05 July 2012
“Really, what isn’t a challenge, every day of fucking life is a challenge. It’s hard.”
The weekend following this phone conversation saw Taylor
perform alongside the likes of Dawes, Lucinda Williams and Kris
Kristofferson as part of a Glen Campbell farewell tribute in Hollywood,
(an offering later described as “startlingly unprepared”). Next month he
and his eighteen- year-old band The Dandy Warhols will embark on a
North American tour before heading Down Under in November. But right
now, in this particular interview, Taylor is much like the band’s eighth
LP This Machine, self-deprecating, overwhelmed, but strangely placated.
“Touring is always really, really hard,” drones the
45-year-old. “Emotionally it’s just gruelling for the tiny moment of
glory and beauty. Of all people, we know that we’re not perfect,” he
digresses, “but when we’re serving the cause of music people tend to
meet something more important than themselves.”
The comparisons to one Iggy Pop in recent years aren’t
only a reflection of his caustic live shows but also a result of
prevalent drug use. Before the Oregon five-piece burst into mainstream
consciousness in 2001 - via a 100 million dollar ad campaign for
Vodafone - the Dandy Warhols were teaming the words heroin and passé
with an irony only used by the well practised.
“I spent most of my twenties drunk, on ecstasy, on acid
and, you know, It was great. I guess it was great.” Taylor’s voice grows
faint. “I’ve never been a particularly happy person so a lot of that
was escapism and shit like that...”
About four years ago Taylor decided to cut down on his
methods of escapism; but not because he feels he has a problem: “I still
love drugs and alcohol. I’m a fucking happy baby when I’m drunk.” It
was his band mates Zia McCabe, Peter Holstrom, Brent De Boer and Eric
Hedford who sparked the detox drive.
“I can’t really drink and smoke on tour because I have to
sing, I have to be pretty much like a real singer. The ‘self- indulgent
fuck’ part of me is [giving up partying] because we played so many shows
where I just couldn’t sing.” He then begins a harmless pleonasm,
listing all the tracks the band couldn’t play. “At one point they were
like, ‘Really? Really? We can only play these thirteen songs, this is
all we can play because you are fucking drunk?’ It’s just a shitty thing
to do to people you know,” he adds. “Now I just keep on partying to
only the night before my day off.”
The new epoch of Courtney Taylor-Taylor is documented fairly explicitly throughout This Machine. On tracks like Enjoy Yourself and The Autumn Carnival the
Dandys’ sound is a far cry from their loose, layered psychedelia. “Our
last record was very dense, on this one I just wanted to sound like a
full-piece rock band.
“I’m already seeing that we’re not two years ahead of
everyone else anymore. Everyone else is kind of doing the same thing,
there’s a lot of good rock coming out again now, so it’s nice.”
Sadly, no matter how big a departure The Dandy Warhols
undertake with their music, the band will be forever tied to a
documentary that teamed them up against fellow ‘90s music mavens, the
Brian Jonestown Massacre. Most interviews following the 2004 release of
Ondi Timoner’s Dig! were largely bated around the
miscontexualised rivalry between the two bands, and although Taylor has
endeavoured to clear this up in the past, TMN offers him the final word.
“I just want to clarify for everyone that that was not a
real documentary, that was a movie,” he states. “We were just actors in
it and guys were taking advantage of us. We were successful and she
[Timoner] needed something, a bit of a leg up. Whatever,” he adds. “I’m
over that, thank God.”
In saying that, whether the band sees the film, or
numerous sync deals they have landed over the past decade, as a ‘leg up’
or not, they may not have been able to continue filling 1000+ venues to
this day without them. Needless to say, Taylor isn’t bothered by public
appearances or chart placings: “We’re not that sort of band,” he
scoffs. The industry’s backslide into the ‘50s model is something he’s
very fond of.
“I like the music industry as it is now; I like that
people can not know who the fuck The Dandy Warhols are and can get on
the Internet. That lasts, we’re always in rotation in millions of
studios all over the world, and on Vevo and on YouTube - it’s great. I
prefer it to the old school.”
Conversely, regardless of their status in most circles,
the industry is less forgiving now; after every major label indulged the
band with interest and elaborate dinners, none “were gonna put their
money where their mouth is.” Eventually the band decided to release This Machine through their own Beat The World label, not surprising considering Taylor-Taylor’s reputation as an auteur.
“We’ve been around for eighteen fuckin’ years y’know, who
would sign a band after eighteen years? It just doesn’t make any sense.
It’s very rare that a band still is relevant after that long, we’re one
of the few bands that even have a career after this long.”
The Dandy Warhols are touring in November with Harvest Festival.
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