Lust For Life
Raygun Magazine, April 1996

Iggy Pop, the mad genius who invented punk rock , entertain Perry Farrell, the mad decadent who keeps reinventing the punk experience.  Randy Bookasta and Dean Kuipers are just mad punks.  Photography by Peter Morello.

“Is Iggy mad at me?” gasps Perry Farrell, leaning across his girl companion Christine in the passenger seat of his boxy vintage Nova rumbling in the circle drive of L.A.’s Griffith Park.  Observatory “It was crazy.  We left Venice Beach like four hours ago.  I can’t believe we’re so late.  We had to stop off and get my friend out of jail first.”  A little coven of publicists and handlers stand around in the deepening dark, having watched Iggy wheel away in his Jeep only minutes before.  We try to call Iggy on Perry’s car phone, which all of the sudden in on the blink.  Then Perry starts saying “This is a sign, This is a sign.”  As Perry postulates on the comic, wide-eyed with begged forgiveness, we all race down the Chateau Marmont, not knowing what kind of reception we’ll get from Mr. Pop.  Perry appears at the door with a brown grocery bag containing bread, cheese, and a 1970 bottle of red, which seems like a slightly obtuse gesture at the Chateau – it is the Chateau, after all, the focus of all kinds of decadence, surely they have those kinds of things available here at the lift of an eyebrow.  But Perry is an obtuse kinda guy.  Working in some parallel universe where it seems perfectly reasonable that he’d want to share his own special bottle of red with Iggy Pop.  Like bringing home a home-grown apple for the teacher.

Iggy opens the door with a huge smile.  “Come on in guys!” he barks, laughing, not pissed off at all.  The perfect host..  He and Perry trade (?) then Perry and Christine lay out their toast-in-a-bag and uncork the wine.  Iggy’s been in the room for a week, and the table is littered with magazines and stuff, including a copy of Barley Legal.  Christine picks that up and leafs through the pages.  “Oh, yeah” says Iggy, nodding toward the magazine, “some girl brought that up here for me the other day.”  And so Iggy sets the (?) or at least part of this discussion, taking the talk to where he likes it:  sex.  Barely legal.

Perry:  Hey, would you guys be so kind as to let me have a knife?

Iggy: Oh, yeah, we got knives too.  I got everything.

Perry: You got knives, you got guns…

Iggy: I like the immigrants here.  I really like ‘em.  When I hang here, I just try to find the ethnic restaurants and then meet the waitresses and start hangin’ out.  That, instead of pullin’ “the rock ‘n’ roll fuck crew.”

Perry: Yeah, I know.

Iggy:  I’d rather fuck the ethnics, y’know.

RayGun: So you’ve been in town filming The Crow thing?  How did it go?

Iggy: Y’know how it goes.  It’s a movie, it like you do 12 fifteen-hour days with a combination of the yuppie actors and lunatic extras.  And it’s like really hard work.  But I felt good about it.  The director’s really good, and a good DP (Director of Photography), and the results will probably be really good.  I was less shitty than I’ve been in my former parts.  So I felt like, “Yeah, we’re getting somewhere here.” And they’d get me a convertible and shit like that.

Perry:  Got a chance to practice the method.

Iggy: Yeah. Oh yeah, right.

Perry: You take, uh, Brandon Lee’s part?

Iggy: Nah, I killed him, though.  I killed the Crow.  And then he killed me, y’know, ‘cause you can’t kill the Crow for long.  That’s the thing, right?  And because Brandon Lee died – this is so Hollywood, what they did – so people would say to me, “You’re doing The Crow.  Who’s playin’ Brandon Lee’s part?” I’d say, “Well, the deal is:” nobody.  They didn’t get a new Brandon Lee.”  They like have a new Bond, right?  But they didn’t do that.  What they did instead is, this guy is the reincarnation of (laughs) Brandon Lee, right?  Hollywood reincarnation.  He’s been reincarnated as another person ‘cause his soul’s so tormented that he’s been wronged, that he can’t ever quite die.  He exists in another world and then must come back in various bodies.

Perry: That’s what it takes to be immortal, huh?  Have some girl piss you off… Well, I don’t think it works.

Iggy: He had a high school sweetheart and they were going to get married, and she got killed.

RayGun: What was his name again?

Iggy: Games O’Bara.  He’s sort of a tortured Midwest guy.  I met him.  He’s a nice man.  I liked him.

