[Trash-talk] Yet another Shirley interview

[Ilya aka Beeven]

Taking out the Garbage
Lisa Verrico

SHIRLEY Manson has arrived in London - or to be more precise, a
sprawling hotel suite overlooking Hyde Park - amid the sort of rumours
that can only be good for the release of a record. Most involve
Garbage, the Scottish singer▓s American-based band, who have sold more
than 10 million albums since forming a decade ago. Their latest, Bleed
Like Me, was due out this time last year and the delay is said to be
down to band infighting, which at one stage got so bad all four
members threatened to quit.

"It▓s true," says a surprisingly chirpy Manson, curled up on a sofa in
the hotel suite in a funky outfit of stripy dress over skinny jeans.
"None of us thought we would make this album. It wasn▓t the usual
disagreements over musical direction; we really weren▓t getting on.
There was so much grief - and I mean that in the Scottish sense of the
word - that no one wanted to work together. If one of us came up with
an idea, the rest would refuse to work on it. In the end, we all
walked out."

It has been a difficult few years for Manson. While touring in 2002,
she lost her voice and was warned she might never sing again. An
operation to remove a cyst from her vocal chords was successful, but
she had to rest her voice for 12 months and by the time she could use
it, it looked like she might be without a band.

Then, Manson▓s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer - from which
she has since recovered - and the singer is rumoured to have separated
from her husband after nine years of marriage.

On the subject of her marriage, Manson clams up. Her reaction is not
unexpected, although in the past she has been happy to talk about
Edinburgh-based sculptor Eddie and their bizarre transatlantic
relationship, which appeared to involve meeting up about twice a year.
Today she sports a large, green, oval ring, but not on her wedding
finger, where she once wore a spiky silver one.

It was home to Scotland, however, where Manson fled - "back to hang
out my family" - when Garbage seemed to be splitting up. Despite now
dividing her time between Los Angeles and Madison, Wisconsin (where
Garbage do all their recording at band member and former Nirvana
producer Butch Vig▓s Smart Studios), her Edinburgh home is the only
one she owns.

Manson returned to LA last year when Garbage resolved to patch up
their differences. Having spent much of her teens and twenties
struggling in Scottish groups - notably Goodbye Mr Mackenzie and
Angelfish, in which she was spotted by Vig for the vacant position of
Garbage singer - Manson wasn▓t about to give up on the band mates she
used to describe as "my three best friends".

"It did cross my mind to make a solo album and had things not worked
out, that▓s what I would have done," says Manson. "But I like being in
groups. It▓s hard because it▓s always a struggling democracy, but
nothing beats being creative with talented people."

LA was considered neutral ground and producer John King of the Dust
Brothers was brought in to facilitate relations within the band.
"Well, that was the plan," says Manson, "but it didn▓t work. Some of
us still wouldn▓t be in the same room as others."

By the time Garbage left LA, however, they had recorded one track,
▒Bad Boyfriend▓, featuring former Nirvana member and now chief Foo
Fighter Dave Grohl on drums. So strong was the song that the band
decided to try again, this time back in Wisconsin and with no outside
producer. There was, says Manson, "a huge blow-out".

"I▓d call it a face-off/home truths session," she says. "No one hit
anyone, although I wish they had. It would have made for a much
cleaner, healthier environment. Unfortunately, the men in Garbage are
passive/aggressive. They wouldn▓t throw a punch between themselves,
never mind hit a woman."

Garbage built enough bridges not only to continue recording, but
against the odds to make one of the best albums of their career. Bleed
Like Me is an energetic rock record that captures the band▓s powerful
live sound and does away with many of their trademark studio tricks.

Yet while Manson is understandably pleased with the result, the fact
that she is promoting the album on her own - previously she insisted
all interviews be with the band so it didn▓t seem like she was
stealing the limelight - suggests all is still not rosy in the Garbage
garden.

Whether the band sink or swim should become clear later in the year,
when Garbage go on the road again. Their troubles appear to have begun
during the lengthy tour for their last album, 2001▓s Beautiful
Garbage, a disappointing record that spawned few hit singles and sold
disastrously in the States. In a bid to help sell the record, Garbage
not only toured on their own, but went out supporting No Doubt and U2.

"We actually had a great time on the U2 tour," says Manson, "but there
were already a lot of unaired issues. Communication problems, you
could call it. I▓ll give you a good example. One night, we realised no
one had seen Butch for ages. Turns out he had been in his bed with a
fever for two and a half days and not bothered to tell anyone. That▓s
typical of the boys in the band. They won▓t deal with anything until
it reaches crisis point. I mean, I try to bring stuff up, but you
can▓t force people to talk."

What began as another Garbage grievance soon became serious. When Vig
almost fell into a coma, he was rushed to hospital and found to have
Type A hepatitis. A replacement drummer was hired until Vig recovered,
but he had only just rejoined the band when he was back in hospital,
this time with Bell▓s palsy. Then, during the No Doubt tour, Manson
lost her voice.

"I had a cyst on my right vocal chord," she says, "although I didn▓t
know that at the time. I had never had any problem with my voice
before, but on tour I was being shot up with a lot of steroids to keep
the inflammation in my throat down. The trouble with that is you can▓t
actually feel your throat at all, so when you sing, you can be
squeezing your vocal chords together and that can cause a cyst."

