Well, it’s surprising, but it’s not really a surprise. Ed Mundell‘s been involved in a number of outside creative endeavors separate from Monster Magnet the last couple years, and now that he’s left the long-running Jersey band, he’ll be able to pursue whatever he wants to full-time. I can’t really hold it against him. Blabbermouth broke the story yesterday, but I figured I’d post it here too in case anyone didn’t see it there or the hundred thousand other places it popped up:

After 18 years, guitarist Ed Mundell has left Monster Magnet for “personal reasons.” The band’s mainman, Dave Wyndorf, states, “What can I say? [Ed] told me this two months ago and I gave him some time for him to perhaps reconsider but no go. It’s a bummer, yeah but we’ve been through this kind of thing before. Make no mistake, Magnet goes on. We start the ‘Mastermind’ tour tonight [Wednesday, Nov. 3] in Cologne, Germany with Phil Caivano and Garrett Sweeny [Riotgod] handling dual guitar chores.” He adds, “I’d like to thank Ed for the immense talent he’s brought to the band over the years and wish him good luck in whatever he decides to do next. Good luck, Ed, we’ll miss you!”

About guitarist Garrett Sweeny, Wyndorf states, “[He’s] a maniac! He learned a fuckload of Monster Magnet songs in less than two months and is shredding the shit out of ’em! See for yourself.”

Mastermind , the long-awaited new album from Monster Magnet, sold around 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 165 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band’s previous effort, 4-Way Diablo, opened with 1,800 units back in November 2007.

In transcribing the interview you’re (hopefully) about to read, I tried very hard to capture the rhythm and exuberance in Monster Magnet frontman Dave Wyndorf‘s speaking voice. To quote South Park, “It’s a Jersey thing.” Oftentimes, the venerable vocalist would begin a thought, pause, and pursue it from a different direction. I did my best to keep some of that and still make it read naturally. It’s always a balance with these things.

Monster Magnet‘s Mastermind, their first album for Napalm Records and eighth overall, will see release next week in the US and Europe. It’s an album I have mixed feelings about (review here), but there’s absolutely no getting around the fact that heavy rock would not be what it is today without the stalwart New Jersey act, and more specifically, without Wyndorf as its driving force. Over the course of their 20-year career, Monster Magnet has influenced bands who don’t even know they’ve been influenced by them. Their broad reach has taken them around the world, and their workmanlike approach to making albums and touring has secured a lifelong fanbase that’s always eager to see what they’re going to do next.

That, specifically, was something I wanted to ask Wyndorf about, and as you’ll — again, hopefully — see, he was forthcoming with his thoughts. Below, he discusses working with the current incarnation of the band — guitarists Ed Mundell and Phil Caivano, bassist Jim Baglino and drummer Bob Pantella — writing Mastermind and recording it with Matt Hyde, the differences in the American and European rock scenes, the fine line between what Monster Magnet does and heavy metal, and lots, lots more. The interview was over 40 minutes long and the transcription turned out to be well over 5,800 words. The dude’s a talker and there was a lot of ground to cover. If you have to take it in pieces, I understand. It’ll still be here later when you come back.

Please find the complete Q&A after the jump, and enjoy.

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Following two albums on SPV, New Jersey stalwarts Monster Magnet have made a new home for themselves on Napalm Records for the release of their new album, Mastermind. It’s the band’s eighth album overall (they’ve been on a regimented every-three-years schedule since 1995’s Dopes to Infinity), and if you’ve followed the course frontman/guitarist/singer Dave Wyndorf has taken in his songwriting over the last decade in the band on albums like 2004’s Monolithic Baby! and 2007’s 4-Way Diablo, you probably won’t find too many surprises on Mastermind in terms of style. Rather, what sticks out immediately about the new collection is how much livelier the production sounds, particularly in relation to 4-Way Diablo, which was practically flat across the board. This is still a modern, professional production in every sense (pretty sure those are drum samples), and as Matt Hyde also helmed the last album, I can only imagine it was a specific change frontman/guitarist Dave Wyndorf — common understanding is it’s his band in terms of songwriting and direction, etc. — wanted to make in terms of overall approach. It was the right choice.

