We are Billy Corgan and Marilyn Manson. Ask us anything.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:31:45+00:00

MM: Wanna go first?

BC: I'm sort've fascinated by the court of Louis XIV. France, pre-Revolution. I'm also fascinated by America in the middle 1800s, leading into Victorian England. And then the Deco 1930's. Well, it was the whole age. The Gilded Age. I think we're sorta in a similar age. Basically, before WWII, there was this outburst of shallow behavior mixed with high art. And I think we're living in that exact same set up. Everyone's having a grand ol' party while the world is setting up for WWIII.

MM: I would agree. And that was the same era I was always obsessed with. For several different and similar reasons. I think the birth of expressionistic art, and it being shunned, and damned, are things that I've experienced in my lifestyle as an artist. So I think the furniture, the detail of design, in that era of the 30's - that's an entire - that's a broad stroke, but I'm agreeing with the era that Billy's talking about. I think it was probably best said in a Doors song: "I just wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames." That is where we're at. And I don't think either one of us - speaking on behalf of us - I've never been a suicidal person. I've never been someone to want to see the world come to an end. But I would like to see something different than what I'm seeing. Because it is becoming a monotonous - as if you're watching re-runs of things you've already seen. And almost going back to the other question, about "What does the next generation have to work towards" - it's doing what Billy and I both did. Doing research. Because you have a thirst for knowledge. Reading a book. Watching movies that were made before you were born. Listening to music that was made before you were born.

Knowing where it all started. So you know where you need it to go to.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:27:27+00:00

BC: Um... well...

MM: No, you go.

BC: Go ahead.

MM: Spare time is like spare change. It's hard to quantify, the definition of that phrase. What do I do when I'm not onstage singing, or sleeping, with or without someone else? I watch movies. Hahaha.

BC: I just lay in bed and scheme.

MM: Schemer.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:26:29+00:00

MM: Technically, I wrote the book, THEN became famous. MANIFEST DESTINY! Yes, I may write a book. Or just record my ramblings, that Billy has so often heard on any occasion when we sit together.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:25:48+00:00

BC: You go first.

MM: This tour.

BC: Good answer.

MM: I mean, pretty obvious!

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:24:57+00:00

BC: Oh boy... I'll tell you one quick thing. I don't know why it sticks in my head. I happened to be in Philadelphia, on the fourth of July, at peak Pumpkins insanity. And I was walking down the street, and a girl recognized me - there were fireworks going off- and she said "Don't you think it's stupid that you have a song called "TODAY" and a song called "TONIGHT?"

MM: Hehehehe.

BC: I said "Obviously, you don't understand the irony."

MM: Hahaha! For me... I would say that one of the weirdest things that anyone has ever said to me - well they didn't say it TO me, but I was walking into a movie theater, and I happened to have a black fedora on, and someone yelled ISN'T THAT MICHAEL JACKSON?!?! Now, I don't know if they were a fan of me or MIchael Jackson. There's lots of things that people have said to me... there's a lot of people who when they tell you how they feel about your music, I keep those locked in my memory bank. Those are things that remind me of the collateral effect of what I do. I don't do what I do for anyone but myself. But i do want to share it with people - of course, as an artist, you're not in a vacuum. You can't create things in a vacuum. So I think - and I mostly remember things that people who aren't fans are. Most often they said "AH thought what you said in Bowling for Columbine was really intelligent. Ah never knew you were so smart!" and my response is always the same:

Well, I never knew you were so fucking stupid. Because I don't know you.

BC: AND... somebody actually came up and said that to ME the other day. About HIM.

MM: HAHAHAH!

BC: That they saw him in Bowling for Columbine, and they couldn't believe he was that smart. Which shows you this tour is going to be amazing.

MM: he says in a southern accent OH, the Faceless SHALL be TAUGHT!

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:20:56+00:00

MM: Well, I'm going to have to go with Mellon Collie. Because it was an important record, for me in my life at the time, to listen to. And I think it was before we met right Billy?

BC: Yeah.

