Sometime in 1992, I got a letter from GG Allin, asking me if I was interested in talking to him about his philosophies on "life, death, America, rock and roll, etc..." for my magazine Nuthing Sacred. At first, it was the last thing I wanted to do. Any interview I'd ever read with the guy was pure shit. Nothing was ever revealed, and the interviewers were usually startstruck kids too intimidated to go after serious answers. But since I hated his music, and I knew nothing about him but the tabloid shit, I figured I was the man for the job. I wrote back, telling him I'd do it only if he'd open up and give me something worth printing. He agreed.
For the next seven months we wrote back and forth, questioning, arguing and rebutting, calling each other every name in the book. Once he saw I wasn't out to do some mocking hatchet piece, GG dug pretty deep - as much as he ever would, anyway. I disagreed heartily with most of what he had to say, but found myself admiring and liking him for the totality, the ferociousness of his commitment. The dude delivered the goods - letters were answered promptly and completely, any research stuff I needed was in my hands within the week, set by various minions around the country. GG was on it.
By the time we did our marathon phone interview in March '93 (the day after his release from prison), we had hit a solid working groove. Conversation was easy. He was fired up for his tour, excited by renewed interest in his career spurred on by the GG docufilm Hated. He was excited to get the epic transcript I had amassed organized and out. We both knew that this was the definitive GG Allin interview.
What follows is a fragment of the transcript that appeared in Nuthing Sacred 6. Even in an abridged form, I think it gives some solid insight into a man who, whether you loved him or despised him, was one of a kind.
Interview by Jay Sosnicki, Photo by Paul Holstein.
MaximumRockNRoll: The focus of most of the articles I've read about you is controversy - your music is generally treated as an afterthought. How come?
GG Allin: It is the media who focuses only on the controversy. My performances are real life rituals set to feed off the many moods and sounds being created in my head and behind me. Those who are missing the sound and focusing only on what they see are the very narrow minded unimportant sightseekers that will end up being carried out in a stretcher or running to the fucking police like a bunch of fucking cowards. They do not belong in my world to begin with. Most people come thinking they will see some kind of art spectacle or some social fucking performance artist being outrageous for the sake of applause or acceptance in certain circles - only to realize too late that they are caught up in the crossfire of a very brutal and bloody experience for real. Because I'm not out to make any fucking friends or fit into anybody's lame scene, I am my own scene. My lyrics and performances are who I am and they had better be taken very seriously. It's my therapy. I'll be the first to tell you, as I tell all my bands...I'm out there for myself only and you will follow me.
MRR: You've said that the government has interfered with your right to free expression, your lifestyle - but why should anyone be permitted to do anything they want? Why shouldn't you be held accountable if you knock someone around, or take a dump on stage and toss it at them?
GG: Because the way I see it, this land is mine to rape. You cannot put restrictions, laws, limits, boundaries on your mind, body, and soul if you are to remain in touch with your true primitive soul. When you walk into my environment, you are walking into my laws, the laws of the untamed animal. When I throw my body fluids at someone, they should feel honored to receive the communion of the rock and roll underground's highest power. It's not just "tossing my dump" as you put it. It's a communion of souls, a shared gift of power. It signifies a deep closeness beyond the flesh which most people cannot comprehend. Also, if you should be someone I should go after and force your face into my crotch, you should consider yourself lucky to have tasted the temple of the highest power.
MRR: What do you get back from an audience when you perform?
GG: They are the target for my many moods and aggressions. I am the painter, they are the canvas, and blood is the paint. When I look out at them as a whole crowd, I only see the enemy. A mass of people I would like to see fucking dead. I don't know them, nor do I want to. I want to rape, beat, and torture them any way I possibly can. Only after the smoke clears and the broken bones are sorted out will the real supporters be intact. Those are the ones you take on as allies for the underground takeover and terrorism. That's how I separate the real non-conformists from the phonies who are there just to witness a freak show.
MRR: Can you give me some background on your early years...personal stuff, not professional? Do you have many close friendships? Does anyone get close to you?
