Editing Interview:1998/11 Guitar World

{{Interview
|Image     = GW-1198.jpg
|Caption   =
|Title     = What The Devil - Marilyn Manson has gone glam?
|Artist    = [[Twiggy]]
|Date      = November, 1998 
|Source    = 
|scans     = 
}}


'''What The Devil - Marilyn Manson has gone glam?'''<br>
'''Twiggy Ramirez gives us all the dope on the pains and pleasures of living in Hollywood.'''<br>


A black limousine glides up Sunset Strip. [[Twiggy|Twiggy Ramirez]] lounges in the back seat, conservatively dressed in a black long-sleaved shirt, black slacks and a red tie--like Gary Numan on the cover of the Replicas album. It's a far cry from the frocks, bondage gear and ghoul make-up that Twiggy, who is Marilyn Manson's right-hand man, often wears on stage and in photo ops with Manson. But conventional attire only serves to accentuate Twiggy's inherent freakishness. He's a walking skeleton, all thin-limbed. His face seems preternaturally elongated, like an image in a funhouse mirror, which somehow gives his abundant black dreadlocks the appearance of a foppish, 18th Century wig that's been knocked slightly askew. As the limo threads through afternoon traffic, Twiggy offers a running on the West Hollywood rock and roll landmarks that pass by:


"Oh man, the Whiskey. I was in there only once - when we played there."


The members of Marilyn Manson have been living in L.A. for about a year now. And like many newcomers to the city, Twiggy still seems a little mesmerized by this place where stardom was, after all, invented. The limo pulls up in front of famed hard rock eatery the Rainbow. Inside, a young lady with boobs like basketballs leads us to a table in a dark corner. Twiggy orders up a hearty middle American repast: steak and fries, with fried mozzarella sticks and a salad for starters. These items are consumed with good appetite beneath framed, autographed photos of Eighties metal stars who were heroes to young Jeordie White in the days before he joined Marilyn Manson and took the name of a Swinging London fashion icon and the surname of serial killer Richard Ramirez. As the band's bassist, guitarist and de facto musical director, Twiggy has become second only to Marilyn Manson himself in terms of media visibility and paparazzi appeal. It's been this way ever since the Antichrist Superstar album made Marilyn Manson the most controversial, headline-grabbing thing to happen to rock music since Ozzy bit the head off the dove.


The group's popularity seems likely to spread even further with the release of its new album,[[Mechanical Animals (album)| Mechanical Animals]]. This is the first album the band has made without [[Trent Reznor]] ([[Nine Inch Nails]]), who discovered Marilyn Manson, signed them to his label ([[Nothing Records]]) and has produced all their records to date. This time, however, the band opted for Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn. As always, the Manson family is full of surprises. They've pretty much jettisoned the tortured, post-industrial yowling and thrash guitar maelstrom of [[Antichrist Superstar (song)|Antichrist Superstar]]. Instead they've gone for a more hook-happy, song-oriented approach, drawing from trashy styles like glam, disco and early Eighties synthpop, fusing all this into a darkly appealing piece of Manson conceptualism. The much-vaunted Satanism is in scant evidence this time, too. Instead, Manson seems to be emphasizing the good, old-fashioned values: Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. "We're all stars in the dope show," he croons on the albums first single ("[[The Dope Show]]"), over slinky, strip-tease backbeat and distressed wah guitar textures.


The making of the album brought personnel as well as musical changes for [[Marilyn Manson (band)|Marilyn Manson]]. Guitarist [[Zim Zum]] left the band shortly after tracking was completed, but not without leaving his mark on the disc. He will be replaced on the forthcoming [[Mechanical_Animals_Tour|Mechanical Animals tour]] by former David Lee Roth and Rob Halford guitarist John Lowery. On the album, as always, [[Twiggy]] played both bass and guitar, contributing heavily to the songwriting as well.


"It's less riffy, in a heavy metal sense," he says of the new album. "That may disappoint some people. But I think a lot of the fans who were into Antichrist Superstar have grown up and gotten a little older. So I think we're on the same page as them. To be honest with you, I didn't think people would get Antichrist Superstar either, because it was a complete U-turn from something like '[[Sweet Dreams]].' But they did."


Given the band's love of twisted artifice, it's no surprise that Marilyn Manson have thrived in the land of smoggy sunlight and silicone implants. Mr. Manson is dating actress [[Rose McGowan]]. Twiggy regularly paints the town red with his new buddy, former Jane's Addiction/Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro. Los Angeles is known as a city where glamour coexists with terror. Marilyn Manson has found a place to call home.


