Crazy Town |
 |
|
Wed. November 20.2002 4:54 PM EST |
||
Crazy Town: Surviving the Curse of the ButterflyRock-hop radicals try to regain their edge. by Gil Kaufman |
||||
|
||||
 |
Crazy Town (VH1.com) |
|
||
"Really dude, be careful what you wish for." That’s Crazy Town singer Seth "Shifty Shellshock" Binzer, speaking about the mainstream beating a path to his door.
Binzer's story is one of what happens when two pierced and tattooed speed
First, their concert real estate had to be redesigned. Soccer moms and their seven-year-old daughters needed a safe spot to shake their booties; anything too close to the mosh pit would be trouble. Then, when the Crazys started working on the follow-up disc -- which they momentarily considered calling The Curse of the Butterfly -- a stickier problem arose. They had to regain the respect of longtime fans who were with 'em when they were just a hard rockin’, hip-hoppin’ mess whose management pulled them off of Ozzfest before they killed themselves. All that has pretty much been worked out. Crazy Town's second album has just come out, and there’s a good reason it's called Darkhorse -- that’s what the guys feel like these days. Binzer recently said he and musical soul brother Mazur were hell bent on not writing ten clones of "Butterfly," and they’d be damned if they were going to forsake the darkly alluring sound they’d created before they had their chirpy hit. Because the pair essentially recorded their debut disc alone, they started work on Darkhorse by involving their band - new drummer Kyle Hollinger and guitarist Craig "Squirrel" Tyler and road-tested members guitarist Anthony "Trouble" Valli and bassist Doug "Faydoe" Miller. It gave the music a more lively sound. From the Cheap Trick-meets-Limp-Bizkit crunch of "Decorated," to the harsh reality of "Candy Coated," the group blends hip-hop beats, rapping, heavy guitars and sugary choruses. They'll probably never cough up another "Butterfly," but Shifty says he’s okay with that. He also spoke to VH1 about Weezer mastermind Rivers Cuomo recording a solo for "Hurt You So Bad," and explained that he’s the kind of rock star who might trash a hotel room and still pick up his towels after taking a shower. VH1: Seems like the album is basically about two things: drugs and screwing up relationships. Isn’t there anything else for you guys to write about? Seth "Shifty" Binzer: Drugs and f*cking up relationships? There’s track 23, the hidden track ["You’re The One"], which is a punk love song. We talk about stuff that we go through as kids in this crazy world. I hope that we talk about more than that ... that’s just what I’ve been dealing with: drugs and getting off drugs and trying to discipline myself. VH1: Did you have to get sober to make another record? Shifty: Definitely. If I had kept doing drugs the way I was, I would have died. I got sober for a year and a half and got my act together ... I’m in a good place now, but that took a long time. A lot of these songs reflect that because they’re my journal, my therapy. VH1: With all the talk of track marks, hookers, weed and pills on "Decorated," are you afraid those 12 year old girls who loved "Butterfly" might be turned off, or freaked out, by you? Shifty: It’s really just a fun song, but at the same time, it’s about the dark places that drugs and my sex drive take me. If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll discover that we’re not saying that’s what it’s all about. I don’t want to send kids in the wrong direction, but at the same time we have to make music that’s real to us. I’m not glamorizing drugs, because I’ve definitely paid a lot of prices for doing them. VH1: What’s the most rock star thing you did after the success of "Butterfly". Shifty: Besides the drugs? I trashed hotel rooms, I slept with three girls at once. I just got married, so that’s all over, but I did some rock star things. I had some fun. I’m such an emotional creature ... [Recently] in Europe I smashed down a door because I lost my wallet and freaked out. Then, I had to screw the doors back together and make it look like I didn’t break down the door. VH1: So, you’re a responsible, but out-of-control rock star? Shifty: Right, I try to cover my tracks. VH1: "Drowning" is about being overwhelmed by fame when you finally get what you want. Shifty: Definitely. [It's nuts] to have everything you ever wanted and then have it backed up by a song whose pop character ruined our credibility as a rock band. "Butterfly" was number one on three charts consecutively, even a Latin chart, which is weird. It’s cool to see a song cross genres of music. But, now, even stations like [Los Angeles’] KROQ, who created us, have only played ["Drowning"] twice. That’s weird. I think a lot of kids will relate to "Drowning" because it’s about being a kid in the world today. Like, if you’re that kid who does too many drugs and one side of you thinks it’s cool, but that good part of you says it’s not what you wanted to be. A lot of our songs have hope. VH1: How can you be so unsure of yourself in that song? At that point everyone must have been kissing your ass as you blew up. Shifty: We were unsure of ourselves because when we left Ozzfest [in 2000] the crowds were loving us. We went away and our got act together, Columbia agreed to put out "Butterfly" and it blew up. We came back to Ozzfest, and all of a sudden everyone was looking at like us like we weren’t a credible band. A lot of kids forgot we’d been there the year before. The death rockers didn’t want to hear "Butterfly." They were there to see Slipknot and Manson. Our main purpose was to finish it, but in some big cities we’d get so much flack we wanted to walk off. That song is us questioning everything, saying ... "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." VH1: You got rid of the "Shellshock" part of your name. Why? Shifty: That got misconstrued. On the first record we were having fun, doing a Wu-Tang long name kind of thing, but I was always just Shifty. When I did this Paul