When you hear the name Mike Clink, you probably think “super producer” and Guns N’ Roses. Arizona-based Crushed scored Clink to produce their debut disk, MY MACHINE. The result is a spectacular sound and some great Metal.
MER:
Mark Lauer, welcome to Metal Express Radio! First, talk about your band Crushed and your new CD My Machine.
Mark Lauer:
We’re from Phoenix, Arizona and we’ve been around for … let’s just say quite a few years. We recorded an album with Mike Clink who produced all the Guns N’ Roses albums and we put it out in December of 2006 in a label that he (Clink) started in Los Angeles, and we’re just trying to sell some copies right now.
MER:
How did you first get hooked up with such a renowned producer like Mike Clink?
Mark Lauer:
Well, we had recorded some demos and we were kind of on a label that never got off the ground. That label contacted Clink about a bunch of bands they were considering, and Crushed happened to be one of those bands. When he (Clink) heard it, he said “This is something I think I can work with.” So we recorded the whole thing with him, with financing from our old label. When My Machine was almost done, that’s when the label folded and Mike Clink decided to keep doing it on his own and we finished it, thankfully (laughs).
MER:
The album’s got some really great tracks, including “What Kind of Life” and “Hovering.” What is your favorite track off the album?
Mark Lauer:
Oh, gee. Probably I’d have to say a song like “Crash Coping,” because I like that kind of jumpy song. It’s sort of Pop, yet very powerful at the same time without being too heavy, and I like things more that way. Crushed tends to be in a heavier vein. I like more Gothic Pop styles as opposed to straight Metal.
MER:
Crushed seems to be a cross between Goth and Metal, yet you’re really, really melodic in a lot of your songs. In fact, you can clearly hear the Clink, Guns N’ Roses influence, so have you always had that influence and did he just help you draw it out?
Mark Lauer:
I think he (Clink) did. I would come in with something and he would listen to it and he would be like “It would be better if you did this” and I was always like “I never thought of that!” (Laughs). You’re right, we’ve always had that influence, and he just kind of fine tuned it.
MER:
Back to the song “Crash Coping.” You change your voice constantly through the album. How do you do this?
Mark Lauer:
I used to really be influenced by White Zombie and the way Rob (Zombie) would sing, well rap, during shows and I started adapting that style early on in Crushed. One night when we were playing, somebody came to the stage with a piece of paper and it said one thing: White Zombie. We weren’t playing any White Zombie covers, so I stopped doing that. So I took some of that style and heavy like, Korn style, and just adapted it with the clean stuff that I do. Like a Mission U.K. style or say even Peter Murphy.
MER:
It’s amazing to hear, surprising to hear you mention Korn …
Mark Lauer:
Oh yes, Korn is a major influence.
MER:
So what are some of your other influences?
Mark Lauer:
We really like Prong in their early days and Pantera, sort of the heavier side and for the Alternative side, The Church, Sisters of Mercy, and Dead Can Dance … so we just tried to mix all of that together somehow.
MER:
Do you have any plans to tour behind My Machine?
Mark Lauer:
Oh, we’d love to, it’s just with the label that Mike Clink started, it’s very difficult to get tour support. We have a regional tour planned, anywhere we can drive within a few hours of Phoenix. It’s difficult to get back to the East.
MER:
What would be your fantasy tour?
Mark Lauer:
Let’s see, that’s a tough one! Probably the original White Zombie …
MER:
And the original Guns N’ Roses?
Mark Lauer:
That would be a great tour!
MER:
My Machine is a phenomenal debut effort. Just how long has Crushed been together as a band?
Mark Lauer:
With these members, let’s see … four years with Harry McCaleb, the keyboardist and guitarist, and it’s been about 10 years with the other four guys.
MER:
What’s it like having a keyboard player in a Goth Metal band? That’s more of a Glam band thing.
Mark Lauer:
It is, and for a long time we didn’t have a keyboard player. We always played them on recordings, so finally we said let’s just bring Harry in and do it live, but a lot of it is just live, I don’t want to say a filler, but he plays guitar super heavy, so it’s not like he’s chained to the keyboard all the time.
MER:
Counting Harry, that means Crushed has three guitarists. That creates a wall of sound. How hard is three layers to record in the studio?
Mark Lauer:
Well, I only play clean so I don’t play the seven strings that they play, the heavy guitars. It’s easy to just put my parts on top because I play Rickenbacker and Gretsch guitars. Big giant ones, you know, hollow bodies and stuff. Usually live when I pick a guitar up, Harry will put his down and go play keyboards. Once in a while, all three of us will be playing guitar live; it’s just a big line of guitar players.
MER:
What’s next for Crushed?
Mark Lauer:
Well, we’re going to really try to promote this album, and we would love to tour and get to more people. We already have songs ready for another album, so we’d like to do another one with Mike Clink and keep going — go as far as we can with it.
MER:
So, are you hoping to stay on the No Relief label?
Mark Lauer:
If we can get the album picked up -– I mean, it’s done, the packaging, everything, we would move to a bigger label. Mike Clink himself is even shopping the album to other labels, especially since there isn’t really any work involved for a major label except distribution.
MER:
True, because right now that CD is only available on-line?
Mark Lauer:
Yes, but major support would really mean a lot to us. We’ll go with whoever is ready to take a little gamble.
(Read review here)
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