Section 3 Interview
Section 3
Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll
By Louis Tanguay

The Dandy Warhols are really the only band out there today who epitomize the saying, "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll." This band was the only band to interview on this subject, and I believe it made an interesting and intriguing topic (about as intriquing as the three could actually get). I was originally going to interview the Dandies in Boston, but traveling problems forced me to cancel that opportunity. Lucky for me, the Dandy Warhols must love the northeastern United States, because that was only one of six shows the group played in our area within a two month period; so I met up with the Dandy Warhols at another one of theirs shows. Singer/guitarist Courtney Taylor (the one who looks like a CK model) was up for the interview and so was guitarist Pete Holmstrom (I think of him as the born rock-star of the group). We couldn't find drummer Eric Hedford or the ultra-cute keyboardist Zia McCabe at the time of the interview, but I did catch up with Zia later in the lobby and took that opportunity to ask her the questions I asked Courtney and Pete earlier in a Providence bar filled with the most-interesting of peoples. So, when you see Zia's responses to the questions, just make-believe that she was there in that skank bar, loungin' with the rest of us. Or keep in mind the actual situation of me sticking a microphone in her mug as she was figuring out the day's merchandise situation. I prefer the former.

Sex

Have you ever forgotten to un-handcuff somebody?

Zia: No. I don't think I've ever handcuffed anybody. Maybe my little sister.
Courtney: You know, every time I forget to handcuff somebody.
Pete: He keeps losing his keys constantly. I mean, it like he can't keep track of them.
Courtney: I know. I had the chain wallet, and I had the chain going to my keys and I (still) lost my keys. I'll tie somebody up, but handcuffs with keys, I'm way too absent-minded for that.
Pete: I'm very responsible. I always know where my keys are.

What's your favorite position?

Zia: Um, gosh. I don't know the answer to that. I like them all.
Courtney: I don't know.
Pete: Girl on top!
Courtney: Yeah. Yeah, I like that. My favorite position is dead asleep on my right side, fuckin' huggin the pillow with the other pillow over my head. (laughs) Old cold.

Now that you're getting a hit song, do you find that more people are getting interested in the group, because you are becoming famous?

Courtney: Yeah, and a lot more fuckin' weirdos. Every city I can go, "This is the guy. This is my John Hinkley right here, man. This is him." Every night, it's always somebody.

Would you rather fuck a rock star or an oil tycoon?

Zia: Ew! Neither. Well, maybe Beck. I'd rather just be Beck's freind, probably.
Pete: An oil tycoon. They got more money. Rock stars don't have money.
Courtney: Totally, but I'd rather make a plaster cast of a rock star's cock.

What's the wildest sexual experience you've ever had?

Pete: I can't remember it. There were a lot of substances involved.
Courtney: I don't know. I can't even think right now. I just woke up, you know? I'm trying to think of the wildest sexual experiences. (thinking) I don't really like wild sex. I just like the subtleties. Maybe that's why I'm blocking the wildest sex, because I didn't like it.

What albums do you have sex to?

Zia: Sparklehorse, Spaceman 3, Beatles, Stereolab, Brian Eno.
Pete: None.
Courtney: Never. If I'm listening to music I can't focus on anything else. That's probably why I say I don't listen to a lot of music, because that's all I do. You know, music is on, and it sucks, I can't help but listen to it with that grim, weird, eery, creepy feeling like you're listening to a retarded child confess his innermost thoughts and feelings. Or it's amazing and you're eleven years old in church or something, and you actually believe this shit, you know? So, I don't listen to alot of music. Certainly not when I'm having sex.

Drugs

What's the worst drug you've ever taken?

Zia: I've tried speed. You're high for a few days, then depressed for a few weeks. That didn't seem like a very fair trade-off.
Courtney: I've taken PCP twice now, and that's an amazing drug, because you get high like you've never been high. Then you really come down, and you're like suicidal and you (feel like) a piece of shit.

Is it addicting?

Courtney: I wouldn't know, because you'd have to do a drug two or three days in a row to get addicted to it; even if it's heroin. You can't do heroin once, and then you're addicted; unless you want to be. Which is what "Last Junkie" is about; someone who obviously wanted to be.

What's the coolest drug you've ever taken?

Pete: MDA. It was the first Ecstacy, it was the first little chemical formula whatever.
Courtney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before the second M, yeah. Yeah, that's like morphine and fuckin' amphetamines or something.
Pete: I was just totally hallucinating and everything was beautiful for, like, three days.
Courtney: I had somethingyou know, you never know what you're getting­people tell you it's this or that­I don't even distinquish anymore. I've had people give me speed and"oh, this is fuckin' acid with a lot of speed in it," or they'll give me acid and I'll be going, "God, am I on fuckin' E, because I'm not tripping, but I feel great," you know? But I had this one trip. Muscle relaxers coupled with amphetamines are really great. You know, if you could get your brain really cooking, really cruising, but your body is kind of morphined-out, you feel like Albert Einstein or the Dalai Lama. It's the best. I like to trip a little. I don't really get visuals off acid or shrums or nothing. It just alters my thinking, my perception in a huge way. I get a little visual. The sidewalk doesn't open up in front of me or anything like that.
Zia: If Ecstacy was always Ecstacy that's probably my favorite. I really like it. I like psychedelics, too. Pot is the coolest drug in the world. I don't really smoke it, but it's the one that everyone should be allowed to have around whenever they want.

Do you advocate drug use and experimentation?

