by Alissa Ordabai
LINKS:
Not only a singer and a guitar player, but also an actor with several horror film roles under his belt, a radio personality on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles, and creator of a popular V-blog, Morrison says he believes his success is impossible to put down purely to luck. Having overcome a crippling drug addition, survived 23 road accidents and reinvented himself after years of inactivity in the '90s, he now says he believes in a higher force that guides us on our path, which in his case certainly makes you think that divine intervention is, after all, not just a fancy myth.
However, if you start examining Morrison’s biography closer, what begins to transpire is that behind his seemingly out-of-the-ordinary growing success there is a lot of sheer hard work, determination, and willpower. He successfully joggles all of his creative pursuits from music to acting, at the same time, somehow managing to keep his web site updated almost daily with in-depth material including interviews, blog entries, and tons of visual and factual information. Apart from strict work ethics, the key to being able to manage it all seems to be his passion for what he does, which allows him to direct his energy into so many different areas at once. But despite working as hard as he does, Morrison is not complaining. On the contrary, he feels blessed - contented with his life, having found work opportunities, recognition, and creative inspiration in Los Angeles, which has been his home for the past seven years. Originally from London, UK, he says he doesn't miss England. Which makes you suspect it is not just bad weather that makes him unwilling to go back, but simply the fact that he's way too busy doing what he loves in LA to think about what he’s left behind.
ALISSA ORDABAI: How long ago have you shifted base from London to LA?
BILLY MORRISON: In 2001. When I joined The Cult, I moved to LA.
AO: What is it about LA that made you choose it over any other part of the world?
BM: Basically, because London was wet, cold and rainy, and in LA I was by a swimming pool in gorgeous weather.
AO: Sounds great!
BM: [Laughs] And also, what I do, which is rock'n'roll, people in England don't understand that.
AO: What makes you say this?
BM: It's getting better now, but back in 2001 when everyone had a bunch of tattoos and played loud guitar, the music business didn't want to know, it was all about Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. Now it’s getting better, and you do start to get new rock'n'roll from England. We played last night in LA, and we had girls from a band called McQueen from England.
AO: I saw them last year support Tesla at Shepherd's Bush in London.
BM: The singer and the drummer got up and played with us last night in Los Angeles. Those girls are just amazing. It's full-on English rock'n'roll. But back in 2001, there was no rock in London.
AO: Do you go back to England much these days?
BM: Not if I can help it. The last time I was back in England was in November when I came for just a week to watch Sex Pistols play at Brixton.
AO: Did you enjoy that show?
BM: I went every night and I loved it. Sex Pistols is the reason why I play music. Going back to Brixton, which is where I come from, and seeing them play was great. Everything else about that trip made me want to come back really quickly. Don't get me wrong, English people are great, it's just that there is a very oppressive, dark, grey vibe that descends upon me when I come to London. It probably isn't like that for everyone, but for me - I'm better off in the sunshine.
AO: Well, of course, the Led Zeppelin reunion was another reason to be in England last autumn.
BM: Yeah, I love Led Zeppelin, but given the choice, I'd much prefer the Sex Pistols reunion to Led Zeppelin. There's a difference. Both those bands changed the face of music. Sex Pistols did it with one album. Led Zeppelin did it with about nine of them. I like Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page is one of the best guitar players I've ever seen, but Sex Pistols only released one album, 12 songs that completely changed the face of music.
AO: Quite single-handedly, I have to agree. I want to talk to you about your album, Stimulator, which was released this year after 10 years on the shelf.
BM: Stimulator was a band in which I was a lead singer. We were signed to Geffen Records. We signed a very big record deal, and that was still the time when they gave you big record deal advances. But immediately after that we found ourselves in the middle of the biggest record business merger. And as a result over a hundred bands were dropped, and we were one of them. The album never came out. Then 10 years later I find myself living here with a career, I play in several bands, I'm acting, I'm on the radio, and I'm successful. And I suddenly thought why don't I, you know? I'm planning on doing a Billy Morrison solo record. So I figured, last year I've released a Circus Diablo album, and I'm about to release a Billy Morrison record, so why not release Stimulator. It just sounded relevant to today -- fast, in-your-face, and aggressive.
AO: How does it feel to be listening to tracks that were recorded ten years ago? Did it make you think about how much you've changed over this time?
BM: That's a really good question, actually. I think I've changed in 10 years, everyone changes. My life has changed more than most people's. I live on the other side of the world. But those songs also really made me think about how... and I don't want to sound egotistical, but I think that album was ahead of its time. If you listen to it now, it's more current now than it was then. There is a song called "Red Shift" which has speed and the aggression, and the vocals made it really glow, which I think really fits into the now.
