feature and live photos by Tina Peek
LINKS:
That's the opening credo that Mikey Heppner calls out to his fans before Priestess takes over the stage. And taking over the stage and giving you the best lay you ever had, is only part of what you can expect from this heavy rock band!! Dual guitar riffs, melodies that will have you singing (screaming?) at the top of your lungs, a drummer that has talent coming out of the wazoo, and enough long-haired head-banging to make mom and dad cringe--welcome to the world of Priestess.
Mikey Heppner, the often shy and unassuming lead singer and guitarist, started the band as a response to his inner need to become a more serious songwriter and singer. He also wanted to go in a much heavier direction. Mission accomplished. Taking a page from the music he grew up listening to, he and the rest of the band members have been able to do what few others in their genre have done--write incredible lyrics, add in some kick-ass melodies, throw in some monster guitar riffs and great drum beats, and then add a vintage sound that is reminiscent of some little known 70's bands you may have heard before...AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and even a little Deep Purple for good measure.
Still touring 2 years after their debut album Hello Master was first released and making new fans along the way, these hard rockers are starting to get noticed. Big time. They were recently hand picked, personally, by Dave Mustaine, he from the heavy metal band Megadeth, to be their main support band for a European stint in June, that will find the Priestess boys in the U.K. for the first time.
Mike offered up the comfort of their touring van, parked outside the club, to do the interview, which we both agreed would be a much quieter place to talk, than inside the venue. No touring bus for these guys yet, but Mikey says he's okay with that. It keeps things real, the guys closer and he quite likes it that way.
TINA PEEK:
First off, I'd like to thank you for agreeing to do the interview Mikey
and I want to tell you that I've been listening to your CD Hello Master
and it's absolutely brilliant~I can't get it out of my player and I don't
want to!! It's extremely heavy and very melodic...I was wondering if that's
something the band does consciously, to make sure that the songs have
such great melodies attached to them?
MIKEY HEPPNER: Yup, I guess it is a conscious thing, it's how
we write songs I guess. When I sit down to write a song, I'm thinking
about the riffs and stuff, but I'm also thinking about verse and chorus
and different parts. I like to be that kind of songwriter, melodic.
MH: Um no...I don't even remember the order that we recorded the songs, but we didn't have like a set order ready until the last minute and then it was like a week and a half of us rearranging them in different ways...I mean, we knew we wanted the first song to be "I Am The Night, Colour Me Black", we knew that we wanted "Everything That You Are" to be song one on side B of the vinyl, so we knew that had to be in the middle somewhere. So we had some kind of little guide, but we just basically did it that way and it seemed to fit, but we definitely liked the way it turned out.
TP: A lot of the media talk about Priestess being a "throw-back" to some of the heavy 70's bands, such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Motorhead and even Led Zeppelin~and those are some pretty heavy shoes to fill--I know what they're trying to say, but your sound is definitely your own and not a copy of any of those classic hard rockers. Do the comparisons to them ever bother you, or do you find it flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as those heavy-hitting bands?
MH: It's a bit of both. I mean, I definitely love all those bands, but when you're in the business, making music, that's what you do, you're writing songs, you're kind of going to be...your output is going to be somewhat of mix of your influences and what you've listened to. So I grew up listening to a lot of those bands, so it's gonna' come out in one way or another when we write music together. But at the same time, it was definitely never a conscious thing to be like, "Oh yeah, we'll do this 70's rock band" ya' know? Until the album was released, we'd never really thought that it was retro sounding or old sounding or anything. The recording to me, especially, sounded, before we started showing it around to people and stuff, it sounded pretty modern to me, I thought. So when people started saying, "No, it's really got that vintage tone and you guys really sound like...", I was pretty surprised actually at first, but I see what they're pointing out, in the songs. There's moments, like Deep Purple moments and T. Rex moments and stuff like that, ya' know? So, yes and no (laughs)
TP: I know the band doesn't really like the label "metal". You prefer to be called what you truly are, and that is, just a heavy, hard rock band. Do the labels bother you?
