Josh Homme

Yeah, I mean, I think you want half Jim, half Iggy. In my experience, making a record with him and touring with him. Yeah. And sort of trying to do a hail, hail rock and roll thing where we're armored up in suits. You know, this sort of be the Keith to the Chuck, Barry, you know. I think you probably had an easier go of it. Ich würde es so denken, ja. Aber das war nur die visuelle Attentivität.

Nein, es war das Beste aus meiner künstlerischen Leben. Es war? Ja, es war, ich habe einen Text bekommen. And it said, something, you know, that phone got destroyed. How does a phone get destroyed? You know, I have a very checkered past. The phone got destroyed? I mean, lost maybe, but destroyed. Well, they're the same. Okay, sure, sure, sure. It got lost against a wall.

Yeah, it was completely lost against a completely different, a wall that was unknown to me. But it was a text that essentially said, I think we should collaborate on something and that would be nice. The text had that tone. Iggy Pop. It was from Michigan. And I lost my fucking mind. He's got a Michigan number? No, it was a Miami number. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think he's lost many phones as well. Sure. So you lost your mind? Yeah, I just was like... Well, it's sort of like from one of the immortals. Yeah. Well, certainly because one of the originators Es gibt keine solche Sache wie jemand anderes wie er. Und ich denke, ich komme aus einer kleinen Stadt. Als ich in Palm Desert geboren wurde, waren das vielleicht 30.000 Leute. Der ganze Raum.

Und er ist aus Ann Arbor? Er ist aus Ann Arbor. Aber in meiner Stadt ist es so, man, du bist 1 in 1 Million. Es ist so, nein, du bist 1 in 30.000. Und das ist ziemlich gut. Ja, ziemlich gut. Aber dann spielst du ein Gig in Riverside, das größer ist, vielleicht 150.000. Es ist so, du bist 1 in 1 Million. Es ist so, nein, 150.000. Aber ich glaube, dass Iggy tatsächlich 1 in 1 ist.

He's the only one. You can just say he's the only one.

Ich denke, er ist in den Spot gekommen, wo er diese, du weißt, als er sagte, das ist mein letzter Rekord, Ich werde das tun. Das ist mein Statement. Und über die Jahre würde ich sagen, wenn ich mit Iggy spielen würde, würde ich das tun. Es hat sich über die Jahre verändert. Und als wir zusammengekommen sind, war es der perfekte Zeit, in dem er 69 war. Und es war so, was macht dieser 69-Jährige...

Rock-Originator, Musik-Originator. Was ist ihre Stimme?

What we did is focused on the first two albums of his, which was The Idiot and Less for Life. Yeah, those are the best. And there was a lot of things that never get played in that zone. Really? Yeah, well, yeah, like, you know, it's like Sister Midnight or this song called Mass Production that I really love. It's just all these things. Dumb, dumb boys.

Yeah, and so it was a chance to... And also, I treated it like... Für einen Moment arbeite ich in der Smithsonian und versuche, dieses Ding wiederzuentwickeln und dieses Ding wiederzuentwickeln. Und es fühlte sich so an, als wäre das meine Rolle, um so respektvoll wie möglich zu sein.

Yeah, well, it's fun to do a Rubik's Cube, which is not your cube. Yeah, I bet. And just say, I got a side, it's all purple.

No, you know, it was very interesting because, and I mean this just as an observation without any judgment, he's definitely... Ich glaube, Stooges und Iggy haben angefangen und deine Lieblingsbanden in der Welt beeinflusst, die groß geworden sind. Es hat 30 Jahre gedauert, bis ein Stooges-Rekord Gold gewonnen hat. Ist das wahr? Ja. Oh, weil der Nike-Kommerz?

Ja, es war so etwas wie das. Und er hat den längsten Zeitrelease, den ich kenne, wo du Rekorde ausgibst und die Leute dich aktivisieren, mehr als sie dich lieben. Und die Leute konnten die Stooges nicht aufhalten, als sie rausgekommen sind. Und es hat 30 Jahre gedauert, um das zu erkennen und zu verstehen. Und das ist eine traurige Zeit dazwischen. Es ist einfach so.

Aber er hat viele Rekorde gemacht. Viele Rekorde, aber oftmals... Iggy gibt seine 100 Prozent, aber er wird mit jemandem zusammenarbeiten, bei dem du sagst, mach das nicht. Mach das nicht. Und er setzt 100 Prozent auf etwas, das 40 Prozent ist.

