Combichrist’s Australian Tour Wraps Up In Melbourne Tonight…

Norwegian/American aggrotech and industrial metal band Combichrist have one last show tonight in Melbourne on their Auustralian tour. It promises to be a massive show featuring their tenth studio album CMBCRST, showcasing their dynamic range and commitment to pushing genre boundaries. Combichrist’s relentless innovation and energy affirm their influential status in the industrial music scene. Founder and vocalist Andy LaPlegua talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

It is great that Combichrist are back in Australia?
Yeah, man, it’s about time! We’ve played Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne tonight. There are several other places we’d like to go, but it doesn’t always work out the way we want it. At least we’re coming back to these three beautiful cities that we absolutely love. Australia is so far away that scheduling is tricky, you lose about two weeks just to do a couple of shows, but we’re excited.

Three shows in three days is a pretty grueling schedule, especially with the flights in and out of Australia. How do you prepare for that?
I just make sure to come in a little early, get some rest, and reset my time zone. I fly into Sydney first to do a DJ gig, then we fly to Brisbane and stay there a few days. We do this all the time in Europe, flying in and playing the same day or the day after, but it never feels natural. You just have to push through. Three days in a row isn’t too bad, as long as you get your clock turned around first.

How’s the tour been going so far?
It’s been great. The previous album did really well, and the new single has been doing great too. We have another single out with Rise. The crowds have been incredible, especially in Europe where the shows have been huge. We haven’t been doing much in the U.S. lately, but Europe’s kept us busy.

For the Australian shows, are you focusing mostly on the new album or covering the back catalogue?
At least half the set is old songs, the crowd favorites, because you want people to hear what they came for. Then we mix in the new stuff and our own band favorites to play. The old songs never really get too old to play if the crowd still loves them.

Have you been happy with how the album’s been received worldwide?
Yeah, man. I go into the studio and let the album write itself. I never want to do the same thing twice, so I keep pushing the sound forward. David Bowie is one of my biggest inspirations, he always reinvented himself. At first, people are like, “What is this? This is different!” but that’s been the reaction to every album. It would be weird if I didn’t do something different. It’s been well received, and we’re already working on a new album.

Will the new album be a big departure from what we know?
It’s more electronic and atmospheric this time. I’ve been inspired by film scores and ambient music, so I’ve been bringing that into the mix along with the experimental electro stuff. I’ve also been playing old-school electronic shows with just my keyboard player, which gave me a nostalgic boost. I’m not chasing my old sound, but I’m letting that inspiration feed into the new material.

Any particular artists influencing this more electronic direction?
Who hasn’t been influenced by Nine Inch Nails at some point? But honestly, I don’t pay much attention to what other artists are doing. I just chase my own ideas, things that have been floating in my head for years. The new single practically wrote itself. At first, I didn’t even like where it was going, but I kept coming back to it and in the end, I loved it.

Is that the Desolation single you’re talking about?
That too, but I’m really talking about the new single Rise. It just came together naturally. Desolation was similar, it was based on this movie that exists only in my head, and I just had to write the soundtrack for it.

Is the studio your happy place, seeing songs come from nothing and build into something?
It’s everything, my happy place, my nightmare, my refuge, my hell. When you’re not feeling inspired, it’s rough. But most of the time, it’s where I get things done.

What’s the timeline for the new album?
Realistically, we’re looking at late May or June next year. In the meantime, there will be plenty of singles. It’s the new way of releasing music, half the album comes out before the album does. It works for me because I can focus on one song at a time instead of filling space just to complete an album.

When you play back a new track for the first time, are you excited or overly critical?
Both! I mix everything myself, so I tweak until it’s perfect. When I sit back and listen, I’m super excited. Then halfway through, I’ll stop and fix a tiny detail, like a hi-hat. At some point, you have to stop polishing. I like it to stay a little dirty, even with electronic music. I come from punk and hardcore, so it needs that grit.

Any Australian bands catching your ear right now?
Northlane has been one of my favorites for a long time. We played a festival in Germany where they were on early in the day. I didn’t know them at the time, but when they started playing, I just couldn’t walk away. That rarely happens to me, because I see so many bands at festivals, but they completely pulled me in.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Combichrist at Max Watts in Melbourne tonight, tickets from Hardline Media…