LINKS:
typeonegative.net

Brooklyn goth-metallers, Type O Negative are many things to many people--mysterious, sexy, brooding, tongue-in-cheek—and of course, intense. I originally got drummer Johnny Kelly on the phone right after the release of their Roadrunner disc Life Is Killing Me late in 2003. The tone of the interview was set after viewing pics of him and his car on the official band website. Sorry folks, but I couldn’t help but indulge my gearhead tendencies yet again… It’s amazing that there’s actually enough here for you to read, because at the time, we were laughing so much that I didn’t know if it would make any sense at all…. Keep in mind the timeframe of the interview….(yes, I still suck for being so late with it…) 2005 promises to be an interesting year for the band, with a new deal with SPV.

CN: Yeah, in my family too. It’s one of those things.

JK: Yeah, I like working on them when they’re not broken.

CN: Yeah, that’s the fun part

JK: That’s what I prefer.

CN: Actually one of the questions… it’s funny that you said you’re in the garage because I looked on your site and I saw the little pictures with the model and the cars and stuff.

JK: (Laughs) Oh yeah, yeah.

CN: What’s that about?

JK: That’s actually something that my buddy, my webmaster worked out. This company Motobrands USA, they make all old retro muscle cars and stuff like that. So we contacted them, because I’m big fan of that stuff. And we were just like, “Hey, we’re from Type O Negative… this and that.” I sent them pictures of my car, and they were like, “We wanna do some shots with the models and your car and stuff.” I was like, “Oh, great.” They gave me some shirts. (laughs)

CN: Which car is yours?

JK: The blue one, the super V...

CN: Oh, because, on the site, I saw mostly pictures of a Trans Am.

JK: Yeah that’s Pete’s, the webmaster’s.

CN: Yours is the blue one? It looks kind of like a Monte Carlo-type window on it is all I could see.

JK: No, it’s kind of like a Roadrunner or a Charger, that kind of car.

CN: Oh, it’s that one?

JK: Yeah.

CN: That’s a nice one.

JK: Yeah, it’s fun.

CN: I’m a big fan of muscle cars. I bought a really cool ’73 Camaro in Staten Island for $250.

JK: Really?

CN: Yeah, about 10 years ago. And it had a working 8-track tape player. It was so awesome (laughs).

JK: Now all you have to do is find 8-tracks.

CN: Oh yeah. It’s funny because I used to have gazillions of them when I was young.

JK: I only had a few.

CN: I’ve always been a music nut.

JK: When I was younger, I only had a couple. I mostly had vinyl.

CN: Yeah, I had that too. But my dad, being a car guy, had to have the music in the car.

JK: Yeah

CN: And his whole thing was racing them and customizing them.

JK: Oh! Very cool!

CN: So I was always around cars. It’s something I want to start putting more of on the site.

JK: Oh yeah?

CN: I haven’t really branched into that end of it yet.

JK: No arguments here.

CN: That’s why I thought it was intriguing when I saw that on the Type O site. I thought, maybe he’s got a cool car tie-in thing.

JK: Yeah, I’ll have to send you some pictures.

CN: That would be most excellent. What year is yours?

JK: ’70.

CN: So I enjoyed your record release at CBGB…I’ve been doing Roadrunner stuff since way back in the days when Pete was still in Carnivore. I originally met Pete in ’85 at L’amour.

JK: Oh my God. You’re a L’amouron too?

CN: Yeah, I’m a L’amouron. I think I probably know you from there

JK: Probably.

CN: Because I used to shoot all the shows. I was a photographer back in the 80’s. The thing was, being as L’amour had no photo pit, I used to get bruised ribs all the time.

JK: Yeah, I bet.

CN: I ended up going to work for Metal Mania and Rock Scene, and all those magazines.

JK: Oh, cool!

CN: So I did that for a while.

JK: You could work with better venues.

CN: Yeah, some of that. Plus, I lived in the city so it was kind of a long way to come out there. I lived in Boro Park originally when I moved out here from South Carolina. But then I moved to the city because, I don’t know, I was a metallic East Village kinda girl.