Yeah. Good for him. You know, he had this thing. He also did... Because his voice is, you know, like this.

He did... Es war eine Art Voice-Over für Sainsbury's in England und Last for Life war auf Carnival Cruises. Jemand fragte ihn, du hast deine Lieder zu einigen Veranstaltungen verkauft. Ist das verkauft? Was denkst du davon? Und er sagte, ich denke drei Dinge. Ich denke, der originale Sinn der Lieder existiert und kann nicht verändert werden. Two, anything that funds the arts is a good thing.

Sure. And three, go fuck yourself. So, after working with him, did you guys, do you still talk? Yes, on the reg. It's funny because I don't call as much as I want to. And I think there's still a part of me that's like... I don't know, maybe just a touch nervous, even though we're buddies and I love them and we've had all these, we've argued, you know what I mean?

What did you argue about? Well, you know, I just, I think, it's not like a legit, like, you know, boyfriend-girlfriend argument. It's just, you have disagreements and that's what friends need to have. This isn't an ass kiss. Like Chuck and Keith? Over the beginning of Carol? And it's not... Aber es ist nicht mein Job, einfach sein Cheerleader zu sein und alles zu sagen.

Und auch nicht sein Job, zu stimmen, was ich zu sagen habe. Und ich denke, diese Art von Spats sind notwendig, um deine Freunde zu beweisen. Wirst du wieder etwas mit ihm machen? Ich meine, ich bin immer auf der Reihe. Ehrlich gesagt, ich hätte das für den Rest meines Karriers machen können. Ich habe nur in seiner Band gearbeitet. Ja, ja. Und, und, und, und, und, und, und, und, und, und, und,

But he did that knowing what he was doing. He trusted you. Well, I think so. I'd like to think so. But also he was like, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. And I just love that. And you know, even though we got quite close and are still quite close, I still have a great respect. Meeting him and working with him gave me more respect for him. Das ist gut.

Es könnte die andere Art und Weise gewesen sein. Yeah, that's a good one. Ja, ich kann mich nicht erinnern, wie lange wir gesprochen haben, aber ich denke, als wir gesprochen haben,

Yeah, and I've since been close to death again. What the fuck, dude? You know, that's my fourth time, but I gotta say, every time I always feel... Really supercharged. I would hope so. I kept saying this this time. I kept saying, I never felt so alive as I did the day I almost died.

When was this? I had a little bit of cancer for a sec. Which kind? I kind of keep that one to myself. It wasn't the fun kind, but I was able to get it so early that surgery was the way to... Would you feel it or did it pop up? I was on a Christmas trip skiing with my brother and I coughed blood on the snow. Oh my god! The most dramatic way to cough blood.

Blood on the snow sounds like the next record.

Blood on the Snow, this weekend. Yeah, where's that song? But it looked actually crazy, kind of cool, the goth side of it. Sure. There you go with that. Yeah, we did it. Yeah, we did it. Finally.

Finally, man. But I was very lucky to be able to catch it so early. I was able to cut... Oh mein Gott, verdammt. Aber diese Dinge ... Ich bin manchmal intensiv. Diese Dinge machen mich immer aufhalten. Und in diesen Reflexionsmomenten fühle ich mich immer sehr dankbar danach.

No, that one's an old one. Is that a cover of you? Yeah, it's me covering me. So it's an old Queen song.

Yeah, well, it's kind of cool to... um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, Getting close to things like that, in the moment, it obviously sucks. And there's no other way around it.

Die ersten zwei Wochen. Es ist nicht so, fuck it. Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja, genau.

Yeah, it's that fucking nightmare. That vulnerability where it's like, you know, you drain the ocean and there's what's left.

Wenn es ein Kampf oder eine Flucht ist, bin ich nicht so viel ein Runner. Also musste ich lernen, die Worte zu verabschieden, das war ein großer Punkt. Weil ich immer gesagt habe, verabschiede dich, es gibt keinen fucking Weg, dass ich verabschiede. Aber jemand hat mich auf den Schulter geschlagen und gesagt, nein, nein, nein, verabschiede dich. Und ich war so, oh, niemand wird etwas sagen.

Ich war vor 40 Jahren da, als ich das gehört habe. Und ich war so, Nobody else was going to say, give in. There's nobody here.

You know? Yeah. Give in's like proactive. Yeah, and a little sexier, frankly. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, I'd hang that on my wall. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'll take that. Don't give up, give in. I'll take that. It's 5.30, I'm drinking mommy juice or live, laugh, love, and I'll put up. Yeah.

