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:::::: 03.18.03: press junk and junket ::::::
a day of press. we went to 3 or 4 radio stations and did a newspaper, answering the tough, hard hitting questions. interviews range from chit chat about your favorite food to justifications for your actual existence. usually what interviewers do is find something that somebody said somewhere about you that wasn't particularly nice, then ask you "a lot of people think or say blabedy blah about you, what do you think about that?" its kind of a way for them to take a jab at you without it coming directly from them. its the tactic they're taught in school; to find the 'conflict', flesh it out and get their story. which is ok when you're doing a story about a kid who gets stuck in the bottom of a well, but with someone who's writing some silly little songs and prancing around a stage, its kind of overkill (unless you're mainlining drugs of mass destruction or you're locked in heated oasis battle). otherwise its just tedious--"a lot of people say you're unoriginal, a lot of people say you have no soul, a lot of people say your last album ended your career", ad nauseam. here's my view on this kind of thing, though its no justification or intended to change one's aesthetic sense; one could admire the actual physical feat of standing under 110 degree lights, 2 hours sleep, a scrutinizing audience, and trying to sing in tune without actually being able to hear anything, etc. I don't tend to rip on other bands in the press, cos I think its a waste of time and energy and I know what goes into making a record, touring, press, etc. I only have respect for people who go through the mill and down the gauntlet just to play a few tunes for people.

I've been asked lately about comments Wayne from the flaming lips made about me in the english press. I know Wayne shares my above views and is generous in spirit (he was pushing hard to get the guy from creed to come out and sing a xmas song with us at one of these radio shows last year and even went to their dressing room to try to convince him) but he's also the kind of guy who loves a good magic show or a cock fight. he had this idea on the tour to manufacture an oasis style fight in the press. when a piece of confetti lodged in his eye and it got infected he told people I punched him. (when I jumped on him in an animal costume at the last show I couldn't even get him to the ground, he is a big man and doesn't go down easy in a fight, even against a purple ape). we all laughed about it for a few days. then he told me he said some things in mojo that he felt stupid about and apologized. the oasis thing kind of went too far and he only ended up sounding like a 'cranky bitter old fool' in his words. I know he's got my back and I've got his. Mickey from ween said how rare and cool the bek/lips thing was in this hurtin music scene. we've got to stick together against the wastrel tides and flimsy winds of this 10 cent shooting gallery. go easy on your guitarists, keyboardists, bass players, singers, tambourine shakers, sax players, sax/keyboard players, what have you. and tambourine shakers, go easy on each other.

that said, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and its a free country (at least last time I checked). but next time you see a duck, hold your fire. it might be Michael Angelo from Nitro, who shreds on a four neck guitar in all his bison haircut glory. even he deserves a place in the pond with the rest of us fuckin quacking ducks.