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Howdy fellow O-Freakz! Recently Knick and myself (DJ Uryne) were lucky enough to get to talk to the man, the myth, the legend...Drugorious George a.k.a Druggy G a.k.a Drugorbechav (however the fuck he spells it). Regardless of what you call him, he is nothing short of a genius. In this interview we got to learn the answers to many of the questions which have plagued our minds for the past months. Enough fluff heres the shit you want. Here is an in-depth interview with DG. Druggy G: Pre-interview beer consumed.... ENGAGE! DJ Uryne: G, what made you want to form such an exellent band? Druggy G: The usual suspects... money, girls, immortality. Aversion to dayjobs. Drugs. Knick: is there such a thing as "Walkmann"? and if yes, the hell is/was it? Druggy G: Yes, in fact it's Prince B from PM Dawns' fave song by the O. It wasn't actually released. It was to be our first single for Polydor but we decided we didn't like it. Knick: do you still have a copy of the song anywhere? Druggy G: It's so fucking ancient. We originally demoed it for EMI UK very early on. I probably have it somewhere. It ain't all that. Knick: speaking of things being all that..... what's wrong with Nightmerica? DJ Uryne: from readin the the-o.tv board one may think you dont partiularly enjoy it Druggy G: Well, the thing with that album is this: We finished it and then the record company turned around and said we had to re-record it cause it had so many samples on it. We had to take off all the samples and re-do the whole fucking thing with barely any money. it was a miserable experience and i think the album suffered. I have alot of problems with that album. It has some good moments. But alot of it was strong songs fucked up by wack performances or production. DJ Uryne: i was happy to see the free sample movement emblem on the fuzz cd i think more artists should recognize that. i believe that is the only time ive heard anything of it. Druggy G: Yeah the free samples thing..one day we'll take that further i hope. DJ Uryne: was that something you were trying to put together yourself? Druggy G: Yeah pretty much. But we got no support. The record and publishing companies were like.. "ulp" (wiping sweating brow.) Knick: the problem with The Fuzz, was that it said "contact this address" ...but there's no address Druggy G: Ha yeah no address..oops. Knick: was theere anyone else in the fuzz, besides you and nepo? Druggy G: We had two different drummers in the Fuzz I think. Knick: does polydor own the rights to nightmerica? Druggy G: Yes. There's several songs that got lost in the Nightmerica debacle. All owned by Polydor UK I believe. "White Gangsta" had a fat-ass sample of Bob Dylan... it was a great live number... people loved it. "I Wanna Fight Back" was meant to be a B-side from the Walkmann era. It's pretty funny. I think Grover from Sesame St. gives me some sort of acid in it Knick: sooooo, what does the O mean? and does it have anything to do with opium or vaginas? Druggy G: Vaginas, opiates... yup it's all of that, i suppose. Can't remember, really. We needed a name. We'd brainstorm for a while. We were in Amsterdam, I think. DJ Uryne: i figured it might be from the shel silverstien book Druggy G: Ah, that's a great book. Maybe subconsciously. I loved all those ol Shel S. books. DJ Uryne: me too, i grew up on all that Knick: as did i Druggy G: Yeah me as well. Knick: are you gonna be able to continue to use the name The O? Druggy G: I don't want to use the O name anymore. The o aren't together right now. And won't be for the foreseable future. Knick: who is "The O", you and nepo? Druggy G: Essentially. Ideally, Burnman as well. He's one funky mofo. DJ Uryne: so what happened with burnman? i got a friend who is pretty partial to his drumming style Druggy G: Yeah he is defintely the best drummer we've ever played with. But he was erratic emotionally, like every decent drummer we've played with. We fell out with him several times. He's been writing some of the music for "Blues Clues" the last 3 or 4 years. DJ Uryne: how many different drummers have you had? Druggy G: We've had alot of drummers. They're fucked in the head. probably partially due to the volume of our click tracks, ha ha. Knick: what's going on with nepo now? Druggy G: We're still good friends but we're each doin our own thing right now. DJ Uryne: is there any possibilty you, burnman, and nepo would all get back together? Druggy G: Not in the near future. But anything's possible somewhere down the