MH: I don't really get bothered by it, but it's definitely something we kind of try...whenever it comes up in an interview...before recording the album and even recording the album and even after it was finished, we never, amongst ourselves, had used the word "metal" at all, to describe ourselves to anybody. Like this part is really metal and this part...it was never a word we used. We didn't think we were making a metal album, or playing in a metal band ya' know? We definitely love a lot of metal and we've toured with a lot of metal bands and stuff and it seems that the heavy metal audience is receptive to it. So yeah, it's like you said, I would like it, in a perfect world, if everybody could just be happy with the label of "rock". Let it be just rock. All you need to know is that it's rock music and if you like rock music, check it out and if it's not the kind of rock music you like, or if it's not a rock record you're into, then it's not and if it's right up your alley, then it is. People don't have to make smaller slots for things...
TP: I agree! Obviously, you're a little too young to have seen a lot of the bands in concert that you're being compared with...so how did you guys come up with your own brand of monster guitar riffs, great drum beats and harmonies and make them your own?
MH: As I mentioned earlier, I grew up listening to so many different things and I believe that when you decide to be a songwriter and start to write music, it's going to be a mix of what you've listened to growing up and then also, part of it is a reaction against it, trying not...like I try to consciously not make a chorus, that is "Oh, that sounds like the chorus to this song or something". I try to be unique in my thought and original, but at the same time, hints of moods from other stuff that I grew up listening to will come out, you know what I'm saying? And the same goes for everybody in the band. The way we play together kind of defines how heavy some parts are going to be and how, when our bass player will decide to play along with the riff exactly like us, that will make it sound a certain way. The sound we have, is really just the four of us playing together, is the way we sound.
TP: Were there
any bands that influenced you in a positive way, that made you want to
play the heavier stuff and the dual-guitar riffs, the balls-to-the-wall
rock that you play on the album, or was it something that you always had
inside of you but needed an outlet, like Priestess, to let it flow and
shine?
MH: I have so many different styles of music that I'm
into and all of us, everybody in the band, our tastes our really eclectic
and cover the whole board. But definitely heavy rock music is the one
that is...at the time we started Priestess and still today, it's the most
fun way to play music, in my opinion, it's just high energy. And yeah,
there's definitely shows that, I want to use specifically a Montreal band
called Tricky Woo, who were really awesome and I remember hearing that
record and I grew up listening to Black Sabbath and Nirvana and heavy
rock bands and I remember seeing them (Tricky Woo) and being like, "Wow,
you people can do that these days and it's awesome!" That was definitely
one big inspiration for sure.
MH: Me and Dan, out of everybody, we've known each other the longest, going back maybe 6 or 7 years. He moved to Montreal from Elmer Quebec, which is on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River from Ottawa. He moved to Montreal for college and so did I, like a year after he moved and I met him through a bunch of friends, we drank at the same bar. He was doing acoustic stuff at that time and I'd been in a few different bands. When I wanted to start Priestess, he was the first guy I thought of, I was like "Oh yeah, Dan, that guy I used to hang around with, yeah he plays guitar, he played in bands." So I approached him first to see if he wanted to start a band with me. And then we started jamming and writing songs and then we found Mike Dyball through a drummer actually who we auditioned, the drummer and Mike at the same time. And they were both in, and they were two friends who had played in bands together. And we existed for about a year like that and then we replaced the drummer, who had introduced us to Mike at the beginning of that year. With Vince, I used to DJ at a club in Montreal called Foufounes Electriques. People who have been to Montreal probably know that place.
TP: And you used to DJ there?
MH: I used to DJ there and so I was DJing one night and Vince's old band was playing there and it was this kind of a dinky local band, but Vince is like an insane drummer, he's really, really great. I remember being blown away by him drumming, like, "Holy smokes if anything ever happens to our drummer, I'm going to try and find this guy!" So three months later, something happened to our drummer, we had to get rid of him and I tracked down Vince and asked him if he'd join. He already knew about us, we were called The Dropouts at the time and yeah, so he joined.
TP: I saw the band perform recently during Canadian Music Week at the Indie Awards and after seeing your performance there, I just HAD to catch your show a few days later at the Reverb in Toronto. Your live shows are wicked!! I totally got into it, because the vibe that comes off of the band is just incredible! The fans there were totally eating up what you put out. What has the fan reaction been like for Priestess on this tour in general?
MH: It's been good, it's been really good! We've seen a lot of different crowds, because we've done a lot of different tours over the last 2 years and this has definitely been our most successful headlining tour that we've done. This is our first time in Barrie (he looks out the window), it doesn't look like it's too crazy in there yet (laughs), but definitely in Western Canada it's really starting to be totally crazy. And it feels really good after being an opening band on tour with bands that we really admire and stuff, so it's been fun, but to be headlining a tour with a good response has been really satisfying.