RayGun:  Have you guys (Iggy and Perry) met before?

Iggy: Yeah.  Fuck yeah.  We did a tour, man, I saw them, I saw him play, it was a really fuckin’ good gig that he opened for – and blew off – uh’, with the buzzing bee, who are those guys?  Love And Rockets.

Perry: Yeah.

Iggy:  Love And Rockets.  Very English and very sensitive, and he (Perry) was wearing a girdle and dreadlocks.  And it was the Beacon Theater, there was hardly anybody there during their set.  And the sound was all ringy.  So like you could tell the drummer was really good, and I could tell the guitar player was really good by the way he looked.

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy:  It was like, “He’s good.  I can’t hear him, but…”

Perry:  He didn’t smile and he didn’t care and so you figured he knew his stuff.

Iggy:  And then by the end, two-thirds through their set, there was about 70, maybe 100 people on the ground floor, but about half of the women went down to the front of the stage.  Yeah! Yeah, it’s goin’ on!

Perry: That’s the beginning of it.

Iggy:  So I saw them play, so then I looked them up at fuckin’ Dayle Gloria’s place.

Perry: Yeah, it was a barbecues.

Iggy: I ran into them there and asked ‘em if they’d come out and fuckin’ tour with me.

Perry: That was the most embarrassing moment, for myself.

Iggy: really?

Perry: Yeah, well, because we’ve got this saying: “Don’t foam.” It’s like a saying that the surfers use.  In other words, well, you know how when you see a shaving cream can – pfffft – “DON’T FOAM!  Whatever you do, don’t foam!”  In other words: don’t blabber.  When I came into Dayle’s place you were actually playing my song.

Iggy: I know.

Perry: And I looked up and you were awesome man.  And then I got so embarrassed I started to walk out, and then, Iggy says, “Hey man, I really like your music.”  And then I go “uhhyummahhayeeaahhh.”

Everyone: (laughs)

Perry: I was so embarrassed.

Iggy: And they (Jane’s Addiction) killed it every night.  It was the Instinct tour with Andy McCoy.

Perry: And Seamus and them cats.

Iggy: Yeah, And Andy was like, you have to give Andy this fuckin’ antabuse twice a week.

Perry: You’re kidding.

Iggy: Yeah, that’s how I kept him through the tour.  That was the only way he could do it.

Perry: Well, he was kiddin’ you ‘cause he was coming over to our bus to score every night!

Everyone :(laughs)

Iggy: And then – I was just gonna say, your guitar player was coming over every night.  Every night after my set, here comes Dave…

Perry: Oh yeah.

Iggy:  “Have you seen any? I mean like…?”  With his little hat on, y’know.

Perry:  And you at the same time were very, like, “Man, I wanna get myself together.” Which is cool.

Iggy: Exactly.  So it was like : “Yeaww!”.

Perry: Except for Miami.  I remember Miami.  You know we had a crisis, don’t you?

Iggy: Yeah, I know.

Perry:  What can you say, it’s Miami.

Iggy: And what was weird was like, yeah, we went out one night in Miami, got invited to this club.  And the chick that owned the club was this chick that I used to nail when she was a teenager, right?  And like, I saw her and, like, “Oh, I wanna nail her again.”  I’m getting’ stoneder and stonder, the more stoned I get the more I want to nail her.  But I had other commitments and I’m like “Ah, fuck!”  Meanwhile Perry’s sitting next to me going, “I’m so in love with my girlfriend, I could just die right now.  I could die.”  Do you remember that?

Perry: No.

Iggy:  That’s what you said to me.  “I am so in love with her.  I’m so in love with Casey.  She’s so ggreat, and I’m ready.  I can die, isn’t that great?”  Y’know I’m thinking, “Fuck you.  I wanna go in the bathroom and nail this chick, and here’s like someone else just sitting here.  This is really fucked up.  Y’know what I mean?”  And yeah, you kept going on, “I can die, I’m ready to die.” (laughs)  People had been telling me, ‘cause all week I’d run into people I know, old friends, and they’d tell me shit that I’d said and do not remember.

Perry: It won’t be the last time.

(Phone rings)

Iggy: Who is it?  Oh yeah, let me talk to her.  Okay.

Perry:  What he’s talking about is when we went on tour with Love And Rockets.  But those cats are cool.  Very different, and very English, but I dig them too.

