GARBAGE CHAT LOG
Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Host: The band members will be out in less than five minutes! Before we begin, we have an announcement, unfortunately, due to bad weather, strikes, locusts, and a few other nasty things, the webcam portion of this event will not take place. Our crew was enroute to Wisconsin and got delayed in Chicago. However! The band members just wrapped up the private chat with 20 winners, and we're giving them a chance to get back to the Arena! We also want to make sure your questions are getting through because this event is about you guys asking questions of the band! Also, we want to announce a couple of winners –
The winner of the Skateboard deck is Stefi S!
The winner of the personalized Autograph is Jahaziel M! Congratulations!!!
Host: Woohoo, your questions are arriving! We can get started! ok...to submit questions, just use the Submit a Question button or shift+click on the band when they arrive. Thank you so much for your patience this afternoon! Hope you all met a few new friends today.
Host: If you are here, it's because you are a GARBAGE fan! With no further ado, let me introduce the band...
DUKE ERIKSON, SHIRLEY MANSON, STEVE MARKER, AND BUTCH VIG !
Host: Thank you for joining us! Steve, Shirley, Butch, Duke, Welcome to the main event! It is great to have you here. We are talking to you from the recording studio...can you tell us how that is going?
Butch: We’ve been holed up at Smart for about a month...
Duke: As I look at my bulletin board, we have around 23 song ideas to work on and while they're loose, we're pretty excited at this point.
Host: We have literally hundreds of questions from the audience, so we will get right to the audience questions and will try to ask as many as we can.
Q -- from psiFlare: any one, what's the most beautiful thing you've experienced?
A -- Shirley: Sex, obviously.
A -- Butch: I think you could include all four of us on that one.
A -- Steve: Ditto!
Q -- from codfish: To all of the band, do you know when the b-sides album will be resumed, and do you have any plans of continuing putting b-sides on the singles?
A -- Duke: We are working on 23 songs, so I'm sure there will be plenty of B-sides once we choose the singles. Yeah, we like doing B sides.
Q: from an excited milkyboy: DOES GARBAGE COME TO PORTUGAL THIS YEAR?
A -- Steve: It looks we're just going to be locked in the studio for most of this year working on this record... so unfortunately it looks like we won't be touring for a while, but Portugal is one of our favorite places, and we look forward to getting back there eventually!
Host: this next one is in two parts
Q -- from backlash: Last summer you guys seemed to be on nearly every sound track and movie advertisement out there -- Will there be more Gems like #1 crush or the world is not enough to tide us over til next years album?
A -- Shirley: No, not for the time being. We're concentrating on new material. We're going to keep you all in suspense!
Host: When do you guys start touring and who will be opening?
A -- Butch: We hope to have the record done by the end of the year. We'll probably go on tour at the beginning of next year. We're not sure who we'll be touring with, but it will depend on what bands are doing and if they're touring. We've been pretty careful about who we tour with, but there will be a lot of good records coming out and good bands, at least we hope so.
Q -- from Mr Self Destruct: Mr Self Destruct - Are they're any new Garbage merchandise in the making?
A -- Shirley: Yes, there is! We're working on a few special ideas, a lot of which have come from suggestions from our fans on our website... and we'll be unleashing them on you very shortly! wwwgarbage.com
Host: from GarbageQueen: Steve, how's being a daddy working out for you? Is it different than you expected?
A -- Steve: I didn't have any idea what to expect, but it's working out just great, except for the fact that you never ever get to sleep. I thought being in a rock band meant you kept late hours, but this is ridiculous!
Shirley: His baby is beautiful!
Q -- from shen-long: I recently went on a tour with my fellow band (middle school I play the trombone) and felt like nervous -- so do u guys get the chills too?
A -- Duke: If I had to go on stage and play the trombone, I'd be really nervous, yeah! (With good reason!) But then I don't play the trombone. 
Q -- from butterfly fiend: are you reaching into different goals with the new record?
A -- Butch: So far we're basically jamming every day and coming up with real loose song structures. It's hard to say sonically what it will all sound like until the end of the year when it becomes more focused. For us, it's more interesting because we won't know what it sounds like until it's mixed later this year.
Q -- from momobod: any plans to dabble in the movies after turning down "HiFi" Shirl? if so, which directors would appeal most?
