But then, six or nine months later, you’re playing with the Strokes.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about that, because it was the wildest ride of my life, man, and it was so fast and it required so much in terms of ‘You gotta fucking do it,’ attitude. That tour with Claude that was my second tour, what I call my second tour alone, without Joshua.
First tour I ever did was with Placebo. That was trippy dude. Josh, in his brilliance, he wanted to put us with a band like Placebo, because if we had any chance of winning that crowd over, we would have a chance, period. They come in depressed, they come in to see Placebo, if you can make any of these people smile, we might have a shot. It was a test tour, really. And it worked.
My first tour alone, Joey Castillo went out with me to look out for me, that’s how we looked at it. The drummer looks out for Boots. Because Joey Castillo’s pedigree is so intense, it came with such an honor to me that I tried to rise to it. That attitude that my mom gave me is that you should always be a good friend to someone that tries to make every fucking effort given to them worth it. Joshua was my best friend coming into it, giving me such a great opportunity and just such an infinite amount of trust because he kind of linked his reputation to what I did. He bound it. However inconsequential that is to the world and our own personal lives, with what we do that can be catastrophic. And I respected that.
With Joey, being a founding member of Wasted Youth and being in Danzig for six years, be brought this precision. I had no choice every night with Joey, where if I fucked up in any way, it was so revealed, yet so concealed at the same time from the outside with Joey’s magic that it felt like somebody jabbed me in the ass with a hot poker, electric cattle prod, you know what I mean? It was shock therapy to condition me to not fucking up. By the time we got to Claude, it was like I had gone through rock crash course school 101, and here you are with your graduate degree. Claude’s a different kind of drummer man, and he brought it. I don’t think the Eagles have ever sounded like that since, and I don’t know if they will without him.
I haven’t actually seen you guys since that show, so that’s the only experience I have seeing you live.
Oh dude, it’s such a different animal now, because really the whole process that I’ve been going through with touring is like a quickening. I don’t know how else to describe it, like it’s Wolfen where he becomes the beast.
Well, you grew out your hair too.
First time in my life baby. Joshua shaved his. We did the Flintstones flop.
Do the ladies like it along with the mustache?
You know what man, my goal has always been to sort of look at women and respect them so much that I’m willing to understand that there’s value in looking like their fathers when they were between the ages of three and seven. I’ve just honed it to a fine skill.
As if they can imagine the wood paneling behind you.
It’s like, ‘Paging Dr. Freud,’ every time I walk into a room.
Heart On is available now. The Eagles Of Death Metal play the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Nov. 16 and Bowery Ballroom on Nov. 17. For more info, visit eaglesofdeathmetal.com
Photo Credit: Kii Arens