JK: Well that’s cool. The city’s a great place. It’s a lot cooler than Brooklyn, that’s for sure.

CN: It’s a lot more expensive, too. That’s why I live in Spanish Harlem these days.

JK: Oh, for real? You’re living in Spanish Harlem?

CN: Oh, for 10 years now! I’m like the porcelain white ghetto girl.

JK: (laughs) You’re the token white girl of the neighborhood?

CN: Oh yeah, I’m telling ya.

JK: Well, right on. That’s fine. Keeps things interesting, right?

CN: Yeah it does. So you’re no longer the new guy. You’ve been in the band for a while.

JK: Eleven years now. Eleven years this month.

CN: Yeah, it’s been a while for you. So you’ve got a lot of stuff going, because you’re doing Type O, and you’re doing, is it still called Skynd?

JK: Yeah, it’s still called Skynd. (It was later changed to Black Water Rising.-ed.) Unless it changes in a week or a month. Right now, that was the first one that we found that we were all like, “Oh, okay, that’s not so bad.” We thought it was kind of cool. We felt that it was the most palatable at this point. It’s still at such an infant stage. Right now we’re just writing and stuff. We’re just feeling each other out, just enjoying it.

CN: It’s not drudgery, in other words.

JK: Yeah. We’re just hanging out and making music.

CN: Isn’t that why you got into it in the first place?

JK: Yeah. But as the years go on, your responsibilities increase, you see more things, you experience more things, and you become more jaded about the whole thing. All of your experiences change the whole ride. I’m thankful that I can still find a place where I actually enjoy it.

CN: Yeah. I didn’t enjoy it for quite a few years. I dropped out and stopped writing because I felt like an extension of the PR department of every label on the planet. And I had to write nice things about bands that I didn’t think nice things about.

JK: It’s totally compromising, isn’t it?

CN: Yeah, because the editor’s like, “No, no! The publicist really wants a good story!” But you see, now I’m the editor and I don’t play that shit.

JK: That’s cool.

CN: You want to vent your steam? Go for it! I think journalists provide a public service. Just because you have the want and the need to record your stuff, and you have the money to do it, doesn’t mean you should actually inflict it on those of us who know better.

JK: You got to have a license to drive a car. But you don’t have to have a license to play or perform or record music, or to have children. Isn’t that a little strange?

CN: Uh, yeah. But I don’t run the country. (Laughs.) Those views are considered radical in some parts, you know.

JK: Yeah, like everywhere there’s a bad musician.

CN: When did you start playing, though? How old were you?

JK: I learned how to play a little bit when I was eleven years old. I started playing in bands when I was fifteen.

CN: Really?

JK: Yeah.

CN: Wow.

JK: That was a LONG time ago. It certainly feels it.

CN: I’m even older than you, so yeah, it feels it I guess.

JK: I’ve been playing for twenty years now, and I’m still wondering when I’m going to get good at it.

CN: Are you just doing the bash and crash thing?

JK: For the most part, yeah. What I lack in talent I make up for in enthusiasm.

CN: But, you know, sometimes that’s better.

JK: I guess it’s more of an honest approach to things.

CN: Yeah. You can get too technical and become dry.

JK: Thinking is overrated.

CN: Thinking is overrated? It’s an intellectual sport.

JK: When it comes to music, I was never into guys that go to Berkelee and all that crap. I was never into any of that.

CN: Right.

JK: You may know all the theory in the world. But if you can’t write a good song, it doesn’t mean shit.

CN: This is true, because otherwise you’re just disappearing up your own asshole.

JK: Writing a song, for the most part, is based on emotion and experience. It’s not based on, ‘how many notes can I put here?’ Even though it does eventually come into play, I was never a big fan of it.

CN: You don’t use the mathematical approach, then, eh?

JK: I don’t think they’re using “Back In Black” as an example in school. But it’s fucking great songwriting. It’s one of the greatest rock and roll records of all time.

CN: This is true. It came on the other morning when I got my son up to go to school. And I’m like, “Ah, high school!”

JK: The only school, or the only education for something like that is the school of hard knocks.

