Post by lilacJ on Jan 27, 2005 9:39:39 GMT -5
POLITICS AS UNUSUAL
A PERFECT CIRCLE'S MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN gets eMOTIVe about the war on terror, the future of the music business, and the sorry state of American Democracy.
By Andy Langer
eMOTIVe is obviously the most poitical record of your career. [/b]
Yeah. my voice and freedom of speech are on the line. In truth, I've been involved forever. I just tried to do it subtly. Like most liberals, I speak my mind and live and let live. I can't do that anymore. It's time to fight. If I'd been ranting about this stuff for years, you wouldn't be listening right now.
You're not alone in speaking out these days. This is obviously a time when musicians are politicizing. [/b]
I think that's great. I'm a pessimist though. I don't think we're going to get out of this thing. It's going to be another four years. And in this scenario, you hate being the guy that says, "I told you so." Ten years down the road, we're going to know that this is the worst president we ever had- the worst track record ever, up and down. Here we are, being told to fear fundamentalist extremists. And we should. But, by the way, our country is being run by a guy who's a fundamentalist extremist. He believes in a Heaven and a Hell and a guy up there judging what we do.
Did you sense any reluctance from your label about releasing a record this political?[/b]
That's the funny thing- we didn't. The people at Virgin Records thanked us for doing the record for them. But it's like, "I didn't do this for you! I did this for all of us." I'm trying my best to spread information so people can decide for themselves. This whole last tour with A Perfect Circle, I took a lot of hear for saying from the stage that you should use your vote. Your vote does count. We've been tricked into thinking it doesn't. If you don't use your vote, someone else will speak for you. This is a dictatorship. They've eliminated the flow of information. The censorship issues are rampant. My art is on the line here.
But traditionally, art thrives in repressive conditions. The Reagan/Bush years gave us hip-hop and alternative rock. Is our political agitation creating that kind of inspiration right now? [/b]
I don't think so. A lot of the forums have been choked out. They've figured out a way to limit the flow of information.
But with the internet, we have more information than ever before. [/b]
Maybe, but there are people working their asses off to make sure that when you do a search on something, wrong information pops up. This administrations understands how the inernet works.
Is the War on Terrorism a diversion from the real issues? [/b]
Absolutely. It's Orwellian stuff. The search-and-seizure laws? The Patriot Act? It's fucking obscene. These people prey on your weakness. They know that people who have a rational view of the world also have a compassionate view of the world. THey know we have a live-and-let-live attitude. And they prey on that viciously. They also know if they point and say, "Witch! Witch! Witch!" and have enough people yelling, there's nothing you can say to suggest you're not a witch.
I'm not so sure there are a lot of young Republicans in your audience, though. Are you preaching to the converted? [/b]
In some ways, yes. But there are a lot of kids online claiming they're going to burn their APC and Tool CDs because I'm against this administration. Okay, I guess you missed the point then. THese are not fans. They don't understand our ideals.
eMOTIVe features an interesting version of Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." Won't some people be surprised to hear Maynard James Keenan singing what we think of as a peacenik anthem?[/b]
I already sang it last year on Lollapalooza with Chris Cornell. If you've followed our progress and seen what we're about, it shouldn't be odd. If you've listened to Tool's Lateralus start to finish, you'll see it- it's already there. And [APC's] Thirteenth Step is all about compassion. If you can't find compassion in our music, you're not looking. In fact, you're in denial.
Musically, how challenging was it to cover these songs? [/b]
Very. If we're going to make a statement, just covering the songs verbatim doesn't work. I can't do that. I have to put some kind of signature on it that makes people feel we digested it and spit it back out in a way that takes it to another level. We want to show the artists behind the songs that we mean business, and that we understand what they said and tried to take it further for them.
A PERFECT CIRCLE'S MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN gets eMOTIVe about the war on terror, the future of the music business, and the sorry state of American Democracy.
By Andy Langer
eMOTIVe is obviously the most poitical record of your career. [/b]
Yeah. my voice and freedom of speech are on the line. In truth, I've been involved forever. I just tried to do it subtly. Like most liberals, I speak my mind and live and let live. I can't do that anymore. It's time to fight. If I'd been ranting about this stuff for years, you wouldn't be listening right now.
You're not alone in speaking out these days. This is obviously a time when musicians are politicizing. [/b]
I think that's great. I'm a pessimist though. I don't think we're going to get out of this thing. It's going to be another four years. And in this scenario, you hate being the guy that says, "I told you so." Ten years down the road, we're going to know that this is the worst president we ever had- the worst track record ever, up and down. Here we are, being told to fear fundamentalist extremists. And we should. But, by the way, our country is being run by a guy who's a fundamentalist extremist. He believes in a Heaven and a Hell and a guy up there judging what we do.
Did you sense any reluctance from your label about releasing a record this political?[/b]
That's the funny thing- we didn't. The people at Virgin Records thanked us for doing the record for them. But it's like, "I didn't do this for you! I did this for all of us." I'm trying my best to spread information so people can decide for themselves. This whole last tour with A Perfect Circle, I took a lot of hear for saying from the stage that you should use your vote. Your vote does count. We've been tricked into thinking it doesn't. If you don't use your vote, someone else will speak for you. This is a dictatorship. They've eliminated the flow of information. The censorship issues are rampant. My art is on the line here.
But traditionally, art thrives in repressive conditions. The Reagan/Bush years gave us hip-hop and alternative rock. Is our political agitation creating that kind of inspiration right now? [/b]
I don't think so. A lot of the forums have been choked out. They've figured out a way to limit the flow of information.
But with the internet, we have more information than ever before. [/b]
Maybe, but there are people working their asses off to make sure that when you do a search on something, wrong information pops up. This administrations understands how the inernet works.
Is the War on Terrorism a diversion from the real issues? [/b]
Absolutely. It's Orwellian stuff. The search-and-seizure laws? The Patriot Act? It's fucking obscene. These people prey on your weakness. They know that people who have a rational view of the world also have a compassionate view of the world. THey know we have a live-and-let-live attitude. And they prey on that viciously. They also know if they point and say, "Witch! Witch! Witch!" and have enough people yelling, there's nothing you can say to suggest you're not a witch.
I'm not so sure there are a lot of young Republicans in your audience, though. Are you preaching to the converted? [/b]
In some ways, yes. But there are a lot of kids online claiming they're going to burn their APC and Tool CDs because I'm against this administration. Okay, I guess you missed the point then. THese are not fans. They don't understand our ideals.
eMOTIVe features an interesting version of Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." Won't some people be surprised to hear Maynard James Keenan singing what we think of as a peacenik anthem?[/b]
I already sang it last year on Lollapalooza with Chris Cornell. If you've followed our progress and seen what we're about, it shouldn't be odd. If you've listened to Tool's Lateralus start to finish, you'll see it- it's already there. And [APC's] Thirteenth Step is all about compassion. If you can't find compassion in our music, you're not looking. In fact, you're in denial.
Musically, how challenging was it to cover these songs? [/b]
Very. If we're going to make a statement, just covering the songs verbatim doesn't work. I can't do that. I have to put some kind of signature on it that makes people feel we digested it and spit it back out in a way that takes it to another level. We want to show the artists behind the songs that we mean business, and that we understand what they said and tried to take it further for them.