By Andrew Bansal
The Los Angeles hard rock/heavy metal community has all kinds of characters, but only a few have the midas touch. Producer Tom Chandler is one such person, as is evident from the results he has achieved with every band he has worked with, be it Legal Tender, Diamond Lane or Desecrate. Having developed a genuine admiration for these three great local bands, it was only a matter of time before I reached the man behind the console. Last Friday, I sat down with Tom Chandler over some delicious food at Thai Patio in Hollywood and had a detailed and candid conversation with him about production, the LA scene and more. Enjoy it below, and come check out Diamond Lane and Desecrate at their next local gig at the Troubadour on March 21st, and Legal Tender at Loaded Hollywood on March 28th.
Tom, it’s good to have you on Metal Assault. Through my years in the local scene here in LA, I’ve been introduced to some great bands like Legal Tender, Diamond Lane and Desecrate, and they’ve constantly mentioned your name as somebody who’s worked with them as a producer. Tell me about your production stint here. How long have you been doing it, and how has it been for you so far?
Well, I started out just making records for myself, probably around 2007-08. The first record I ever put together out here was for a band called Cast Of Kings. It was basically me and a singer I’d met who was graduating from Musicians Institute. We put a record together that was very popular locally, it almost got too popular too fast. The two of us basically made the entire thing, and that’s how I came into production. I was a DJ at the time and had different jobs, but just decided that I was going to write and play my own music, and this guy had a dope voice, and we should hook up. We made this whole record, it went great, went gangbusters for a couple of years. It was actually too good because the entire band ended up getting poached away from me. They are on Sony tours and things like that now. But I just followed suit with production, making records at my house and inviting over bands that I wanted to work with. Slowly we built up a good network of people, to where now I’m happy to say that it’s my full-time job, finally. But I did it for a number of years, my first two records were for Cast Of Kings and The Shrill, and those records really did well. There were lots of people at the shows, lots of interest from industry and management. So, immediately it did really well and since then I’ve kind of graduated into the local scene. We do a lot of metal these days, a lot of rock too. So, that’s where I’m at right now, still plugging away and trying to a friend of the bands, trying to help and direct them.
Honestly, I’m a fan of all the bands you’ve worked with. How do you go about picking them? You have a pretty flawless roster right now.
Really, when I first sit down with a band, I listen to the potential. I’m not actually hearing what they are today, but I’m imagining what they are after nine months of working with me. I produce in a different way where I’m not so much about equipment and computer and things like that. I’m more about the song, the performance, and if it’s the right thing for the band. I find that a lot of producers are like, “Let’s just get one song done that makes a lot of money.” I’m the exact opposite of that. I’m like, let’s make a whole album or a whole EP, let’s make a theme. For me it’s more about the direction. I always tell everybody, Metallica and AC/DC play one song each but they are great songs. People dig that vibe, that thing, and I try to get my bands closer to that thing where it’s more along the lines of, this is how Legal Tender sounds, this is how Diamond Lane sounds. We go for that thing the entire time, and for each record we do something a little different, change it up and try to make the band as cool as they can be in whatever kind of direction we’re trying to go for. I just dig that whole process. To me it’s more of a songwriting and ideas process than a real technical thing with music, computers and grids. I like the creative process much more, and for me that’s the enjoyable part.
So, do bands hit you up a lot or do you seek out bands that you really like?
I’m lucky enough that everybody I work with now is a friend or someone directly related to one of my friends because I have hundreds of friends around town. Everyone I know is a super-professional, super-great musician, so I’m blessed in that way that I usually deal with people who I’ve known for a million years and have been friends with for a long time, or their friends, direct references and people that we hang out with. We always have a good time, we all like a lot of the same music, we all like drinking and hanging out with other bands. It’s a cool vibe that I live in, which I’m really proud of, at times. The best part of my life is the fun I get to have with my buddies all the time, because that’s what it literally is. They book time with me for two or three months, and we party at my house until the record is done (laughs). It’s a lot of work but we still have a good time. There’s always horror movies playing in the living room while the drummer is taking a break, and strange stuff going on in the backyard. So, we have s great time at my place and I really love the time I spend with bands and it keeps me up.
When you’re working with these bands, what’s your ultimate and primary focus in terms of the final sound? What are you looking to achieve?