Manson saw several doctors who all warned her that the operation to
remove the cyst could permanently affect her ability to sing.

"I did freak out for a while," she says. "My brain didn▓t quite go as
far as to think what I would actually do with my life if I couldn▓t
sing, but the thought was always there. It was horrible."

It was a trip to see her friend Gwen Stefani▓s vocal specialist in
Philadelphia that put Manson in touch with the man who would help her.
While there, she met an opera singer who recommended a New York
surgeon who claimed he could remove the cyst risk-free. He did, and
although Manson▓s throat took time to recover, the operation turned
out to have beneficial side-effects. The most obvious was to Manson▓s
voice, which sounds more forceful and more versatile than before.

"It▓s because of my virgin chords," she says. "They sliced a lump off
my throat and, quite literally, I had virgin chords again. It▓s
amazing, like I got a wee tighten-up when I was in there. Doctor,
while you▓re down there, can you just give it a screw."

Even less expected was the impact the operation had on Manson▓s state
of mind. From almost losing her most prized asset, she discovered a
confidence lacking in the past.

"Sitting in that surgeon▓s office made me realise I▓m a real singer,"
she says. "I have sung since I was 15 - that▓s 23 years - and I had
never considered myself a professional before. It felt great to
finally accept that this is what I do for a living and know that, hey,
I▓m really rather good at it."

Manson has suffered self-esteem problems in the past. The first time
we met, six years ago, she was so insecure she decided, after an
amicable interview, that I

didn▓t like her and was going to write as much. When it came time to
have her photograph taken, she locked herself in a toilet and refused
to come out.

"Yeah, those were dark days," says Manson of the period which was
Garbage▓s most commercially successful. "I was crazed all the time.
I▓m better now, although I▓m still nowhere near 100% comfortable with
myself. I never will be, not about the way I look. I don▓t freak out
when I see myself on a billboard any more, but it still doesn▓t make
me feel good."

In person, Manson seems supremely strong-willed. Forthright,
opinionated and at times argumentative, she is also great fun, with a
dirty laugh and a love of innuendo.

She is pretty, and has modelled for Calvin Klein and MAC make-up, was
once offered a huge sum

to pose nude for Playboy, has appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in
a female pop icons issue, and has hordes of teenagers drooling over
her latest look on the internet - for which she writes a regular fans▓
diary.

That said, Manson is very wary of the web. "I▓m far too vulnerable. I
had a terrible experience on the net a while ago and I▓m very cautious
with it now. I was reading the Garbage message board and came across
this whole thread about my weight. Someone wrote that I had been
eating too many Twinkies and I was absolutely devastated.

"I phoned up my dad, wailing. I said, ▒Dad, I must be really fat,▓
expecting him to give me loads of sympathy and reassurance. Instead,
he told me it served me right for looking to a place like that for
self-affirmation. I have never looked since."

Almost all of what is written about Manson by fans is positive. Her
hair is a hot topic. In the past few years, the natural redhead has
torn through more hairstyles than most of us manage in a lifetime. In
particular, I tell her, the short, blonde crop she sported on the
Beautiful Garbage tour was not well received.

"Don▓t give a f***," she says quickly, a little unconvincingly. Then
she decides she should qualify the crop. "The only reason I got it cut
was I had a hairdressing disaster. I have really curly hair and I
wanted it straightened. I went to this cheap salon in Madison, the
girl put some fluid on my head and, hell, my hair went green and hard.
It honestly looked like spinach spaghetti. It all had to come off and
I thought I may as well go the whole hog and turn blonde.

"I have a hard time dealing with most of the images peddled in the
media. It▓s confusing for a lot of women. If you▓re not Botoxed, don▓t
have huge lips, big tits and long legs, does that mean you▓re ugly? Of
course it doesn▓t, but then why do all women on the covers of
magazines look like that now?"

Manson claims she has already made the decision not to have surgery.
"I am aware of getting older," she says. "It▓s a weird experience for
any woman, not least one in the public eye. But I cannot, I will not
have surgery. I▓m not going to feel ashamed of the life I▓ve led or
the person I▓ve become. F*** that.

"I have been told by other singers how lucky I am to have grown up in
Scotland. As a rule, we don▓t have that fear of growing old, although
I am noticing more and more people back home who look like they▓ve had
something done."

There are signs she is becoming more comfortable with fame. Two years
ago, she became a patron of Waverley Care, Scotland▓s largest HIV
charity, and recently she has agreed to sing without her band,
recording a duet with Marilyn Manson, an as-yet-unreleased cover of
Human League▓s ▒Don▓t You Want Me▓.

But a lot of what Manson says doesn▓t quite add up. She dislikes the
way she looks - "On a bad day," she says, "my self-hatred still runs
very deep" - but insists she▓s not ashamed of her appearance. She is
as unreliable on fame, one minute saying it means nothing to her, the
next confessing her favourite place is on stage, in front of thousands
of screaming fans.

She still hasn▓t figured out where she fits in. She might struggle to
accept her star status, but Shirley Manson is still living a life less
ordinary.

The single, Why Don▓t You Love Me, is released on March 28. The album,
Bleed Like Me, is released on April 11

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=244522005