|
Past Issues:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
BACK
MOD
Hold Your Mouth for the War
By Alex Ristic
Billy Milano is indeed the rebel you love to hate.
So much so in fact, that he titled his latest Method of Destruction
offering The Rebel You Love To Hate.
We at U! can’t speak for everyone when we say this, but many
of us around here respect him for his "take no prisoners"
attitude. Let’s face it, once you reach a certain status level
in metal, there are always those factions that try to shoot you
down. Cradle of Filth got bigger, and now people dismiss them for
their non-kvlt black metal status. HammerFall got bigger, and people
started calling their music gay power metal, even though it was
gay to begin with.
So, instead of being called a sell-out, or gay, or whatever derogatory
term you would choose to label a group with, wouldn’t you rather
be called a loud-mouthed jackass? There are certainly worse things
in the world.
"It’s the old story: if the myth is bigger than the man,
sell the myth," says Milano on his legendary bigmouth designation.
"No wants to know that I’m a nice guy, no one wants to
hear that shit. I’m a very straight up guy, and not everyone
can understand that. Billy Milano is a person, and is also a character.
I do admit at times I float in and out of character in my life.
I have to admit it, but Hulk Hogan is also a character. But I don’t
think Hulk Hogan goes into a store and says ‘Lady, if you don’t
make my sandwich quick I’ll bust you in half.’ It’s
like that, but you would think he’s crazy. I’m sure he
just walks around, plays with his dog, hangs with his wife, and
being very mellow. Life isn’t about your character. Your character
allows you to enjoy your life, and I think that’s important
to understand. Billy Milano is not a knucklehead. Well, maybe."
All jokes aside, it is at least somewhat refreshing to hear a blow-hard
on a different level. Those on the outside may not understand, but
those on the inside at least have an inkling of what we’re
writing about. You see, you get inundated yearly with black metal
bands spouting left, right and center on how "evil" and
"tr00" they are. It gets so pretentious that you want
to smack the grey right off their teeth. Then there’s power
metal bands who live in their own world and egocentrically ignore
all forms of underground music around them. Their level of arrogance
is frustrating to no end. You can pick any genre really, and sadly,
the vast majority of bands in said genre act according to a typical
blueprint that is expected of them. Whether it’s fear to break
those chains and be proclaimed false, or whether it’s laziness,
we don’t know. But one thing is for certain, the acerbic rantings
of Milano will at least give you a respite from the banal. Take
his stance on the new German industrial music scene, as pot-shotted
by the song "De Men of Stein."
"I’ve met those guys [Rammstein] and I think they’re
assholes. There’s no denying it. They think I’m an asshole,
I think they’re assholes, and I think that’s a beautiful
thing; we have a mutual understanding of each other. I think that
the song itself is more about fascism in that kind of music scene;
lots of references to neo-fascist icons in their music. So it’s
more about that whole music scene."
Have we, as a collective metal underground, voted and let it be
known that Billy Milano is our spokesperson? No, of course not.
But who else is doing it? It’s one thing to interview a band,
then ask them an off-the-wall question and have them tell us their
opinion on outlawed seal hunting, but it’s quite another when
a band puts all their animosity and rants into the music itself.
Sure, hardcore and punk bands do it, but sadly, their over-preaching
and lack of diversification has made their points redundant, and
sadly they now fall on deaf ears. At least Milano still has the
power to get attention and make his messages heard, as with the
following outrageous comments.
"I think what really pisses me off—it’s not that
I’m immature, or how I go into things—it’s that I
feel that there’s a certain amount of resentment that I should
hold back perhaps, and have more of a civilized discussion when
things arise. However, when I see fucking people burning flags and
fucking saying George Bush is a criminal, and living in my country?
I really want to see those people die. Not hurt—die. I want
to see the guys from fucking Audioslave shot. Tom Morello, it’s
2003, and here’s the guy who went to Harvard, little rich momma’s
boy, and he’s saying in interviews that communism is the way
to go. Show me where fucking communism worked. There’s certain
people who I would like to shoot in the face. Hopefully I’ll
wake up one day and hear they got killed, and I’ll revel that
day, and I may go out and have a big bowl of pasta in their honour,
and shit on a picture of their face."
|
