| Shannon
Selberg Interview |
to
leave town, we didn’t know if he was going to live
or die. Everyone was like, “yeah, I think you killed
that guy.” We had about three weeks left
and we were pretty nervous, but we didn’t hear
anything. We passed through that same town on the next
tour, not
to play, but we had a day off and that town was there.
Cop Shoot Cop was playing and nobody was there, so we
started heckling them, and this guy comes up, and say, “hey,
do you know who I am?” He said that he was in a
coma for about six months, but, "I’m okay
now. I was kind of an asshole that night; can I buy you
a
beer?” He
wasn’t mad at all. We shook hands and had beers
all night.
Q:
If you could have lunch with one person, living or dead,
who would it be?
A:
The first to ride a horse, he must have been a weird
guy. He was probably a lot of fun at a party, and he
changed history. Like we were talking about earlier,
it was probably just a lark. He probably said to some
guys after a few drinks, “hey, you
guys see those horses? I’m going to get on the
back of one and ride it around.” Then, of course,
someone said, “well, if he can do it, I can do
it.
Q:
No plans to quit music and start acting or something?
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A:
Whatever happens, happens, I guess. If we start touring
and only about ten people show up everywhere, that’s
just sad.
Q:
What if Clear Channel calls up and says that they have
some gigs for you, and Ticketmaster is going to sell
tickets, and you now have 40,000 people showing up instead
of ten?
A: I don’t know a lot about show business, but
I do know this. As soon as you say that you’ll
never do something, you’ve almost guaranteed
that somewhere down the line someone is going to ask you to do it. If I sit
here and shoot off my mouth saying that I’m never going to do it, but
then down the road I’m eating out of garbage cans, and someone wants
to give me tens of thousands of dollars to do something, I can’t really
say that I’m not going to do it. Back in the so called punk rock days,
these friends of mine were in a band, and they supposedly “sold out” to
a major for a big advance. Everyone in the punk rock community was down on
them, but what people didn’t know was that someone in the band had a
mother who was in the hospital with a very serious disease. This person needed
money to help their mother. This person didn’t go around and tell everyone
that. It’s good to keep an open mind about
why people make business
decisions. This is an exception, I suppose, but it
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does
happen. Go figure that someone that is so insecure that
they need to jump around in front of a bunch of people
wants to be rich and famous. Go figure. Most performers
are actually shy people. It’s a way to get into
a crowd of people and control them. Probably most aren’t
aware that that is why they do it. Go back stage at a “crazy” rock
show, and it’s usually pretty quiet. They take
a lot of drugs and hunger for approval.
Q: Did people ever tease you because or your “girly” name?
A:
Yes, they did.
Q:
Did you kick their asses?
A:
I usually chose to ignore it. I turned into a big, scary
punk rock singer. I’m actually a very tender guy,
and it hurts me when people make fun of me. Thus, if
I make it look like I’m doing it on purpose . .
. People would ask, “you’re so crazy on stage,
is that how you are all of the time? Is that real or
just a fake thing that you put on?” It’s
more like when I have sex I often holler and make weird
noises, but I don’t do that 24 hours a day. That
doesn’t mean that I’m faking it when I’m
having sex. Try getting up there with a bunch of maniacs
standing behind you with dangerous instruments that they
can hit you with, and a room full of people staring at
you. See how you act.
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