2020-03-01 Total Guitar

TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020

54

INTERVIEW

Butthecoverageof it afterwardwas

insane.I remember,wewerethe

openingbandontheLollapalooza

tourthatyear,andtheotherbandsthat

wereonit wereSmashingPumpkins,

theBeastieBoys,A TribeCalledQuest,

TheBreeders,L7...Andall of a sudden,

everyonewasshowingupsuper‑early

tocomeseeus play.It wasa really

excitingtimeandkindof crazy.

I wasin theaudienceforthe

Woodstockshow,andonething

Irecallaboutthemudfight— and

somethingthatI stillthinkabout

whenI watchYouTubeclipsofit

—isthatit’shardtotellif youwere

enjoyingyourselforif youwere

kindofpissedoff.

It wasprobablya combinationof the

two.Idon’treallyrememberbeing

angry.Idon’treallyrememberhaving

fun.Thewholethingwasjustmud.And

noonewasreallytakingadvantageof

thefactthattherewasmudexceptfor

thepeoplethatwerein thecrowd.But

Ithinka lotof peoplein theaudience

werekindof miserable,because

everybodywasjustcovered

inshitandsleepingin tents

andbuying$5 waterin 1994.

SoIdunno.It wasjust,like,

miserylovescompany,andif

youcan’tbeat’em,join’em!

Well,hereweareroughlya qu

centurylaterandyou’regoingto

spendthissummerheadlining

stadiums.Peopleconstantlytalk

aboutrockbeingdead.Doyoufeel

likeit’ssomekindofstatementto

beplayingthismusicin venues

ofthatsizein 2019?

Well,rock’n’rollis huge,youknow?

Rockbandsaregiants.It’sjustthatthe

mainstreammedia,or thepopmedia,

orwhateveryouwantto callit, they

refuseto lookat it. Theyrefuseto talk

aboutit. AndI don’treallyknowwhy.

Maybeit’sjustbecauseit’snotTaylor

Swiftor ArianaGrande.I don’thave

anythingagainstthatstuff,butit’slike,

youhavethesegiantfestivalsthatare

goingonall overAmericaandall over

EuropeandAustraliaandJapan,and

it’smainlyrockbandsthatarethedraw.

So it kindof drivesmecrazywhen

peoplesayrockis dead,because

it’slike,‘No,it’snot.Youjust

don’ttalkaboutit.’AndI think

there’s maybe also some fault

withtherockbandsthemselves,

thateveryone’stryingto write

feel‑goodsongof theyear.Don’t

o thefeel‑goodsongof theyear.

Withthisalbum,I wantedto writethe

feel‑bad song of the year!

As far as the words behind these

new songs, I have to ask, what’s

with the album title?

I guess it’s sort of like messing with

poetry, or using the English language

against itself and just flipping

everything around. And obviously you

can think about, like, Trump, when it

comesto a titlelikethat.Butthere’s

alsothisultimategangsterkindof

chest‑pounding feeling about it, where

you’re like, ‘Well, I’ve been in this game

for 30 years and I don’t plan on going

anywhere.’ It has that aspect to it, too.

So to callthealbumFatherOf All

Motherf*ckers— it justkindof takes

thetermandmakesit even nastier

thanit alreadywas.

“I’ve written the feel-bad song of the year!”

Still breathing

“I've been in this

game for 30 years

and I'm not going

anywhere”

outlaws

Despite the naysayers,

Billie Joe insists rock

bands are still giants.

We’d be inclined to agree...

Photo:

Randy Holmes/Getty