RayGun: I’m just trying to remember, is that like ’87?

Perry:  Somethin’ like that, ’87?

RayGun:  Wasn’t it them who was doing that recording when their rented house burned down?

Perry:  They actually recorded a song with us.  That’s right.  They were recording with Genesis (P.Orridge, of Psychic TV), and their house went up on fire, that they were recording in.  And then they had to jump out of the window.  Genesis landing on his, like, arm and broke it in six places.  And his rib.  Oh, I don’t believe in accidents anyway.

RayGun:  But Genesis, man, he had a whole string of bad luck in the last couple of years, damn.

Perry:  There you go.  Maybe it’s over.  I don’t believe in coincidence.  But, I believe in non-coincidental action.  Like, every time something happens I go, “It’s no coincidence.”

RayGun:  You were saying something about that when I was trying to use your phone in the car.

Perry:  Here’s a funny one, okay.  The other week we were playing through the country, these Christmas shows.  And this story dates back to a moment where I was listening to on KROQ, the Smashing Pumpkins were doing a live show being broadcast around the world from Chicago.  I’m listening and I’m going, “Let’s see what kidna salt these kids are made of.”  And the damn power goes out and I go, “Uh-oh, it’s no coincidence.”

Iggy: (bounding back in) What?

Perry:  I was telling them, I was listening to the Smashing Pumpkins live broadcast that was being broadcast around the world.  And you know, that’s kind of schmaltzy.

Iggy: Yeah (laughs) They’re known for the grand – it’s sorta the orchestral arrangements and everything.

Perry: So, anyway, I’m listening and he goes, the kid goes, Billy says “I’d like to say hello to Japan, Australia…” Y’know what I mean?  You can feel him welling up:  “Should I bust into a song?” and the power pops off.

Iggy: Ah, right.

Perry: No coincidence.  Then all of the sudden I’m worried for him, just ‘cause I’m a fellow musician.  And I say, “Hang in there, man.  So let’s see what kinda salt you’re made of.”  Luckily he kinda laughed a little bit, and then I though tto myself, “Good deal.  You better laugh.”

Anyway so the story continues:  This week we’re playing Christmas shows.  First show when great.  Next show, wouldn’t you know it, I invite some girl out from Philadelphia, “Come and see my show.  Got a wardrobe and everything.  It’s gonna be great.”  Go and sing my big notes: power goes off.  So what do I do?  Y’know I used to drop my pants in the old days, but I just kinda shook my maracas around and laughed to myself.  And I even said, “Lets turn the uman into the thuman.” Which means, like, turn the curse into the blessing.  Well, I couldn’t do it that night.  Although I tried.  I tried to regain it.

Iggy: Right, right, right. (laughs)

Perry:  But nothing worked.  The sound’s all, “Whggzzzzzzz” right in the moddle of an old Jane’s song.  Like, “Oh, they’re gonna love… wait ‘til I do ‘Mountain Song.’” And it’s all “Whggzzzzzzz.”  So I said, “Ah, fuck you.  Alright, I’ll get you.”  So I went home and though about it… the one thing that I did remember is you better keep light and don’t throw your harmonica and don’t throw your maracas, .  ‘Cause that was the test.  So sure as shit – and don’t start saying “You’re fired” to the manager or looking at him like he sucks.

Iggy:  No, no, no, no, no.  You just stay with the thing man.

Perry: Yeah, you gotta just bust it out.  So I kinda felt, “That’s the test, that’s the test.” Next show was a beautiful great show.

Iggy:  Yeah, it went out on me at the Viper Room.  I sang there and I got to down.  Everybody knew the words to my songs so I just went.  “Okay, your turn.”  And they all did it, and it was cool.  When it first happens, what happens to me is, like, I get real flipped out, but instead of going to the manager I start scratchin’ myself.

Perry: Yeah, I remember seeing scratches all over your stomach, man, I thought you just had, y’know, a dermatitis or something.

Iggy: What? No. (laughs) It’s a nervous habit.

Perry: Is it really?

Iggy:  It’s a nervous habit I have, yeah.

Perry:  Well, I just through, to tell you the truth, I thought it was kinda kinky.  That what I really through.

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy: Yeah.

Perry: “Man, he likes that?”

Iggy:  It’s weird, ‘cause there’s this old Bruce Lee movie where he has those claw marks across his face and stomach?

Perry: Oh yeah!