TP: You use a lot of unique lighting in your shows, it reminds me of the larger rock-arena type of stuff. I really like it. I can just imagine what kind of lighting shows you'll give us when you make it big and have the money to spend on them. So who's idea was it to bring that into the mix?
MH: I have to hand that to our manager, Vicks. We were kind of not really crazy about the lights at first. But we had a friend in Montreal, he's the top lighting guy, he does like huge shows, at the casino, The Cabaret. He's a real lighting artist. He's just a genius at lighting. And so, we weren't crazy about it, but we really liked that guy, I was friends with his brother and so had him do a couple of shows in Montreal for us and it was pretty amazing and made a big difference. So, if we had an important show to do, like in New York or something like that, or something in L.A., we'd bring him just for a one-off and do the lights, like in Toronto, and stuff like that. But since then, he's become way too busy, he's doing huge, huge things, just around Quebec, and the time at the Reverb Room that was a new guy that we've been using, only in Toronto so far. He's a Toronto guy and he's awesome. He's doing our Toronto show on Saturday.
TP: Who were your guitar idols? Was there anyone in particular that made you think, "Hey, I want to do that, I can do that!!"?
MH: Yeah, at different stages in my life it's kind of shifted around. Still today, I'll shift around which one is my actual top. But definitely, definitely, number one is Kurt Cobain, the first guitar hero I ever had, because that was my first band that I was crazy about and I was just new and thought, "Oh man I can play these songs so easy. Oh wow, I can't believe it!"
TP: And it did come easy to you?
MH: Well, because anybody who's learning guitar you know, you have your dad show you chords and it's like, so complicated, but then you have an older kid at school and he'd be like, "Oh you listen to Nirvana? All he does is this..." (he air-guitars to show me). And it's just power chords, it's pretty easy guitar playing and I remember picking it up a lot faster. And I learned all the Nirvana songs as fast as I could and started writing my own songs and at that stage basically just tried to copy him. But right around that period when I started playing guitar because of them, I started getting into a lot of music, and right at that point, it was Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath. He would be my next guy after that. And then going through high school, I was a big prog-rock fan. I got really heavy into prog-rock--so definitely Frank Zappa and Steve Howe from Yes, two really important guitar players--but yeah, a huge list. I'm inspired by a ton of guitar players.
TP: There are a lot of great artists and bands coming out of Montreal and the media are finally starting to take notice--note my sarcasm (Mikey laughs). Does it surprise you that in some areas of the country, people are taken back by your sound and style of music, because they're not familiar with the great music scene that Montreal has been offering up over the past few years?
MH: No, I'm not surprised, I guess...
TP: Are any of the fans surprised when they hear you, like, "Wow, this is coming out of Montreal?"
MH: Yeah I get that a lot, more from Americans though...
TP: Really...
MH: Yeah, a lot of them will say, "I thought Montreal was only Arcade Fire and The Stills and stuff like that". But whenever a city gets a lot of attention and blows up, it's usually for one style of music, like when Seattle blew up and became huge, it was for grunge, but in Seattle at the time it was just like Montreal is. It had like, every kind of music going on, but everybody was focusing on Soundgarden. But in Montreal too, there's great metal bands. There always has been. We have Voivod from the Montreal area. We have April Wine, who are sort of from Montreal, Tricky Woo... There's still a huge metal scene, there's still a huge hip-hop scene, there's everything, so...
TP: Yup, I agree. So originally, you were in a band called the The Dropouts, which were a kind of "punky-rock" band, and then they eventually became The Stills. What made you decide to start something new and fresh and then call yourselves Priestess?
MH: Okay, well that's just another thing, I was in school at the time and was just with some friends and we started The Dropouts kind of as a fun thing. There were a lot of punk shows going on in Montreal around that time and I was jealous because it looked like they were really having a good time, so I really just wanted to do it, it was simple. That was right at the hey-day of wanting to get out and me playing experimental music and stuff like that. And I was like, "Well, fuck all that, let's play punk and have some fun!" So we did that for about a year and then, at that point, it was fun, but I also wanted to get a lot more serious. I wanted to go in a direction that was more satisfying. I wanted the songs to get better and the riffs to get better and I wanted to get heavier and back then the band was slowly doing that. At the same time the three other guys in the band also were getting more serious with the songs they were writing on the side for their side project, which turned into The Stills. So it was kind of a natural thing when I was like well, we're going to do this. And two of their old friends, who ended up being their managers, brought them down to New York to record and everything. And they got swept up pretty quick right from there. And I wasn't really interested in that kind of thing, ya' know? I didn't want to play that type of music anymore, I just didn't really like it, so I flew solo for a few months and put The Dropouts part 2 together, what I told you earlier and right when Vince showed up, we changed the name to Priestess.
