The noise/industrial rock band, HEALTH are known for their heavy and ominous music. And with their career spanning almost twenty years across a handful of studio records, remix albums, and collaborations, HEALTH have only gotten better and continue to prove why they are one of the most exciting bands of any genre in music today. With the latest album, Rat Wars, which was crowned #1 on mxdwn’s Best Albums of 2023 list, HEALTH find themselves at the height of their career, creating a record that both celebrates the fans that got them to this point while fully embracing their unabashedly distinct sound.
Originating in Los Angeles, Jake Duzsik (vocals/guitar), John Famiglietti (bass/electronics), and Benjamin Jared Miller (drums) came onto the scene creating their own lane of electronic-blended hardcore music. Incorporating heavy synths, processed vocals, and manipulated drums, HEALTH captured a style yet to be created, and continue to turn heads in all corners of the industry. Contrasting the serious tone of the music, the band tends to be lighthearted in digital spaces posting memes on social media and interacting with their fans in a playful manner. This interaction has helped gain the band a dedicated fanbase who love to joke around with the members on the HEALTH Discord channel as well as show out when it comes to their live shows.
As if having a new record out wasn’t enough, mxdwn had the chance to talk with John Famiglietti in between recording sessions for even more new music. We discussed the process of recording Rat Wars, the way in which HEALTH choose who to collaborate with, and the role the Internet has on their music.
Photo Credit: Vivianne Navarrete
mxdwn: First off, how are you and where are you currently in the world?
John: I’m great. I’m in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. We are in the studio working on new music. We want to be prepared. We want music down the pipeline.
mxdwn: We’re very excited for whatever is coming out next. And the new album, Rat Wars, is very dark and atmospheric. The low-ends are very rumbling. How has producing this album changed since when you first started making music? And what kind of technology and gear have you upgraded to for this record?
John: When we first started, we didn’t know what the fuck we were doing. So, that’s a big difference. But I think this record came from a place of more confidence and strength. Whereas a lot of previous records, except the first, were like, “Is this the last HEALTH record? Are we done?” So, it’s a good feeling. We always use the latest, every tool we can get our hands on, we want to use. We’re all trying to find new sounds or new plugins, or new gimmicks. Every album we add a gimmick, and this album, it’s the first album where we’re like, “Fuck it. Just give the people what they want.” We resisted that forever, we’re alright, fuck it. Metal guitar? People want ‘em. People want black shirts? Give ‘em to them. I don’t know, we just lightened up. Whatever you guys want.
mxdwn: So is it more of an album for the fans rather than an album for you guys?
John: Oh, no, we do whatever we want. We do what we want to do, musically. But yes, is it an album for fans? Yes, it definitely is. I mean, who the fuck else would it be for? That’s also a thing too. Previously, early eras, we barely had a genre or we were in these scenes where it didn’t make sense. These questions like, “Who the fuck is this for?” This album, we made it for our fans and that’s very exciting to make it for someone. We had a weird journey, so we’re pumped about that.
mxdwn: What does the initial writing process look like, especially working on all these albums back to back? How do you differentiate what goes where and what song goes on which album?
John: We don’t have a set thing. Obviously, the collabs are kind of their own. We just have to go with the flow because we’re working with another artist. With this, I had demos, Jake had demos. A lot of stuff we do with the producer, AJ, who is an amazing writer. He ends up co-writing basically every song on the record too with us. It’s really freeform and very modern. We use the computer a lot. One thing we love doing is taking months off and just coming back, revisiting or listening to a song a million times, just totally changing it later. It’s great to sit with it for a long time and have a long process.
Photo Credit: Vivianne Navarette
mxdwn: For a band that expands different genres and has been making music for so long, how do you continue to challenge yourselves making music and keep it refreshing for you and your fans?
John: Challenge? I mean, we’re not that good at it. (Laughs.) I think for us, we’re always inspired by new music. You have to keep listening to music, you have to keep getting inspired, you have to find inspiration and don’t get bored. Enjoy it. I think a lot of people shut off after a certain time. I don’t know. Clearly, we don’t have the answers. But we enjoy it and we’re into it. I still get off on music.
mxdwn: So as long as you’re exciting yourself and enjoying the process, I feel like that’s the best way to go about it.
