Daryl Palumbo may be one of the hardest working artists in the business today. He is about to go on tour with Head Automatica, a self-dubbed "electronic cock-rock band," and will head out on the road again in August with Glassjaw. He's also working with El-P and Cage on a new project called Shoot Frank. Despite incessant recording, touring and rehearsing, he still somehow he managed to find the time to chat with me today. Palumbo and I talked about his upcoming tours, the local NY music scene, unauthorized downloading, his personal decisions regarding sex, drugs and alcohol and much more. He also offers sage advice for all of the aspiring artists out there.

HH: After so many years with Glassjaw, what led you to take on Head Automatica?

DP: There was so much music I was writing that was definitely not Glassjaw. I wanted to put this music out and I needed an outlet to do it. I wanted to get to put out my own shit that was not able to be played with Glassjaw and my label, Warner Brothers, was interested. So we recorded it and here we are now a year and a half later.

HH: So it wasn't that you weren't feeling Glassjaw anymore?

DP: No, not at all.

HH: How did you hook up with Dan the Automator?

DP: I knew him through a bunch of artists in New York and I figured with the connection there I'd see if he would do it. I figured if I was going to flip a rock record that was going to have beats and be kooky and have some electronic shit that he would probably be the best to do it and so I asked him to do some beats on the record.

HH: What can you tell me about your writing process with Head Automatica and how it differs from what you did in the past with Glassjaw?

DP: The writing process with Glassjaw would be that either Beck or myself would have parts and we would sit down and play and then I would just come up with vocals over it and then the band would just iron it out in practice. Whereas with this band I'll write a song, show the band and then we'll iron out some of the arrangement at rehearsals. It's apples and oranges.

HH: You're heading out to headline a tour in a couple of days, can you tell us what to expect from the shows?

DP: You can expect a good party. You're going to get your money's worth and a great show. There are a lot of great bands on the tour and every band sounds completely fucking different. They blatantly have nothing to do with each other, which is kind of the point. Then there will be a DJ tying the whole night together and making it a party. My boy DJ Krazy Glue is going to spin between bands and spin the parties afterwards. It's going to be a good show.

I think with Head Automatica we're at the top of our game right now as far as how tight we are. I don't think the band has ever sounded this tight. We're like a streamlined version, as we only have one guitar player now. I don't think we could sound any more perfect than we do right now. We've been practicing every day for the past six and a half months.

HH: Decadence leaked early on the Internet. Were you angry that an unfinished version was floating around out there and how do you feel about non-authorized downloading generally?

DP: I don't really care about non-authorized downloading. Bands like fucking Metallica and Dr. Dre get pissed, you know. With bands as big as Dre and Metallica, why would you feel any allegiance to them? Why would you feel like you want to buy their record? A) You'd just be like "fuck it, they don't need the money" and B) I don't want to spend $18 on some fucking record that only has two decent songs on it because they're the singles. So it's different for Metallica, Dre, the fucking Dave Matthews Band, Madonna and Radiohead. Whereas for me and bands that are at the level that Head Automatica and Glassjaw are at I don't mind it.

I don't think it's presenting a problem right now and if anything it creates a culture that bands that I'm involved in always have. I'm not in bands that get as big as Korn. I've never done that and I've been playing in bands since I was 13 years old. I play in bands like Glassjaw and Head Automatica where we establish this cult fan base and these kids feel loyal to us. So when the record comes out sure they downloaded it, but they'll buy it as well.

HH: Yeah, that makes sense.

DP: It's a tool. It's not something that will ever stop. It will never fucking stop. So what am I going to do? It's the trading of an mp3 file. You can't stop people from sending documents and photographs on the Internet. So how do you think you could stop them from sending mp3 files? It's the same thing. You're never going to be able to stop it, so you have to make it work for you.

HH: I saw that Head Automatica is offering handmade t-shirts on myspace.com. How did such an interesting merchandising concept come about?

DJ: We thought it would be cool to do a handmade tee, a limited edition of 408 hand numbered tees. Each one is numbered and signed. The shirts are literally handmade - most of them done by my guitar player Craig. It was a great idea off the top to do some boutique style, higher quality handmade shirts. There are so many bands we see that are doing these half-assed designs on their shirt. Everyone does the script and everyone does the black shirts with the white print on it and then nothing else. There's a look that every band's merch seems to have at this point and we wanted to do this totally insane looking shirt where every one is completely different.