Mastermind begins strong with the rumble of Jim Baglino (also of Riotgod)’s bass on what’s arguably the album’s strongest song, “Hallucination Bomb.” The song itself is slower in pace than previous Monster Magnet hits, built on a huge riff from guitarists Ed Mundell and Phil Caivano, but is an effective way to start the record nonetheless. Wyndorf’s vocals are fire and brimstone, apocalyptic and loaded with effects that give him an “on the mountain” kind of feel. Drummer Bob Pantella (also Riotgod) matches the riff well, though I do wish it was more of his playing personality and less sampled snare hits. Hazards of the times in which we live, I guess. At least there are some killer dueling guitar solos to drown my sorrows in, and the hard-hitting chorus groove alone is one of Mastermind’s high points.

That’s a double-edged sword. I understand the band wanting to put their best foot forward, and I don’t disagree with the approach, but the tradeoff is the listener is spending the rest of the album waiting for something to match up. “Hallucination Bomb” is an instant comparison touchstone. Subsequent songs “Bored with Sorcery” and “Dig that Hole” (is that the N-word I heard in there?) rock with a more driven punk rock pace and riffy/catchy choruses, respectively, Wyndorf and Company again toying with the pace as they go. Wyndorf’s vocals come on in multiple layers especially on “Dig that Hole,” which isn’t really new for Monster Magnet either, but always works because of his charisma as a vocalist. Even the ultra-Magnetic “Gods and Punks” holds up stylistically, especially in the guitar — late-era Monster Magnet specialize in a kind of pop-minded “stoner rock by any other name” — and the chorus of Wyndorfs that shows up on the chorus to let us know how much they rule the planet from high to low both sets that track apart from the three before it and provides listeners with an memorable hook. In lieu of “Hallucination Bomb,” I wouldn’t be surprised to find the band opening with “Gods and Punks” live.

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In what would have taken a lesser band at least four press releases to get through, New Jersey hometown heroes Monster Magnet have unveiled a host of updates, including info on their new album, Mastermind, which is due out in October on Napalm Records. The PR wire, almost overloaded by the sheer amount of information, has this:

New Jersey’s Monster Magnet will release its long-awaited new album Mastermind this October. In celebration of the record’s impending release, the band has re-launched its website. Focused around the late October worldwide release of Mastermind, the re-launch also serves as the world premiere of the new album’s cover artwork, designed by Invisible Creature (Wolfmother, Chris Cornell, Foo Fighters).

“I’m extremely proud of this new album,” says Monster Magnet frontman Dave Wyndorf. “It’s been an amazing process, the songs are exactly what I wanted them to be, and I’m proud to begin presenting this new phase of the band on our new website.”

The track listing for Monster Magnet’s Mastermind is as follows:
1. Hallucination Bomb
2. Bored with Sorcery
3. Dig that Hole
4. Gods and Punks
5. The Titan Who Cried Like a Baby
6. Mastermind
7. 100 Million Miles
8. Perish in Fire
9. Time Machine
10. When the Planes Fall from the Sky
11. Ghost Story
12. All Outta Nothin’

Monster Magnet on tour:
Aug. 9 Amsterdam (NL) Melkweg
Aug. 10 Saarburcken (D) Garage
Aug. 11 Avenches (CH) Rock Oz Arenes Festival
Aug. 13 Feldkirch (A) Poolbar Festival
Aug. 14 Burgenland (A) Picture On Festival
Aug. 15 Budapest (HU) Sziget Festival
Aug. 17 Prague (CZ) KD Vltavska
Aug. 18 Frankfurt o.M. (D) Batschkapp
Aug. 20 Lierop (NL) Nirwana Tuinfest
Aug. 21 Ludinghausen (D) Area 4 Festival
Aug. 22 Großposna/Leipzig (D) Highfield Festival
Nov. 18 Cardiff (UK) Millenium Music Hall
Nov. 20 Sheffield (UK) Corporation
Nov. 21 Reading (UK) Sub 89
Nov. 22 Southampton (UK) University
Nov. 23 Birmingham (UK) HMV Insititute
Nov. 25 Manchester (UK) Moho Live
Nov. 26 London (UK) Electric Ballroom

It was strange walking down the steps into Burlington, Vermont‘s Pure Pop Records this past Saturday, because I’d been there before. Six years ago, when The Patient Mrs. and I were first married, we took off headed north on the Thruway, just as a kind of mini-getaway post-wedding. Our actual honeymoon was still a few months off, and we ended up in Burlington by happenstance, just because it was there, and we must have hit Pure Pop on that trip — don’t ask me what I bought — so being back there was a dreamy deja vu. No, it didn’t affect the shopping experience.

