Aloofness, arrogance, capriciousness, irascibility and other forms of asshole-ry are/were part of their brand. We pushed an artistic agenda that flew directly in the face of the prevailing winds of the marketplace because we believed in it, and managed to sell half a million records on our own terms.
If we said something mean to the audience, I apologize. I’m going to use a new platform, created by folks in Seattle, called Konnectclub. So, yes I responded. You’re just taking out some kind of emotional agenda that I’m not responsible for on MY work, and potentially souring the view for a potential listener. My theory is our vulnerability, openness, lack of conventionality on one hand, and then on the other hand our minor success being seen as flaunting our inability to do the ‘correct’ thing — mimic the attitudes or values of the moment as opposed to march to our own drum — are viewed as punishable offenses. To pinpoint the fact only 50 people came to see us in Eugene and imply it’s indicative of some failing on our part … hmm. I went back and had a look, and at least as far as I can see, the comments are no longer visible. Look, I’m used to being a punching bag. The campaign is running until mid May… there are cool ways to participate in the film, get an inside glimpse of the shooting, and even get some quality time with me. In this previously unpublished interview, recorded in the week following Chilton’s death in 2010, The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow — whose own band were heavily influenced by Big Star, and who joined the reformed group in 1993 — remembers his old boss. The record is criticized for being too long (and it’s mentioned that the Posies 2010 album that consisted of 12 songs — an absolutely standard length for an album in the modern age — is “obscenely” long.) It’s not a dig on Mark, just saying there seems to be a double standard applied to our band/myself frequently, and not just by you. I hope we’ve/I’ve made up for it in subsequent actions. Everything is on sale now except for Port Townsend and Seattle, I’ll update soon. By popular demand, I am doing a North American Tour this fall presenting my 2001 album “Touched” and more — playing mostly non-venue spaces (many of which are secret shows), mostly with real pianos. I was bullied heavily growing up — which is not your fault of course, but it left a certain impression on me by which I assess all people I interact with even now, at age 51. All of this, if it’s not clear in the cold font of the internet, is meant with no ill will or rancor. I grew up in an era where unconventional attitudes were celebrated, and I’ve made the community of our band as inclusive as possible to all comers, self described as conventional, unconventional or neutral/agnostic — it was a key to our early success that everyone felt welcome at our shows, when they often did not at the (decidedly masculine and aggressive) punk/grunge/hardcore shows. Stringfellow was born in Hollywood, California. Nearly the complete cast of “Danzig in the Moonlight” is here – the rhythm section of Joost Kroon & JB Meijers; keyboard/accordionist Pim Kops, of Dutch legends De Dijk; the West Side Trio string section, themselves a subset of the venerable Metropole Orchestra; Roland Brunt and Peter van Soest, horn section for De Dijk; Eva Auad, a great artist in her own right on backing vocals; my heavenly honey-haired daughter Aden steps in for some vocals as well, and by great luck, legend of comedic stage and screen Margaret Cho reprises her role as my duet partner, as she does in the LP and video versions of “Doesn’t It Remind You of Something”. And by being so, I would give the Dandy Warhols’ members the benefit of the doubt that maturity has enriched and broadened their individual world views and they need not be held in judgment in perpetuity for being young and foolish at some point, it’s a natural part of becoming mature that you are, at one point, less mature.
This will be LIVE on Konnectclub at 11am Seattle, 2pm New York, 7pm London 8pm Paris 9pm Helsinki etc.