In an article on Exclaim.ca Billy answers a questionnaire that ranges from school yard questions, introspective questions, his thoughts on a variety of topics as well as a few random ones.
The school yard questions
When asked what he thinks he might of been doing if he wasn’t in music he answered ”..If I’d never taken up a career in music I probably would have been a history professor or a psychologist.”
Asked about his most memorable job he said “Pizza delivery.”
What does Billy consider a perfect Sunday? “Antique shopping, watching baseball and hanging out with my friends and my animals: couldn’t be any better.”
The introspective questions
Asked what advice Billy didn’t take that he should of “..my public personality in the ’90s as part of the experiment, and I was willing to toy with the way people perceived me… There were people around me who tried to warn me that those were short-term artistic gains in a long-term, bigger problem. I think if I had kept my mouth shut… I’d probably be in a better place today musically. Not internal musically – in the way the music is perceived. Often times my big mouth has overshadowed the accomplishments of my bands…”
What have been your career highs and low “..I think the highs have been when I’ve had a highly functioning band that could very quickly and readily turn new songs around into music that we could play. I would say the lows have been when alternative music was sort of swamped in by the changes in the music business combined with the shift into what I would call a precocious niche culture….”
The variety questions
What do you think of Canada ”I’m always impressed by the collective spirit of the people of Canada. Overall, very earth conscious, ecology conscious and certainly seem to live a bit better than Americans in terms of health and seem more politically engaged on a deeper level than the American social classes…”
What are your current fixations “..I think that’s the point of my life at this point. I’m getting rid of all the fixations…”
The random questions
How do you spoil yourself? “Well, back in the day I used to blow copious amounts of cash on really fast toys. Now, I let myself buy whatever antiques I want to buy. But we’re talking like, $20 kind of stuff.”
Why do you live in Chicago
“[Laughs] I live in Chicago and I’ve tried to get out of here a bunch of times and I always seem to come back home. I don’t know what it is about the combination of bad weather and the working class that seems to work for me artistically, but it seems to do well work. Music work. I guess home is home.”
Strange celebrity encounters?
“One night that leaps to mind…I was in a room with Howard Stern, Marilyn Mason, Jenna Jameson, Sherman Hemsley, Flavor Flav and Conan O’Brien. Now there’s a party mix in the seventh ring of hell.”
