[Trash-talk] Rolling Stone 'GIRLS GONE WILD' article text : December 12, 2002
Fox Mulder
scully_itsme@hotmail.com
Sat, 30 Nov 2002 13:41:59 -0800
Rolling Stone : Incoming / On The Road
December 12, 2002
GIRLS GONE WILD
And the women shall lead them: Backstage with Garbage, No Doubt and the
Distillers
Story by Austin Scaggs
Photos by Danny Clinch
“Usually the road is all testosterone,” says Garbage’s Shirley Manson. Not
this time. For almost two months, Garbage have been on tour with No Doubt
and L.A. punk upstarts the Distillers – three bands fronted by women. “I
wanted some gorgeous-smelling scents in the corridors, and some beauty and
comfort,” says Manson, who gives us a backstage peek at the ladyfest’s stop
and Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum.
VODKA AND OTHER PRE-SHOW RITUALS
Manson and Garbage guitarist Duke Erikson share a pre-show cocktail. “I
don’t drink as much as the rest of the band,” she says, “but I think I had a
little vodka there. One way or another, Duke winds me up until my energy
levels are screaming at ten. He’ll make me laugh hysterically, to where I’m
ready to rocket off into orbit.”
THE NO DOUBT CREW
Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young (from left) head
toward the stage. “Tony’s shy and quiet and really sweet,” says Manson. “But
Adrian is an insane exhibitionist.”
DRESSING THE FANS
Manson donated her feather boa to the girl on the far right. “I always give
my boa away. Sometimes to a little girl crying, sometimes to a weird little
cross-dressing boy to top off his act.”
ADRIAN YOUNG EXPOSED: HE STUFFS HIS CROTCH!
Young is known for his outrageous stage garb – and for stripping it off to
play nude when the spirit moves him. “He sometimes prances into our dressing
room for outfit approval before shows,” says Manson. “He has the tiniest
buttocks I’ve ever seen, and they’re always squeezed into a pair of little
panties. And he stuffs his crotch with socks. He cut out holes in that
gorgeous little baby-doll dress where his strawberry nipples would poke
through. I think a real man can wear a dress and not feel threatened. For
that, I licked his nipples.”
BUTCH AND THE BROTHERS DICKLE
Garbage drummer Butch Vig warms up backstage. “Butch also plays in a side
project called the Dickle Brothers, with our band and crew,” Manson says.
“They dress up in mullet wigs on days off, find a local bar and do
Seventies-rock covers that involve a lot of really cheesy guitar solos and
getting really drunk. They do Abba songs, too. We all have Dickle names. I’m
Debbie Dickle – the Dickle groupie who just gives blow jobs and wears really
short skirts.”
ROCKIN’ SINCE FIFTEEN
“When we’re not on the road together,” says Manson, “Gwen and I e-mail each
other. We just bullshit. We piss and moan, talk about neuroses and swap
doctors. There’s a lot of mutual respect and empathy. We come from similar
backgrounds: She’s played in bands since she was fifteen, like I did, and we
both became frontwomen almost by default. We gravitated toward each other
because there are so few girls out there doing things the way Gwen and I
have done them.”
GWENNA-BE’S SWARM
Tony Kanal poses outside Nassau Coliseum with one of the many Gwen Stefani
look-alikes who flock to No Doubt shows. “Gwenna-be’s!” says Manson. “When
you’re driving up to a gig, you see them all waiting outside. Hundreds of
them. Some of them look so much like Gwen that I almost do a double take.
Sometimes I think, ‘Is Gwen fucking with me tonight?’ I wouldn’t put it past
her.”
ROCK GIRLS’ HAIR TIPS
For Manson, one tour highlight has been hanging with Distillers frontwoman
Brody Armstrong: “She’s got a beautiful, fierce voice. We had immediate
brain-meld from the second we met. She’s even taken to calling me her wife.
That day, she was spiking up her mohawk into what she calls liberty spikes.
My hair is in an awkward stage. If you flipped me upside down, you could
clean toilets with my head.”
[ See exclusive live shots of No Doubt, Garbage and the Distillers at
rollingstone.com/photos ]
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Each of the little encapsilated stories above were accompanying photos. All
the photos are great! And the larger photos of Shirley and Gwen at the start
of the piece are really really great. I know someone posted that this
article existed, but I wanted to type it up because it had so many
fabulously quotable bits from Ms. Manson.
:)
Alan
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