line. What is certain: We'll never play with that piece of shit RJ ever again. Knick: yeah, i've talked with him online before, didn't have nice things to say about The O Druggy G : What did RJ say? Knick: "g and nepo are the most manipulative cocksuckers i've ever worked with" Druggy G: Manipulative? We were buddies until i turn up in court to see that scumsucker in a suit and tie ready to lie. Knick: and.. "definently not the finest musicians" Druggy G: The truth about about RJ show's how pathetic he really is: He is a complete, wake-an-bake stoner whose Mommy and Daddy pay his rent. He does virtually nothing. We never loved his drumming, ironically for the same reason he tries to diss us. Because he is all technical chops with no musical sense or soul. We are not great technical players but that's not the point. We are from the John Lennon/Punk school of great songs and raw feeling. Knick: i never cared too much for skill at an instrument having anything to do with how good music is Druggy G: Yes, exactly. We worked really really hard to get RJ to minimize and economize his playing. He was never really for us. But I did think of RJ as a friend, despite what I thought of his drumming. He fucked me completely. And why? Because Galus approached and manipulated him! RJ will take friendship and consolation wherever he can get it. Here's the sad thing... Galus was disgusted by RJ! Amazingly...HE WANTED RJ OUT OF THE BAND! So Rj went to court and lied for someone who considered him an embarrasment and wanted him out of the band. Right before the MSI tour in fact. he had us audition another drummer. And Greg, Nepo and I went along with his request but decided we couldn't learn the set in that time with a new drummer. Knick: how did the court case turnout? Druggy G: The case was thrown out. That's all I can say. DJ Uryne: i get mixed thoughts on galus alot of people say hes a complete ass and others say he is really nice. ive seen both sides Druggy G: Galus can be a major dick and a nice guy. It's true. DJ Uryne: so was what happened in North Hampton like an outburst of emotions that had been building? Druggy G: Yes, it was definitely building. We'd had enough by that tour. We weren't getting along with Galus and even having musical problems. I didn't realize it at the moment, but I was really sick onstage in Northhampton. By the third song I couldn't understand how weak I was. That night the band fell apart. We'd all had enough. Knick: what happend with greg? Druggy G: Greg was a childhood friend of Galus's. He felt he couldn't stay friends with us and Galus. He didn't even have the respect to call Nepo or myself after over a year and a half of being friends and working on the band. He just stopped returning my calls. And he's a really nice guy, a guy whose friendship I valued. Very dissapointing, but I think he's not very good at being open with his emotions. Another thing people don't know: Few people know it. The O came VERY close to being signed by Interscope at the end of 2001 (or was it 2000?) But Galus and our lawyer blew it. It completely demoralized the band and put a stop to our momentum. It's a long story but suffice to say that Galus handled things the wrong way. It was only recently, once we stopped working with him, that we began to hear of his reputation in the industry. He is hated by many! Understandably... he's very abrasive and arrogant. I'm talking about industry peeps. Remember, MSI had a giganic bidding war. Which was part of the problem for the O. We didn't have that many labels after us. Yet Galus was playing it like we did. He really put Interscope on edge. We worked really long and hard for that deal and he fucked it up. DJ Uryne : how did you get involved with him in the first place? Druggy G: They flew us out to L.A... we had lunch with Jimmy iovine, sitting next to John Lennon's mellotron. We had known him when he was a doorman for some NYC clubs. We met him whiule searching for a drummer. One night we were walking past the late, lamented Coney Island High club. He was outside. he beckoned us in to see "his" band. We were with a bunch of homey's from England. It was MSI playing a secret show to like 20 peeps. It was a fantastic show. They blew us away. This was before they had a bassist. We went back to London and several months later we read in Spin that there's a massive bidding war on for them. So we always kept in touch. Fast-forward to 2000. DJ Uryne: so when did all that happen? like mid to late 90s? Druggy G: No that was like 99. A guy from Gold