Droid/Monster In The Machine
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 A few of the many recording artists who have attempted to break into being a successful label owner include Gene Simmons (Simmons Records), Spider of Powerman 5000 (Megatronic Records) and Vinnie Paul Abbott of Hellyeah and Pantera (Big Vin Records). One of the newest kids to step to the plate is Korn guitarist James "Munky” Schaffer. He recently unveiled his Emotional Syphon Recordings imprint, which he runs solely on his own. His business model is to promote bands he believes in and provide the artist development that many labels today neglect. (Incidentally, Munky's bandmate Jonathan Davis also has his own label, Elementree.)
Droid
Emotional Syphon's first release is from Long Beach, Calif.-based modern metallers Droid. Guitarists Jamie Teissere and Bruce Child formed the band around 1996 and began playing shows in Southern California. Longtime friends of Munky's, he offered the band a recording deal after catching a show at the Whisky in West Hollywood.
“We’ve been friends with Munky and the Korn guys for a long time,” Child says. “We were playing a show at the Whisky and right before we went on, Jamie sent Munky a text inviting him down to the show. Munky was in the area, signing his paperwork to finalize his record label . . . Not knowing what he’s going to do or who he’s going to sign, he came down to check the show out, and the second we got off the stage at the Whisky . . . he said he wanted to sign us as his first band to his label. Here’s the cool thing . . . he’s part of the family. We knew he would take care of us in the right way." Droid also lucked out in that it hadn't even shopped music to labels yet.
After playing shows across the Southern California circuit, the band recruited vocalist James “Buddy” Eason in 2000 when its singer left. “They’ve been playing around the Hollywood area; so have I, with my previous band . . . I don’t really like to talk about it,” Eason says. “I left that band and the same day, I had an answering machine message saying, ‘Please come try out for our band.’ I listened to the music and I was hooked.”
After a revolving door of rhythm sections, Droid finally settled on bassist Duke Collins (ex-Deadlights) and drummer Nick McWells. With this new lineup, the band refocused onto creating music it liked and wrote the songs heard on its self-titled debut: lethally heavy tunes that meshed modern thrash riffs with angst dialed to overload.
Eason chalks the band's influences up to Phil Anselmo and Pantera. "I don’t think there’s a metal band out there that say Pantera’s not an influence," he says. "At the same time, I grew up with Minor Threat and Crowbar, and when I moved out here, I got into bands like Strife, Downset and Earth Crisis. On the other side of the spectrum, bands like Far. I try to put those elements into Droid’s music."
Deftones' Chino Moreno contributed guest vocals on “Vengeance Is Mine,” where his well-recognized screams come across strong on the track. Eason and company learned a lot from working with him.
“He’s a mutual friend of the family,” Eason says. “Before Munky approached us about doing the deal, we’ve already been doing our second demo. Jamie asked Chino about singing on a song on our next demo. He said yeah, and we gave him about five songs. We told him to pick a song to do, and he picked that one . . . I freestyled to it, and we went to Christian [Olde Wombers] from Fear Factory’s house and vibed it out together. [We] came out with a pretty good structure. I went home and wrote all of the lyrics. Chino came down, and we rocked it out.”
Korn invited Droid to open the 2003 Back 2 Basics tour across the United States. It recorded a self-released EP, “Swallow The Cure,” to sell while on the road. The experience introduced Droid to new fans across the country and offered a first taste of the touring life.
Eason explains, “That CD, we released it ourselves. It was an accumulation of songs we’ve written over four or five years. We were about to go out on tour with Korn, we didn’t have a CD to sell at the shows or promote ourselves. So we did last-minute, put all of our songs we wrote together, just to have that.”
But musically, Droid was a different band then, where its attempt at melodic hooks and then-radio friendly tunes defined its approach. This was completely the opposite of where it is today. Dissatisfied with that direction, Eason left the band. He later rejoined with a refreshed view.
“Even back then, I didn’t want to do that music. It was something you’re already involved with, but you have pride in what you’re doing. I think that was the end of that Droid. Right now, it’s not even the same Droid — different members, different music, nothing remotely like that music . . . I think it [was] a stepping stone for us to doing what we really wanted to do. We had a manager telling us, 'Where’s the hit?’ I’m thinking, ‘I love Pantera, bro! What’re you talking about, "Where’s the hit?" ' They had hits, but they weren’t these giant radio anthems.”
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