GG: I was born a soul out of control. A soul growing faster than my body could ever keep up with. My grandmother on my father's side was a full time whore. My grandmother on my mother's side was raped by her father as a child, she in turn treated my mother like a prisoner in her house until she escaped at age eighteen to marry Merle Allin Sr. On August 29th, 1956, in cold dark poverty in the wilds of New Hampshire, I was born Jesus Christ Allin, named by my father. My very first memories on this planet are beatings, burnings, being held at gunpoint, kidnapped. (At one point) Merle Sr. dug graves in the cellar where he had been planning a Allin family suicide. That was the environment I was born into - what most clinicians would term as an onset of psychosis, I just knew as a way of life. But I do not to this day blame anybody for who I am. If anything, I want to thank them for creating a powerful individual in me at the very start of life. I was very withdrawn (as a child), but always felt superior to other around me. Before rock and roll became my weapon, I could feel the music being created in me from the built up rage. I had no desire for friendships, I only wanted to be myself. I had to fight a lot, because when I blew up I was so out of control it would take five or ten kids to hold me down. As for letting anyone get close - never completely. I married once. I thought it was love. It was a mistake. But I learned at an early age not to do it again. I am not capable of love, which I look at as a very positive thing. Love, friendships and relationships are for the weak. I take everything I obtain in this world and invest it back into myself only. It makes me more powerful and a better warrior.
MRR: What needs to change with regard to how the prison system works?
GG: The only way to change the current prison situation is to break down all the correctional facilities and let the prisoners go free again. You cannot deprive a man of his liberties. It will do nothing to correct him or conform him to a society he has nothing in common with. Prisons only cultivate criminals.
MRR: What books do you read? How do you keep your body and mind active while inside?
GG: I do not read books in here. I prefer to write my own. I'm always using my mind to plot future revenges and strategies to use for the next time I'm released. I also continue my self-mutilation for inner toleration. Late at night when the lights go down and I'm alone in my cell, I then do my rituals of pain, power, strength and endurance. I cut myself and drink the blood. It is very important that I never let go of that self torture so as to keep my levels of tolerance high for the battles of the future.
MRR: Your fans: Are you in touch with many of them? Do they write to you about their problems? Treat you like some kind of guru? Any psycho fans who you can't shake?
GG: I get a lot of mail from people all over the world. Sometimes it's hard to tell the sincerity of the person through a letter, unlike a live show where you can easily weed them out. But most of them follow me because they know that I'm fucking for real in a world full of frauds, phonies, and imitators. I am the fucking terminator. Most of today's so called alternative bands are only using the underground label and venues as a stepping stone for their own capitalistic gains and commercial sellouts. Those are the very people I am out to fucking destroy. Those who know me or have had the guts to witness one of my rituals knows exactly what I'm talking about. I'm taking rock and roll back to the danger zone where it belongs and where it will continue to be a threat to our society and government as it is meant to be. The real fans know they can put their faith in me because I am the voice of the real outcasts and rebels. And as for the psycho fans - I have much more in common with them...
MRR: What is truth? Family? Religion?
GG: Truth - the harsh conflicts of my rock and roll mission for which I am willing to kill and die for. Family - Me, myself, and I. Religion - I am the master of the temple, the ruler of my body, mind, and soul. I am God, Jesus Christ, and Satan.
MRR: What role does fear play in what you do?
GG: You must be confronted with fear to face it and beat it down. I create fear in people because it demands reaction. Because only when you unconditionally seek death and enter each day with the reality that this could be your last, only the will you be in full power of yourself and defeat all the fears in the past that had crippled...
MRR: Do you think you're approaching the end of the line?
GG: No. I am tireless. Every incarceration opens more doors and wars in my head. Being locked up generates more animosity and vengeful feelings towards this society. My mind is always expanding and I feel with this next time out I am ready to take things even further. The music industry and the underground situations the way they are will be dead before I ever even come close to being tired. I'm an endless source of rage and fire. I'll know when the time is right for the last bloody mutilation.
MRR: Without outrage, without music, who is GG Allin?
GG: I do not set out to outrage just for the sake of outrageousness. The music, stage, and rituals are the balance that keep me from going out on a fucking killing spree. Without these outlets I would be like a walking atomic bomb waiting to explode. Nobody ever knows what mood I will be in, because just like a snake, you cannot read me. You had just better hope that when you do come around me that you don't pull the wrong fucking triggers. If you do, you will more than likely get a show right on the spot and right in your fucking face...and it will only cost you your flesh and blood.
