Californian Tairrie B. recorded one hip-hop album in 1990 with the help of N.W.A.'s Eazy-E and additional production assistance from Schoolly D. In spite of her novel appearance and persona -- Tairrie was a blonde hip-hop feminist able to meet males on their own level while remaining distinctly feminine -- the album failed to make much of an impact, and Tairrie B disappeared from the scene
DOUA INTERVIEW-URI CU EA(imi place ca aduce a feminista)
Tairrie B of My Ruin
1. How did the band get started? How did you meet and how long have you been together?
Tairrie B: It's a long story...so let's just say that if it wasn't for Mick Murphy "My Ruin" would not be the band it is. He changed my life both musically and personally and has taught me what real rock is all about. Yael and Meghan are two women who know their shit and are awesome musicians as well. Yael may be small in stature but she is a monster behind the drums. I love my band because I know that when we are on stage we are the real deal.
2. How would you describe your music?
Tairrie B: Honest and intense.
3. What are your biggest influences?
Tairrie B: Each other. For me personally it has always been religion and relationships. There has always been that dichotomy of good and evil that intrigues me and is a part of my writing.
4. What influence do you think your bands has in music and metal today?
Tairrie B: It's not costumes and clown make up that's for damn sure! I think our influence is more like inspiration...to be yourself and be honest. Do what you do with integrity so you can hold your head up. Too many bands have that fake angst aesthetic nowadays that it all seems a bit contrived and premeditated in my opinion.
5. What made you want to be in the band? And if you weren't in the band what would you be doing now?
Tairrie B: I don't really know what made me do it. I guess I just had to. I was never 100% comfortable in the rap world towards the end and when I worked with a live band the first time I just felt totally different. I knew it's was where I needed to be and so I made it happen...first with my band "Manhole" on through our name change to "Tura Satana" to "My Ruin". This is where I was meant to end up....but it has been a long and stressful journey....nevertheless I would never trade what I know or what I've done because it taught me what I want and don't want to be a part of. I grew up being in my bands and became a stronger person on the inside. If I wasn't in a band I would be managing one at this point!
6. Are any band members in side projects? If so what are they, and explain a little about them.
Tairrie B: No! We are all focused on one band.
7. How would you feel if a band took their sound from yours and became very well known?
Tairrie B: Um......let's see now, I can pretty much say in all honesty that I have seen and heard a few things that remind me of my previous band but I am over the whole rap rock thing. It is not cool anymore to just repeat the same old shit that has been rehashed over and over again. I give respect to artists who are inventive and fresh with ideas. I am not impressed with a girl or guy yelling on the microphone just for the sake of screaming. There must be substance to back it all up...a message of some sort. Not just look at me I'm hard or a bad ass. Strength comes from the forehead not the forearm! I am pretty disgusted with the state of music at the moment and wish that someone had the balls to speak up and speak out about the bullshit. I respect people like Nick Cave, Henry Rollins & Trent Reznor because they are not afraid to be real. They tell it like it is and have something worthwhile to say. I admire artists who are original. Not copycats of copycats.
8. What current bands do you like or respect?
Tairrie B: Fu Manchu, Goatsnake, PJ Harvey, Skeyebone, Pantera, Morcheeba, Defacto, Will Haven, Rachel Stamp, and the list goes on. I enjoy lots of different styles of music depending on my mood but I have recently been listening to a lot of 70's stuff thanks to Mick.
9. How many demos/albums do you have? Tell me about them!!
Tairrie B: My rap record from 1990 (The Power of a Woman) - my unreleased 2nd rap record (Single White Female) 1992, Manhole demos 1993-95, Manhole record (All is not Well) 1996 - produced by Ross Robinson, re issue w/live tracks under new name "Tura Satana" (All is not Well) 1997, Tura Satana (Relief Through Release) 1998, My Ruin (Speak and Destroy) 1999, U.K. version - My Ruin (Speak and Destroy) 2000, U.S. version - My Ruin (A Prayer Under Pressure of Violent Anguish) U.K. & U.S. same versions 2000/2001...new demo tape of recently recorded material - July 2001!
10. What demo/album do you like the best?
Tairrie B: Our new stuff we just recorded which will be for our next album...in 2002!
11. What is the meaning behind the songs?
Tairrie B: Each song has it's own individual meaning and person it is directed to or about. I think the beauty of each song is that the listener can interpret them for themselves and make them relatable to his or her own life and relationships.
12. What are the bands favorite songs?
Tairrie B: "Heartsick," "Beauty Fiend," "Stick it to Me." ...from the "Prayer" record....but we are very into all the new stuff at the moment.
13. What does the future hold for the band?
Tairrie B: Hopefully a good home on a label that cares about us for once!