We’re obviously not a major label over at my house or anything like that, but we sure try like hell and put in the man hours to sound as good as we possibly can. I think number one it starts with the music being good and everything being right and well-played with the right approach. That’s my first goal, and then for the sound thing we try and match it up to other CDs as well as we can, and we try and get the same kind of volume and clarity. Often times, to be honest with you, it’s very difficult because we’re not dealing with 80,000 dollars worth of mastering gear all the time. We’re dealing with my computer and whatever other stuff I have in the house. It’s come a long way, sure, but I feel that what I really offer is that I care so much more than anyone else would for the amount that the guys pay in every month, that everybody gets nine times as much work as they should when they work with me. I overdo eveything. I’m just the king of excess and do-it-again, and I have time for it. To me the ultimate goal is, when you put on the CD, you go, “Dude, this fucking kicks ass”, and you’re taken to a different place. Like, with Legal Tender, Frankie, Jonah and I were kind of scheming the music and my aim was to make it sound like Metallica back in the day, in terms of feeling that excitement about the music. That’s what I try to do with everything. With Diamond Lane, we try to get that feeling of when you first heard Dio and Pantera and how hyped up you got. The goal is to incorporate the feeling of older music into a newer sound and compete with some of that stuff. None of my records are ever going to sound like Fall Out Boy or Fallujah or anything like that. I just don’t take it that far. I like it to be a little more organic, a little more about the people.
From what I know, you’re one to take control. As you said, you are the king of do-it-again, and I’ve heard from bands that you’ve made them delete and redo everything if some of it isn’t the way it should be. Are bands usually willing to work with you when you do things in that manner?
Yeah, usually when I work with any band, we sit down and talk for a long time, so they are very comfortable with me and they really know my harsh opinions and my criticisms of other people’s work before we sit down to work. I feel like everyone trusts me to make those kinds of decisions, and it’s very collabrative. Like for instance, if Brandon [Diamond Lane], Nick [Desecrate] or Jonah sing something that’s amazing, rightaway I go, “Yeah dude, sounds great!” and we just move on. We don’t spend any time on it. But if it’s something that’s tricky, or if we both feel that the tone of voice was a little off, or that I couldn’t hear the ‘R’ in a word, we’ll go back and do that 5000 times until we both feel that it’s the best it can possibly be. And then in some of the music, it’s not just one vocal take. We’re tripling, quadrupling and getting as thick of a sound as we can. Honestly, for anybody who hasn’t done it, it’s a ton of work (laughs). But it’s worth it at the end of the day, when people put on the record. I like that everyone who knows me, knows me from the records and from the sound. So, when Nick comes and talks to me about Desecrate, he’s already heard Legal Tender and Diamond Lane, so it’s easier to get on the same page about it.
Awesome. But in LA there’s so much going on in the local scene, so many shows. That also must give you a chance to check out new bands you’re not familiar with, to expand your own knowledge base.
For a guy who sits in front of a computer 12 hours a day, I’m actually out a lot, which is surprising to people. I do try to see a lot of bands but most of the time it’s word-of-mouth. Like, if you were to call me or Jason [Mezilis, Black Belt Karate/Owl] or somebody like that were to call me and go, “Hey, there’s these guys you’ve got to check out”, I’d run right over and check them out. I’m also not only just rock and metal music. I deal with a lot of pop music, funk and things like that. I’m a fan of all music. The only kind of music I don’t like is opera, and that’s because the pitch is too sharp and scribbly all the time. Everything else, even if it’s just instrumental, I love it. For me, if it’s metal, it has to be the heaviest. If it’s country, it should be the twangiest. I’m the guy who really likes the extremes of music. So any show that anyone recommends to me, I’m down. I spend equal amounts of time at the Whisky, Loaded, Satellite or Complex. I go to every venue like that and I’ve probably been to every club in town. So, like I said, for a guy in front of the computer 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, I do pretty good with getting to shows (laughs). I feel like I’ve seen some of the best music in town ever. I’ve seen the best music of my life at the Baked Potato.
In general, how long have you been involved in the LA scene, as a resident and in music, and what do you feel about it, overall?