I'm not sober, but I'm not in any troubles. You're not spiraling into the fucking chasm. But it's funny that actually it's something where I like... I probably, I'll go and have a drink socially. Yeah. And not, and just have one drink. Yeah. Which is, you know, that's the first time in, you know, that's been my protocol for the last couple years. That's good.

Well, I'm sure there's a beautiful place in the world that I'll be thrown out of at some point. But also, you know, I are who I am. I look at this as a... It's a bit like, you know, you're talking about, are you recording loud or is it catacombs style? Like, you know, you just keep doing something different because it's interesting and it's, you know... Sure, yeah, I mean, absolutely.

Last time I came here, you had ZZ Top Tejas on, and I remember being like, oh yeah, this is going to go well. Fuck yeah, man.

Right? Yeah, that's great. That's definitely got some of that in there.

Ja, ich war da. Meine Ex-Wife war mit unserem dritten Kind verabredet. Und sie sagte mir, bitte, ich mache die amerikanische Tour. Ja, mit den Eagles. Ja, und ich habe einige der Promotour in England und in Europa gemacht. Unser Rekord war gerade raus. Und sie sagte mir, bitte, geh nicht auf die europäische Tour. Ich bin krank und wir werden jede Woche ein Kind haben. Ja.

Zwei Nachts bevor ich nach Europa gegangen bin, habe ich einen anderen Drummer gefunden. Keine Rehe kam und hat mich gesehen spielen zu lassen. Der letzte Tag war in San Francisco am Great American Music Hall. Dann habe ich sie aufgehört und sie sind weg. Und es war, glaube ich, zwei oder drei Shows in der Tour. Ja. Ja, und es war... Es ist ein sehr...

You cannot be prepared for a geopolitical event when you're in a... You cannot be prepared for what... You cannot be prepared for... A terrorist attack. For being on the ISIS website, which is what Jesse and I were on. Was that after? It turned out it was before. I didn't know they had a website. Why were you targeted? They were going to do... They were going to...

They were going to do something specific to us. That's part of the reason. It was all part of a calculated... But why you? Why the Eagles of Death Metal? I think that, you know, if I'm just guessing here, and there's a lot of things that we were told that everyone else was not told, which I'll probably keep that way, but, you know, I think they had... Oh, okay. So, the venue.

Oh, so you represented American Satan. Yeah, basically. Was it a Muslim holy space, or...? No, it's a Jewish-owned venue and had held many events and protests and free speech things. Was that why you guys chose it? We chose it. It was chosen because it's one of the good venues.

Yeah, all the time. And the French president was having dinner next door. And they also attacked the soccer stadium, which was all within... Ein kleines Gebiet. Es war ein koordinierter Angriff. Nur Waffen? Ja, Arschloch. Oh mein Gott. Und so viele Menschen wurden getötet. So viele.

Nicht alle von meinen Freunden haben es ausgemacht und so viele von meinen Fans haben es nicht ausgemacht. Ich war im Studio mit einem Mann namens B.O.C., Brian O'Connor, der auch mit den Eagles of Death Metal touriert hat. Wir haben einfach ein paar von seinen Sachen gedreht. Ich war nicht auf Tour und ich habe einen Anruf von meinem Freund Scotty bekommen.

Es gab all diese Geräusche im Hintergrund und er sagte einfach, dass sie schießen. Das ist nicht mein Blut. Ist das nicht mein Blut? Und ich dachte, was? Was? Oh mein Gott. Und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, und ich, Du... Entfernen.

Ich habe am Anfang nicht mehr gebraucht. Ja. Und also habe ich... Da war ein anderer Typ, der gebraucht hat. Also habe ich seinen Pack von Zigaretten genommen, eine Box von, du weißt, eine Box von etwas, ich glaube, es war wie Vitaminpulver und mein Motorradhelm und bin in mein Auto gegangen. Ja. Und äh, ja, ja. Ich fuhr an Valentine's Day aus, um den Show zu beenden.

Das war ein sehr kurzer Prozess. Das ist interessant.

November kam die Angriff. Und dann fliegen wir zurück an Valentine's Day. Oh, Februar. Und mein Sohn wurde am 13. November geboren. Ich hatte einen Flug an Valentine's Day um 6 Uhr morgens. Und mein Sohn wurde am 13. November 1158 geboren, die Nacht vorher. Und er fuhr weg. and then I left at 6 in the morning the next day, because I was like, I need to... I mean, with the full support of everyone.

