ROYAL TRUX and STRAIGHT-EDGE

wtf are you talking about?

Sorry, maybe that isn't public knowledge. (But the disinfectant spraying of vocal microphones by both Jen and Neil during sound check is somewhat well known I think.) But anyway I was just thinking,a Neil's a studious, health-conscious, kinda nerdy guy, and about as far from "scuzzy" junkie type as you can get; Jen's an avid swimmer and surfer; they were both militantly anti drugs and alcohol during most of their career as a band. Yet you don't hear much about these actual contexts in which their music was produced, and hear a lot about the incorrect "junkie" (or even less correct "stoner") context. Uh... well if anyone has any theories I'd love to hear them. Off to the gym now.

not a bad idea. have you ever smelled those things?

jen smokes teh weed again now so "stoner" isn't too far off. and neil def. shook my hand the one time i met him. so your conjecture is, well, nothing but that.

Neil: I have exploited it, so it's fair to say."

-LA Weekly 2001

Well, be honest and also add that you were wearing this at the time:

http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/Images/suit.jpg

hstencil: information from two people who toured (different tours) with Neil. Not sure if this trumps "the one time i met him". Namedropper rule book for 07 season due out next week.

X-post, but what the hell:

I really doubt Jennifer limits her drug intake to "teh weed," these days, and I don't think Neil is a germophobe (it is definitely a good idea to disinfect microphones--even your own), but I think sylvie and babbs brought up a pretty valid point to discuss--the Trux always had the junkie image with a capital H going on, all the way through to the end, but they made all of what I think are their best records after going completely straight. But it still had a definite junk vibe to it.

Most people I know who are really into theTrux were junkies at one point or another, and that music just seems to work for junkies, even though it was made by straight people. I think a lot of the inspiration was drawn on their previous lifestyle, but Neil's weird take on harmelodics and Jennifer's cultivated heroin chic
image definitely contributed to the H vibe, and I figure they played the junkie angle because it made money (they were much more into making money that they were into heroin). And Junkies could never have pulled of some of the stuff they did in the studio (think "Sweet 16" with its super complex arrangements). I think if they hadn't been "straight-edge" they probably would have never made anything more ambitious that Twin Infinitives. Sorry, but I could make a new record that good every week for the next year--it's bullshit (this coming froma huge fan).

But Neil is a nerdy guy, for sure, and I've almost grown to like his solo and Howling Hex stuff better than the Trux. It seems more honest--no bullshit cultivated junkie rock star image, just a guitar nerd playing music that not many people get (what you see is what you deserve).

Are podcasts, or actual pressed cds/vinyl? Either way sign us up.

please stop discussing music -- esp. jazz -- as you clearly know absolutely nothing about it. thanks.

srsly within the space of a week we've had this thread, the terrible "youth against fascism" thread, and the "comets on fire sounds like bad creedence" thread. way to go, ilm. just when i think you've topped yourself with new heights of idiocy, some dork with no clue shows up to make the proceedings even worse.

ALSO, BY SWEET 16 THEY WEREN'T JUNKIES

ARGH

what you said was Fritz, none of the artists you mention made super complex arrangements like Sweet 16. which is pretty hard to read as anything other than belittling of what jazz musicians do.

get off the internets, u lost.

Funny, that.

I chatted with Neil after I saw them on the Twin Infinitives tour after the show and told him how badly they needed a real drummer. So he said to me, "do you play drums?", and after I said yes, he gave me his phone number and address and told me to come out and join them. I never called him, even though RT were my absolute fave band on earth and I would have loved to play drums for them, mostly because I was on the verge of getting out of a horribly depressing junkie scene, and I didn't want to be dragged back down into the abyss, right when I was on the verge of escaping. Maybe my fear was unfounded, maybe not, but this is very interesting to hear.

I still have that scrap of paper.

this is my new name

hstencil's new name - Classic or Dud?

You and Jennifer seem caught up in the whole rock myth thing. And you've used it to your advantage throughout your career.

And in a way that's why things are so fucked-up right now. Because Jennifer seems to be completely warped by it in a way that I never thought she could be. It's really sad because a lot of it has to do with the drugs; the whole VH-1 thing. She and I used to laugh our asses off thinking about that shit. When we say we're not gonna really do something we really meant it. I'd rather die in a pool of my own vomit than play in some club where six people worship me and end up like Johnny Thunders. I'll get a job at fuckin' Wal-Mart first. And I think that's why we haven't had success. When we did drugs, we took more drugs than anybody we knew. It was like a competition at the time.

While you were doing drugs like that... like some competition, did you always have it in the back of your mind that you were gonna quit?

Well we knew we couldn't do it forever. I mean, today I'm still a fucking addict. If I had a beer right now I would end up selling my car and be up to three bags a day. When I finally had a chance to get clean and I went into the hospital, I got out and it was the way I used to be about taking drugs but now it was about not taking drugs. So it was hard of course because then it became a thing to me. People come into our dressing room and they smoke pot and I'll tell them to get the fuck out. I'll fight people over it.

Do you ever feel burdened by all that junkie mythology?

Yeah. We knew it was gonna happen. We did it on purpose and we exploited it. It's like the whole "Sympathy for the Devil" thing: "I laid tracks for troubadours who get killed beefier they reach Bombay." Or maybe more like, "if you think you can walk this road then we'll trick you into thinking its cool because you may die..." And its not that it makes the music more real.

...I have to worry about my own sobriety. And I'll do anything to stay clean. I'll sell my grandmother to stay clean.

That said, I'll leave you with this: they are obviously the greatest rock band in the universe, straight or otherwise, then and now, and anyone who understands rock and roll should understand at least that. I hold these truths to be self evident. Thank you goodnight.

http://cdn.stereogum.com/img/duritz_tattoo.jpg

what a disaster for straight edge

what a disaster for that dude's backfat when he's 55

ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo
ROCK musicians who recorded complex ROCK arrangements when they were heroin addicts: phil anselmo

http://vimeo.com/207866

My sister and I will think about it today during pilates.

― sylvie and babs (sylvie and babs), Monday, 13 November 2006

This brought joy to my heart for some reason.

Anyone still consciously define as straight edge? sXe

”disinfectant spray-carrying germophobe Neil Hagerty"
"wtf are you talking about?"