I’d already been in and out of Burlington Records and Downtown Records (?) with no finds. I almost bought a jewel case copy of Scissorfight‘s Mantrapping for Sport and Profit from the latter, because I only own the digipak and because we’re situated right next to New Hampshire and I consider everything north of Massachusetts to be Scissorfight country, but changed my mind last minute. A choice I lived to regret. I didn’t have high hopes for Pure Pop, because it’s one of those super-indie stores that so loves being indie, but I did alright in the end.

They have an experimental/post-metal/doom/stuff-snobs-like section that runs a gamut from Acid Mothers Temple to Sleep to John Zorn, and Slayer was filed under rock, not metal, but most of what I found was in the comedy section anyway. I grabbed Mitch Hedberg‘s Do You Believe in Gosh?, Patton Oswalt‘s Feelin’ Kinda Patton and 222, which is the same show, just unedited, and from the regular old metal section on in the far corner of the store, Ereb Altor‘s second album, The End, which I haven’t listened to yet, but can only imagine from what I remember of 2008’s By Honour sounds like Bathory-style Viking metal played at half speed. Translation: awesome.

I don’t suppose it was the best haul ever — I was at least momentarily more psyched by the shaved ice flavor “Tiger Blood” that was available at the nearby outdoor market — but screw it, comedy records are good for long drives, and I’ve been doing plenty of that lately. And honestly, I’d have grabbed some stuff out of that avant/pretentious section if I didn’t already own everything I wanted from it, so no slight on Pure Pop, which had a reasonably well-organized layout and broad range of available goods.

The dude behind the counter, who seemed to have some kind of animal tooth inserted in his septum (an instant reminder of the unintentionally hilarious Walking with Cavemen; Alec Baldwin‘s finest moment of voice-over) was polite and friendly enough, not condescending to my less than stellar finds, and all in all I felt positive about the experience. Cap the day off with a trip to the Ben and Jerry’s factory off the I-89 in Waterbury and mark it a win.

Instrumental Los Angeles (by way of West Virginia) trio Karma to Burn have just released their first full-length since 2002 in the form of Appalachian Incantation, and are set to kick off their first US tour in support of the record tomorrow night in Brooklyn. For most bands, that would probably qualify as “busy enough,” but Karma to Burn, who officially reunited in Spring 2009 and have since had a bevvy of releases, seem to prefer their collective plate when it’s full.

Drummer Rob Oswald, guitarist Will Mecum and bassist Rich Mullins, in addition to playing as Karma to Burn, will now also be pulling duty as the band Year Long Disaster — of which Mullins was already a member — and in turn, Year Long Disaster vocalist Dan Davies has (sort of) joined Karma to Burn as their first singer since Roadrunner Records pressured them into having vocals on their self-titled album in 1997. Oh, and they’re apparently planning more work with John Garcia (ex-Kyuss, Slo Burn et al), who shows up on the Appalachian Incantation bonus track, “Two Times.” So there’s that as well.

If that seems like a fuck-load of information, and confusing information at that, it is, and rest assured, I don’t have any better grasp than you do, but Mullins, at least as he manages to keep it all straight in the interview conducted this past Monday, seems to have a hold on it, and that’s probably what’s most important. In our relatively short conversation (at least compared to how it usually goes around here), he not only confirmed the above, but revealed that Karma to Burn will likely be touring with The Sword in September, Monster Magnet sometime thereafter and recording a new album before the end of the year. Information abounds.

Please enjoy the interview after the jump, and if it helps, feel free to take notes. I did.