GG:
First batch had some cool stuff. One question though. If your life is one of complete lawlessness and you despise all people, why play rock and roll when you might opt for a career in say, mass murder? I think you're much more a part of the system than you'd like to believe. If you didn't need human contact, an audience for what you do, you'd live out in the woods somewhere. If you didn't want media attention, you'd never do interviews of any kind, yet you're the single most overexposed performer I can think of in the underground press. Yeah, you've broken laws, gotten busted, blahblah, but you never go the whole way - otherwise you wouldn't have reneged on the suicide show. Your act is just as much a part of "showbiz" as the Rolling Stones - you just have a more select appeal.
Most important - I believe that you're as committed to you[r] mission as you say you are, but we're not doing the interview we set out to do. I know you're a real hard ass and all, but what can you tell me that you've told no one else? Your answers to the questions were total schtick, really contrived. You can't be immune to love, loneliness, and all the other stuff the rest of us mortals experience. So let's quite fucking around. You're one of the featured interviews for NS #6, and I want it to be fresh - no sense in flogging the same old shit that happens in every GG interview.
With regard to your last charmer of a message - if you're the "real motherfucker", then you won't be too chickenshit to deal with me as a real person rather than your image as a punk icon. I ain't impressed.
Take Care...Jay
Jay:
Look fuckface, if this interview is not going the way you had planned, well that's just too fucking bad. I'm not going to transform into somebody that I am not for you or anybody else, or tell you things I just don't fucking feel. I do not ever feel lonely, nor would I in any way consider surrendering any part of myself toward love or relationships. So if you expect me to tell you I feel lonely, etc, etc, then you are interviewing the wrong fucking man. I've spent the better part of my life in jails, hospitals, prisons, Greyhound busses, and being a fugitive from justice. I do not now, nor do I ever feel the need to slow my pace.
The only human contact I am lonely for is the confrontational assaults I inflict upon others or my sadistic adventures with whomever decides to take a chance by putting themselves on the GG Allin altar. I could very easily live in the woods in solitary confinement if I had to, because that is where I grew up. But the reason I choose not to is because I cannot internalize my fierce emotional wars nor do I want to. It is only "entertainment" if one sees or hears of it as such from a safe distance. But it's a bloody fucking price to have to pay to find out just how fucking brutally real this therapy is to me.
I had a New York City police officer tell me one time while he was arresting me that what he had seen me do on stage had sickened and disgusted him more than any murder scene that he had ever had to deal with. That fucking made me realize right then and there that I was doing the right thing.
The reason I chose rock and roll for my weapon is the mighty fact that rock and roll has gotten me through life. Its been my companion during times of seclusion and confusion in the early days, and its been my ally in times of brutal retaliations throughout my entire life. It is my tool for revenge and a beat of annihilation for my inner demons. I'm not into it for money, fashion, acceptance, or major label importance. I'm in it for real. Because rock and roll has always stood by me, then so I'll stand by it.
And fuck the media! You ask why I seek media attention. I do not - media attention seeks me. But just as I do not seek it, I also will not shun it. Because it is important for me to get my message to the masses to make people aware of the seriousness of my mission. Because you first have to fucking grab somebody before you can destroy them. But the bottom line on the media is that it's on my own terms only. So it's not about fucking showbiz. Maybe it's because showbiz surrounds you that you perceive me to be a part of it. That is the farthest thing from my mind. I'm out to destroy showbiz.
Also, you are fucking ignorant to the facts of why I could not commit suicide on stage in 1989. If you understood what went down, you would know how much of a fool you are for even making that statement. I eluded the United States Secret Service who were tracking me down for well over a year. Not an easy task, let me tell you. I was snitched out by a previous bandmate whom I fired when he did not live up to my expectations in the band. So he fucking gave me away. So on October 31st, 1989 I was locked up in the Ann Arbor county jail in the suicide observation unit with a camera on me twenty four hours a day. So now you know why it didn't come about. When they put me back in a cell in one of the blocks, I often considered suicide but then realized that at that point it was no longer on my terms, so instead I vowed to fucking fight the system. Because they are afraid of me and what I stand for and they know that even after doing all this time, and all of the head games, etc - GG Allin is more fucking dangerous and powerful today than when I first started out. I thought in '89 I had reached my peak and it was time to move on. But what the Michigan Department of Corrections has done to me backfired in their faces. This sentence has not only enhanced my rage, it also set my peak to a higher, more escalated level of terrorism.