'''Guitar World:'''
Compared to Antichrist Superstar, this new record seems more "Marilyn" than "Manson." It's fun and seductive.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Definitely. We pretty much wrote every song to be a single. We weren't thinking about that on Antichrist Superstar. That music held a lot of anger. This one is a little prettier. There are a lot more emotions involved in this than just anger. The last one was a lot harder. But there's really no point in doing that over and over again. It was time to reinvent ourselves. 'Cause if you listen to our records before Antichrist Superstar, they're all different too.

'''Guitar World:'''
What triggered this change of style?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
A lot of the record is a reflection of our moving to Hollywood. We wanted to have a California record. I'd never lived in California. So we said, "Let's move out to L.A." We rented a house and started writing songs. Nothing was really written before then. So the Hollywood vibe definitely shines through on the songs. Just living up in the Hollywood Hills, you look out on Los Angeles at night time and it's almost like outer space or something, because of all the city lights. And you feel like you've on top of the world. But you're kind of alone. And that has to do with stardom, too" the loneliness thing. Before, we felt we were alone because nobody knew who we were. Now we feel alone because everybody knows who we are. You actually feel more alone when everybody knows who you are than you do when nobody does. Being popular is just a different kind of isolation.

'''Guitar World:'''
People perceive you as an icon, not as a person.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
It's bizarre: everybody just automatically assumes you're being an asshole or a dick because you're being yourself. You start to question your own happiness. Do I have to sacrifice my own happiness just to be perceived a certain way by other people? When people automatically think you're a dick, you have to be extra nice to everyone just to be an alright guy. But they kind of accept you more here in Hollywood.

'''Guitar World:'''
There are a lot of dope songs on the new album.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah, the drug use while making this record was more fun than it was when we recorded the last album. Antichrist Superstar was a lot more painful, I think, just recording the album. Everyone was on drugs and it wasn't necessarily a fun thing. This was definitely more positive. Although some of the songs are actually darker, lyrically.

'''Guitar World:'''
What exactly is "[[The Dope Show]]"?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
That one is the most Hollywood song. It's kind of a reflection of how you'll be at home here, and suddenly you'll find yourself hanging out with Scott Baio and the guys from Iron Maiden, all in one place. And the next thing you know, Corey Feldman's knocking on your door to sing karaoke in your house. Coming here and hanging out with people who were your icons when you were growing up. The crazy experiences you go through with them. You see how they view stardom after it has already passed.

'''Guitar World:'''
So is it dope as in "stupid," or as in "drugs"? Is it hip-hop slang, like, "that's really dope"?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Personally, I see it as drugs, "The Dope Show." The music and entertainment business are highly fueled on drugs and flavor-of-the-month and stuff like that. Who's popular at the moment. And how many people want to be around you because it makes them feel good about themselves, 'cause you're famous or important or whatever. It's amazing how may people in the movie industry want to hang out with rock stars or be rock stars. so you get immense respect from people who you thought were more famous than you. Johnny Depp gave me this guitar worth about four or five thousand dollars, this Valeno from the mid-Seventies that's made out of airplane aluminum. It's really cool.

'''Guitar World:'''
Sean Beavan was telling me how you started writing up at the house, using sequencers and Pro Tools and things like that. And how you ten moved down to Conday to finish the record with more live playing.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. On the last album, a lot of what was great about the demos was lost when we went into the studio and did the record. With this one, we were able to save some of the parts from the demos. A lot of songs are hybrids of stuff from the demos and live performances in the studio. This is the most live record we've ever dome. Before, a lot of the stuff was cut and made perfect, with all the guitar and bass parts playing exactly the same thing, really tight and perfect. But this one's a lot looser. All the performances are pretty much live, like one pass through on the guitar and bass. But then that's edited together with more mechanical stuff. It's a real mixture of mechanical and real playing.

'''Guitar World:'''
Mechanical and animal.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. This record has a lot more flesh to it than the last one-- It's more human. And that has to do with the fact that we're a lot more human now, I think.

'''Guitar World:'''
Is the world ready for a more human Marilyn Manson?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
I think the Marilyn side is actually a little scarier than the Manson sire. With Antichrist, we created these personas and, in a Ziggy Stardust king of way, just told everyone we were going to be these big rock stars. And we just became that. And now this record is king of dealing with our personas more in terms of who we really are. Twiggy kind of devoured who I really was. But it helped me to find myself more.

