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New York , I brought him a stack of cool books I ’ d discovered , French surrealist obscurities like La Bas and Maldoror . After I thanked him for being so nice when I ’ d revealed my cultural ignorance , I asked him why he did that without any condescension , and he replied simply , “ I could tell you were curious .” And still , to this day , that ’ s the watchword , the key ingredient in all great art – curiosity on the part of the artist . BC : Ah ! You know , it ’ s funny that you say the word ‘ curious ’ because Jimmy Chamberlin – who ’ s a very sage person behind the scenes – defines curiosity as the key for people who succeed . He swears the single most important factor in whether or not someone ’ s gonna be successful is curiosity , and he often talks about musicians in terms of curiosity . So that is a very important word .
IE : When did you first notice that quality in yourself ? BC : That ’ s a great question . Well , let ’ s take you back . I remember being in my bedroom , and my father was one of those people that didn ’ t give a shit about his records – they were always in a state of disrepair . But I had a record player , and I found a stack of 45 ’ s , no sleeves , of course , all scratched up . And one of the records was James Brown and His Famous Flames . And I don ’ t remember what the record was , but obviously , it was early James Brown . So I listened to the record , and I thought , “ That ’ s such a cool name —‘ James Brown and His Famous Flames .’” It put the image in my mind of this band on fire . So I actually took the record to my father and said , “ Who is James Brown ? And who are The Famous Flames ?” And he explained to me who James Brown was . And I ’ m still listening to James Brown now ; you know what I ’ m saying ? That was the start of that journey . And it was just something about the name The Famous Flames that I loved as a seven-year-old , and that ’ s the curiosity , right ? I start from the precept that the artist knows more than I do , and I wanna learn what they have learned . And isn ’ t that the fucking point ? But when journalists try to turn it into a didactic , pedantic thing , like you ’ re talking down your nose at someone ? Most artists , I don ’ t think , see it that way . I read Donovan ’ s book recently , and he talks about his poetic process and his life and how he found the troubadour ' s voice and he rocketed to fame . But something about Donovan always felt like , as an artist , he was talking to me almost like he was sitting there cross-legged on the floor , with some incense burning while he was playing the guitar .
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There was a warmth there , and I feel that warmth with Pete Townshend , with Neil Young , with Dylan . I feel like they ’ re talking to me , and I also don ’ t feel like they ’ re talking down to me . And the fact that they ’ re more intelligent than me doesn ’ t bother me at all , and what ’ s wrong with that ? I loved being in school and listening to a teacher who was way smarter than me explain things to me . And what is wrong with that ? We ’ ve entered into this weird phase where no one wants to be uncomfortable ; you know , when someone has some sense of superiority . But there are people who are really good at what they do , and that doesn ’ t mean that they ’ re looking down at you . And when you ’ re a rock musician , you enter that gauntlet , like , “ On what side of the street does your arrogance fall ?” And I ’ m like , “ What are you talking about ? How do you think I got out of the fucking garage ?” I ’ m in a garage , circa 1985 , playing Ted Nugent , and I have to believe that there ’ s something about me that ’ s a little bit better than the guy next to me , or why would I get out of the garage ?
The Smashing Pumpkins circa 1992
IE : “ When in doubt / I whip it out / I got me a rock and roll band / It ' s a Free-For-All .” BC : Yeah ! It ’ s always good to quote The Nuge !
IE : That ’ s a perfect segue into “ Beguiled ,” which has got that classic heavy metal riffing that we were both raised on . Growing up in Indiana , we didn ’ t understand , when punk rock came along , why you had to give up on the hard rock you loved the day before . BC : Yeah . I dunno . I seem to do better with guitar music when I ’ m into playing the guitar a certain way . And “ They ’ re smashing out the veils , return the faith ,” and then the other is like , “ The charging light brigade returns the faith .” The whole album is a rock musical , so this song is sung from the perspective of the government kind of oppressor character , who ’ s telling whoever he ’ s singing to just trust the message . What was the message from the pandemic ? “ Trust the science .” And I am no fan of blind obedience – I wasn ’ t with my parents , I wasn ’ t with my school teachers , and I certainly am not with any institution , whether that be the music business or the person at the post office . I ’ m sorry – it ’ s not in me to just take something that somebody says at face value . So it ’ s kind of a reverse haiku , right ? The character singing “ Return the faith ” on the surface , it sounds like sort of a street chant . But it ’ s actually the opposite – it ’ s like the government person is co-opting the language of the
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Record Swap www . recordswap . com Champaign , IL
Record Wonderland www . RecordWonderland . com Roselle , IL
Rediscover Records www . rediscoverrecords . com Elgin , IL
Reef Records www . reefrecordsllc . com Antioch , IL
Rock N ' Rags / CD City http :// www . shoprocknrags . com / Highland Park , IL
★ Rolling Stones Records
7300 W . Irving Park Road Norridge , IL www . rollingstonesmusic . com See our ad in this section
S & J Stereo
Griffith , IN
★ Scratched Vinyl
119 Barrington Commons Court Barrington , IL www . scratchedvinylbarrington . com See our ad in this section
Shuga Records www . shugarecords . com / Chicago , IL
Siren Records
McHenry , IL
TechNoir Records www . technoirrecords . com Park Ridge , IL
Val ' s Halla Records www . valshalla . com Oak Park , IL
Vines & Vinyl https :// linktr . ee / vinesandvinyl Brookfield , IL
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Vintage Vinyl www . VVMO . com Evanston , IL
Vinyl Frontier Records
McHenry , IL
Wild Prairie Vinyl vinylhub . com / shop / 1690-wild-prairievinyl-vintage Chicago , IL
Windy City Records
Downers Grove , IL
Due to space limitations , not every RSD store could be listed in our directory . Not all stores participate in Record Store Day . For more store info , visit : www . recordstoreday . com or check individual store websites .
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