John: Yeah, sure. Making music is work. The fun part is tour. We like performing. But you have to do your chores first. You have to make the music or you can’t go on tour.
mxdwn: One thing I’m always interested in is hearing how bands choose which singles to put out before the album. How did you decide on putting out “ASHAMED” for one of the singles especially since it’s been well-received by a lot of people?
John: We give the album to people and everyone like, nine out of ten people were like, “ASHAMED.” And so we’re like, “Clearly that’s the fucking single.” But we didn’t want it to be the first single because it’s kinda poppy and it’s not indicative of the record. The record is all over the place. So, it wasn’t our idea.
But the label was like, “CHILDREN OF SORROW” first, and we’re like, “Really? Alright, fine.” That was a last minute addition to the album because there’s been a lot of songs that we played and we were like, “Can we come out with this thrash riff, guns blazing? Fuck it.” People responded well to that too, but “ASHAMED” was definitely the single.
mxdwn: So you definitely take a lot of criticism from what people say about the record and take that into consideration?
John: No, it’s just if ten people tell you the same thing, they’re probably right. If everyone has the same reaction, or most people do, then it’s probably true.
mxdwn: I guess everyone’s process is different, so I respect that.
John: Music is very subjective, but if pretty much everyone we play it for is like, “That’s the one.” Then alright, it is.
mxdwn: From Soccer Mommy to JPEGMAFIA, and Lamb of God, you’re a band who has collaborated with many different artists. Is the process of choosing who to collaborate with figuring out the artists who fit into your sound, or is it more challenging yourselves as a band and molding your music around them? And who would you say is the most exciting artist you’ve worked with so far?
John: For us, we have to like them first, and two, it’s kind of a math problem. So, if we can’t imagine how it’s going to work, then we got a problem. So, all of them, there’s a game plan, “Okay, it’s kinda going to work like this or it would work like this.” There’s sort of a production math problem putting these bands together. You know, are you going to be Nine Inch Nails? No, you’re not gonna. (Laughs.)
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
mxdwn: Collaborating with different artists, I’m sure you also listen to a lot of different artists. Is there anyone that you’ve been listening to that’s been on your radar that you’d love to collaborate with?
John: Tons. I mean, it doesn’t matter who they are, big or small. I think we say the same thing every interview, but we’d like to collaborate with Knocked Loose. There’s all this music out of Brazil that’s really bizarre, that is super avant-garde, and if I could get a hold of one of those fools, we’d love to do it with one of them. I don’t speak Portuguese, I’m going to ask someone to help me. But we’re just open to anything. There’s tons of exciting music out right now, and we’d love to collaborate with tons of people.
mxdwn: So you don’t try to close yourselves off to any genre or any type of artist?
John: As long as it would work. We don’t do anything shitty. We want it to work. Like it wouldn’t work with everyone. There’s a lot of people we like where it wouldn’t work. It’s like a math problem, a production math problem. Especially when fitting another whole band. We’re talking to this band, Frozen Soul, who is a death-metal band. They play in fucking drop-A or some bullshit. I’m like, “A? That’s low. My sub-bass would be all fucked up.” There’s a bit of a problem. We still have to figure that out.
mxdwn: Well it’s always exciting to see you collab with artists you wouldn’t initially consider something working into the HEALTH universe.
John: Yeah, we’re surprised too. We’re just surprised people say yes. We’re very flattered. Because all these people are like, “Ah, they’d think we’re fucking lame. They’re cool.” But then they want to work with you, and we’re like, “Oh shit! Really?” We’re just as surprised as you are.
mxdwn: You seem like a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously.
John: The music is dead serious. We take our music seriously. Do we take ourselves seriously? Absolutely fucking not.
mxdwn: Looking at the unconventional merch, the memes on social media, how does contrasting your art sonically with your more rambunctious personality help reel people into the core music?
