SWITCHED
3/17/2006
Ben Schigel Interview
by George Dionne, Rock Is Life
Ben Schigel is the frontman of Switched. Switched recently released a
collection of B-sides and demos on Corporate Punishment Records entitled Ghosts
in the Machine (read CD review). The bulk of the album focuses on material that
Switched was working on for their sophomore album via Immortal Records around
'01-'02. That album never materialized as the record company and band decided to
part ways. For the most part, Schigel and his bandmates have moved on to other
projects. Switched will reunite for a few select shows to help promote thier
latest offering, but that will be the end. Rock-Is-Life caught up with Ben
Schigel to find out what happend to Swtiched, what's going to happen, and what
life behind the producer's board is like. Be warned, Ben is a man of few words.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Switched, how would you describe the
band’s music to me?
BS: Just fucking rock and roll; hard rock, you know? Smart, good old rock and
roll.
RIL: How and when did Switched form?
BS: How long ago? Maybe like 2000 or 1999, somewhere around there.
RIL: How did you get together?
BS: Well I’ve known my brother my whole life.
RIL: Of course…
BS: My brother and I have always been jamming. The guitar player Brad, he went
to my high school. He graduated a couple of years after me. He was always
playing guitar, so we just kind of got together. Originally I was the drummer,
and we couldn’t find a singer. I ended up moving to vocals and we picked up
Chad, our old drummer. We just went from there.
RIL: Your debut album Subject to Change was released on Immortal Records/Virgin
Records in 2001. Despite selling 100,000 copies & touring relentlessly, you
ended up leaving the label. What happened?
BS: I started producing records and I just kind of moved on to doing that,
rather then the band.
RIL: Did you produce the first Switched album?
BS: No.
RIL: We’re [Immortal/Virgin] not willing to give you the opportunity to produce
the second album?
BS: We were in the middle of writing the second album, but that’s where it all
fell apart. It never really got far enough for me to record it.
RIL: Was it an amicable split from the label?
BS: Yeah, we we’re cool. They weren’t doing much anyway.
RIL: Is Immortal Records still around?
BS: I think so.
RIL: Your latest album Ghosts in the Machine is a release of B-sides and
rarities. Why did you choose to go with that material, rather than recording
something new?
BS: That was all the stuff that we wrote when we were going to put out [the
second] record. We figured that we should just release that, instead of
re-recording it. It’s too much work.
RIL: So those songs are in their original form? None of them were redone for
this recording?
BS: Nope. They’re all in their original demo form.
RIL: They sound good for being demos.
BS: I’ve had [my own] studio for a year, so they were able to come out decent
for demos.
RIL: Do you have the studio in your home?
BS: Yes.
RIL: What was it about Corporate Punishment Records that attracted you to the
label?
BS: I knew [Thom Hazaert] who runs the label. He was the one who originally got
us our record deal [with Immortal]. He liked the tunes.
RIL: Did you shop these demos around to anybody else?
BS: We did originally, and we had some interest from a couple different majors.
This was three years though.
RIL: Are all of you producing gigs for Corporate Punishment Records?
BS: No. I’ve done stuff for Wind-Up, Roadrunner, Trustkill, Century Media, and
bunch of different labels. I’ve done some stuff for Corporate Punishment as
well.
RIL: You did the Rickets album and Allele albums, correct?
BS: Yeah. I did the Allele record; we did that record in like twenty days.
RIL: Has Thomas Dolby heard Switched’s version of “She Blinded Me with Science?”
BS: I don’t know, but I think Thom said [Thomas Dolby] wanted a copy. I don’t
know if he has ever heard it. If he has, I don’t know what his thoughts are on
it. We recorded that several years ago. It would be funny to hear his opinion.
RIL: I don’t think that song has been covered before. If it has, it was probably
by some obscure band.
BS: Yeah, we did that in probably 2001, 2000. At the time it was cool.
RIL: Corporate Punishment will be re-releasing Subject to Change soon. How will
this version be different from the original?
BS: I don’t think it will be.
RIL: No bonus tracks?
BS: They might put a bonus track, I don’t know. That’s what I like about signing
with [Corporate Punishment]; I really don’t have to do anything.
RIL: Really? You just give them what you have and they put it together however
they want?
BS: Yeah. I don’t have the time for that shit.
RIL: Do you have the final say on everything?
BS: I could. They usually show me the final product.
RIL: You’ve toured with several notable bands over the years such as Sevendust,
Fear Factory, and Nonpoint. Who would you love to hook up with again, either in
the live arena or from a production aspect?
BS: We played with Tommy Lee; that was fun. It would be fun to play with him
again.
RIL: Did you get to hang with him afterwards?
BS: Yeah, he was cool…partied a little bit, but it was a good time.
RIL: Was there anyone that you toured with that was a disaster?
BS: It’s hard to say really. There were a couple of tours that we did that were
kind of going disastrous, but the bands were actually pretty cool. It wasn’t the
bands fault.
RIL: For the most part Switched is no more, right?
BS: Yeah. We’re just pretty much doing [a few shows] and going from there.
RIL: How many shows are you going to be doing?
BS: I think were doing fifteen to twenty.
RIL: Is it going to be a regional thing?
BS: Yes. We’re going to go south in the U.S. and some east coast dates.
RIL: Do you prefer doing production work over performing?
BS: Yes. When I do the production stuff I get to make the music too. I’ve
co-wrote a lot of songs with the bands that I have worked with. It’s almost like
your trading being in one band to being in twenty bands. You get to be in
everybody’s band, plus you get paid.
RIL: That’s always a good thing.
BS: You know, when you’re in a band you might make some money, but when you
produce records you always make money. It works out better for you in the long
run financially.
RIL: Are you comfortable enough that you can just do the production and not have
to do anything else?
BS: It depends. You still have to make your money month to month. You’ll have
some good months and some bad months.
RIL: What’s up next for you?
BS: I have those shows with Switched in April, and I’m pretty sure I’m doing the
Walls of Jericho record for Trustkill. Then I’ll just have to wait and see. I’ve
got a bunch of other little things in the pot; it’s just a matter of which one
breaks first.
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