Futhermore - I am a fucking genius. I do not give a fuck to be "rounded out". The only energy of focus for me is the rock and roll revolution I will create and lead. Maybe that's why this interview does not please you. Maybe you thought you'd find some sort of weakness in me to expose - wrong again pal. I don't know what the fuck you thought but this is the way it is. If you don't fucking like it, go interview someone else. This is as real as it gets.
GG Allin
PS - We can end it here or we can roll on...
MRR: You sound pumped - kind of like you're glad to be out of jail (laughs).
GG: I'm fired! I got out of that motherfucker yesterday. I got three million fucking things I'm trying to do. It's pretty amazing. I'm out...and I'm ready.
MRR: You're not wasting any time getting out there, that's cool. I think it would blow people away to see how on top of your business shit you are...
GG: The thing is, I've never done a tour before 1989. My tours consisted of a Greyhound bus, no band, and maybe three fucking shows. So it wasn't like I was on the phone booking these gigs. You know, kids would write to me and say "I can get you a gig at Al's Shithole". That's cool, get me a band, I'll be there. As far as the tour that I did in 1992, I didn't book it, I didn't have anything to do with it. I tell my people, call me, let me know where we're playing, put me in the fucking van and let's go. I don't want the responsibility of that.
MRR: Well who handles it all then, the catalogues and such...
GG: My brother does it, he's my bass player. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't even be doing this tour, believe me. I'm not a good public relations man, I can't talk to these club owners, I'm not gonna kiss their ass. If I call them up, they're not gonna book me. So I'm on top of what I gotta do, yeah, but I don't give a fuck about being on top of the business part of it. It doesn't concern me.
MRR: Have you made a living doing what you do?
GG: Well, I've been in prison for four years!
MRR: Yeah, but from your records and merchandise?
GG: Well I don't pay rent, I live with people, I buy bus passes and sleep on the Greyhound. I can make a living because I don't put myself in a situation where I have to pay out a lot. I don't have any bills, all I've got is my suitcase, and I can up an go. So I can make a living on fifty dollars a month, I mean, what do I need? I steal whatever I gotta get, you know...
MRR: Has there ever been a time when you were tempted to settle down? Get married again, have kids?
GG: Not at all. I been married. I got a kid. I have no desire for that at all. The one thing I exist for right now is my band and my mission and what I gotta do. I got girls all over the place. When I do this tour, I'll be fuckin', getting sucked and doing whatever with whomever. But I've no desire to stay with one person.
MRR: What kind of woman do you usually get?
GG: I like real sleazy ones. I like to go to sidestreet bars, or a strip joint, or a whorehouse. You know, the younger the better, cause I gotta find the right woman that's gonna let me do whatever I wanna do.
MRR: Do you get a lot of princesses? Rich girls who think your lifestyle might be dangerous or exciting?
GG: I get 'em all. The problem is, a woman will want to be with me until she's with me for a little while, and then she'll realize she's in over her head. Because I tell 'em straight out - don't get fucking near me unless you're serious. Once you come in, you can't go out until I get what I want.
MRR: Are you in touch with your kid?
GG: I haven't seen her for like four years. I kind of had a restraining order out on me by the mother and her mother. It was just a really bad scene. When she was born, I was living with them, but the cops were coming over every night, and they threatened to take her away. Y'know, here's a kid in the middle of fucking combat, shit flying everywhere. It was just a mess, so I, you know...
MRR: Was this your wife?
GG: No, I met her at a show, got her pregnant, she had an abortion, then she got pregnant again when she was eighteen...She just said "Fuck it, I'm gonna have it...", so I said fuck it, go ahead.
MRR: Do you pay out support and stuff?
GG: No, it's cool as far as that goes, they just wanted me gone. They didn't want me to pay anything.
MRR: Do you miss her?