Everyone :(laughs)

Iggy:  I saw that shit and I think that’s when I started doin’ it.

Perry:  Beautiful!  Here’s another good story I got:  So, I’m in New York a couple of days ago, and I’m in this club, an extremely black club.  And, y’know, we were talking earlier, we like, I like the dark meat.

Iggy: Yeah, right.  You want (in a strange accent) “Hello, how are you?”

Perry: Yeah.

Iggy: Nice.  ‘Cause you’re a musician, you’re really sensitive to this shit, right?

Perry: Alright, so anyway, I’m in a club.  And the block booties, how they’re nice and round.

Iggy: Yes.

Perry:  Well, I’ve been getting’ into that a lot lately.  So I’m dancin’ with this girl and – (to his girl) she’ll know who she is – and I was havin’ just the best time.  And she goes, “It’s my birthday!” And I go “No coincidence, it’s your birthday, no coincidence!” I’m thinkin’, “Whooo, alright, it’s all lining up!”  And then I notice this cat at the bar with a lumpy face and no eyes staring at me and he’s wearing a jacket like Arsenio Hall, like three different kinds of leather, like three colors – yellow, green, and black and orange.  I just knew he didn’t like me.  And I’m a pretty good dancer on the dance floor top, besides.  (laughs) Well, she turns around –

Iggy: Yeah! Yeah! Sure, Perry!

Perry:  – she turns around and she does the booty moves, straight out of Soul Train.  And all of a sudden, he gets up – he couldn’t take it no more – and walks over, and doesn’t say nothing to me.  He walks over to here and he goes, “Zibbity sabbity zap, zap-zap-zap,” thumbs over at me, and she goes – pshhhew – right out of the club!  And five big mutherfuckers come and surround me.  And I’m still dancing.  Andn I listen to what was on the vide with Bruce Lee fighting, Lew Alcindor.  (Everyone laughs)  So I look at him and I go (in Bruce Lee voice), “Woaahh.”  I mean, I literally though to myself, I didn’t say it out loud, but I went “Woaahh.”  And I kept dancing, keeping my center, thinking ‘Cobra breathing, cobra breathing, cobra breathing.  (Asian accent) They are surrounding me.  Ahhh.” Y’know?  And you know what, they reached in their pocket to grab something, and the guy go, like, he got stunned or something.  He couldn’t pull it out in time.  So he hands the guy like a receipt, instead of a knife or gun.  And the guy looks at the receipt and they go, “Yahhhh!”  It was like a fumbled murder attempt or something.  Anyway, they head for the door.  And then ironically, all these other cats come up and they go, “Yeah, man, I know who you are,” and start shaking my hand.  So I made friends real quick.  And I kinda breezed outta there and hailed a cab.  But that was awful close.  Yeah, man, the whole Bruce Lee thing comes in handy.

Iggy:  Do you remember the last time I saw you?  I bet you don’t.

Perry: Oh yes I do.

Iggy: You do?

Perry:  Yeah, yeah.  Was I in that limo going -?

Iggy: Yeah! Yeah!

Perry: And you were hiding out in, like, some kind of sweatsuit.  And you looked like you were a boxer in training.  I don’t know, man, you can’t hid underneath a sweatsuit! (Everyone laughs) He had his hood pulled up, like anybody’s not going to recognize those eyes, right?

Iggy: I’m out an Avenue A (in NYC’s Lower East Side) and, I don’t know, I’m training or something.

Perry: You were training?

Iggy: I don’t know what I was doing.  I can’t remember.

Perry: You were trying to keep dry.

Iggy: Whatever.  And he’s in this giant limousine on Avenue A.  I mean, c’mon!

Perry:  Yeah, ‘cause I was on the way to the airport.

Iggy:  With his chick in the limousine.  He says my name and “Oh fuck!” The first thing I noticed was you’ve lost a bit of weight, like half your body.  He was like really thin.  But you were really upset.

Perry: I’m always coming around you when I’m in tears.

Iggy:  Yeah, he was in tears ‘cause, like, “My manager’s… he’s… telling everyone that I’m on drugs!”  Y’know, and I was like –

Perry: No, no, no.  That’s true.  That’s  not what he said that upset me.

Iggy:  Yeah, but he was suing you.

