The Madcap Speaks  proudly presents:
A Car Ride With Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church
May 1st, 2000

 

LK:Would you tell me what you really feel right now, because that’s what is real.

MWP: No. No I won’t.

LK: I know you think I’m full of shit.

MWP: I just don’t want to talk to anyone.

LK: I can understand that.

MWP: What kind of tape recorder is that anyway?

LK: I don’t know. Just a cheap handheld. It’s a little condenser mic so it sounds good.

MWP: Well, they’re good those things. (Marty starts to sing…) “Money, money, money. Must be funny. In a rich man’s world.”

LK: Have you heard any new Robyn Hitchcock?

MWP: No, I haven’t.

LK: Jewels For Sophia.

MWP: Oh yeah, I’ve got that. I went to see him in November.

LK:. He’s great.

MWP: Yeah, he’s great if you forget about emotion…nobody is emotional. That’s the problem. Nobody is emotional anymore. Nobody is prepared to stand up for their emotions. It’s all a fucking act. Even Henry Rollins is plastic. He thinks that just because you have a thick neck, and a couple of tattoos that he’s going to mean something? But he doesn’t. And people hang off of every word he says. It’s really bizarre. What experience has he got? He’s had no experience at all. The only thing about Henry Rollins is that people are scared of not liking him because they think he’s going to beat your brains in if you say anything bad against him. He’s frighteningly like, (in a gruff voice) “Like me. Or I’ll kill you.” I just don’t believe in him. At all. I’d rather be killed by him, than accept that I like him. Let him kill me.

LK: Set up some bleachers in the sun, and have it out on Highway 61.

MWP: Bleachers? What are bleachers?

LK: You know, the stadium seating kind of things. Rows.

MWP: Bleachers?

LK: Yeah, like at basketball games, and school auditoriums where you sit.

MWP: Bleachers? At a show, people should be asked questions at the door, like “What is your favorite band.”

The LK: To determine their worthiness for admission.

MWP: Yeah, “Who’s your favorite band.” If they say Phil Collins, they just haven’t even got a chance. This is the last gig of the tour.

The LK: Back to London, huh?

MWP: I live in London. What’s it like to be left handed? Isn’t that a weird thing. The difference between right and left handed people.

LK: What’s the difference?

MWP: I don’t know, but it’s just peculiar that such a thing exists.

LK: What are you?

MWP: I’m ambidextrous. (laughs.) No I’m not. I’m right handed. I’m sick of the metro world. Sick of it. Sick to death of it. It’s true though. Most things that are true people don’t really have the time to say, I find. Adrian Belew is a disgrace. He is. He’s a disgrace. He’s just destroyed everything that they had. (King Crimson.) It was like Steve Vai joining … It’s like Steve Vai joining The Cure!! Just a disgrace.

LK: It’s warm in here.

MWP: It’s warm in here, yet its cold in my heart.

LK: Poor sad little artist.

MWP: I just hate audiences. I love individuals, but I hate crowds. Oh god, life is bigger, bigger than you and you are not me. Anybody that is wealthy has to be attacked. That’s what it’s all about. Moving people. In New York you can’t move people. I can move people all over the world, but I can’t move people in New York. That’s what it’s all about. If I can’t move somebody I hate it. Do you understand?

LK: I understand everything.

MWP: You understand everything!!? You do?!! Is this your car?

LK:Yeah.

MWP: So, let’s talk about the truth. (Slams car door). So, what do you think happened tonight? What do you think happened?

LK: Hmmmm….

MWP: What happened?

LK: That depends on how you look at it.

MWP: I just want to know your impression.

LK: I liked it.

MWP: What about the end, being abrupt?

LK: The music aside; It’s great. I think that’s the shit.

MWP: Yeah? And what about the ending? When I said, like, “Fuck You” and went off…

LK: I thought that was cool. That was art. It was fucking art.

MWP: So how many people do you think thought, “what a wanker”, and how many people thought, “great?”

LK: About five people thought “great” and everybody else thought, “Oh my god! What an ass!”

MWP: The thing is, I just so don’t care. That’s the amazing thing. I just so don’t care.

LK: I think that made it, though.

MWP: I hate New York. Well, I don’t hate New York, but I hate playing New York. You know, nobody is as emotional as me live. Nobody is. And they don’t care. They don’t notice. Nobody is emotional or naked to me, live. When I do see people not noticing, it pisses me off to no end. Well, you know, I played for two hours. I played for fucking two hours. And then they just kind of treat me like, “So what?” Anybody else would have come and played for like 60 minutes, and then left. I played for two hours, and even a little more, and they just treat you like “Who Cares?” Well, I say “Fuck You” you know? “Fucking respect it, or fuck off!”

LK: It was art.

MWP: Oh shit! I forgot my Mini Disc!

LK: Did you?

MWP: YEAH!

LK: We’ll go back. We’ll get it.

MWP: Fuck! I just remembered.

LK: Did you leave it upstairs?

MWP: Parrish has got it. Fucking aye, I’m glad I just remembered it.

LK: That was a good show. You recorded it?

MWP: What, emotionally or musically?

LK: Well, I think emotionally and musically. I thought it was great. I love the 12 string too.

MWP: I think people would prefer it if I just showed up and played the songs. That’s what I’ll do next time. Shut up and play the songs to them.

LK: I like it this way. It’s got to be art man.

