Interview with Bryan Ottoson of American Head Charge
By Robin Steeley
Minneapolis based American Head Charge is a band that has been through the worst of turmoil and chaos and climbed back out on top again, using their problems to generate angrier more focused music to a whole new generation of fans. With the release of their latest offering, The Feeding, the band has found a way to expel the rage of the past three years by documenting their experiences and reliving them through their music, the ultimate of learning from your mistakes. How could they possibly forget the past when the album was written in the wake of all the disasters they endured over a three-year time span. The Feeding is the follow up album to the bands hugely successful "The War of Art" released in 2001. With a new label in Nitrus/DRT, a new line up and a set full of intensely furious songs, they are wreaking havoc across the nation, something the band is best known for.
I recently got a chance to sit down with AHC’s guitarist Bryan Ottoson and talk about the past, the future, and their latest “Alliance of Defiance” tour with Candiria and Otep.
Crave: So how ya doing, where are you at today?
AHC: Pretty good, just woke up a little bit ago. We’re in Bradford, Massachusetts today.
Crave: Have you ever been there before?
AHC: No, I have never been here before but it’s a really nice club we are playing in today. We were in Cleveland last night and we did really well, I think the club actually sold out it was pretty cool.
Crave: I just saw you guys when you came through Portland, what’s the rest of the tour been like?
AHC: The first week was pretty rough. This is our first major tour that we have been on in about 2 ½ years so the first week was kind of like getting back into shape and blowing the dust off. Now we got ourselves into a groove and we’re kind of back on our game now, we’re playing well and taking care of each other, it’s going good.
Crave: Has there been a lot of hype leading up to the release of “the Feeding”?
AHC: There has been more and more right now actually. We just got a review in Kerrang, Revolver just reviewed it and gave it four out of five stars, there’s a Metal Edge ad. There’s bunch of stuff going on right now, and a lot of stuff on the internet too.
Crave: How are things going with the label?
AHC: We couldn’t be happier with the Label. American was a lot more corporate, you know you talk to one person, who talks to another person, who talks to another person before anything something happens. With our situation at Nitrus, our Manager Gary Richards actually works at the label, so if we have a problem we just talk to Gary and it’s handled right away. It’s really hands on, it’s awesome.
Crave: How would you compare the music on “The Feeding” to the music off “The War of Art”?
AHC: I think it’s a lot more focused, I think the energy on the disc is a lot harder. We’re a little bit more pissed off this time due to the last three years. It’s definitely more focused, the sound of the record is a lot better to me, it’s not so polished sounding, it sounds more like a band playing live together in a room, which personally I like, it gives it a little more grit, a little more feel. It’s a lot shorter, 11 songs versus 16, it’s got like a good slow gauge, you can sit and listen to it all in one setting, rather then like you know when you have to stop in the middle of “War of Art” and come back and listen to the rest of it later cuz its so long.
Crave: Do you think the album is a reflection of what’s been going on, all the stuff that you guys have been through in the last three years?
AHC: Absolutely. When we got off the road, we started writing songs for American, we probably wrote 40 songs and they were just falling on deaf ears. They weren’t really into it that much and we really believed in it. We weren’t getting a lot of hands on attention so we ended up removing ourselves from that situation. Rick Rubin was very gracious to let us go with no problems, and we negotiated the other deal. Basically coming from all these huge tours and being on top of the world to being back in Minneapolis broke, living in a shit hole, writing songs that no body seemed to care about but us. So it took a lot out of us, and there was a lot of fighting and people hating each other and relationships destroyed, nobody trusted each other and I quit the band and we needed help. So we got onto Nitrus and it turned everything around. We worked with Greg Fidelman this time, and he got a really great performance out the band. We were with him for about four months working on the record from pre-production to the very end, and we’re really happy with it.
Crave: Do you have a favorite track off the “The Feeding”?
AHC: Yeah, “To Be Me” the last track on the record. It’s a really gut wrenching and emotional song for me. It’s getting a weird response live, people really like it but they are shocked at the same time, it’s probably the lightest song we’ve ever done, but that’s what I like about it, I like that it throws people off. But that song it kind of capsulates a lot of the last three years of chaos that we have been dealing with, and that’s what that song is about. A lot of the record is really about that, but that song in particular kind of sums it up for me and most people in the band as well. Now people have the record so they are responding to it a lot better.
Crave: In the past AHC has been described as out of control, has any of that changed?
AHC: Yeah definitely changed, I don’t think it was a conscious decision, we didn’t sit down and say were going to focus on the music more and not have the excess and people playing naked and all that, we just kind of kept it in our heads that we wanted it to be about the music a lot more this time, because I think we got pigeon holed into a shock rock band which I don’t think we are. I understand why we got that, but I think we’re much more about the music at heart, so we have definitely been a lot more focused on performance and not being a jackass on stage. We are still pretty crazy on stage, we kind of wanted it to be scaled down but we get bored and we can’t help our selves and we just do whatever the fuck we do. I almost got knocked out on stage the other day, and Karma got arrested for allegedly kicking a security in the card that was fucking with some people or something. So it’s starting to get a little crazy again. We just do what we do and end up being fucking weirdo’s I guess.
Crave: I read somewhere that Justin described you as “a complete fucking disgusting bastard, an amazing guitar player and a great human being.” Do you have any response to that?
AHC: Awww damn…(Laughing) I’ve know Justin for eleven years, longer then I have known anyone in the band, and we’re like cosmically connected where we can talk to each other without saying a word. Even when we were in different bands, we know we would end up playing music together. We were best friends from the moment that we met, he’s my boy, and I love him to death. We just had a conversation the other day, when the record came out. Like after eleven years, here we are. Finally making music together. We’re a family, we all take care of each other.
Crave: What was the first album you ever owned?
AHC: I was living in Japan on an army base at the time, and went and got Dokken “Back for the Attack” that was my first record. The first show I ever went to was Whitney Houston.
Crave: What’s your favorite city or venue to play?
AHC: Our hometown, Minneapolis, the club the First Avenue is just the best in every way. It’s where they filmed Purple Rain. I’ve been in clubs all over the world and I can tell you there’s not a better sounding place anywhere.
Crave: What would be a perfect day off for you, what do you do in your down time?
AHC: (Laughing) down time! I would sleep until about six o’clock, hopefully have enough money in my pocket to get a really good meal, like go get lobster with everybody in the band or just hang out, come back to the bus or hotel, get sloshed, and go to bed. That’s it.
Crave: Has touring and being away from home gotten any easier at this stage?
AHC: For me it has. The last time was out, when the band got signed they went out on the road and they had been out for about 9 months already and got used to it together, and so I got put into a whirlwind situation. Like the second day, I was in the band I actually flew and met them in California to shoot a video. It was a weird adjustment for me so it was really chaotic. Now I am used to the road so I know how to prepare, what to pack, how to live from city to city.
Crave: So tell me what’s in the future for AHC?
AHC: We’re on this tour with Otep and Candiria until the last show in LA in March, then the 18th is my birthday and we fly to England for eleven days in the UK and then we just got confirmed to do the Mudvayne tour right after that. Our first day is in our hometown. We’re all really excited for that.
So look for American Head Charge on tour with Mudvayne or check out the bands official website at www.headcharge.com
American Head Charge Is:
Martin Cock - Vocals
Mr. H.C. Banks III - Bass
Bryan Ottoson -Guitar
Justin Fouler -Keyboards
Chris Emery -Drums
Karma Cheema -Guitar
