First off I want to say that this interview was done before Glassjaw cancelled their latest tour. I want to wish Daryl Palumbo the best of health.
To paraphrase LL Cool J Dont call Head Automatica a side project! Its the hippest raddest and sickest kickass dance music/rip up shit you ever heard. Palumbo is the music auteur behind the band, their latest album is Decadence and its what inspired the Katie + Robin: Debauchery set.
Check out the official site for Head Automatica
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Darryl, how are you doing?
Daryl Palumbo: Good, what's going on?
DRE: Not much. What inspired the Head Automatica?
DP: I had been writing these lyrics for a while, but I wanted to get a chance to record them when I was on tour with Glassjaw. I wasn't really able to do it and then I finally got the opportunity to do it about two years ago. So I got Dan the Automator to do the record, I just figured that at the time he was probably the best candidate to shape a rock record. It just all fell into place in 2003.
DRE: Are you still working with Dan the Automator?
DP: No, not at all.
DRE: Why not?
DP: I don't really want to.
DRE: Why not?
DP: I just don't really feel like it.
DRE: Are you fickle like that?
DP: Am I fickle? Yeah, I'm a bitch, I'm fickle. I like switching it up, I like making enemies fast.
DRE: Do you have a lot of enemies? Do you have an enemies list like Richard Nixon?
DP: No, I don't have enemies or an enemies list.
DRE: Did you do Head Automatica because you wanted to something dancier than Glassjaw?
DP: I guess that came with it. I was just so serious for so many years that it was kind of cool to do something that had the electronic beat as part of it. I also knew that using Automator to do the record would be that it's all inclusive that you're using his beats. So just playing songs to beats made it a dancey thing. I was wandering toward electronic music and that was why I wanted to work with Automator in the first place and I was just writing music that was like that. It was just coming out of me at the time.
DRE: Do you dance to your own music?
DP: No not really [laughs].
DRE: What do you dance to if it all?
DP: These days not too much. I don't have too much time to dance.
DRE: But it sounds like you would dance if you had the time.
DP: I guess it would depend on the situation.
DRE: What do you use to create music now?
DP: Just an acoustic guitar. Pretty much most everything's done on guitar or on a Triton keyboard at this point. The Triton keyboard is really good for sequencing and programming and that's probably my favorite way to program and sequence songs. Then the bigger songwriter shit just kind of starts there.
DRE: Did you create it on tour or in the studio?
DP: A bulk of the record was written probably still while I was on the Warped Tour with Glassjaw a few years ago and then several were done in the studio as well.
DRE: What's happening with Glassjaw?
DP: We did about three weeks worth of shows in august. We dont know if were going to do another album. My partner and I have been doing our own thing. Glassjaw is going to tour again soon then Automatica again?
DRE: Has Automatica influenced Glassjaw?
DP: I don't really think it's influenced it at all. But I think that since it was just a step in my musical life it made me grow up as a lyricist. But I dont think it's ever going to inspire Glassjaw because it's two very different parts of my life. I grew up a lot through this whole process so me growing up comes out in Glassjaw anyway.
DRE: How is your health like right up to date, right now?
DP: I feel good. I'm probably happier right now than I have ever been at any point in my life. I can't really ask for more than that. I've been on the road for a while now and I'm just getting back into it after like six or seven months off.
DRE: Do you take medication?
DP: Yeah, plenty of it. I just take it one day at a time. Something could happen so I don't really know how else to look at it. I just kind of walk through it. If I wake up one day and I'm not well but Ill still work my ass off.
DRE: Have you started working on the next Automatica record?
DP: Yeah we have like thirty songs ready at this point so we're just seeing how everything pans out.
DRE: Automatica has kind of disco feel and the website has a disco look, were you ever into that?
DP: I listen to disco. It was always there for me, as long as I've been playing records but at the same time disco and dance related artists weren't so much an influence on Head Automatica. The dance thing just fell into place. It was more just like all the bands that inspired me like old British rock bands from the fucking late 80's, early '90's, like the whole shoegazing Manchester thing and also early '80's like punk rock and new wave bands.
DRE: Do you think new wave is going to come on back?
DP: I don't really care too much. I just like the records I like but it does seem like its coming back. So many bands are trying to sound like Joy Division and Bauhaus this year.
DRE: What band from the '80's would you like to have come back?
DP: Probably Youth of Today, a hardcore band from 1988.
DRE: What do you do when you're not making music?
DP: That's pretty much all I do. We kind of just hang out, smoke a lot of weed and do music. But if we're not playing music, we're just probably together doing sitting in the van driving to a show.
DRE: Do you guys have a big bong that you all share or a hookah?
DP: [laughs] We just smoke a lot of weed. We don't need a bong and a hookah. We're in a van and in there you don't want to have a gigantic bong for many reasons that are probably pretty obvious.
DRE: Do you guys play pranks on each other?
DP: Pranks? Oh hell no, I hate that.
DRE: Why?
DP: I don't know. I'm not really about fun. I just want to smoke weed and hang. I'm not really into pranks or acting like I'm in fucking Jackass.
DRE: So if someone sprayed water in your face you'd be pissed off?
DP: I dont know about pissed off, but I'd probably be like, whoa, there's water all over me now. Where's the payoff for me on the water?
