What about the new Album ‘Orange Head’?
“It’s been done for a good year or so, but they kept putting back when it was coming out. I went over and did that Celebrity Jungle thing in South Africa, and basically flew straight to Spain and recorded and made that album. This one’s a bit more dancey whereas the last one back into 2017 was a bit more rocky, this ones got dance and hiphop in there.”
Do you think making music is easier nowadays with a clearer head, over back in the days in the haze?
“I don’t know, when we were young and raw, the drugs would work. Certain drugs will work for creative. I mean look at ‘Sergent Peppers’ and all that stuff that was produced in the 60’s you can do some great stuff on drugs, for a while!”
“The thing I found out is that it was so much fucking easier without being off your face, but that’s a man talking from his 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. By the time I got into my 40’s, I sort of knew who I was, and was more confident as a bloke, than I was a young kid.”
“I mean, drugs helped! I didn’t feel normal, terrible thing to say right? Knowing now that I had ADHD, they made me feel normal. My drug choice was Heroine, and it made me feel fucking normal. It stopped me fiddling about and fucking scratching and not being able to focus, I could focus.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone out there with ADHD to start fucking doing Heroine, because they will probably die. I was lucky.”
“It’s the same with them prescribing Amphetamine, it helps you focus, and slows you down, when you haven’t got it, it speeds you up, and makes you an erratic cunt!”
I guess the I’m a celebrity time for you, you didn’t really know what you’re getting into. But I’m guessing it’s changed a lot of perceptions about you as your reputation of being a wild man of the music industry.
“The first time I went in was 2010, I was about 48 or 49, and when I went back to South Africa I was 60 and it just brought out all my Thyroid problems, and I also got a fucking hip replacement, so I found it a breeze the first time, but 12 years later it was a bit fucking hard!”
So you won’t be doing it again then?
“No, no! That was the winners show, the South African one, I’ve never said never, but I would just make sure I was in better condition if I ever got asked to do it again. I was pretty fucked up! I had a blast, the first time round! It was life changing, and I really enjoyed it. So when they asked me again, I said yes straight away, and I wasn’t really thinking, I’ve got a fucking hip replacement and one that needs a hip replacement, my fucking spines fucked, I just said yeah, I’ll do it. My thyroid had blown up, so I probably shouldn’t have really done it.”
Are you going to find that a different type of people come to your gigs as a result of it?
“When me a Bez started doing all the tele stuff, really. I mean our fanbase for both Monday’s and Black Grape goes from fuck me… 13-80! Because the people from the TV, there were something like eight million people tuned into the first one, and a good few mill, tuned into the second one, so you pick up a different fanbase.”
“It’s great now for kids, they turn on Googlebox, and think, who are these two old cunts, then they’ll look us up on their phone, and before the show’s even ended, they’ve downloaded all the albums, and then turn up your gig!”
Both of you are very outspoken personalities anyway. You’re the exception from the rule. I’ve always had this opinion that a lot of musicians are introverts creating a persona of themselves on stage to kind overcome their introversions. And I think you, and Bez kind of contradict that.
“Oh, I shrink on stage! I’m a fucking big show off in front of the boys and out of the house, but as soon as I’m out on stage, I’m like “fucking hell, everyone’s looking at me”. Which isn’t really what you want as a lead singer. I hear other people say, when they get on stage, they come alive, and I’m like fucking hell, I shit myself!”
What’s the rest of the year looking like?
“I’ve got this theatre thing, with Q&A sessions, the audience get the chance to ask me anything. There’s fucking hundreds of them! I’m everywhere (laughs).”
Just you, or with Bez?
“No, just me he does his thing, and this is just me.”
Are you both still just as tight?
“Yeah, we’ve been to Australia, and he does Gogglebox with me in my house. I say it’s like a sexless marriage.”
Let’s finish off on some light hearted questions… Google’s called you because they’ve run out of disk space. You need to delete one track and save one track. Anything come to mind?
“Well, let’s wipe out that fucking ‘I’m a Barbie girl thing, in a Barbie world’ Get rid of that. The I would save ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ That’s perfect for me, because it’s like two/three minutes long. Short sharp sweet, and then done!”
One last question. Trump has taken over, Maga has taken over the world, and he’s banning all fun apart from Golf. You’ve got one last night of fun before it’s banned forever. What are you going to do?
“Right! I see. Well basically the worlds going to fucking end with Trump there. I would say something really sick like I’ll invite all my mates over down to my house and we’ll get out the tin foil and we can all fall asleep together (laughs).”
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