14. If you could play with any band who would it be and why?
Tairrie B: Pantera....because they rock and it would be so killer ....but I would personally love to play with Fear Factory just one more time so a certain guitarist could get a real lesson on how to play from a real guitar player. You see sampling your parts so they can be looped for your record and jumping up and down and throwing water on people live just doesn't cut it in my book and neither does having your dumbass brother help you tag team someone and try and beat them up because you are a pathetic worthless pile of jealous shit either!!!!!! And yes - I am referring to Dino Cesarez!
15. Who writes the majority of the music?
Tairrie B: I write all the lyrics and Mick is the main musical influence and writer but we all work together and suggest ideas and come up with parts so it is a team effort!!!
16. Who has been the favorite band you've played with and why?
Tairrie B: Sugarcoma in the UK because it was a first tour for them and that made it fun for me but I also loved touring with "Will Haven" back when I was in "Tura Satana".
17. Where did you get the band name from?
Tairrie B: A tattoo magazine piece of art I use on a flyer years ago for my birthday party!
18. Describe what the band is like live?
Tairrie B: Honest and intense and what you hear on our record is what you get live. Pro tools are great when they are not over used. We love the old school analog feeling of things and so does our producer Nick Raskulinecz. I like to know that when I go see a band live they can pull off what they did on record and even be better!!!
19. If you are gonna do any kind of video what would be in it?
Tairrie B: We are attempting this at the moment for "Beauty Fiend" so we'll let ya know...we have a live and distorted very punk style killer 2 hour home video from tour which Mick put together and it rocks!
20. Are there any touring plans made; if so tell me about them?
Tairrie B: We will be touring in the states starting this august...so watch out and spread the word!
21. Where do you think the band will be 20 years from now?
Tairrie B: Remembering how much fun we had looking at all the books I put out documenting it. We will be healthy and happy and all doing whatever we want. Life should be an experience you cherish and all the things whether bad or good that happen should be remembered and passed on so I plan on putting out my first book which will document my years in rap all the way to ruin.....it's going to be called "God Wants A Piece Of Her Ass...A Photo Journal Of A Blasphemous Girl" as of now and it will be the first of others to follow.....photos, collages, diary entries, letters, stories etc...
My Ruin - Tairrie B. Bad Interview
by Alex Zander
Photos from
www.myruin.loudside.com
My initial encounter with the focus of this article was in 1996 when I was hanging out w/ Life of Agony and Type O Negative at the Vic Theater in Chicago. Joey from LOA took me down front to watch what he told me would be a band he knew I'd dig. The band was Manhole. The singer was a killer red headed super vixen dressed in skintight black leather pants and a T-shirt. She had great pipes and screamed with agony as she sang the chorus to her songs and the band had a nice groove. Her songs were angry and I thought the name of the band was an equally bold statement. Unfortunately the only release by the band I ever got my hands on was the single for "Victim" a song addressing the horror of rape, which also included "Clean "and "Kiss or Kill."
Tairrie B has previously worked as a solo artist a white protege of rap producer/svengali Eazy-E and her first album, 'Power Of A Woman' is now highly collectable. In 1990 her solo debut stalled and she elected to concentrate instead on music with a similar thematic ethos but a more aggressive bent, Manhole a hard rock group from Los Angeles, California. (Who changed their name to Tura Satana for legal reasons) With Scott Ueda (guitar), Rico Villasenor (bass) and Marcelo Palomino (drums), worked in territory widely analogized as 'post-hardcore metal'. Tairrie B continued to rap as well as sing over the backdrop, which also contains trace elements of hip-hop rhythms, but it is doubtful whether those unacquainted with the singer's past confused Manhole with anything other than a ferocious hard rock group. The group split-up in late 1998, allowing Tairrie B to concentrate on a solo career recording as My Ruin. With My Ruin, Miss B remains one of the more influential members of the female metal scene. Tairrie B will be bringing out a book pretty soon in which she will document her life, her experiences together with new photos, titled "God Wants a Piece of My Ass".
After receiving My Ruins Speak and Destroy CD last fall I was thrilled to rediscover the woman who 5 years prior had perked up my ears was still out there making music. To my dismay, she enjoys greater exposure across the sea than she does in her native country. But isn't that how shitty our media exposure is stateside. I immediately dove into the record and till this day it remains in my top 3 as what I love to listen to. The songs are brutally honest and from a female perspective. But at the same time very human and it's the very human emotion that speaks to me. In fact in many ways I identify with her feelings, and raw emotion, anger and pure unrelenting energy. I just flip flop the gender. I took the CD into the WJKL studio (where we were broadcasting from at that time) and we played her take on the Soft Cell classic "Tainted Love". Only because of it's electronic relation to our show and because it was just about the only radio friendly cut on the record. (I think it only had one F word.)
