Fans can find the Stuff
magazine interview with Trent Reznor that was previously
mentioned this month now on stands. I quickly snatched
one of the last copies last night and just now transcribed
the two-page interview for fans to read for themselves.
The three photos, which
I left out of the article, feature Reznor looking
straight up at the camera while laying on his back
on a red illuminated pool table, crouched up against
a padded red corner wall and a close up shot of Trent
leering into the camera.
"You might want to skip
the funny questions and sort of play it straight,"
says Trent Reznor's publicist, who's so stiff you
could iron your pants on her back. Trent, she takes
great caution in explaining, is a pretty "intense
artist" who'll certainly want to limit the scope of
our conversation to his new project, Nine Inch Nails
Live: And All that Could Have Been, a live CD/DVD/VHS
that documents their two-year Fragility tour. We can
understand that, so we follow her instructions to
the letter.
Stuff: Can you recommend
any good makeup removers? A cold cream, perhaps?
Trent: I'm a Pond's
man.
Stuff: Your shows are
pretty dark, emotional, cathartic and all the rest
of that hoopha. Do you ever wake up in a good mood,
whistling a happy tune?
Stuff: That's actually
a good question.
Trent: Some days it
is daunting to think of being onstage for two hours
in this intense situation when you're not really in
the mood. One of the reasons I named this thing "And
All that Could Have Been" is that we're at the end
of this phase of Nine Inch Nails. It's run its course.
Itıs time for me to reinvent. I've been in a lighthearted
spirit onstage some days, where it's like; "I am not
about to go through this self-hatred." But it usually
passes as soon as the first song starts out. It's
like you've injected the drug into your system.
Ever inject any real
drugs into your system?
Well, years ago, back
in the 90's, we'd drink our share of tequila. The
idea was to become as fucked up as possible and see
if we could get through the show. It has a nice hallucinogenic
quality to it and a bullet proofing effect before
the show.
Stuff: Did upchucking
onstage ever become as issue for you?
Trent: I have vomited
onstage. The good think about our live show is that
there's enough weird lighting and strobes that you
start to realize when you're visible and when you're
not. There's enough shadow and light where I know
that at this part in the song, I'm not doing anything.
So there are plenty of good vomiting areas.
Stuff: For all the ladies
in the house, do you have a nine-inch fleshy nail?
Trent: I... [Laughs]
Stuff: You're not much
for the concert banter with the crowd. Have you ever
been tempted to ask a crowd to say "ho"?
Trent: [laughs] It's
much more difficult to try to come up with something
to say onstage when you'd ever imagine. It's always
horrifying when somebody's monitor breaks and they're
like, "Talk for a moment -- I gotta fix this thing."
But shit starts flowing of your moth, and suddenly
you're David Lee Roth and you're like, Wait a sec-
how did I turn into such an ass?
Stuff: Oh you're not
an ass. So tell me, why is it that you tend to kick
the crap out of your bandmates onstage so much?
Trent: There have been
mishaps. Usually they're not intentional, but there
have been some misfiring. A mic slips out of your
hand some nights, and after the show, you find out
it hit the drummer in the head.
Stuff: Our editorial
assistant said he was in a mosh pit at Woodstock and
you moshed into him while another band was on. Is
he lying about this, too?
Trent: It could be true.
You know, when you're on tour, you're sequestered
backstage in some room this people you're tired of
being around, and it sucks. You forget that the people
out there are there for a concert. So when I'm starting
to have a pity party for myself about how they don't
have this color cheese in the fucking party tray,
I like to go out into the crowd before the show. My
disguise is a big cup of beer that I just stick in
front of my face. I usually sit down in the back while
the opening acts are playing to kind of remember what
going to a show is like.
Stuff: On the new album
you've got two songs with the word pig in the title.
Do you have something against pork?
Trent: No, just fresh
out of ideas. Actually, once when we opened for Guns
'n' Roses in Germany, we were pelted with meat. About
10 seconds into the first song, I realize we weren't
going to win the audience, and then about 60,0000
dudes in rock T-shirts from the '70s- but in a hip,
retro way-actually threw sausage at us. I thought
that was kind of cool.
Stuff: Does it make
you sad that kids don't give shoutouts to their friends
on TRL while on your videos is playing?
"This one goes out to
all my homies!" The stage of pop music can drive me
crazy if I start to think about it. But I think there's
a place in the world for carefree, escapist pop. I've
never turn off the "Bootylicious" video. If it's on,
I'll stop in my tracks and sit there, just to make
sure I see the whole thing. And when the Spice Girls'
first song came out, I have to admit: it was catchy.
There's something about them-- they're not that hot,
but there's something collectively sexy about them
and their jiggling boobs. I'm a consumer; I bought
into it.
Stuff: What do you think
of the Limp Bizkit-ization of America?
Trent: I think it's
run its course at this point. I mean, I understand
that you don't need 100 Radioheads, but you also don't
need armies of dumb-dumbs.
Stuff: Do us a favor
and watch the language. In a lot of your videos, you're
in these wind tunnels or surrounded by entrails. Do
you ever find yourself sitting there with a cow skull
on your head thinking, What the hell am I doing?
Trent: I've often though
that. We were doing the "Starfuckers" video with Marilyn
Manson in the desert outside of L.A., and it was freezing
could at night with this miserable wind kicking up.
We were all shivering in our silly outfits, and I
was standing watching playback on this monitor. I
saw Manson dressed like a drug addict chick. Then
the playback stopped and the tape cut into a D'Angelo
video that the crew had shot prior to our shoot. D'Angelo
was sitting back in his silk bed with a superhot chuck
next to him, they were making out, you saw her laughing
and he was bullshitting with her. And I was thinking,
Where did this all go wrong? I could be doing any
number of things, and I chose to be making out with
Manson in the fucking desert in the middle of the
night. Time to reassess.
Stuff: You're just being
hard on yourself. Tell us, have you, at any point
in your life, had a Pac Man fever?
Trent: I had a mild
temperature rise over Pac Man. I was into Space Invaders,
so Iıve got a soft spot in my heart for video games.
I've gotten involved with music for Doom and Quake.
I'm really into technology and complexity of these
games. Plus, I've found girls are really into talking
about computer lighting and shading techniques. Talk
about video games when you really want to go in for
the kill with a girl.
Stuff: What album would
you define as the absolute opposite of what you do?
Trent: Oh, unquestionably
the worst-or maybe the greatest ever is Billy Bob
Thorton's. Somebody picked it up, and we were driving
around in a convertible, listening to it with the
top down and roaring with laughter after each line.
I just thought how terrible it would be if you were
him and you were siting at a cafe, heard your CD playing
and saw a carload of guys pull up dying laughing.
Stuff: So apart from
how to make a self indulgent movie stars cry, do you
have any advice for Stuff readers?
Trent: Partying words
of advice? Hmmm, while we were touring in Europe,
one of the guys thought the funniest thing in the
world was to throw weird lines into conversations
with people he knew didn't speak English well. He's
say something; "It was great to meet you. Punch your
balls off." So that's my advice: Punch your balls
off.
Stuff: Punch your balls
off. I see.
Trent: Punch your balls
off.
Thanks a lot
to: Mike, NiNevermore, Tim Mulholland
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