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Author: ???[who?] (Alternative Press)
Published: June 2002
Alternative Press:
In the old days, bands like Kiss were putting out two albums a year and fans were just eating it up. No big deal.
Rivers:
Yeah. That's what I grew up on, too. Nowadays, I just think everyone else is slow. Not that songs come really fast for me - I mean, I write one a week. Is that fats? But I don't know what's wrong with these other people. For me, one a week just feels like a natural, normal pace. And to write one, I pretty much just have to get upset about something and that seems to happen wherever I am, whatever I'm doing. Something will go wrong, and I'll get angry or hurt or sad. And then it's just a piece of cake to write a song.
Alternative Press:
When was the last time that happened? How and where?
Rivers:
I dunno. I don't store information in my brain, I store it in my computer. But it doesn't matter where I am because all my emotional relationships are through the computer anyway -they're all cyber-relationships, so it doesn't matter where in the world I am. I'm always talking to the same people. I was talking to quite a few fans [online] for a while there, but that kinda stopped. I think we had a mutual falling out.
Alternative Press:
But don't you think rock - and the whole music business itself - has changed dramatically from Kiss' glory days?
Rivers:
Well I was so far removed from any semblance of a scene back then that I have nothing to compare it to now. I never went to see bands. I was just outta the loop somehow. And for a while there, I was living on a Hindu ashram, and that didn't help. But somehow, I got ahold of a Kiss Record - Rock and Roll Over - and that's pretty much all I listened to for the next five years. I just loved their fuckin' guitars, the brutal riffs. I listened to "She" earlier today, and it still tore my head off. I met Kiss once, briefly. It was freaky. My mom didn't even let me watch Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park when it was originally out, because I think it was on too late, 8:00 or something. Moms are retarded.
Alternative Press:
But back then, records weren't tailored for demographics, and they weren't marked by street teams. How do you think the industry has changed?
Rivers:
I don't really pay attention. Sorry. We ignore the industry. And we're kind of unmanaged at this point because we don't really need a manager. All we do is play music and get our picture taken. Whaddaya need a manger for, just for that?
Alternative Press:
How about touring, for starters? Say you wanna tour Japan...
Rivers:
Hey, we go to Japan all the time.
Alternative Press:
But who books it?
Rivers:
I think Japan calls us, actually - they say, "Hey do you guys wanna come over?" and we say "Yeah!" I guess other bands have more tolerance for [the industry] than I do. We just ignore them or hang up on 'em. And I think a lot of people give us some respect, and they understand that we just wanna focus on playing music. So they leave us alone and go bother other bands. But really, I'm basically doing the same thing I started doing when I was 13, and I've been doing it nonstop ever since - just getting in a room with a couple other guys and playing heavy-metal songs. And I don't really see any reason why we'd have to stop either. I think we'll be albe to continue on in this fashion until we're like 80. But I think with [Maladroit] especially, we're really just opening up and relaxing as an ensemble. Instead of playing stiffer pop arrangements designed to support a vocal, we're all kinda rocking out and having fun on our instruments.
Alternative Press:
What are "Dope Nose" and "Keep Fishing" about?
Rivers:
I have no idea! They're just bullshit lyrics. And I know - you're thinking "Why is this guy so popular?" But I mean, I do have a few songs that are worth reading, if not reading into. But "Dope Nose" and "Keep Fishing" are not among them.
Alternative Press:
And you saw no danger in putting those songs up early on your Web site?
Rivers:
Right. I'm not a record company - I'm not in the business of selling records. The only thing I want is for people to hear my music, and hopefully they'll like it. So I put the songs up as soon as I possibly can.
Alternative Press:
Then you mailed off eight-cut samplers CD's to key radio stations around the country?
Rivers:
Yeah, I just wanted to hear the songs on the radio.
Alternative Press:
There's a whole generation of kids who've grown up thinking that music is free - downloading is all they've ever known.
Rivers:
And I think it *should* be free. And this is what I proposed to the record company: Don't give us an advance. But no one listens to me. But we actually haven't gotten an advance for Maladroit yet - we haven't turned in the record, so it's still technically funded by us. And was I pro-Napster? Oh, totally! I'm online all day long, every day, downloading free songs. And honestly, I just have this faith that if we're rocking, and people are digging it, we're gonna somehow make a living and that's enough for all of us. And maybe it means that recordings are free from now on, but people will buy an extra T-shirt or something - I have no idea. I just believe that we're gonna be taken care of.
Alternative Press:
What's your take on labels owning what you've composed?
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