MWP: I’m not quite sure what I’m angry about. I’m fucking angry all the time. I don’t know what I’m angry about. I have two beautiful children, a lovely flat, a gorgeous girlfriend, and I don’t know what I’m angry about. I fucking angry about something though.

LK: Music related?

MWP: I don’t know.

LK: Yearning related?

MWP: Yearning or earning?

LK: Yearning.

MWP: I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m angry about. I’ve no idea. I can’t figure it out. I just cannot figure out what I’m angry about. It’s just reactions. I hate people’s reactions. I can’t get a grip on people’s reactions to anything. It’s not good enough for me that they just show up.

LK: I can dig that. But you’re a leader.

MWP: Am I?

LK: Yeah. You’re a leader.

MWP: By the things I say, you mean?

LK: By everything you do. So people might not get it.

MWP: Well, that’s the thing isn’t it? I’d like to have the sort of thing going on where when people come to see me play, they don’t know if I’m going to walk offstage any minute. I like that. I think that’s actually great.

LK: That is good.

(We come to a traffic light.)

MWP: What a fucking weird world it is over here.

LK: It’s not very old.

MWP: It’s not very old, no. I live in London. Do you know how weird London is? (Marty starts to sing…) “Baby, When I think about you….”

LK: What’s that? Some Bad Company?

MWP: I love Bad Company more than I like Prodigy. Prodigy sucks and Bad Company rules. Paul Rodgers is much better than anything Prodigy ever did. CHANGE!! (Marty yells out the window at the traffic light, demanding that it changes. )

LK: So what was the deal with Swan Song, Led Zeppelin, and that whole deal. Do you know?

MWP: Bad Company? I know they were on the label, but I don’t know what the deal was. Well, they got signed to their label. That’s all. I saw Bad Company on their first tour of Britain. The very first tour. You know, (he sings again,) “Can’t get enough of your love…” I saw their very first tour.

LK: I’ll just pull up on the curb.

MWP: Okay. (Marty exits car, singing still.)

LK: We may never see him again.

(Marty goes in, and amazingly enough, comes back to the car.)

MWP: (Enters car) Thanks from coming back.

LK: Not a problem.

MWP: It’s only a $300 mini disc player. I think the audience doesn’t realize how much effort you put in. I played until midnight. I suddenly noticed it was midnight. I’d been playing for two hours. Longer that anybody else would there. Most people would be like, “I’ll just go and play a couple of songs,” you know. No respect. Fuck them. Fuck all of them. They can all fuck off.

LK: Well shit, man. Play the hip-hop clubs then.

MWP: Hip-hop sucks.

LK: Well, they get as pissed! They get pissed off like that too man.

MWP: Do they?

LK: Yeah. They fucking go off.

MWP: Hip-hop sucks. It’s the worst music in the whole world. But I haven’t’ got the guts to say it to anyone. There’s some things that are bad, you know? REM is a terrible band. Terrible band. Bono is a fucking awful lyricist. Right? Oasis are the worst band in the world. Hip-hop and Rap sucks, really bad.

LK: Well, Kevin Costner does suck.

MWP: Kevin Costner sucks. People don’t understand. There’s so much quality stuff out there. Nobody cares at all! It just drives me mad! Drives me mad with frustration. There is so much quality out there, and people don’t pay attention.

LK: Have you listened to Yassou N’Dor?

MWP: Yeah, of course. He’s great. (Marty sings) “Seven seconds I’m living….” Seven seconds that’s a great song. I like his lyrics. I like Neneh Cherry.

LK: What do you think about Eagle Eye Cherry?

MWP: He’s a bit shallow. (Singing again) “Save tonight….mumble mumble Tomorrow..”

(He keeps mumbling through the song, accenting words he knows, making fun..).

LK: What do you think about Ben Harper?

MWP: Love him.

LK: Me too.

MWP: He’s got so much credibility.

LK: Exactly. That’s exactly what that is. What about D’Angelo?

MWP: Don’t know him. Sounds terrible.

LK: Could be, well, he’s pissed off about a lot of shit. He’s soulful though.

MWP: Soul is Sly. Sly Stone. (sings) “It’s a family affair…”

LK: I think he made Miles Davis put on those glasses.

MWP: I love Sly Stone. I love it. Sly just fucking leaves me dead, it really does. (sings) “Thank you for letting me be myself again…” I love Sly so much.

LK: What do you think of War?

MWP: It’s a bit too brassy for me.

LK: I can dig that.

MWP: Are we really going to get a drink later?

LK: Yes, we are. We definitely are. Dead Guy Ale. That’s our favorite beer.

MWP: I love that beer. Dead Guy Ale.

LK: The bottle got me. “For the Skeletons In Our Closet” is printed on the bottle. The beer you spilled tonight, that was Budweiser, right?

MWP: No, it was, oh shit. I don’t know what it was called. It wasn’t Budweiser though. Dumped a whole bottle of it. Trying to play fucking songs to them. But you know, they listen when I play those fucking sensitive songs. They listen to that. That fucking gets right to them.

LK: What do you think about Bob Dylan?

MWP: I love Bob Dylan. He’s had a sort of bad patch in the middle eighties, early nineties, but generally he’s pretty good.

LK: What do you think him going electric was? Do you think they were talking about his electric instruments or his lyrics? His words?

MWP: He’s the best lyricist in the world.

LK: He’s the best. Him and John Coltrane.

MWP: I got a New York audience to boo me the other night. Someone said Charlie Parker, and I said, “Jazz, what? A bunch of fucking junkies that can’t write songs.”