Now with the long awaited US release of A PRAYER UNDER PRESSURE OF VIOLENT ANGUISH we anxiously await the second chapter of My Ruin.
In her own words - A PRAYER UNDER PRESSURE OF VIOLENT ANGUISH is 14 songs strong with two short spoken words segments, which appear at both the beginning and end of the album. SELECTED PRAYERS include BEAUTY FIEND, STICK IT TO ME, LETTER TO THE EDITOR and POST NOISE REVELATION which confronts the critics and media head on and straight up. Speaking of which, we have recorded our own tribute song called ROCKSTAR (dedicated to the late LYNN STRAIT of the band SNOT). There are tracks that deal with my own love / hate dichotomy of religion and relationships such as HEARTSICK, SANCTUARY, HEMORRHAGE, LET IT RAIN and MASOCHRIST (which will be released on the single only). It also boasts a long overdue duet featuring JESSICKA from JACK OFF JILL appropriately titled MISS ANN THROPE as well as covers of DO YOU LOVE ME? by NICK CAVE and the classic BLACK FLAG song MY WAR (which features Mick on duet vocals). We decide on these particular songs to cover because they were very inspirational to us while writing the album. Tairrie B from the website
www.myruin.loudside.com
Also available from My Ruin is the live recording "To Britain with Love and Bruises". Which includes 11songs from both albums of material.
Be it the Old Testament, the Live Testament or the New Testament. Tairrie B remains a True Testament of one thing about the entertainment industry in the United States. We're no longer trendsetters, the masses buying the music that is being promoted by the labels here are sheep being spoon-fed bullshit. That's right Middle America is eating shit, when what they should be eating are her words. Bitter as they can be, Miss B speaks the truth. She's an amazing singer, messenger, poet, a fun interview and excuse me for saying, is pretty easy on the eyes. (Photos are a testament to that.)
Alex Zander - I just got done looking at your site.
Tairrie B - Oh, really? We haven't updated the My Ruin one We've got all our old stuff we haven't updated it with the new. We have a new record coming out in September and like a whole new band and all this new shit.
AZ Something different than what I have? I just got the "Speak and Destroy".
TB -Oh, you did? Yeahhh!
A.Z. So, there's something different coming out?
T.B. Yeah, I'm not supposed to talk about it I was told but we have another record coming out in Europe! (laughs) on the 4th of September.
A.Z. Okay, I'll go find some way to get that out of somebody.
T.B. Oh we got to get it to you cause it's like the fucking bomb, it's the real deal.
A.Z. Well, I was thrilled when I got this in the mail on Monday, "Speak and Destroy.", I saw Manhole open for Type O.
T.B. You saw Manhole open for Type O!
A.Z. Yeah, and I got one of your band members to give me a CD single (Victim) and I tried to track you down through the label after that and wanted full length and couldn't find it.
T.B. Ucchh, Let me tell you, Noise Records the fucking pit of my stomach!
A.Z. Really? Are they still around or something?
T.B. The worst fucking label in the world! We were on tour with Type O Negative and the label couldn't get the record into stores to save our lives and we could have sold so many records.
A.Z. Yeah, that tour was high profile.
T.B. It was a joke, we have to order our own records and sell them at shows. We would pull into a town and I'd see an ad in the paper for our record at Tower Records and I'd go in there and say " Hi, I just want to invite you guys to the show tonight and thanks for working the record". They'd be like "We don't even have any of your records." There's this ad in the paper and people are coming in and I'm like "WHAT?!?" Oh, it wasjust so fucked up.
A.Z. Well, that explains it because I couldn't find it anywhere either.
T.B. No one could, we couldn't find our own record. We were so irate, it was such a nightmare.
A.Z. I bet, so what happened with Manhole?
T.B. The story was, Manhole went to record our second record "Relief to Release" and we ended up getting sued for the name. There was a band in Texas called Manhole, that we met actually for a brief drama filled second when I was on stage with Type O Negative, too and they sent some people down to, like, give us shit and of course it turned into a horrible girl fight and we were slapped with a lawsuit and they owned the name. We thought we owned the name and we had a record coming out and no name we thought oh fuck what are we going to do? I was watching Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill one night and I thought Tura Satana that's a pretty rad name, Let's use that! So, we just ended up using that and we got it copyrighted she never copy wrote the name and we did it and we put the record out and then after we recorded it, which was like pulling teeth with our ex-guitar player. We had just had a lot of problems with our guitar player Scott it was just not cool at all, especially touring and we finally got to the point where either I'm leaving or he's leaving, one of us is going. We had our first headlining tour booked in Europe, it was a really huge deal for us, we were gonna headline for our first ever time and he pulled some bullshit and I was just like, "I can't deal with this anymore, you all wonder why we're not making it like we should because no one cares."
