Bite Me! Noise Therapy Interview

Rob Thiessen of Noise Therapy -By Nikki Neil

Dave Ottoson (vocals), Bobby James (drums), Kai (guitar), Rob Thiessen (bass), and James F. (Keyboards)—collectively known as Noise Therapy—are veteran rockers from Vancouver, Canada, with a fiercely loyal following in their hometown.

With the recent release of their Redline debut, Tension, the aggressive unit is ready to win over the hearts of metal lovers across the U.S. This explosive offering is as addictive as it is corrosive and proves that Noise Therapy is a well-versed group to be reckoned with.

Noise Therapy is kind of a play on words. What was the basis for the name?

I just came up with the name about six or seven years ago. There wasn’t a real meaning behind it. It was just two words that I kind of liked and that I thought went well together. There really isn’t a deep meaning behind it. I just found out the other day that there is actually a medical term called Noise Therapy. I guess it is a real thing. It is kind of weird. Unless someone was just bullshitting me, which is quite possible.

Are you one of the band’s founding members?

Yeah, I started the band, and Kai has pretty much been with the band from the start. We’ve been together the longest and Bobby is our newest addition. He played drums in a band called DDT that was on Lars Ulrich’s label TMC. We put out a few albums in Canada with A&M prior to our deal with Redline.

I remember DDT.

Bobby has been a friend of ours for a long time. We wanted some fresh blood in the band to kind of get things going again. Plus, we’ve always wanted to play with him because he’s an awesome drummer, so we just kind of hooked up with him and here we are.

So what is the chemistry like between you guys?

It’s awesome. We are all really good friends and stuff. Sometimes we’ll fight like brothers, but we’re not like five guys who met each other through ads. We’re five friends. We were all friends and we were all in the same music scene and we all hung out together. We even lived together in a big house at one point in time. Our girlfriends made us move out though.

I’m sure they did.

(Laughs) I don’t know if that was good or bad. We’ll just wait and see.

Is there a reason why the album is called Tension?

When we were in the studio working on the album we had a bunch of different producers with us. We were in the studio for a long time and there were a lot of cooks kind of putting their two cents in and that created some tension. Some people wanted things their way and other people wanted things their way, so the title stemmed from that. I came up with it one morning while I was lying in bed. When I told everybody the name they pretty much said, “Yeah, that’s wicked. That will work.” We all agreed on the name, which was probably the first time that has ever happened.

Lately it seems like a number of bands are working with more than one producer on their records. Was it the band’s choice to work with so many producers or did the label bring them in?

The label had Mike Wanchic come out and he plays with John Cougar, which seemed kind of weird to us. We’ve worked with Mike Plotnikoff on all our other albums, so we wanted him to be involved with this one. We have been friends with Rhys Fulber for a long time and we wanted him to do the programming and all that stuff. Mike and Rhys ended up bringing Igor from Yes in to help with the arrangements and stuff like that, so in the end there was kind of an interesting, eclectic mix in the studio. I don’t know if I’d do it again, but it worked for this record.

What did you gain from that experience?

Mainly just how to deal with people in a give and take situation. I’m usually pretty pig headed. We all are in the band. We’re all set in our ways. I think we really pushed ourselves this time around to listen to other people’s advice more. The one thing that I told Mike when we originally hired him to produce us was that I wanted him to push us more, so he went out and brought in these other people into the studio that would push us and it definitely worked. It definitely was a good experience.

You mentioned how everyone in the band can be pig headed. Have you ever had problems with reaching a collective decision?

Not really. We all kind of know that what we want. Sometimes it’s a little hard getting there, but at the end of the day everybody wants the same thing and you just have to explain it to everybody. The chemistry is good between us. There is definitely a good vibe within the band because we all know what has to be done. And, hopefully this deal with Redline and Best Buy will work out the way we want it to.

Tension is very dynamically diverse, what influences did the band draw upon during the writing process?

Some of us listen to a lot of electronic stuff, and we also listen to a lot of heavy stuff. I grew up listening to a lot of Metallica and Slayer and stuff like that. Some of the guys were into the Misfits and stuff like Faith No More, so we have a bunch of different influences, which is what I think makes our music so diverse because we listen to all sorts of different kinds of music. You can walk into our bus and we may be listening to Lords of Acid one minute and the next minute we’ll put on Machine Head. What we listen to is completely all over the place. When we write songs we don’t say, “Let’s write a song that sounds like this.” We just write whatever comes out, and if it sounds good it’s a Noise Therapy song. It doesn’t have to be in the same mold as the nine other songs on the record, but we try to make it close.

I was really impressed with your website. Who designed it?