TP: So how did you decide on the name Priestess? Why Priestess? It's a killer name by the way...
MH: Killer. That's the only reason why we chose it (laughs)...because it's cool.
MH: Yeah, Vince came up with Hello Master....
TP: Really...
MH: Yeah it was funny, because we were trying so hard to come up with a title, we were like, "No, we don't want it to be self-titled, we want a title". But we wanted it to be awesome, we didn't want it to be dumb. We were e-mailing back and forth, back and forth to everybody and it just got retarded, we just started sending stuff saying, "These are my ideas" and these retarded joke ideas and we had just kind of given up on it. And then Vince was like, "Oh yeah, you know, I was just thinking the other day, "Hello Master", like those two words, is that good?" And we were like, "That's totally awesome, okay!" And we all agreed right away!
TP: Well it really is genius. Who writes most of the material and what goes into finding the right sound for each song? Does everyone in the band have an equal say in things?
MH: Well for Hello Master, for the record, I wrote most of the music and sort of, I guess, directed most of the way most of the songs were.
TP: So you wrote the songs and the music to the album?
MH: Yeah, I wrote nine of the songs and Dan wrote two and Vince wrote "Blood", he sings on "Blood", that's why the voice is different, it's the drummer. But when we arrange the songs together, Dan will have an idea for a guitar part here or something, so it's sort of, the base of the song is there and then we kind of expand on it as a band. That was what the writing was like for Hello Master, but the writing that we've been doing so far for the next stuff, it's starting to shift a little bit, because we don't have any time, I don't have the time at home like I used to, to write music all day. Now we're on tour all the time and when we are home, I kind of want to take a break from that and if we ever do write music, it's when we jam or rehearse. So now it's more of a combined thing, we're all writing songs together now.
TP: I have
to tell you, I love the artwork on the album cover by Arik Moonhawk Roper!!
I know he's created a lot of album covers for other artists, but what
made you decide to go with him and this particular piece of art for your
cover? It's an interesting choice to say the least...
MH: Well as you might know we had an earlier addition,
a different cover...
TP: Yes, right, the Canadian version...
MH: Yup and that was an idea that I had, to have this
crazy border around a picture and it was cool and we did it, but I think
I got kind of carried away with it and then we had it open up with the
guys on it and I really stressed over that cover, a lot! And then when
we got the finished product, I was kind of underwhelmed with it, I was
thinking, "This isn't as awesome as I thought it was going to be,
it kinda' looks cheap" ya' know? So we had that out for I guess a
few months and then when we got picked up by RCA, they were like, "We're
going to put out the record in the States" and so we had the option
of changing the album artwork. And right away I was thinking the perfect
thing that I would want...I've always loved the album covers that were
a painting, like In The Court Of The Crimson King, or Yes albums
and stuff like that. I love that so much and at the time my favourite
artist was Roper. We had talked earlier, because he had designed a t-shirt
for us quite a while back, so I just e-mailed him and I said, "Hey
man, we have the opportunity to have a new cover, would you do the cover
for us?" And he was like, "Yeah, sure, I'd love to, when do
you need it by?" (laughs) And I told him in four days. And he actually
painted that thing in four days!!
TP: Get out!!
MH: Yeah!! And he said to me, "So what were you
thinking?" And I really wanted it to be like a surreal landscape,
I just want it to be like crazy, sunset, weird, landscape, mountains,
trippy, ya' know?
TP: And with the hand coming out...
MH: Well we hadn't decided that yet, that was the last
thing that we put on. Like he painted that and he sent it to me via e-mail
and said, "I got started on it, here it is, I'm almost done."
And so it was that cover, but without the hand. And I thought, "Holy
fuck, this is awesome!" But I'm thinking that the front half of it,
there has to be something, some character, something...
TP: To make it stand out...
MH: Yeah exactly! And I said, "What about a hand?