I said he's gotta' go or me and we let him go and within two weeks we had this new guy in, Brian, from this band called Spitkiss that were up in San Jose. He came down, met us, knew the shit we brought him in and he went on the road, toured with us everything was great. We did a couple of tours, we did the states, it was really fun it wasn't like some big tour, but it was really fun. Then we did Europe twice and we played all the festivals and everything. Toward the end of it things were just really weird in our band, I mean not cool, some things happened and I just one day had enough and I quit. I said I'm over it and I felt really bad for Brian because he had changed his whole life and moved down here and came in. But you know, it's like having three husbands. It's hard, and it's really hard when certain people don't respect you at all.
A.Z. So you just reformed with My Ruin as an all-new band?
T.B. No, I didn't reform what I did was I quit the band and I just kinda' was like, well, I'm not sure what I want to do at this point. I know I don't want to be in another band right now, you know, I don't want to get into that. People were calling me saying why don't you sing for our band? I was like "Awww, it's not what I want to do.". The funny thing is, right after that I got invited to the Kerrang! Awards, as a presenter, and we actually won an award for best independent band. I'm like, standing there going "Great, I just quit the band." No one knew it yet, and I didn't want the press to know, we didn't want anyone to know, we kept it really quiet. I came home and after that a big scene went down at the awards because my label Noise Records were there, but they wouldn't even fly me out to accept this award and they knew about it. It was unbelievable shit, a big huge scene from the stage to Noise Records to Green Day starting the standing ovation because I dissed my record company and I guess they thought that was very punk. It was kind of funny and somebody happened to be there from a label out in Europe called Snapper and called my manager and said, "Let's do a deal, let's give her a record, let's let her do whatever she wants." I couldn't believe it, because I was speaking to different people like at Roadrunner who were saying "well why don't you demo us this?" and I thought you know, I just don't feel like going and finding a band. I'm just not in that head frame right now, I just got out of a band, it's like breaking up with someone. So, I basically met with a lot of people, the guys in Downset, I used three of the songs we had written towards the end of Tura Satana with Brian that were hit songs and I had met these guys in England, this crew called Bushak (the do remixes)? We had a lot of fun and did some weird kind of different, I don't know, industrial kind of weird spoken word stuff. I met this girl Melanie who was a guitar player through a friend and I thought her stuff was really cool so I ended up doing a little collage record that I thought was really killer. I thought, this represents who I am right now, I'm feeling a lot of things, it's all my influences packed into one. My band would never see doing something like "Close Your Eyes". They would never even want to even touch something like that, I just thought this is my experimental project right now and it's hard you know and I talk about it in the past tense because of the fact that I just did a new record and so it's kind of hard to do all of the U.S. interviews because it's a year later.
A.Z. Right, I just noticed that, this thing was recorded in March of 1999.
T.B. Yeah, and we changed it, we took two songs off and put two songs on, "Fever of Mass Christ?" we re-mixed "Tainted Love" and we did a live version of "Preacher" so we put a couple extra things on there. It is really difficult for me because it is a year later and my head is in the new record and I've got a new band that wrote an entire record with me as a band. Now I am actually in a band.
A.Z. So, is it going to have a different name?
T.B. No, it's My Ruin, it's actually now a band. I don't know if you got press photos, but...did you get photos?
A.Z. I got two, one of you and one with three.
T.B. The one with three, the guy next to me is my guitar player, he wrote the new record and the girl, Megan, is our bass player and she toured with me on My Ruin last year off that record and we kept her and we use Chris from Downset - he actually drummed on the new record because Marcela, my old drummer, had come on the road with me for My Ruin last year in Europe and played. It's very difficult to explain to people, I'm having a lot of trouble with it just getting around my headspace of where I'm at, you know?
A.Z. Will it be as emotional as this one, as personal?
T.B. The other record is completely amazing, it sounds like a Southern..it sounds heavy very Pantera-ish. It's all really heavy. Definitely got to get you a copy of it, check it out.
A.Z. I was happy to get this in the mail, I had no idea what you were doing I guess I tried to get the Manhole record from Noise and I couldn't get anything from their publicity and I couldn't find it the stores. Then I read about the name change to Tura Satana, which was cool, then I just didn't know where you went, I didn't know you were touring and had another record out.
