Post by hailegeb on Aug 16, 2007 15:55:40 GMT -5
Here's text from a new interview with Butch that speaks (about midway down) of a "long, world tour" next spring or summer. Lost some introductory stuff at the top, sorry ...
Malay Mail (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
August 16, 2007 Thursday
Smells like team spirit
BYLINE: Grace Ong
SECTION: MAIN SECTION; Showbiz; Pg. 26
LENGTH: 1171 words
Vig would much rather talk about his band, Garbage, whose other members Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker are reuniting after almost two years, and their new record, a compilation of their greatest hits, Absolute Garbage.
A repackaging of their singles may not be the most exciting development for the fans, but it is good to know that the members can at least bear to be with one another long enough to record two new singles for the compilation. That at least bodes well for the future of the band, which has been in question since its near breakup in 2003.
In 2005, two long years later, they released their fourth studio album Bleed Like Me. Though a difficult album to complete - Butch was reported to have walked out during several studio sessions, which were described as "unpleasant" and "unproductive" - Bleed Like Me became their highest charting album in the US. Yet, commercial success, which had eluded them in their third outing beautiful- garbage, did not make the increasingly fractious members any more united.
The supporting 2005 world tour was abruptly cut short, and Garbage announced that it was going on an "indefinite hiatus."
Fears that the band members had split up for good, despite denials from the band's official website, were exacerbated by the news that the ultra-foxy Shirley was recording a solo album in early 2006, which would be ready in 2007.
Now, another two long years later, Garbage is back together, but the question is, for how long?
Butch seems enthusiastic and optimistic enough, though one can't be sure whether it is PR-speak or truth when he talks about the "good vibes" that the band had when performing and recording recently.
What brought Garbage together after two long years?
Well, we played at a benefit for a friend of mine, who had cancer, in February. We got together just a day before to rehearse, and it went really well. It was basically an unplugged set, with just guitars and a string quartet. The fans went nuts. So it kinda started from there ... There were many, many phone calls between us, well, Shirley is in California a lot, but Steve lives in Aspen now, and Duke in London.
How are things with the band now? What is it like to function as a unit again after a long time?
Erm, it was really good. We're feeling really good vibes.
If the band is coming together after such a long time, why release a greatest hits compilation instead of a full album?
Well, we just felt that the time was right to take a step back and look at what Garbage has done. Garbage has been around for 12 years - we've had four records and been through four long tours. We wanted to put that in some chronological order, and it was a logical time to do it.
And it's got two new singles (Tell Me Where It Hurts and It's All Over But The Crying), the special edition has another disc with B- sides and remixes from U.N.K.L.E, Massive Attack ...
(A DVD is also available with 15 videos next to interviews, backstage footage and live performances).
Will there be a tour?
We're planning on one next year, maybe spring or summer, because it's going to be a long, world tour and we're all so busy right now with our own projects. Shirley's cutting her own album, and I've been busy myself, I've just completed producing a record for Jimmy Eat World, and the others are working pretty hard as well. So it may be summer before we're ready to go on the road - we want to play smaller, intimate shows, but we are going to go everywhere, maybe even Malaysia.
How did you decide on the selection of the tracks for the compilation? Are they simply a collection of your greatest hits, or are some of them the band members' personal favourites?
It's a combination of hit singles as well as the songs we personally think are the best material from Garbage. We argued a lot Androgyny, which you know is one of our hit singles, is not included because Shirley didn't like it. We also wanted to limit it to 18 songs - the hardcore fans would already have all of our albums, but for the casual fan, who may have only one or two albums, the 18 songs really represent the best of Garbage.
What are your own personal favourite Garbage tracks?
I Think I'm Paranoid, Silence Is Golden, Sex Is Not The Enemy, Vow, Boys Wanna Fight.
Is being in a band - where you write your own stuff, create your own sound - more fulfilling than being a producer?
Well, I'm a drummer and I do a lot of other stuff for the band I like being in a band, because it allows me to wear many hats.
You've said that Nevermind affected so many people and changed the music business but you didn't want to get caught up in that. Looking back, how does it feel to be the producer of a record that touched so many lives and changed the whole idea of what rock music is all about?
(Long pause) It's really something I don't really like to talk about still. So many people ask me about what Kurt Cobain was like, I tell them, you want to know what he was like, listen to the record. But I'm proud and thankful to have been a part of it. It gave me the opportunity to pick and choose projects - at the time I was working from a small studio in Wisconsin - but after that, I was getting calls from all the major labels. It was also because of it that I was able to start Garbage. Nevermind was an incredibly successful record, and that doesn't happen very often. To me, the record sounds as great today as it did when it first came out.