Sure, sure. I saw my son, I held him, and I got on the plane and went to Paris, and we finished that fucking show. At the venue? It was not at that venue. It was still at the time. It's open since. Yeah, but it was still like an active crime scene? It was definitely still... in der Prozesse der Komplizierung. Wow. Ich meine, alles, was da notwendig war. Und wie war es mit Jesses Kopf?

Ich meine, es ist unmöglich, zu sehen, was meine wunderschönen Freunde durchgingen. Und ich weiß, dass sie alle in ihrer eigenen Art und Weise mit What is sort of impossible for me to do anything but empathize with. Yeah, I can't even imagine. I mean, I know, it's like I had all kinds of just things that are unimportant to this story. Yeah. And that ultimately... What, reaction-wise?

It just was hard to... It was hard to have sent someone in my place. It was hard to... To know that. It was hard to get my head around... My main concern was bringing everyone home. Sure. And bring them home in a safe way. Right. But part of you was like, I should have been there. I had a lot of... It took me a while to, like, feel good. Yeah, sure. You know, and so many people, which I knew.

It's like... People that were in the front row for years.

Yeah, and it's like a relationship that's like, oh, I see you, I see you. Right, I remember. And I'm like, you know, a crew of girls that always would dress similar and that met each other. And it's like, you know, I wrote down all their names and there were so many siblings, you know. And they're gone? Yeah, they're gone. And so it just took me, it just, those are the sort of,

In fact, this is the only time in the most I've ever talked about this. And you did this to me last time. Somehow you got me to talk about getting off drugs. But I think you have all these strange... Sie sind völlig einzigartig zu einer solchen Situation. Gefühle, mit denen du nie etwas zu tun hättest. Ja. Wo du denkst, ich hätte dort sein sollen. Aber außerhalb davon ist es nichts über dich.

Aber das ist auch das Schwierige, dass du denkst, ich muss mich aufhören und nie über das Thema sprechen.

Because my story doesn't fucking matter. You know what I mean?

And you watch your friends and your fans and the people that were lost. Fucking terrible. You know, it's like go to shake someone's hand, which does not have a hand. And you just think like, I, you know, you say, I have no right to have any friends. I have only the right to shut up and listen. Yeah, and be empathetic and gracious. It does not matter.

What I realized actually is that there are situations which occur. And it does not matter if you like them or not. They are here. And you must not get hung up on telling yourself if you do or do not like them. Right. That's interesting, yeah. You must... This is where I'm so appreciative of my grandparents and my parents. They're just great people.

Where it's like, there's no time for you to be thinking about you right now. It's like, you need to move forward. Yeah, hardship is hardship. Yeah, this is actually... Das ist eine große Teil der täglichen Leben für viele Leute. Das ist richtig. Das ist eine tolle Zeit für dich. Du kannst dich fühlen und später weinen. Das ist die perfekte Zeit für dich, um einfach ruhig zu sein und voranzukommen.

Und zu zeigen. Oh ja, geh nicht irgendwo hin.

Es ist fast so, als ob es genug Momente gibt, in denen du zeigen kannst, wer du wirklich bist. Und wo die Möglichkeit für dich ist, selbst zu sein und zu zeigen, wer du bist und zu diesem Moment zu steigen. Und wo es so ist, ob du es tun wirst oder nicht. Don't say anything. Just do it or not. What are you going to do right now? So I feel really thankful for the opportunity.

It sounded a bit like Tony Robbins or something, but I really was like, I'm honored to do what I'm about to do right now. And So it really felt like I cannot... It's the same thing I tell my kids. When you have sad feelings, I cannot make this go away, but I will sit with you. I'll sit with you. I don't have to say nothing. I will sit here until it subsides and then we can stand up together.

I think you've nailed it. Oftentimes people do not know what to do. And Und so bleiben sie natürlich weg oder sie machen diesen Fehler. Ja. Was ich glaube, ist, dass es letztendlich... Seltsam. Es ist nur ein Fehler. Und es ist ein Fehler von Angst und Ungefahr. Und ich verstehe den Fehler.

Ja. Und vielleicht ist es nicht seltsam, es ist nur Angst. Es ist, und es ist wie, oh mein Gott, ich weiß nicht, was ich tun soll, und ich kann nicht, und nicht wollen, dass du dich selbst so fühlst, weißt du.

