trial is once again playing out on TVyup, pop culture is definitely having a 90s moment.
Just dont expect Garbage to take part.
It feels very much like Rome is burning and nobody seems to be paying attention.
Credit: Joseph Cultice
Were all literally taking photographs of our buttocks and putting it on social media.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Youve said that the album recaptures the spirit of your first album.
Was this the 20 Years Queer tour rubbing off you?
Shirley Manson:Its difficult to explain properly what I mean by that.
It feels like it comes from the same family.
This new record is very dark.
This record is a very dark, brooding, dramatic record.
Did you have any particular mission you set out to accomplish with this record?
The climate in which we find ourselves as human beings helped dictate the mood of this record.
We were very clear about wanting to make a record that was authentic to the times were living in.
I think any vaguely intelligent person would say were living in really chaotic times.
We wanted to focus on feelings and atmospherethings we feel are being forgotten about in music.
We had a compass this time.
I dont know why thats sometimes there and sometimes not.
Sometimes when you make a new record you have clear ideas about what you want to achieve.
Other times youve been touring for 18 months and you have no idea whats going on in the culture.
Its complicated to find your starting point.
What kind of chaotic times?
Do you mean politically?
I guess I mean politically.
When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, America was at its height of global stature.
It was a super power.
It feels very much like Rome is burning and nobody seems to be paying attention.
Were all literally taking photographs of our buttocks putting it on social media.
All these unbelievable things are happening around us, and were literally navel gazing.
It feels really frightening to me.
Is there a song on the album that most directly deals with that fear?
Weve grown up with a generation that just believes theyre entitled to human rights.
I think its latter.
More than anything, we are a band that finds solace in darkness.
We look the monster in the eye and finally know what the game is.
And thats how weve always felt.
Meanwhile, all the songs were hearing on the radio are written by the same people.
You have to appeal to the masses.
Our truth is better than our pristine, shiny edited version of ourselves.
How long have you been feeling this way?
I thought maybe it was sour grapes because my band hadnt been as successful as it once was.
Maybe my feelings toward the mainstream were born out of rejection.
I dont believe in turning a blind eye to things.
I dont believe in staying mute when you see injustice.
I dont believe in being passive.
I know how I want to live my life.
I know the band feels very much the same.
There are consequences to our actions, but were willing to live with them.
How do you deal with your frustrations with the music industry?
Your band puts out music on its own record labelis it just a matter of leading by example?
You do have to be true to yourself.
And why would you want to?
I dont want to stop people from enjoying pop music.
Some of the most exciting production right now is coming out that world.
I mean, Beyonce made a phenomenal record, talking about some really important things.
To me, thats thrilling.
Im not hating pop music by any stretch of the imagination at all.
I think its vital.
Thats the only way that culture moves forward in any real, healthy way.
How do you decide when its time to make Garbage record?
Your last record, 2012sNot Your Kind of People, ended a seven-year gap between records.
I dont know if I can even answer that question, its so haphazard.
A lot of times we choose to wait for him, and that sometimes dictates our schedule.
Sooner or later we all start to feel like making music together at the same time.
This is the second Garbage album youve recorded since moving to Los Angeles.
How has California influenced your creative process?
In no other city have I enjoyed that kind of peace.
Im genuinely less stressed.
I spent 40 years of my life in a high-stress state.
That vanished once I came to L.A.
It sounds like a joke, but I actually have!
Its for the song Night Time Loneliness.
The letter was a beautifully written description of a drive through her city.
She was attributing all the moments of sadness and pain in her life to different landmarks.
Generally speaking, I dont like to be told what to sing.
He played it for me, and I was blown away.
It was utterly perfect.
I immediately said, I want to sing it right now.
And the vocal, its the first take that you hear.
It was me basically learning the song.
But it has a fragility that really matched the music.
Its rare that songs come to you perfect.
Usually you have to spend time with them or fk around.
But even Butch, whos incredibly modest, knew how good it was.
Its the throbbing heart of the entire record.
Its interesting that you’re free to pinpoint that.
The one thing I think about with this record is that every single song feels vital to me.
There have been records weve made where Ive definitely felt stronger about some songs than others.
But on this record, I feel the entire thing hangs together by an invisible thread.
Its not really about perfecting it and parceling it out into little bits and pieces.
The record is about imperfect, flawed people trying to make sense of the world.
