MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake spoke to New Times Broward-Palm Beach recently about a number of topics. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

New Times: What was your take on somebody doing a formal analysis of your music?

Haake: "It’s actually happened a bunch of times. We haven’t seen all of them, but the ones that have been transcribing our music in the past have actually not been correct. I know it’s really difficult to make out exactly what’s going on when you’re listening to an album."

New Times: What are some things that people haven’t been getting right?

Haake: "First of all, it’s usually the time signature. People stating, like “this track starts in 23/16” or whatever. Our songs are actually written on a 4/4 platform -- even though you could analyze it and make it into something else. That still doesn’t make it right."

New Times: A lot of listeners would probably be shocked to hear that most of your music is in 4/4! What is the twist that you’re putting on things so that people are getting this other impression?

Haake: "Well, there is definitely more to the music than just 4/4. But the main thing is the 4/4 feel. For us, that’s a very important aspect to it. It helps us in giving the music a certain amount of flow. You can actually -- at least on a good night -- get into a groove. If you want to translate it into being “here’s this number of bars in 23/16” and this last part turns into thirteen sixteenth notes and starts over. That’s not how we perceive our music. It’s just a matter of that last one flowing in an odd number over the 4/4 beat. Therefore, the 4/4 that we write and play around is the most important aspect. I usually play eighth notes on the hi hat all the time. So everyone in the band can headbang."

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