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The Stooges.
"I'm looking forward to missing out on a good chunk of winter up here and coming down there and playing some music," states Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, adding that the band let Iggy Pop choose the set-list for the Big Day Out shows.
"He came up with a mixture of the first two records. It starts
with two songs from 'Funhouse', Loose and Down On
The Street, then you go into 1969 and I Wanna
Be Your Dog, so it's a pretty slammin' set: we just blast
right through it. There's only one new song: from the 'Skull
Ring' album we do Dead Rock Star and that gives Iggy
a chance to showcase some of his vocal abilities. But the show's
quite intense. He's got more energy and he puts on a better
show than ever, because he's totally straight and he's just
non-stop when he's out there. I mean, I have to look out! I've
been hit with a microphone, clothes-lined with a mic cord and
hit with a flying mic stand, so I've got to keep my head up.
He still does the stage dives. He'll get in the audience. I've
seen him up two stories high on PA speakers and I'm going, 'No,
dude, don't do that', or dancing precariously at the edge of
the stage: I'm going, 'It's a ten foot fall. Oh please!' We
gotta get him one of those baby harness things so he doesn't
fall or anything."
The fact that Pop is still alive is a miracle. "Oh, absolutely," Asheton agrees, "not counting the injuries he should have had, just doing the shows but the close calls with all the drugs he's taken in the past. I've never known anyone else who's taken eight quaaludes, or fifty valiums, or sat up all night with a quarter ounce of cocaine 'til it was gone, and lived. All that's gone. He doesn't smoke cigarettes, he has his well-balanced meals, Tai-Chi and swimming and his glass of wine after the show.
"The shows are interesting, funny, even a little bit frightening. Nothing bad has happened but Iggy can be scary at times and I know he's not gonna hurt anybody but sometimes when he comes up to me and makes that face, it's like, 'No, dude, back off man.' The band's hitting pretty hard and the crowds have been really enjoying it and that's what I enjoy. We give to them the energy and they give back, so you really draw a lot off the crowd. If they're really into it, you're gonna dig deeper and do more."
I was curious as to how Asheton developed his highly-influential
(and much copied) guitar style. "Well, Keith Richards had that
Gibson Fuzztone for Satisfaction and I'm going, 'Hey,
that's interesting.' Then along comes the master of masters
Jimi Hendrix with the fuzz-phaze and the Vox wah-wah pedal,
so I got me one of those. And to compensate for lack of ability
on my instrument, I hit on the simple three-finger power chords
and once you learn your scales, you can use the barre chord
to go everywhere. I just started out playing hard and loud and,
like anything, if you've got a knack for it and you stick to
it, you're bound to get better."
As a young man, Asheton went on a musical pilgrimage to Liverpool.
"Oh man," he sighs, "that was the beginning of everything. My
father had just died and so I was kind of adrift. Then, along
came The Beatles and I just fell right for it. So, in 1965,
Dave Alexander, the [late] original bass player of the Stooges,
says he wants to go to England, so I sell my motorcycle, get
permission from my mother - which I still can't believe - and
we went to Liverpool. We'd see the afternoon show at the Cavern
Club for 50p. The Beatles weren't there anymore, it was just
local bands but they'd throw in a big band, like the Hedgehoppers
Anonymous that had a song called It's Good News Week,
which became a big hit. Right then and there I knew I wanted
to be in a band. I just loved that free lifestyle. But the money
was gone and it was time to go home and I'm like, 'Oh man, I
can't face this. I don't want a 9 to 5, I don't want a family'.
I tried to go back to school but then I got in a band and started
playing and I've never stopped."
Was it a good choice? "Oh absolutely," Asheton insists. "I've paid my dues, like the old bluesmen say. I was in many bands. I played for little or no money and then the Stooges started getting more popular and there was more revenue from royalties and whatever and now, playing now, it's the perfect time of life when you really appreciate it. I can't stop saying how much fun we're all having. Even Iggy's tour manager says it's the best time they've ever had: there's no weirdness, there's no bullshit, there's no fighting, there's no drugs. Everyone's happy."
Suzy Ramone
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The Stooges are a headline act at the Big Day Out on Fri 3 Feb at Wayville Showground.
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