G:You've already played internationally. How was Japan?
L:I get very claustrophobic over there. I get kinda antsy.
There are no green patches anywhere.
I don't deal with Japan all that well.
I kind of have to get drunk when I'm in Japan
so I don't freak about the claustrophobic aspects.
G:How were the shows?
L:The shows were okay.
Japan is such an entity itself.
You go on stage at 6:00, even 5:00,
and there's no support act, you play and
basically somebody comes out before you go
on stage and gives a spiel about how you have
to sit down for the performance. There's no
spontaneity or interaction between the band
and audience to where it creares some kind of
energy that can take you to new levels. There's
no a lot of emotion involved. You go out and play
your ass off and nothing much happens.
That's from our point of view though.
From their point of view that's just way it is, for everybody.
Playing Japan is very surreal when you're used to doing a lot of
shows in America and in Europe. It's a whole different thing.
L : We also went to Korea. We'd never been there before.
Not too many bands have. I think Skid Row went there,
Sting and Eric Clapton. Not too many rock bands.
I was very surprised, it was very cool.
They knew the songs a lot better that I thought.
They knew everything we do. 20,000 people pumping
their fists in unison. You don't see that so much anymore.
Most people get into music in their own way-moshing,
bouncing-here it was in unison, South Korea's a much
more open society than I thought. People's attitude were
very open and contemporary whereas in Japan I feel more of
an outsider. They seem more wary of Americans. Korea, they were
open and keen on what we were doing.