GG: Well, you know, it might be kinda cool to see her. I guess she's six now. But the correspondence is just, uh...not welcome. Fuck it, I got my life to live. She's got the blood of GG, she'll be alright.
MRR: Getting back to the letters, you talked a lot about your rock and roll revolution, but you never really elaborated on what it was...
GG: Well, what has rock and roll become? I had to get out of prison! There is no underground anymore. I am it. You've got to go out there, you gotta disrupt justice, you gotta fuck up the music scene because the music scene is so fucking lame right now. This is why you gotta build an army.
MRR: Yeah, but let's face it man, what you do is pretty marginal. Revolutions need people. Lots of people.
GG: There are a lot of people that want to be a part of it. Obviously, I got tons of mail. Maybe it's talk too, I don't know. I think that you can take a bunch of people, and rock and roll can make a real army out of it. I disagree with you there.
MRR: Well okay, let's say you have an army of followers, what the fuck can you realistically do with that?
GG: You can do enough damage to get the word out. You can go out there, fly a fucking helicopter over Lollapalooza and drop bombs, that'd be cool...
MRR: Oh come on, man...
GG: Why can't you do it?
MRR: You could do it, but how would that further your cause?
GG: I could send somebody out to do it for me. And so what if I do it and they send me away?
MRR: Because then you wouldn't be out performing or making records anymore!
GG: Are you kidding me? I made more records in prison than when I was free! I made records over the phone. I'd rather be out playing live, cause I can fuck more people up...
MRR: Realistically, honestly, would you just arbitrarily kill someone?
GG: I think I could. I definitely could.
MRR: But would you? Why would you want to?
GG: If I played a tape for an A&R man and he told me he wouldn't sign me. I would have no problem blowing his fucking brains out...
MRR: Why haven't you done it yet?
GG: Maybe I will. I haven't reached my peak yet, Jay, give me a little time here...
MRR: Okay, okay, let's move on. What are the bands that you respect right now?
GG: I don't know, because the only thing I've heard in the last few years is slamming doors. I read the zines, people send me shit. I know what's going on. There's really nothing that I've seen. Most of these bands will tell you right out that they're singing about fictional things. They are into it for shock value. I'm in it for real. To me, it's not just the tour...it's the way it is. It's life. When one tour ends with the band, I go on to something else. It's always a tour. I can't stop.
MRR: How long has your brother been with you?
GG: Merle's just been with me in the Murder Junkies, he hasn't been with me the last ten or twelve years. Like I said, before 1992 there were no organized tours, just three or four shows. We got lots of shows booked for this tour, and there's a good percent that we're not gonna play. For one reason, I'm probably gonna be in jail at least seven or eight shows, I'm probably, realistically, gonna be in the hospital at least twice. So there's always gonna be a cancellation. You take it one show at a time. When I'm out of jail, we pick it up where it is...
MRR: Don't you think to get your message across it's better to not end up in the pokey? This seems kind of unproductive.
GG: Like I said, I don't want to compromise and I want it to be...lawless. They gotta let me out, right? I'll get some bail money...
MRR: You know what I'm saying - if someone comes out who's a real hardcore fan it sucks if they don't get to see you. Those are the people who are keeping you out there.
GG: Well if they're a hardcore fan, then they're gonna understand they better see me when they can. I'm not gonna say, well tonight I'm not gonna do this because we need to be here tomorrow. Whatever I fell at a certain time is what I've got to do. Most of my people understand that. When we were out in San Francisco on the last tour, I ended up in the hospital. We stayed in town, the doctor told me I wouldn't be out of the hospital for two weeks. I just pulled the fucking plugs out of my arms, walked out of the hospital, and we did the show. It was four days late, and I had a fever of 102, and I'm drooling and puking all over myself. But I said the show's got to go. We played, and the tour went on.
MRR: There's a real parallel here between what you do and the original blues guys. That whole notion of lifestyle being indistinguishable from the music.
GG: That's cool. I think a lot of true believers of their own music, you have to live it. I have to feel it. A lot of times I won't have any lyrics, I'll have a Budweiser box and I'll be writing down lyrics while the band is playing. Just whatever comes into my mind. I never want to plan anything, I just want to take it as it comes.
MRR: Let me ask you this. You said in your letters that there's no one in your life that you depend on.
