Ahead of the first Insane Clown Posse tour in ten years, John Goodridge chats with Shaggy2Dope, one half of ICP, about the upcoming tour and their enduring success.
Hi, it’s John calling from the AUreview in Australia. How’s it going?
Hey brother, this is Shaggy, receiving your call from America.
So you’ll be in Australia in about two weeks.
Something like that, yessir.
First time in about 10 years since you’ve been here?
Yeah man. We’re pretty happy man. We’re psyched. You know what I’m saying? We’re ready to come stake our claim on Australia. Come over there and rock some shows. Have some good times.
Yeah that’s good. You bringing Faygo with you this time?
Yeah. We’re gonna do the best we can. This is the most common question I’ve been asked so far. It’s really rough. The amount of Faygo that we use per show is just ridiculous. I don’t know the exact number but it’s enough to keep a store in business for a year. So it caused a problem that they thought we were gonna sell it. That’s where the problem comes in. A lot of convincing to explain to them that we’re not selling it you know what I’m saying. We’re gonna do what we can do you know.
I was reading that at other shows you’ve paid people to get naked and hundred dollar bills on beach balls. Will we see anything like that?
Nah, that was one time in Woodstock in ’99. Actually J was trying to pay me to get naked and I was like, “No guys, I’m doing fine without strippin naked and doin that sort of thing”. It’s not a common occurrence whatsoever. A one time deal.
So what do you reckon has kept you going for twenty years? It’s an amazing amount of time for a band to be together and putting out music.
Yeah, no doubt. We feel blessed to part of the game. It’s not just luck, you know what I’m saying? It’s a lot of hard work. A lot of what‘s to do with it is because we never had no mainstream success, you know. We never blew up real big, the way when you get that single and fizzle out. Nose to the grind, you know what I’m sayin’. We don’t have no radio hits, we don’t have no big hits. People don’t just buy our records for one song. When they buy a record, they buy the record. Every record we come out with, people got different favorite songs. It’s not just one song they’re waiting to hear when we do a show.
That was what I was gonna ask. Your Forgotten Freshness album that you’ve just released, when you look back on the work that you’ve done, how do you choose from the amazing back catalogue of stuff. Do you look back and go “Wow, I’d completely forgotten that I’d done that”?
It’s hard when putting out a record like Forgotten Freshness, digging through so many files and having to go back and listen to old reels and digging up stuff that we done and not used. It’s crazy that it didn’t used for a purpose because we didn’t think it was good enough to be on a record but then you hear it five, ten years later and it’s like, “Ah man, what were we thinking, that was great!”
And your Mighty Death Pop album, you released on vinyl? Is that a first for you?
Yeah the vinyl just came out. I don’t know why it didn’t come out with the record. I’m a super vinyl fan myself. I got a collection of albums of records. I’ve DJ’d my whole life. I love my albums. Every time I bring out my albums I get super keen. Vinyl’s making a comeback. People want vinyl now, which is great.
I’m a vinyl fan myself so I’m pretty pumped that this is out on vinyl as well. Now you’re known as the world’s most hated band, so what would be your message to young people out there struggling against some opposition in their life?
Definitely clarify what you’re trying to achieve and your goals of what you’re trying to do. Fuck everybody, do you. If it’s music, whatever, don’t stop. Especially if you love your dope. The one good way to know if you’re shit’s crazy wack is not to go to the place where you’re boys are because they’re not gonna have the heart to tell you you suck. Play to somebody you don’t know coz you can get a better and more honest opinion than opposed to just having a few “Yeah that’s cool man”. But if these people say you suck maybe you should find another avenue, but basically don’t give up. Coz anybody can say, “Oh yeah aint no money in that, forget about it”, “Go to college”, “Do this”, “Get a nine to five job”, which is cool but don’t give up your dream. Otherwise you’ll kick yourself in the ass when you’re older and you realize you didn’t try.
Are you still living in Detroit?
Yeah, actually I live about 45 minutes out of Detroit. I live in the woods.
We’ve been reading about the problems with Detroit and the housing disclosures and thing. What’s the way out do you think?
Move? I don’t know, I’m not into politics and the economy. The city’s bankrupt but still doin’ it’s thing. What do I know? I don’t know shit about politics.
Let’s talk about wrestling. Wrestling is part of the whole Insane Clown Posse image and you’ve released your Bloody Mania DVD recently. Where does ICP finish and where do the Juggalos take over?
Nowadays it’s crazy. Juggalos are such a big entity these days. There are Juggalos out there that don’t even listen to ICP. There’s Juggalo orientated music. We’re not like leaders, we’re not this, we’re not that. ICP didn’t create Juggalos, we never coined the term, we came up with that name, nothing. It was an organic thing. People with the same sort of mind thing that we had. Juggalos are their own thing, we just happen to be Juggalos ourself. You have Juggalos having BBQ’s and events without us getting involved. There’s a lot of artists out there with the music that Juggalos like. They’re just down for what Juggalo’s about.
From what I can see the whole movement is one of it’s own. Are there set rules within the movement?
I don’t think there’s no set rules, you know what I’m sayin. It’s just how you think. And what you’re influenced by. It’s not like you can’t be a Juggalo because you wear the new Jordans. A Juggalo is a way of thinking, it’s how you move. Not bending to the mainstream. Not just buying and listening to the things that corporations shove down your throat.
In my mind it’s that what’s caused your success, ignoring pressure from people like Disney. You’ve been banned, you’ve been suppressed, yet through it all you’ve thrived.
We’ve never stopped. We burnt all our corporate mainstream bridges way back in the nineties but we’re still going just as strong. We don’t ever plan on stopping either. Until we’re dead. And then hopefully our kids will carry on the tradition or somebody else will step up to the plate, whatever. Juggalos aint going nowhere man.
And I think the message is that people don’t need to bend to conform. They can stick true to their roots and still be successful.
No doubt. Anybody can. Maybe you won’t make millions of dollars like some international pop star, but you can make a nice career out of making music, even nowadays with the internet you can still make a nice decent living doing what you love doing. If that happens to be making music, you can still do that. That’s the beauty of making music, you can.
We’re nearly out of time, but is there any message that you want to give to the fans. What to expect?
We’re just keen to be coming back and just be prepared for some classic ICP mayhem at the shows. If you’re just coming to look at a couple of assholes sitting on stools playing acoustic guitar, don’t come to our show. You’ll leave exhausted and wet, you know what I’m sayin and have a thoroughly awesome time.
The shows look amazing and I’m sure the fans are just gonna go crazy for them.
No doubt. Don’t forget for a second we have just as much fun up there, doin it.
We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks and thanks again for talking with the AU Review.
Nice talking to you.
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INSANE CLOWN POSSE TOUR DATES
Wednesday 4 December The Gov. Adelaide
www.moshtix.com.au / www.oztix.com.au
Thursday 5 December HiFi. Brisbane
www.oztix.com.au / www.thehifi.com.au
Friday 6 December HiFi. Melbourne
www.oztix.com.au / www.thehifi.com.au
Saturday 7 December HiFi. Sydney
www.oztix.com.au / www.thehifi.com.au
Sunday 8 December Metropolis. Fremantle
www.oztix.com.au / www.heatseeker.com.au
