Interviews : Marilyn Manson (Marilyn Manson) – 26/07/2009

Love him or hate him, shock rocker Marilyn Manson has stood the test of time, having begun with Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids in 1989. Always one to flirt with controversy, Marilyn Manson is set to rattle the moral majority’s cages again when he graces our shores in October. Metal Obsession recently had the chance to speak with Marilyn about the upcoming Australian tour and debunk some rumours.

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Make sure to check out our current prize giveaway. We have 5 double pass tickets to giveaway for Marilyn Mason’s upcoming Australian tour. To be in the running, follow the link at the bottom of this page, or alternatively click on the giveaways link.

MetalObessesion.net: Hello Marilyn, how are you?

Marilyn Manson: I am very good thanks.

MetalObessesion.net: How have things been?

Marilyn Manson: Since the last time?

MetalObessesion.net: Yeah.

Marilyn Manson: Things are very good. This tour [with Slayer], as opposed to the last time, is even better, because Twiggy and I are back together and we’re playing all the songs that we love and have written together.

MetalObessesion.net: Are you looking forward to the upcoming Australian tour?

Marilyn Manson: Yes, especially Perth, so hellbent on allowing me to come back.

MetalObessesion.net: You’ve got Twiggy Ramirez and Ginger Fish back in the band, how did that come about?

Marilyn Manson: Ginger was only gone briefly when he injured himself, and that’s why Chris Vrenna got back involved, and he’s playing keyboards now. Essentially “Antichrist Superstar” and “Mechanical Animals” were created by the four of us. It feels like the Marilyn Manson that we started and that  people identify with the most.

Twiggy and I were both able to do things we’re proud of separately but together what we do, whether people love it or hate it, it’s certainly something we can’t do separately and we’re very proud of this record and we’re really just getting started, this is a fire that he cannot piss on to put out, it’s just going to keep going.

MetalObessesion.net: I’ve heard a few tracks from the most recent album and I have heard the connections to “Antichrist Superstar” and even the albums before it. How has it been received so far since its release?

Marilyn Manson: I just get to see what is in front of me every night and people who are Marilyn Manson fans are people who are Slayer fans because we’re on tour with them at the moment.

They’re all there and they’re all enjoying it and I’m enjoying it so if that’s the description of how it’s received then I think that it’s better than anything in the past.

I’ve done very little press because I feel very selective when it comes to interviews now, simply because of my experience as a journalist, my experience as a person subjected to a lot of journalistic criticism, and I think that the people who I love and are closest to me think the record is wonderful and get the sense of humour, they get the anger, they get the sexuality and if they feel that way, the rest of the world can follow suit because I think the people that I’m closest to would be the smartest, toughest critics. I’m happy to entertain myself and my friends.

MetalObessesion.net: For the Australian tour, will your set list comprise tracks predominantly from High End of Low or will there be a good cross-section of old and new?

Marilyn Manson: It’s definitely going to be the songs that Twiggy and I were most responsible for and in no way simply a ‘greatest hits’ tour. Being that it’s more of a tour because right now we’re on a festival, we’re only given an hour to play but when we do our shows over there, there will be a lot of songs that we haven’t done before, and songs that we have done since 1999.

I think people who never got to see “Antichrist Superstar”, “Holy Wood” or the “Mechanical Animals” tours will possibly get to experience the same attitude because we’re really in the mindset and in no way look at time in a linear sense, we’re very much ignorant to the amount of time that had passed while we were apart .

This record is greatly about loss and understanding what you give up and how that sometimes it’s the wrong way to live your life and when you lose things, and to appreciate, fight, kill and die for the things you do believe in and love.

MetalObessesion.net: What can Australian audiences expect from the live show?

Marilyn Manson: This will be the first time I’ll be seeing Twiggy playing guitar live. This is always a tough question to answer, it’s not something I can describe easily. We’re touring with Slayer so we’re playing to a cross-section of a lot of heavy metal fans and our fans, but I think the show can be described best as a combination of ‘120 Days of Sodom’ and Fellini’s ‘8 ½’. That’s a very esoteric description but people can go and look that up on Wikipedia.

MetalObessesion.net: Will there be any props and theatrics incorporated in the stage show?

Marilyn Manson: 100%. The stage show is in fact a movie set with movie lights and make-up artists. It’s an unusual approach, it became my way of reflecting how the record is a soundtrack to the world that I saw.

I wouldn’t classify it as any less theatrical than anything we’ve done in the past. If anything, it’s more theatrical but it is self-conscious of the whole concept of theatre rock, I enjoy doing this tour more than any tour I’ve done before.

MetalObessesion.net: A while ago, you performed a duet with Alice Cooper in Romania. How was that experience?

Marilyn Manson: He invited me to go onstage with him to sing “Eighteen” and then he actually sneaked onstage to sing “Sweet Dreams”. It was a bit intimidating because over the years, because of his opinions on Christianity because he’s since suddenly became a born-again Christian, he didn’t always have good things to say about me.

