Lupus of The Bloodhound Gang talks about his music, who he has offended, his life, and his history as a German/Russian teacher.
DM) Jimmy once said that he names The Howard Stern Show as
a key influence. He explains, "We try to hurt everyone's
feelings; it makes us feel better about ourselves." Was
there anything offensive that you've done through your music
that you've regretted later?
LB) No, we regret nothing...even if it was bad. That's one
of our rules....regret nothing. Jimmy Pop used to say he would
never make fun of child molestation...he always said that was
going to far, but then he realized he w as doing jokes onstage
about Michael Jackson, so nothing is taboo for us.
DM) Did you ever regret something that you sang?
LB) No, we just go to it...its like I was saying...someone
will always find something offensive, but very rarely do I hear
about it. The worst case we ever had was in Ft. Lauderdale FL
when we were touring for Use Your Fingers. Right before we went
on, Jimmy Pop spotted a guy in a wheelchair in the crowd. At
the time we were playing a song from Use Your Fingers called
"She Ain't Got No Legs" (a love song about Jimmy's
love for this girl in a wheelchair) in the set. The song has
all sorts of bad jokes and innuendo about this girl in the wheelchair.
We were a bit nervous to play, since it was our first time having
to face something like this. But, we all decided to just go ahead
like we always did the set. In the middle of the song, the guy
wheels his chair up to the edge of the stage...we all looked
at each other, figuring we were about to hear this guy's PC-wrath.
Instead he started hi-fiving us and giving us the thumbs-up...it
was weird. He kept yelling, "You guys rock!" and "You're
awesome!" We talked to him after the show and he said he
just liked our sense of humor, and even though he was (excluding
the fact that he was male) the butt of the joke in the song,
he knew we were just poking fun and taking a light-hearted look
at it.
DM) Then what's next on your list of people or groups to offend?
LB) We don't make it as a list...we just kind of do it. Usually
its something funny we find that makes us laugh. Here's an example...We
were just recently in the studio recording a cover of a song
for the movie Half Baked and it was late. Jimmy and I had been
up way too long. I have a side project I'm planning called the
47 Chromosomes. Most people don't know it, but its that 47th
that gives people down's syndrome. Well, Jim had an acoustic
in his hand and was just strumming chords and making up stupid
lines. So he started to sing a song about the 47 Chromosomes.
It was one of the funniest things I had heard in a long time.
The stuff in it would definitely offend someone who had down's
syndrome, but to me it was hilarious. It's that kind of stuff
that makes its way onto an album. Its funny, because people will
always find offensive what hits closest to home. If you tell
a black joke, black people get upset, a Jewish joke will offend
a Jew, etc. But they all laugh at the other jokes. The only group
of people I have found to be not so easily offended are gays.
So far not a single one of them has ever come up to me and said
they were offended by "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get
Chicks", they all seem to think its funny. And in that song,
we make a ton of blanket stereotypes. I'm sure there is a gay
out they're somewhere who is completely offended by it, but I
have yet to meet them.
DM) How was it different working under three different record
labels in the past 3 years?
LB) Well, one of them (Cheese Factory), we still work with.
Cheese Factory and Republic are the same thing. Columbia was
a nightmare...they never got the joke. They wanted us to be a
real rap band. You know, like homies or something. Geffen is
great, they treat us well and work hard for us. They're behind
us, where at Columbia it felt like we were in front, pulling
Columbia along. This has been a lot of fun with Geffen and I
hope it continues. As for Cheese Factory/ Republic...well, I
can't say enough nice things. We've had our problems and arguments
of course, but they are always supportive. When we got dropped
from Columbia and we decided to change up and do something a
little different, they said alright, we'll fund a new album.
They released One Fierce Beer Coaster before it was picked up
by Geffen. We thought no one would want to touch us after our
major label failure...but they stood by us.
DM) How would you describe your musical style to somebody
who's never heard it?
LB) To me its just a mix of what's in our CD players at the
time. "Fire Water Burn" is our Weezer song. We were
listening to them non-stop in the studio and we love them, so
we did a song that we thought the music was similar to. We borrow
from everyone. "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny" has
a guitar part in it that I wrote year's ago, but when we recorded
it I was listening to a lot of Sugar Ray's first album, Lemonade
and Brownies, so I made it sound a bit more like "Mean Machine".