I don't care about left and right and all that shit. I don't care. I'm someone that's driven by escapism and the value of art, making your world better and creating an escapist moment for you away from all that. And then ideally that allows you to make a better informed decision because you've gotten this little reprieve from all this.

Well, I do, for me, the entryway to this escape, the entryway to this journey of emotion starts with all the marketing out front is like, escape, quick, take a minute away. That's my way to get you in the door. I will turn the lights out and you and your best friends, I'll make the music loud and you guys can conspire together. To me, that's the old P.P. Barnum side of this.

I will lure you in with escaping the norms and trappings. Ideally, That's just the worm on the hook to get you in, but now walk where it gets dark over there. Yeah, exactly. That's where I am. I make music for the 50th listen, not the first listen. I know that some people listen to music on the way to the bank, and that's not my fault, and that's okay. But that's not where I'm at.

I want someone, when they're at their worst, to be like... I know what to play.

Ja, ich glaube, das ist das, was ich liebe. Ich habe immer gedacht, Marketing, das ist das, was der Teufel tun würde. Das ist der Teufel. Aber ich dachte, okay, was, wenn ich das zu meinem Zweck reingeniere? Und es ist lustig. Das ist der Deal, den du mit dem Teufel gemacht hast. Ja, es ist wie, komm jetzt rein. Ich gebe dir eine Nacht, die du nie erinnerst wirst. Ja, ja. All that shit.

Du mit dem Gesicht, komm hier rein. Ja, ja. Und ich liebe das Karnival-Barking-Attraktionen. Sure. Because it has taboo and danger. But so much of rock and roll is about that, too. Yeah, but that's really only the facade of this. And it's a facade, but it's not fake. It's just the front entry away of this.

It's really the same guy. Totally. Because that is the way, but the other, once you've wormed that hook, and I also like Das Teasen und das Tricken und das Entfernen von kleinen Dingen, das ist lustig. Ja, ja. Es ist zu tantalisieren. Es ist ein Show, Mann. Genau, Showbiz. Ja.

Aber es muss enden, sich um einen Feuer zu sitzen, die beste Version von Kumbaya zu spielen, die du eigentlich weinst, wenn du hörst. Ja, ja, ja. Musik ist Magie, weißt du? Ja, es ist das einzige Medium, das ich kenne, das nie falsch ist. Ja. Du kannst jemandem Musik nicht gefallen lassen. Und das ist völlig in Ordnung.

Aber zeig mir die schlechteste Musik der Welt und ich zeige dir 300 Menschen, die bereit sind, dafür zu sterben.

Yeah, and much like ether, it's got this intoxicating effect. Yeah, totally. That where you're kind of like altered by it when you really focus in on it. Yeah. You know, I mean, that there is a feeling that you get that is akin to like leaving a first date where you're like excited and you're like, oh my God, what is, what is that? Do it again, right? Yeah, and you can. I'm like a first date.

I'm gonna play this song all night long.

Foreigner live at the wall.

Well, I do think this is the toughest thing for music, how to age gracefully in a way that, when I look at Willie Nelson, I'm like, fucking look at Willie Nelson, he looks amazing. He's one of the only ones. It's the hardest thing to possibly do for music.

Yeah, well, you know, I think... Ich denke, es gibt Leute wie Leonard Cohen, den du am Ende gesehen hast, wo du sagst, wow, das ist immer noch so. Klar, aber er ist ein Mensch, der immer noch steht. Und die Musik legt sich dazu. Aber ich denke, das ist das, was, du weißt, ich schaue an eine Musikerkarriere als etwas, das wie planetär ist.

Es spinnt auf seiner Achse und es muss sich immer noch verändern und sich für das nächste Ding vorbereiten. Ja, und ich denke, ich bin wahrscheinlich ein bisschen älter. Nicht wirklich, denn die Wahrheit ist, dass du manchmal ein paar alte Arschlöcher auf der Bühne siehst und dir sagst, um Gottes willen, bitte nicht. Kannst du diese Nichts, die ich gerade gemacht habe, anrufen?

Und ich verstehe es, weil es eigentlich das gefährlichste Spiel für jeden Musiker ist. Wie wächst du und was bedeutet das? Und wirst du in die nächste Phase deiner Sache korrekt passen? Ja. In einem Weg, der immer noch wird.

And then it's just sort of like, well, this is what we do. Yeah, I suppose, but it's like comedy in that there's not a real reason to retire. The reason to retire would be like, shit, no one's here.

Hahaha.

I think you also have to be willing to be a bit of a cunt, which I think he also is probably too.