CN: So you’re more of an emotional player. That’s a good thing in a drummer, though. The passion.

JK: It’s not really so much a good thing in a person. But playing-wise, it’s cool.

CN: Well there’s something to be said about intensity at all costs.

JK: That’s true.

CN: Those of us who are intense, people just don’t understand it. What can I tell you? I’m an obsessed music person, that’s why I do what I do.

JK: Yeah, I’m a fan of it. I’m a fan of music. It gets held against me sometimes. But I still buy books about Led Zeppelin, The Stones, The Doors, things like that. I find it interesting. I find the whole history of it interesting, where it came from.

CN: That’s kind of how I got into doing what I do. I used to read voraciously all about those people. And when I came to New York I met a lot of them. And I was like, “Ooh, this is even cooler!” Because I got to ask them about all the stuff I read about.

JK: Yeah, I wouldn’t want to do that. I would never. A couple of the people that I idolized growing up that inspired me, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a couple of them. They were cool. And then some I just kept my distance. Like I met Gene Simmons once and I just went up to him and said, “Hey. Nice to meet you. Big fan.” Literally, I just kept walking.

CN: You know why I really admire him? He’s an awesome businessman.

JK: Yeah. He totally is. There is something to admire about that. But I don’t admire what he’s done with the Kiss name. It’s terrible.

CN: Yeah. It’s everywhere.

JK: It’s worse than the seventies. It’s worse than the first time around.

CN: Yeah. This is true.

JK: The whole thing turns me off. It was exciting. I went to go see them at the Garden when they first came around when they got back together and stuff. That was great. We played with them in Donnington a year later and that a was a lot of fun. I saw them a few times. Nassau Coliseum…

CN: When you played with them, was it Peter playing or was it Eric Singer?

JK: It was Peter. This was the reunion tour, when they went to Europe. They did the one show in Donnington. We were on the second stage. I think it was ’96 or ’97.

CN: They were one of the first crew of people I met when I first moved here in ’85, because I had this schizophrenic thing going on. I really loved metal, and in Manhattan where I was staying, there really was no rock scene at all. It was still punk / new wave, like Peppermint Lounge, Danceteria stuff. So I would go to L’amour to see the heavy, crunchy stuff.

JK: I remember Danceteria. I never went there.

CN: It was punk. I think the first show I saw at L’amour… I was here maybe a week. Actually, no, I was here maybe three days. I saw Metallica three nights in a row in ’85.

JK: I was at that show!

CN: Who are some of your favorite drummers, then? Obviously, Peter Criss…

JK: Yeah, Peter Criss obviously. I wanted to be Peter Criss. My brother wanted to be Ace. Every Halloween, that’s what we did. But I guess what first got me started was I was listening to a lot of Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. And then “Shout At The Devil” came out and that was it.

CN: Yeah. They were really commercial on that record, Motley Crue. The EP before that was a little punkier, I think, in a lot of the delivery. Tommy was such a heavy hitter.

JK: He was great, yeah. He’s from the Bonham school of drumming. Between Tommy Lee and John Bonham, that was it.

CN: Big bombastic shit, that’s all you need.

JK: That’s it. Just hit hard.

CN: If that doesn’t work, hit harder.

JK: Exactly. I don’t know how to use my wrists.

CN: No, it all comes straight from the elbow. Wham!

JK: That’s it. Elbows and forearms.

CN: Which is good as long as you don’t miss and get the rim with the forearm. Then you’re fucked.

JK: Yeah, that’s true.

CN: So, have you written anything for Skinned yet?

JK: We have a few songs written. We’re doing demos and stuff like that. Nothing’s finished, but we’re trying to get some stuff finished before we start up with Type O again… next week, Jesus. It’s already November (this interview was done in 2003--ed.). I can’t believe it.

CN: So where are you going with Type O next?

JK: We’re going out in the States. We’re doing five weeks or something like that. Five and a half weeks with Cradle of Filth.

CN: Yeah, that’s interesting.

JK: Yes it is. I find it pretty interesting.