T.B. Yeah, it's been pretty crazy, we've done all the festivals in Europe, the band is pretty big, My Ruin is pretty fucking big in Europe and Tura Satana got really big over there too. That was the problem, we stayed we could support ourselves touring over there, we had big, huge crowds and it was like a completely different world for us, you know they got the record in the stores over there and no one ever did shit for us in The States. This record even, I mean I went back with this and our first show as My Ruin and we played the Reading and Leeds festival and it was just amazing and completely different. I'm hoping it's going to get a good reception in The States, but it's really hard for me because there's some electronic stuff on there and I don't do any of that at all right now. We brought out a keyboard player and we had a lot of crazy things go on when we toured that record in Europe but we didn't have a deal in The States until just recently. I was like, I wasn't even sure I wanted this record to come out here just because I'm onto the new one and I was like, it's a year later, how am I gonna do interviews without talking about the new record? I mean, you know, that's where my head's at. So, it's kinda' weird, I've gotta' have my band that just did this one come and tour in The States with me now and do songs off this one. It's such a confusing little thing, but it probably be all good, so…
A.Z. So that comes out you said in September and that's in Europe?
T.B. Yeah, It's called "Prayer Under Pressure of Violent Anguish". If you look at the Snapper site, you can hear some of it and download some of it, it's
www.snappermusic.com and go to the My Ruin part and you can see some of the stuff and download some of it on there.
A.Z. Do you feel like talking about any of the lyrics on there?
T.B. Absolutely.
A.Z. I've only had it for two days, but I've been playing it and playing it to friends and I actually sat down today and read some of it. "June 10th" what's that about, who is that about?
T.B. "June 10th", why did you pick that song?
A.Z. That's the kind of stuff I like, I like Type O Negative kind of stuff where stuff is really personal. That's the first one I wanted to ask you about.
T.B. What do you think it's about?
A.Z. It kinda' sound like somebody led you on and fucked you over.
T.B. (Clears throat) Yeah, he sings for a very prominent rock band, (laughs) it's the same thing that "Blasphemous Girl" and "Absolution" are about.
A.Z. Same situation, and same person?
T.B. Yeah, it's definitely done, I think that "Speak and Destroy" has a lot of different... everybody that kind of knows me knows that I'm not quite the hidden agenda girl, I kinda' just say it. In "Blasphemous Girl" I say dry lung vocal martyr" and anyone who knows the metal scene will know exactly who that is.
June 10th is sort of the tribute to the person in a good way, "Blasphemous Girl" is kinda' my…. I use a lot of religious imagery in my writing you know I like to, sort of, people will take it the way they want, but I like to kind of talk about God as someone I know, maybe and even the Devil at times. I sort of use myself in many aspects as The Mary Magdalene/Virgin Whore thing, I like to use certain connotations in certain ways and "Blasphemous Girl" is more of my attack against this person, I'm being blasphemous against this person who taught me about this or that and saying God wants a piece of my ass, meaning I know what you want from me and I'm coming out against you and against this in this relationship. Then June 10th is sort of the okay now I 'm going to look at it and I'm going to be loving toward it and I'm gonna be a little more.... the end part that I'm saying is actually letters that were written to me, excerpts from letters that were written to me, people think that it's something I'm saying to someone. All the artwork on the record sort of goes around the song "June 10th".
A.Z. Yeah, I saw the one line from it twice in there, so.
T.B. The hotel on the back, the girl on the cover ˜Miss June 10th and There's a note in the record from the person from that day and it's kind of the most strongest emotional song on there but yet in a different way. I guess "Absolution" is dealing with the purgatory aspect of it the love/hate with it and I don't know, it's kind of weird, my lyrics are always very personal.
A.Z. The two songs I was going to ask you about you answered in the same question so that's great. I didn't realize they were tied together, but to me it seems like the whole album just ties together. What about "Cosmetic?".
T.B. "Cosmetic" is kind of a way I was feeling one night looking at a fashion magazine. I don't know, I mean people make so many comments about the whole issue, back where I started from, ˜why aren't you doing anything like you were doing when you were in Manhole? Speaking out for women's rights or talking about how the media portrays women or abortion or all the issues I had touched on in Manhole, and I think if you don't grow, you become stale. Now I still support everything I've ever written about and ever talked about, you know what I mean, that's how I feel and I always will. "Cosmetic" I think was me growing up a little bit and looking in the mirror and talking about how I felt blessed are we among women, and it's kinda' like hey you know what, I'm not some model, I'm not some beauty queen, I am who I am and every girl should feel that way when she looks in the mirror, you know and be happy for what you have and be proud of who you are, no matter if you're 10 pounds overweight or 100 pounds overweight. Be beautiful to yourself first and everyone will think you're beautiful. It's just everything is so cosmetic and fake, there are bands that think that you need to put a fucking mask on to get up there and be whatever, I'm, like I don't really need to have anything on to do it. "Sycophant" is definitely about those bands, I'm not dissing Korn in any way, I'm dissing the bands that have come up trying to be Korn, trying to be all those things like children of the Korn-fed styles. Throw on a pair of Adidas and all that crap and jump on the bandwagon. I just find it repulsive and I find it kind of sad. I've grown up with most of these bands out of L.A. and one minute I see them playing one way and the next minute they're in a magazine wearing tons of makeup and fucking body makeup, talking about they're crazy and posing like they're lunatics, and I'm like gimme' a fucking break.