Could you paint a hand, is it too late to put in a hand?" And he
was like, "Aaaah, yeah, I think I could put a hand in there..."
TP: What made you think of adding a hand though? Why
a hand?
MH: It just came to me, it could be a planet, it could
be a whatever, so yeah, let's put in a hand. And actually, in my mind
I was just picturing a flat hand like this kinda' thing coming up (he
put his hand up like a "stop" signal). But I'm glad he did it
that way. So what it is, as soon as we hung up the phone from that conversation,
he just took his digital camera and took a picture of his own hand and
just put it in there.
TP: Did he really? I had no idea, that's awesome!
MH: Yup, that's a photo of Arik Ropers hand (laughs)
TP: That's so cool!!
MH: Yeah, because when he sent it to me like 2 hours
later with the hand and I was like, "Holy fuck!! Dude, you're a genius,
I can't believe you painted that!!!" And he was like, "Well,
no, I didn't PAINT it, it's my hand." And I'm like, "Holy shit,
fuck, it looks great!!" (laughs)
TP: It does look great, I really love the album cover!
I didn't know it was his own hand! So you guys caught the attention of
Motorhead and opened for them on their last tour a couple of years ago.
What was that like for you guys, because I know Motorhead fans can be
rough on opening bands!?
MH: Yeah, it was totally good, totally great, everything
went awesome!
TP: Were you nervous?
MH: Very nervous. It was our first big tour and this
was at the point in our record where we had just finished recording it
and like I said to you, we didn't consider ourselves a metal band at all
and we were like, "Touring with Motorhead?? Oh my God, we're such
pussies compared to Motorhead, like holy shit!!" (laughs) But it
definitely helped kick our asses a bit too though, ya' know? I mean, we've
always been as heavy as we are now, then even, but definitely we had a
bit more of a punk-rock attitude towards our music when we performed back
then. And in front of the big audiences and serious headliners, I think
it made us...we got more serious.
TP: Especially when you watch them, Lemmy and...
MH: Oh yeah, for sure! But since then, the crazy audiences
we've performed for, like we did two weeks with Gwar last summer and that
was a pretty crazy audience.
TP: Was it really? How so?
MH: Well, we went over well, it was awesome, but they
are very crazy. Like, they're ready to get blood pumped all over them
and stuff like that, so they're pretty hyped up.
TP: Does doing a show like that make you feel more nervous,
when the fans are a bit more rabid like that, wondering "How are
they going to respond to us?"
MH: Yeah, you think about it and you wonder, but we're
pretty confident in what we do and if somebody doesn't like it, we don't
really care...
TP: Yeah well, not everybody is going to like you, so...
MH: Yeah, exactly (laughs).
TP: You just got word recently that you're heading off
to the U.K. in June, and opening for Megadeth on at least 5 of those dates...that
is wicked, you guys must be beyond excited!!??
MH: Yeah, I'm completely freaked out about that.
TP: How did that come about?
MH: We submitted for it and Dave Mustaine invited us.
He picked us to do it.
TP: Had he seen you guys?
MH: I don't know, but he must have heard it to pick us
to tour with them. So that is totally awesome!!
TP: Will it only be five dates, or will there be more
dates added?
MH: There are five dates that we're touring with them
as their main support band, but while we're over there we'll probably
do a few more festivals that they're on and stuff like that, so that's
really cool.
TP: That's so cool. I'm really glad for you guys...
MH: Yeah, I still don't really believe it yet. It hasn't
sunk in. (laughs). It's two really monumental things happening at the
same time. We're going to the U.K., which I've never done, even as a tourist,
and also, Megadeth is insanely huge to me, so (laughs)...it's awesome!
TP: Is there anything special you do to prepare yourselves
before going out on stage? Do you do anything different when you open,
as opposed to when you headline?
MH: Nope.
TP: Nothing? You just go out there and do your thing...
MH: Well, we have a little saying that we say, that we're
going to "take it to Shoyner's place".
TP: Say that again? You're going to take it where?
MH: We look at each other and we're like, "Where
are we going? Are we gonna' to take it to Shoyner's place tonight? Yeah,
we're taking it to Shoyner's place."
TP: Okay I give, what is that?