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
To paraphrase LL Cool J Dont call Head Automatica a side project! Its the hippest raddest and sickest kickass dance music/rip up shit you ever heard. Palumbo is the music auteur behind the band, their latest album is Decadence and its what inspired the Katie + Robin: Debauchery set.
Check out the official site for Head Automatica
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Darryl, how are you doing?
Daryl Palumbo: Good, what's going on?
DRE: Not much. What inspired the Head Automatica?
DP: I had been writing these lyrics for a while, but I wanted to get a chance to record them when I was on tour with Glassjaw. I wasn't really able to do it and then I finally got the opportunity to do it about two years ago. So I got Dan the Automator to do the record, I just figured that at the time he was probably the best candidate to shape a rock record. It just all fell into place in 2003.
DRE: Are you still working with Dan the Automator?
DP: No, not at all.
DRE: Why not?
DP: I don't really want to.
DRE: Why not?
DP: I just don't really feel like it.
DRE: Are you fickle like that?
DP: Am I fickle? Yeah, I'm a bitch, I'm fickle. I like switching it up, I like making enemies fast.
DRE: Do you have a lot of enemies? Do you have an enemies list like Richard Nixon?
DP: No, I don't have enemies or an enemies list.
DRE: Did you do Head Automatica because you wanted to something dancier than Glassjaw?
DP: I guess that came with it. I was just so serious for so many years that it was kind of cool to do something that had the electronic beat as part of it. I also knew that using Automator to do the record would be that it's all inclusive that you're using his beats. So just playing songs to beats made it a dancey thing. I was wandering toward electronic music and that was why I wanted to work with Automator in the first place and I was just writing music that was like that. It was just coming out of me at the time.
DRE: Do you dance to your own music?
DP: No not really [laughs].
DRE: What do you dance to if it all?
DP: These days not too much. I don't have too much time to dance.
DRE: But it sounds like you would dance if you had the time.
DP: I guess it would depend on the situation.
DRE: What do you use to create music now?
DP: Just an acoustic guitar. Pretty much most everything's done on guitar or on a Triton keyboard at this point. The Triton keyboard is really good for sequencing and programming and that's probably my favorite way to program and sequence songs. Then the bigger songwriter shit just kind of starts there.
DRE: Did you create it on tour or in the studio?
DP: A bulk of the record was written probably still while I was on the Warped Tour with Glassjaw a few years ago and then several were done in the studio as well.
DRE: What's happening with Glassjaw?
DP: We did about three weeks worth of shows in august. We dont know if were going to do another album. My partner and I have been doing our own thing. Glassjaw is going to tour again soon then Automatica again?
DRE: Has Automatica influenced Glassjaw?
DP: I don't really think it's influenced it at all. But I think that since it was just a step in my musical life it made me grow up as a lyricist. But I dont think it's ever going to inspire Glassjaw because it's two very different parts of my life. I grew up a lot through this whole process so me growing up comes out in Glassjaw anyway.
DRE: How is your health like right up to date, right now?
DP: I feel good. I'm probably happier right now than I have ever been at any point in my life. I can't really ask for more than that. I've been on the road for a while now and I'm just getting back into it after like six or seven months off.
DRE: Do you take medication?
DP: Yeah, plenty of it. I just take it one day at a time. Something could happen so I don't really know how else to look at it. I just kind of walk through it. If I wake up one day and I'm not well but Ill still work my ass off.
DRE: Have you started working on the next Automatica record?
DP: Yeah we have like thirty songs ready at this point so we're just seeing how everything pans out.
DRE: Automatica has kind of disco feel and the website has a disco look, were you ever into that?
DP: I listen to disco. It was always there for me, as long as I've been playing records but at the same time disco and dance related artists weren't so much an influence on Head Automatica. The dance thing just fell into place. It was more just like all the bands that inspired me like old British rock bands from the fucking late 80's, early '90's, like the whole shoegazing Manchester thing and also early '80's like punk rock and new wave bands.
DRE: Do you think new wave is going to come on back?
DP: I don't really care too much. I just like the records I like but it does seem like its coming back. So many bands are trying to sound like Joy Division and Bauhaus this year.
DRE: What band from the '80's would you like to have come back?
DP: Probably Youth of Today, a hardcore band from 1988.
DRE: What do you do when you're not making music?
DP: That's pretty much all I do. We kind of just hang out, smoke a lot of weed and do music. But if we're not playing music, we're just probably together doing sitting in the van driving to a show.
DRE: Do you guys have a big bong that you all share or a hookah?
DP: [laughs] We just smoke a lot of weed. We don't need a bong and a hookah. We're in a van and in there you don't want to have a gigantic bong for many reasons that are probably pretty obvious.
DRE: Do you guys play pranks on each other?
DP: Pranks? Oh hell no, I hate that.
DRE: Why?
DP: I don't know. I'm not really about fun. I just want to smoke weed and hang. I'm not really into pranks or acting like I'm in fucking Jackass.
DRE: So if someone sprayed water in your face you'd be pissed off?
DP: I dont know about pissed off, but I'd probably be like, whoa, there's water all over me now. Where's the payoff for me on the water?
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
xgiant_douchex:
Daryl Palumbo = Jack ass.
cordee:
i love daryl palumbo. my favorite