We caught up with Donnie Vie from Enuff Z Nuff on the tour bus shortly
before the band were due to play their gig on Tuesday 8th May 2001 at
Trillians Rock Bar, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. This is what he had to say to
us:
MM - This is the bands first UK tour in
over 6 years. How does it feel to be back over here and catching up with
your fans both old and new?
Donnie - It feels great, it's amazing. We're doing a couple of little
shows like yesterday and today and really we were given the options to not
play.
Last night they were talking about poor sales but what can you expect for
a Monday night? I said to them how many sales were there? and they said
there were only 50 sales. I said to them well that means there are 50 of
our fans and our friends that we haven't seen in years that are coming to
Carlisle to see us.
I said we'd show up, we'll play, you're not going to get out of this one
so easily.
So we showed up and we did about 1 hour, 1 hour 15 minutes. I had problems
the first night as the mono system was weird and we hadn't sang in a
while. We'd had a month off before the tour and stuff and so I kind of
lost a little bit of my vocal set-up. So last night I got the other
members of the band to sing parts of the songs and it was kind of funny.
But they had a good time and we enjoyed it, we always find a way to
entertain them.
When it's something like that, instead of getting all bent up and out of
shape and weird about it, we make it just a more intimate friendly thing,
so that's what we did.
MM - I'm sure they all appreciated it.
Donnie - Yes I'm sure they did, and I'm just so glad to be back over here.
It's lovely here. I hate the food still. I do I still hate the food! It
just tastes like crap and that's all I can say.
I come from Chicago and from where I come from we have the best food in
the world.
MM - How did you enjoy the Z Festival on
Sunday?
Donnie - It was great, it was cool. I had a good time as well. There were
a lot of very positive things going on that day.
I've played a lot of tours and a lot of different Festivals and stuff like
that where bands are all into anti this and anti that, and we hate this
and we hate that, but that was all kind of positive and it was a fun
Festival to do.
There were some good bands and unfortunately they had some problems at the
hotel and stuff. Some of the guys got some of their stuff stolen, and we
were just throwing throat punches at them all day.
When we got on the bus there were like 7 bands waiting for us, and when we
got on the bus they had all been waiting for us, and we didn't know they
were all waiting for us. They had all been waiting on the bus for like 1/2
an hour and we made them all like 5 minutes late. Then during the second
bands performance they had us doing an autograph signing. I was like - hey
we're signing autographs in the middle of a bands performance and the
whole crowd was watching us and not the band, that's pimpy, that's shit.
After that we got grabbed by this chubby fan who took us back to the hotel
and we took naps and stuff, which saved our ass because we were back at
the hotel and the hotel knew we were there. Otherwise they would have
known Enuff ZNuff were staying there and would have gone into our rooms
and they would take stuff.
Then we came back and we do the show and give everyone a little ass
whipping with the show, you know all the other bands and stuff.
We saw a little bit of jealousy going on there. But we were killing them
with kindness the whole day, and then we are later than alligator to go
back on the bus. They were again all waiting for us to go back, and we are
all still signing this and that, and while they were all complaining, well
none of our shit got stolen, we were lucky.
I'm walking around and I come back downstairs and I say 'Excuse me,
someone stole my toilet paper and my brush!'. That's just the kind of
insensitive bastard I am.
I went up to the bar and while they are busy handling their stuff, I
bought all the rest of the late night cold sandwiches, so there was none
left and I took them all up to our room. I had just thrown 35 throat
punches to all these bands. You know we didn't mean to, but it just kind
of worked out that way.
Then in the morning when they were all blood shot eyed and looking for
ways to try and find passports and to try and go home and stuff, this
thing (the tour bus) pulls up outside of the hotel and we gotta go walk on
out there. It's fun, there being in that spot in that situation. But it
was great we had a good time.
MM - Had you performed with any of the
other bands that were performing on the Z Festival before or not?
Donnie - I don't know really.
MM - Had you heard of any of the bands
before?
Donnie - I don't know, I can't remember. I have the memory of a dead
elephant, I don't remember anything! I just don't pay much attention to
things. I've been out doing this a while and I'm just out here to do my
job and I'm just trying to make sure that I pull off what I've gotta do.
I gotta sleep, I gotta smoke, this and that, it's hard work.
MM - Well as long as you are having fun and
enjoying it.
