A Rocknworld.com Special
by Keavin Wiggins
Interview
with Neurotica's Kelly Shaefer - Part II
back to part I
RNW: I have to ask the obligatory influences
question. Which bands or artists had the biggest influence on you?
Kelly: On me personally, Jim Morrison,
Robert Plant, Ozzy, Perry Farrell, Andrew Wood, Mike Patton, Frank Zappa,
too many to mention really, the band is influenced by many other things
well especially the channeling of intense energy, we are not unlike a football
team when it comes time to play, we very much have the mentality that we
are entering a fight, and it creates a tenseness that we LOVE and CRAVE
RNW: Alright, I want to do something we
started doing in most interview about a year or so ago and take each song
on the album one by one and if you could tell us a little about each track,
the song meaning, inspiration, a funny story that goes along with it? You
know so people will have a little more insight into what they are all about.
(I Feel) Down?
Kelly: NEW VERSION OF AN OLD FRIEND,
this song has spent a lot of time with us and this is a new version of
what appeared on our first Indy record!
Don’t Blow It Away?
Kelly: A sort of tribute to my fallen
heroes in music and really a question to them as to why they would
choose to fall like they did when they had the whole world by the balls!!
this song went through many musical changes throughought the production
process!
All My Friends Crush You?
Kelly: this is a tune about the
beauty of being in a band and the cool people you make friends with along
the way, and this song is about all of our friends and fans that we miss
when we are not out on tour and playing shows. the song is aimed at so
called “professional “ people who think that rock musicians are all low
life scum bags, I say to them ALL MY FRIENDS, THEY s*** ON YOU!!! hahah
Stars in My Eyes?
Kelly: Lyrically a personal song
about the pursuit of my dream of playing music, and how I have been a little
wide eyed at times throughout my career and was always sort of a dreamer,
but the cool thing is most of my dreams have come true!!
Living in Dog Years?
Kelly: A funny play on words about
the length of time it takes to get s*** done in life sometimes!!!
Seven years of s*** piled into 1!!!
Touch The Sound?
Kelly: An angry lyric about how
this has all made me sometimes very bitter towards the music biz, can I
please f***ing touch the sound?????? get it? :))
She Said?
Kelly: actually this is called “said
she” its a song about a young girl who hooks up with a guy who tries to
manipulate her into thinking that he is the only one who can take care
of her and that his way of life is the only way and one day the girl wakes
up and realizes that she can do it on her own, she can make it without
this dickhead in her life, and she does not need a “man” to make her the
person she wants to be. I have known many girls who live in fear of there
man, and I have always hated to see that!! (ed- opps screwed up on the
name… should have known that one since it was one of the best tracks
on LIDY)
Up In The Hay?
Kelly: a song about one night stands!!!!!!
this guy was in my tattoo shop one day just talking all kinds of s*** about
all of the chicks he was bangin! and this title came into my head!
A lot of the Same?
Kelly: this is a dagger aimed right
for the heads of all those people who “passed” on our band while we were
searching for a deal!!!! They would say, “your not really the same as the
other bands”, and we used to think, “your right, we are not a lot of the
same, what kind of s*** is that right???
I Like It (One Way)?
Kelly: A song about the way we like
s***, loud and live and fun we like s*** to be One way “the right way!!!!!
(In all the excitement, We forgot to
cover “Ride of Your Life”. So here is a portion of an interview antiGUY
did with Kelly a couple years ago where he told us about the tune)
antiGUY: What is the “Ride of your life?”
Kelly: Ride of your life was one
of the last tunes, actually it was the last tune written for l.i.d.y. and
lyrically it involves my experience with sounds and music while under the
influence of “ecstasy”. Now of course, this is not for everyone,
but I find it really amazing, once or twice a year. you hear things in
a VERY different way, and for me it was a true journey, and so “ride of
your life” was born, “fall into a carousel of, unimagined flight”
I highly recommend that “mature” people experience that at least once in
there life time, in a controlled environment of course.
RNW: There are so many questions
I want to ask you, but I’ve already taken up a lot of your times so we’ll
have to do a follow up interview after Ozzfest. For now I got a couple
more questions. What has been your proudest moment so far as a musician
and as a person?
Kelly: everything that is coming
this summer will surely rank right up there for us all, but right now I
think it would be, working in the studio with Brian Johnson, also playing
in our hometown for over 25,000 crazy ass people, that was hard to top!!!
RNW: Looking back what was the biggest
disappointment?
Kelly: that’s easy, all of the time
that is wasted by people dicking around with indecision on the part of
all the record companies and music people, I think the heart should be
used more than the head when it comes to making decisions on signing bands(some
in the biz may disagree) and giving them chances to make things happen
SOMETIMES!! not always but, so many people are afraid of losing there jobs
and I don’t blame them, I guess I wish that things did not have to take
so long to develop
RNW: And to end things on a positive
note, where do you hope to be in five years?
Kelly: Talking to you about our
arena tour, we just want to be a band that can do a record every 18 months
and tour forever, I love the road, and I love this life, I would like to
do this to the grave!!!!!!!
RNW: Kelly, always a pleasure man! Thanks
for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us. We’ve been
a big believer in you guys for a long time and it’s great to see things
finally happening for you! Now we gotta party when you get to LA!
Kelly: WE AS A BAND OWE YOU
A LOT!! and we will be partying with you in LA SOOOOON!!! THANK YOU GUYS
FOR EVERYTHING!!! YOU CRUUUSHHH!!!
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