I don’t get a lot of MOGmail so when I saw the alert in my yahoo inbox that I’d gotten MOGmail from Interscope records, I didn’t check it right away. I figured it was spam of some sort, that MOG had been infiltrated. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’d been asked if I’d like to interview Mickey Avalon.Still suspicious of the very spartan
Interscope MOG page, I decided to get ahold of David Hyman. He explained that MOG doesn’t do interviews but that MOGgers could interview and “perhaps” the interview would be featured.So I agreed to interview Mr. Avalon. I reasoned that I’d already made out with him so I might as well have a conversation with the dude.So, here we go:*TMB*: A girlfriend of mine who lives in Los Angeles hipped me to you last summer and I was
digging on you before you had any major releases. So tell me a nice anecdote about when you may have first realized that you’d created something buzzworthy? *MA*: I think it was when I stopped seeing only my friends in the audience when I was performing. The first few shows I recognized most of the faces in the crowd. When I started seeing people in the crowd that I didn’t recognize, I realized that there were more people than my friends coming out to support me. When I started going out of town, and without having a record out, people were singing along and having a good time. People would come early and want to have a drink with me. I saw that this was turning into something, that it was special to these people. *TMB*: The interview in
LA Weekly is really good. He damned near eulogized you. He did a good job of spinning your family’s yarn, delving into your heritage and making these haunting connections between your music and your lineage. Do you think he did a good job?*MA*: I think he did a good job. We’ve become friends actually .Initially he was only supposed to write like a paragraph about me. But if I take myself out of the equation and just read the article like it’s not about me, I think “Wow! This person’s lead a crazy life”. He did a good job of humanizing the person. But there’s good and bad. On one side of the spectrum, now everybody knows everything about me which can kind of be bad. At the same time, If I didn’t want to answer a question, I can just refer them to that article. I’ll still answer people’s questions but since he did such a good job I can say that it’s already been documented.*TMB*: So we know how your family’s legacy affected your art but what about our personal politics or even politics in general? Are you Democrat or Republican? Do you consider yourself politically astute? In what ways have your filial tragedies given shape to your world view?*MA*: I honestly have never voted. That’s probably pretty shitty. I don’t know if that’s a good thing to say to the kids. I guess I’d probably be a democrat without even meaning to. I am an artist. I think if I did the homework, I’d probably see myself more on that side. I think with that stuff it’s like choosing between hot shit and cold shit. Like... it’s all shit, you know? I think that my family, my lineage and my history has given me a sense of humor about the whole thing. My grandparents have had alot more bad things happen to them than I have. So it’s all about surviving and I don’t mean just getting through life, but having some joy. I mean, my songs are about some pretty gnarly things but I still make people laugh. I think that’s a triumph right there, that I manage to make people laugh with stories that aren’t about anything funny at all. *TMB*: You
cited RUN DMC, The Beasties and even Too Short as some of your influences but if you had to name that one MC…that one person who was just “IT”. Could you name him / her?*MA*: Probably Slick Rick. I also like Dana Dane*TMB*: I caught your free show at the Dark Room when you were in Chicago just this last fall. I was one of the girls ringside that you gave out kisses to. You’re so free w/ the affection when you’re on stage. You’re a true hedonist. Is there anything, anything at all that gives you pause when you’re French-kissing 10, 20, 30 strange women a night? Do you ever just get sick of it or grossed out?*MA*: Um, I’ve been doing it a little bit less because it’s not sexy when it’s expected. I worry about the all ages shows. I don’t want anyone to come up and tell me I kissed their 14 year old sister. That was never part of the plan. It’s one thing to be a hedonist but I’m not trying to child molest anybody. As far as pausing, I want it to be as free as possible. But there’s been dudes that come up to the stage and they’re like waiting there with their eyes closed and their fuckin’ tongue hanging out and I don’t wanna stick my tongue down his throat so I’ll just kiss him on the cheek or on the forehead. If I’m gonna put myself out there to do something like that, I need to be as non biased as possible.*TMB*: Women get seriously hot and bothered by you. If you go to your
Myspace page, and look at the comments. It’s all women. If you had to characterize or sum up your magnetism, what specifically is your appeal?*MA*: I’ve thought about it only after the fact. I think that being comfortable is always a turn on. Being confident is always a turn on. Being uptight is always a turn off. You know like, when you’re a kid and you’re really free? It’s like that element of being young and free. I’ll try most things at least once. I pretty much know what I like and what I don’t like. I’ll put myself on the line for other people’s entertainment but I don’t do anything that I don't want to.*TMB*: Since it’s provided you with a lot of material, I have to ask…how many inches?*MA*: I think I’m doing alright. I wouldn’t put it out there if I couldn’t back it up. But I won’t lie,Sometimes there are some nights where I might be too wasted for that thing to work*TMB*: Who is your favorite author or what is your favorite book?*MA*: I like Charles Bukowski. I like this Norwegian guy named Knut Hamsun. He wrote
Hunger and that’s a book I go back to a lot. But I like Bukowski not just because he’s from L.A. but because of his style. He’s all about the way thing taste and feel and smell. His sentences structure is short and almost journalistic. His stuff is physical and real emotional. I don’t like any of that space age shit.*TMB*: The LA Weekly article mentions that your dad was a record collector and that you inherited his collection. Can you list some of the gems of that collection for the MOGgers?*MA*: Well they’re all gems. It’s all super rare stuff. But when I was little I liked “The Signifying Monkey" by Johnny Otis from an
Adults Only Albumn. [starts reciting the words to "Signifying Monkey"]. Anything by this guy named
Esquerita. He would also go by the name Eskew Reader. But yea, there are some gems. I think the early stuff comes from my father.*TMB*: Where does the Glam in your "Glam Rap" come from? Who’s better-Bowie or Iggy or are you in the New York Dolls camp? *MA*: Well, I didn’t come up with the "Glam-Rap" thing but I’ll go along with it. Because Bowie is such a good song writer and so theatrical, he’s the better musician. But Iggy is more in your face and that’s how I think I am. I’ll get out there and spin it around.*TMB*: MOG has these widgets and one of them is “artist you should know about”. Aside from you, who should we be paying attention to? Who should I know about that I don’t already?*MA*:
Andre Legacy. He’s actually the one that came up with “My Dick”.
Dirt Nasty. We’re all in the group called
Dyslexic Speedreaders. *TMB*: Top 3 albums: doesn’t matter what genre*MA*: Black Sabbath, "We Sold our Souls for Rock-n-Roll". Velvet Underground, Self Titled. "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan
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