thats such a great interview!!
"If a million people can buy Kid Rock's stuff, why can't a few hundred thousand buy my stuff? Our stuff is way better than that stuff!"
amen to that.

By Anonymous on Thursday, May 02, 2002 - 05:55 pm: Edit

It started innocently enough. Boy goes to show. Boy meets musician. Boy follows musician to an excluded bus stop. Boy interviews musician. Musician accuses boy of being an Insane Clown Posse fan. Isn't that always the way? Anyway... this is the first of a two-part interview featuring King Buzzo and Mike Patton of Fantomas. The following is not a reenactment. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent, guilty, or anyone else for that matter. It does contain adult situations such as the beheading and anal rape of goats. Parental discretion is advised.

Sect!: "How's the tour been going?"
Buzzo: "It's going really shitty and I hate this fucking band. I hate everybody in it. That's how I want to start the interview, ok?"
Sect!: "Ok!"
Buzzo: "That's the first thing. I've never met three bigger fucking assholes in my life. No, it's going good, but I want that to be the first thing. Trevor, Mike and Dave are three of the biggest assholes ever! Cold quote...ok?"
Sect!: "Deal. How did Fantomas come to be?"
Buzzo: "Mike sent me a demo and asked me to do it, and I said sure. It sounded crazy enough for me to be involved with and I was happy to do it."
Sect!: "So the whole thing is the brain child of Mike Patton?"
Buzzo: "It's all Mike's material... every bit of it."
Sect!: "So, I guess Mike pretty much decided who would be involved and who wouldn't?"
Buzzo: "Well, Mike had a few ideas about drummers, but Dave was certainly the best choice."
Sect!: "Yeah, I had heard something about Sepultura's drummer being involved... but I guess it didn't work out?"
Buzzo: "Yeah, Sepultura's label wouldn't allow it. I like the guy from Sepultura a lot, but Dave is amazing. I'm glad he got Dave."
Sect!: "Have you thought about doing a follow-up album?"
Buzzo: "Ah, that's up to Mike. I like playing this stuff. It's really different than anything I've ever done... and I like that. I like that aspect of the whole thing. It's different than the Melvins. I approach it differently. I play differently. I think about it differently. It's a totally different thing, and that really attracts me to the project. Definitely.
Sect!: "Speaking of the Melvins... when will The Crybaby be released?"
Buzzo: "New Years. January or February... one of the two."
Sect!: "Have you planned any other releases on Ipecac?"
Buzzo: "Um, nothing planned... but hopefully we'll be on that label for a long time. As long as they don't turn into a bunch of, [whispers] ...fucking assholes. [Laughs]
Sect!: "What is Fantomas? What does the name mean?"
Buzzo: "That would be a question for Mike. I can make something up though."
Sect!: "Go for it..."
Buzzo: "Have you ever heard of the Mexican goat sucker?"
Sect!: "No."
Buzzo: "It's an old Mexican folk tale about a... um... a chupacabra."
Sect!: "Oh, ok..."
Buzzo: "It's all about sucking the blood out of goats... every song. You can tell if you listen closely to the lyrics. Mike's written them all about the chupacabra; sucking the blood of goats. Chopping the heads off of newborn babies... human babies, and drinking the blood. That's what it's about. And anal sex too.
Sect!: "Anal sex... ok..."
Buzzo: "Uh-huh... and driving hot-rods... and drive-by shootings."
Sect!: "That sounds like a headline."
Buzzo: "HOT-ROD DRIVE-BY... DRINKS THE BLOOD OF A BABY AFTER KILLING A GOAT!"
Sect!: "...and raping its ass!"
Buzzo: "...and fucking its own ass!" [Laughs]
Sect!: "Has there been any live improv out on the road?"
Buzzo: "No... no improv. Planned improv. [Laughs] That means it's not improv. Actually what we like to do is cut the heads off of baby goats and shove them up their own asses." [Laughs]
Sect!: "So the live show varies from the album?"
Buzzo: "That depends. There's a lot of audience participation, and none of it we like; a lot of morons screaming things. Generally speaking there's a small percentage of tire iron wielding troglodytes at any rock show you go to, ya know? So they're just proving to me exactly what I expected all along. Which is that they're just as stupid as their parents, and even stupider than Canadians. Can-uh-duh. They can't help it." [Laughs]
Sect!: "Is there anything you're playing now that's not on the album?"
