Guy Kozowyk of the Red Chord Interview — ”Creep Show’

If ever a band's album sounded like its title it's the Red Chord's new disc 'Fed Through the Teeth Machine,' a carnage-spewing showcase of rapid-fire rhythm shifts, acrobatic guitar runs, seasick tremelo bends and regurgitated vocals.

But the 'Teeth Machine' isn't a diabolical instrument of death like the machine in Stephen King's 'The Mangler,' it's an actual machine used by clothing factories to create zippers. Once again with the Red Chord, all isn't what it seems. Unlike some of its extreme metal peers, the band thrives on defying expectations, approaching each new release as a canvas to desecrate convention with as much antipathy, irreverence and spite as possible.

So it was with great glee that we invited Red Chord frontman Guy Kozowyk to join us on this week's ''Creep Show.' We expected no formalities to be observed or punches to be pulled, and we weren't disappointed. When panelist Katherine Turman was introduced as the producer of Alice Cooper's radio show 'Nights With Alice Cooper,' Kozowyk, blurted, "I didn't realize that Alice Cooper was alive until you just told me."

Later in the show, he expressed relative disinterest in metal progenitors Blue Cheer, and happily spat bile at the hordes of MySpace bands that followed in the Red Chord's wake. He also obliviously asked questions to his bandmates sitting next to him while tape was rolling. We wouldn't be surprised if he farted while he was talking.

Aside from Kozowyk and Turman, this week's ''Creep Show' panelists were Revolver senior writer and Noisecreep scribe Jon Wiederhorn, Noisecreep head writer Amy Sciarretto and Noisecreep news expert Chris Harris. In the news segment of the show, we talked about the recent deaths of Blue Cheer bassist and vocalist Dickie Peterson, Anal Blast frontman and club promoter Don Decker and Los Angeles club owner and writer Brendan Mullen. We also discussed why Winds of Plague keyboardist Kristen Randall left the band and, more significantly, the New York debut of Them Crooked Vultures, the supergroup featuring Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and frontman Josh Homme.

In our album section, we marveled over the deluxe editions of Belphegor's 'Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn' and Rammstein's 'Liebe ist fur alle da,' which come with a hand grenade and a rack of dildos, respectively. In addition to debating the quality of the music within both packages, we critiqued the outstanding new Converge record, 'Axe to Fall,' the consistent, desert metal assault of Fu Manchu's 'Signs of Infinite Power' and the transcendent, thundering majesty of supergroup Shrinebuilder's self-titled debut.

Then it was Kozowyk's turn to plug the 'Teeth Machine,' an album that stemmed from the turmoil and breakdown of a world in transition. And once Guy started talking, he quickly got on a roll.

"There really isn't much to be happy about these days," he said of the dispirited mood that accompanied the album's creation. "You feel like you've been chewed up and spit out. And then you look at what's succeeding [and you discover that] there's nothing truly rewarding about doing something different because people want to hear the same old trash."

Fortunately, Kozowyk did more than gripe and groan. He discussed the diverse range of music that influenced the Red Chord -- artists including Aphex Twin and the Cardigans – and the importance of seeking inspiration outside of the metal domain. Plus, hearing Kozowyk's impression of the Cardigan's 'Lovefool' was worth all those endless hours we prepared for the show. Take a listen and you'll hear what we mean.