Courtney: I think people know whether they should or shouldn't. I mean, if you're afraid of it, don't do it; because it will be a bad trip.
Pete: No, I don't advocate it. I think it's a personal choice.
Courtney: Yeah, totally.
Pete: I mean, it's not a bad thing, it's not a good thing.
Courtney: It just is, you know?
Zia: Well, the one's that are highly addictive I don't think that there's room for experimentation. That's everyone's own decision. If everyone was more educated on drug-use they could decide if certain drugs were ones that they maybe wanted to try. Pressuring someone to experiment with psychedelics could be a really bad idea. (laughs) You know? I'm into trying all kinds of things. Drugs is just part of it.

Do you support drug legalization?

Courtney: Yeah, definitely.
Pete: Yeah.
Zia: Oh, yeah. Then you would know what you were getting, at least.

Have you ever performed on-stage under the influence?

Zia: Most of those shows I don't remember. (laughs) I've played on Ecstacy by accident-but not with this band. That was really difficult. I don't like playing on drugs. It's too confusing.
Courtney: Only like parties and shit.
Pete: The whole Love and Rockets tour we were on speed.
Courtney: Oh, yeah, those were the speed days.
Pete: That tour was all trying to stay on top of it.

Do you think it changed your performance at all?

Courtney: You know, every performance is so fuckin' different that you can't tell. Everything changes. Every night you have to reinterpret every song; recreate it. If you're high, of course it'll change it. Even being in a different city, 24 hours later will change your performance. We say that's a mindfuck.

Do you think that Prozac and other "happy pills" are as bad as the drugs that get the stigma?

Zia: Definitely. My mom abuses all perscription drugs. It's mostly middle-aged housewives that have them readily available.
Courtney: I have a lot of experience with that shit. You can fuck a long time. I'm like, fuckin' amazing when I'm on Prozac or Xanax.

So you're like Sting, then? Having sex for like five hours?

Courtney: I wouldn't want to.
Pete: Why doesn't he just go ahead and be in porn flicks?
Courtney: I mean like, intercourse for five hours. I've certainly had hours and hours and hours of just like, in the kitchen, on the floor, in the bath tub, next to the bed, on the bed, in the closet, in the hallway, back in the kitchenyou know, like, hours of that shit. The best is like coming down off of something like acid and speed. That come-down is great for sex; amazing.

Rock And Roll

Have you tripped and fallen on-stage or off the stage?

Zia: I've done that a few times. I've never fallen off the stage, but I fell down a couple of times.
Pete: I trip alot, but I haven't fallen down.

So you just stumble around?

Pete: Yes. I stagger. It's my trademark.
Courtney: Stagger Pete. I pretty much just stand there. Stand and deliver.

Who's the coolest rock star to ever live?

Courtney: Iggy Pop.
Pete: I was thinking Keith Richards until I saw him on MTV the other night. His head's shrinking. That's bad.
Courtney: Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison.
Pete: Yeah, I'm sticking with Keith Richards.
Courtney: Well, in his heyday, like Beggars Banquet, that like defined his "coolest guy ever" trip, you know? And he was the coolest guy ever for a couple of years starting right there.
Pete: It was like seven years or something. Like, the mid-70's.
Courtney: It's like, all of a sudden he just knew it. "Wait a minute. There's nobody cooler. I'm just going to go for it."

Do you have a lot of tag-along friends now?

Courtney: No. Now nobody wants anything to do with us.

Have you ever called out the wrong city onstage?

Courtney: I don't think I've ever called out the right city onstage.
Pete: It's always, "Where are we?"
Courtney: Yeah, that's pretty much it. "Hey! Oh, Hoboken." I only bother mentioning (the city) if I know where we are, and I'm surprised. "I know where we are. We're in Richmond, VA, right? Having a good time."

What do you think has changed the most about Rock and Roll since the 60's?

Zia: MTV. Image versus sound. That's my little thing that I've been thinking of on tour. Those bands are more popular for their image and their videos than their music. Sound-wise, you can just turn on the radio and figure that out.
Courtney: It sucks now. No one's cool anymore.
Pete: Yeah!
Courtney: Yeah, pretty much.

Is rock and roll dead?

Zia: Nope. Punk definitely is. Not the music, but the sensibility of it. Like, what being "punk" was. Making your decisions for yourself and not caring about the consequences business-wise or who you're affecting. That was punk. You just did it. That was really free-thinking and free-acting. I think that now music is so "business." They're too worried about getting on MTV or getting airplay in certain cities. People try and warn you against things and it's hard to not listen, but everyone does. Everyone's too responsible. (laughs)
Pete: Rock and roll will never die. It's just going to keep changing. There'll always be one cool band. Somewhere. There'll always be somebody big and somebody slightly new.
Courtney: Yeah. It just gets sick and has to be taken to the hospital, and spend a little time away. It just needs to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion. Look at Prodigy, that's fuckin' rock and roll. Those guys rock out. Maybe guitars are going to be, like, dead for awhile.
Pete: Guitars kind of disappeared slightly in the 80's. There was always guitar players.
Courtney: Yeah, but they were about as important as disco guitar players, you know? Then, people get sick of that, and then some new charlatans somehow brought back guitar. You know, like, "Here it is." "Oh. Oh, that's right. Guitars. Cool! Fuck! Wow! Guitars are cool." And then there'll be stupid guitar-bands like Candlebox, and then all of a sudden guitars aren't cool. It has to go away completely before somebody comes back and makes it look like a new thing.