Sure, but I think you have to have a willingness to be like, no, no, go fuck yourself. Like one of the funniest, one of the funniest. Yeah, the willingness to say no. So, interesting thing. I never went and saw a doctor and right before Iggy Ja, genau.

He told me, he was like, you know, I didn't know what type of blood type I had. And he was like, you have O positive, right? And I said, fine. And he said, does that mean anything to you? And I said, absolutely not. And he said, do you find yourself doing things for other people? He's like, you can give blood to anyone, but you cannot receive it from anyone except yourself. Yeah, right.

Oh, interesting. So he's like, you're a universal donor, but you cannot receive anything but this. Yeah, that's your nature. I'm a rock. But he was like, I think that somehow you are someone that has said yes to things that you probably didn't want to do. And what I want you to do is, my diagnosis is, I want you to go home, pick five things you've said yes to and cancel them. Yeah.

And cut to your living in apartment. Yeah.

Und ich sagte, warum mache ich das? Und er sagte, du musst Raum in deinem Leben haben, um das richtige Ding reinzukommen. Oh, interessant, ja. Und ich war so, okay. Und so habe ich tatsächlich diesen Hinweis gehört. Und es gab fünf Dinge, zu denen ich gesagt hätte, zu denen ich nur nicht, das war es, es war es, es war es, es war es, es war es, es war es, es war es, es war es, es war es.

Ich habe einen.

I want to keep the low milligrams so that I'm not... Yeah, woozy. Well, it's just so that I'm not like... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think it's great to just put it in.

It worked, though. What choice do I see? You know, I've lived my life by sort of trying to notice the positive signs along the road and that sort of thing, you know. Yeah.

Wie ich schon gesagt habe, diese Verständnis, dass es nur Dinge gibt, mit denen man sich umsetzen muss. that doesn't matter if you like them or not, they're here. And like I said, this is the most I've ever talked about it. But I realized that the reason I don't talk about it is because it doesn't make me feel better or worse. It doesn't do anything.

It's just, that's just a sucking sound that's like, that is like tinnitus. It's just a ringing that I hear that if I look at it, I'm like, fuck. And I, so I try to just live with it. And, and, um, Honestly, in general, I try not to talk about it because, as I said, I never feel no better. It's not your story, necessarily. It's not my story. And it is my story at the same time.

And I don't know how to explain... And when I do explain it, I don't feel better.

Absolutely. Because it was something else. It did not close or fix what happened. But what it did was it showed the willingness of everyone who attended. I'm willing to do this. I want you to see my will. And I'm here. And that's the most that someone can do. And we're together.

We could you know?

Es ist, weil man beginnt zu entwickeln. Du kennst das von Touristen seit so vielen Jahren. Du beginnst, eine Beziehung mit Städten und Städten zu entwickeln. Ja, sicher. Und du beginnst, eine Art romantische Verbindung zu diesen Dingen zu haben. Und manchmal ist es ein schlechtes Verbrechen einer Stadt und manchmal ist es nur ein Liebesverhältnis.

Wie mein Bruder, der seinen Mann in Paris verheiratet hat. Und das war ein großer Moment für mich. Ich liebte diesen Moment so sehr. Und die Bataclan und dann war es, du weißt, ich habe so viele Momente in dieser Stadt gehabt.

Es ist gesetzt, um dieses Ding zu machen und es funktioniert. Und um ehrlich zu sein, ich romantisiere. Ich suche für etwas Romantisches, um zu klingen, weil ich nicht wollen, du weißt, Touren und solche Dinge, und es kann dich auslösen und dich fühlen, bitter und unerfreulich, was manchmal passiert. Und dich in einer Schelle von dir selbst machen.

Ja, und ich werde manchmal ein Tier werden, ich regresse, du weißt. Because I don't know what to do and I feel lonely.

I feel like I ate too many edibles.

You're just at a hotel near a mall. But that's part of the problem and part of the solution, too. Because it's all about outlook, Und weil der Versuch, zu sagen, warum verliere ich alle, die ich liebe und kümmere, um etwas alleine zu tun, und was bin ich, um das auszulösen?

Quiet, I don't have to clean up. Exactly, I just leave myself behind here. That's quiet.

Well, I... Das ist alles verbunden, ist das Ding. Ich erinnere mich an Fotos der Paris-Katakomben als Junge. Und sofort habe ich Gedanken, die mir neu waren. Und die waren wie, du endest so und du kannst hier enden. Und auch anstatt des Tabus des Todes, das ich als Junge verstanden habe, war es wie... Nobody does that because they're like, I fucking hate these people.

