GIE
uncool. It's the classic story, but it's strange when it happens to you.
You never expect it and all of a sudden bang!
Metallica
lan-Freud would have a field day with them. Seventeen- to twenty-
three-year-old boys all screaming DIE! in a powerful release of sexual
frustration. It's like being around a bunch of young warriors at some
sort of ritual and they're all having their first orgasm. It was intense. I
genuinely got off on the tribal aspects of Metallica-they're one of the
greatest tribal acts of all time. To me, they represent the underground
of the music scene; they get down in the dirt and address a lot of dark
images that need to be talked about. It's important that darkness is be
ing explored as they explore it. I've got great admiration for James. I
think he's a true genius, a poet. The fact they did "One" on the Grammies
in front of all these uptight middle-class motherfuckers was great. They
did a song about a guy who got his arms and legs blown off in defense
of the dollar bill and democracy, and now all he wants to do is kill himself.
In ten years time, that song will be considered a classic.
How important is sexuality to The Cult?
lan-I think that The Cult has a certain raw, sexual content and raw,
sexual naivete which is exciting for people. My visions of sex and romance
are more along the lines of a silk robe and rose petals on the bed at
3:00 in the morning. More like honey than blood and razor blades.
I think that romanticism is a dying concept. Have you noticed that
in the arts we don't have the sort of sex symbols we used to; Prince
and Madonna aren't particularly sexy. Who has that dark, sexual energy
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that Brian Jones, Faye Dunaway and Nastassja Kinski once had-that
raw, sexual quality that used to make people freak out? We don't have
Marilyn Monroes anymore. Now, we've got New Kids on the Block and
Debbie Gibson.
What does money mean to The Cult?
lan-It's the root of everybody's evils. It decides the role models
we adhere to, the ways we behave, what we aspire to become. A lot
of people will hide behind a fur coat, but when you go inside, you'll find
nothing there. There's nothing any of us have that street people don't.
I find that street people have a lot more class and style because they're
forced to be individuals. If you're any kind of fighter at all, you thrive
upon your own individuality. In a more affluent society there are more
airs and graces to adhere to. Everyone wants to be accepted. Everyone
wants a certain degree of social power. Money is an illusion, a lie, a bunch
of crap
How does The Cult maintain its individuality in spite of rock's
stupidity?
lan-There are too many loose comments being thrown around
without thought like, 'Let's get wasted and party hearty, dude!" You say
that to a 16-year-old and some of them are going to take you seriously
and do just what you say. You can tell them to have fun, but you have.
to urge them to be careful. I remember sitting in the Milk Bar in L.A.
with Matt Dillon about four years ago, neither of us knowing who the
other was. At the end of the conversation, he turns around and spits
out one of the best one-liners I've ever heard: 'Have fun, but don't let
the fun use you.' A lot of kids tend to forget that.
Keith Richards gave birth to a million junkies. I know a lot of people.
out there think heroin is a status symbol of being an outlaw. The whole
narcissistic, dark glamour of shoving a needle in your arm, the whole
ideal of 'in goes the needle and out goes the pain' becomes romanticized.
Iggy and Patti Smith took that to the hilt. Lou Reed and William Bur-
roughs made it a romantic love affair, but what it was doing to the fans
who looked at these people as role models was very destructive. Still,
it's a two-sided coin. People like that act as satellites for all of us, going
out to the perimeters and bringing back essential information so we may
decide what is crap and what is not. It really pisses me off, though, when
people start talking about going to the edge without really ever going
there. They talk about the dark side, the addiction to drugs, alcoholism,
being beaten on. I would not write stuff that I haven't experienced myself
or been in close harmony with.
What made you write a song about Edie Sedgwick and Warhol-
"Edie (Ciao! Baby)"?
lan-I wrote that because there were a lot of parallels between her
and myself. I'm a huge fan of the Warholian sect, the Velvet Underground,
the movies that were made, Warhol himself, his art, what it meant socially.
Part of the anarchic self-indulgence of Guns n Roses is because of
Warhol. The peacock-like feathers, the colors rock and rollers tend to
wear all come from Warhol-and the Dolls and the Stooges.
Why does The Cult so often seem a band of contradictions?
Billy-We are a band of contradictions, especially since we've got
two completely different guys like me and lan. You're bound to get two
different stories on the same topic. There are contradictions to what we
do and, honestly, we don't have a set dogma or agenda when we do
interviews. As we grow, as our surroundings change, there are bound
to be contradictions.
lan-When you become a public figure it's almost impossible to not
become the advocator of lies. Occasionally, certain contrivances come
up. Even when you sign the contract to further your career, as innocent
and pure as you might feel, there are always compromises and con
tradictions. It just comes down to being able to live with yourself.
TUFF SKTS
AROUND THE WORLD
Sergie Ventura
10.25" X 31.75"
6.5" Tail
4.75" or 5.25" Nose
14.75" or 15.25" Wheel Base
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