John: I don’t know. But it’s the Internet, and I don’t know what the fuck we’re supposed to do. We get the message out, it’s hard to do. Our music is very serious, and there’s nothing we love more than to be like 1990 whatever, and there’s a dark music video, and “Ooh, they’re so mysterious.” But it’s not really possible right now, and very few people, actually next to like two, like Death Grips maybe. I don’t know anyone who can balance being mysterious at all. A joke we make is even an old-school rock star wouldn’t even make sense now. If Jim Morrison had to do fucking selfie cam videos and TikTok’s and tweet, he wouldn’t be a rock star. He would be fucking lame. It wouldn’t be possible.
So, for that, let’s have fun, let’s lean into it. It’s fucking hilarious. I love memes. The shit cracks me up. We’re on the phones too, we laugh at all this shit, and it’s also a way to connect with our fans. A lot of connections we made with our fans and our fan community is the stuff we’re into. It seems like 95% of all HEALTH fans are gamers. So, we talk about video games all the time. People bring Elden Ring copies for me to sign all the time at the show. This kid was like, “This doesn’t make any fucking sense. You have nothing to do with Elden Ring.” And I’m like, “I know! But I love Elden Ring.” It’s just a thing, it’s our fans. If you’re a fan, it makes sense.
mxdwn: I feel like there’s a lot of memes in the hardcore scene and heavy music in general, so it’s cool seeing bands being receptive to that.
John: Zuckerberg will fuck you over. Like you can’t post a flyer. You got to Trojan Horse this shit with the fucking memes. I feel bad, like other bands aren’t funny and they shouldn’t be. They should just make music and I can’t take too much credit. All the memes come from our HEALTH Discord. The fans either create them or they give them to me. I’m like a meme DJ. I don’t find any of these things. Our fans have great taste. Our fans are awesome. I got these raw-ass, hilarious, weird-ass memes, and they’re from the fans. It’s like a feedback loop. Because if you’re a fan of us, then you probably get the meme.
mxdwn: Has there ever been a meme that you saw that went a little too far?
John: I did and I got fucking shadow-banned. Now I’m way more careful. It was Among Us. It was a perfect, 3D Among Us banging and cumming all over the other. I was fucking dying. That ruined our account, we were shadow-banned for like six months. It was terrible and thank Christ we’re not shadow-banned anymore because we’re promoting this record.
mxdwn: So you definitely have to think before you post anything?
John: Only one of those memes where it’s like “$40 nut vids,” or any meme that says “kms” or “kill yourself.” Self-harm is a big no-no. So, I get worried now. I’m way more conservative like, “Is this going to piss off the fucking tech gods?” Twitter though. Twitter is the Wild West, you can throw anything on there.
Photo Credit: Ekaterina Gorbacheva
mxdwn: How do you feel about TikTok and posting front-facing camera videos?
John: If there’s a way we can do it that makes sense. We haven’t cracked the TikTok nut. That’s the MTV of our brand now. We’re just bad at it. We’re fucking boomers, I guess, but we’re trying to figure it out. We got some dope memes, but that’s not what TikTok wants. You’ll see me on there and I’ll be doing some dance or some bullshit. Whatever the fuck’s going on. I’ll give it a try.
mxdwn: Do whatever you gotta do.
John: Yeah, gotta stay in the business.
mxdwn: What kind of role does the Internet play in influencing the way your music sounds? Do you feel like there’s a hint of all the memes in the Discord, anime, video, games that end up in the actual music?
John: There is, but overall it’s music. I’ll tell you one thing, we don’t put in any fucking jokes in the music, that’s for sure. The music has always been serious and we’re still going to be very serious. But to market the music, yeah, we might do something really stupid. I might put a butt-plug in my ass and stream Ultrakill. I did that. I’ll do anything to promote our music.
mxdwn: Is there anything that you won’t do? Anything you have red tape over?
