HUMAN HOST INTERVIEW MARCH 2009

HUMAN HOST RETURNS! When we last left Mike Apichella, Human Host was embarking on a full-scale cross-country US tour. We caught up with him, now six months later as he prepares for a short east coast trek in March including a stop in Ithaca, NY on Wednesday the 11th at No Radio Records.

Bubba: How did the rest of that tour go for you guys?

Mike: As a whole, it was awesome. I mentioned the last time we spoke that I had to rent a car to do the tour and money-wise having to rent the car messed things up a bit. I’d never rented a car for that long before. But as a whole, the tour was a big, big success. It’s something I would have done no matter what and I’m glad I did. It served its purpose. Many people know about us who’d never seen us before and I got to go to a lot of strange places I’d never been too, let alone played.

B: Like Wyoming and Idaho?

M: Oh yeah! (laughs) Those places were really cool. Wyoming not for shows as much, but driving through that state was probably my favorite part of the entire tour, honestly. It even inspired the title of new song. That area is so under populated and so weird. There are all these geological formations everywhere… there’s nothing like it on the east cost. Idaho is the same way, but much more populated. There’s actually a pretty awesome scene. They have a bunch of really good bands. Really good “Rock” bands, which is unusual; in my travel I don’t come across too much rock music that excites me. My one regret about Idaho is not spending more time there.

B: Really?

M: Yeah, just loved the whole experience of driving through that area, WY, UT, NV, all of which I had to drive through twice. I drove through another really scary place called Eastern Oregon, which is even more desolate in some areas. It’s not even a desert or rocks but just a bunch of dirt and these hills for as far as you can see in some parts. It doesn’t look like there’s any water or anything. I found myself in awe, thinking of the settlers from the 1800s. They went right through this area that I went through called Umatilla, which also inspired the title of another song that’s brand new. Everything was so alien to me. I had a great show in Wyoming in a place called Green River, Idaho. I played Boise at an incredible house show. Both of those I was the only band on the bill. It was a good time; I played for an hour and a half in Boise. The Green River show, I played a little bit shorter because it was an afternoon show and I couldn’t get a place to stay the first time. I was staying in ID about 5hrs away that night. The people that set up the Wyoming show were literally all about 14-15 years old.

B: That’s awesome!

M: Yeah, I think there was one kid there that was MAYBE 17. They had to go to school the next day and it would have been a little awkward to stay there.

B: That’s really inspiring to hear about people that young putting shows together themselves.

M: It is. Every little town has something going on especially in the post-internet world where people are just tuned into everything. Everywhere you go there’s some sort of scene waiting to happen even if it isn’t already.

B: You’d touched briefly on some new tracks that the trip inspired. What do you guys have in the works? Another new album?

M: Most likely none of those tracks will be on the next album we’re going to do. We do have a new album out now called “Creature Mountain” and that is mostly material we’ve been playing since 2006, some of it since only 2007. It’s really great. Musically it’s just as rad as the Halloween Tree. The recording itself is a lot better. It was recorded in two different studios – the first time we’ve used a real studio. Usually we home record.

B: Where was Creature Mountain recorded?

M: One studio called Catastrophic Sound, which is in northeast Baltimore, and another one in downtown Baltimore called 2 East Audio. This guy Jeff Duncan who is a producer who works with us, making beats, owns the studio. We’re friends with Kevin Bernstein who runs Catastrophic, as well. They’re both really rad guys. The recording quality is very uniform, outside of the one track we recorded on a handheld tape player. Otherwise the rest of the album is very clean. Not the songs though. They’re just as screwed up as any other Human Host songs, just the quality of the production was much more high tech.

B: So what else is new? What can we expect for this tour?

M: You’ll get to see Josh perform, which will be something new.

B: What does he do?

M: Well, he sings and makes beats for us - no instruments live or anything. Actually, “vocalizes” might be a better word for what he does (laughs). He’s awesome.

B: So there’s Josh, who sings and creates beats, Jeff who produces and writes beats, in an earlier conversation you’d mentioned Rick contributing as well. What is the process of creating a Human Host song?

M: Lately its been very much people contributing their part, finishing their beats on their own then passing them along to me. The songs on keyboard I write myself, then I’ll either get a live drummer or use the drum patches on the keyboards I have. It’s all very fragmented when it’s being made but it comes together in a big way. We’re very careful with which parts we choose. Josh and Jeff are both constantly making beats to pull from. Human Host is my project so I pretty much decide what goes in and what goes out. They trust my judgment and understand how much I have invested in it. Josh and I have been music together a long time. Since 1994-95 I think. Sometimes he’ll take a break and then come back. He’s been steadily working with Human Host almost non-stop apart from 2003-2005 where he wasn’t involved much at all. He’s been back contributing to songs and lyrics since.