MH: Shoyner's place (laughs) was when we were on our
first tour of 2006. We were with two bands, Early Man and The Sword, and
that solidified us as really great friends. And it also got the music
press all crazy about a "scene" because we traveled together
for such a long time after that tour. But the Sword guys are the hugest
potheads in the world and they're always, always, totally hazy and really
mellow. And so backstage, right before going on, they were the first band
on every night on that tour...and so they were about to go on and the
crowd was still really quiet and everything and the bass player just grabbed
his bass and he looked at me all like, super wasted and he's like, "We're
taking it to Shoyner's place man." And I was like, "What did
you say? You're taking it to Shoyner's place?" And he's like, "No
man, I said we're going to destroy this place. But we could take it to
Shoyner's place too man, like whatever." (laughs) And I was like,
"Awesome!" And one of the Early Man guys was backstage and he
and I were laughing about Shoyner's place after that. And then I told
everybody else in the band because I was laughing my ass off about it,
and we still say it every now and then. (we both laugh) Yeah, it's still
funny. And when we talk to the Sword guys we tell them, "Yeah, we're
taking it to Shoyner's place"...
TP: That is really funny!! (we're both still laughing)
So what's your favorite song to play live?
MH: Hmmm, I don't know, I think they're all pretty fun.
I like to play "Two Kids" a lot because I don't sing it and
it's kind of fun to just play guitar and not sing a song. But I like singing
too. "Living Like A Dog" is a really fun song live, because
we extend it to like 10-15 minutes long. We just jam in the middle of
it, so it's fun for everybody.
TP: What's next for Priestess, I mean, after the U.K.
tour in June will the band be heading out for more shows, or do you feel
you need a break?
MH: Well, the break that we're going to get, if we get
one, we're going to have to be writing pretty crazy, because we eventually
want to, hopefully before the winter, record our next album.
TP: So you're going to record during the winter and it
will be released some time in the spring?
MH: Yeah, that makes more sense, it's probably more realistic.
What we were originally shooting at is record it throughout the fall and
release it by February maybe, the earliest possible would be February.
But yeah, more realistically it would probably be springtime.
TP: Excellent, I can't wait to hear it!! What's your
favorite thing about being out on the road?
MH: The show is my favorite part.
TP: Just being able to get out there and play your music?
MH: Yeah, just the actual concert.
TP: What's your least favorite thing?
MH: I don't know. I don't know if I have a least favorite
thing. I mean, you get bummed out from time to time just because it's
so long and you’re tired, but then all that pays off later that
night when you play a concert, you know? So it's a cycle. Towards the
end of a tour, if it's like seven weeks on the road and we're on our way
home and we're inching up the East Coast through New York and Baltimore,
the cities are all so close and it just seems that you're moving at a
snails pace and that can get pretty stressful. But the shows are all really
fun and are always a good pay-off.
TP: What's your worst habit?
MH: Whew. I don't know (laughs). I know I have weird
habits, but I don't know if they're bad.
TP: Okay, what's your weirdest habit?
MH: I like taking food apart and putting it back together.
TP: Whaaat? (I'm laughing) Do you? Why do you do that?
MH: I don't know. (laughs)
TP: Well what do you mean you take food apart?
MH: (laughs) Well if I have a pizza, I'll arrange all
the toppings so that each bite will have as much of the topping as every
other bite, because I don't like the way...
TP: Seriously? (I'm really laughing now because I have
a visual in my head of Mikey re-arranging all the toppings on a pizza)
MH: (laughs) Well, I'll be at a restaurant and they'll
throw a pizza together and there will be all the olives in the middle
and the onions will be over here and so you get one bite of the olives
and the rest of the pizza has no olives on it, so I like to make sure
that it's equal for every bite! (laughs)
TP: And people think I'm weird because I don't like my
food touching on the plate, I'll eat everything separate...
MH: Oh I mix as well...
TP: You mix?
MH: Yeah, but I don't stir it together or anything...
TP: I like to start by eating my least favorite thing
first and work my way to the best, I always save the best, my favorite,
for last...
MH: Oh yeah? Really? My best friend is that way too and
we always talk about each others weird food things! And yeah, club sandwiches
are really hard too (we laugh).
TP: Best advice you ever got?
MH: Hmmmm... (evil laugh)
TP: I'm still thinking about you and the pizza toppings
right now (and we both break out laughing). From now on, every time I
see a pizza that doesn't have equal amounts of topping, I'll be thinking
of you and this moment in time. (Mikey is really laughing). Alright, best
advice?
