Garbage's Shirley Manson

By Nina Malkin

The red-haired "Supervixen" and her bandmates prove that all that's Garbage isn't trash!

Gig: Singer and guitarist for melodic noisemeisters Garbage.

Hometown: Edinburgh, Scotland. "I suppose right now my little bunk on the tour bus is home!"

Compatriots: Steve Marker (guitars, samples), Duke Erikson (guitars, bass, keyboards) and Butch Vig (drums, assorted sound loops), who's better known as a producer (Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana).

Butch who? Legend has it Shirley didn't know Butch from Adam when he first contacted her. "I did own a lot of records he'd worked on, but I don't usually read the fine print, so I had no idea who he was!" Considering she's been in two other bands -- Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie and Angelfish -- she's hardly his protegee. "Someone asked the other day how it feels having Butch Vig as my boss -- that pissed me off. I said I didn't know -- why not ask him how it feels having me as a boss?"

Record: Garbage was recorded in Butch's studio in Madison, Wisconsin. "I ate a lot of cheese -- but I'm a vegetarian, so I'm partial to it anyway." Besides being a big dairy state, Shirley learned it's also famous for its breweries! "I live and breathe a band from Wisconsin, so there's not a lot you can tell me about beer!"

Sweet success: "For our record to break the Top 100 shocked us all -- we just hoped we wouldn't get dissed!"

Advice for the musically inclined: "If you truly believe in what you're doing, you've got to persevere. The more you're rejected, the more you're determined to continue!"

Fan Worship: Shirley and the guys have been on the receiving end of adoration, but she can relate -- she's adored rock idols herself: "My most obsessive crush was on Ian Brown of the Stone Roses -- my heart pumped so hard for him!"

Shirley is girly...but: "I love gorgeous clothes, nail polish, false eyelashes. I think it's really relaxing and therapeutic to take half n hour to paint your face. But lots of times I feel quite male -- my boyfriend [he's a sculptor, he lives in Scotland] always tells me I'm more of a boy than he is!"

Scottish slang: "Barry means awesome, gallous means brilliant and mingin' means stinkin'."

One thing she's never trash: "There isn't much I couldn't live without, material-wise, but I suppose it would be my photo albums. I'm snap-happy and have tons of pictures of family and, you know, dogs and cats that are dead now."