Lost In Space

Alternative Press
Courtney Taylor of The Dandy Warhols
By Jaan Uhelszki
August, 2000

The Dandy Warhols are so much more than four pretty faces. Although they insisted on being clad in head-to-toe Gucci for the pages of A.P., they don't spend their time trolling Rodeo Drive for the latest in leatherware or Costume National stilletoes. Instead, they want to counteract some of the psychic angst perpetrated by the anorexic models who gaze glassy-eyed from the pages of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Head Dandy Courtney Taylor confesses he's verbally ambushed a few supermodels in his role as an itinerate androgynous rock sex symbol. Why? Because he can.
Who's on your best-dressed list?
Best Dressed? Pete [Holmstrom]. He's probably the coolest-looking man in rock right now. The singer for the Make-Up, Ian Svenonius. Always.
Who was your first fashion influence?
I Guess, first and forever was probably Jim Morrison. And I guess that's why, even now, with bell bottoms and all that stuff being so in, I never went for it. I've always been a peg trousers kind of guy. He always had the pegs, and he always had the zip-up Beatle boots. And he always had pegs in slightly high-water trousers.
Who's the highest maintenance member of the band?
Pete.
Is he a mirror hog?
No, I think we're all cut from the same cloth. Before you leave you just make sure you look really good, and that way you just feel good all day and you just try not to look at yourself. You just have to believe you look as good as you did when you left.
I read that Pete got his chest waxed. Did you try to talk him out of it or were you next in line for a wax job?
Are you kidding? It was just at my house. There was about 30 naked people fucked up having a goofy party. It's just, once you were there...
You just go for it?
Yeah, It's just whatever - shaving each other's pubes off or waxing each other's chest. Just any excuse to be naughty without having sex. It's that naughty, tee-hee stuff. We like that kind of behavior.
Do you have to suffer to be beautiful?
Yes. You cannot be both grand and comfortable. As long as you're suffering in some way. Honestly, what do you have to suffer to be beautiful? Your own ego.
Whose clothes do you wear? Is it a Gucci or Prada thing, or do you wear things from Urban Outfitters?
I don't think I've ever bought new clothes. It's always vintage stores.
What do you look for in a pair of pants?
Form, texture, color. Same as you look for in a couch or a piece of silverware or coffee mug.
Or a girlfriend?
It's a lot less than I look for in a girlfriend.
Is that saying you have impossibly high standards or it's a lot more complicated?
Apparently, I have impossibly high standards.
What do people always get wrong about you?
They think we do tons of drugs and we're just having a good time fucking around. The biggest misconception is that we never feel alone, we never feel lonely, we never hurt, we never ache, and we don't make music. Those records - somebody else made them. They had nothing to do with us. We're only a band that exists in the press, in the papers or in videos.
Do you remember your first public exposure?
Fuck yeah, I remember. When we started out, we didn't play rock shows. We wouldn't open for other bands, we wouldn't lay with outer bands, we just played cabarets. So we would go on between different performance artists. You can't be a rock band, so you develop things outside of rock, using rock instruments. And one of them was the pretentious artist cabarets, so we all basically dressed up like Redd Kross and we passed out eggs and tomatoes [to the audience] and we used instruments that were disposable. So we got onstage and everybody was behind the Visgoth Queen and I was in front of it and they just made art and noise, you know? People don't throw shit yet, so then I started picking individual people that looked like they were the popular kids in the scene and would just dissect them - "Oh, you're such a rebel, aren't you? You're the most charismatic one. Is it because you're so individual and unique? You must be the only guy with Manic Panic (tm) blue hair in the world. Is that why all your friends are loving you?" And then they got pissed they started throwing shit at me. And the whole time, I'm taking my clothes off. I had a cigarette behind my ear and I lit it, stuck it in my ass and turned around and bent over, and then we started playing "Rave Up" for about a half hour. And pretty soon everybody's on stage with us naked or half-naked, [and we have] underwear hanging off the headstocks of our guitars and shit like that. But it sure was weird, man.
But you do seem to be the favorite band of the fashionistas.
Unfortunately, yes. You meet designers or supermodels, and certain times - if someone seems to have a crush on me or to be interested in me - I have to say, "Look, sweetheart, I want to make something very clear to you - what you do for a living, I try to undo the damage [with my music]. For one hour, you can put one of our records on, hit play and all that fucking glossy advertising, all the 'You're skinny enough, not beautiful enough, not rich enough, your car isn't cool enough or expensive enough,' it all just goes away. For an hour, you're okay." This is what I feel. It's pretty normal shit that normal people feel but try to ignore. Well, fuck it. Don't ignore it - just feel like it's okay to feel it.
That's pretty profound, because that's really behind the malaise - you don't feel like everybody else, or worse, you don't feel like the standard of beauty. Maybe your music is therapy for others?
Yeah, well that's why we make it. It's there if you need it and that's really it. All that matters to us is that we have people who are kind of similar, that we have the same needs and the same thoughts or feelings that we do. We're certainly not into converting the masses. It's much more gratifying to preach to the converted. And I'd rather have people showing up at our shows that we'd like to hang out with.
Any last thoughts, something on the order of "You are what you wear"?
Fashion is as deep and powerful as trying to find the best fuck.
I really didn't think you were that kind of guy.
But I am that guy. I like a good fuck as much as the next guy.