'''Guitar World:'''
Actors often say that about roles they play.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
It's definitely a role-playing thing. But I can't say it's being fake. In playing a part, you learn more about yourself.

'''Guitar World:'''
You discover a part of yourself that you might not have otherwise.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah; I feel I'm really fortunate. Because a lot of people get trapped into just one identity. And that kind of limits your mind. I've escaped that kind of trap. Plus you can get away with a lot of stuff, too. "Oh it wasn't me who did that, it was that other guy I've become."

'''Guitar World:'''
Some of the songs on the new album seem more personal than others.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
That's because there's a human side to the record, but there's also this fictitious glam band that we created on this album. On Antichrist Superstar there was Antichrist Superstar. Now there's [[Omega]] and the Mechanical Animals, as we're gonna call it. It's this other entity that the band evolved into, which is portrayed on a certain part of the record. And that's were I think the two different emotions come from. There's a truthful human side and there's a... not really make-believe... but more of a rock star, rock and roll vibe there too.

'''Guitar World:'''
Listening to the record for the first time does feel kind of like checking out a brand new band. There's that sense of, "Who are these guys?"

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
We're lucky in the fact that we're more of an art project than an actual musical band. I mean, we are a band. But this allows us to be a lot more schizophrenic in our sound. 'Cause we're not trapped in this one certain sound that people expect to hear from us every time. The fact that the entity of Marilyn Manson is more important than the music has actually benefited us, I think. Because it has allowed us more room to do different things.

'''Guitar World:'''
Some of the tunes have a Seventies-era Bowie kind of vibe to them.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Definitely. A lot of our influences are in there. I think this is the most collective of our records. It's also the most diverse, because there's a lot of different styles of songs. I wouldn't say we were ripping anyone off. It's more certain eras of music that we wanted to capture on tape now, but done in a more modern way. That's where you see some of the debt to Bowie or Pink Floyd or whoever.

'''Guitar World:'''
There's an early Eighties, Gary Numan thing happening on the record too, which is pretty cool. Like the song "[[New Model No. 15|New Model]]": That riff, those drum machine handclaps!

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Thank you. Yeah, it's very Gary Numan.

'''Guitar World:'''
Are you, Manson and the others alike in your musical tastes, or are you each bringing in really different influences?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
I think we're pretty much alike. I can write a million songs. But, as far as Marilyn Manson goes, it comes out the way it does because of Marilyn-- our working relationship and how we write songs. I mold myself to be whatever the song needs. I really don't think of putting in my playing style on bass or guitar. It's not important to me for that to be put on a record. I see myself more as a songwriter tan an actual player. I don't really care about guitar playing or bass playing. I care about songs. So when we go to write a song, whether it's on guitar or bass, I try to pretend I'm a different person, depending on whether we want an early Eighties sound, a mid Nineties sound-- whatever we're going for.

'''Guitar World:'''
How does it typically work when you and Marilyn write together? Give me a scenario.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
It's all different. Sometimes it'll start with an idea for a song and we'll write everything around the idea. Other times, we'll just have a couple of chords that make sense to us and we'll build a song around that. For instance, "The Dope Show" was written in about five minutes. That's why it's my favorite. Other songs on the record, like "The Great Big White World" and "Mechanical Animals," went through several different changes. But "The Dope Show" was a lot like "The Beautiful People". It was written in pretty much the same form as the final recording. "I Wanna Disappear" was written really quickly, too. I like the songs that come out really quickly. They have a sense of honesty and truth.

'''Guitar World:'''
What was it like to make a record without Trent Reznor for the first time?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
We learned a lot form him in the past and took it with us. I think people are deceived into thinking he had a lot to do with our songwriting. he had a lot to do with the sound of Antichrist Superstar because he was almost like a member of the band on that record. But the fact that people think he had a lot to do with our songwriting really pushed us to prove ourselves as songwriters on this record. That's why there are more real songs on this one. I'm happy with the last record, but I'm happier with this one.

'''Guitar World:'''
So what did Michael Beinhorn bring to the party?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
He really taught me how to play a little ahead of the beat on bass and a little behind the beat on guitar. Almost like a Led Zeppelin type of thing. I'd never noticed that before in music. I think that's why this record has more of a live feel. He got me to love music again. Before, I was starting to hate it and not be interested in it anymore.