Donnie - Oh yeh, anybody that knows me knows that I am always smiling and
having a good time. Hopefully it's not at anyone's expense but once and a
while … you gotta have fun though.
When I'm off duty and not playing music I'm probably the most miserable,
sad and depressed person. I'm a manic-depressive and everything.
When I'm here and I'm with the guys and everything, it clicks over and is
great. But when I'm at home I feel hopeless a lot. But here we are.
MM - What sort of setlist/gig can your fans
expect on this UK tour? Will it be all old stuff, all new stuff or a
mixture of the two?
Donnie - A whole mixture of everything. Every night will be different
because every night there is probably going to be a couple of people who
are going to be at all the different shows.
I wouldn't expect a hell of a lot tonight because it's Tuesday night and
they don't have a monitor system or anything. We are just finding out all
kinds of crap. A bit like yesterdays show, we found out stuff, let's just
call them surprises.
MM - Did you have a support band last
night?
Donnie - No. Anti Product pussed out, they didn't want to come on last
night. He's got something to prove and he's not gonna go beat his head in
with a microphone stand for 2 or 3 people.
I don't know, but there was no support act. They made up something to get
out of it.
MM - You're not frightened of him trashing the stage before you get on
tonight?
Donnie - I'm not afraid of anything. The only thing I'm afraid of is
homosexual rape. I just don't need that happening to me.
But no, I'm not afraid of anything. If he trashes my equipment I'm gonna
beat the shit out of him. That's all there is to it. He won't need to beat
his head in with a microphone because I will beat it in for him.
MM - Your US fans will have the welcomed
treat of seeing you on the Glam Slam tour later this year. Do you think
this year will be the year that we see the band come out of the darkness
and back into the light?
Donnie - The Glam Slam Tour is not something that I think will revive
anything. It's more or less of a nostalgia type thing. Come out and bring
out your plastic pants and have a good time kind of tour.
What I will say is that we do like to work and we would have been working
anyway, but instead of going on at 1 o' clock in the morning in every Tom,
Dick and Harry's pub and bar all over the United States, we will be going
on and pulling into all the big arenas in a nice big tour bus, with
showers and facilities, and it will be very nice and easy, and
comfortable, and we're guaranteed money and everything.
It's just a good job, it's the difference between being a handy man and
having to put up signs to hustle up jobs, or working for the post office
all summer. It has it's benefits and everything so I'm not gonna knock it.
It's going to be a good job. What I can say is that there are some really
big happening things going on at the minute. In fact one of the things
came through last night and we're all pretty excited about it right now.
MM - Can you tell us what that is?
Donnie - No. I can't because when I do it fucks it up. But we are really,
really excited about it and we've got some really cool things going on
right now.
MM - Can you tell me which country it will
affect?
Donnie - Well yeh, it's the United States which is where we were really
concerned about. Once something happens there then they rest all fall like
dominoes.
We're doing a great job in Japan and although we're not huge over here,
except for Monday and Tuesday night, we have some good sets on the tour.
We're doing good. I would be totally satisfied with stuff like the London
type shows.
Just running the rest of my career out doing shows like that you know, I'd
be fine. But it looks like it might be a little better than that.
MM - Why do you think the UK market doesn't
seem a viable proposition for things like the Glam Slam tour and stuff
like that, the big reunions and things like that, we always seem to get
left out?
Donnie - It's too dangerous.
MM - Why? We don't bite!
Donnie - You do though! You do bite! If something's a little bit strange,
and over here they want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
everything's going to go well, with money things and stuff like that.
We got two guys here that cost between the two of them quite a bit of
money. Plus there's this bus and stuff. Then for example you got tonight
and there's no monitors, and it's dangerous because if something goes
wrong, if they don't like one of the bands or something, you get hit in
the head with something.
I took a bottle at the gig on Sunday night during the first song. Yeh, I
got a water bottle to the head from some jealous boyfriend.
Of course it must have been a jealous boyfriend, either that or the singer
from one of the other bands. Didn't appreciate the ass whipping he took.
MM - They were jealous of your jacket!
Donnie - Hey, I'm jealous of my jacket! I envy me in it. I got all kind of
cool stuff.
MM - How have you fans responded to the new album so far? What sort of
feedback have you been getting?
Donnie - The ones that have heard it have loved it. It's the same as
always you know, if they hear it they'll love it.
We're a very easy band to like. I think so, I like the music.
