The Resurrection Of MARILYN MANSON

Ben Wener of The Orange County Register recently conducted an interview with Marilyn Manson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On having to "confirm" during his marriage to Dita Von Teese:

"I started to feel bad about being me. I started to feel like I had to turn me off somehow, to prove that I fit into this convention I know now didn't suit me properly. . . I don't necessarily think I couldn't be married again. I think that I assumed — and it was me projecting my idea of romance onto Dita — that she believed in things the same way I did. I think we got to a point where she was feeling like, 'Well, I assumed you would eventually grow out of this.' And I'm saying, 'But this is me.' My marriage started to transform into something that was too concerned with the rest of the world, with how it would get portrayed in Vogue magazine — and that sort of thing was exactly what I had fought hard to stand against. But I got lost between love and belief in myself. I didn't know who I was supposed to be anymore."

"I'm absolutely not looking for someone who agrees with me about everything, or someone who wants to please me by believing what I believe. But I need the same dark romantic yearning. I had been watching all these movies, like 'True Romance' and 'Harold and Maude' and 'The Hunger' and 'Bonnie and Clyde', and I started wondering where that sort of feeling had gone. I thought that was where I was at in my life, and I couldn't understand why I didn't feel that same fearlessness."

On regaining his confidence after starting a romantic relationship with actress Evan Rachel Wood, who at 19 is half Manson's age:

"For me the key to longevity — and immortality, in a sense — has to do with transformation. But at the time my idea of being a chameleon — like Bowie, like Prince, like Madonna, like all the people who have really influenced me — started to get mixed up in my head. So I ran away from myself and fell prey to the scrutiny I had always avoided, because I felt no reason for anyone to believe in me. And I really need to have a reason. . . And then the album ['Eat Me, Drink Me'] also wound up being these songs that established a new, stronger, for the first time real relationship that had that sense of romance I wanted. I think you can literally hear the process of me being resurrected, as dramatic as that sounds. It's not a stance. I can totally hear that."

On touring with another of Satan's favorite bands, SLAYER:

"[It] is a natural because the one thing we share in common is this extreme, brutal dedication to saying and doing what we want and not backing down. ... Plus, we've put together the most theatrical show we've done. Bring some fire and brimstone back into rock 'n' roll. ... At least we're keeping rock 'n' roll evil."