CN: Especially since you have absolutely nothing in common. No, they’re actually technically good musicians, it’s just that annoying singer I want to shoot. Makes me want to ram rusty nails right in my eyes, but I'm sure he's a nice guy otherwise.

JK: I’m curious to see how it comes across.

CN: I saw them at Ozzfest. Their stage show is unbelievable.

JK: Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing, that they have a very intense show.

CN: But we’re talking paper mache outfits, fifteen-foot high spider things going around…

JK: It’s just so not what we’re in to.

CN: I mean, it’s death metal performance art, basically.

JK: Really, I would just love to do a tour the way Zeppelin did it: no drum riser, a couple of amps, and that’s it.

CN: Yeah. Just stand on the quality of the music.

JK: Yeah. Just let that really speak for itself.

CN: The stuff you guys do in Type O is so much more complex than a lot of the stuff that’s out there, because of the added texture of keyboard arrangements.

JK: It might be. At this point, a lot of people have been pointing to us, saying that were one of the first to utilize keyboards in that way, in the kind of music that we’re doing. We really don’t see it like that. The way we look at it, we’re still just doing our thing and trying to do it the best we can, and just utilizing everything that’s available to us. Instead of it being something that was groundbreaking at the time. We look at it like what we’re doing is really derivative of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, and stuff like that.

CN: Yeah, because Purple always had big keyboards.

JK: Yeah, the keyboards definitely do play a very large role in Type O Negative, they do add a lot of layers to it. We really just see it as we’re looking up to The Beatles or Black Sabbath. That’s the way we look at it. When we take the live approach, we’re well aware that we’re not going to be able to recreate the song the way it was recorded. It’s just impossible for us to do something like that. There’s just too many things going on. And there’s only four of us. We’re not into playing to tracks live and stuff like that to fill it in or whatever. We still like the very live approach, that old school live show.

CN: Yeah. I’ve seen you twice, at different points. I saw you at Roseland with the Least Of The Worst or whatever. And then I saw you at CB’s. Unfortunately, by that time you blew up too big for me to get tickets for Irving Plaza because I’m just a dot com. I haven’t gone back into print yet.

JK: (Sarcastically) Yeah. We’re too big… playing Roseland and Irving Plaza.

CN: No, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant from the standpoint of who’s jockeying to get on your list for the show.

JK: Right.

CN: But it was intriguing to see you guys to do it at CBGB’s, all up close and tight and sweating on each other.

JK: Yeah, I loved it. I thought that was fun. And considering that I’ve lived in New York, I grew up in Brooklyn, I lived here all my life, yet I never played CBGB’s. That was the first time I ever played there.

CN: That is amazing in and of itself.

JK: Kenny also. The both of us had never played at CBGB’s up until that point.

CN: It’s amazing you’ve never played there before, at least with any other bands. But then again, you’ve been in Type O for quite a while.

JK: The ten years before that, I was just playing clubs in New York and being a L’amouron.

CN: I’m not sure if I remember any of the bands you were in before Type O.

JK: They were pretty insignificant.

CN: Yeah but if they were local ones I’m sure I may have heard of them.

JK: I had played in a bunch of local bands. I was just playing. I ended up playing with a lot of people.

CN: Well that’s the only way you get your chops when you run into other people that are doing something more along the lines of what you’re in to. Just by getting out there.

JK: I should have been working in the city more. I think there was a lot more action going on there.

CN: You would think.

JK: At least more than there was in Brooklyn.

CN: You would think. But you know what? A lot of it was just a bunch of bullshit.

JK: You know what? Everyone has the same opinion of where they were.

CN: Because I remember the different things that were going on at that time.

JK: I remember it was just so hard to get a gig at the Limelight. And every time you went there it was just so big. You just got that impression that it was a cool place to hang out.

CN: But it really wasn’t all that difficult if you knew who to deal with.

JK: Yeah, Nikki Camp was such a hard-on.

CN: I remember Nikki Camp coming to me - because I had the phonebook from hell - and asking me to do publicity for the Limelight on Sunday nights. So there’s another side to that coin. Nikki just doesn’t like hard stuff. He likes commercial rock.