If you like good music, we fall into that nitch of Aerosmith, Zeppelin and
The Beatles. It's not a bad thing, you just put that together and that's
what we do. How can that be bad?
MM - You don't sound like you are from
Chicago, you sound like you are more from San Francisco. You have that
happy upbeat kind of thing going on.
Donnie - Oh no, you mean I have a lisp? And a I Love Bob t-shirt? I don't
have my Gay Dad t-shirt on me today! No, I'm just a chameleon, I just
adapt my moods to where I'm at.
It's weird because I get out here and my accent changes. I don't know what
it is. Plus my throat is sore and I'm talking weird. I'm trying to
preserve vowels right now so I tend to round them out. I'm talking like a
hick right now so I can sing them later.
Guess what I like? I've finally found something that I really like to eat
out here. There isn't much I like to eat out here but this is called
Paramol. It contains paracetamol and dihydrocodiene. Well now I have
finally found something I like to eat!
So when people ask me if I like the food I say not really but now I have
finally found something. (Laughs) I just put milk and sugar on it and I'm
raised eating cornflakes so now I'm eating these.
MM - You want to try to gargle with
whiskey.
Donnie - Oh, I quit with drinking pretty much.
MM - Did you have a problem with drinking before?
Donnie - I got a little bit of a problem going on with the liver, but it's
more or less of a thing that I just decided. I probably could drink for
another 5 or 10 years before I dropped, but …I'm getting too old for it
all.
I really didn't plan ahead with my body parts in the early days and now
I'm starting to see that. I may be planning ahead a little bit. No, it was
just the drinking and stuff, that really takes it toll on me.
I want to be able to walk up smiling and feel good and be able to do
interviews and stuff. I went out with everybody and they would have pipes
and it's hard to do all that when you are drinking every night.
You end up smoking cigarettes in each finger. I'd be drinking beer and I'd
be yelling and screaming at this guy and that guy and having such a great
time that night, and then the next morning I'd wake up and feel like … no
interviews, no sound checks, I don't want to see anybody.
Cut this out of the set, cut that out of the set, so I've had to change
all that. I have more fun not having as much fun.
I'm drinking a lot of tea, I always do, I drink any kind of tea
constantly. Hot water is the way to go! It clears the throat.
MM - What made you decide to use Anti Product as your support act?
Donnie - I didn't decide, I just found out. I didn't even know who it was
until I got here. Then when I found out it blew my mind. I didn't know and
I'm really looking forward to seeing the son of a bitch.
He used to be in Enuff ZNuff and I used to live with him, we used to live
in the same bed, Alex and me.
We had management that had also managed our first guitar player Derek, I
think it was more a political thing than a musical thing. I never had a
problem with his playing.
I always thought he was great, I thought he was enthusiastic. I still
think he was a great part of the band. Having to fire him and still be
living with him was kind of very weird.
I had to get out and this and that. To this day I still don't understand
what happened and from what I understand I heard it broke his heart. He
really turned kind of weird after that.
I'm really looking forward to seeing him, but I'm not going to go in and
see him right now. I'll let him come to me. He'll come to me and then
we'll be buddies again.
I love him, I really love him. They (the band) are probably in there
hugging him right now. He'll be asking 'Where's Donnie?', and they will
say he is out doing interviews and stuff and that big tour bus. You know
you gotta out dick the dick!
MM - What goes through your mind when you
are on stage? Are you aware of the crowd or are you in your own little
bubble?
Donnie - I'm looking around, looking around and recognizing faces. Looking
for vibes, looking for the guy that's not digging it. You know you gotta
turn him around and show him a good time.
It all depends, different towns, different things going through our minds.
It depends if I've ordered something and I've been waiting around all day
and I still haven't got it yet, then onstage I might be looking around
thinking well where is that guy?
You never know, who knows what goes through my mind, it's different every
night. It could be why is my brother skipping around like a big poof right
next to me on stage.
Sometimes when I'm playing Fly High Michelle I'm thinking about totally
different things, like what did I do with my laminate and this and that,
and sometimes I end up missing a whole verse out because I wasn't even
thinking about what I was singing.
(Just then Alex from Anti Product opens the bus door and walks in and huge
smiles cross both his and Donnie's faces. They hug and Donnie asks me to
play back the tape so Alex can hear what he said about him. The two of
them look like long lost brothers as they catch up on old times. They then
head off into the bar to find something to eat).