AO: This album also speaks of dark places and a great deal of emotional turmoil. Is any of that aspect of the record still relevant to this day?
BM: It was the darkest point I've ever been at.
BM: I think for someone like myself there will always
be a place in my head that feels like that. I'm constantly creating...
Even when I'm talking to you now and I'm looking over Los Angeles, and
the view is wonderful, but for me, I live with a fucking committee in
my head. I have a bunch of people that live in my head that don't stop
telling me a bunch of dark shit. Do you know what I mean? Now I'm not
some tortured soul that is rolling around on the floor of his apartment
writing lyrics. But I'm still emotionally tied to the same place I was
singing about all those years ago. Before that I was a full-blown drug
addict. That pretty much emotionally scars you for the rest of your life.
A song like "Rush" from Stimulator, that was written
about 11 years ago, but still carries a meaning today.
AO: Your new 5-song EP is scheduled to be released this year. Which themes will this record explore?
BM: From a lyrical standpoint much of it will be social commentary. Living in LA you see a lot of weird shit. And it's a great place to just sit and observe life and see how superficial it can be, how sycophantic, and... Well, that's the best way to describe it -- sycophantic. Those tracks are a tongue-in-cheek commentary on how people live in LA. Stuff I'm saying about the way people live in the entertainment business. Those people, of course, will remain nameless because I don't want any fucking law suits.
AO: You are a part of celebrity circles these days, of the rock'n'roll A-list crowd. As an insider, would you say that this sort of life is how you expected it to be like when you were growing up?
BM: No, it never is. On Wednesday this week we played in New York. Thursday this week we played in Los Angeles. It doesn't matter how you travel, be it by a private plane, or a coach in America, it's tough. And I was sitting next to Dave Navarro in a car and I said, "Let me know when we’re actually anywhere near glamour. That's what everyone talks about when they are growing up." And he laughed, "Absolutely, when you're 16 and you think about it, it's never how it is in reality." The reality is, you sit in a plane and you travel. That's the reality. The reality of living in Los Angeles? Yes, everyone's got a swimming pool. But we still got bills to pay. We still got mortgages. We still have to put fuel in a car. Life is never like it is when you're looking at it through dreamy eyes.
AO: Going back to the EP, which you are recording right now, I've heard that the lead track, "Evergreen", has been selected for closing credits of an upcoming horror film, Basement Jack. What is it about horror as a movie genre that inspires you?
BM: I've always been a huge horror fan - George Romero, he did the Dawn of the Dead, he's always amazing. You know, everything from traditional horror like The Exorcist and The Omen to things like Rob Zombie's movies. I just find the horror genre to be... It's unlike any other genre. There are huge movie stars in the horror genre. To a degree, horror is the punk rock of movies. And I always wanted to embrace that frame of mind. If it pisses people off, seeing someone's head hacked off in a movie, that pisses people off, you know? I've been lucky enough to start acting. I've been in a couple of movies, and to one of them, Basement Jack, the song “Evergreen” is the closing credits song. You know, I feel very humbled to be able to make music, and act, and I'm on the radio, I do so many things, and to someone like me it's a very humbling experience.
AO: What motivates you to work as hard as you do?
BM: Again, that's a very good question. I don't know. I think the key to having success in the entertainment business is the work ethic. I think there are a lot of kids who look at the entertainment business as an easy option, easy money. In fact, it's the hardest money you will ever earn. The question is that the music business is changing and there are so many multimedia outlets, so many people able to be in the business, so one has to work even harder, one has to push. I get up every morning and I work all day long, there are many things I'm involved in. I'm happily married... And I suppose what motivates me is just the difference between someone who really wants it and someone who doesn't.
AO: What would your advice be to someone who is just starting out in the business?
BM: Work hard. Work fucking hard. My advice is that if you think you're gonna fall into it, you're sadly mistaken. The business these days is not about, "Let's put a guitar around my neck and get laid every night. It isn't like that. If you work really hard, you can have your moment of that. You can stand on the stage and you can get laid... yes, it's all obtainable but it takes a lot of work. And my advice would be, make sure you enjoy it. Enjoy the ride.
AO: Is this the most valuable lesson you've learnt from the business over the years or is there anything else?
