[trash-talk] Australian interview with Shirley

[Mark Perry]

>From "The Age"

Tomorrow's Garbage
September 16, 2005

Andrew Murfett talks to Shirley Manson about Garbage and other touchy
subjects.

SHIRLEY MANSON can't work out what she hates more, the weight of being
in a band or the fact that her bandmates are "studio nerds".

Through 10 tumultuous years, Garbage has always been a curious entity.
Basically, Manson, the fiery redhead from Edinburgh, supplies the spunk
and the less-charismatic Butch Vig, Steve Marker and Duke Erikson its
instrumental flourish.

"That's very kind of you but that's not how they really see it," Manson
says.

"They're more laid-back and pragmatic than me, and they love the
studio, whereas I have no time for it. I don't want to labour making
music, I want to get my ideas down and then move forward. I don't think
we'd have ever gotten anything done if I wasn't there."

For the most part, it's a combination that has worked well.

Originally a virtual vanity project for Vig, who produced two of modern
rock's seminal albums, Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins'
Siamese Dream, Garbage emerged in the mid-1990s with a striking,
genre-bending self-titled album.
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"We were very aware we'd made a record that was quite unusual," Manson
says.

Combining searing electronic-infused rock (Vow) with sultry pop (Queer
and Milk), the debut ensured Manson quickly became a worldwide star.

"I remember that time well. It was exciting but also enormously
stressful," she says.

"I found the pressure quite intense. Our schedule was just ... insane
and caused a lot of tension in the band. It was an uncomfortable
situation."

Almost a decade on from their debut, rock radio playlists have shifted
dramatically.

Whereas Manson once rubbed shoulders with the likes of Tracy Bonham,
Alanis Morissette, the Cranberries, Bjork and Hole on rock radio,
Manson is now one of the medium's last high-profile female voices.

"I find it bemusing and terrifying," she says.

"There's an enormous proliferation of beautiful young entertainers. But
I don't see a space on the airwaves for women that aren't willing to
conform to the expectations of how women should look and sound.

"Historically, society has never really tolerated women who have
anything to say easily. We're living in a time of great fear that
encourages conservatism and women have never fared particularly well
under conservative values."

One female kindred spirit is Melbourne-born rock siren Brody Dalle, of
now-defunct Los Angeles rockers the Distillers.

Manson and Dalle hooked up when their two bands were touring with No
Doubt. The association led to Manson appearing on the last record from
Dalle's boyfriend's band, Queens of the Stone Age.

"There's a certain intensity that comes from QOTSA's musicianship but
there's also an amazing amalgamation of irreverence and talent, which
is unusual."

The lucid sessions with QOSTA were a stark contrast to the plodding
manner in which her Garbage bandmates work.

The fact Garbage record their albums in Wisconsin added to Manson's
angst. She doesn't drive and found it difficult to get around. And
although she refuses to talk about it, Manson's own marriage
disintegrated.

"I felt like a prisoner sometimes, being in essentially in what is a
small town in the middle of farm land. It's a really lovely town full
of amazing people but not the sort of environment I was used to. I grew
up as an urban teenager in a city.

"On the first two Garbage records, we drank a lot, did a lot of drugs,
read a lot, went to the movies. That has sort of calmed down a bit but
the books and movies remain."

Manson says that after the group disbanded she held little hope of them
ever reconvening. She still has difficulty explaining how the band
reassembled.

"We do love each other but I think it's hard for everyone to get over
their anger. It's all very delicate and, in the end, a pain in the
arse."

Tellingly, after their last album Bleed Like Me notched some of the
best sales of their career (particularly in the US), and the band
declared themselves to be in form on stage, they announced the
cancellation of a European tour.

Rumours abound that their Australian jaunt will be the band's last
shows. Many believe Garbage have held Manson back, and that 10 years
into her career, she should be a star of Gwen Stefani's status.

Manson, though, is evasive.

"I'm sure I will make a solo record at some point," she says,
tentatively.

"I will want to move on and try different things in my life. Being in a
band for a long time is really strange. You can't move without the
other three feeling it and the responsibility of that can really weigh
heavily after a while."

Garbage play the Palais Theatre on Monday and the Forum Theatre on Wednesday.


		
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