Mountain in LA, the Beasties old management has sent some of our CD's around. Lava takes us out to lunch. Galus brings Urine to a gig. he sits us down and says, "I should manage you. i have a plan: Here's what it is." And he did. We would print up cassettes and use the MSI website and they would sign us to their own label. And so it went. Whew! Lotta typing. In the end, Galus fired us that night in NorthHampton. And in our long-negotiated contract it says that he forfeits all if he fires us. But he can't be a man about it. He has to be a pathetic little bitch. DJ Uryne: and thats what the lawsuit was about Druggy G: Can't really discuss that still. Knick: was there a large UK following? Druggy G: Not large, but decent. We had several XFM (the alternative station) singles of the week and toured the UK one and a half times. I think a friend of mine is going to auction some stuff. She'd got some crazy shit. Knick: G, what in the world is Nightmarika? DJ Uryne: (note the spelling change) Knick: some sort of Japanese Import sold on second hand sites? Druggy G: Ha, Ha... our own little world... that's just one of the Nightmerica spellings.. Oh you mean that Jap thingee? It's a bootleg I guess. I sent them a cease and desist letter when I heard about it on the site. Do you know anyone who has it? Knick: steev just ordered it DJ Uryne: well steev will be pissed, who knows if it will ever show Druggy G: It's probably the real album, I guess. Wasn't it like $50? DJ Uryne: did you start in NY or the UK also is the UK wicked awesome, because i plan on going this summer Druggy G: Yeah London is great... I think we started in the US DJ Uryne: so whats the deal with these comics, promo items? Knick: the 'Now' comics Druggy G: Those were some comic bios whipped up by Polydor with Tim Sagar. Knick: what ever happend to tim sagar doing your art? Druggy G: Well we have nothing else to do art for at the moment... And he's in the UK and we came back to NY. Yeah, he did some great shit though. -at this point DJ Uryne was having connection problems and disconnected- Knick: man, i want one of those trooper hats with the bear ears, did you make that? Druggy G: Bear ears? Knick: like on the get wasted time releases Druggy G: Oh yeah...some girls in Amdam gave me that for my bday Knick: well, it's damn cool Druggy G: Ha yeah i just wore that fer Halloween Knick: you're wearing it in alot of the tim sagar art Druggy G: Yeah he liked that hat. Have you ever heard "A Celebration"? Knick: yeah, i've got the whole cd .well, all the songs listed on the back of that Druggy G: It's like 6 minutes long... I destroy alot of the planet. I think that might have foreshadowed Columbine. Knick: did you have to take out the intro sample? yeah, columbine did come to mind when i first heard it. pretty violent song, hehe Druggy G: No we got permission for that one. Knick: is it from The Doors? Druggy G: No it's from..shit what's their name.. Druggy G: Can't remember but I called some old 60s guy for it..it was really cool.. he told me about the recording for the legendary Count Five's Psychotic Reaction he was there.. he told how they edited the classic track, together. They had to because it was recorded on Sunday and the kids had to go to schoool the next day. Knick: when can we expect some updates to the site? Druggy G: Well, the girl is working on it...im tryin to hurry her up Hopefully any second Knick: it's not still val, right? Druggy G: No val is gone, moved to Seattle and forbidden by galus to associate with us Knick: gooood, she never updated shit.. and uploaded the wrong Alt. Version of In The City Druggy G: now you got the alt version, right? Which do u like better? Knick: yeah, hehe, had to pay 5 bucks though, definently prefer the alt. version Druggy G: ouch, yeah i agree Knick: actually i would've preferred more rapping on empty parts Druggy G: yeah that wouldve been cool Knick: why wasn't it used? Druggy G: Nepo and Galus werent sure bout raps in the songs... Druggy G: aite nicky boy i gotta bounce... sorry im so exhausted and huingover Knick: alright, you think we could do this again sometime? Druggy G: Sure..we can continue...much more to tell Knick: around when you think? Druggy G: umm..maybe like in a week or so Knick: you a busy man? Druggy G: yeah..just finished some new tracks and tryin to finish more Knick: oh yeah, i heard about that, you should put them up somewhere or some sort of preview Druggy G: One day... Knick: a good day Druggy G: yeah some sort of preview. that indeed. aite good talkin to ya.