BM: The most
valuable lesson is to know when you... It goes back to what I said to
Dave in the car, you gotta know that it's happening right now. You can't
get in this business and think, "When I get a million-selling record",
or "When I get that job", or "When I get this, that or
the other, everything is going to be OK." And in the actual fact,
everything is OK right now. The most valuable lesson is to enjoy and be
grateful for every single moment that I get to do what I do.
AO: That's pretty profound. Do you think there is something there, like destiny, that guides us all?
BM: I feel it very strongly. I was homeless and I was a drug addict, and now I get to live this fantastic life. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just very, very lucky and I'm very grateful to be doing it.
AO: Are you a religious or a spiritual person?
BM: Religious....no. Spiritual......yes. There is a huge difference!! I'm just absolutely amazed by it all. The moment you start thinking that "I am the most powerful thing in my own universe," you will be proven wrong. There is absolutely no way that I have lived the life like I've lived -- I've been through 23 car and motorcycle accidents, I've been shooting dope into my neck for 14 years--there is no way that I have lived through that because I'm a lucky guy. There is something out there that kept me alive for a bigger purpose than that. Is there a big man in the sky with a beard and a robe? Doubt it. But is there anything spiritual going on in this world that kept me alive and enabled me to... or maybe helped someone else who had a problem? That's what I think.
AO: Talking about Camp Freddy, whose idea was it to start the band?
BM: It was a combination of things. Donovan Leitch, he phoned me, and I phoned Matt Sorum, and it wasn't anyone's idea, we just thought fuck it, let's play. At first we did just a couple of songs, six years later it turned into this huge thing.
AO: Do you remember your first ever performance together?
BM: Oh yeah, six years ago at the opening of Standard Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. We didn't think we were doing any more than one gig.
AO: Do you have a favourite song to perform with Camp Freddy?
BM: Yeah, we all got our favourite songs. Me, in particular being a Sex Pistols fan, I’m glad we've managed to share the stage with the members of Sex Pistols and play their songs, which was amazing. Also playing with Lou Reed in New York, that was an amazing moment. There are other moments, you know, that are pretty well-documented. Robbie Williams used to be a friend of mine, and being able to stand on stage with Robbie and do a Queen song, that was so much fun.
AO: I've heard that you are now recording a Camp Freddy album that will mirror your live shows and will have quite a lot of guest appearances.
BM: I can't answer that question. We've had an album in the works for years. We have had a lot of guests ready and we are now doing more songs. Because we don't want to do a traditional record deal, it needs time. But we’re not in a hurry. We are in no hurry at all.
AO: Talking about your other band, Circus Diablo, are you satisfied with the way your debut record turned out?
BM: Very. The one thing though was the amount of touring that we did. It costs money to put a band on the road, and we went out and we did good gigs, we did Los Angeles, and then we did a bunch of other states, but we could have done more. The album I was very happy with, with the way it turned out, it was the album I waited 20 years to write. Lyrically, musically, I wouldn't have done anything differently. Business-wise, I would have done a few things differently. We are talking about maybe doing the second album, I just don't know when.
AO: Are there any songs from that album that stand out as your favourites?
BM: Yeah, there is a song called "Mad Parade". Personally that was the one I liked. And also "Shine", the big ballad which is about my wife. It was the first time in my life that I've written a song about one person. Usually a person I write about in my head is a combination of two or three people I know. But "Shine" was just about my wife.
AO: When you were just starting the band, did you anticipate who your audience would be?
BM: No, we didn't even know we were going to do a band. In the beginning we were just writing some songs together. And I didn't really think much about forming a band. We didn't think much about anything. And then we found out we had a number one video on YouTube, you know.
AO: What do you think of the way musicians can now reach out to their audiences and connect with people in all those different ways? How does that compare to when you were just starting out with your career?
BM: When I was starting out, the world wide web didn't exist. And now the internet is the single most powerful marketing tool. I love it, I embrace it, and I think you have to embrace the new technology.
AO: Being a musician, an actor, a radio personality, you wear a lot of hats. Which of these pursuits do you enjoy the most?
BM: That's a really tough question. I do wear a lot of hats. Sometimes it's hard to joggle them all. But I am enjoying them equally and it's important to enjoy them at the time when you are doing it. When I'm on the radio doing a radio show, I'm enjoying it, or when I'm on stage which is a completely different world, or when I'm on a set of a movie, that's completely different too. But I wouldn't do it all if I didn't enjoy it all.
AO: What makes you feel you've had a good day outside of your professional pursuits?
BM: A good cup of coffee, some quality time with my wife, and maybe if I get to talk to someone that I didn't know, meet someone new, to me that's a great day.
AO: Thank you for a fantastic interview.
BM: My pleasure.