But then he started to, and I met him, and we did a show together in Romania, and it couldn’t be more appropriate, being the hometown of Count Dracula. It was really amazing. It was a childhood dream come true. Since then, also in the past I got to sing onstage with Iggy Pop. Those two were my idols and neither one let me down or disappointed me when meeting them.

MetalObessesion.net: Do you think your career will go for as long as Alice Cooper’s or Iggy Pop’s?

Marilyn Manson: I’m very impressed that Iggy Pop is still kicking ass like he did. I saw him play in concerts before I started the band and it was with Jane’s Addiction and it was one of the inspirations for me to start a band. In fact now, I think he’s even better than he was then.

My career will go for as long as I still feel inspired to do it. I almost gave up music because I felt very empty in what I knew who to be or what to say, so I started to focus more on my painting and on the idea of making a film and luckily part of the void wasn’t simply just my attitude, it was also not having my best friend and musical inspiration un my parter Twiggy, so us being back together, we just started writing new songs yesterday for another record.

I will continue to make music as long as it makes me feel good about doing it. I will continue to perform live as long as I feel like I look good in tight pants. That’s about as simple as it goes.

MetalObessesion.net: Are there any upcoming bands that you’ve come across that you’ve taken a liking to lately?

Marilyn Manson: It sounds very inappropriate when you say “any bands that you’ve come across” because it sounds like that I ejaculated on them! [an afterthought: get your mind out of the gutter! -M.]

I think that I’ve taking quite a liking to and am very good friends with Devengerban. I want them to go on tour with us. I’m supposed to be in his next video. The other bands I’m friends with and close to, I am friends with the guys in Slayer, which is not a new band, and Placebo. I’m also a big fan of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

MetalObessesion.net: Is it true that you tried out for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Marilyn Manson: No. I am friends with Johnny Depp, and he did mention that initially that he was basing his performance off me, and so he got yelled at by the film company because they didn’t want the negative press, not with a children’s movie I guess.

But if I were to try out for a role in Willy Wonka, it would have been for Mr Slugworth, but the version of the book that Tim Burton did with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory didn’t include that character, so that was just a rumour as is the rumour that I am making a film with Emma Watson about Cinderella. I don’t know where that one came from.

MetalObessesion.net: There was another rumour that you were also trying out for a role in Alice in Wonderland.

Marilyn Manson: No. I wrote a screenplay and I still intend on making a film which I decided to put on the backburner to currently go on tour and be a rock star.

I wrote a screenplay called “Phantasmagoria” which is in production but there is no set date yet to film it until I decide that I’m done with this tour. It’s about Lewis Carroll but it is not Alice in Wonderland. I don’t have any association with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

MetalObessesion.net: Is it true that you are affiliated with the Church of Satan?

Marilyn Manson: Many, many years ago I met Anton La Vey [Church of Satan founder and author of The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Witch] and being someone who did not subscribe to any religion, I consider that to be and it was considered to be more of an opinion or a philosophy.

I met and became friends with him and enjoyed talking to him and philosophising with him, and he gave me a card that said I was an official minister, a priest of the Church of Satan, which was never an actual building or an actual title, and of course people love to create, and I allowed them to create whatever they wanted to with it, but I never said anything more than the facts, which was more like an honorary title, which was more of saying he felt that I was somebody in his opinion who was able to have a similar agreement on religion and philosophy.

I hope it hasn’t ruined your opinion of my hellfire, because I’m far more evil than the Church of Satan!

MetalObessesion.net: Where are you guys headed after the Australian tour?

Marilyn Manson: The United States again, on our own, then the rest of the world. We are going to continue touring until the end of the year, the only thing that may stop us for a break is to continue to make another record because we are really in a place where performing live is such a priority and it’s something that we feel lucky enough to have got to the point where we can do that every day, and I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t want to do that every day so we just want to do that and nothing else.

I like living out of a hotel, I have my cat, I have my girlfriend, I have my best friends in my band so there’s nothing more I could need.

MetalObessesion.net: This wraps up the interview, any last comments?

Marilyn Manson: Just that I will be there and I don’t think that the powers that are trying to stifle me in Perth will prevail. I will arrive.

MetalObessesion.net: Thank you for doing the interview.

Marilyn Manson: Thank you.

Band: Marilyn Mason
Date: 24/7/2009
Origin: Canton, Ohio U.S.A
www.myspace.com/marilynmanson

Interviewer: Megan Masters
Interviewee: Marilyn Mason (Vocals)

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Marilyn Mason Australian Tour 2009

Monday October 5 – Perth, Challenge Stadium
Wednesday October 7 – Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre
Thursday October 8 – Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre
Saturday October 10 – Melbourne, Festival Hall
Sunday Octover 11 – Melbourne, Festival Hall
Wednesday October 14 – Sydney, Hordern Pavilion
Saturday October 17 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets on sale now!

www.ticketek.com.au

Metal Obsession are currently giving away 5 double passes for the upcoming Marilyn Manson tour, one for each capital city. To be in the running for this awesome prize, click on the link below and follow the details.

Metal Obsession – Marilyn Manson Giveway

Competition closes August 9th, 2009.