It's a mine, which was dug for coal and things like that. And then with so many bodies and so much happening in Paris, they decide to move 6 million. People there.

I believe they stopped using it dug out in the 1500s, but there's accounts of it dug out as early as 1300. And then in, I believe, the 1700s, they start moving Stacking skulls. Right, but stacking them lovingly. They're not like, fuck these people. It's people that are doing this with such a reverence and a respect.

Because your initial thought of stacking bones, that doesn't seem respectful, but it is.

You're surrounded by skeletons. And I think, well, figuratively, literally, and not just in there. And, you know, in what we're talking about, too, it's like Ja, genau. If you look into this thing, you realize I don't need to be afraid of it. And that tenth time when you should be afraid, now you fucking know you should be. And you understand that you should be. And I want the understanding.

You want to know when to be afraid. Yeah, for real. And when to like, if I don't need to fuck with being afraid, I don't want to.

Und ich denke auch, dass in den letzten Jahren viele Leute verloren haben. Wir sind in dieser Zeit, wo es so ist, dass sie anfangen zu droppen. Und in der Musik droppen sie früher, also droppen sie, wenn ich in meinen 50ern hier bin, in meinen frühen 50ern, anstatt alt zu werden.

And going through lots of other things, which at the end of the day, it's like in the last five or six years, I've never grown so much so fast because growing is painful.

I have just no time to waste. I must move forward. I definitely can't sit here. I definitely got to deal with this.

But then there lies the escapist trip that I love too.

No, it's not. The funny thing is, well, there's a few things. One, Es ist ein bisschen wie, es wurde ein bisschen wie Improvisation, weil, weißt du, was die Regel der Improvisation ist? Ja, du sagst ja.

Richtig. Und, und, also, wir hatten, ich denke, ich hatte ein bisschen eine Vision, dass es kathedralisch sein würde und sehr eckig.

I don't know why I have that all signed point to know. It's like dead, literally. It is very dead inside the room.

Moisture, stone, the floor is wet, but there's gravel on it. And also the bones are absorbing all that fucking noise, dude. Absolutely. And so... What happened is you descend down the stairwell. That's like 132 spiral stairs. One spiral staircase. You just keep going left. Or keep going right. And you get down in there and it became improv because it was when we did the walkthrough the day before.

I'd never been in there. I'd just only heard of it and dreamed of it. Oh, really? Yeah, because I'll back up a sec. This 18 or 19 years ago when I went to Paris, I had a day off. I was like, let's go to the catacombs. The line was like three and a half hours. And so the impetus of this is like from an entitled spoiled place, if I'm being honest. I was like, how do I skip the fucking line?

Yeah, yeah. It's funny. How did you get permission? It took 18 years, really. Really? I mean, too bad the French don't have a word for bureaucracy. Yeah, yeah. You think it was bureaucracy? I mean, it took forever. It was like, don't ask me, ask this person. Oh, right, right. And there was a guy, the French... Zum Glück haben sie all diese tollen Sachen auf der Telly.

Sie hatten einen Show namens Album of the Week und du spielst einfach dein Album von Anfang bis Ende live. Es ist leider nicht mehr da, aber es war schon seit 40 Jahren da. Und einer der Hauptproduzenten und Direktoren des Shows, dieser Typ, Stéphane Saunière, er wusste, wie man Cupid spielen kann, um den Deal zu beenden. And it's better that it took this kind of time.

It's better that there were failed attempts, close calls that didn't happen. Because when we got there this time... Ja. Right, right. There's lots of tales of... So you could really produce it. Well, so, but you can't plug anything in. Right. So we had an electric piano, but we had to hook it up to a car battery. Okay. Right? Yeah. So you have a car battery with fucking, you know, clips.

And it's like, okay, piano's working, right? So, but what... became really apparent is that, you know, it felt wonderful to... You can't have plans and then implement them, go down there and implement them. You are told what to do by the space. Yeah. We were not the stars of that show.

I'm glad you were able to watch it all the way through because it starts to do its work as you watch the whole thing. It really does. It's not MTV Unplugged.

Yeah, and there are just so many weird discoveries. Like, as you said, first of all, it is the dominant character in this.

It's not possible to... It doesn't allow for that to occur. Right. And... As you said, it's not sad or depressing. No. It's not fun, like we're tossing the beach ball around. No. It's intense.