Perry: He took me for six years.  As a matter of fact, and anniversary is coming up, the sixth year.  This cat, I mean, I knew him for like a year and he had me in like a six year contract.  And I said, “Look, I wanna get the fuck out.  You’re hanging out in New York.  You don’t know what the hell’s going on here.  Get me outta here!”  And he goes, “Ah, no problem, But you’re gonna be – “

Iggy: – breach or something.

Perry:  Yeah: “I’m gonna take you for six years.” And he did.

Iggy:  And then I just said, “You’ll look back and laugh some day.”

Perry: I go, “How long will it take before I’m over it?”  and he goes, “Three weeks.” “That’s good enough, drive on/”

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy: No, no, I get into limos.  I like limos.  Big long limo thing.  Yeah, I like that.  That’s so fucked up.

Perry:  That was a horrible moment.  And then right after that we unraveled some bunk dope.  You know how that is?

Iggy: Yeah, sure.  Oh, gee, oh yeah, right…

Perry:  And you do it anyway, it’s terrible.

Iggy:  You do it anyway.  And something might happen.  I mean, “I bought it.”

Perry:  “I’ll take it.”

Iggy:  Yeah, it’s like, it tastes like flour going down.  And shit like that.  And you’re thinking: “Maybe something might happen.  Or maybe something new will happen.”

Perry:  It’s the ritual of doing it more than the effect practically, ‘cause let’s face it….

Iggy:  It’s the mystery.  It’s the mystery.  The mystery of dope.  Yeah.  Wow. (laughs)

Perry:  Are you thinking of coming back here?

Iggy:  Yeah.  This is so fucked up, but I did the fucking movie.  They kept winding me up saying, “You’re really great in the movie.  And the producers have seen the movie.”  And some guy  named – whoever owns Miramaz – Bow Weinstien saw the movie and said, “Iggy’s really good in this movie.”  So they’re all saying, “You’re gonna be a movie star!”  And like, don’t tell me that, ‘cause I could really like that, right?  Don’t tell me I’m gonna be a movie star, y’know.  And I’m riding around in my convertible, I’m going to work, and thinking, “Gonna be a movie star.  Gonna be a movie star.”  Oh, y’know, and then you start thinking, “This isn’t a bad down.  This is pretty nice.”

Perry:  It is a great town though.  Good cars.  Got some nice cars goin’.  You know, get a classic car.

Iggy: Yeah.

RayGun:  That was a nice ride you were drivin’.

Perry:  Yeah, that’s why I brought it up, I was hopin’ you’d tell me that.  ’62 Nova, 350 engine.

Christine:  I just saw Sean Lennon and he said to say hi.

Iggy:  Hey. Cool.  Wow.  Where’d you see ‘um?

Christine:  I talked to him on the phone tonight.

Iggy: Who’s he playin’ with?

Christine:  This band from New York called Cibo Matto.  They’re really happenin’.  He’s not on the record.  But he’s just for the tour.

Iggy: He’s a nice guy.

Perry:  He’s got the line goin’ man.

Iggy: I know.  He got good stuff.

Perry: He’s so bright and talented.

Iggy:  I’ve never heard him play.

Perry: It’s haunting.  It’s haunting.

Iggy: He’s got the line.

Perry:  What a sweet guy.  That was is first tour.  He’s really excited to go in a van.  And like, schlep, “I’m really excited.”

Iggy:  He’s like that.  I was just gonna say.  He’s like a super cosmopolitan motherfucker.  He came over to my place and like, he was listening to my [American] Ceasar before it came out.  And he was really likin’ it and shit.  We were talkin’ about this and that.  And then, somehow somebody mentioned John Cougar Melloncamp and he said, “I hate small town music.”

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy:  Just like this kid with his Italian fucking coat.  And I thought “Yeah cool.” ‘Cause John really makes a thing of: “I am the voice of the small town.”

Perry: (Singing) “Sucking on a chili dog outside of the Tasty Freeze.”

Iggy: I was really shocked Sean would say that.  I really liked that one.  “WHOA! WHOA!” He made a big impression on me.

Perry: He’s awesome.

RayGun: Have you seen his mom?

Perry: Yeah, I’m remixing on of their songs.

Iggy: His mom is great.

Perry: GREAT!

Iggy: His mom’s a great fuckin’ singer.

Perry:  Where the hell has she been?  I swear to you she’s so talented.

Iggy: She’s curating

Perry:  Hey man, she’s ahead of her time.  I haven’t heard any women in recent memory that has god something to offer like she does.  She’s got this attitude when she sings, man.  You just feel like she really cut her chest open.

