Interview with Andy LaPlegua

All About The Rock were lucky enough to arrange an interview with the awesome Andy LaPlegua from Combichrist prior to seeing them play live in Glasgow as part of the ‘Make Europe Great Again!’ tour featuring Combichrist, Filter and Rabia Sorda !

 

Hi Andy.  First of all, a huge thanks for giving us your time today.

Hi.  No problem.

So, how’s the tour going?

It’s going great.  Well, the bus broke down and we had to cancel one show (Basel, Switzerland), and I hate cancelling shows – I’d rather go on and puke between songs than cancel a show – but other than that, it’s been going really well.  All of the bands are getting on really well.  I’ve been wanting this package to happen for a long time because I know everybody.

So you’re friends with the guys from the other bands?

Yeah, we all know each other, and I’ve been trying to make this tour happen for a while now, so it’s great it’s finally happening and we’re all together – although unfortunately Lord Of The Lost are not here with us in the UK, but they were in main land Europe and it’s been going really well.

It’s been a lot of dates in a short time, you must be knackered…

No, I like it –  I hate days off, because the reality catches up with you and you feel it.  It’s better to just keep going (laughs)

Cool.  And before this tour, just back in May, you toured South America too?

Yeah, a week tour, and we shot the video for ‘My Life My Rules‘, and then packed up and came to Europe.

Any particular highlights of the tour so far?

I don’t know man, it’s been pretty consistent, and every show has been fun.

And how’s the new material going down?

People really seem to be into it – and as the tour is going on, and people are having longer to listen to the new stuff, more people are singing along.  And we’re having  a lot of fun playing the new stuff which translates to the audience as well.

How much of the new stuff are you playing?

It’s pretty much fifty-fifty.  We have eight albums, and it’s hard to choose from the old stuff, as I want to play it all, but in the end we had to choose, and I’m really happy with the mix of old and new.  We might change things a bit for when we tour the US.

So you play the same set every night?  

The funny thing is that we usually don’t do that, but on this tour we have been playing the same set every night because we’ve found that flow as to how the set works, and it’s really working for us and so we’ve stuck with it.

I’d like to ask about the album writing and recording process – is that still something you do yourself, or did any of the band members who play live have any part to play?

Up to this album, it was just me doing everything in the studio and playing the drums and guitar and everything.  And for this album I did that, but then I went LA and re-recorded all the drums with Chris (Reeve) from Filter – it was just the way it worked out, and it worked out really well.  And then I went to the studio with Oumi from Filter and re-recorded the vocals in his studio with him engineering… and it was great because this time Oumi was pushing me – saying things like, “this is perfect… do it again”  and it was really great to have that push.  Plus he’s a great guitar player and I had him add some stuff I wouldn’t normally do.  So it was a great experience.

But the writing of the songs, that was still just me.  It’s the way I like it because it means I have more freedom and control over it.  I can do what I want, and experiment with an open mind and let the Combichrist sound evolve.

That definitely comes across – each Combichrist album has it’s own sound or vibe and it does seem like you’re trying something a little different with each album, is that right?

Yeah, I hate to repeat myself or be stuck.  And I don’t want to do something that sounds like the stuff I did when I started – I need it to sound like I did it now.  I need to be challenged as a musician.

I can understand that.

So, feedback for the new album has been really positive…

It’s been really good.  There is the curse of evolving – every time we release an album, people say, “…it doesn’t really sound like Combichrist…”, “I don’t know if I’ll like it…”, and “… this will take me a while to get into…”.   Every album has been criticised because it’s different, but I honestly don’t care about that.  I care about being happy with what I’m doing, and this is the happiest I’ve ever been with an album.  It has elements of everything I’ve ever done, and it’s sort of come full circle in a way.

That’s awesome.

Thanks again for your time Andy – we’re really looking forward to seeing you play live!

No worries – you guys have fun !