July 18, 2001 – "I rarely hear bands talk about anything interesting in a sort of bigger-than-life concept," says Spider One, lead singer and songwriter of Powerman 5000. "To me, the purpose of rock is to empower the spirit, not to crush it. This is not self-defeatist music. It's time to set the volume at 10 and turn the meek into rebels."

With Anyone for Doomsday? -- due out August 28 on DreamWorks Records -- the mighty PM5K manage to intensify their signature heavy sound even more. "Bombshell," the first single of Anyone for Doomsday? hit radio this week. Spider describes the song as "a simple, 'Here we are, in your face' anthem you could apply to anything in your life. It's also us reflecting on the past year, how touring for Tonight the Stars Revolt! (their 1999 platinum-plus album) changed our lives forever."

In support of the new release, Powerman 5000 -- Spider One, bassist Dorian 27, guitarists Adam 12 and M.33 and drummer Al 3 -- will launch a six-week North American tour September 6 with Saliva (dates TBA). The opening band slot will rotate with bands such as Machinehead, Stereomud and Halfcocked, the latter of whom will release their major label debut August 21 on Megatronic, Spider One's imprint through DreamWorks Records.

"We definitely made a more aggressive record this time," says Spider. "It seemed very natural. We noticed while touring for the last album that the songs got more aggressive-sounding as the tour stretched on." The Boston-bred group produced Anyone for Doomsday? -- their third full-length, major-label album -- with Terry Date (Staind, Limp Bizkit) in their adopted home of Los Angeles.

Spider praises the entire band for cranking it up a notch with Doomsday?, reserving a special tip of the hat to guitarist M.33 (a.k.a. Mike Tempesta), who receives the lion's share of co-writing credits on the album. "The songs are still real hook-laden," says Spider, "but somewhere along the way everything started to sound a little meaner, which I think Mike was definitely responsible for."

Spider insists he's not sure what the end might be, but he thinks it is indeed near. "The doomsday part isn't negative," he ventures. "I kind of look at it as being a new beginning -- tear everything down and build it back up again."

Spider's adventurous spirit has also manifested itself in his new label Megatronic Records. He's playing a significant role in the release of Halfcocked's Megatronic debut. Punky and heavy, the album contains spiky sentiments matched with muscular playing on songs such as "All By Myself," "Thanks For The Ride," "Devil Shoes," "Touchdown" and the first single "I Lied," for which Spider has directed a video. He describes his relationship with the band and record-making process by saying: "For a certain amount of time, I almost felt like I was in the band, being in the studio everyday when they were making the record, being at every photo shoot and having a lot of band meetings. I think in the long run, this helped the band and I have trust in each other."