B: How many different people have been involved in Human Host, either live or in the studio?

M: I’m not really sure. There have been a lot of players over the years on the side. I can play with all different kinds of people. People who have really vivid imagination though – that’s the main criteria. And that they’re willing to put up with my megalomania! (laughs) …patient people who have ideas and are willing to share them regardless. The main people have been me, Rick Weaver – he hasn’t contributed a whole lot lately but he produced Creature Mountain. He did so much we were going credit him with production of the album but he felt that we helped produce as well so we just credited Human Host with production. He’s done a lot in the past and his stamp will be felt for a long time. If there were to be someone listed as second in command, it would be him. He, Josh, and Keith – the hype man, dancer-guy – he’s been performing with us since 2006. He’s only made one beat, which is actually on the new album - this great track is called “The Flying Captain.” He has his own project that is still together but he doesn’t make beats anymore.

B: He was a great addition to when you guys came through last year!

M: Yeah, he’s the kind of guy you can set on autopilot and just let him do his own thing.

B: You have toured quite a bit--what’s your reasoning behind pushing the live shows?

M: I’d say the main reason we’ve played shows so much, besides supporting and promoting the records, is to display the visual component of the music. Which I feel is just as important as the music and the lyrics. A person like Keith is someone who really embodies that and it’s good to have someone like that around. Too often people refer to us as a band, when it’s much more of a conceptual art piece, a multimedia thing.


B: I agree! You really can’t just listen to Human Host, you have to be there and experience Human Host.

M: Definitely, and the biggest thing that’s going on is we’re working on a Human Host movie. Since about 2007 we’ve been steadily piecemeal making bits and pieces. After this northeast tour we’ll be working on that project exclusively. We’re not going to retire from playing shows or anything, but we will be taking most of the rest of 2009 off to finish the project. The movie already feels a lot more comfortable than playing shows even. Working in an audio/visual medium is more helpful to us and what we’re trying to put across in Human Host.


B: So is the movie based on the music, more theatrical, or what?

M: It is based around the music, there’s no narrative or story. There will be at least one part where there’s something like a plot. Other aspects will be live footage, visual counterparts to the music, and some portions we’ll make the music for specific scenes. To be honest though, I won’t know exactly what it’s going to be like until it’s finished. I almost feel like its more of a visual album, than a movie. We’re arranging it in a way the same way we arrange an album – when we get enough material compiled we take a broad spectrum of songs, improvisation, compositions, and just pick from them. Whatever fits bests in its place. The albums are barely different from a movie in the way they unfold, “Exploding Demon” in particular. I’ve had many people tell me they could never listen to that album track by track or the tracks by themselves, which is a good indication there are at least a few people out there who get what we’re trying to do. I directed the whole thing on my own last summer. That was a great experience. I’d never directed a film before but it felt very natural. We’ve soundtracked movies before “Mallcrawlers” and “Electric Blood” and those both came out in an organic, good experience that just happened. It just worked in this awesome way. That got us pumped to really focus on doing the movie.

B: Wow. A new album, a new tour, a movie… anything else you are working on?

M: We’ll be starting another album pretty soon. Not sure when that will be done. Wild guess… by the fall of 2009. Creature Mountain is out now. It will be available for download soon and is out on CD-R from Firecracker Firecracker Records. Staying busy, business as usual, and just trying to have fun.

B: For Creature Mountain, which tracks have you been play live for the past few years?

M: Both tracks off the “False Prophet” EP are on this album. “Everlasting Ending,” which is a beat that Rick made, “The Flying Captain” the beat that Keith made – totally genius, some keyboard & drum tracks one called “ITZAMNA.” There’s an improv called “Phogg” which is the track that was recorded on the handheld tape player. A couple songs with beats by Jeff Duncan called “Plastic Food” and “Tree Hugger,” which is a real mellowed out song, which this girl Kim sings on. I perform it live but Kim was someone that used to tour with us a lot but she went back to college. I’m really proud of this album not just in the quality of the composition but how it came out as a whole production-wise.

We’re looking forward to heading up to New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut and we’re going to have a good time on tour in March.

B: Great! A parting question for you: You’ve done several tours up and down the east coast, plus your trek across country last year. Any advise for kids that are pulling together their first DIY tours?

M: Before you go on a big tour, no matter why you’re doing it, make sure you know WHY you’re doing it. And make sure you know how you want to be successful. I don’t mean that just in terms of money but in general, all around. As long as you have that in mind and you really love whatever is bringing you out on tour, you’ll have a good time.