Iggy:  It’s funny now to hear, something like “Don’t Worry Kioko.”  What is it, “It’s only something in the snow.”  It had like Clapton and some other really good musicians on it.  I remember at the time, when that came out, everybody was stunned.  Generally musically-oriented people were like, “Listen to these great musicians playing great music.”  And then, “Oh how embarrassing, this ‘Wee wee wee wee wee’ all over it, this warbling.”  But you hear it now and go, “Fuck.”

Perry: Yeah.

Iggy: That’s the part that stands out.  The rest of it‘s just kinda pedestrian.

Perry: Right.  Blues.

Iggy: Yeah.

Perry:  Well, her new stuff is so awesome.  I really feel like it does some kinda like healing or something like that/.  She’s like a witch.  A good witch.

RayGun:  Have you heard each other’s (Iggy and Perry’s) new records?

Perry: Huh huh.

Iggy:  No, Uh uh.

Perry:  Actually, I’ll tell you the truth.  I would do anything to be as good as you, man.

Iggy: Cool.  Cool.

RayGun:  What was your first experience?  I mean, you grew up in a world where Iggy Pop already existed.  And you had Psi Com and then Jane’s Addiction.  What was your reference point?  What album or how did you come to that?

Iggy: Yeah.  I read something and said, “Oh that’s nice.”  He (Perry) said, “I like Iggy Pop and, uh, Michael Jordan.”

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy:  “They were my influences.”  I was like, “Oh cool.”

Perry:  Well, yeah.  Definitely.  I was doing Psi Com and that stuff.  Here’s a funny – like, it almost had this death element to it, which is great when you’re suffering and poor.  But when you start getting popular, making money and girls like how you stay in a bad mood?  You know, like the Cure.  I couldn’t figure it out.

Everyone: (laughs)

Perry:  So I figured that I had to change my band.  And then, I started listening to you ‘cause Casey turned me on.  And she played all your records, man.  And I go,  “That’s the attitude.  It’s party time, man.  This is a good mood.”  And so I just lightened up a lot.  And it had a lot to do with you.

Iggy: Wow.

Perry: Yeah.

Iggy.  Wow.  That’s good you thought it was party time, ‘cause a lot of people, you know, “Well, t his is all negative.”

Perry: Geeze.  I wish I could be as positive as you.

Iggy:  Most people were like, “It’s not Woodstock.”  I hated Woodstock.  I hated that shit.  Still hate it, I hate it.  The worst, Crosby, Stills and Nash.  Just so loathsome.  Just not music.  And that’s what everyone would say (about me), “It’s not music.”  That what I always god.  I don’t know what it was about it.  I don’t even know if it was the sound of it.  I think they just didn’t like us.  You know what I mean?  And the words.  For whatever reason, we got nailed ‘cause it wasn’t the blues.

RayGun: Even though it is.

Iggy.  Yeah.  I know it is.

Perry:  Well, things stand the test of time.  That’s the only way.  It’s kind of nice to have seen rock music evolve.  What stood the test of time, really?

Iggy: I like the one of his (Perry’s), what’s the fuck, the one before the one that sold all the copies.  The one before Nothing’s Shocking.

Perry:  Which one sold all the copies?  Oh, the first one, Jane’s Addiction?

Iggy: Yeah.  That’s really good.  I liked that one a lot ‘cause the ideas were growing’ there and I could hear it.  “Why don’t you just go in there?”  It was like, “Uh uh.  Go a little father over there.”  And I heard like, he’s singing “Dandelions” over fucking Ozzy Ozbourne.  “cause, ‘Dandelions,” it’s like “Growing dandelions are duh duh duh.”  And I can hear that.  “Oh, I can see what he’s doing.  Nobody does that.

Perry:  I won’t burst your bubble but I wasn’t singing “Dandelions.”

Everybody: (laughs)

Iggy: No, no.  But you know what I mean?

Perry: Okay.

Iggy: No, no, no.  For me you do.

RayGun: (to Iggy) Here’s one that I always wanted to ask you.  In that time period when people though you were negative and they didn’t think it was the blues and you’re rollin’ around on glass and stuff like that, where did you think it was gonna go from there?  After being so self-destructive on stage where could it go – or was that in your mind?

