ROCKET Interviews Chuck Of JOHN HENRY VS. THE MACHINE

Rocket: Are you a native of Texas, brother?

Chuck: Born and fucking raised!

Rocket: When did you first start playing electric guitar?

Chuck: The first GUITAR I purchased, Rocket, was a crappy import acoustic with a warped fretboard. I had twenty dollars at the time and I put it on lay-away. A full summer’s worth of mowing lawns and farm work. I was 11. Then after a short six months I moved up to my first electric, a 19 fret Fender, Korean I think.

Rocket: Who are a few of your biggest playing influences?

Chuck: Ted FUCKING Nugent, Zakk Wylde, Dime, SRV, And If Chuck Norris played an instrument, he would for sure be one of them.

Rocket: Haha. Walker Texas Ranger! Getcha pull. I actually met that guy face to face once years back and he can’t be more than five foot eight in high-heel boots. But he certainly doesn’t look like he’d have any difficulty hurting just about anyone that got into his face. Did you ever take any formal guitar lessons or are you pretty much self-taught?

Chuck: My first guitar teacher had an acid flash back on our third practice. So I went solo untill I was in high school. The teacher was a classically trianed vocalist and had never played guitar before. So me and a buddy would play stuff like Drag the Waters while she would be trying to teach us Jingle bells. “our tax money hard at work! “

Rocket: An acid flashback during practice. Now that’s metal! Haha! What kind of guitars are you playing live and in the studio?

Chuck: I Just got the sickest guitar I have ever played. It’s a Jackson RR24. Based of the guitar Rhoads rocked with. It is one of only 75 that Jackson did as a pre-production and it is very very METAL!!! Right before we hit the studio, I had lined up some killer guitars (Les Pauls, JEM, and a Esp Eclispe) to record with. I play 30 seconds and said to myself ” This is the guitar for you”. That’s what your hearing on the record, as well as live at the time being.

Rocket: Awesome, brother. Keepin’ Rhoads alive! What kind of amp rig?

Chuck: I run the least complex rig possible. Mesa Boogie triple rectifier(2 channel), along with a 1960 JCM 800 cab and my effects are a Boss noise suppresor, a *first gen* Dime wah pedal, and a Boss EQ pedal.

Rocket: Briefly, how did John Henry Vs. The Machine form as a band?

Chuck: I had went to a guitar store to pick something up, and while there I played on something they had hanging up on the wall. This guy walks up behind me and says “I’m in a band, I hate it. would you be interested in starting something?” I said, “sure.” That same day, this guys lead singer hears me play( who happened to be some guy that tried out for an earlier band I had been in), and asks “we have a band, it’s cool, but one of our guitarist’s is stealing shit and is a dickhead. We’re looking to start a new band, you up?”
I said sure. I honestly didn’t know who to believe so I said yes to both of them. After two weeks of hanging out with both (the band) and the dickhead I decided that the band was the way to go. And yes this ended up nasty between me and (dickhead) but things sometimes do.

Rocket: It wouldn’t be life it didn’t, man. Good apples, bad ones, etc. But that’s killer how you finally found some people to play with. That can be really tough to find for yourself, jamming with the right kind of guys. Now your band currently has demos up on MySpace that showcase your recorderd efforts. When can we expect a full length debut album from this band?

Chuck: We plan on putting our first record out by December.

Rocket: Kick ass. Who are some of the other local Texas area bands that have impressed you this year?

Chuck: There is a band called Empire that is insane live, they use a fucking cow bell for god sakes. There are several other good acts in Texas, but in our genre there is a definite drop in southern metal bands.

Rocket: It’s been another great year for metal. What’s one album so far has been your personal favorite in ’07?

Chuck: This year has been a let down for me. A lot of big names came out and I just heard a lot of the same songs, or in my opinion just plan bad ideas.

Rocket: I can see your point. Though compared to the early 2000’s, I think metal is in a much better spot right now. There’s just so much stuff being released that it’s hard not to find some good product if you look across all sub-genres. That’s what’s so kick ass about really having your ear tuned into the underground like The Metal Den has always been known for. I never have liked any of the mainstream bigger-budget albums for the most part, like Ozzy’s new one take for instance. He really needs to call it a day. Let him sing in the shower. Haha. And Sharon needs to get the hell out of metal once and for all. Horns up on that!

Chuck: Rocket, the last thing that really caught my ears were Lamb of God’s Sacrament and He is Legend’s Suck out the Poison.

Rocket: I’m looking forward to hearing the new 3 Inches Of Blood and DevilDriver. Those oughta be winners. Listen, I like to have fun with this next one. What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you while performing on the stage?

Chuck: I was playing a show in Oklahoma city and two power amps blew. There fix was too take the stage power monitors out and use those for the main Pa.  Not cool, on a huge stage. We couldn’t hear each other. So I run all the way infront of Zane’s( the guitarist) rig so I could hear him. Come solo time I was still on the other side of the stage. Half way through it I say to myself” oh shit, I need the wah pedal, like now”.  So I Run, While soloing, over to my effects, and some jack ass jumps on stage between me and my effects and does a metal stance and throws up the devil horns. While soloing, I do a All Madden Line backer blitz, and knock this poor guy smooth on his back and still get to my wah pedal in time.

Rocket: Haha. That’s pretty Ted Nugent for yah! Or maybe it’s Walker Texas Ranger, I’m confusing myself now Haha. That is classic! So what are some of the upcoming shows for your band that we need to watchout for?

Chuck: We are currently looking to play some bigger Festivals this summer. Do to weather, we have missed some so far, but we are looking forward to the next!

Rocket: I’m pulling for nothing but good things for you and this band, brother man. Thanks very much for doing this with me. Best of luck with it all. Go ahead and give a shoutout to your biggest supporters.

Visit John Henry Vs. The Machine on MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/johnhenryvsthemachine