Oakenfold thing [the hit single "Starry Eyed Surprise"] it said "Shifty Shellshock" and I told them I didn’t want it to say "Shellshock" every time I did something. I’d rather just be known as Shifty. VH1: It wasn’t some crisis of conscience ... Shifty: No. I was just wondering if I wanted to be called ‘Shellshock’ the rest of my life. VH1: You also got rid of your DJ, why? Shifty: When we left Ozzfest the first time, he was scared because we were doing so many drugs and he’s been sober for three or four years. He left and the band stayed together and blew up and he called and wanted to be back in it. We love him, but you can’t leave the ship when its sinking and then, when we fix the hole, jump back on. Once he was gone, we thought it sounded better. VH1: The success of "Butterfly" was supposed to be the best time in your life? But the album makes it seem like it really sucked. What happened? Shifty: It was a nightmare. That’s why we were going to call it The Curse of the Butterfly. It’s everything you ever wanted and your worst nightmare at the same time. It was great to enjoy it at the beginning, but then we got the point where maybe it got too big, it went super pop. It was like a fire that got way too big. VH1: Do you remember anyone who loved that song actually freaking out when they saw what you looked like? Shifty: We went from having punk rock, Korn-type kids at the front of our shows to having moms holding their seven-year-old daughters. We had to create a little area by the stage so we could still have a pit because we didn’t want all these little kids getting hurt. When I wrote the "Butterfly" video treatment ... I thought about putting these twisted kids with piercings into this pretty painting that might make you look beyond the tattoos and scary stuff and see the nice side of us. Being in that garden would make us look beautiful and approachable ... it kind of worked too good. VH1: What’s the weirdest place that song got you? Shifty: Probably MTV’s spring break with Dream and Shaggy, that was really weird. We’re sitting there with Jessica Simpson and Dream waiting to go onstage and Jessica’s hanging with her dad. VH1: Did you feel like you had to come back harder because of "Butterfly?" Shifty: No. We’re proud of "Butterfly" and we’ll continue to makes songs that will do that, but hopefully on a smaller level. VH1: Have you gotten to meet any of your heroes since you became famous? Shifty: Gangs of ‘em. A lot of people I knew already because I sold drugs in Hollywood and threw club nights for 10 years when we were making demos. I was probably hanging out with more rock stars then than I am now. VH1: Anyone you were really psyched about meeting once you graduated to pop stardom? Shifty: Just the other day, I was getting my car fixed and I met [former Tony! Toni! Toné! singer] Raphael Saadiq. I think he and D’Angelo are the new Al Green and Marvin Gaye. He knew my name, which was a trip to me, because I was star struck to even see him. VH1: How’d you hook up with Rivers Cuomo for "Hurt You So Bad"? Shifty: I have a lot of respect for him for doing that with us. A lot of guys wouldn’t have the balls to do something with Crazy Town, especially someone that credible. We did a radio show in Fresno with Weezer, and we’d always loved them, so it was a big deal for us. On the bus down we were like, [singing] "We’re going to play with Weezer!" Squirrel walked up to Rivers and said, "You probably hate my band, but I want you to know I’m a huge fan." And Rivers was like, "No, I don’t hate your band. I like the "Butterfly" song." In the middle of recording the song, it was sounding Weezer-ish and Squirrel said, ‘You know what would be cool, if we got Rivers to record a guitar solo.’ We sent him a CD of the music and didn’t hear back for a few days and everyone thought he wasn’t into it. Then he called and said, "I’m leaving town and I have to do it right now." He came down and we were just really happy to have him bless that song. VH1: He’s kind of known for his ironic sense of humor. Did you ever think he was just goofing on you? Shifty: He seemed really sincere and I think he likes the band. I think he wrote the part because he thought it was a good song and he wouldn’t have wasted his time if he didn’t. VH1: Were you that guy in high school who would do any jackass, crazy thing people would dare you to? Shifty: Definitely. I was a graffiti artist and I was all about getting challenged, climbing on the roof of the Hard Rock Café and writing something on the Cadillac up there. I would write on anything, but my thing was climbing up on stuff that people didn’t want to climb to paint over me. A lot of getting chased by police and getting arrested. VH1: What’s the best advice another artist has given you? Shifty: When I came back from Ozzfest and stumbled into an A.A. meeting, Anthony Kiedis took me under his wing and helped me come back from a very dark place like a big brother I never had. He made me look at life a different way, which is what I needed. I needed to hear from someone like that, who I looked up to, "Yo, you can make this everything you ever wanted or you can throw it away." VH1: If you did end up being a one hit wonder, is that okay? Shifty: It’s totally not okay. I’m in the clear from that because I have the hit with Paul Oakenfold, so I’m a two-hit wonder. We might never have a hit that big again that might be good, but I think we’ll have success with this record. VH1: Whose your favorite one hit wonder, what would it be? Shifty: Maybe Kajagoogoo? That’s a good one. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
Kris Kross, Crazy Town, EMF, Extreme And More Unmemorable Reunions, In Our Year-End Top 10s |
|
Where Ya Been?: City High Drop Out, Crazy Town Stop The Insanity |
|
God Rest Ye Merry Homeys |
|
Crazy Town Hope To Put An End To 'Butterfly Boys' Taunts |
 |
 |
 |
|
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Crazy Town |
|
All news for Crazy Town |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