GG: Absolutely.
MRR: Well, what about your brother? That's gotta be tight. He takes care of your business...
GG: Well if my brother calls me up tomorrow and says he's quitting the band, fuck it. I don't know if he's gonna be in the band next week, or if there's gonna be another tour. I don't depend on anybody.
MRR: Yeah, but is he the do or die person in your life? The person you're closest to?
GG: Well, I guess we're close in a sense, but not like a lot of people might think. If he's on tour and I get arrested, he'll make sure he gets me out of jail. If I'm in the hospital, he's gonna make sure he waits for me. Y'know, in that sense, yeah. But it's not like, let's get together or whatever, he's married, he's got is own thing, whatever. Outside the band we don't communicate much.
MRR: Yeah, but you love him though, right?
GG: Mmm, well, I don't think it's important to have to love anybody...that word, really...what is it, you know? The only person I really love is myself. You got parents, you got a brother, and whatnot, but that don't mean you gotta love 'em.
MRR: Well okay, but...we're talking right now, you seem like a nice guy, we're communicating -
GG: Yeah, it's happening...
MRR: So I just find it hard to believe there's no one in your life that you love, you know?
GG: Yeah, but I might stab you in the back if you got five dollars I want. Basically, I'll do whatever I gotta do to get what I want. If I gotta be nice to somebody, fine. If I don't I can fight. If you're cool with me, I'm cool with you. If not, then I'm gonna be an asshole.
MRR: Are you in touch with your mother or father?
GG: Well, you know, I got so many of them...
MRR: Right. Are they up on what you do?
GG: Well, they read the newspaper, they see TV, so they know what I'm up to. Of course they don't like it, but I don't care. Merle's in touch with my mother, anyway. My Dad, he lives in the woods somewhere, I don't know what he's doing. But I don't feel the need to be in contact with them.
MRR: Okay, check this out, I met this dude whose brother was in jail with you, and this cat says that you insisted on being in solitary...
GG: Nah, that's bullshit. I mean, I got put in the hole a few times for fighting...
MRR: Well, this dude was like "GG is a wanker, he wanted to be locked away where he'd be safe..."
GG: (agitated) Why don't you call the Jackson State Prison right fucking now and you ask them how I left. I was in main population this whole motherfucking year. In fact, when I left, motherfuckers in there made me a cake [in the] shape of a fucking bomb. Every fucker in that rock was standing in line to say goodbye to me. So why don't you tell that motherfucker if he wants to call me a wanker, I'll take him on anyplace any fuckin' time, and I'll kick his motherfuckin' ass. Because that's bullshit, anytime someone calls me a wanker, he's an insecure son of a bitch, because anyone who say that shit don't know me.
MRR: In one of your letters you told me you prefer writing books to reading them. What books have you written? Complete books.
GG: Uh, well, I've written a lot of short stories. I've written a lot of things from...Basically, I'm working on my autobiography with another guy right now. So it was mostly things from my past. But I wrote about two albums worth of material, things I'd been through in there and before. I mean, for the eleven months that I was on parole it was just nonstop. It was jail, hospital, jail...It was pretty intense eleven months before they sent me back.
MRR: Can you be a little more specific about the ways that you're fighting the system - this is another thing you talk a lot about in the letters, but you don't seem to be making any changes. You keep ending up back in jail.
GG: (agitated) Well, what are you saying? That I shouldn't do it? I should compromise?
MRR: Not at all, I just don't see what you do as fighting the system. I call it being stubborn.
GG: Yeah, but I don't run. Anybody that's outspoken, they're always gonna try to put you down. That's why you gotta build up an army. I'm not gonna compromise just because they're gonna put me in jail. That's what they want me to do. I'll do my time, get back out, and get back to it. Just because I'm in prison don't mean I'm broken. It doesn't mean I can't say hey -I've got a voice, I'm gonna use it. They gonna have to put me in the fuckin' electric chair to shut me up, because in prison or out, I'm still gonna be the same person. I've done almost three years, and I'm more pissed off now than I've ever been. This tour is it. This motherfucker is gonna be brutal. And they think every time they put me in prison that that's gonna change me?
