'''M:''' It’s bigger and better. [Last tour] we were kind of limited to what we could do.  We tried to play a lot of material to kind of give people their money’s worth.  This show’s going to be more focused into what I wanted to do originally.  Three different parts, that are very separate, that kind of meet together and make for one big show. </blockquote>

'''M:''' Its focused a lot more.  The show opens revolving around my idea on ''Mechanical Animals'', so I feel like an alien-messiah trying to bring together all the other people who feel the same way. Then it turns into the glam-rock exaggeration, and it ends with the danger of power, which becomes ''Antichrist Superstar''. </blockquote>

'''P: Watching your success, you became the model for legions of fans. A lot of people feel like you “betrayed the following.” Do you still feel like you are being what everybody expected you to be?''' </blockquote>

'''M:''' It’s a difficult situation because, for me, my nature has always been to try and be something different than what’s around me.  And if what I was doing became a bit of a trend, then there was no reason for me to do it because it was self-defeating.  It’s not like I decided not to wear make-up and I put on a pair of jeans and started playing folk songs.  I think what I did just evolved and it became a little more sophisticated.  I figured that since ''Antichrist Superstar'' meant so much in my personal transformation, the fans probably, in their own ways, grew from it also.  I’m sure everybody doesn’t want to stay trapped into one idea.  I think people come to a show and they want to feel liberated.  They want music to be an escape.  By emulating their favourite bands, I don’t think it’s following. I think it’s their way of saying, “hey, I believe in the same thing you do, “and it’s better than believing in the rest of the world, which has no faith in us.  If anyone feels betrayed, I think maybe they’re looking at it from a more shallow point-of –view, because I felt like making this record, I related to my fans more than ever because being thrust into a position of fame and living in a place like Hollywood, I felt more alienated than ever.  It was almost like the way you feel in high school, where if you’re popular everyone hates you, if you’re not popular then you can’t hang out with the popular kids.  It’s like a weird big version of high school.  I felt like I had more in common with my fans now than ever. </blockquote>

'''P: You’re one of the popular guys now.'''</blockquote>

'''M:''' Well, I got stuck being one of the popular guys, but I’m still a geek.</blockquote>

<br>

'''M:''' I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “drugs” mentioned so many times in a song and had it played on the radio! </blockquote>

'''M:''' The statement is on a couple of different levels.  First of all, it was meant to be sarcastic, because this song is so rock. Musically it pays homage to “''School’s Out''” by Alice Cooper, it’s got “''Jean Genie''” by [David] Bowie, and it’s got “''The Passenger''” by Iggy Pop.  I deliberately referenced all these great glam-rock songs to say, “Rock isn’t dead.” On the other level, I was saying that so many people tried to suppress not only me, but music in general - whether it’s the Christian right, or it’s hip-hop music trying to drown everything out and take over.  Also, we’ve done everything you can do in rock.  It’s hard to create something new that’s legitimate.  You can do things that are noisy, you can’t do things that are kind of tuneless, but the whole idea of rock, it’s all been done, so you can only reanimate something that’s already dead.  So, music is kind of a zombie now either way.  The song just had a lot of different levels to it and was just supposed to be a song that shows how effortlessly that it’s rock. </blockquote>

'''P: With all the exposure given to “superstars,” do you think the elevated expectations from the public are healthy?''' </blockquote>

'''M:''' It depends on who you are. For me, and even for Courtney, because the media has made us into larger-than-life celebrities, because we’re pretty much as famous as Garth Brooks or Michael Jackson or Cher or Madonna, people kind of expect the same from us.  But I’m proud that what I do is so completely more controversial and so much more thought-provoking than any other pop artist out today…Just to be a pop artist at any level and to do what I do is an achievement for me.  It makes me feel good that I know that I’m getting a message out that most people would never hear, and being able to make videos that MTV plays a lot aren’t your typical thing. </blockquote>

'''M:''' Sometimes, depending on what kind of mood I’m in.  What I do dislike is when I’m at the airport, for example, and someone who I know for sure isn’t a fan will come up and bother me about an autograph or something like that. Usually I would just say, “No,” but now I have a new test – I say, “Can you name three songs off my new record?”  If they can’t, I say, “You know what? I’m sorry. If you go buy the record and you listen to it…” Cause those are the same people that as soon as you turn your back they say, “That guy’s a f.cking asshole.” But they still want a piece of you, though.  That I don’t like.  And people get really bitter too.  A lot of times someone will come up and they’ll say, “Hey, can I take a picture.” And I’ll say, “You know, I don’t really want to right now.”  “See I’m really a big fan.” “Well, you know what? I hope you understand; I just don’t want to.” And then they say, “Well, f.ck you, you’re an asshole, I don’t want your picture anyway.”  Well you know they’re not a fan because they wouldn’t act like that. I try to think back to when I was younger and I would see someone that I admired – I would be too afraid to even approach them, let alone start yelling at them. </blockquote>

