Puffy Stuff

Rip It Up, Issue 211, 1 March 1995, Page 23

Puffy Stuff

fortable safe guy and take the easy way out, but, y’know, it’s cool. “The person who is now the guitarist [Dean Menta] is a full band member and is someone who we actually were playing with when we were in Australia last. He did soundchecks with us then and [Dean] said: ‘Look, I’ve been waiting for to play in this band for three years and I’m not gonna let that chance get away. I’m into it.' We’d been rehearsing with him every day and man, he plays fuckin’ great. Y’know, the guy that really wanted to do it now has a chance to do it. There’s nothing wrong with that. It seems like poetic justice in a way.” Having put out two albums that were hugely successful, don’t you ever feel like you’ve already obtained all the success that you'd ever wanted — or is there still more out

there? "That's like the end of the road. It’s true there are people in business, or music, or

whatever that may think like that. But that’s not how we work. If we feel that creeping in, we will be the first ones to shine a bright light on it, see what it is, and deal with it. That’s not the way our band works. Our band is definitely a work in progress. Once you start ’ thinking everything is beautiful, and you’re guaranteed a happy life ever after, it’s a buncha bullshit. You’ll start suffering and your art will suffer for it. “The reason we fired our guitar player and made some changes and spent a long time writing this record was that we felt we had a

hell of a lot more to say. It was a touchy thing [firing Jim]. This was a guy that I’d known for years and years, and all I can say, with genuine honesty, is the other members knew they could be a better band. A better way to describe our band would be that we’re happy we get a chance to prove it. It’s not like we’ve got it made — we wanna prove it. Sometimes it ain’t easy to make a change and to surprise people or shake ‘em up, but we know better. This is the band we lived with for 12 years. We know what we’re

capable of.” Does it ever piss you off that you can’t just go out there, play your music, make records every now and then and let the music run its own course? What about the fact you also have to go along with the music industry churnings and do what they require as well — y’know, like signing people's records and stuff like that. "I’m not real interested in selling myself and the band, ‘cause my real pride is I would hope the music speaks for itself. But, having said that, you gotta take a picture, make a video, there’s all kinds of crazy stuff. I'm not saying it’s a bad thing or that I’m disillusioned, not at all, but I really honestly started to play music ‘cause I felt like I had to. I'm real thankful actually. It’s the greatest thing I could ever hope to do. People start

saying: ‘Oh, but it’s like a

job,’ and

they

that’s nega-

tive. Well it’s not,

Everybody does something — whether you’re a mother, a plumber or whatever. To have your passion as a job — that’s great.” Faith No More, especially Puffy, like New Zealand a lot. They like our bands even more, especially Shihad. In fact, they like Shihad so much they’re taking them to Europe to be their support band. “The first time we came to New Zealand they opened for us. They’re a great band. There’s a few bands like that I’ve noticed, in my brief time of touring around, a few bands

that have really made an impact on me. One was Primus, one was Soundgarden and the other was Shihad. I think they’re amazing. “This tour of Europe is gonna be in smaller places than we would normally play. It was done on purpose to sort of like get back up to speed with a new guitar player. So, y’know, I think maybe we could do it again with [Shihad] when we’re playing the bigger places. But I love 'em and I’ll be happy to hear them every night.” How do you cope when you get home after being on tour for months on end? Doesn’t life feel a little bit mundane after the nonstop daily routine of gigs, interviews, bus travel and the like? “It is absolutely a complete shock. How I’m fond of describing it is that musicians that tour are like cockroaches. The cock-

roach is the most success-

ful animal in the

histo-

ry of the uni-

verse. It’s been around for )

bill ions of years and they adapt. When you go on tour, you get a flow of playing five shows a weeks for 14-16 months. You get into that flow and you totally adapt to be able to do exactly what you need to get along. That’s why sometimes it’s hard to talk or do photos. If you’re playing and you’re concentrating on getting your best every night, that’s really taking all your energy. So, once you get in that groove, it’s definitely hard to break. It’s definitely hard to adjust to another schedule, which is being a human being,

having to go home and have different responsibilities. It’s totally different. Once you get in that groove you do change, and I don’t want to say that it’s a drag coming home because it’s never a drag coming home.” Even though you have to think about things like cooking dinner and doing your washing? “Well, those things I enjoy. I love to cook and I’ve actually been gardening, and it’s real peaceful. You know who’s a big gardener? It’s Iggy Pop.” Ahh, Iggy. Speaking of excessive, you’ve been on the road with notoriously excessive (in the wrong way) bands like Guns N' Roses. Why is it that some bands revel in the excessiveness — when it’s really not necessary to have someone opening a door

for you all the time or having someone wiping between your toes after the gig? "There’s gonna be people in bands who are gonna be going into meetings and want a private secretary and stuff. Then there’s

people that are like: ‘You know what? I’ll do it myself. I can handle this. I can get \ my own cuppa coffee.’ It just really comes down to who you are and your values. We toured on the Guns N’ Roses tour, and they were so good to us. They took us around the world and

supported us. We were floored to see the level of personnel and equipment. It seemed like a lot, y’know. [That’s a nice way of putting it. I think he really means they are wankers, but he’s not gonna dish the dirt].

Everybody does their own level. It’s just a function of what you’re comfortable with. It’s a crazy thing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world” Well — yay! Faith No More will maybe come back here mid-year. Maybe they’ll pick up another New Zealand band... maybe they'll do some bungyjumping... maybe sign some records... buy some porno mags. Who knows? It’s a crazy thing.

How I’m fond of describing it is that musicians that tour are like cockroaches. The cockroach is the most successful animal in the history of /,.... the universe. feel

SHIRLEY CHARLES