On Thursday’s Loudwire Nights (May 23), Mike’s Dead joined Chuck Armstrong to dive deep into the wild new music video for his equally wild song, “Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me).”
“I put a bunch of different references in when we came up with this one,” Mike’s Dead explained to Chuck. “I helped write the treatments, I helped come up with the concept…I’m incredibly neurotic and have a lot of ideas.”
Some of the references fans may notice in the video include a nod to Mad Max: Fury Road and GHOSTEMANE as well as the influence of a couple of Rammstein music videos.
“We kept slowly getting weirder and weirder…we kind of just did our own thing and really experimented.”
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How Mike’s Dead Got Into Heavy Metal
As Mike’s Dead talked about Rammstein, he admitted to Chuck that he wasn’t always a fan of heavy metal and industrial rock. In fact, it was after he learned how to play guitar that he and his friends started hearing a similarity between the music he was making and the music of these heavier, darker genres.
“The music that I was making was very simplistic, but if you go back and listen to a lot of the early industrial guys like [Marilyn] Manson or Rammstein or [Nine Inch] Nails, a lot of that was simplistic,” Mike’s Dead explained.
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“A lot of Rammstein’s riffs are super easy to play and super easy to learn. A buddy of mine was like, ‘This kind of sounds like early Manson, this kind of sounds like early Rammstein.'”
He said he started familiarizing himself with the genre and quickly became a major fan as he realized just how similar his tastes were to metal and industrial rock.
“I’ve always written darker, stranger, creepier music.”
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What Else Did Mike’s Dead Discuss on Loudwire Nights?
- Why he thinks “Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me)” is the best song he’s release so far in his career
- What’s on the horizon for Mike’s Dead and what fans can expect from the next EP
- Why he isn’t afraid to get deep and emotional in his music
Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below
Mike’s Dead joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, May 23; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.