HH: There have been a lot of rumors lately about a Glassjaw tour with The Used in August. Can you confirm or deny that?

DP: I can confirm that.

HH: Really!?!

DP: There are going to be 19 Glassjaw shows and we'll be on tour for the first time in about two and a half years. It will be Glassjaw and The Used. We're going to fucking arenas or something crazy.

HH: That's great. So can we expect any new Glassjaw material?

DP: We'll do about two or three new songs on the tour. I don't know when we're going to get to record anything, but for the sake of having fun and giving people something new to hear, because we haven't put out anything in so long, we're definitely going to do at least 2 or 3 new ones.

HH: What are you listening to right now?

DP: I listen to a lot of Frank Zappa. I've been listening to Zappa every day for the past 15 years, so that doesn't change. I'm also listening to a lot of old British power-pop bands. That's the kind of music that I'm a complete sucker for. Also a lot of crazy melodic power-pop bands from the early 80's. Then there's that band from England, the Libertines, who I love. They're pretty much the modern equivalent of a British power-pop band.

HH: Are you still living in Long Island?

DP: No, I'm in Queens now. It's close enough. I might as well be living in Long Island - it's all one fucking island.

HH: Are there any up and coming local bands in the New York area we should be aware of?

DP: Yes! There are about four bands right now that are very important. 1) A guy who used to play guitar in Glassjaw, Todd Weinstock, has a new band called Men Women & Children and they are putting out a record on Warner Brothers. They will finish up with the recording today and they're great; 2) Nightmare of You. They have the old drummer from Glassjaw, Samuel Siegler, and a good friend of mine who used to play guitar in the band Movielife, Brandon Reilly. They're kind of a modern twist on the Smiths; 3) This is Hell. A bunch of young dudes who are somewhat melodic, weird and hardcore, but it's really special; and 4) I am the Avalanche. They sound like the Breeders on speed.

HH: You found success as a musician very early on; do you have any advice for aspiring artists trying to make it today?

DP: No. Nobody listens to me anyway. I used always say, "Keep playing, keep rehearsing, don't worry about money and don't worry about getting signed." I used to say that in every interview for years and nobody listens. So many people are banking on getting signed and making some money and writing hits. I guess I'll give the same answer again and hope that people listen. Don't worry about getting signed and don't worry about making money. Just worry about making music and if you make music and get by long enough it will all happen. I know it will. I know how it works. That's the truth.

HH: You declared yourself straight edge at a very young age; I believe it was 13, what was involved in your decision to give up straight edge ethos?

DP: I was in all of these magazines at a very young age and people kept asking me about my personal politics. I just kept running my mouth off about how sex is a fucking weapon and sex is evil and drugs and alcohol are evil and straight edge, straight edge, straight edge. But then I realized that I was 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 - I was straight edge for so long, 12 years, and I was a virgin for so long - I never wanted to have sex. I had written off all of these things early on in my life and you can't expect to do that when you are 12 or 13 and have them stick. You can't expect that. I don't look down on myself nor do I think I've sold out or let myself down. I think sex is really important and I don't throw it around. The little that I have thrown around takes its toll on you mentally and spiritually. As far as straight edge, I just got to a point in my life where I needed to experience those things that I had written off. I think drug abuse is a joke and if you're a drug addict you have serious problems and i feel bad for you. I think that alcoholism is terrible and I've dealt with it in my immediate family. I still feel the same way, but I'm not straight edge anymore. I guess that's just how life is. I can't live my life regretting going back on things I promised when I was 15.

HH: Are you involved in any other new projects we should be aware of?

DP: Yes. I play the guitar and I am one of the singers in a band called Shoot Frank. It's me, Cage, who is a rapper and a poet, I count him as a fucking brilliant poet, he's on Def Jux Records; El-P who is an artist on Def Jux and the owner. We put on some psychedelic shit. Together we've been listening to a lot of Public Image Ltd, Nirvana, and Sonic Youth, so we'll see what happens.