POWERMAN 5000 Singer Talks About Losing Major Label Deal, Playing Clubs

POWERMAN 5000 frontman Spider One recently spoke to the Boston Herald about the group's split with major label Dreamworks and the recording process for their new CD.

Regarding playing clubs, Spider said, "It's where I feel most comfortable. We've sort of run the gamut from doing the smaller clubs in the early days to opening for METALLICA in stadiums. It's a lot of fun playing huge venues, but there's something about that sweaty, 120 degrees, kids right in your face that can't be replaced."

When the bottom fell out of the record industry around the turn of the century, POWERMAN 5000 became just another casualty. Dreamworks — launched as a creative label that was supposed to keep the politics away from the artists — was ultimately folded into the Universal conglomerate. POWERMAN 5000 became a footnote amidst the big-business mergers.

"All I know is we sold them two million records and apparently that wasn't enough," Spider said. "They dissed a bunch of bands that made them a lot of money.

"It's not really a bitter thing because I think it's what had to happen to make the band survive," he added. "If we had made the jump over to the (Universal) family, it would have been a disaster."

"We snuck in there right before everything started to collapse at the major labels,'' Spider said. "We got ourselves a nice hit record out of that. It all was a great experience, but this is a different time. The great thing about music is there really are no rules. Half the battle is always just staying in there and swinging and that's just what we do."

A brand-new POWERMAN 5000 track, entitled "Heroes and Villains", is available for listening on the band's MySpace.com page.

"Heroes and Villains" is scheduled to appear on the group's as-yet-untitled new album, tentatively due in October on frontman Spider One's Megatronic Records. Joining Spider One, drummer Adrian Ost, and bassist Siggy Siursen on tour and on the forthcoming CD are guitarists Terry Corso (formerly with ALIEN ANT FARM) and Johnny Rock (formerly with HALF-COCKED, the first band Spider One signed to Megatronic when it was being distributed by Dreamworks Records),replacing founding member Adam 12, who left the band before the tour started (but will appear on the new album),and Mike "M.33" Tempesta, who left in 2004. More details about the album will be revealed in the coming weeks.