MRR: I just don't understand why you feel violated. If you want a lawless environment, yeah you're free to do it, but you can't expect to not get busted...
GG: Well who are they to say what's right and wrong? Who are they to say their values are right? Who are they to set laws anyway?
MRR: This isn't a moral issue, though. I'm talking about taking responsibility. If you already know what the consequences of your actions will be, how can you feel violated?
GG: (agitated) Don't I have freedom of speech, freedom of expression? Why can a stripper get up onstage naked and not get arrested? Is it because I'm ugly, or because I stink, or I'm a...fucking freak?
MRR: Well probably because there's a potential for people to get hurt...
GG: People come to my show for confrontation! Fuck the cops! I've gotten hurt as much as anyone else, self inflicted or not. If a motherfucker is coming through a door and there's a sign that says "Enter at your own risk", that's exactly what that sign means. I don't feel that the police have the right to enter that club anyway. That's not their place.
MRR: How do you deal with skeptics?
GG: Anybody who does not believe me, I tell them one thing. Come to the show. See for yourself. Believe me, they will believe when they're gone.
MRR: Okay, hypothetical question. If some big record company dropped a shitload of money on you tomorrow, how -
GG: (agitated) I'd take it! Why wouldn't I?
MRR: I'm not saying you shouldn't. But how do you think that would affect your lifestyle?
GG: Not at all, because I don't know how to live any other way. Maybe I could fly somewhere, instead of taking a Greyhound. Wouldn't matter - I'm still gonna have my own seat because I'm still gonna stink if you sit beside me. I'd take the money, probably get a higher class bunch of hookers, that's all, or maybe a better set of drugs. I might even give some of it away. I don't give a fuck...
MRR: Why did rock and roll become your weapon?
GG: I grew up in a small town...At an early age I was beating on chairs and wrecking things around the house, it was just uh...it was rock and roll. I was into the New York Dolls, MC5, Screaming Lord Such. I listened to so many different things. My father was into old country and western, my mother was into Nancy Sinatra or whatever was on the radio. I think the very first record I ever heard was a Johnny Cash or Jerry Lee Lewis record. But I've been in bands as long as I can remember. I think even in the third or fourth grade I was in a band, only it wasn't a band, it was just a bunch of guys...
MRR: Banging on shit.
GG: Fucking shit up. That's what I thought rock was. I never got involved for the money, or the chicks, or the fame, I got involved cause, hey, here's a chance for me to get up on stage and fuck shit up because I feel like it, because I don't like these fuckers, and here's my way to do it.
MRR: Would you make a country album?
GG: I did.
MRR: A country record?
GG: Well, I was in Florida last year, and my intention was to go into the studio with a guitar and do this kind of sit down thing. And all these motherfuckers were bringing all this equipment in, and I said no, this is not going to work. Fuck all this. So I went out and got drunk, picked up some bitch, came back a while later and just started playing. Uh - I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's a lot of different influences in there, but it's very different from what people would think, But it doesn't matter, cause I'm not gonna put out the same record every time.
MRR: See, I haven't heard any of that stuff. I've just heard live tapes of your shows, and that's ALL hardcore.
GG: If you go back, and listen to say, Eat My Fuc, you'll hear the most deranged sounds, the shit just comes out of nowhere, cause everyone's fucked up, and no one knew what they were doing. I don't think any of my records sound the same. At all. I've always had a different band, always going through different things. I've always had the same attitude, but I think every record has its own personality. Mine.
MRR: Okay, man. I think we've got a pretty complete interview here.
GG: Yeah. I think between our letters and our conversation, even though we may not agree on everything, I think we got some issues out, and hopefully it'll enlighten people.
MRR: Yeah. The article is called "Maximum GG Allin"...
GG: Well, I wanted to come up with something different too. I do so many interviews, and people ask the same fucking questions and it's like - come on! Let's get somebody who can provoke something. Let's talk about something other than why do you shit onstage? It goes beyond that. So I think we probably do have something, and I'm looking forward to it.
MRR: Me too. Pleasure talking to you, man...
GG: Hey Jay, I'll see ya.
MRR: Later on...
Jay Sosnicki is the editor and publisher of Nuthing Sacred magazine. For information on subscriptions or back issues, please send a S.A.S.E. to:
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