“Dead Mexican in my Headphones”: Velvet Vaseline – Column

“Dead Mexican in my Headphones”: Velvet Vaseline

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 Félix LaFlamme


deadmexican-velvet

Matt Sorum from Velvet Revolver…
“We’re feeling a resurgence of rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of people miss that in their lives, and the younger audience wants to feel that. If you want to see a great rock ‘n’ roll band, and a great live show, Vaseline we have to offer.”


Nasty Ronnie on his biker show, Born To Ride
“My wife works all day and I produce a television show. So I’m very busy doing baths, servicing my clients, selling, marketing, everything to keep it on the air.”


Johnny Hedlund from Unleashed…
“I have been doing some research, when it comes to the morning stork lyrics that I’ve done on this record.”


Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick on their new DVD…
“Great artwork, great subject matter: Us. We’ve never done any of those Behind The Music things, or Where Are They Now? Or Who Kids A Crab Now?


Bjorn Speed Strid from Soilwork…
“We really want to stop the musical drama, because everything is so over-dramatized with all the sub-genres. We used a cotton brick sound, but people don’t talk about this much anymore. Now it’s the New Wave Of American Handicap Metal.”