JK: He would always make you play Bond Street Café.

CN: That was his bread and butter, yeah.

JK: He was always like, “Yeah, you know, we’ll give you a gig at the Limelight.” Nikki! This is the tenth time we’re playing the Bond Street Café, come on. He had his way with us. To a couple of bands, it wasn’t just one band.

CN: No, he did it to everybody. At one point, you could walk into a club anywhere in New York and all you’d have to say is “Nikki Camp” and about three quarters of the room would turn around and go, “I hate that motherfucker!”

JK: It’s still like that. People still twitch, they’re still scarred from it. And now he’s working at Don Hills’.

CN: That’s a pretty scary place. I know. I’ve been there. Ooh, that’s a weird place.

JK: It’s alright, it’s not so bad.

CN: There’s something just about the vibe there that’s weird.

JK: All the people from L’amour, that’s where they escaped to.

CN: Or maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that every time I go there to deal with the bands in the dressing room, it’s more like the rat crapshoot. Literally you have to sit with your feet up off the floor because they run back and forth underneath your feet, and across the pipes and stuff.

JK: I’ve had fun there. I’ve been lucky to have fun there.

CN: I’ve had too much fun there. One night, me and my friend Donna (who used to be in the Cycle Sluts From Hell and is now in the She-Wolves), and Chris Holmes, we had a really good time.

JK: Oh yeah?

CN: It was a lot of fun. Now, since you’re going out with Cradle of Filth, is it co-headlining?

JK: Yeah.

CN: So that’s gonna be interesting.

JK: Actually, I’m looking forward to it. At least, this way, we’re going to be playing to their audience also.

CN: Their audience is huge and rabid which is not a bad thing, to be in front of all those people. But their stage show takes so much longer to set up than yours.

JK: Yeah, but we get the same stage, the same set time, the same stage area or whatever.

CN: Yeah, you get the same minimums.

JK: Yeah it’s the same things for both of us.

CN: So are you gonna trade [playing order] back and forth each night?

JK: No. Because they have so much stuff going on, they’re gonna go on last.

CN: That’s what I figured.

JK: They have all these stage carts, stilts, and all kinds of stuff.

CN: Unbelievable. You should have seen it in the daylight at Ozzfest. That was interesting.

JK: I am looking forward to playing in front of new people. Instead of just running around the country and playing to our own audience.

CN: Yeah, but your audience came out of vast, different audiences. You have your whole goth contingent. And you got your whole L’amour contingent.

JK: Also, there were a lot of bands we were touring with that we broke. We went out with Motley Crue for a couple of months. Then we went out with Danzig. Then we went out with Pantera, Queensryche and that helped us grow a pretty diverse fanbase.

CN: Well a lot of those bands, like Queensryche, have very similar components to you guys. It’s just very well-thought-out, emotional music. Or at least it was then.

JK: I could find something relevant in all the bands that we’ve toured with, a lot of the bands that have taken us out. Even a band like Pantera.

CN: Fun guys.

JK: Aside from being fun, their audience was just crazy for them. It was just a great reaction.

CN: That’s a good thing, I’m glad you guys are doing well. I remember when I first heard the first Type O record, and I was like, “Wow! That is so different from what Pete was doing in Carnivore.” I was floored. I was like, “Huh?”

JK: At the time, I thought it was so different compared to what was going on, period. Slow, Deep, and Hard came out right before Seattle blew up. They were working the clubs and stuff like that. But it was so different to what was on MTV at the time. Anything that you read in a magazine or heard on the radio, pretty much a lot of that shit was all candy-coated. Slow, Deep, and Hard was just so mind-blowing at the time because it had really strong melodies in it but at the same time it was one of the heaviest things I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s pretty well-rounded in terms of what it was. It’s just so far out there compared to everything else at the time.

CN: What was the deal with the “Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” video?

JK: That video, “Girlfriend’s Girlfriend,” I thought it was just wrong.

CN: Just raw?