'''Guitar World:'''
There were reports that Billy Corgan was involved in the making of your new record. Did you work with him very much?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Billy's participation on the record was more in the way of friendship than actual songwriting. He was doing his record around the same time we were doing ours. We'd spend days in the swimming pool over his house doing weird shit. He'd listen to our songs, I'd listen to his songs. It was more his friendship that had an impression on some of the songs than any actual work he did. He didn't really tell us to change parts or play things a certain way. His influence was more personal.

'''Guitar World:'''
How did you and Zim Zum divide up the guitar playing duties on this album?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
The songs that are mine, I don't trust anybody else with. I pretty much want to do everything, when it comes down to it. If I wrote it, I feel like I should play it. I mean, Zim Zum played only a couple of leads here and there, because he couldn't do his job.

'''Guitar World:'''
What happened there?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
He just couldn't do his job, pretty much.

'''Guitar World:'''
Musically?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
In general. I don't want to get into it. He just couldn't do his job.

'''Guitar World:'''
His departure from the band has been described as an amicable one. He's described it that way.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. Well, it's in his interest to. He said he quit the band. But you'd be pretty stupid to quit this band.

'''Guitar World:'''
There is a pattern here. After a studio album, the guitarist leaves. First it was [[Scott Putesky|Daisy Berkowitz]]. Now it's Zim Zum.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. That's usually because I intimidate those people into not doing anything. And when they don't do anything, we have a reason for letting them go.

'''Guitar World:'''
So it's a tough job being the other guitar player in Marilyn Manson.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. Because Marilyn and I have a working relationship. It's not that I'm better or anything. 'Cause I don't think talent is about being a technically good guitar player. I think it's about having good taste in music. Because the best guitar players have ads in the back of Guitar World plugging their guitar methods. They're not in bands. And they're not songwriters. So ability and technique are really irrelevant. It's songs that matter.

'''Guitar World:'''
Who played the guitar solo in "[[Fundamentally Loathsome]]"?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
That was Zimmy. I never learned how to play guitar solos. The guitar solos I do are pretty much little melodies. Beatles melodies or whatever.

'''Guitar World:'''
Does this album have anything like the 29 tracks of guitar that are on "Antichrist Superstar"?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Not really. There's more acoustic guitar and things like that. There's a lot more space on this record. Like you said, on the last album there were 29 guitars on "Antichrist Superstar" and that really made everything else irrelevant. Although it sounded great. With this album there's one bass sound that's louder and heavier than all those 29 guitars together. The bass was going through a gigantic P.A. that we had hooked up to the live room. The subwoofers made it so loud that the whole building would shake.

'''Guitar World:'''
What kind of bass was it?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Either a [Gibson] EBO or a [Fender] Precision bass. Most of the guitar parts were done on a Les Paul. Before recording the record, I didn't own a guitar. Mow I have 25. Before, I'd just pick up anything. I recorded a lot of soundtrack stuff before this record just on a little Fernandes with a speaker built inside - a little tiny toy guitar hooked up to a guitar processor. But since then, I've just developed a love for guitars. I went out and bought a shitload of them. So now I just have a bunch of fuckin' wood.

'''Guitar World:'''
But Les Pauls, you say, are the core of the sound?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah. I used just one Les Paul for most of the record. And some SGs here and there. On the last record, I detuned the guitar to E flat or D for several songs. But the songs on this album were written more in the keys that pop songs are written in. So there are a few different tunings on this record, but not as much as on the last record. I moved the guitar around my playing on the last record, and on this one I moved my playing around the guitar more.

'''Guitar World:'''
I like the fuzz bass sound in "[[I Want to Disappear|I Wanna Disappear]]."

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Oh yeah. That's a good example of computer and live feel together. The rhythm and the bass are all live. But there's also a computer bass and a mixture of miked guitars and direct guitars.

'''Guitar World:'''
[[Sean Beavan]] also told me you blew up a lot of amps.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Oh yeah. The recording process was: take two days to set up something, then five minutes to play the part and blow up something. The playing was the easy part.

'''Guitar World:'''
Did things get pretty wild in the studio?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
One time we had black backup singer girls and porn star backup singers. They all came the same day. And my friend Dave Navarro was playing the guitar solo at the end of the song called "[[I_Don't_Like_the_Drugs_(But_the_Drugs_Like_Me)|I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me]])." And Leif Garrett walked in the room. So to see the backup singers, the porn stars, Dave Navarro and Leif Garrett all in one room at the same time was pretty weird.

'''Guitar World:'''
"I Don't Like the Drugs" has a total disco beat. It's like K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Brilliant!

