JUST GET OFF THE FUCKING PHONE
A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN FAMIGLIETTI OF HEALTH
If you’ve spent any time in underground music communities, or surfing through music-adjacent web forums, then there is an incredibly good chance you’re familiar with industrial/noise veterans, HEALTH. They fill a distinct niche in the musical market, with a sound akin to a homogeneous blend of Nine Inch Nails, The Armed, and a tiny splash of Merzbow, which has allowed the group to remain prominent musical figures for (the better part of) the last two decades. John Famiglietti, the group’s bassist and electronics master, recognizes that they have achieved a cultural milestone in this context. Especially regarding the popularized use of their self-coined genre: cum metal.
“People are definitely using the term a lot, and I think that people are using it independent of knowing what HEALTH is. So, that’s great; It’s a great feeling to coin a phrase. I mean, cum metal really is mostly a joke, but the joke is that it’s heavy music that is still kind of horny or sexual, and if you have soft vocals over heavy music, that is inherent. So, My Bloody Valentine, obviously, isn’t metal, but it’s very sexual music because of that. Deftones is the perfect example; those kinds of vocals are very sexy even when they aren’t talking about sex, and sometimes they do. Deftones is the ultimate, original cum metal band, and you could slot us in there, too. But really, it just looks great on a T-shirt.”
Famiglietti was eager to provide insight into how HEALTH went about writing the songs off of CONFLICT DLC, as well as their process for finding the most appropriate sounds to use on those songs. Fans of HEALTH should be well aware that they are best known for their abrasive and gratifying noise, and these noises tend to come from various layers of plug-ins and effect pedals. These sounds greatly enhance the stories being told throughout the record, as well as the very strong sense of emotion and urgency that is prominently popping up through the narratives on these songs. Seeing as the LP feels so timely to the state of contemporary living, it’s important to recognize the context in which it’s created.
“You know, everything in HEALTH is very produced, and it’s very synthetic. We just have an idea or a big picture we’re going for. We add a lot of sauce to everything. A lot of plugins around everything. I extremely love a lot of plugins, you know. I think every band’s dream is that people are going to notice, care, and love it. It is reflective of the times; it is appropriate for the times. We used to run away from the idea of dramatizing the modern day in lyrics because it’s not poetic enough, but if you don’t do it, it’s just kind of bizarre. We really wanted to make an album for now.”
Famiglietti was eager to talk about the band’s well-documented résumé in the world of video game composition (they wrote the entire Max Payne 3 soundtrack and wrote a song for Cyberpunk 2077) and how the group’s love of video games has influenced their songwriting process and the way they interact with music; not many groups possess the cultural cognizance and aesthetic reach that HEALTH fluently capitalizes on.
CONFLICT DLC ALBUM REVIEW
“DLC, that’s a video game term, a PC gaming term, shit like that. There are so many video game references in [CONFLICT DLC]. Last night I was playing Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. I’m playing a lot of games. I bring a Steam Deck on tour. “I think Gabe Newell needs to get a Nobel Peace Prize this year, because he ended the console wars. I’m going to get the Valve Index 2 as well. I might just get the [Steam] Machine to have it all and put it in the living room, you know? I think Steam won, it’s great.”
Famiglietti proceeded to flash his handheld console.
While recognizing that CONFLICT DLC is one of the group’s most visceral and impactful projects to date, it would be a shame to go without knowing what the members were listening to when they were writing the lyrics, and the music. As it turns out, HEALTH finds themselves consistently pulling from a long, ambitious line of influences, some of which aren’t explicitly musical.
“So much of the album was written in response to touring, for big festivals and big live shows, and we were intentionally taking a sort of modern metal and modern metalcore influence on there. We were always listening to music and cribbing things— and, of course, ‘90s industrial, which is a huge thing off of Rat Wars. We kept going down the checklist, like ‘alright, let’s checklist Ministry, Godflesh.’ There are some pretty obvious ones there, too, I’d say. We listened to a lot of Bass House. A lot of these songs didn’t make it, but [we were inspired by] Brutalismus 3000, all kinds of stuff.”
After a cavalcade of musical insight and lyrical reflection, Famiglietti brought the lights down a little bit and opened up about his own personal struggles with doomscrolling in the grand scheme of this wild and confusing year known as 2025. It’s no secret that CONFLICT DLC is a direct response to the year we find ourselves living in, and all the surrounding absurdity that shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
“We’re doing the same thing [doomscrolling] ourselves. So, we’re not any better, sadly. My screen time is horrendous, but if you can get off it, if you can touch grass, then definitely go touch grass. Also, you know, they found out that playing video games all day has none of the adverse effects that scrolling on your phone all day has. So, if you can’t go outside, play a video game or something. Just get off the fucking phone! I’m on the phone all day; it’s terrible. I have a horrendous addiction.”
Famiglietti’s honesty in the situation spawned insight into my own horrendous phone addiction instinctively. It’s this genuine cognizance and these matter-of-fact viewpoints that not only make HEALTH so refreshing and exciting to listen to but simultaneously allow them to create unique sonic landscapes and empathetic atmospheres within the big picture of the individual song.
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Photo Credit: Mynxii White