A -- Shirley: Umm, I don't really know. I think I would make a decision based on the part I was offered, and looking at the big picture rather than getting involved for the sake of it. Obviously, there are some directors I would yearn to work with, but I've got my hands full working on this record right now.
Q -- What's your biggest current artistic influence?
A -- Shirley: Russel Crowe.
A -- Butch: The Green Bay Packers.
A -- Steve: Picasso.
A -- Duke: Norman Rockwell.
Host: just a comment from another very excited fan... from POISON_10: We love u here in Detroit,MI woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Steve, Shirley, Butch, Duke: We love you too, Detriot!
Q -- from Ruben: How did you choose the visual effects designers for your great videos???
A -- Steve: We've always put a lot of work choosing up and coming directors... We've had a lot of luck doing so. We decide we like them and trust their vision. In turn, they're the ones that decide how the video will look. We've been very fortunate.
Q -- from .:MeL:.:.: To everyone, how do you like being so famous? Can you even keep up with your own selves?
A -- Shirley: Oh, it's swell!
A -- Butch: We do get lots of perks! It's nice to be able to walk into a restaurant and get a good table or bottle of wine. But in Madison, it's very low key and no one bothers us. It's no big deal--I guess everyone knows that this is sort of our home base.
Q -- from Doole: Butch: HOW DID YOU GET THE NAME BUTCH, MY UNCLE IS ALSO NAMED BUTCH
A -- Butch: My father gave me a flat-top every other week since I started growing hair, and it stuck, because I had a butch haircut for years!
Q -- from nope: Any memorable moments from the campus invasion tour you could share with us?
A -- Shirley: We had that amazing tour on the college campus, and had a lot of fun with our opening act, Lit, and they were responsible for many Garbage members and crew arriving very hung-over! For those of you who caught Lit and enjoyed them, they will be going on tour, opening for No Doubt.
Q -- from Ignatius: Are you currently obsessed with anything?
A -- Shirley: Russell Crowe. Every woman in the world is obsessed with him, no?
A -- Steve: Hampers.
Q -- from g Garbagegirl: Shirley, like you were when you were young, I am a big outcast in my school, do you have any helpful tips on how I can deal with this?
A -- Shirley: Become a rock star!
Q -- from Willma: Do you miss sunny Scotland?
A -- Shirley: Um, the ideal of sunny Scotland does not exist. Now rainy Scotland on the other hand...
Host: btw, we've received over 1000 questions!
Q -- from Aimster: What kind of mood do you have to be in to write music?
A -- Duke: I think usually, the best songs come out of bad moods.
A -- Shirley: Bad ones!
Q -- from codfish: Can you guys tell us any more info about the song "jinxed", and duke, can you tell us what inspired the song other than your encounter with the police?
Steve, Shirley, Butch,Duke: Hahaha!
A -- Butch: In the last week, Duke, Billy Bush, and myself have all gotten speeding tickets within three miles of the studio!
Q -- from psiFlare: how much does a song usually change from concept to production? I heard himh was originally hip-hop-esque
A -- Steve: Usually, with a Garbage song, the way a song ends up on the final record is completely, 100% different than how it started out because it goes through so many permutations, with going back and forth and trying new ideas. So we never know how a song will be until the final mixing and the record comes out.
Q -- from Ruben: How did you guys feel on using kilts for the first Garbage concert in Scotland? Was Shirley asking you to wear them?
A -- Duke: It felt good!
A -- Butch: We didn't wear any underwear!
A -- Steve: It was swingin'!
Q -- from GarbageQueen: What was the best halloween costume any of you guys have ever worn when you were young? or most memorable even?
A -- Butch: This is not the best, but years ago I got a bunch of cardboard boxes and covered them with aluminum foil and went as a computer/robot. But all the kids kept putting their wrappers in my slots... And so I got all their garbage!
Host: this comment sums up what a lot of people seem to feel… butterfly fiend: I love you guys so much
Q -- from Sunsetblaze: what are your thoughts on napster/mp3
A --Shirley: We're going to let 'em duke it out. Let the best man win!
Q -- from Misery: if you were the main character in your favorite book, how would you change the ending?
A -- Shirley: One of my favorite books is "All the Pretty Horses", and the protagonist, a boy-man, called John Grady Cole... And if I had my evil way with the book, I would keep him alive.
A -- Steve: I would let Dorothy stay in Oz!
Q -- from Sasha: what question did u like most, from all questions uve been asked ever?
