ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Youve been making albums since White Zombie debuted in 1985.
Do you still approach them the same way?
The business is just always changing.
Credit: Piggy D
Some aspects are better than ever and some are basically gone.
Whats better than ever?
Were starting touring [today] and this will be the best year of touring, ever.
It doesnt matter if I used to be traveling with a platinum record, its better than ever now.
My manager always says, We gotta just keep feeding the beast!
Your fanbase wants something new every day.
It doesnt have to be super awesome, it just has to be every day.
You used to feel a certain excitement about a street day and when [a record] would hit.
Youd do an in-store and 5,000 kids would show up and you would feel this energy.
You dont feel anything anymore because you cant feel anything from your phone.
The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenseris quite a title.
How did you get there?
And you think of a title by saying, Well, this is what it sounds like to me.
Its as simple as that or as complicated as that.
When you presented that to your manager or label, what did they say?
The label doesnt even exist.
Im really glad I got to be on a record label when it mattered.
You would bounce from room to room, talk to the radio guy and this guy and that girl.
It felt alive and organic.
It really felt like something was happening.
Its so sad, really.
Do you listen to other music when youre recording?
We used to, but more of that was trying to make our records sound good.
When youre a struggling band youre like, Why do our records sound shitty when Metallicas records sound awesome?
Oh, well, because they spent eight months and you spent eight minutes.
But then you get over the hump of how to make things sound good.
Where does a song start for you?
We just force it.
We set a date and we just start.
This seems to be a very clear conversation about the evolution of rock n roll happening on the record.
Im thinking of The Life and Times of a Teenage Rock God, Get Your Boots On!
Thats the End of Rock and Roll, and Medication for the Melancholy.
I feel like rock music is transitioning out of the culture.
And its not like Boo-hoo, rock musics dead, but music changes.
Im glad that I got to do things when I got to do them.
If you were a brand new [rock] band now, it would be really daunting.
Like, how do you reach people?
When MTV got on board, it exploded.
We went from nothing to everything, instantly.
Now its so fragmented.
When it was less specific it was easier to discover things.
This year will go by quick.
But then next year we have theGroucho Marx movie.
We have a script for that, Im just the hold-up.
How do you stay inspired?
It comes and goes.
Its not always there with the same intensity, sometimes you burn out.
I cant do anything if I feel like the best days are behind me.
Then it all becomes pointless.