Iggy:  I never think where the shit’s gonna go and that’s why I think the people who do thing about it are really suck-ass musicians that should all be shot, y’know.  There’s lots of musicians like that.  They figure out, “Okay, and then it’s gonna go over here.  And then we’re gonna take this aside over there.  And then we’ll have a big benefit about it.  And then we’ll…” And it’s like, it blows, I don’t think about it at all.  I never thought about it, I just reacted.  I acted and reacted.  That’s all. And like, y’know, if you were playin’ like 900-mile-art-house music to a bunch of fuckin’ New York critics sitting in folding chairs starting at you, you’d roll in broken glass too.

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy: Especially if you were on the cocktail I was on.

Everyone: (laughs)

Iggy: Big deal.  What I say too is, like: big deal, so I rolled in the broken glass.  I mean, I spent like 30 seconds in the broken glass.

Perry:  And you got a lifetime of press out of it.

Iggy: Yeah, look what I got out of it.  I didn’t even feel the broken glass.  I scored a cool chick after.  I was too stoned to fuck her.  And other people, what do they do, they sit around really uptight for like 40 years waiting for the chance to say, “So Iggy, are you gonna roll in the broken glass again?”  Having these all uptight, painful lives.  I just have little moments.  I have peaks and valleys.  That’s all.  Peaks and valleys.  That’s all that is.  And that was just a valley.  That was a valley that night.  And on another level, it’s funny.

RayGun: I like that perspective: “I’m not looking to find out what this can evolve into or what movement this can start or if I’m gonna kick off this thing called punk rock.”

Iggy: No, no.  It’s just how you feel at the time.  To try to be present in the room.  Actually have a human being present in the room is different like then, what I hate is to go see a band and feel like I’m seeing like human beings trying to be a movie.  Like, a bad version of something that’s so preprogrammed that they might as well not be there.  Then you might as well send out the video.  What’s the point of that?

Perry: Yeah, live’s very different isn’t it?

Iggy: Yeah, right.  I don’t see any point to that.  A lot of it does have to be formatted and formatted is great.  You know the end of the song is gonna come in three minutes and 31 seconds.

RayGun: Right.

Iggy: And if you do it enough times, you know there’s certain things you could do.  There are choices you could make.  You have a little bag of stuff you could do.  And then, once you totally use that bag you’re really a lousy performer.  You should be open to stuff you’ve never done.  People say, “Rolled in broken glass.” Once.  Once!

Perry: Yeah.  “Hey hey.  Did you bring the glass? You fucker! You forgot the glass! And the horse trough!”

Everyone: (laughs)

Perry:  I remember we played with these cats, Fields Of The Nephilm.  They used to wear these leather coats and dust themselves with baby powder.  I went to take a piss and they’re in there dusting themselves with Johnson’s Baby Powder.  “Excuse me.”

Iggy:  Now broken glass is a major corporate advertisement.  It’s fucking Converse.  There’s a little Iggy shoe with the broken glass.

Perry:  You know what you can do now that you’re in the movies, is get that candy glass.  Then  you don’t have to hurt yourself.

Iggy: That’s right.

Perry: It’s a schtick.

Iggy: For my 80th birthday.

Everyone: (laughs)

You know who used to do that?  Gibby from the Buttholes.

Iggy:  Gibby, yeah.

Perry: Gibby used to crack himself over the head on Lollapalooza with a bottle.  Finally I said, “Gibby, what the fuck’s your problem, man?”  He goes, “Aw no.  These are joke bottles.”  I thought, “Maybe this guy needs to talk to somebody or something.”  I just thought like “Christ!”  He doesn’t wear socks.  He breaks these bottles over his head.

Iggy: It’s a joke bottle. I see.

Perry:  So he’d show up at joke stores and get these bottles.  But he wasn’t animated ‘cause he was so drunk by the time he did.  He wouldn’t like go, “Here it comes.”  You’d just hear a big crack.  No windup.

RayGun:  Iggy, who’s’ in your band now?

Iggy: The same guys as Caesar.  Plus this guy, Whitey.  He played with me in the touring band.  He’s a friend of my son’s.  He’s a tattooed-biker-drinker-loser guy.  So he was with me awhile.

Perry: So chicks dig him?

Iggy: Right.  The chicks love him.  We were talking last night, and he said, “Well, I just score chicks.  I just go up and tell them what I want to do to them.  Like I say, ‘I’d really like to lick your pussy.’”  He’s Canadian.