JK: Wrong. I just thought that it missed the mark. I thought it could have been a really funny video. I thought that the lyrics were pretty funny. It’s just that they tried to make Peter sexy. They had Peter wearing a boa. And they had go-go dancers that look like they’re from Scores instead of being period-looking go-go dancers. They acted like they were strippers, they weren’t dancing like they were go-go dancers from 1967. And they had that whole splash stuff, kind of like you see in those old Jefferson Airplane videos.

CN: Yes, where they take the two pie plates and put them on the overhead.

JK: I thought that’s what they were trying to go for, and I’m technically getting a lap dance in the video. Those things missed the mark. They couldn’t even get a ’62 ‘Vette. They got a ’65 ‘Vette, which is totally different.

CN: But why was it the period of the ‘60’s? Explain that to me.

JK: Peter likes 60’s pop music. You know, early Bee Gees and things like that. That’s kind of a spoof of where the song came from.

CN: Yeah because it sounded very sixties.

JK: It has that hokey, retro, go-go dance thing.

CN: Well I caught the vibe of the song but I didn’t know why you used the imagery in the video but now I get it, now that you explained it.

JK: The imagery really had nothing to do with it. At the time we were doing it, we were just like, what’s going on here? Is this going to be funny, or whatever? I’m not a fan of it.

CN: I have to ask you about this screensaver that I have. I’m sure you’re familiar with the other Type O Negative site, without the E in your name. Like a typo on the computer?

JK: No, no I haven’t seen it.

CN: Typonegative.net, if you leave the E off of “Type” and just make it like a typo on the computer it gets a whole other site. It’s run by some girl in Brooklyn and she’s got these screensavers on there. I have this one, it’s really cute, it has all you guys in a bed with red satin sheets. Where did that come from?

JK: That was a photo shoot for East Coast Rocker, for Valentine’s Day.

CN: Oh, okay.

JK: So that’s what it was. That was in Peter’s house.

CN: She has three or four different versions of the screensaver. The one I have has… I don’t know what song it is now because I haven’t listened to it in a while. Because I work too much and the screensaver never comes on anymore. It has the picture of you guys in the bed, it has the Clockwork Orange-looking one. There’s a lot of really cute shit that was put in there. Did you guys ever think of using those to do a calendar?

JK: No, actually.

CN: You should. You’ve already got the red Valentine’s one. People have probably seen them before but still it’s schtick-y and cute.

JK: Those are from 1995!

CN: That’s alright. Re-shoot some new ones like that. That’s all. A never-ending thing. I think you guys would do well with calendars.

JK: Calendars have never been something that we actually looked into.

CN: Well, being a female and knowing how many little Goth-y chicks are into you guys, and have wet dreams about Peter, it’s a given, you know? It’s a good marketing tool.

JK: That’s my retirement, right there.

CN: That’s another million-seller I just gave to you for free. Hey, it worked for Britney...

JK: Well, look at Britney. Look at me.

CN: You’re a character. I could talk to you way too long, you’re too funny. You make me laugh, I like that.
So many people are serious in their interviews.

JK: I just can’t be.

CN: They get flustered by the fact that I don’t have a set list of questions. Some people are like, whoa what is this? Are you interviewing me? And I’m like, Yeah! Conversations are more fun. You find out things about people – like you and your car. How long have you had that car?

JK: I bought it in the summer of ’95. So I’ve had it about eight years.

CN: Was that the first muscle car you had?

JK: No.

CN: What other kinds did you have?

JK: Before that I had a ’74 Barricuda. I’ve only owned four or five cars.

CN: Me too. I stopped driving when I moved here. I can’t afford the parking tickets. Not to mention the insurance and just changing the license over. It’s like a whole racket here.

JK: Yeah it’s expensive here. I think it’s cheaper to insure a car in Manhattan, instead of the other boroughs.

CN: I don’t know because I lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina before I moved here. Down there, it cost $7 to get your driver’s license. They hand it to you right there, photograph, everything. I had a ’75 280 Z, it cost me $200 a year to insure it. Vast difference.

JK: That is a big difference.

CN: When I moved here, I called my brother and said, “Hey, I’ll just sign the title over to you.” Do you ever race your car or is it just for street?