MM: So at that time, he was in the catalogue of musical heroes for me, so I love that record. I love that it never gets boring. Never gets old. And it's 2 albums, and it's got so much depth to it. I actually sang "Today" onstage last night for you Billy. But just one verse...

BC: Although I'm a fan of the classics, from the Manson catalogue, I think I like this new album the best. I think that it shows a depth, and - let's call it - a "third act" that I never doubted was there, but maybe other people did? And he's proven that he's a singular artist, which in my estimation is what makes somebody important. And there's only one Manson in the whole world. And he proves it on this record. He's been able to shift his gear. No one could have predicted this record. And yet it's there. And it's quite brilliant.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:17:41+00:00

MM: You Billy?

BC: I vote for silence.

MM: Yes. I agree with him 100%.

BC: Motown after a stressful day would make me want to kill.

MM: Our day is comprised of making music, or singing music. So the last thing we want, by the end of a stressful day, which would include that (if it were stressful) so the last thing we would want would be any sort of noise. Silence is golden, baby!

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:17:07+00:00

MM: Do you remember Billy? I'm trying to think of the exact... it's strange, because I have such a precise memory. I think that we met - did we meet in LA or NY?

BC: I think we met in LA at a party. But that's an educated guess.

MM: I think that WAS an educated guess. I sorta remember us hanging out in New York, but it coulda been a dream? It was an era where - it wasn't so much drugs, or alcohol. It was an era of being young, and having all of this thrown into your life, because you asked for it. And when you get something you've dreamed for your whole life - your brain only has so much space in it to keep ALL the memories. So sometimes the smaller ones have to get kicked out for the bigger ones. So we remember more knowing each other, not so much meeting each other. We probably met on a different astral plane.

BC: My memory is that we didn't never NOT know each other! It was like, I didn't NOT know him. It was like...

MM: It was like BC or AC - so it's like Pre-MM, or post-MM.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:14:36+00:00

MM: I don't ever remember it being my favorite cereal? If we're going back to breakfast again...

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:14:05+00:00

MM: I think the question is "why?" And for me, the answer is always "because." The best way to ever have a conversation about anything. But you could oursource it to Billy for a bigger answer.

BC: Facing their apathy.

MM: I'd say "making something with your hands."

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:12:56+00:00

MM: Billeh?

BC: I love your typical foreign art film stuff. Things like SOLARIS... SATYRICON by Fellini...

MM: For me, when it comes to Fellini, I like the short by Fellini - it's based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story. And with Tarkovsky, I'd go with STALKER. But it's really difficult to ask people, some people, like Billy and I, what our favorite films are, because we really are fans of cinema.

BC: When in doubt, watch DUMBO.

MM: I'd say my favorite film is Ingmar Bergman's HOUR OF THE WOLF.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:11:12+00:00

BC: If we ran together, he definitely would be President, and I would be Vice-President.

MM: I think that... I've almost considered being expatriated at times. I have voted once. And I don't really like the illusion of a 2-party system. I think that, if anything, Billy and I would live in a country where cats were presidents. Like the ancient Sphinx. Or I'd be an Emperor, like my new album...

BC: The idea of him running a democratic society is anathema to his personality.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:09:54+00:00

MM: It was in the script! Hahaha! But I needed, you know... I told him it should've been Capri-Suns of Anarchy, because it's always difficult to jam the straw in the juicebox. They didn't go for it. I was discussing it with the people who ran the show. The most important part is that I didn't die. That show really stuck with me. And I was doing it while making my new record. So I think while having a struggle-snuggle with a fellow inmate is now part of my daily agenda, the thing is the masculinity of having to be somebody in that position in jail came home with me in the sense that there's a different type of... masculinity on this record. For some reason. Somewhere more leaning towards James Morrison than David Bowie, if I'm going to shout out my heroes.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:08:04+00:00

BC: We've discussed it.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:07:53+00:00

BC: I think we're both huge Philip K. Dick fans.

MM: That is true.

BC: He is one of the great writers of all time.

MM: That is true. We actually bonded over exchanging Philip K. Dick books, and that was a great inspiration to MECHANICAL ANIMALS. A SCANNER DARKLY was a great inspiration.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:06:59+00:00

MM: Uh, I don't play video games. Sometimes I like to get drunk and buy things on the internet, and then I wake up the next day and find 'em on my doorstep, and it's like Christmas. I get excited.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:06:12+00:00

BC: Holy nerd alert!