A -- Steve: This one!
A -- Butch: The one that drives us crazy is "How'd you get your name", and we have about 20 different answers we give out, depending on how we feel.
Q --from Chris B: Shirley noted interest in Ravel in Q Mag. Any other classical music influences or interests in the band?
A -- Shirley: Oh God, I'm crazy in love with Ravel, and Schubert, and Chopin.
A -- Duke: I really like Liberace!
A -- Steve: We used a piece by Mahler as intro music for a while. That was something we all really loved.
Q -- from BrainAxe: what was the inspiration for the song Stroke of Luck?
A -- Duke: That song actually started with a noise that we had recorded, that actually we mistakenly recorded that inspired the music at least the lyrics were the first lyrics I ever completed in my entire life.
Host: we're getting a wide range of questions from the audience...
Q -- from Sinister: have u guys had any alien encounters or jest seen UFO’s?
A -- Steve: I never saw a UFO, but I had their first record and it was pretty good.
A -- Duke: I've had a few encounters, but I'm not allowed to talk about it. Very hush-hush.
A -- Butch: We work with an alien every day, and its name is "Shirley".
Q -- from flagg: any advice for someone in an aspiring band?
A -- Shirley: Yeah, go get a decent job.
A -- Steve: Stay in school!
A -- Butch: If you want to be in a band, do it because you love music, not because you want to be a star.
Q -- from nope: Whatever happened to the song "King Of Crime" that was on early track lists for Version 2.0?
A -- Shirley: We changed our minds! We erased it. It turned into "Look so Fine", actually.
Q -- from Antistar: Shirley, since you’re getting your license, will you be driving the tour bus from now on?
A -- Shirley: Absolutely!
A -- Duke: That won't be allowed!
A -- Butch: If Shirley is driving the tour bus, three boys will be hitchhiking!
Q -- from momobod: we all know you're film buffs, so have you been buying dvds by the truckload yet and is the studio overloaded with popcorn?
A -- Butch: I just got a boxed set of Stanley Kubrick's film, which is amazing. I've been obsessed with this popcorn that I got in LA, Kettlecorn, which is both salty and sugary… very addictive. I haven't found it in Madison, so maybe we need to get a franchise going!
Host: another obsession revealed
Host: Do any of the band members frequent the Internet and what sites do you often visit?
A -- Shirley: Amazon.com Amazon.com Amazon.com Amazon.com
A -- Shirley: One that's good for girls: sephora.com, which has great beauty product and the like.
Q -- from Garbage Queen...what's your dream vacation?
A -- Duke: After being on the road for 20 months, my dream vacation was coming home.
Host: We have time for a couple more questions!
Q -- What challenges do you see in the future for Garbage?
A -- Butch: The main thing we're concerned with right now is making a great third album, we're trying to take what we learned from the first two and push the boundaries and still make great pop songs.
Q -- from Bezao: Did you guys ever get into a fight between yourselves?
A -- Duke: Yes!
Host: and for our last question of the event...
Q -- from Bezao: If you have only one more show to perform, where would it be?
A -- Shirley: Oooh, that's not a fair question! It would be in The Garbage Palace! Woohoo! Also, FYI, I'm now covered in Ruby Marker's shit. I just picked her up, and I'm covered in poop!
Host: Speaking of the Garbage Zone Palace, we will be moving people over there as we close the event! Meanwhile, any final comments from the band?
Butch: I think our last gig would be in Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers!
Shirley: We send you all love, and once again our gratitude for your continued support. I've got two question for you: If you hear any good records, mail us at the website and let us know? And second, why do you all choose the spaceman when logging onto The Palace? Dare to be different! My personal favorite is the old lady in the zimmer!
Host: Thank you for joining us today -- you have a lot of terrific fans (enthusiastic, interesting, and thoughtful!)
Duke: We hope to talk to you again, soon! Thanks for coming to talk to us!
Steve: We're going to try to get this record done as soon as we can so we can see you on the road!
Butch: While we're working on the record in the studio, we'll try to keep in touch with everyone through The Palace and the website.
Butch: We have our own icons (avatars), so if you see an icon of Shirley, Steve, Butch or Duke, it *is* us!
Host: And we've all appreciated you taking time from your busy recording schedule to join us.
Host: Take care!
Steve, Shirley, Butch, Duke: Goodnight!