Und es ist auch nicht nötig. Es ist okay, um Dinge einfach so zu sein wie jetzt und nichts mehr und nichts mehr. Ja. Und es ist auch, auch wenn wir die Songs auswählen, wir haben nicht unsere Hits ausgewählt. Nein. Und auch, auch wenn es um Dinge geht wie... I like the acoustic guitar just fine, but we've heard it a million times.

So the strings and alternate instruments like glockenspiel... Strings down there.

Jeez, man. So good. Ancient instruments. Yeah, yeah. In a way. Yeah, they are. Not primitive, but old. Yeah, but of that period as well.

And even down to like... John, our drummer, was like, what should I play? And I had been to the hardware store. And I just handed him a chain. I noticed that.

Things you find around the place. Because this is one of those moments where it was like, not just less is more, but much less is much more. And I think... Es hat mehr Wörter und Melodien gezeigt. Wie hast du die Songs ausgewählt? Wir haben acht Songs ausgewählt. Das erste war eine Medaille aus zwei alten Songs, die wir zusammen gemacht haben.

It started to become more about family and things that were emotionally driven. Yeah, yeah. And things that were about, like the Sutra of Your Future is about acceptance. Yeah. Like, I'm going to sew this up and let it go. Yeah, yeah. And so it felt, and those choices ended up being right. And also we didn't, Like you're hearing take two of three. You're hearing take one of two.

It wasn't a whole week. No, it was one day. And it was, you know, because I, again, had a serious health thing. What was that one? It was a complication, sort of. based in the same troubles I'd had. And I had a tear internally. Oh, God. And so by the time, four days earlier, I was in the hospital. You know, two days before the catacombs, we canceled our show in Venice.

And I just said, you need to pull the bus over at the next hospital. I can't fucking do it. Oh, my God. And so I'm in the emergency room. So you could have died in the catacombs. Ich sage es noch einmal, es hat den Show verändert. Ich habe so lange daran gearbeitet. Ich war nur zwei Shows entfernt. Ich hatte einen Fieber. Das ist das Schlimmste. Es war 102 Grad für ein paar Tage.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Ich hatte eine Katze, also lag ich in der Zwischenstimmung. Und auch die Öffnung liegt auf dem Altar, aber ich bin einfach da hochgefallen. Ich habe gesagt, kann ich einfach aufstehen, während ihr euch setzt? Und der französische Direktor hat gesagt, nicht bewegen. Was, wenn wir hier anfangen? Und es war wie, ich kann das machen. Ja, ich kann aufstehen. Ja, Method-Aktivität.

Ich kann aufstehen. Also, diese Dinge fielen einfach in den Platz. Und was es tat, ist, es hat dieses... Es hat diese Intensität zu der Musik, zu dem Moment, es war so, ob du es tun wirst oder nicht. Es ist sehr viel, was ich einen Shut-up-and-fuck-me-Moment nennen würde. Ja, sicher. Und...

And another interesting thing that we did is that we decided to, 20, 30 seconds before each take and after, no, he would say, action. And then it was just silence and everyone staring at each other. And then it was like, go. And those looks exchanged, that it was like, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ja, und du fühlst es definitiv.

That's right. It's going to be gone so soon. You're surrounded by skeletons. Yeah, well, you know, the funny thing is that the French love lunch. You know, they love lunch. And so everyone wanted to break for lunch. And they go up, you know, to go across the street. They go up the fucking stairs and I just couldn't do it again.

So I said, I'm just going to lay down here in my cot, which was in front of this long, dark hallway with one light at the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought, I'm so deep in the catacombs. I'm like 350 meters horizontal and I'm however many meters down. I was like, if the lights fucking go out, this is going to be the longest army man crawl I've ever done in my life. No kidding.

But I also thought, there's 6 million people here. Jean-Paul Stratra is there amongst others. And I was like... If there was ever a moment to be haunted by something, just go ahead and do me. I'm ready. But I didn't, I felt so comfortable and so sort of like embraced by the moment.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And so I said, well, I'm just going to try to drift off to sleep. And I slept like a baby. Wow. 40 Minuten, und dann stehe ich im Dunkeln, und ich höre diese zwei französischen Kinder, diese internen Kinder, die auf dem Gravel kratzen, und sie gehen bei mir, und sie sprechen Französisch, und ich saß einfach und sagte, was ist die Zeit?

Und sie gingen, und ich konnte die Scheiße aus dem Herzattacken verletzen.

... Musik ...

Vielen Dank.

... Musik ...