JEORDIE WHITE | BASE TENDENCIES

PRESS

ORKUS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2003

After ten years Marilyn Manson the man whose real name is Jeordie White strikes a sobering balance: Good friends became business partners, great musicial visions were not more than calculations. No wonder that he likes touring with A Perfect Circle better than to put on a bad face, grin and bear it.

Orkus: Why do you call yourself Jeordie White now?

Jeordie White: Because that's the name I was born with and now I use it for APC. That's all.

Orkus: Actually you were the main songwriter in Marilyn Manson...

JW: Yes, I wrote all the records.

Orkus: People like to ignore that...

JW: Because they don't look at the booklet. (laughs) But you're right...It was important to Manson to do all the press dates alone and to be on all the covers of all magazines. I didn't care about being a rock star. I just wanted to make music. The rest was his job. He wanted the most attention and he got what he wanted. I didn't care about that...

Orkus: So why did you quit the band?

JW: Because it turned out to be a job - boring routine. And I didn't like the direction we were tending to at the end.

Orkus: You're speaking about the dreadful cover version of Soft Cell's Tainted Love?

JW: Right, I hated that song. It was one of the main reasons. It became awfully boring. Manson was and still is one of my best friends but the music was in the end like a pair of old shoes. And I never meant to get old with the band. I wanted to discover something new, play different music with different people and broaden my mind. As opposed to Nikki Sixx who's still caught in the same combo. I didn't want to be 45 years old and still be the bass player of MM.

Orkus: What was it like to leave the band so to say from one day to the next?

JW: Like someone in the family died! It was really oppressive somehow. But I can recommend to try it to everyone who reads this interview and is afraid of changes. In the end it'll turn out to the best. I mean, look at me. Even I landed on the ground. I wrote a few great songs last year, joined this wonderful band and now I'm allowed to play with these brilliant musicians. It has nothing to do with image or attitude and that's a good diversion.

Orkus: You enjoy it not to wear make-up and dresses any longer?

JW: Yeah, though I was never forced to do this. It was my decision to wear that. It became an important part of my personality and it caused that I was buried under this Twiggy Ramirez-thing. Despite that people can still call me Twiggy if they want. It's just that A Perfect Circle seemed so real to me and above all so normal that I thought it would be better to use my real name for it.

Orkus: So Twiggy became a cartoon character?

JW: Exactly. It may sound strange but I was like Darth Vader: I got this mask because I decided to work with the dark side of power. (laughs) Well and then I couldn't put it off again. That's the way it is...When I look back at the Twiggy-days it's like I was Darth. I became my own comic character.

Orkus: And how differs APC from MM? What can you do now that wasn't possible in your former band?

JW: To be honest, the last Manson records weren't a very pleasant experience. I wrote the songs on autopilot - and didn't know what I was doing. I have no idea where the songs are from. It's different with APC, it's a real collaboration. We play all together in one room. That wasn't the case with MM. It was more difficult. I had no control of what became of my parts - you were just called when you were needed. That was odd....and very unsatisfying. Now I can do what I want, I can be myself and I'm not a subject to an image.

Orkus: But somehow you must have enjoyed it otherwise you wouldn't have stayed in this band for so long, wouldn't you?

JW: That's right! It was a lot of fun and I regret nothing, absolutely nothing! It was an important part of my life and it still is. But it's good to have a break. I don't know if I will ever make a record with Manson again.

Orkus: Sounds like it was badly necessary...

JW: Absolutely! It all became so crazy. I had to get out - as long as I'm alive. So far I'm not dead at least - and I hope to hold that situation. (laughs) But really: I wanted to get out as long as I had the possibility to do so. That was last year.

Orkus: You are no going to say that you live completely abstemious now?

JW: No, I'm not a monk! There still are excesses. They are a little more under control and they happen mainly on weekends. Excesses are not fun without a balance. I can say that the Twiggy-lifestyle definitely wasn't fake. It was real. It took 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And as I started to play it I had to stop it. This part of my life doesn't exist any longer. Now I use my energy to write good songs.