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| Photo credit: Scarlet Page |
📢 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: [Leans forward with a conspiratorial grin.] “Are you trying to tell us something?“ [laughs]
𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗨𝗣 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗘?
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “In the past I think we may have been guilty of putting the lifestyle before the music. Now the focus is on doing what we do to the best of our abilities. And when you've managed to do that, then you can reward yourself and go a bit crazy. As long as you've got enough time to get over it before the next show. We don't want to let each other down, or the fans, even though maybe we never did let them down by embracing the rock lifestyle. Maybe it's what we needed to do. But then our capacity for consumption was far greater than it is now. As soon as you hit 25, hangovers completely change.“
𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗦?
📢 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: “Living as if there's a tomorrow. There's a great Chinese proverb: Live as if every day is your last, and as if you're going to live for another 100 years.“
𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗔 𝗕𝗬-𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗚𝗘?
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “You're not the same person you were when you were 22. You're 22 years old, you've been on welfare, and now you've got a record in the charts, money, people paying attention to you for the first time. You're going to go absolutely fucking apeshit. But then comes the post-coital depression. And that was 'Without you I'm nothing'. That's waking up after the party. You look around at the debris, and the memories come back. You feel ashamed and you place your head firmly against the pillow and go, "Oh, no ... Why?"“
𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠'𝗦 '𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 “𝗚𝗢𝗗'𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗦. 𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥.“ 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗚𝗢𝗗, 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥?
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Yeah, my older brother. [laughs.] I was raised a born-again Christian. I have my life over to Jesus when I was 11. I took it back when I was 14. But that stays with you for a long time. I remember my mother saying, "When Jesus knocks at your door, it's your choice to open the door or to leave it closed. And Jesus will knock for a while, but then your heart will become hardened and he will leave." And the song can be about that, or it can be about not letting someone else into your heart.“
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| Photo credit: Matthias Clamer |
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “I don't talk about our music with my mother, but she is proud of me. I think the song would have more of an effect on my dad. He tried to dissuade me from pursuing any artistic endeavours whatsoever. He ignored me for most of my life, and then wanted to be my friend when success came along. I think he studies the songs more. And I think he probably gets the message.“
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧'𝗦 𝗔𝗡 𝗨𝗡𝗨𝗦𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘.
📢 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: “It's shit.“
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “But that's dysfunctional families for you. And it made me the person I am today. The fact that my mother was extremely religious and my father was a businessman made me forge my own identity at a very young age.“
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧, 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗔𝗗 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗢 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗠 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥?
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “You hit the nail right on the head. I was being primed for the ministry. My leadership qualities were recognized and I had private Bible studies with the pastor.“
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 '𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘', 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗡? 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗝𝗢𝗕 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗨𝗡 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠.
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The song tells you to be an individual, believe in yourself and have the courage to chase your dreams. If you do, the rewards at the end are tenfold versus doing what your parents tell you to do. Get a good job, get married, have 2.4 children, 1.2 goldfish, 3.6 cars ... To a lot of people, that's the epitome of personal success. Which is why so many people get through a mid-life crisis. People reach a point in their lives and go, "Is this it?"“
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| Photo credit: Kevin Westenberg |
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Very much so. At the time of 'Without You I'm Nothing', I made a lor of bad lifestyle choices. Steve and a couple of other close friends had to grab me by the scruff of the neck and go "You're my friend, I love you. We depend on each other. You've really got to" - like the song says - "change your situation, otherwise you're not going to be on the planet for much longer." I was very lucky to have those people around me.“
𝗦𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗧𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗔 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥, 𝗔 𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗦𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚...
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Come back. You're worth more than this.“
𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡 ”𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗣𝗜𝗗 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕”, 𝗧𝗢 𝗤𝗨𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗜𝗡'𝗦 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 – 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗧 𝟮𝟳?
📢 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The world does not need another rock-and-roll casualty. Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin - we don't need more casualties like them. I refuse to let that happen. It doesn't mean I'm stronger than they were, but I just have this picture of myself as an old man, getting together with Stef and Steve at the age of 60. Not playing music, but sitting down and going, "Do you remember ... ?" So far my premonitions have been correct.“
(Alternative Press, August 2001)
Post by Silke