'''M:''' I think we concentrated on making this a worldwide success.  A lot of bands – White Zombie, Korn – didn’t bother to tour Europe on this album.  They didn’t think it was worthwhile, but for me it really paid off because there are fans there, it doesn’t mean that they don’t matter to me.  I think we just concentrated on all that. We did a little bit in America, now we’re going to do a lot more America. </blockquote>

'''M:''' I am going to focus on the movie, but I guess the good part is, the movie does revolve a lot around the album, particularly some of the integral parts like “''Coma White''” and “''Great Big White World'',” and the storyline that kind of inspired it all. I’m not really sure where things are going to go.  I know that I want to start working on that in the summer and hopefully have it out by the end of the year, or the very beginning [of next year] if I could get it done that quickly. </blockquote>

'''M:''' Well, the story was something that I had in my head, and that’s where the songs came from.  As the songs came to life, the story kind of grew also.  It’s all really a metaphor for my own life, but the story, without giving away too much, takes place in an alternate dystopia of Hollywood where everything is taken to the extreme.  It’s sort of Andy Warhol’s worst nightmare, combined with scientology and communism.  If you imagined everything was as far as anyone can take it, the way the movie stars are treated.  There are a lot of references to the way that I see John F. Kennedy as a modern day Christ and how religion kind of sprouts from that.  It’s a really strange story, but in the end it’s a parable about fame and love and what matters to you the most.  It’s strangely got a kind of heart to it, but I can’t say it’s got a happy ending.  The video for “''Coma White''” is adapted from my script, so it will be a bit of a teaser, a hint at what people can expect…Though I’m sure they won’t understand it or make it any clearer. </blockquote>

'''M:''' First of all, my theory that I’ve really been thinking about since I had so much interaction with Christianity after doing ''Antichrist Superstar'', is that Christ was the blue-print for celebrity.  He was the first celebrity, or rock star if want to look at it that way, and he became this image of sexuality and suffering.  He’s literally marketed – A crucifix is no different than a concert shirt in some ways.  I think for America, in my lifetime, John F. Kennedy kind of took the place of that in some ways.  He became lifted up as this icon and this Christ figure. I started to, in my weird, drugged version of Hollywood, dream up a world where these dead stars are really saints. Jackie O[nassis] is kind of like Mary Immaculate.  That’s what I was thinking when I was writing the album, and I hinted that in a lot of songs, like “''Posthuman''.” </blockquote>

'''M:''' Probably. But now, taking into consideration me learning more emotional dynamics and more musical dynamics, I think I could make a more balanced record.  If you put ''Antichrist Superstar'' and ''Mechanical Animals'' together they make a great combination…I like to take those two discs and put them on shuffle, it makes a really interesting double-album, like the [Beatles’] ''White'' album.  I think that’s probably what I would expect -  something that has those extreme lows and extreme highs.  But I don’t expect the next album to be quite as sarcastic, or having as much humor as I did on some of this album.</blockquote>

 

'''M:''' There are going to be a lot of problems on t his tour, which I welcome.  I think the energy those [negative] people bring is very important because it makes everybody realize that what we’re doing is important to society – not just rock concerts. It is that, but it can be so much more.  I still feel as dangerous as ever and I think the touring that we’ve done so far… Particularly in Australia… In the middle of the show, when it became Omega and the ''Mechanical Animals'', we started getting this really ugly homophobic response from these Australians.  I got hit in the kidney with a Whiskey bottle that broke on me, and then I got hit in the leg with one too. Pogo got a concussion.  And I just stopped the show and I’m like, “If you guys want to fight why don’t you just come up here and do it?” And there was a guy, who was obviously the one who did it, and he’s like, “I want to come on.” He got on, he’s in the barricade and I jumped down there with my mic stand and just started beating the shit out of him. The security guards had to break it up.  There’s no shortage of danger as far as our shows go.  I had to flee from the police in Las Vegas on New Years eve because I burned and American flag at the end of the show, I had to hide in my hotel room. It was my protest to Bill Clinton’s treatment, so I had to burn the flag for people that received blow jobs. I still think he should had cited my book in his defense. </blockquote>

'''M:''' Absoloutely…She’s got balls. She’s a colorful person. Some people may say she’s crazy, I think she’s colorful. Actually, I have a small cameo in her movie Jawbreaker, and the scene is as metal edge as it could possibly be – I have a mostache, I’m having doggy style sex, and the music they’re playing is “''Rock You Like A Hurricane'',” by the Scorpions. You can’t beat it. That’s as metal as it gets! </blockquote>

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see also: '''[[:Category:Interviews|Interviews]]'''<br>

'''[[:Category:Mechanical Animals era|Mechanical Animals era]]'''<br>