I try to steal from everyone, but I also try to credit them all
in interviews and when kids ask me about the songs. Its crazy,
cause I wanted Sugar Ray to be big, I talk about them all the
time and especially how I admire Rodney as a guitar player...and
now they're bigger than us. That's cool to me, cause they are
a band that deserves it. Usually when people ask me this question,
I tell them its rap and punk mixed together, but that's really
not true. It has metal and rock, dance and techno elements as
well as rap and even some R&B.
DM) Where did the name for the band come from?
LB) The name is from an PBS show called 3-2-1 Contact. On
it was a skit called "The Bloodhound Gang". They were
a group of nerdy kids that solved crimes with math puzzles. It
just made sense. We were a rap band so we needed to have a cool
"tough" sounding name, hence the "gang".
But deep down inside we're a bunch of nerds who should be doing
math puzzles and playing Dungeons and Dragons or something similar.
So the name just fits. Plus, the reference to the old 80s TV
show shows what we're all about.
DM) Have you ever done "serious" music?
LB) I had a band before this that was too serious...our singer
was into "painting landscapes with words"-kinda stuff.
It was fun, but this blows it away. We played a lot of shows
in Philly, but nothing else really.
DM) And is that where you gained the foundation of your musical
knowledge?
LB) I've been in a handful of bands, so my "foundation"
(if you can call it that) was built through the years. I've just
learned to take what I like from everyone I listen to, so I would
say that's my foundation. I also took music classes in high school,
so I know a bit about "real music", but not enough
to read sheet music swiftly and play as I read....I used to be
able to do a bit of that on brass instruments, but its been so
long I doubt I could.
DM) Where do you see the band as going in the next few years?
LB) I see us all back in normal life. There is no long-term
promises in the music business, plus we're not a typical rock
band that might last years. Our genre (I hate to use that word,
it makes me sound like I think I'm Liam Gallagher or someone
like that, spewing about "my art" and "the thought
process of creating") is short-lived and we know it. We
all plan to get what we can out of it, have some fun and then
pursue personal projects. Jimmy will probably act or produce
or be in radio or something like that.
Q-Ball's going to school, so who knows what his plans are. Spanky
will be dead from an overdose of something I'm sure. Evil Jared
could stop today and go back to fixing engines for a living without
any regrets. Me, well, I hope to stay involved in music anyway
I can. This is the childhood dream come true for me, so I hope
to continue it as long as I can...even if that means being a
guitar tech for some new band that's not even old enough to play
in a bar yet. By the time they're ready to go, I'll be an old
man, but will know everything there is to know about the touring
life. I wouldn't mind helping younger bands in that sort of way.
DM) But if you had to choose a "real" career, what
would you be forced to pick?
LB) I'd pick astronaut, but I'll never be one cause I'm out
of shape...no, really, I went to school for German/Russian and
Education...I would have been a language teacher.
DM) Are you still up on your German/Russian?
LB) Not so much on the Russian. I never even learned that
much Russian, it was hard enough just figuring out their alphabet.
I still speak German ok. Whenever we are there, I am the one
who has to deal with the people who can not speak any English.
I'm not fluent, but I can get by pretty well
DM) If the band ever did end, do you think you all would remain
friends?
LB) I think Jim and I will, but only cause we have no other
friends...as for the rest of them, I hope I will, and I certainly
would try, but I have a theory on friends and that's that they
come and go and only a few ever stick around for good.
DM) What made you come up with this theory?
LB) I have moved so much in my life, between my parents moving
and just my own after I left home, that I just have lost lots
of friends. Plus, people change and I really don't like to have
too many friends...I like to keep my life simple and free from
the normal problems of having friends...the ones I have know
me well enough to not be a "bother". It sounds cruel,
but when you lead a life like this, you quickly find out who's
nothing more than a "hanger-on". The real friends stick
around even when you don't see them for a year or more...those
are friends to me...I have lots of "acquaintances"
(which other people would call "friends").