A guy named Raffa. His company is called Raffa Corp. He did Disturbed’s site before. He’s done a bunch of different stuff. We found him through Mark and John at Band Bitch. He just came out to our show in Phoenix and videotaped a bunch of stuff. We’re really happy with the site. We really like it. There’s lots of stuff to do on there. I’m trying to do journal updates as much as I can but I kind of forgot the last two days, so I’ll have to do one tonight.

How long has the Street Team been working for the band?

I think they started in September. They’re on for six months. The Street Team has definitely helped a lot. They come out to every show, and they plaster the gates with flyers. We get messages on the website from people saying that they have seen stickers on Taco Bell windows and places we haven’t even been to before. We printed up a bunch of two song samplers and they’ve just been handing those out everywhere. They’ve been awesome. Streetwise and Band Bitch are both working for us.

Is there a similar concept in Canada?

Not really. At least not that I know of. I know there have been some street teams out there. Each individual band up in Canada has their own individual Street Team where they’ll give stuff to kids and make sure it gets out. I don’t think there is an actual company though. Canada is just so spread out. It’s kind of weird up there. It’s a different scene that down here for sure.

Is there a specific music genre that is currently big in Canada?

Canada is kind of weird as far as music goes. A lot of stuff that is big down here we haven’t even heard of up there. Everybody listens to the same stuff up there. Rap and hip-hop are pretty big in Canada. Heavy music is definitely underground up there. There are radio stations that play it, but it doesn’t get the support like it does down here. Take a band like Flaw, who we are opening for in the U.S. They are big down here and most people have never heard of them in Canada. That is just the way it is. I didn’t hear of Flaw until about a month before we got the tour. Then I went on a website and I learned about them and what was going on and who they have been out with. It is hard to get information unless you go on the web all the time. I think the Internet is the main source for kids in Canada to find out about bands.

How has Noise Therapy’s sound evolved since the early days?

We used to have more of a punk influence. We weren’t Blink 182 or anything. We had songs kind of like Weezer’s “Hash Pipe,” but maybe a bit heavier. And we also had heavy songs, so we had two sounds. A couple of years ago we said, “We need to do one or the other. Let’s do what we love. We want to do heavy stuff so let’s do that.” We purposely wanted to get more dynamic and have breaks in our songs and parts where Dave could actually sing – sing and then scream, whatever – so we kind of sat down and had a meeting and said, “Let’s do what we want to do.”

Did you notice that the fan response picked up once you nailed down one specific sound?

Yeah, it did. I definitely think that people in the U.S. don’t like to be confused. The punkier songs that we had in Canada were actually pretty big hits for us up there. So, in Canada people are still trying to get used to our heavy stuff. They’ll come out and see us and say, “Wow, you guys got quite a bit heavier,” and we’ll tell them, “Yeah, but it’s still us.” It’s always been us. The melody is still there and everything else.

Tension is a very heavy album but it’s also melodic.

Yeah, the thing that probably sets us apart from some of the other metal bands is that Dave does sing a bit more.

What are you enjoying most about this tour?

We’ve had the opportunity to play places that we haven’t been to yet. We recently played in Florida, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, and the response in all three places was awesome. Plus, we’ve become really good friends with the bands that we are on tour with. When this tour is over Flaw is going into the studio to work on their new record and 3rd Strike is going to continue on. We’ve become really good friends with the guys in 3rd Strike, so we might continue on with them and with The Color Red. Everyone has been really cool to us. The guys in Flaw are amazing. They come up to us everyday and ask us if we need anything or if they can do anything for us. It’s awesome. You don’t usually see that on a tour like this. I think the metal community is pretty tight. There isn’t a lot of competition. Everyone wants everybody to succeed.

I guess they realize that if they band together and help each other out the long term benefits will be greater.

Yeah, I totally believe that and I see it down here a lot and I see it in Canada too. In Canada there are only so many bands that are doing this kind of thing like Finger Eleven, Slaves On Dope, and Flybanger. We’re all friends and when they come to town we’ll go out and see them and vice a versa. You have to support your friends and you have to support what kind of music you are into.

How’s Flybanger doing? I haven’t heard much from them lately.

They just changed their name back to Jar because that is what they were called before Flybanger. I guess they had some legal problems or something. They just did a new six song E.P. and I believe they just released it and they are just shopping it right now.

We’ll I’m happy to hear that. They are good guys.

Yeah, they are really good friends of mine. I produced the record that got them signed to Columbia, and then I produced a couple of songs that were on the Columbia record as well.

Do you plan to produce other bands in the future?

I would love to. It’s just a matter of time. If Noise Therapy has a month off I’ll definitely go into the studio with a band because I love doing that and I’ve worked with Mike and Rhys before on other stuff, so I would like to work with them again. I’m sure I’ll definitely get into production later on.

Since I haven’t seen Noise Therapy live yet, but I’ll be at your show tomorrow, how wild is your live show?