A.Z. (Laughs)
T.B. That's some weak shit and kids shouldn't buy into that, they should see through that, they need to see that those people don't give a damn they're just writing bullshit lyrics that aren't....you know I wanna' say something. I don't care if I sell a million records or make a million dollars, but I do care about when a girl comes up to me at a show and says ˜Wow, when I heard a song you sang it made me feel like this because I can relate to this or whatever, that makes me feel good. That's how I feel when I hear Nick Cave or P.J. Harvey, they're not fucking superstars, but they're superstars to me because they've inspired me.
A.Z. Great! Why did you pick "Tainted Love" of all songs to cover?
T.B. The truth is, I wanted to cover a Nick Cave song, which we do on the new album by ironic chance, but I wanted to and I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do at the time, I wasn't with the right people I needed to be with to cover it . I was in England and I wasn't feeling right, we were driving to the studio somebody had this 80's tape and "Tainted Love" came on and I go God, I love this song! I love that line "sorry I don't pray that way" and I was thinking, that is so me. It just hit me, and I thought this fucking song sums up saying to someone exactly how I feel " It's time you leave, it's time I leave, it's fucking...your love has been tainted, you've tainted me." I know what it's about but you interpret lyrics to your own interpretation.
A.Z. Exactly.
T.B. That's what I think is so cool and a lot of people have given me shit for covering that song , believe me.
A.Z. I've played that on the radio already. It was the first song last week on our syndicated radio show MK ULTRASOUND. That will be playing actually on Loud Radio out there around 9:00 next
Sunday, they syndicate it out West. I talked a little bit about your history With Manhole and Turf Satan, it was a kicking song to play something New, for us anyway.
TB Cool thank you for playing it!
A.Z. Oh, my pleasure.
T.B. It's a weird thing, because I was like everyone's going ˜okay she's jumping on the bandwagon-"Cars ","Blue Monday"' the vibe, whatever, I'm not doing a duet with the singer from Soft Cell, and I don't think I'm trying to completely recreate "Tainted Love" the way it was, you know?"
A.Z. I don't think you did at all, I liked your take on it.
T.B. I wanted it to be a little different, a lot of people are like well you fucking ruined the song. That's the whole purpose of doing a cover, you cover it the way you would cover it, people don't realize that. I'm not trying to dog them but like when I hear "Cars" by Fear Factory , I'm like Gary Numan's on there.
A.Z. It sounds just like it.
T.B. What's the point, I don't really get it, you know what I mean, it's like okay great, I want to hear you do a cover of how you would do it.
A.Z. At least you didn't do "Spin Me Round" like everyone else is.
T.B. Oh, Jesus are you kidding?
A.Z. I can't believe how many versions of that came out this year.
T.B. Oh, yuck. On the new record we have a hidden track, we covered Black Flag- "My War" and "Do You Love Me" by Nick Cave. That song is so beautiful.
A.Z. I can't wait to hear that. I love Nick Cave.
T.B. So do I.
A.Z. That's good stuff. I didn't know anything about the Easy E stuff and one day I was sitting with- do you know Thomas Thorn from The Electric Hellfire Club?
T.B. Yeah.
A.Z. We were talking about Manhole, and he had mentioned that you were- he's like that's one of Easy E's girls...
T.B. Whaaaat?
A.Z. referring that you did something on that label, not the other way.
T.B. I was like, wait a minute.
A.Z. This is when they were opening for Godflesh and I actually didn't get to read any press on it until now until this thing that you wrote, your own bio/ press kit, which is good it's more personal.
T.B. There's a thing on the website all about it with pictures of him it's under Stigmata and there's all that rap stuff under there.
A.Z. I'll look for it. I didn't ever hear any of the rap stuff that you did.
