My Interview with Perry

OzMic · Post by **OzMic** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:22 pm

Mike is on Point...

Post by **Mike** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:41 am

Well I stayed up late this evening in hopes of making hydro's morning a little brighter.

I hope everyone else will enjoy this question as well.

Mike: One more question from StickyFingers. This goes back to the computer situation and some of the stuff that’s going on with computers and the Internet. He wants to know. Don’t you think Internet file downloading only damages big artists and big names? While it helps indie artists to have a larger audience?

Perry: Well yeah he has a point there because for me I was never a big record seller. We were always in the underground phenomena and of course Lollapalooza and Jane’s Addiction concerts have been known… you know people remember them all their lives. So it hasn’t really affected me the way it would somebody like Whitney Houston or Britney Spears or pop people because that’s how they make their money. For me it’s always been about playing live so it’s a live ticket and it just gets the music out. I sometimes just for fun go on Limewire just to see how many people are downloading and it’s anywhere between 500 to 1,000 people could be on there at any given minute taking the music. I figure that’s 1,000 people a minute that are digging the music so when they come and see me live I’m happy that they know the songs and they look forward to and they get off when they hear the song go down. I never really cared that much about record sales. I don’t know why. I never really… I don’t know why we never really compared to the others. I think it was a lot of times I almost tried to damage that part of my career because I never wanted to be a pop asshole.

Mike: Right.

Perry: I always tried to avoid the pitfalls that came with being a pop artist. Because pop artists, lets face it they’re ass kissers. You have to do certain nice things so it’s not really… you know you have to keep quiet about your opinions and kiss up to popular culture which often is very you know they’re not… It’s like modern politicians they tell you basically what they think you want to hear and I never wanted to be that kind of artist. I always wanted to be an artist that had the freedom to do what my form of self expression was at that time. That’s not a pop artist and I knew that if I got myself into that position I would hear it from record companies and they’d try to you know turn me around and change me. I just… but yeah so now downloading comes in and I think that again you look at it like its good. It’s good because you’re getting all that music out to people that wouldn’t normally have it in their hands but now it’s up to you’ve got to go out there and perform. The way the ancient musicians performed, the way the troubadours did it. The way the ancient villagers did it when they got together and people danced and celebrated around fires you know for their great occasions that’s the way it is.

Mike: Thank you.

Post by **hydro** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:15 am

awwwww goodmorning!!!!

thank you Nothings Shocking that was very sweet of U!!
And this is exactly what makes Perry

soooo cool!!
Thank you for not being an ass kisser and a sell out Perry!!!!!
you make us feel like family instead of strangers!!
In our minds and hearts you are one of us and we are all dancing around a great big fire together,feeling and hearing your beautiful music right threw our souls

I love Perry

StickyFingers · Post by **StickyFingers** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:32 pm

Thank you Mike! You did a great job with this interview!

Well yeah he has a point there

Oh my God Perry is talking about me

i feel great

Ellis · Post by **Ellis** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:09 pm

Mike, you've got a good knack for interviews. This so far has been a really great read.

Good job, dude.

krakle · Post by **krakle** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:00 pm

I never really cared that much about record sales.

I can understand that. Of course, sales are very nice because it's income. But I can imagine he doesn't really care about the sales. One of the things that must be really satisfying, I imagine, is having successfully created your art and having it available to the public. I wonder how much he (and not only he) cares about actual records though.

As a lover of (good) records, I love to buy/get/have records...the whole thing, the cd/lp, cover art, the rest of the booklet, etc. It's all part of it. It all adds to the feelings I get from those records. And I just cannot get any special feelings for mp3s. Flacs would be better of course, but I don't want my record collection to be all cdr's (even if I could print the artwork). I think that if I'm ever going to record music, and do it properly. And then want to get it available to the public, I would at least have some kind of actual pressing with some artwork. That's what I mean with an actual record, albeit a single in a cardboard sleeve.

I might eventually buy the 'new' Polar Bear tunes via iTunes once I get a new computer and find out what iTunes really is. And then burn it on a cdr, as bonus tracks on 'why something', so I can play it on my stereo. But where's the art of that? I wouldn't put it on the shelve next to albums like Deconstruction or Nothing's Shocking. I don't understand why Perry would release his records, even if it's just solo records, in some digital format only. Of course I don't know if it's true, I don't really think so. But I do get to wonder how much he cares for (the future of) actual records. It's hard to imagine anyone doesn't want to get his music properly pressed.

zdilla · Post by **zdilla** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:33 pm

around me there aren't even any decent record stores anymore...tower records went bust and im pisssed..i don't want to buy albums at "best buy" ..fuck that...but i love having records in my hands..lp's, cd's..old school style..!!

Post by **Mike** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:56 am

Alright I finally got another one ready to go.
This question and most of the rest are from nexis.

Mike: Another user, nexis wants to know about some of your dance and DJ thoughts. He asks… You have immersed yourself into the dance / DJ culture in recent years. Do you see a future resurgence of electronic music in the near future even as bands like Prodigy and Chemical Brothers have largely declined?

Perry: Yeah. Well but then you’ve got Daft Punk who are like one of the top live performance artists going right now in the world. I love dance music you know. I learned a lot about dance music but what I learned I want to incorporate into what I’m doing now. So I love the power of rock. I love real players. I love to hear a guitar go off and play it and be inspired playing. I love the sub bass sounds and I love real drumming but I think the next frontier is what / where we’re at. See guitar players they have effects. Bass players, you don’t need that many effects for a bass because it fills a certain chakra. It provides a certain sound frequency for a certain part of your chakra. But drums, they haven’t really… for the most part rock drummers / live drummers haven’t experimented too much with electronics. What we’re doing now just to fill you in. We have something that we call drum triggers. They go on the drum itself and it triggers an electric stimulator that goes to a brain and we have drum sounds. These are different drum sounds. They can be triggering 808 kicks. So you’ll have a real drummer. It’s inspired playing by a real drummer but now the next frontier is the drummer has to be as effective using effects as the guitar player or the singer. This is why we have a modern sound and I get to play my rock and get all that enthusiasm but I also get to hear all the frequencies that I love so much. But it’s not sterile because it’s layered. Its sedimentary rock I call it. You get real splashes of real snare but we mix in electronic snare. We mix in all the kick electronics… you know 808 kicks. So now we can do anything. We can sound like electric… like the great stuff that I love about groups like Prodigy but we’re playing it. You mix it to the degree that you want it. Songs that are more Punk Rock you don’t need quite so much sub because faster songs the more sub the more muddy it gets. You can even change the tone of the kick. Whereas before your kick is your kick every night. It’s one kick all night long. It can get a bit boring. That’s why people… it’s harder for rock groups to come out and sound unique and different. Because really it’s coming really from the drum right off the bat you can change a tone of a drum and people will think you got… alright I can identify that song right away if they would only concentrate on their tone of the drum.

Mike: Hmm.

Photo courtesy of hydro.

Pastel · Post by **Pastel** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:18 am

I enjoy this... thanks mike

but....one moment...

and my question about janes says?

jaja, no, it´s a joke...

I enjoy this interview

Saludos!

Post by **hydro** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:56 am

to be up in a club dancing to the hard-core beats of Perry Farrell would be
THA BOMB!!But I wouldnt want that to be the only style of music he makes in the future,theres nothing like good 'ol rock .The sound of Perrys voice is what makes his music for me and I wouldnt want all the electricness to get in the way
but what do I know

i would love anything Perry does