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
We wanted to do a song that captured that era: that Seventies disco rock cocaine music, with Bowie and the Stones. When all the rock bands went disco. Aerosmith did it. Kiss' Dynasty. I was a weird era of Studio 54, cocaine, "boogie nights" and rock music turning disco that I remember growing up in.

'''Guitar World:'''
What a hook, too. If that song doesn't become a huge it, there's really something wrong with the world. Although I guess half the radio stations in America won't play it.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
In the past we've never had any big radio songs. But we've already gotten a lot of attention from "The Dope Show."

'''Guitar World:'''
Was that your intent--to go after radio this time?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Not really. If we were going after radio, we'd probably sound like Sugar Ray right now. And then we'd quit. But let me tell you one more thing about drugs. I've recently been experimenting with ketamine. You ever try that before?

'''Guitar World:'''
No.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Horse tranquilizer. But if you take enough of it, it's really weird. It's crazier than acid. It's different from cocaine. Like, mentally, it's pretty weird. I had to call Dave Navarro to come and pick me up. Because my room was getting smaller. It was shrinking on me and I was stuck inside my room. So he had to come pick me up and take me to his house.

'''Guitar World:'''
I wouldn't want to be freaking out on drugs and be in Dave Navarro's house, with all those skeletons and coffins he's got lying around. Don't you find that a little disturbing?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
[dismissively] Nah. Maybe it's a little scary when he brings out his guns and stuff. But anyway, we were supposed to get up the next morning and Dave Murray from Iron Maiden was supposed to come over to Dave Navarro's house. We were supposed to meet him because we couldn't make it to the show. But we slept right through it. Dave Murray was knocking on the door trying to get in and we slept right through it.

'''Guitar World:'''
There's a famous incident where the Who's Keith Moon passed out on stage after taking horse tranquilizers.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Was that what it was? Those are really cool, yeah. The first time I did it, I thought it was coke, 'cause it was white. And then I couldn't leave my bedroom. You know how when you're tranquilized, I think it separates your nervous system from your subconsciousness or something. It's almost like an out-of-body experience. It's like your first acid trip or something. When you first take acid, the one time you have a really good acid trip it changes you. It's like that. It kind of knocked a screw loose and made me happy in a weird way. It was kind of like therapy. Ever since I did it a couple of weeks ago - and I haven't really done it since then - it's knocked a screw loose. I used to wake up and dread the day and not want to do anything. But now it's put my mind at ease. I forget to be miserable. It's really weird.

'''Guitar World:'''
When they say "I'm really happy now" and "I'm finding myself," that's usually a prelude to "I do yoga and exercise and I don't take drugs anymore."

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
[looking horrified] No. No! That's the last thing I'd say. Feel free to talk about all the drugs you want. It's all about the money, girls and drugs. That's what it all comes down to. Money, girls, drugs and music last. If you have money, you can have drugs and then you can have girls.

'''Guitar World:'''
So, money first...

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Well if you have the money, then you have the freedom to be able to do the drugs and get away with it and not be a loser. And, well, girls are always there. And also, if you have money and you're a rock star, no one looks down on you if you're on drugs. You're allowed to. That's one of the status symbols of being a rock star. And I guess if you have all those other things, then you have the freedom to keep on being able to make music.

'''Guitar World:'''
I heard there's going to be a Marilyn Manson movie.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
There are plans. I wouldn't say it's at a stage to be talked about yet. We wanted to do a movie with Antichrist Superstar, but I'm glad we didn't, in a way. Because this album will be a lot more relevant.

'''Guitar World:'''
Kiss are making a movie, you know.

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
What, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, Part II? You know, Gene Simmons once said, "We're here to show Marilyn Manson what it's all about." How flattering. People said, "Aren't you mad that he said that?" No. That's the biggest flattery you can get. Kiss came back just for me! Gene Simmons saying "We're here to show you guys what it's all about. You have to wear some makeup so everyone cares." They should go back to their Animalize days. That's what they should do. They should do "Heaven's on Fire" again. Lick It Up and Animalize.

'''Guitar World:'''
You were once part of the Florida death metal scene. Do you still follow it?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Not really. just 'cause I'm not there anymore. My roots are still from there. Only because that's all I had at the time. My world was this big [cups hands to form a circle about three inches in diameter]. I still listen to death metal, and not only from Florida. A lot of those bands are getting back together now. Like Venom, wherever they're from. They got recognized because bands like Pantera would wear their T-shirts and stuff. And that's cool. When I was in the ninth grade I had a Venom back patch on my jean jacket and everyone hated my guts. I wish I still had the back patch. I would wear that now.