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I always have to marvel at fans of Karma to Burn who can stand at a show and get into an argument about which was a better song, “Eight” or “Twenty Six,” as personally, I’ve never managed to sort out which numbers — since that’s how the West Virginia unit name their instrumental pieces — were which. Maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention. Maybe I’m an asshole. All these things are possible.

In any case, after doing the reunion thing in 2009 following the release of a boxed set in 2007, two splits, a live album and a live DVD, Karma to Burn have officially begun the cycle anew with their first full-length since 2002’s Almost Heathen, Appalachian Incantation (Napalm Records). The album will no doubt delight those who’ve missed the band’s bullshit-free take on riff rock, balancing its lack of frills on the edge of minimalism without ever crossing over or coming off as pretentious in any way. It’s this balance, which no other instrumental stoner outfit has pulled off as well before or since, that Karma to Burn has been able to maintain on Appalachian Incantation, and their rock is as potent as ever for it.

Interestingly, the core trio of guitarist William Mecum, bassist Rich Mullins and drummer Rob Oswald (now ex-Nebula) chose to split Appalachian Incantation in half by means of a track with vocals, the album single, “Waiting on the Western World,” which boasts a guest appearance from Year Long Disaster’s Dan Davies. Despite the memorable riffs that permeate “41” and opener “44,” “Waiting on the Western World” comes off as an accessible nod that, yes, sometimes Karma to Burn’s methodology can be hard to keep up with. Whether it was the label or the band that put it where it is, it works and serves to give Appalachian Incantation a landmark just where one is needed.

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The PR wire has it that West Virginian instrumental assassins Karma to Burn are in the studio prepping their comeback album for Napalm Records, and that they’ll also have a DVD out this December, and that they’ll be touring Europe for a month in 10 days’ time. Busy busy busy. Check it out:

Karma to Burn are currently recording their new album w/ Mathias Schneeberger (Gutter Twins) in Pasadena, California and features special guest Matt Maiellaro of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (director, writer, creator, bus driver, also producing the band’s new video for “43”). KTB has also re-recorded their hit songs “Twenty” and “Thirty” to appear on their upcoming DVD out December 15th courtesy of Napalm. The re-recorded track “Twenty” will also appear on a split 7-inch w/ ASG to be released on Volcom.

Karma to Burn Live!

USA
Nov 6 2009 Spaceland Los Angeles, California w/ 16 and Totimoshi

Europe
Nov 12 2009 MUZ Club N?rnberg
Nov 13 2009 HDO Brandenburg Brandenburg
Nov 14 2009 Titty Twister Dresden
Nov 15 2009 Modra Vopice Prague
Nov 16 2009 Arena Vienna
Nov 17 2009 KSET Zagreb
Nov 18 2009 Channel Zero Ljubljana
Nov 19 2009 Circolo A.R.C.I Fidenza
Nov 20 2009 Bloom Mezzago
Nov 21 2009 United Club Torino
Nov 22 2009 Bronson Ravenna
Nov 23 2009 Sinister Noise Roma
Nov 24 2009 Sabotage Bar Vicenza
Nov 25 2009 Le Romandie Lausanne
Nov 26 2009 Sonnenkeller Balingen
Nov 27 2009 Musiktheater Piano Dortmund
Nov 28 2009 SPEEDFEST Eindhoven w/ Peter Pan Speedrock, GBH, Death Angel, US Bombs
Nov 29 2009 Le Grillen Colmar
Nov 30 2009 GRRRNDZERO Lyon
Dec 1 2009 Le Mojomatic Montpellier
Dec 2 2009 La MDE Poitiers
Dec 3 2009 Hotel de la musique Roubaix

UK w/ Monster Magnet
Dec 5 2009 Rock City Nottingham
Dec 6 2009 KOKO London
Dec 7 2009 Garage Glasgow
Dec 8 2009 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh, Scotland * no Monster Magnet
Dec 9 2009 Academy 2 Manchester
Dec 10 2009 Assembly Leamington Spa
Dec 11 2009 Wulfrun Wolverhampton
Dec 12 2009 Met University Leeds