songs together with them and they love the album as much as I do. By the way, they have this awesome band Lapuma… you should really check them out!
Overall, what was the single biggest challenge for you? But more importantly, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
It wasn’t really a challenge. I’ve had a blast during the whole thing, I haven’t been thinking much at all while playing the songs. But i guess it was hard to choose lyrics. Dismember have a lot of great lyrics. And so far there’s only coffee on the table.
You seem to have chosen songs who’s lyrical content works incredibly well in the context that you are presenting them in. “Of fire” is kind of ironic, being such an upbeat number with a dark message. How much of a consideration was this when choosing songs?
I didn’t think in that way at all. I read while holding my guitar…and what came up, came up.
“Let the napalm rain” sounds very positive lyrically when put in the context of your music. Pretty much the exact opposite of the original Dismember song. Interesting stuff.
Yeah it’s beautiful don’t you think? And I tell you, when you get a pop audience to sing along to the chorus “let the napalm raaaaiiiiiiiiin” it’s hard not to be religious!
Did
you find time to masturbate while creating this album? Do you find it
weird that I, as a man, am interested in another man’s masturbation
habits?
Not at all, I’m glad you asked. And yes, there was some time over.
Since there are a lot of different styles on this album, how did you chose which track and which lyrics fit with each style? For example, you’ve got everything form a kind of rock vibe to ballad to fucked up waltz…
As i said before, I played whatever came up… I guess it’s the way I would have made the songs from the beginning if it was my lyrics.
Do you see yourself revisiting this idea in the future with other bands? Or will there be a Dismember round two?
Well, we still have “Skin her alive”... and it’s fucking awesome. And I’m up for any great ideas, you have any?
Who’s a better songwriter: Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave? Why?
Cohen, don’t know why I think so… just do.
Fair enough. I think both kick ass, but Cohen writes some amazing lyrics. Same rules: Jeff Buckley or Dismember?
Dismember today and Buckley tomorrow… I guess it’s cause I’m doing this interview… Buckley was better than the world can handle.
I
would have said Buckley myself. That guy was a fucking genius.
Obviously there are a lot of metalheads who are checking out your disc
or your MySpace because
they are fans of Dismember, but have you heard from anyone who has
actually checked out Dismember because of your disc? Were they
horrified by what they heard?
I got a lot of great words from a lot of different people. Of course, most people heard of it cause they are death metal fans or reading metal magazines. My mother liked it a lot… and she’s not a death metal fan!
I’m going to go ahead and wind up these questions now, but I thank you for taking the time to answer them. Fuck, this interview was way too long. Sorry about that. Anyway, please say a few words in closing. Also, what book are you reading right now? Is it any good? What’s it about?
Right now I’m reading a book by a Finnish guy named Arto Paasilina… it’s a about crazy things happening in Finland with all their darkness and booze drinking. Love it! And thank you for the interview… spread the word about my album so that I can pay my musicians or at least have the money to see if MacDonald sucks in the US.