MH: I dunno. I'm having a brain lock!!
TP: From another artist, your parents, a best friend--I
dunno, wear a condom?
MH: (laughs) Well actually, there was this interview
with Matt Dillon, where he said, "He lives his life with everything
in moderation, including moderation." And I thought that was really
awesome. And I kinda' think that way.
TP: What's the worst advice you ever got?
MH: (he thinks about this for quite a while and laughs)
I dunno, it's a pretty tough question. Worst advice I ever got eh? I'm
trying to think back to times when people have given me bad advice. I'm
just thinking about dumb drug things, like doing too many drugs and having
a really bad time (we laugh). But that's not really advice, it's more
like bad decisions, you know? (laughs)
TP: Okay, so we'll skip that one. What are you listening
to these days?
MH: I'm really obsessed with a group called Henry Cow.
TP: Really? And where are they from?
MH: Yup, they're an English band from the 70's and they're
a really, really, great band.
TP: Describe each of the guys in the band in one word:
MH: All right...
TP: Mike
MH: Slow
TP: Dan
MH: Beer? (laughs)
TP: Vince
MH: (laughs) See, I'm thinking of mean things, so I don't
wanna' say. (laughs) No, I'm just kidding. Italian.
TP: Really? That's the only thing you can think of?
MH: He's a pretty Italian guy...
TP: Is he really?
MH: (laughs) yeah...
TP: I know you've been asked all these questions a thousand
times, so I'm going to ask YOU if there's anything that you wished someone
would ask you or write about you? Anything that you want to say that hasn't
been said already?
MH: You know what? I don't have anything that I really
feel I need to get out.
TP: You don't get tired of being asked the same questions
over and over again?
MH: I have no problem doing interviews, it's totally
cool, because I remember idolizing bands, bands that I liked or bands
that I heard even one song and thought, "Those guys sound really
cool" and if I'd find something, I'd like to read about them as much
as I could. So I like to keep that cycle going you know? But it satisfies
me more if people just listened to the music and have no further questions,
you know what I mean? The element of just the music on its own, I just
let it speak for its self. I don't really have anything else I could say.
TP: Fair enough, I thought I'd give you the opportunity
to add something if you felt like it, if only because I'm sure some of
these questions have been asked so many times. I wanted to ask you different
stuff as well, without being too repetitive.
MH: That's really cool that you asked, I appreciate it.
And I'll tell ya', if there was something on my mind that would fit that
criteria, I would say it (laughs).
TP: I figured you probably would! Okay, I'm pretty much
done the interview and we can end it now, or, we can have some fun. I
have a few "boy-band" type questions if you're into that. If
you're not, it's cool...
MH: Okay! (laughs)
TP: Favorite beverage?
MH: Ohhhh....Jameson. Absolutely. On the rocks.
TP: Drug of choice?
MH: Jameson on the rocks...for sure!
TP: Favorite sport and team?
MH: Hockey and Canadiens (Montreal NHL team)
TP: That's unfortunate. Not the Canadiens. I'm a Leaf
fan. (Toronto Maple Leaf NHL team)
MH: Well you have to get out of my van now!! (we both
laugh) Kidding...
TP: Favorite T.V. show?
MH: Twin Peaks
TP: Really?
MH: Yeah, hands down. I'm a total Twin Peaks fanatic!
I'm a Twin Peaks nerd. I've been to Twin Peaks.
TP: Have you?
MH: Yeah, yeah, I'm obsessed with Twin Peaks. I'm actually
getting a huge Dale Cooper tattoo down the whole front of my shin.
TP: Are you really?
MH: Oh yeah. And the other shin is going to be Robo Cop.
TP: Really?
MH: Is favorite movie going to be up there? Because Robo
Cop is my favorite movie...
TP: Actually, that was my next question. (Mikey laughs)
What's your favorite movie!?
MH: Robo Cop, hands down!
TP: Boxers or briefs?
MH: Boxer-briefs
TP: Tattoo's or piercings?
MH: Tattoos
TP: Cats or dogs?
MH: Cats.
TP: Yeah I knew that. You have a cat tattoo on your arm
don't you?
MH: Yes I do!
TP: Tits or ass?
MH: Ass
TP: Okay, that's it!! Thank you so much Mikey, you're
such a doll for doing this!!
MH: Alright, no problem. My pleasure. Thank you!