John: Yes, we won’t do anything that feels forced or lame. You could tell. The kids are smart. They can smell anything if you’re inauthentic. We wouldn’t be able to do shit if we didn’t believe in it or get it. It would just suck. If there’s anything wrong or inauthentic, or we know it’s going to suck, we’re not going to do it. We’re going to try our best. Kids will always know.
mxdwn: Looking at your fanbase, how do you feel like it’s progressed over time? Has it gotten older, has it stayed the same?
John: No, it’s gotten younger. There’s certain milestone records where it’s like, with Volume 4, I think we got 20% bigger, but we swapped out 90% of the fans. It’s been this weird phenomenon and it’s kinda going more and more. There’s some who have been there from the beginning which is great, but a majority of them are totally different and new. But also just the reality of being a band and staying alive. Even legacy bands are still creating new fans every year or they’d be gone because you’re going to lose tons of fans. Even your favorite band of all time, you probably will only see them once in your life. It’s just the reality of it, you need to be attracting new fans to stay alive.
mxdwn: How would you say the live shows have been different since you started the band?
John: It’s definitely different because anyone from the old days who has been showing up lately is like, “What the fuck? Who are these kids? These guys are fucking weird.” And I’m like, “Nah, they’re the best.” Or we’ve gone on tours with other bands that are like, “Your fans are fucking weird.” Our fans are fucking tight. I hang out with fans on the regular on the Discord, I’m just around. Whatever psychological profile that we attract is great company. And we’re lucky in that way because I think a lot of bands, especially people who make heavy music or extreme music, they often hate their fans because their fans are horrible, malcontent, fucked-up people. Well, that’s not our fans. Our fans are fun as hell. A little weird, but other than that they’re great.
mxdwn: I love that. I know a band like Death Grips, their fans can be a little strange especially at shows from what I’ve seen. So it’s good to see a band to your degree, the fans are very respectful.
John: Yeah. The other guys in the band, because I’m… any fan can text me at all times. I put my number out there. So they’ll come up to another band and be like, “What’s up, bitch?!” They’re like, “Don’t call me a bitch.” You can call me a “bitch.” I don’t mind. Not that it’s a good idea, for God’s sake, show a little respect.
mxdwn: As a band who has mastered creating aggressive and disorienting music under a band name that is commonly associated with the well-being of a person rather than industrial music, I feel like your music is hard to discover.
John: It’s a very bad band name and it shows you how hard it is to name a band. It’s been God knows how long and we have not thought of a better name.
mxdwn: But for whatever reason, fans continue to flock to your music.
John: Yeah, even in my head, we should have had a better band name. But I still don’t know what the fuck it would be. I love that these new goth artists have amazing band names like Boy Harsher. Great band name. There’s all these great band names. Obviously, you can still do it, but we were not able to.
mxdwn: Despite having a very common band name, what do you think HEALTH brings to the world of music that might be difficult to find elsewhere?
John: I don’t know, but we do have a point of view. There’s just a lot of things we do different. I think what we do is pretty novel. It’s not like you need it. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. But I think what we do is novel and I hope you like it. If you like music, maybe you’ll like it.
mxdwn: You have a very realistic outlook on the music industry and know that it is a constant struggle at no matter what place you are in your career. What keeps you pushing to create music with HEALTH? And what other creative endeavors outside of music would you like to pursue eventually whether creating your own anime, more soundtracks?
John: We’d love to score more video games. We’re working on a HEALTH video game right now. I’d love to make a video game. There’s all kinds of stuff we’d like to do. It just takes a lot of fucking time. Our main thing is the music, our main thing is the band. We kind of knew we were lifers when we started this anyway. As long as it works, we’ll definitely do it.
mxdwn: I feel like in a band like HEALTH, there’s something about it that always brings you back to it because it’s so unique and it’s so special.
John: We hope so. We’d like to keep doing it. We’re very fortunate because we’ve had so many peers in all kinds of different scenes who got really, really huge and they’re not doing it anymore. So, we know how hard it is to exist in the music world. It’s hard, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. We’re very happy to still be here.
To check out upcoming tour dates, visit HEALTH’s website, and make sure to listen to the new album, Rat Wars, available on all streaming services.
Featured Image Photo Credit: Vivianne Navarette
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