In 1994, three music producers formed Garbage: Butch Vig (drums), Duke Erikson (guitar/bass) and Steve Marker (guitar/bass). After recruiting vocalist Shirley Manson from Angel Fish, the band soon found its trademark sound and the world soon became as smitten with Shirley as the trio was. Far from being overly impressed by everyone’s infatuation with her, Shirley just keeps on being herself. The band’s new CD, Beautifulgarbage, reveals another page in Garbage’s successful career.
NYROCK:
Tell me about the thought process behind creating Beautifulgarbage.
SHIRLEY:
We were trying to create a very organic album, nothing constructed. We built a stage in Madison and started to play without any preparation and this is basically the result. The guys started jamming and I started singing and that’s how most of the songs were born. Quite strange because the guys are definitely perfectionists, especially Butch…
BUTCH:
Technically speaking, it’s not a perfect album. Some of the songs do have definite flaws but we left them there because we didn’t want to start fumbling around forever. We didn’t want it to sound too smooth. Some of the vocal parts are even first-take recordings. We couldn’t even imagine anything like that with our previous albums.
NYROCK:
Yes, it seems to be stripped down to the bare essentials….
SHIRLEY:
That’s exactly it. We stripped it down. Our trademark was to create a structure from something like 100 different layers. When I think back, it almost seems to me that we were all scared. We weren’t really experienced as songwriters and we didn’t really know what to do. I think that’s why we used all the different layers. Now we’re far more confident and leave the songs on their own.
NYROCK:
Even your singing seems to have changed a bit. On “Cherry Lips” your voice reminds me of Kyle Minogue.
SHIRLEY:
That’s true, but when we recorded our first album I just tried to get through somehow. It was a bit of a confusion. I just tried to do what I thought would sound all right. I didn’t have a plan or a clue. In a way, I created a standard and I had to keep that standard on the following albums because I thought people would expect it – that it would sound too strange, not familiar enough if I changed it.
NYROCK:
And what made you change it in the end?
SHIRLEY:
Garbage
I wanted to take that famous step forward, go further, explore the melodies a bit more, make them sound more interesting. At the same time I phrased things differently to create a different atmosphere. It was pretty weird. Sometimes I thought a lot about Madonna in her ’80s phase, but I just let it happen. I let things happen and I quite like the results. Sometimes I sang myself into some sort of a trance. There were times when I was just singing. I was there for an hour and just singing and humming away. I think it has to do with feeling far more secure about music and myself. I can’t imagine that I would have dared to do that before. I would have been far too shy. The guys never tried to influence me in any way, but I think subconsciously I always tried to please them. I felt like I was the outsider. I wasn’t part of the boy’s club and I should represent them and not my own feelings. That changed and now I feel more secure and do my own thing.
NYROCK:
You’ve been a major influence on a lot of musicians. [In addition to the band’s music, Butch’s production credits include Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and U2.] I can’t help but wonder what kind of music influences Garbage?
BUTCH:
Missy Elliott, certainly Missy Elliott. We’re all huge fans of her and I think her sound influences us more than anything else. Of course, it’s not too obvious since our inspirations always turn out Garbage-like in the end. Or should I say garbage sounding? A bit difficult with our name, ha! But I think the way we integrate our influences is rather subtle and our songs all sound a bit schizophrenic. We’re not very stable when it comes to music. We throw in whatever we like and we do end up with a sound of our own.
NYROCK:
So far, Beautifulgarbage is the closest thing to pop that Garbage has created. How do you feel about it?
BUTCH:
I have no problem with pop. But, unfortunately, in the U.S. the term “pop” is used to describe bubble-gum acts like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears and we don’t really want to play in that league, if you know what I mean. But, on the other hand, there isn’t much in between the bubble-gum acts and the teenage-angst bands like Limp Bizkit, at least not anything that is just mildly successful. So maybe we should coin the label alternative pop or alterna pop. I don’t really know, but labels never really concerned us, so it’s all good.
SHIRLEY:
I think our sound was always kind of isolated from the rest of the music scene. We did our own thing and the closest I’d get to comparing our sound to other bands and styles is that I’d say Massive Attack seem to have the same kind of approach that we have, but they seem to be more rooted in the dance scene while we use more guitars.
NYROCK:
Shirley, apparently you were quite disappointed by Radiohead’s Kid A album. Some of your comments on the Garbage homepage were rather strong. Do you dislike Radiohead that much?
SHIRLEY:
It’s not that I dislike them. In fact, I was quite looking forward to their album. I was waiting to hear Kid A and I was sorely disappointed and somehow I had to get rid of my frustration, of the passion, I felt after listening to it. Okay, I got a bit carried away but I was looking forward so much to that album and then I was so disappointed. It was lacking so much. It was almost lacking everything I had expected or was waiting for. It was harsh. It was quite a disappointment.
NYROCK:
What was it you were missing?
SHIRLEY:
I think there was not enough of what really makes them good on the album. They didn’t use their talent. They didn’t use their strong points. I missed Thom’s voice. I missed Johnny’s guitar and everything that makes them so damned good – or everything that used to make them so damned good. I was really upset, but you know I quite like Amnesiac and I admire them for doing it and for not giving a shit about all the “biggest rock band of the world” bullshit.
garbagemusic 
0 Responses to “interview with garbage”