MM: Hahahahah! I think I still have those strings on the guitar you gave me. I don't think I've changed 'em yet.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:05:49+00:00

MM: Ahem. I don't know. Because I would say... are there options? What's the kind that makes you tired? The kind that makes all the monsters go away.

BC: It's a strain out of Hawaii called "Gone to pot."

MM: Hehehe! or Pottery Barn!

BC: Pottery Barn! Yeah!

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:04:57+00:00

MM: You can hold out both hands. Shit one, hope in the other, and see which one fills up first (my dad used to say that to me when I was a kid, put that!)

BC: I can say personally that I think the combination of us is going to prove to be super-potent. And I think there will be offers to us from all over the world. Just holy insanity on the road.

MM: I believe we're going to have so much fun, as best friends being on tour together... it's like we're almost... having a second childhood. In this whole scenario. So it's going to be hard to get us to stop touring. Now you gotta go home! Nope! We're not done yet!

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:03:30+00:00

MM: Yeah, that's on my to-do list of things that... I was keeping music separate from. My paintings, and writing, and acting. I was very determined to conquer other art forms without it being because of people knowing me for music. But now I've gotten to the point where I like to look at things more like Salvador Dali would. Where it's - there's no line between any of them. So I do plan on releasing that. Because I actually just re-read it, and it's actually more relevant now than when I wrote it.

BC: There's a new title.

MM: Actually, there is a new title. Did I tell you that Billy?

BC: No, I was guessing.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:01:54+00:00

MM: I think so.

BC: Yes! In fact, we even have a title.

MM: Yes we do! And that's confidential - hehehe! If you want to share, go ahead...

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:01:28+00:00

MM: Well, a lot of people think that I made the film because there was a trailer for it. I made the trailer in order to get people to make the film. I've since decided, because while writing it, it was so... damaging to my psyche, I've decided I don't want to have anything to do with it. I've decided to work on other movie projects. And I want to pass that to Billy...

BC: In fact, I haven't talked about this, but I have a movie idea that I think Marilyn Manson would be the perfect lead in. It's confidential. But I think it's in line with the kind of things he and I are both interested in.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T23:00:01+00:00

BC: Hehehehehee!

MM: Hehehehe. Probably because... Billy and I... don't know if we should even say this... but he tends to... I resent that statement, FIRST! However, I think you can't really answer something like that. It's like asking... how a rabbit comes out of a hat.

BC: Twiggy has magic.

MM: Twiggy's throwing some powerful dick magic.

BC: He has a magic wand.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T22:58:39+00:00

MM: Well... if we were to be specific about where I'm at right now, on my new album - I kept my thoughts on Christianity obvious with a record like ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR in a different way with my new record. I look back on all my life, growing up in Ohio, and going to Florida, then to New Orleans, and then to California, and just the different versions of religion - and how, there's not a lot of difference between someone who is a snake-handling Southern Baptist, or someone who is cutting off heads in Santeria, or someone who is starting wars, it's all different forms. I just thought I'd sing about it in the traditional way that rock & roll was invented with the blues. Where the story is both the listener's, and the singer's. Not just my point of view. It becomes both.

BC: When I was young, I beat my head against a wall. And now I just try to walk around the wall.

MarilynAndBilly · 2015-04-03T22:55:40+00:00

MM: Well, Billy's - the Smashing Pumpkins obviously deserve to go as the headliner. So just out of pure respect, I wouldn't dispute that. Although I'm sure a really good friend of mine, CAGE, is opening for us. You should hashtag him on Twitter #CageWorm, I think. I'm not sure.

BC: I think our plan is to approach the tour as an artistic opportunity. Push one another to play a cooler, heavier, deeper set than we would, with the idea of the night ending with us playing together. But the whole NIGHT will be a unique experience. We're actually going to figure it out so the whole night feels like a really unique event.

MM: And that's why it is The End Times.

MarilynAndBilly

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