T.B. Well, the album was called "Power of a Woman" and it was released on his label and Easy is on it Everlast is on it, Dr. Dre is on it, the D.O.C there are a lot of people that are on it. Then I ended up writing a second record and I worked with Salt N Pepa I did a lot of great shit, and at the end of it and I had a band come in called Sugartooth who were on Geffen and I did a song called "Running with the Devil" we covered the Van Halen thing and did a crazy rock version of it and I sort of decided, you know what, I need to be with a band. This world, a lot of shit went down with me in that world that was pretty heavy duty and I just didn't feel right anymore there and so I stole all my tapes from my label and locked them up and I wouldn't let them release the second record. They wouldn't let me out of the contract, and about a month before Easy died he called me for a meeting and gave me the money he owed me. He told me he was very sorry for keeping me under contract, he said a lot of things to me and I didn't know in his mind what was going on. I didn't realize he had AIDS and he was gonna die, I didn't realize anything, I thought it was just really strange how I hadn't had anything to do with anybody at the label for a really long time. I formed Manhole, but couldn't really do anything, it was in the early stages. He handed me my contract and he said, "You're free to go, here's the money I owe you and I hope you have a great life." He told me he thought I was kickass, I always stood up to everybody, I never took any shit and I wasn't some ho on the label and he respected for that. A month later, I'm driving down the street and I hear a letter being read on the radio station rapper Easy E has issued saying he has AIDS and a week later he was dead. I was like oh my God, It just all blew me away. That guy definitely gave me my start, he signed me and he taught me how to stand up for myself, I mean, Jesus Christ, the N.W.A. camp that's not the easiest group of people. Being a little white girl on that label you better stand up for your shit or your gonna get fucked over big time, a lot of crazy shit happened on that label.
A.Z. What year was that?
T.B. It was 89 and the record came out in 90. It was funny because it had two videos on MTV I hosted Yo MTV Raps with Dre and Ed Lover .I did all that, I'm wearing like a track suit, It was really funny I was blonde, platinum blond, I looked like what Korn looks like when they do this thing now.
A.Z (Laughs)
T.B. That's totally my past and it's hard to even relate to that now. I'm putting together a book right now, I've been working on for about a year and it's a book from 1990-2000 a girl's sort of journal through music. It's journal entries, collages, art, letters from people, stories, I'm having a writer, from Metal Hammer, actually do a thing with me through the whole book and it's going to be called "God Wants a Piece of My Ass". A photo journal of a blasphemous girl and it's got very religious overtones through it and sacrilegious overtones it's very crazy but it's very truthful and it tells a lot of stories in it too.
A.Z. Do you ever get any shit over some of the imagery and some of the lyrics that you use on the religion front?
T.B. I get more shit over, like, pictures I've taken if I've posed in a magazine and I'm wearing something I get more shit like "why is Tairrie B…." I'm like oh please, it's not like I'm in Playboy gimme' a fucking break.The clothes don't make the woman; the woman makes the clothes.
A.Z. Right.
T.B. I think people are a little bit confused about my religious "thing". I think they don't know if I'm a Jesus freak or a Devil worshiper from one minute to the next, and if you walk in my house you wouldn't know either because there's tons of both and I 'm just very drawn to the spiritual side and the dark side sort of somewhere in between. I find both fascinating. I find the Bible fascinating and I find the Satanic Bible fascinating. There's something you can get in each, to say that you can't get something from every religion is crazy, there are so many religions out there. If people have a problem with it, that's their problem, I think Jesus is way more scary than the Devil, all this Satan shit is funny.
A.Z .( Laughs)
T.B. Tura Satana is not... oh is that what that's about you're Satan worshipers now? That wasn't what we were about, look, I can use that imagery and not be a Cradle of Filth chick, okay? I think Marilyn Manson did the whole Devil thing there are so many bands out there that are all neato. If I do a shirt that says Jesus is a rock star, I'm gonna get more shit from that than something about Satan because it's scarier to people. An Evangelist is scarier to people. That terrifies people way more for some reason.
A.Z. More threatening, yeah. You talked a little bit about bands like Korn and that, do you think there's too much of that rap/metal thing flooding...
T.B. Honey, when I was doing rap/metal years ago, I was being told "this will never work". I mean, Cypress Hill guys even told me "this thing will never Work" I look at them now doing that song they have going oh, really? Its funny I just see all these bands popping up out of nowhere jumping on that same thing and I don't want to be a part of it; I don't feel a kinship with it at all. I felt a kinship with certain bands in my town like Snot and Human Waste Project and certain people were around when we were around and Downset .I really love Downset and I think they do the rap/rock thing the best and they've gotten the least amount of publicity, respect, or acknowledgement and I think they definitely do it the best. When I look at someone in a red baseball cap flipped backwards talking about "I'm gonna break, gimme' something to break" Give me a break, I think it's complete crap.
A.Z. There's too much of it, it was good at first, but when that's all you hear and it's all you get to see on MTV.....
T.B. Every band, there is just so much more music out there! I mean gimme' a fucking break, the new "Bomb Pop" record is amazing and why isn't that on MTV? Why isn't there a video for them on MTV? There are so many bands out there that are so incredible and there is just no vehicle for them, they have to remain underground. I can't turn on MTV and watch Papa Roach and Static X, I can't do it; I just can't stomach it. I'm not dissing the people, I'm just saying I can't watch it.