RayGun: Right.

Iggy: But I kicked him out for a few years to discipline him.

Perry: A few years.  That’s really disciplining.

Iggy:  It took three years for him to grow up.  So now he’s back in the mix.

Perry: He’s looking alright.  He looks ready.

Iggy:  I’m a father figure for him.  Sure.  Yeah sure.  That’s who he is.

Perry: It’s actually great that he loves you that much to keep coming back.  After a couple of years, for Christ’s sake.

Iggy: I know.

RayGun:  And what about Porno?  It’s the same?

Perry: It keeps growin’, my man.  We’ve got new additions all the time.  We’ve got Mike Watt working on bass.

Iggy: Wow.

Perry:  Minutemen cat and one of the sweetest, smartest guy’s I’ve ever met and a hall of a bass player.  Good mate, too.  And this kid, Sonny’s going to join guy with us.  Sonny was playing with Beck during Lollapalooza.  This kid’s 19.  Real cook like from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We’ve got a backup singer, a couple backups singers.  And Lily Hayden, who played violin with Zeppelin.  It keeps going, I’m into like, this orchestra angle.

Iggy: That’s a good angle.

Perry.  Yeah, I dig it.  I dig it.  So I’m going to keep expanding it and see where it leads us.

RayGun:  is the new album done?

Perry: No, I’ve got one more song.  One more.  It needs a little bit more sense of humor so we’re going to do this one song.  And that’s it.  When’s yours coming out?

Iggy: March.

Perry: March.  So you’re done.

Iggy:  I gotta go first.

Perry: (Iggy and Perry talk about working together on their respective tours) I’ll keep it in mind, ‘cause I’ve got ideas for another tour.  Another festival.  That would be an all-nighter.

Iggy: Yeah.  That’s better than an all-dayer.

Perry: Yeah.

Iggy: Right.

Perry: All night.  Get some really cool cats involved in it.  Maybe Yoko and Sean, yourself.  You know, um, Tricky and Moby are cool people.  And Bjork’s a good gal.

Iggy: Bjork’s a goddess.

Perry: Ain’t she beautiful.

Iggy: She’s it man.

Perry: And I don’t know.  Go on from there.  But there’s like, so many new ideas I’ve got.  I’m probably gonna pass up the Lollapalooza.  Gave that over to them cats and let them skyscraper it as high as they can go.  God bless them, but I’m up for new things.

Iggy: Yeah.

Perry: Yeah man.  Have you heard of these things called the Midnight Rambles?  I’m sure you have.

Iggy: No.

Perry: They were happening back in the like Jerry Lee Lewis / early Elvis days when they would have a show.  And it would start right at eight and nine.  The dancers would get a little looser, a little wilder.  And the moves for the musicians would get a little crazier.  By midnight, people’d be out of their minds and strippin’ and having a wild time.

Iggy: Wow.

Perry: This was called the Midnight Ramble.

Iggy: I didn’t know about that.

Perry: This is where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and the duck walk all originated off of.

Iggy: When they got in the mood.

Perry: Yeah, midnight.

Iggy: Yeah.

Perry: So I figure man, nothing’s gonna go down until midnight.  So I figure let’s start a show.

Iggy:  That’s such a great idea.

Perry: Dress in pajama attire, which could mean anything.

Iggy: Wow, pajamas.

Perry: You know what I mean?

Iggy: Pajamas.  Pajama theme.  Yeah, I’m totally down for that.

Perry: And pajamas are so damn comfortable.  And I think they’re sexy.

Iggy: Good.

Perry:  So that’s what I’m going for this time.  And we’re about in the same record cycle so we can do it.

Iggy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Perry: Alright.  Well, I’ll be in touch with you.

Iggy: A slumber party.

Perry: There you go.  It’s definitely a different mood that happens around that time.

With that, we move the party into the kitchen, and Iggy and Perry needle each other a bit about whether or not they’re staying out of trouble with substances, giggling like happy boys.  Christine starts shyly hinting that she’d like to keep the copy of Barely Legal, to which Iggy says, “What are you suggesting?”  Finally, he signs it for her, a souvenir.  Everyone drinks more wine and the night disintegrates, totally, as Perry heads off to a Porno For Pyros rehearsal and Iggy leaves for a party in the hills, both looking to get out of their heads, out of their skins, to take us along on the ride, to give us all the chance to be fresh again.