GARBAGE
Is it really all rock 'n' roll excess on the road? As they touch down in Glasgow, GARBAGE's drummer Butch Vig lets The List in on his American tour diary. So, any secrets about Shirley Manson then? Words: Butch Vig
Day1
LHSRP: The bus pulls into Manhattan and we stagger from our bunks into The Doral. I’m impressed with the size of my room as there is actually enough space for me to open The Pig, my hard shell suitcase. I’m too wired to sleep, so I sign on and check my e—mails.
8.2589: I turn out the lights and try to sleep. The bed is unusually comfy.
9.3889. The phone jars me to reality and I pick it up to discover I’m live on air with a radio station in Providence. My voice is a bit craggy but I manage to shake out the cobwebs and deliver some stories from the tour.
9588:? I take a speed shower, throw on my clothes and race downstairs in search of coffee. I manage to score a Starbucks iced mocha in the deli across the street.
1899: We pile into a rental van and head over to David Letterman for rehearsals . . . everyone is tired
and grumpy. . ..
l8. ORV: We start running through
‘Special’ . . . they keep the studio at around 10°C but at least by playing the song over and over I manage to warm up a bit. I climb up on Black Sabbath’s drum kit (they’re taping the show after us) and Todd, the drum tech, takes my picture. Ozzy is nowhere to be seen.
H3389} Rehearsal over, I hop in a cab and head up town in search of a pair of boots. On my way back to the hotel I grab a sandwich and another Starbucks.
8.359.": I head downstairs to the front desk to pick up a CI) master of ‘The Trick Is To Keep Breathing’ and ‘You Look So Fine’, which have been edited at Masterdisk for radio. My room has a CD clock, which is a nice touch, so I listen to the various versions. Everything sounds fine.
Lan We head back to Letterman. There are a lot of fans outside the theatre, but most seem to be there for Black Sabbath. Hunter S. Thompson is on the show and he is seen rambling around the hallways with a tumbler full of Chivas Regal.
SIUPF: We get our cue and head on stage for our performance. I’m too tired to be nervous and it
seems to be even colder than
I before (I can see my breath) and
I am not ready to rock. We bash through ‘Special’ and it’s all
over before I can break a sweat. Shirley looks good, sings great,
and we play pretty well. Letterman surprises us by coming over and shaking our hands. Hunter spies us in the hall and says we sounded ‘zippy’.
5.35M: We grab our stuff, pile into the van and head back to The Doral while our crew heads over
it.” *
to Howard Stern to soundcheck for tomorrow.
8.38% We get back into the van and head uptown to a chi chi restaurant called Jo Jo’s with our publicist to have dinner with Rolling Stone magazine. The dinner turns out to be great . . . lots of taste treats and good red wine, and we engage in some wild conversation and lots of gossip which I can’t tell you about.
I}. 899: Pile back into the van and head down town to a bar next to the hotel to watch Letterman. Looks pretty good but I think the guitars were mixed too low.
DayZ
3158:“. I turn out the light and pass out. EHSRI“. The alarm screams into my ear and I stagger into the shower.
7. 8 t". We pile into the van and head off to Howard Stern. Everyone looks grumpy.
8.38th We shuffle into Howard’s studio and settle in. We Check our instruments (we’re playing an unplugged version of #1 Crush’, one of Howard’s favourites) and I can’t help but notice the dwarf with S&M bondage gear wandering around the room. Howard turns out to be very funny even though we’re dead tired. Shirley holds her own with him. Lots of talk about sex, but he is very disarming and a big fan of
N SLEEP