JK: Yeah, I’ve raced it. I try to go down to Englishtown at least once a year. And I go to the Mopar Atlantic Bash, it’s just an all-Chrysler thing.

CN: When does that usually happen?

JK: That usually happens either the last weekend in May, first weekend in June.

CN: I would want to go with you next time and photograph you.

JK: Alright, I’d love it. That’s what I wanted to do when I was a kid.

CN: My uncle drag races at Long Beach. He’s one of the Magnificent Seven in Long Beach.

JK: Long Beach, California?

CN: Yeah, he races short-wheel drags. And my brother works at Performance Friction, which does all the braking systems. He works in the Motorsports section which does all the Nascar stuff.

JK: Wow that’s great.

CN: Yeah, so we’re a gear-head family.

JK: That’s cool.

CN: I’ve definitely got a big interest in putting all that stuff on the site – that, and motorcycles. I love motorcycles.

JK: I’m actually very ignorant to motorcycles.

CN: I’m actually afraid of them now because I had a really bad accident in ’88 and was thrown off the back of one here in Manhattan.

JK: Ow.

CN: Yeah. I severed my muscles and my nerves in my leg. I couldn’t walk for six months.

JK: That’s terrible.

CN: I haven’t been on one since.

JK: I’m not a big motorcycle guy. I like them, it’s just that I’m not familiar with them. I haven’t been on one that much.

CN: Yeah it’s hard to when you’re here. I mean, growing up in the South it’s a whole different vibe.

JK: Right. You’re really putting your life in your hands here. I’m tempted to get one because it’s just so much easier to get around on one.

CN: You would think.

JK: I keep hearing these guys talk about them and I’m just like, “Man I gotta get one!”

CN: Yeah there’s that instant gratification motivation thing. Then again there’s these idiots that come from New Jersey and they’re used to jug-handle turns there. So they’ll be in the right lane and they’ll forget they don’t have jug handles and they’ll make big left from the right hand lane across four lanes of traffic. I’m always afraid of those. That’s why I don’t get the bike, because with my luck I’ll be totally in the right as far as traffic rules and somebody will do that left from the right hand lane and clip me.

JK: Yeah, it’s just scary.

CN: Yeah, so I would definitely love to go with you to Englishtown.

JK: Yeah well I’ll let Peter know. Now I think it’s closed down.

CN: You know who else I found out does a bit racing - and I haven’t gotten to talk to him about it yet – is that guy from Skid Row, Rachel Borlan. I think he drives as well. And he lives in Jersey.

JK: I love it. I could do that all day long.

CN: I was very bad, because when I was in high school we used to race each other on the blacktop four lane highways from traffic light to traffic light. And being as traffic lights are a mile apart, it was a lot of fun. My uncle, of course, was my co-conspirator. I had this ’63 Volkswagen with a ragtop sunroof. It looked like a little old put-put car. And he brought a dual carb/duel exhaust engine out from California and stuck it in. That engine was so big that he had to change the clutch plate because it burned out the standard clutch plate. It just wouldn’t hold the engine. It was ridiculous.

JK: One year at a car show at Belmont Raceway somebody put an engine for a Ford in a Beetle.

CN: Whoa. How would that work?

JK: It was just all-engine.

CN: That’s what I’m saying, it had to be in the backseat or something.

JK: Yeah, it was pretty wild. I asked the guy, “Does this thing really run?” He was like, “Oh yeah.”

CN: Sounds like one of those concoctions we used to do as kids with the lawnmower engine…

JK: …ah, the go-karts!

CN: Yeah! Bicycle parts, anything. Hook it up. Because I had all brothers, and I was a tomboy, so we had lots of fun building stuff.

JK: The cars and all that is really just an extension of from when I was a kid.

CN: That’s all it really is. It’s a little fascination that never goes away.

JK: It’s like have the inability to mature and grow up.

CN: Women don’t really do it that much either. Either that, or I’m a total anomaly. Because I’m still about seventeen in my head.

JK: That is pretty odd for a girl.

CN: Yeah, I’m still pretty much a tomboy.