“Dead Mexican in my Headphones”: Diamond Dave Hangs Onto The Fat – Column

“Dead Mexican in my Headphones”

Phil Lewis from L.A. Guns…
“I like a dead Mexican in my headphones and I’m ready to go.”

I interview rock guys two, three times a week. I use voice recognition software to transcribe these interviews. Works like this: I tape the phone conversation, then take the tape and speak my questions and their answers into a headset and voila, it’s a transcribed text file. It doesn’t always come out as planned though. Fun game: Repeat the wrongness out loud and you might be able to figure out what the guy actually said. Here are some of the more memorable miscues. More than a few of these gems ring truer than the actual words spoken…

by Martin Popoff
illustration by Jonathan Ian Mathers


Sammy Hagar on the Sam and Dave tour…
“Dave wanted to make it a contest between early Van Halen and Van Hagar. I’m going, ‘’ haven’t been in the band for six years; he hadn’t been in the band for 18 years (laughs). What in the hell kind of a competition is that?!’ That’s a used up stupid thing. But he stuck with fat and he would not let that go.”


Phil Anselmo on life on the road…
“I read a lot and I watch a lot of old horror films. I stretch and do a lot of callous attics, push-ups, synapses, shit like that, just try and keep my heating to a minimum and stay liked for the show.”