Buzzo: "Yeah, we're doing a Slayer medley. That's very fun. We're doing an Al Green cover, and we're also doing a T-Rex song. And we might be working on an old Melvins song too, but we haven't played that live. I've come to realize that a lot of people who come to see this have no idea about the Melvins... or they go: 'Is the Melvins still going?' It's like, 'No...huh-uh.' They've obviously been sitting there with their heads firmly planted up their asses. This is about as underground as they get. This is about as far as they crawl with it. Kids with freshly skinned heads or mohawks and big long leather jackets with 'Faith No More' stenciled on the back, but then you can see where they've taken sandpaper and tried to get it off. BUT I WON'T BE FOOLED! ...MTV shirts turned inside out..."
Sect!: "Do you think a big part of the draw is Faith No More and Mike Patton?"
Buzzo: "Well, you'd like to think it would be. He didn't do all that work for nothing. He put a lot of time into that band. I'd like to think that there were some fruits from those efforts. But typically, and it rarely happens, where a flock of selling artists does anything other than try to bootlick to the general public and sell even more records - typically, somebody like Mike, who steps to the left of center and does something odd - 99.9% of his audience abandons him. Ya know? 'Oh, we really liked you when you were doing more commercial sounding stuff, but now that you're doing something else, I'm moving on to Ugly Kid Joe,' or whoever. Ya know? Kid Rock or Limp Shit Bizkit or whoever the flavor of the month is. Those bands are flavors of the month.
"You know... people like: 'Today I like strawberry flavored ice-cream, but tomorrow it'll be pistachio.' Little do they know they're eating the same kind of ice cream all the time. It's crap. People get on my case about this kind of stuff. I don't really understand it. Don't they realize that the majority of the record buying public, in general, are a bunch of fucking stupid morons. They're idiots. When I see someone wearing a Creed T-shirt... what would they have me think? Should I respect that? Should I be happy about that? Should I feel like I'm a part of that? I'm not a part of that. I have nothing to do with that kind of thing. And I see 'Wood Schtock '98' or whatever the fuck it is. Do I feel akin to that? Do I feel a comradery of brotherhood with these fans? No, ya know? No I don't. I'm ashamed frankly. And I blame the bands and the people that go to see the bands. If they wouldn't buy those stupid fucking albums, we wouldn't have to listen to that crap every time we happen to turn on the radio. It doesn't have to be like that. Things could be really cool. They could be! Why aren't they? Is it because these bands are good? No. It's because people are stupid. That's why. That's it. It's idiocy. It's blowjobs, cocaine, stripper parties and idiocy. That's it. That's all that it boils down to. Fortunately, there are enough smart people out there that have an interest in the kinds of things that I've always been involved with that make it possible for me to continue to make a living playing music, and I really appreciate that. But having said that, there's also, like I said, a percentage of tire iron wielding troglodytes. [Laughs] Sorry about that long answer. Oh, and did I say that the other three guys in Fantomas are a bunch of fucking assholes? Did I say that?" [Laughs all ridiculously]
Sect!: "What was the recording process like?"
Buzzo: "The recording situation we went through on this record was one of the weirdest ones I've ever been in. Mostly stemming from the situation that was in the studio with the people that were running the studio. There were breakdowns... we had engineers crying, quitting... it was weird. Engineers accusing us of being on coke. Which is really weird! It was strange. I'm surprised we even got the whole thing done under those circumstances... but we managed to make it through and we worked really hard.
Sect!: "How long did it take to record?"
Buzzo: "Ten days... top to bottom. Not including mixing."
Sect!: "Are you surprised at the attention the album is getting?"
Buzzo: "Well, I wouldn't call it surprised. I'm happy. I think it's a good record. People should buy it! People should buy anything I'm involved with! Absolutely! Why not? If a million people can buy Kid Rock's stuff, why can't a few hundred thousand buy my stuff? Our stuff is way better than that stuff! Fantomas is way better! The Melvins are way better! Mr. Bungle is way better! You know, you'd like to think that our music, being so many leagues above all that other garbage... you'd like to think it would sell some copies. Ya know? Which is the case... it's true and I'm very happy about that. The Insane Clown Posse's playing up the street. You goin' to that show?"
Sect!: "Yeah!" [Thick sarcasm]
Buzzo: "You are, aren't you? I'm gonna go down there and posse it up! No, I don't know anything about them, really. I hear they spray beer around or something. I don't know."
Sect!: "I don't know."
Buzzo: "Well, they're a popular band. They're popular. They're a pop band. Popular equals pop. That's how it works. I like that. Good!"