A.Z. Oh yeah, they're nice guys, I think that Static X is funny actually.
T.B. I think it's very hysterical because I grew up with all these people- well I grew up a little bit before them in the scene and then they all kinda' came along and it was like okay, ya' know everyone sounds exactly the same to me, it's like one big long record, I don't understand does no one else see this, that they're buying into the one long record concept? The people that are different they just don't seem to fit into that anywhere.
A.Z. Did you ever get a chance to do any video stuff?
T.B. Mmm hmm...Manhole had a video, Tura Satana had a video, and My Ruin had a video that came out last year.
A.Z. Are these available at all?
T.B. I'm not sure, Manhole had a video for "Kiss or Kill", Tura Satana had one for "Luna" and Tura has a video coming out it's really weird, it's spoken word kinda' tripped out little thing.
A.Z. When we played "Tainted Love" on the radio it was the the only radio friendly song on Speak. We'd love a video we could play on our cable show. But, we'll dig a few more out of here as long as there's not too many fuck words on it.
T.B. I say the "f" word here and there, Ya'know.
A.Z. My engineer was sitting there trying to lay on the dump button, we have no delay. (Laughs)
T.B. Oh, man, sorry about that.
A.Z. That's okay. (Laughs) Personally I dig that vibe.
T.B. A girl's gotta' be a girl. (Laughs)
A.Z. Is there anything else you can talk about the new album then?
T.B. I'm really happy that I did get a chance to do this and it was a nice refreshing break out of doing what I was doing before and kind of come clean in a lot of ways do a lot of different sides of myself, everyone has different sides and just like my new record is really, really heavy, I don't know what the next one will be, ya' know what I mean? You can never tell, I think that represents a big part of me, I guess I wish the one thing that would have happened is that I would have stayed in one place with one producer so it would all sounded more cohesive, but in the other sense it's more like a collage and it's a collage of a lot of feelings and emotions. I hope that people can dig it and have an open mind and not be like what the fuck is this and when they hear "Tainted Love" she's like electronica queen now, what's going on? Get to "Blasphemous Girl".
A.Z. The album that's coming out in September, if we can't get it here do people go to your website or the label's site and order it?
T.B. No, we're going to be able to get it out, it's definitely coming out in September and I definitely have faith they're going to have it out here and Spitfire will definitely get it in stores, I am not afraid of that. The Noise thing was the whole problem with that.
What do you listen to?
A.Z. I like all over the place, I mentioned Type O to you, and I like Switchblade Symphony a lot, Nick Cave, I love, Leonard Cohen .....
T.B. Right on!
A.Z. I like anything personal and emotional. I love Danzig stuff, I like his old stuff not his new stuff.
T.B. Yeah, his old stuff was really great.
A.Z. The Doors are my favorite band of all time so I'm like everywhere, I don't like the rap/metal thing anymore it was fun at first but there's just too much of it for me. It's played out.
T.B. Played out definitely.
A.Z. I like emotional, honest music that's why I like your album a lot because you're talking about how you feel or how you felt at the time and I think that's awesome.
T.B. I think a lot of people find offense at that sometimes because they're like ˜she's too personal and she spills it all out; but isn't that what music is supposed to be, instead of candy-coated and pop I don't just sit down and go okay I have to write a catchy hook, oh my God! I have to write something that can be played on the radio. I write something from my heart and I think that's a little more important.
A.Z. I like how you speak your mind and that's why I like Lydia Lunch.
T.B. She's awesome.
A.Z. I love Lydia Lunch and I see her and I'm in awe and I'm one of like five guys in the whole place and a bunch of women want to kick our asses but I really like where she's coming from.
T.B. I don't know if you're familiar with Jessica from Jack Off Jill?
A.Z. Yeah, oh, yeah.
T.B. She did a duet with us on the new record that is coming out in Europe, she is fucking just awesome. I really believe, Jessica is, like my as corny
as this could sound, my sort of attached, detached sister. Her new album is very similar to our new album and we write from like the same place there's just like we the same sort of mindset and I really dig her, man and I really respect her. I think she's a huge star and that nobody's figured this out yet. Well, they broke up. She's doing another project now, it's sad because her record just came out and her record is brilliant.
At this point the tape cuts off and we just continue talking. But rest assured brave reader there will be more conversation to follow as we follow up on "A PRAYER UNDER PRESSURE OF VIOLENT ANGUISH" and our love affair w/ the Divine Miss B.
Posted by Alex Zander at March 13, 2004 01:00 PM
.Oricum tare 
... oricum merci pt. album.