* Interview courtesy of Warner Music.
Malay Mail (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
August 16, 2007 Thursday
Smells like team spirit
BYLINE: Grace Ong
SECTION: MAIN SECTION; Showbiz; Pg. 26
LENGTH: 1171 words
Vig would much rather talk about his band, Garbage, whose other members Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker are reuniting after almost two years, and their new record, a compilation of their greatest hits, Absolute Garbage.
A repackaging of their singles may not be the most exciting development for the fans, but it is good to know that the members can at least bear to be with one another long enough to record two new singles for the compilation. That at least bodes well for the future of the band, which has been in question since its near breakup in 2003.
In 2005, two long years later, they released their fourth studio album Bleed Like Me. Though a difficult album to complete - Butch was reported to have walked out during several studio sessions, which were described as "unpleasant" and "unproductive" - Bleed Like Me became their highest charting album in the US. Yet, commercial success, which had eluded them in their third outing beautiful- garbage, did not make the increasingly fractious members any more united.
The supporting 2005 world tour was abruptly cut short, and Garbage announced that it was going on an "indefinite hiatus."
Fears that the band members had split up for good, despite denials from the band's official website, were exacerbated by the news that the ultra-foxy Shirley was recording a solo album in early 2006, which would be ready in 2007.
Now, another two long years later, Garbage is back together, but the question is, for how long?
Butch seems enthusiastic and optimistic enough, though one can't be sure whether it is PR-speak or truth when he talks about the "good vibes" that the band had when performing and recording recently.
What brought Garbage together after two long years?
Well, we played at a benefit for a friend of mine, who had cancer, in February. We got together just a day before to rehearse, and it went really well. It was basically an unplugged set, with just guitars and a string quartet. The fans went nuts. So it kinda started from there ... There were many, many phone calls between us, well, Shirley is in California a lot, but Steve lives in Aspen now, and Duke in London.
How are things with the band now? What is it like to function as a unit again after a long time?
Erm, it was really good. We're feeling really good vibes.
If the band is coming together after such a long time, why release a greatest hits compilation instead of a full album?
Well, we just felt that the time was right to take a step back and look at what Garbage has done. Garbage has been around for 12 years - we've had four records and been through four long tours. We wanted to put that in some chronological order, and it was a logical time to do it.
And it's got two new singles (Tell Me Where It Hurts and It's All Over But The Crying), the special edition has another disc with B- sides and remixes from U.N.K.L.E, Massive Attack ...
(A DVD is also available with 15 videos next to interviews, backstage footage and live performances).
Will there be a tour?
We're planning on one next year, maybe spring or summer, because it's going to be a long, world tour and we're all so busy right now with our own projects. Shirley's cutting her own album, and I've been busy myself, I've just completed producing a record for Jimmy Eat World, and the others are working pretty hard as well. So it may be summer before we're ready to go on the road - we want to play smaller, intimate shows, but we are going to go everywhere, maybe even Malaysia.
How did you decide on the selection of the tracks for the compilation? Are they simply a collection of your greatest hits, or are some of them the band members' personal favourites?
It's a combination of hit singles as well as the songs we personally think are the best material from Garbage. We argued a lot Androgyny, which you know is one of our hit singles, is not included because Shirley didn't like it. We also wanted to limit it to 18 songs - the hardcore fans would already have all of our albums, but for the casual fan, who may have only one or two albums, the 18 songs really represent the best of Garbage.
What are your own personal favourite Garbage tracks?
I Think I'm Paranoid, Silence Is Golden, Sex Is Not The Enemy, Vow, Boys Wanna Fight.
Is being in a band - where you write your own stuff, create your own sound - more fulfilling than being a producer?
Well, I'm a drummer and I do a lot of other stuff for the band I like being in a band, because it allows me to wear many hats.
You've said that Nevermind affected so many people and changed the music business but you didn't want to get caught up in that. Looking back, how does it feel to be the producer of a record that touched so many lives and changed the whole idea of what rock music is all about?
(Long pause) It's really something I don't really like to talk about still. So many people ask me about what Kurt Cobain was like, I tell them, you want to know what he was like, listen to the record. But I'm proud and thankful to have been a part of it. It gave me the opportunity to pick and choose projects - at the time I was working from a small studio in Wisconsin - but after that, I was getting calls from all the major labels. It was also because of it that I was able to start Garbage. Nevermind was an incredibly successful record, and that doesn't happen very often. To me, the record sounds as great today as it did when it first came out.
* Interview courtesy of Warner Music.
. I want to see them as many times as possible. 