The cool thing is that on this tour we only have a half-hour slot, so we’ve picked the six songs that we think represent us the best and we just go crazy. Even the guys in the other bands have come up to us and said, “Fuck, you guys are energetic. You guys go crazy on stage.” We try to leave nothing behind. We leave it all up there on the stage. I don’t know what we are going to do when we have to go back to a headlining set because I know that I won’t be used to it.

What is the most damage that the band has ever done to a club or you have done to yourself during a show?

I’ve fallen off stage a couple of times and smashed my guitars, mainly the headstocks, but that was mostly due to bad lighting. Kai & I have cut ourselves many times on stage just from playing so hard that we gash our hand open, or something, and we’ll give our guitars to our techs and there will be blood all over them and we’re like, “Sorry dude, I know it’s kind of gross.” We don’t really damage clubs because that is not very cool. However, we are banned from playing any bars in London, Ontario. I don’t know if you know where that is and you probably don’t care.

I’ve heard of it. I interviewed a band that was form there. I just can’t recall the name.

Kitty is from there. They actually opened for us a long time ago – like five years ago. Okay, maybe not that long ago. It couldn’t have been that long ago because they would have been twelve. Whenever it was they were still in high school.

So why are you banned from playing those clubs?

We had a little party in the hotel that they had put us up in and a few rooms got completely demolished, so we are not allowed to play there any more but it’s no big loss. I think we’ll be okay.

What bands have you seen that have put on an outrageous live show?

I’ve never seen a Gwar show but I’ve heard that it is pretty much the craziest thing you’ll ever see. I haven’t seen too many shows that have really blown me away lately. I’ve seen some shows from bands that don’t sound like us, like Depeche Mode and Jane’s Addiction. I went to both shows in Vancouver and both bands were absolutely amazing. I got to go backstage and meet all the guys from Depeche Mode afterwards and they were super nice. Kai used to play with Steven Perkins from Jane’s, so we went to that show. Both of those shows were inspiring because they were both bands that have been through a lot of shit and have came out on the other end and they both had really good tours last year. As far as heavy bands go, there hasn’t been a lot of stuff coming through Canada. Plus, we’ve been up there making the record for the last year so I haven’t had a chance to go out and see any bands lately. But 3^rd Strike puts on a pretty good show. They are totally cool.

What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about rock stars?

That we have money and that it is a really glamorous life out on the road, which is totally false on both aspects. Unless you’re like Tommy Lee, then you probably have money. But we are riding around in a tour bus with ten other guys. It’s obviously better than a van, but we are holed up in one little bunk and we have to shower at truck stops and stuff like that and it’s hard work. I get about four or five hours of sleep a night and, believe me, I would like a lot more. I’m pretty exhausted but you tend to get used to it. It definitely beats you down. You really have to be in shape to endure the schedule.

Do you have any hobbies outside of music?

I snowboard, but I won’t be doing that anytime soon unless we get some time off this winter. I like snowboarding and I have a Harley. I have a bunch of buddies back in Vancouver that I go riding with. My favorite thing to do when I’m not playing music is to be out on the bike because I leave all the music bullshit and all the politics behind when I hit the road. I had my bike with me when I was in L.A. this winter, so we did a lot of cruising around. It was fun.

If you weren’t playing music for a living what would you be doing?

I have no idea. I should be a hockey player because they make tons of money. I should have paid more attention when I played hockey as a kid in Canada. I’d probably be a radio DJ or something like that because I’ve always wanted to be in music and I love buying other people’s music and listening to other people’s music and getting music out there. I was the guy in high school that always had to be the first to have the new Metallica record or the first to have the new whatever, so I’d probably be in radio or something similar.

So music has always been in your blood.

Yep, I figure it pretty much always will be. I don’t know how to do anything else.

You could become a producer one day.

That is true.

Is Goldschlager still your favorite drink?

I used to like it a lot more but one birthday I drank a whole bottle by myself and I was violently ill. I don’t know if one person should drink that much Goldschlager.

I’m in the same boat. I pretty much did the same thing and haven’t been able to touch it since.

I think I’ve had maybe one shot since then. I’ve moved on to Jagermeister now. I do one or two shots before we go on stage. It’s kind of a ritual and it’s good for you, so they say.

If you could accomplish one thing while in Noise Therapy what would it be?

I just want to travel the world, play music, and meet lots of people. I want to be able to go to Australia, Japan, and Europe and meet people over there because I’ve never been to those places and I’m looking forward to hopefully going to them soon. Our record is coming out overseas, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to go over there. I have lots of friends in Australia, so I need to get down there.

Do you have any good bass player jokes?

No. They only musician joke I know is the one that is on our website. Someone asked me what I would be if I wasn’t a musician and I said a drummer. I’ve been razzing our drummer about that one ever since.

For more on Noise Therapy visit: www.noisetherapy.net