Ain't perfect, but here is a translation into english:
+ + For german version, please click here. + +

Q: Dave, first off, thanks for finding some time to chat with us. According to the reports from New Jersey, you guys are getting deluged with rain. What's going on over there?

A: Oh man, I've never seen so much rain in my life. It's totally soaked and sucky. The hurricane in New Jersey was pretty powerful and a lot of families had to be evacuated. I was lucky because my place was high enough where the water just rushed by. But it was tough around here.

Q: Mastermind came out at the end of 2010. Have you started working on any new MONSTER MAGNET songs?

A: I'm working on some new stuff now that'll get recorded next year. In the meantime we're doing the "Dopes to Infinity" tour beginning in november 2011 which will tour all over.

I've already got the basic ideas for the new record, but I'm kind of in painter mode where i'm doing the sketches in advance which means getting the melodies right to achieve a certain mood. I'm doing it in my free time so that i'll be ready when it's time to go full out into the recording phase. So far it's going into some trippy blues directions instead of the straight ahead hard rock stuff. So it'll be different than Mastermind. We should be hitting the studio right after the Dopes tour ends in february, that is if everything goes according to plan. When it will come out is hard to say, but possibly as early as the end of 2012 / beginning of 2013.

I'm also recording 3 songs for the Dopes to Infinity live edition, which we're going to bring out as a 10" vinyl release for the upcoming tour. These songs are fucked up and slower and stranger than previous stuff. Our fans are into vinyl and this will a special deal because we're going to be doing it through MM's Studio 13 imprint. I've got a few more vocals to do and then it'll be ready. It's going to be a pure MM production and we're going to distribute it ourselves.

Q: In a recent issue of Pressure Magazine we had feature about the 'Mythos of Vinyl'. Do you think vinyl's coming back?

A: Oh yeah, it's coming back. You can tell the younger fans are going back to vinyl in increasing numbers and love the retro style of the whole experience. These kids have record players and aren't even 17 yet. I find that very cool!

Q: What do you think is driving it?

A: There's a nostalgia factor there, and part of it is just being able to hold something physical in your hand, that's as big as a band poster. I don't think it's primarily about sound. It's really about experiencing the music in a different way. Way more personal than downloading something from the internet or putting in a CD. I really think CD sales will diminish, and it will come down to downloads and vinyl, possibly with the vinyl packaged together with download codes.

Q: What's the last vinyl album you bought?

A: I recently got "In the Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson, one of the English progressive rock bands. They remastered the record for vinyl and put it in a super cool box. I just had to have it.
I also just got the newest Baby Woodrose album 'Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected' and one from the Black Angels. I'm totally into prog rock and all of the other crazy 70s stuff.

Q: You mentioned the Dopes to Infinity tour. What's the plan with that?

A: Dopes is definitly one of our strongest records. We want to make it a journey through the record, but presented live. It'll be less about a rock show and more about a total trip with the songs themselves. We're also got some plans for the light show to give it the right visual setting. The hardcore fans will like this one, and that's who we're really targeting with this tour.

Q: Does this mean that other hits won't get played, like Spacelord, for example?

A: I'm not sure yet if we're going to be playing other songs. The focus will be on the Dopes to Infinity set.

I'm looking forward to this experiment, because it will put the older songs in a new light. Who knows, maybe the next tour will be for the Powertrip album.

Q: What's your level of excitement for this tour in comparison to when you first started out in your career?

A: It's totally changed, that's for sure. In a way I'm way more into it now! In the early days, everything was so exciting because I couldn't wait for the next concert just to see what would happen. How many guitars could i smash and set on fire? How many girls could i get to go with me back to the hotel?

It's completely changed over the years. Now I'm asking myself, how can we improve our sound on tour, or what types of shows can we do that the fans will really want to check out? Because I was so out there on the third rail all the time, it wasn't always easy to focus on those things.

Q: It sounds like you've become more settled.

