KERRANG
"THE LAST WORD"
The ultimate questions on life, sex and death. This week, Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy is grilled by Liz Evans.
Q: LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
A: Lately it seems like I've been crying a lot. It's better now, but
every
week for the past four months there seems to be some traumatic thing
happening to the people around me. Like people finding out they have
cancer,
people dying, and people having strokes. Just one thing after another. I
felt like I was losing my mind. And then my puppy died. She was just a
year
old, and she was my baby. And I'm going to cry about right now if we
talk
about it, so what's the next question?
Q: LAST PERSON YOU FANTASIZED ABOUT?
A: My husband. I never get to see him! We've been together about
three-and-a-half years and married for a year-and-a-half. It's tough,
but
we have a really good relationship and we're apart a lot cos he's in a
band
too, but when we're together we have really good quality time, instead
of us
both having nine-to-five jobs and coming home and hating life and taking
it
out on each other every day.
Q: LAST TIME ALCOHOL MADE YOU SICK?
A: I'm not sure if it was food poisoning, alcohol poisoning, a hangover
or
all three. It was about a week ago at home. My husband's band are
recording
their album at our home studio, and I was doing back-up vocals. They had
a bottle of Jack Daniel's there, and I was saying how it didn't make you
drunk, just warm and cosy... and an hour later I was staggering all over
the
place. I didn't throw up, but I was really, really sick the next day. I
usually drink wine or clear liquor.
Q: LAST TIME YOU TOLD A LIE?
A: Hmmm. I think when people know me, I'm pretty much an open book. If I
don't want someone to know something, I don't lie. I just don't talk
about
it. Or I tell partial truths. I try hard to be honest, actually.
Q: lAST BAND THAT BLEW YOU AWAY?
A: OK, I'll give you a plug, but it's the honest to God truth. Fulflej,
from Richmond, Virginia, are on this label Scratchie that I have with
James
(Iha,Smashing Pumpkins guitarist) and my brother-in-law, and they are
the
most fucking real thing. The guys are all brilliant, they're at college
and
the speak Chinese, and the singer is a diabetic black belt in karate.
They're way out there and they're so proficient. I'm afraid that you
people
aren't going to get it, because I think you have to know something about
the
structure of music to get them. They have really crazy time changes, and
they play some really, really long songs. But you wouldn't want to
change
them at all. And I love Screaming Trees and Flaming Lips.
Q: LAST PERSON WHO REALLY INSPIRED YOU?
A: The girl who's playing bass for David Bowie right now is amazing.
She's
so proficient, but she's not this cold, studio technical person. She has
so
much soul and she can sing like a motherfucker. When she plays, she and
her
bass guitar are like, one thing. So many times I feel completely
stagnated
but the bass and mostly I just wanted to sing when I was younger. Regular
guitar intimidated me. This woman is so amazing, but I still don't know
if I
feel inspired enough to practice. I don't think I'll ever be like her.
And I
don't think I'll ever sing much with Smashing Pumpkins. I was really
pissed
off actually, cos I spent 24 hours getting the back-up vocals for the
album
to match Billy's perfectly, and they were cut. I feel like I'm being
used
sometimes. Like an enhancement for his voice or something. And it really
pisses me off.
Q: LAST TIME YOU HAD A FIGHT WITH BILLY CORGAN?
A: Not for the longest time. It's really weird, most bands start off as
buddies and end up hating each other, and now we're really close
friends.
Communication's really hard,but even when you can't do that you just
have to
accept people. It's really hard for me. I don't have a lot of close
friends
because I have a very high standard of what I expect behaviourally, and
loyalty-wise from people. But I know who I can count on.
Q: LAST TIME YOU WERE BORED?
A: When you're on tour it's like, "hurry uup and wait". It's terrible,
you
feel like you're going to lose your mind. So I just fall asleep if I get
bored. I've done it during interviews, because the questions are so
boring.
I used to do it in geometry at school. I had this teacher with a
monotone
voice, and now it's happening again. With interviews. I can't control
it,
it's like narcolepsy or something. I've tried talking to the band about
it
but I don't think they really believe me, or understand. It's basically
a
conditioned response.
Q: LAST TIME YOU WERE JEALOUS?
A: I don't really get jealous. Sometimes I get envious of someone I
admire.
But jealousy is so horrible. It possesses you. It's ugly, because it's
so
out of control.
Q: LAST PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU BOUGHT?
A: I bought this silver shirt recently. I got it in New York, when I was
power shopping, for the 'Saturday Night Live' TV show, and it's very
uncomfortable. I ended up not wearing it, actually. If it's hot, the
shirt's
really hot, and if it's cold, it's really cold. If I tuck it into my
jeans,
it feels like somebody took a cookie and just crumbled it in my pants.
Q: LAST REGRET?
A: I don't have many regrets. I can't really regret things because I
have
such a bad memory. I never wanted to come to Europe to do this press
trip,
but I didn't have an option. Still, that's not really a regret. I'll
have to
go back to my puppy soon cause I left her in the care of someone else.
Whenever I go away, I come home to a pile of shit. You can't trust
anybody.
Being at work is more like being on vacation than being at home these
day's.
I had this assistant and she was whacked out of her mind on prescription
drugs......