'''Guitar World:'''
How did you start playing guitar?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
I was sitting at home one day listening to the first Van Halen album or something like that. Keep in mind, to date myself, I think Van Halen's 1984 was already out, but I was listening to Van Halen. A lot of people are afraid to show their influences, but I grew up on metal. Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil and Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind are the record that made me want to be a rock star. But when I was 13, my mom walked into my room and said, "Do you want me to buy you a guitar or a drum set?" And I said guitar, thank God. I never really took any lessons or anything. But I always had a guitar around the house and I would mimic Judas Priest, Maiden, Motley Crue or early Metallica. By the time I was 15, I was playing in bands at my friends' houses. We'd just play our favorite songs. And from there, I eventually just started a band.

'''Guitar World:'''
Prior to joining Marilyn Manson, you played guitar, rather than bass, in Amboog-A-Lard, right?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Yeah, which was basically a heavy metal band. I'd played bass on a couple of independent records before I joined Marilyn Manson. But I didn't own a bass until I joined the band. Technically, I was a guitar player.

'''Guitar World:'''
Are you from Florida originally?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
No. I moved around a lot, growing up. Which was kind of to my benefit, because I move around a lot now. So that shaped me to do what I'm doing. You get used to relocating and losing friends all the time. And having to make new friends and meet new people.

'''Guitar World:'''
Speaking of meeting new people, what was it like working with the original Twiggy on "I Only Want to Be With You" from the Dead Man on Campus soundtrack?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
It was really neat. That had a lot to do with shaping my personality--meeting my namesake. I'm the only one in the band who got to do that. Marilyn Monroe is dead, obviously. Madonna sucks, and everyone else in the band who had the name of a beauty icon has been kicked out. So Twiggy was really beautiful and really cool. I talked to her on the phone and asked her what song she wanted to do. She was a big Dusty Springfield fan, so she picked that one. My idea was to put a lot of mean guitars alongside her pretty voice. The Ramirez/Manson side next to the Twiggy/Marilyn side. She's actually a really good singer. She came in and did the vocal in just a couple of takes. I got to hang out with her, too. We went out a couple of times. It was a bit odd, you know, Twiggy and Twiggy. Somehow I knew it was gonna happen. The stars aligned.

'''Guitar World:'''
Did you choose that name out of anything like genuine admiration for her?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
I have a lot of English family and it was just something I grew up with. I always saw her image. There was the Beatles and there was Twiggy. She was one of the first people who actually sold product just by being a personage, you know? So she's actually one of the first icons of modern times. Plus, she was skinny. I was always kind of called Twig anyway, because of my body structure. It's interesting how nowadays we have the waif model again. Although we're getting out of that now.

'''Guitar World:'''
Do you and Manson have similar tastes in women?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
No. He only likes certain girls. I pretty much like all girls. Anybody with a pulse, or even without. Anybody who's in the right place at the right time. When you can have anybody you want, you become a prostitute.

'''Guitar World:'''
At this point in your life, are there any fantasies yet to be fulfilled?

'''Twiggy Ramirez:'''
Good question. Of course there are. But I can't think of any right now. I've just finished a big album project and I'm just relaxing.

==Photo Gallery===
{{Gallery
| Twiggy_GW_98_pg2.jpg =
| Twigstar.gif.jpg =
| Ma_twiggy_02.jpg =
| Ma twiggy 10.jpg =
| Ma_twiggy_08.jpg =
| Ma_twiggy_09.jpg =}}

===References===
<references />

[[Category:Mechanical Animals era]]
[[Category:Interviews|1998/11 Guitar World]]
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−	"It's less riffy, in a heavy metal sense," he says of the new album. "That may disappoint some people. But I think a lot of the fans who were into Antichrist Superstar have grown up and gotten a little older. So I think we're on the same page as them. To be honest with you, I didn't think people would get Antichrist Superstar either, because it was a complete U-turn from something like '[[~~Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)\|~~Sweet Dreams]].' But they did."	+	"It's less riffy, in a heavy metal sense," he says of the new album. "That may disappoint some people. But I think a lot of the fans who were into Antichrist Superstar have grown up and gotten a little older. So I think we're on the same page as them. To be honest with you, I didn't think people would get Antichrist Superstar either, because it was a complete U-turn from something like '[[Sweet Dreams]].' But they did."