The Fleshpeddlers interview with 100% Unnatural:

The following is a 2001 interview with The Fleshpeddlers taken from 100% Unnatural.

HIGH TECHNOLOGY, LOW FIDELITY
Minnesota's Fleshpeddlers Bring Da Noize to Poptronica

"Personally, I like trashy-sounding records," says Todd Millenacker, front man and mastermind for the Minneapolis-based rocktronica trio the Fleshpeddlers. "I like it when a song sounds a little raw."

If that's truly the case, then Millenacker must be quite proud of the Fleshpeddlers' latest LP, Falling Into A Dream. Featuring twelve tracks of digitally mangled synth-rock, Falling Into A Dream is dirtier than last week's dishes, distorted enough to choke a Sepultura fan, and as raw as a freshly-picked scab.

"But what is a 'professional' sounding album, anyway?" asks bassist Kris Verplank. "We just want to make an album that people will enjoy. Who cares if it doesn't sound like something a major label put out? I think the only difference is the preference of the group."

Coming from any other band, Kris' "we meant to do that" rationale might seem an excuse. But, in the case of the Fleshpeddlers, there can be no doubting that they intended to make a raunchy recording from the get-go. For evidence, look no further than track 4 on Falling Into A Dream, "The Crusher", which builds from a fairly standard rock groove into a wall of deliciously garbled vocal samples and white noise that puts Trent Reznor's recent work to shame. Meanwhile, a strong pop heart beats at the center of every song, with memorable melodies clearly audible through the maelstrom. These things don't happen by accident.

Keyboardist Scott Woodford, agrees with his bandmates that rough edges can be a good thing - up to a point: "Obviously, our intention for Falling Into A Dream was to not over produce it. It seems to give the music a little more energy that way. But ideally, when Mr. Record Man comes calling, I wouldn't mind spending months in the studio polishing up our sound a bit."

Even so, there's hardly any need for the Fleshpeddlers to apologize for their messy mixes. From the first time Ike Turner or Dave Davies (depending who you ask) slashed their amp's speaker to create a distorted guitar tone, to John Cale's ear-splitting violin work for the Velvet Underground in the 60s, to Sonic Youth and Nine Inch Nails' million-selling distortion orgies of the 90s, the use of noise in pop has a long, proud tradition. And it's only fitting that, in the age of poptronica, the torch of trash would pass into the hands of the Fleshpeddlers.

Todd and Scott have been raising a ruckus together since 1995, when they formed the Fleshpeddlers in high school with classmate Ryan Deshler. Though Deshler was soon forced to quit on account of his being perpetually grounded, the embryonic band managed to release two albums on cassette: 1995's New Teen Idol and 1996's If My Dick Were Half as Big As My Ego. While they weren't as adventurous as the band's later releases, those tapes laid out the basic blueprint for the Fleshpeddlers unique mix of pop-rock and electronica.

For promotion, the Fleshpeddlers sent one - yes, one - copy of If My Dick... out for review. Amazingly, that lone cassette became the subject of a positive write-up in the seminal underground electronic music magazine Industrial Nation. Thus emboldened, the Fleshpeddlers decided never to give up until they had attained international stardom.

Following another cassette and a year or two in collegiate limbo, the Fleshpeddlers recorded their first CD, Disposable Pop Songs, with new addition Kris Verplank. It was on this album that the band's synth-noise-pop identity finally came into focus. Now, with the release of Falling Into A Dream, the Fleshpeddlers have gone even further off on their own tangent.

"I'll admit I wanted to be Trent Reznor in ninth grade, but I'm 22 now, and I don't want to be anyone but Todd Millenacker, and I don't want my band to sound like any band besides the Fleshpeddlers," says Millenacker. "On those first few albums, I was afraid of doing anything daring. But now, I realize that we have to take some risks. The nice thing about electronic music, when it comes to experimenting, is that you can play something spontaneously, then mess around with it as much as you like and never affect the feel of what was originally recorded."

Preserving the feel of what was originally recorded hasn't proven quite as easy for the Fleshpeddlers onstage. "We freely admit to using pre-recorded backing tracks when we perform live," explains Todd. "The backing tracks contain keyboard parts, samples, drum loops and other odd things that are unplayable in real time. And even then, it never actually comes across exactly how we want it to. That's why we just say screw it and turn our live shows into an electronic-punk-cyborg-metal thing. All that matters is the energy, and trying to get that across to the audience."

When it comes to getting energy across to the audience, Todd believes there's a difference in doing it correctly and doing it right: "With my own voice, I've realized that an emotional vocal performance is more important than a technically perfect one. I believe that every artist has to reach a point where they develop enough confidence to just be themselves and let their personality come through in the music, and not worry about what other people might think."

That stick-to-their-guns conviction has proven essential for the Fleshpeddlers in the face of mass indifference to their work. "The local music community doesn't have much use for us, because we don't fit the mold of what a band, even an 'alternative' band, is supposed to sound like," says Millenacker.

Although the Fleshpeddlers remain outsiders in the Minneapolis music scene (which is itself on the farthest fringes of the American music scene), the group remains optimistic about their chances for big-time, Radiohead-style success, given the positive feedback they've received from the handful of people who do appreciate their music.

"We think that our music has the potential to be big if delivered into the right hands," says Verplank. "The nice thing about our music is yeah, it's weird and electronic, but beneath the layers of sounds there's a catchy tune and I think a lot of people could get into it."

Todd urges anyone turned off by the Fleshpeddlers' warped surface to look past the noise, and listen to the songs beneath: "Don't let the weird sounds fool you," he says. "We are a pop band. We're just good at hiding it."