Well, when I first moved here, it was in 2001 and I was just a dude in a rock/metal band. This place was complete desolation back then. Every band I went to see sounded like a crappy version of Linkin Park or POD or something, and it was literally the worst ripoff, terrible music. I remember seeing nu-metal bands with DJs at Zen Sushi in Silver Lake. The worst of the worst is what I saw. Slowly, that thing started to change. The Sunset Strip came back with a vengeance, and right around 2009 we started having a lot of action out there, and it was a pretty good scene. It’s a little bit more scattered now and the music scene has moved, kind of into East Hollywood, Silver Lake, North Hollywood and stuff like that where metal and rock still thrives. It’s a little less on the Strip than it was a couple of years ago, but I see it as a really strong scene. There’s people like yourself that make it what it is, that when you go out, it’s family. It’s your old buddies, they were drinking with you two weeks ago at this other show, and now we’re out to see our buddy in another band today. To me, that’s the cool thing. That network has continually grown for me, and I think we know people all over town in different styles of music. The best part about living here in LA is, the music here is dynamite. Not all of them are huge, but there’s a scene for every type of music.
You mentioned nu-metal there briefly. I think nu-metal still exists, where a lot of the older nu-metal bands are still popular, for whatever reason, and newer bands still try to emulate that sound. I really think nu-metal should die. Why do think it still exists and what do you feel about it?
People always have to remember that not everybody who listens to heavy metal are people that are into music. Sometimes it’s just a bunch of guys out in the desert on dirt bikes. It’s okay if that’s what they enjoy, and I’m not going to sit down now in fucking 2015 and listen to Korn for an entire day, but in 1999 when it was a new thing and people dug it, it was kind of groundbreaking at the time. I think that doesn’t wear off for a long time, just like how some people are still not over the majesty that was early Van Halen or whatever. There’s always a feeling of, “That was my youth and I want to hang on to that.” So, nu-metal is kind of in its last stages with those dudes now in their thirties.
Right, but even Coal Chamber sold out the House Of Blues last week, and I was like, really? Okay!
Yeah (laughs). When I have DevilDriver, I don’t even need to hear Coal Chamber ever again. It’s surprising, but it’s history. I’m the first one, believe it or not, to let old music go. The only thing I’m not able to let go is early thrash from the late 80s, because early thrash for me was really vital music that didn’t give a shit about what anybody thought and wasn’t based on selling records or being melodic. It was honestly a lot like jazz (laughs). So, that’s where my mind is and I’ll never give that up, but there’s dudes that just want to ride their bike in the desert and listen to Disturbed all day, and that’s okay! I’m not judging them, it’s certainly a style, but I’ve moved on past Disturbed, Godsmack, Korn, POD and all that kind of garbage. I’ve been over Linkin Park for at least ten years at this point. It’s not such a new thing anymore, but I’m down for everybody to have their own thing. I tell everybody that they need to go to the nu-metal parking lots, see what those fans look like and what beer they’re drinking (laughs).
I just have one more question for you. You constantly talk about the LA scene and I know you write about it in your blog too, but in brief, what are some of the things that annoy you the most about the LA scene?
The thing that drives me the most crazy, is people in bands having lack of interest in other bands. I’m super into all bands and all music of any small gradient of quality (laughs), I really enjoy any type of band and I’m happy to see people out there doing it, but it’s just bad when a lot of people that are in headlining bands in LA think that they are above showing up for a show, listening to each band and giving them their due. Rather than saying this isn’t your thing, try to find out what’s cool about it. Like for instance, I know that you may be don’t particularly like a band like Counting Crows. It’s probably not your favorite thing. But what’s good about that band is the way the lyrics are said, the delivery, and the insanity of the singer. Rage Against The Machine are tapped into the politics, the anger and the message, and even if rap isn’t your favorite thing, you can still see that there’s something good about it. I feel that all bands have that thing, and that’s why I watch and spend time with hundreds of bands. If you sit me down with anybody for long enough, I start getting into it and becoming a fan, and I think that’s part of what’s missing. There’s still a little bit of that 80s mentality that goes on, and I just want everybody to be closer and friendlier. Sure, there’s going to be bands that are way more badass than others, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t need everybody else in the scene. If you watch old videos of Seattle, there’s some bands that are kind of bad, like Mudhoney live. It’s not exactly great compared to Soundgarden, but Soundgarden would never say Mudhoney wasn’t great. They would never cut them down in any way or not show up for a show. They were all buddies and everybody was in that whole thing together. That’s what I miss here, and at times the timing, the pretentiousness, the clubs, the money, all that studf starts to get involved. How many girls like this band versus how many guys like this band, all that kind of shit. To me that’s not important. What’s important is good music. Being a fan of music and being everybody’s people is more important than people’s egos.
Check out Tom Chandler’s blog here.