Video footage of ONCE HUMAN, the new band featuring former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader, performing on October 31 at Adrenaline Sports Bar And Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen below.
ONCE HUMAN’s debut album, “The Life I Remember”, was released on September 4 via earMUSIC. The cover artwork for the CD was created by Seth Siro Anton.
When people think of Logan Mader, they remember the flying dreads, a flying V, and deadly volume, performing with the likes of MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 12 years since Mader set foot onstage. Now an in-demand music producer/mixer who has worked with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GOJIRA and PERIPHERY, he had written off the performing part of his life and settled behind the scenes.
Former Roadrunner A&R chief and current Nuclear Blast Entertainment head Monte Conner sent newcomer and multi-instrumentalist Lauren Hart to Logan Mader for a production deal. A creative spark between the two forged the nexus of ONCE HUMAN, as Hart moved from guitars to vocals, unsheathing a throat-scarring level of vocal brutality that completely contradicts her soft appearance. Unexpectedly, the result brought Mader back to creative life as both artist and performer.
“This music that we’ve been writing is undeniable to me,” Mader told RockRevoltMagazine.com. “It got me real excited. It has this crazy intuition and excitement that I haven’t felt for many years, [that] I haven’t felt since the beginning of MACHINE HEAD. I felt something. This is something special and I need to do this. It was like an inner voice telling me that this is my shit. It’s the combination of our musical chemistry, it is ONCE HUMAN. [Lauren] and I write all the music together and all the lyrics. She came to me with this really brutal metal. She comes from a more black metal/European style. My inner guitar player, my real passion (as a player) is that kind of music. So, combining that with where she comes from, is what ended up shaping the ONCE HUMAN sound. Incidentally, it is really brutal and heavy, and dark, often beautiful at times. It allowed me to do the kind of guitar riffs that are really mean and have a lot of attitude, and are really expressive in a rough guitar riffs sense.”
Asked about the similarities between his and Hart’s musical visions, Mader said: “It’s kind of like what I was just talking about. My natural inclinations plus the music she is passionate about; the music that she loves. The thing that I found intriguing and magnetic about that is that she did not come to L.A. to become famous and make whatever kind of music it would take to get famous. She didn’t care about that at all. She wanted to do the music that she was passionate about. Incidentally, the kind of music that we are doing is the least profitable genre of music. [Laughs] People don’t do it to get rich and famous. They do it because they love it. That was refreshing to me. For me, that was important as well, because I fucking love music. The reason I started playing music in the beginning was not because I have an agenda to become famous and make money. It was because I had a passion for it; a real passion. It’s something that you can’t deny within yourself.”
In a recent interview with Sonic Cathedral, Lauren shared the story of her engagement to Logan. She said: “We knew from the first couple of months that this was it. I have never felt so connected to anyone. Okay, I know this is going to sound strange, but have you heard about people who say there is electricity … like a spark? Well, I didn’t think that was real. I thought anyone who ever said that was mental as shit, or maybe they watched too many chick flicks. I was working with Logan, and we never really shook hands or anything. A couple of sessions in, I was done with the session and we were going to say goodbye, and we went in for a hug. It was the first time we actually made contact, and it was literally like lightning struck. We both jumped back after the hug, and we couldn’t look each other in the eye. I just walked out like, ‘Okay, goodbye!’ And he was like, ‘Okay, goodbye!’ We didn’t talk about it until a little while later when I asked Logan: ‘Did you feel that?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, I felt that.’ It was literally a spark. Ever since that lightning moment, we just knew: ‘This is it; this is the person I’m going to be with for the rest of my life.'”
She continued: “We went to the Wynn in Las Vegas. He took me to the Wynn hotel, which I’d never been to. I love the Wynn! They treat you like a princess, and there’s good food. I don’t gamble, but Logan likes to play a bit of poker. He is good at it, and I like to watch him play poker … well, I like spending time with him no matter what. The second or third time we went to Vegas, he took me out to a really nice dinner and then to the Bellagio. Do you know the water show? He proposed to me there. ‘You can be engaged to me now.’ [Laughs] He kind of just demanded it, and he gave me this beautiful ring. That was it. All my dreams have come true because of him. I did not believe in soulmates until I met Logan … I know we were pre-destined to be together.”
ONCE HUMAN’s current lineup is rounded out by Skyler Howren on guitar, Damian Rainauld on bass and Dillon Trollope on drums.
Source: Blabbermouth