A: Yeah, I've gotten calmer at least. But that happens when you've been doing this for 20 years and still love it. I'm not as quick to get caught up in the craziness as I used to. That lets me concentrate more on the quality of my performance. It's a good thing.

Q: What was the strangest thing that happened to you on tour in the past 20 years?

A: Oh man, too many things to count. My god, so many bizarre things, both crass and spectacular that in retrospect still seem cool! The worst experience was probably during a show in Italy when I nearly died onstage because of a power surge. I have no idea how many volts went through my body but I got thoroughly zapped and woke up in a hospital. My lips were burnt up like i'd been hit by a bolt of lightning! There was an ungrounded cable on stage and when i grabbed the microphone, the power of the entire soundsystem went through my goddamned body. I jumped straight into the air with my hair on end, like in an action movie. I'll tell you, I saw the white light at the end of the tunnel and thought I was done!

Q: Wow! But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

A: You said it, man!

Q: Have there been situations like that which you've transformed into songs?

A: I've pretty much been processing my whole life in some way or other through songs, definitely. I usually don't recount incidents directly, but find some way to use them.

I've had a lot of shitty stuff happen over the years such as experiences with questionable women in hotel rooms. But there's also been spiritual enlightenment in other ways. It can all be made into song.

Q: If you weren't a successful musician, what type of job would you go after?

A: Hmmm, good question. Probably I would have become a writer or reporter because i like to discover things. On the other hand, I don't do too well with deadlines - they're an absolute horror for me.

Q: That sounds interesting, though. What types of things would you want to write about?

A: I would want to write about existence, specifically what makes people happy or sad, just like I ask myself. Im really interested in that.

Q: What would be the title of the book, if you wrote about your life?

A: It would be "Life Imitates Art - See it Here!" That would be appropriate because the things I envisioned in my head eventually became my reality. Like starting a rock band and going on tour, which totally changed my life. That really is art determining life.

Q: What do you like to do outside of music - do you have a hobby?

A: I love collecting illustrations. I really love it. 20th century comic book illustrations, the golden age of magazines and pop magazines, commericial illustration and modern art. You can really make a case that the modern advertising asthetic is a direct product of the 20th century's golden age of magazine covers, pop art and pulp books.

I find that kind of art fantastic and go nuts for it! I'm single minded and a genuine nerd with that stuff. I make rock music onstage, but if you were to find me at home, I'd be sitting there rummaging through books, and saying "Hey, check this out, isn't this cool?"

Q: So you probably know the work by the French illustrator D. Vicente?

A: Oh yeah, man. I've seen some things by him that are so fascinating. People like D. Vicente are the greatest to me and the fundamental reason I love illustration as much as I do. They sit in front of an empty page, grab a pen, and conjure up the coolest ideas on paper in a matter of minutes.

I never get bored of it when I look at what those people do. I can't draw worth a damn and that's why the process itself holds such magical fascination for me.

Q: But in a similar way, you're that creative as a musician when you write songs, right?

A: Yes, i think so. it's all got to somehow got to get out of your head, what you see or feel. That's how it becomes alive, one way or another. And it feels good to create like that.

Q: Let's get back to New Jersey. What places in NJ do I absolutely have to check out - what would you recommend?

A: New Jersey is not exactly a hotspot, so when people ask what I should check out in NJ, I say "New York". Cross the border and go to Manhattan! No, seriously, New Jersey is genuinely nice. I grew up there and it's got so many cool places to see. I can recommend Sandy Hook State Park. It's a great beach with a view of the harbor and the NY skyline. It oozes nature with cool birds, foxes, and other critters. Really, the best thing to see in NJ is nature.

Q: So are you really a nature boy?

A: Absolutely! I love nature, getting on my bike and riding into the woods. I like spending as much time there as I can.

Q: Thanks for the interview. Anything else for the readers you'd like them to know?

A: If you want to take a unique journey through our music, come check out the Dopes to Infinity tour, because you won't be disappointed. It'll be the best of psychadelic rock - come see us on tour!

Interview by Marcus Berg (Chief Editor, Pressure Magazine) in Sept 2011