Interview:2012/03 Are you really a villain, Mr. Manson

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Are You Really A Villain, Mr. Manson?
MM Echo1 2012.jpg
Shock musician Marilyn Manson at the ECHO 2012
Interview with Marilyn Manson
Date March 27, 2012
Source Bild News Tabloid

His new album is called "Born Villain"[edit]

Are You Really A Villain, Mr. Manson?[edit]

By Ozlem Evans, Bild News Tabloid, Germany.

Translated by Cordula Forster from Erlangen, Germany. Google translation here.


Marilyn Manson (43) has invited (us) for an interview. It’s dark in the luxury suite in the Berlin Hyatt-Hotel. The candles at the table are blown out, the wax dropped down. It’s not allowed to film, photos shouldn’t be neither. The “shock-rocker” opens the door, ask for my name, pronounces it (almost) right. Most of the other musicians are not able to do so. “You have this fucking cool umlaut in your name” he notices. Most of his colleagues don’t know what a umlaut is, neither.


Manson has had a long day, he practiced with Rammstein for the Echo performance, talks with the press about his new album “Born Villain” the whole day. So you can’t resent his wish for a new drink. That he has already had some reveals his breath. Yet, he’s in a mood for working and talks about his life and philosophy in long monologues. It’s not possible to follow him all the time, sometimes his answers don’t refer to the questions. But: he’s not as scary as expected.


Bild: Are you really the villain everybody thinks you are?

Manson: A villain is not a criminal, as everyone thinks. And he doesn’t want to be one. A villain breaks the rules because he believes in something. A villain is a rebel who doesn’t give in. That’s what I am.


Bild: Why are most of the people scared of you?

Manson: Most of the people think that I don’t feel anything. They have their own picture of me, an idea of what I could be like. Most of the people are scared of things they don’t understand. The people who know me better are only scared of me when they know that I want to protect something that has a closer link to me.


Bild: What happens then?

Manson: I’m becoming a macho. I know, that sounds funny when it’s said by someone who uses lipstick. But I can really turn into a criminal. I am smart enough to know that it’s not worth, ending up in jail or dying. Then I could not protect the ones love. But I’m not afraid of breaking the rules.


Bild: So what are you scared of?

Manson: I’m not scared of anything, except myself. Some time ago I said I would be scared of not being creative anymore but that’s done. When I’m scared of something I challenge it. To live in fear is just stupid.


Bild: Are you scared of death?

Manson: No, I’m gonna die one day as we all will do so. But I know that I don’t want to die right now.


Bild: In your home, is it as dark (there) as here?

Manson: Most of the time. I live in Los Angeles over a liquor store in a formal dancing studio. It’s not really big. I only took my books, movies, drawing stuff, guitar and my cat Lily White with me. The walls are white, the carpet is black. A bit as in American Psycho. I have an armchair that was also in the movie. My apartment is like a playground for my friends. There, I can back out and be creative. My friends visit me at weekends.


Bild: What does an evening in your home look like?

Manson: We speak, draw, watch movies on a big canvas/screen (TV). We talk about art, make music.


Bild: Good!

Manson: People have a biased opinion about me without actually knowing me. I don’t always know what exactly they think. I know, they know my name, my music and hate or love it. But I have to admit that, when I tried to understand the way people see me, it made my life much harder. Then I made it easier with going to these people and talking to them. You came in here, I told you my name and you told me yours. We can talk, I can play one of my songs for you or we go out and rob a liquor store. But I don’t expect everybody to understand me, anymore.


Bild: Do you feel misunderstood?

Manson: I do not know that people understand me. I do not want to be shocking, confusing, I want to, because only then something changes. Once someone has understood you, that means the end. It is no longer a challenge.


Bild: Do you understand yourself?

Manson: I often understand myself later on. I never understood, why I wore make-up and fake tits on an album cover, until I remembered one day that my mother made me wear toupees and my grandfather was a transvestite, what I didn’t know at that time. Maybe it has something to do with that.


Bild: Do you go to a psychiatrist?

Manson: I am against psychiatry, I am for studying the soul/mind. I analyze myself . Nobody can decide for me, who I am, who I should be. It’s me who has to decide that. You have to believe in yourself and be confident. If you’re not, everything will break down. If you don’t do something, just because you didn’t believe in yourself, you’re an asshole.


Bild: How do you feel right now?

Manson: I’m fucking happy.


Bild: you also established yourself as an artist/ painter/drawer. If this part of your life was a painting, how would it look like?

Manson: During the recordings for this album, I painted a lot. But I haven’t had any colors, so I painted with the black ink my tatooer left here. The painting would be black and white. Maybe I would add some red. These three colors have a very strong expression. That’s why I always prefer women with black hair, white skin and red lips. Yes, black white and red. But the red would not be a color, but blood.