Klayton
Klayton, born Scott Albert, is an industrial rock musician, who has performed under a variety of stage names over his career, and is best known as being the frontman for his latest project, Celldweller.
"Here’s the scoop boys and girls – take control. Promote yourself, invest in yourself, write, write, write. You have the internet – use it. Give your music away – just get people to your shows and get them to buy a tee shirt, which is not so easily pirated. Network - Myspace is a veritable treasure chest of talent if you can find it amongst the millions. Find the right people to attach yourself to and you never know what that outcome will be."
"I pretty much despise the old mix (of Switchback) and the other 15 or 20 versions that exist. I somehow managed to pull something out of my a** at the last minute - literally and could live with the song finally."
"Some of what I've been listening to in the last few weeks - Frou Frou-Details, The Faint-Danse Macabre, Technical Itch, AFI-Sing the Sorrow, Massive Attack-100th window, Way Out West-Intensify, Cocteau Twins-Four Calendar Café, Astral Projection, Sam Phillips-Cruel Inventions, On-Make Believe, Dieselboy, Hybrid, Cosmosis... The closest I get to listening to radio are some online stations like Bassdrive and Philosomatika] (mostly drum & bass and trance.) When I'm in the mood for some good guitar based stuff, I've been going back to Refused, Snapcase, Quicksand, Slayer, Trouble etc."
"The death per capita in New York had dropped because we had a good mayor for a while, and I didn't feel comfortable with that so I wanted to go someplace where there was a lot more people getting killed. So I went to Detroit."
"'I Believe You' was written in a few days and something like 'Switchback' was a thorn in my flesh and took a couple of years to refine and complete to my standards."
"I decided to approach (the album Wish Upon A Blackstar) completely differently than any other work I’d done previously. Grant Mohrman (co-producer) and I brainstormed the process of how to make this monstrosity of an album, and we decided to try doing a few things differently – I would write demos AND we would track my vocals before doing anything else. Now this was completely ass-backwards to the way I am used to doing things. I generally start a musical idea and I keep revising and reworking it until it becomes something I like. The entire Celldweller debut album was written this way. I ALWAYS tracked vocals last. Partly because I wanted the music to inspire my vocal performance and partly because I haaaate cutting vocals. The idea this time around was the music would have to work with my voice instead of forcing my voice over the top of 180 tracks of audio. This made me uncomfortable which is why I agreed to do it."
"If you decide to do the whole anal-probe thing, that will be our little secret." (when asked to aim his description of the upcoming Celldweller CD specifically at a visiting extraterrestrial)
"It's a show. We're not about being a standard rock band at all. We're much more influenced by theater and electronic culture and things like that."
"Well, unfortunately for me, that (Switchback) video was supposed to be something quite different from what it ended up becoming. I had scripted out a whole thing, and because of a series of events, it just did not turn out the way that I wanted to.... as far as I’m concerned, it just sucks.... The video in and of itself, as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t make any sense, so there you go."
"When I think of Trent Reznor, I think definitely rock and electronica. When I hear Celldweller, it's a fusion of everything, like rock, synthesizer, but it has some sort of original stuff to it as well. So it's a whole other world.... I think he has more of a rounded sound." A host of "The Real Radio Show" Dec 2006
"Anytime I would see things growing up that I thought were 'cool', there was some tie-in to Japan. Godzilla was my childhood mentor, for instance. I could relate to him and if I could just BE him for one day, I could incinerate every kid who kicked my ass in school on a daily basis."
"I read my Facebook and Twitter comments – I lurk. I see the supportive comments and the jealously hateful ones too. When all is said and done, it doesn’t matter. For those faithful who know me, you already know I make my music for only 3 people in the whole world: me, myself and I. So those that complain about “dubstep” or “metal” or “drum and bass” or “whogivesashit” - I don’t care. Never have. I love what I do and do what I love and am REALLY thankful that so many of you get it and are hanging out with me during this musical expedition. Haters gonna hate and they’ll come and go – so what. The world is a BIG place and there is plenty of other music for haters to love. Bye!!"
"Circle of Dust to me is dead. It has been dead. The only reason I ever did 'Goodbye' (as Celldweller) was because I never really officially released that (Circle of Dust version of the song) anywhere. I released it on some small compilation that I think might’ve sold a hundred copies if I remember correctly, and that’s ridiculous. So I’ve always liked that song enough that I felt like I wanted to do it. Really, I’m calling it a Celldweller track. I’m not even really nodding my head towards Circle of Dust at all."
"I would rather starve and create what I want than be told from someone who doesn’t understand me or my art that something isn’t up to their specs. Besides, it gives me a chance to prove them wrong. I always root for the underdog."
"I am not a patient guy and I don’t like to ask for help, so if nobody is around to do what needs to be done, then I’m going to figure out how to do it. For instance, I edited the 'Switchback' video myself because I couldn’t find anyone I trusted or who had the ability to do it. So I learned Final Cut Pro and (edited) the damned thing myself."
"I still have hopes that every copy (of the 1992 Circle of Dust eponymous album) that still exists will somehow dematerialize permanently."
"I don't particularly care if people call me a sellout or not and I'm not trying to acquire or avoid the tag. I am here doing what I do for me and that is my only focus. My attitude has never changed. If you don't like it, don't buy my music, go see my shows and wear my t-shirts. I am not going to cry over it. I just don't see where someone ever gets off telling an artist they are 'selling out' because they are starting to make money or gain notoriety."
"...at 12 or 13, mom was gracious enough to get me a drum kit. And I set it up completely wrong. I don't even know how I played it."
"...producers aren't something very high on my list of people to work with. The only one I've ever had a desire to work with was Flood. After Depeche Mode's 'Violator' I was sold."
"...although guitars are a big part of my sound, I've never really been interested in a guitar. I use it as a tool but I'm much more interested in electronics and synths and synthetics."