JEORDIE WHITE | BASE TENDENCIES
PRESS
Note: Although this isn't an actual interview with Jeordie, Chris does spend a good deal of it talking about his work with Jeordie, which I feel makes it relevant enough to have a place on this site. This will also bring those of you not at all familiar with Chris a little closer to knowing who he is and the stuff he's worked on
In Germany, Masters of Reality still appear to be very underground. Could you describe your music in a few sentences?
The new music, meaning the new album [Give Us Barabbus], is music that has been hanging around for many years actually. I felt satisifed with finally putting this collection of songs, mainly based on the acoustic guitar, together on one release as sort of a clean-out of the house.
You now even recorded a John Lennon original.
I have always liked that song. It is on the "Imagine" record. Yesterday some journalist said: "Did you do it because you love the simplicity of John Lennon?" And that was it exactly.
How did your work as producer with bands like Kyuss, Stone Temple Pilots and the Queens of the Stone Age influence your own development?
I learned from everyone I worked with. Whether it is a musical trend or an attitude or a color or a shade, I have never thought of it as something that somebody uses, I go, "Ahhh, that works!" It is something that I haven't thought possible and then I watch it become possible with another artist, so it opens doors for me, too. It is a 69 position, definitely. You go down on each other and suck.
In 2002, you formed a project called Snowballs with former Marilyn Manson and now A Perfect Circle bass player Twiggy Ramirez. What has happened since then?
We will continue work in June. He will have finished with A Perfect Circle then. We are both dying to get to work. We write together very quickly. This summer is going to be spent doing the Snowballs album.
Is it true that Twiggy left Marilyn Manson in order to lead a more normal life with less drugs and excesses?
I was a fan of Marilyn Manson from the very start. My wife turned me on to MM in 1992 before the first album came out. She has always been a fan of dark goth music. I went" "Wow, this is really good." As Marilyn Manson developed I noticed that a lot of my favorite songs were written by Twiggy and actually a lot of the guitar playing was done by him, too. I thought to myself: "Wow, there is this great musician involved in this band, here along with Marilyn's power as a front man." The first albums definitely sounded like a band to me. But it got more and more basically just in Marilyn's direction after awhile. And then, after Columbine happened and he was blamed for that, I think it scared the shit out of Twiggy. He kind of retreated to his computer to write more music. I saw an opportunity there to talk to him and say: "Well, if you wanna do some rare rock 'n' roll and something that is more human, I'll be really into it because I am a big fan of your work." I hit him at the right moment and he said: "Yeah, I'd love to." I am very excited about it.
What was the weirdest stuff you experienced spending time with him?
That we both like Franco-American Spaghettios. It is a cheap can spaghetti-thing and...chocolate milk. We are both kind of junk food addicts. He showed up at the studio and had a can of Spaghettios and a bottle of chocolate milk with him. He didn't insist on having sushi. I just thought: "Oh my god, he is like my little brother!" We were freaks at high school. I felt like I met another freak that I could relate to, and I think he felt the same.
Lately you worked with Melissa Auf Der Maur on the production of her first solo album. How does it come that nearly everything you touch as producer turns to gold instantly but Masters of Reality still are underground after 15 years of work?
I am not as pretty as Melissa (laughs). And I think it has been some conscious choice most of the time. I love being in the studio producing the music that I love with a person that I love. It's the best thing ever. When you become such really close friends with Melissa through working with her it becomes not only an artistic and esthetic adventure but also fun. I have to be honest about it: if there is a choice between me going out on the road sweating it out on a cheap-ass tour bus or sitting in an air conditioned studio, eating sushi...