Today, we talked with Mikal, the drummer of Gorilla Wizard, and he gave us insight in the music writing side, his hero former WWE star Xpac, and much more! Be sure to check out Gorilla Wizard music below on Spotify after the interview!
Interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your
surroundings?
Honestly, I always wanted to write and play Fear Factory/Gojira machine-gun pedaling
riffs, and upon meeting Bertrum – he absolutely delivered. Bertrum’s endless pool of riffs, let alone the inane content,
are an inspiration unto themselves. His riffs have been inspired by everything ranging from tasty cereal to fantastic creatures
and epic mechs that all smash, crash, crunch, crush and shred in their own awesome way.
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
As the youngest of 3, I grew up to the sounds of Sting, Genesis, MC Hammer, Queen, No
Doubt, Dave Mathews & Weezer in my house, but I’m proud to say that Metallica was the
first band I got into as a 13 year old. From there I discovered Rob Zombie, Limp Bizkit,
Deftones, Linkin Park, Disturbed and the like. Upon meeting Gaben, I got into Slipknot,
Korn, Sepultura, Pantera and eventually we both grew into more extreme influences like
Mastodon, Machine Head and Type O Negative, to name a few. I also enjoy proggy stuff
like Dream Theater & Iron Maiden quite a lot.
Is there someone you looked up as a hero?
Like I was saying before, at 13, I lived, breathed and ate Metallica for a living, so I suppose
you could say I wanted to be like them. I was also really into WWF, so I liked the wrestler
X-Pac as a kid. I just dug his rebellious punk aesthetic and thought – this is what it’s all about. Being
extreme, writing crazy music, running around like a maniac and kicking ass. And if you get
knocked down, you just get right back up and do it all over again.
If you weren’t a musician, would you be doing today?
I’d be writing stories, which I also do for fun. We don’t need to get into it now, but I wrote
this whole epic Sci-Fi/Fantasy Angel-Devil warfare series as a Teen, which I thought was
the coolest thing at the time. Then I spent 11 years of my adulthood writing about Mega Man X…!
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create
music?
Just get out there and do it, man.
You have so many avenues and tools at your fingertips.
If you’ve got an idea in your head, just tinker around on your instrument of choice and put
it out there on YouTube or whatever. Whether you’re flying solo or rolling with a crew,
there’s nothing like making the sounds from your imagination come to life.
Music:
